MRI and Georgia Tech have steadily collaborated on BoldVu® display research. Georgia Tech is a top 10 public research university located in Atlanta, Georgia. The research covers internal cooling and low-cost IoT sensor networks for Urban Heat Island and air pollution studies.
Several publications have resulted from this collaboration, in the form of conference proceedings and journal papers. This research helps establish evidence for BoldVu® display performance. It also supports claims about their utility in applicable markets.
Publication:
Thermal Modeling of Outdoor Digital Displays Under Different Brightness Outputs
Citation:
Kim, J. Michael Brown, K. O’Connor, M. Diaz and Y. Joshi, “Thermal Modeling of Outdoor Digital Displays Under Different Brightness Outputs,” in IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 949-955, June 2020, doi: 10.1109/TCPMT.2020.2993521.
Abstract:
Thermal design for electronic products often reduces the use of CFD/HT software. Instead, teams often rely on quick prototyping and testing. These steps help determine a product’s thermal characteristics. For large-scale products, this strategy can become impractical. Prototyping cycles cost money, take time, and often require several iterations. In such cases, thorough CFD/HT models developed early in the design process are valuable for driving the product design. Based on this idea, the study examines 55-inch outdoor digital displays. It uses CFD/HT tools to study thermal performance. It also predicts performance under hazardous outdoor conditions at two brightness outputs. Outdoor testing and simulation comparisons validate the extrapolated prediction. The results show that engineers can use CFD/HT software to make conservative design choices.
Publication:
Packaging Environmental Sensors for Monitoring Urban-Microclimates
Citation:
Dey, J. M. Brown, and Y. Joshi, “Packaging Environmental Sensors for Monitoring Urban-Microclimates,” ASME Journal of Engineering for Sustainable Buildings and Cities, vol. 1, no. 3, 2020, doi: 10.1115/1.4047422.
Abstract:
A low-cost IoT sensor network can collect data for Urban Heat Island studies. It can also support air pollution research. IoT-based environmental data monitoring creates several key challenges, including packaging and deployment. This study explores these challenges by looking at effects the packaging has on the deployed environmental sensors. Several packaging designs are numerically studied using a computation fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The research team used CFD modeling results to choose two sensor designs. They then deployed both designs experimentally. The study found that flow velocities did not significantly affect the selected IoT sensors.The sensors also did not require advanced packaging when paired with street-side outdoor displays.
Publication:
Thermal Management of Outdoor Digital Displays – A Review
Citation:
Y. Joshi and J. M. Brown, “Thermal Management of Outdoor Digital Displays – A Review,” 2019 18th IEEE Intersociety Conference on Thermal and Thermomechanical Phenomena in Electronic Systems (ITherm), Las Vegas, NV, USA, 2019, pp. 772-779, doi: 10.1109/ITHERM.2019.8757287.
Abstract:
Cities increasingly use outdoor digital displays to share information, support interactive location-based content, and deliver advertising. Indoor digital displays rely on well-understood thermal management approaches because they produce less heat. However, outdoor LCDs face harsher conditions. These include changing ambient environments, solar exposure, and greater internal heat from advanced LEDs and supporting electronics. Demands for larger and brighter displays continue to provide significant additional challenges to their thermal design. Here we review the current and emerging thermal management challenges, and current solutions for outdoor digital displays. We review the state-of-the-art of the multi-scale nature of the packaging of the digital displays, from the light sources to the display cabinet. The next section outlines the unique thermal management challenges for outdoor displays. We review current thermal management methods for outdoor displays. We conclude by describing emerging applications of outdoor digital displays, and identify associated thermal challenges.
Publication:
Vandal Glass Heat Distribution and the Effect of Glass Gap Adjustments in Outdoor Digital Display Components
Citation:
Kim, J., Michael Brown, J., Joshi, Y., O’connor, K., Diaz, M., Zhang, Z., and Yang, P. (May 4, 2020). “Vandal Glass Heat Distribution and the Effect of Glass Gap Adjustments in Outdoor Digital Display Components.” ASME. J. Electron. Packag. September 2020; 142(3): 031001.
Abstract:
The use of computational fluid dynamics/heat transfer (CFD/HT) software has become common in exploring the thermal and hydrodynamic behavior of many electronic products. Well-designed CFD/HT models are very valuable for driving the product design, but accurate models can be difficult to develop in some cases for a practical use. In CFD/HT modeling, surrounding ambient temperature and solar irradiance drive temperature rise in outdoor digital displays. However, most software packages struggle to simulate solar irradiance through semitransparent materials and multiple surfaces.
This study describes a method for replacing solar irradiance with power applied to the sun-exposed exterior glass, also called vandal glass. Outdoor digital displays face harsher thermal challenges than indoor displays. Therefore, designers need a display design that makes the best use of cooling effects. Designers can adjust many parameters to optimize display thermal performance. In particular, this study explores the gap between the vandal glass and LCD. It also examines how that gap affects maximum LCD temperature and fan performance.
Publication:
Packaging Environmental Sensors for an Internet-of-Things Solution for Urban-Microclimate Studies
Citation:
Dey, Y. Joshi, and J. M. Brown, “Packaging Environmental Sensors for an Internet-of-Things Solution for Urban-Microclimate Studies,” in ASME 2019 International Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems, Anaheim, CA, USA, 2019 2019: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2019, p. 10, doi: 10.1115/ipack2019-6515.
Abstract:
Cities are experiencing a number of negative effects caused by increasing urbanization. Researchers have recognized and studied pollution for decades. They have also taken steps to help control the problem. Many urban environments are also experiencing the effect of the Urban Heat Island (UHI). UHIs are metropolitan areas that have measurably warmer average air temperatures during several periods during the year, than their surrounding rural areas. There is a great interest in studying UHI and pollution and its effects on the environment as well as urban residents.
However, in order to study these phenomena, we need more information than we currently have. Therefore, researchers can use an IoT-based, low-cost sensor network to collect data for UHI and pollution studies. IoT-based environmental data monitoring creates several key challenges. These include sensor packaging, deployment, reliability, and data accuracy. This study explores these challenges by looking at what effect the packaging has on the deployed environmental sensors, and how and where to deploy sensor modules. The research team analyzed and presented sensor data collected over several months.