What factors should you consider when choosing a TFT LCD display? part one

TFT displays have been the dominant technology in visualization for many years. TFT LCDs are everywhere in our daily lives—in consumer and automotive applications, our business environments, healthcare, and communications equipment, home appliances, and factory automation products. While there are many LCD products available today, they are not suitable for every application. This is especially true for industrial TFT display requirements. To determine which LCD matrix display is best for your application, it's important to understand your target market and its unique design issues.

Durability

The vast majority of LCD displays are designed for consumer devices, such as smartphones, cameras, tablets, and gaming devices. But their requirements are quite different from those of industrial applications. Due to extremely competitive pricing and fast production cycles, consumer display modules do not always have the durability, reliability and advanced features needed to survive in industrial environments. In consumer applications, product life cycles are also typically shorter. Screens made for these applications typically only last one year, preferably two.

In contrast, display modules for industrial applications require long product life cycles—often up to a decade or more. Additionally, when manufacturers discontinue industrial modules, subsequent products should be backwards compatible so they fit into existing cabinets without having to redesign the entire system.