The below information discusses proper ventilation for kiosks and other enclosures.

Product applicability: Any Elo product to be enclosed in a kiosk or other enclosure.

Importance of Proper Ventilation
To determine whether ventilation is required for your kiosk or enclosure, you must measure the temperature around the device (touchmonitor or touchcomputer) while it is operating at its peak. It’s crucial to understand that heat affects product longevity—generally, the higher the operating temperature, the shorter the device’s lifespan.

Heat Management in Enclosed Spaces
All electronic devices generate heat during operation. When a device is enclosed in a small space, it’s vital to ensure that this heat can escape efficiently. If not, the temperature inside the enclosure can exceed the device's specified operating limits. The amount of heat a device generates is typically indicated by its power consumption, which can be found in the specifications on the monitor’s webpage. For example, most Elo open-frame/kiosk touchmonitors up to around 20 inches dissipate 30 watts or less, but power and heat output increase significantly with larger monitors. Additionally, power consumption increases with the monitor’s brightness, so always check the power specifications for the monitor you plan to enclose.

To understand the amount of heat to manage, compare the monitor's wattage to an incandescent light bulb of equivalent wattage. A 30-watt bulb, for instance, gets very hot to the touch, and a 100-watt bulb is too hot to touch—this illustrates how even modest power levels can significantly heat a small, enclosed space. Although the heat in a monitor is spread over a larger area than in a light bulb, the total amount of heat is equivalent.

Factors Affecting Heat Buildup
Several factors influence heat buildup inside an enclosure, including:

• Power dissipation of the monitor
• Size and material of the enclosure
• Enclosure design (e.g., tall or squat, simple or complex shape)
• Ventilation openings and their placement
• Presence or absence of fan-forced air circulation
• Monitor positioning within the enclosure
• Mounting configuration (e.g., vertical, horizontal, flat, or angled)

Ventilation Strategies

• Passive Ventilation: Passive venting can be effective if a “chimney effect” is created, allowing air to enter at or near the bottom and flow upward, exiting at the top. This method works best when the air flows through and around the monitor, rather than just along the rear wall of the enclosure.
• Active Cooling: Adding a small, quiet fan at the outlet to draw air through the enclosure significantly enhances cooling, particularly for higher-power monitors, smaller enclosures, touchcomputers, or setups that include additional equipment like separate computers or power supplies.

Special Considerations for Horizontal Mounting
When a monitor is mounted horizontally or near-horizontal (e.g., in a tabletop or countertop), the heat-generating components are positioned at the top of the enclosure, which negates the chimney effect. In this case, it is critical to provide forced-air ventilation across the monitor, from one side to the other. You may need to use ducting or baffle boards to ensure proper airflow. Always check the temperature near the device to verify your ventilation setup, and consider the maximum ambient temperature of the operating environment during testing.

Fan Selection Tips
When selecting fans, prioritize models with higher airflow (measured in CFM) and lower operating noise (measured in dB) to achieve effective and quiet cooling.

In-House Testing
The test results below give an idea of the venting requirements of some typical configurations and demonstrate the effectiveness of fans.  Note that fans of a given size can vary considerably in the amount of air (CFM) they can move.  The one used for these tests is fairly high performance.