In many industrial situations and in many businesses the introduction of the Plasma and LCD screens to the residential and retail market did not look like being a problem as they were high price rich peoples toys, however as prices plummeted everyone started buying them, and the death of the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) started with the majority of manufacturers stopping producing them.
This did not initially seem to have much significance that is until CRT screens in mission critical control rooms failed and could not be replaced as nobody was making them anymore. Also many of these critical applications required rugged screens. However there is now a solution for replacing CRT screens with rugged monitors, they can be provided complete with fixings to match the original equipment manufacturers, which means they are a like for like replacement. Which makes life a lot less problematic when it comes to replacing CRT screens in older control rooms.
This brings us on to new build control rooms, many of which simply could not have normal off the shelf LCD monitors fitted as they were required to be used in rugged applications, often varying from rack mounted applications as maybe found in a power station where banks of monitors sit next to, and above each other, through to desktop LCD monitors that need to stand up to the rigours of working in a modern industrial environment.
Other new rugged applications include rugged panel mounted LCD monitors, which are likely to be used in industrial machinery as monitoring panels for CNC machines as an example.
There are now rugged touch screen console monitors which are ideal for placing in desks in control room applications, such as those used in the control rooms of emergency services.
Rugged LCD monitors are the choice of many, as they can be dimmed up or down, they have a wide viewing angle, which is needed as an operator maybe monitoring two screens or even far more at once, they can also stand a cup of coffee being spilt over them, which would otherwise destroy a normal LCD monitor.
So whatever your application you should now be able to find a rugged LCD monitor to fit your needs, be it for use in a new control room, as a stand alone monitor or replacing an older CRT monitor, and if you want one in a custom made size then that too is also possible now.
You can find a large selection of Custom LCD Monitors at KME. Kent Modular Electronics are the number 1 specialists of LCD Monitors in the UK.
