Crystal Display Systems Ltd have increased their optical bonded capability by partnering with leading Optical Bonding (OB) specialist CiVUE Optotech enabling them to offer highly reliable sunlight readable solutions with increased durability.

Any industrial design which requires a protective cover glass or touchscreen should consider optical bonding as an alternative to the traditional air gap ‘strip’ bonding as the OB advantages ensure a superior product both optically and physically.

The main features and benefits of optical bonding include; increased contrast and viewing angles, bonding of sizes up to 75”, UV protection / UV resistance, extended temperature, improved visual quality, fully re-workable, no water condensation & contamination, better impact resistance, eliminate the wash-out effect and waterproof.

With CiVUE’s proprietary materials and a unique re-workable process, CDS provide solutions that enhance sunlight readability and provide additional ruggedness / vandal resistance.

The Optical Bonding Technology LucidBond™ & ArmorBond™  is the process of fixing a cover lens, such as anti-reflective glass, or touch panel directly onto a display and eliminating the air gap in between in order to reduce reflectance to as low as 0.2% and dramatically increase contrast ratio in a high ambient light environment.

LucidBond™ is the process of bonding directly onto the display itself and ArmorBond™ the process of laminating the touchscreen to a cover glass to increase ruggedness limiting the optical detriment.

Almost every OB solution requires a detailed project management approach to ensure that all aspects of the design are taken into consideration and to maximise the benefits of the technology.

The operation of TFT LCD monitors in an “outside” environment has always given a number of challenges.  The main one being high ambient light washout which dramatically affects the viewability due to the effect of a reduction in contrast.  This is due to the reflection caused by light refraction within the air gap.

Traditionally the only way to offset this effect is to increase the brightness of the panel or the use passive filtering techniques such as using transflective polarisers or contrast enhancement filters.  These in turn would cause additional issues including increased power consumption / additional heat generation and the additional filters do not offer much improvement.

More recently the process of Optical Bonding has become more popular method of enhancement.  This is a process of filling the airgap with an optical gel thus eliminating the gap and reducing the internal reflections.

CDS take a project management approach to all optical bonding requirement, every aspect of the design needs to be fully understood to ensure that the end solution adheres to the brief and gives a premium solution.

Markets that have seen major benefits in using Optical Bonding include; military, marine, kiosk, transportation, process control, medical and many more.

For more information please visit – http://crystal-display.com/products/optical-bonding/ or if you have a project to discuss and would like more information please email the CDS team on [email protected] or call their main office on +44 (0) 1634 327420.