Thermal Printer Technology; The Printing Process; Dynamic Print Control - Printronix T5000 User Manual

Chapter 1

Thermal Printer Technology

Thermal Printer Technology
Quiet and fast, with excellent print quality, your multifunction thermal printer
uses an inline thermal printhead. The thermal printer operates differently from
a line matrix or laser printer, because the thermal printer uses a printhead with
heating elements and special paper or ribbon.

The Printing Process

The thermal printhead allows two modes of operation:
•
Direct Thermal
During direct thermal printing, the thermal printhead selectively heats
small, rectangular thermal dots. When these contact the coated thermal
paper, the dyes and developers in the coating react to the heat and
develop an image. This mode of printing is generally used for short-term
labeling applications.
•
Thermal Transfer
During thermal transfer printing, the heated thermal dots contact a
thermal ribbon. The heat reacts with the ribbon and bonds the image to
the paper. This method is used especially for abrasive, long-storage
applications and for specialized applications, such as in extreme
environmental conditions or where tamper-proofing is required.
NOTE: Thermal transfer is not supported on 4 inch DT model printers.

Dynamic Print Control

Dynamic Print Control is a unique feature of your thermal printer that provides
excellent print quality. This feature prevents unevenness of print density,
which is usually caused by the stored heat from previous dots.
Print quality largely depends on how the thermal paper or the thermal ribbon
and thermal transfer paper responds to the heat of the thermal printhead.
During printing, the thermal printhead must reach a set temperature in the
shortest possible time. Then it must cool down to the original temperature in
the shortest possible time after printing. Thus print quality is dependent on the
precise control of the energy supplied to the thermal dots.
The Dynamic Print Control is a method for predicting the quantity of heat
required to print dots based on the results of the previous printing. This
prevents unevenness of print density and results in the printing of narrow-
ladder bar codes or vertical grid lines that are straight from the microscopic
viewpoint.
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