New Thermal Printhead for Digital Photo Printers
Development of the KPV Series
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(This document was translated from the Japanese press release.)
October 04, 2004
Kyocera Corporation (President: Yasuo Nishiguchi) is pleased to announce the development of a new thermal printhead called the KPV series. The series is for use with digital photo printers, demand for which is growing with the recent rapid increase in the popularity of digital cameras. (The printhead is a printing component in printers.)
Taking advantage of Kyocera's prowess in integrated manufacturing from ceramic substrates, we developed this new thermal printhead by optimizing the thickness of the glaze layer, which is a thermal storage layer, to improve the positioning accuracy of the heating element. The product helps improve print quality and significantly reduces the time required for equipment manufacturers, who are the product's users, to adjust printing accuracy when assembling digital photo printers.
Kyocera has changed the mounting method to halve the space required to connect the ceramic substrate and external circuits. This has contributed to the miniaturization of thermal printheads.
 The KPV Series Thermal Printhead
Name of product: The KPV series thermal printhead for digital photo printers
Shipment of samples: October, 2004
Start of volume production: November, 2004
Production plants: Kagoshima Hayato Plant (front-end process), Nagano Okaya Plant (post-process)
Production volume: Commencing with 100,000 units per month from November 2004, and preparing for production of 200,000 units per month in January 2005.
Main Features of the KPV Series
1. Responds flexibly to user needs thanks to integrated manufacturing from substrates
An important element that impacts the performance of thermal printhead is the thermal storage layer, known as the glaze layer. Taking advantage of Kyocera's prowess in integrated manufacturing of thermal printheads from ceramic substrates, we have been able to customize the shape and dimension of this glaze layer. This enables us to flexibly respond to the diverse requirements of printer manufacturers, our users, and to improve output print quality.
Kyocera has reexamined the shape of the edge of the head to improve the positioning accuracy of the heating element. This modification significantly reduces the assembly time, especially the time needed to adjust the position of the heating element that affects the image quality. As a result, it becomes possible to contribute to a reduction in the users' production costs by considerably improving equipment manufacturers' efficiency of assembling printers.
2. Miniaturization by changing the mounting method
To connect the ceramic substrate that forms a thin film pattern with the external circuit formerly involved soldering to the Flexible Print Circuit Board (FPC). However, soldered connection required some space in the joint part to keep the connection strong. By changing this to an Anisotropic Conductive Film (ACF) connection, this space requirement has been halved, contributing to the miniaturization of the thermal printhead itself.
3. Increased supply capacity with improved productivity
As with other components and devices, one of the important elements of the thermal printhead is supply capacity. What determines the supply capacity of a thermal printhead is the number of pieces that can be taken out from a ceramic mother substrate. By adopting a mother substrate that is one size larger and miniaturizing the substrate for heads, Kyocera achieved a gain of 25% in productivity compared with conventional products, enhancing supply capacity.
Principal Specifications of the KPV Series
| Density |
300dpi, 1248 dots |
| Print width |
106mm (Supports up to 1280 dots) |
| Logic supply voltage |
3-5.5V |
| Heater voltage |
24V |
| Data transfer frequency |
16MHz |
| Lifetime guarantee |
4km, 100 million pulses |
| Platen |
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10mm |
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| Average resistance value |
4000 ohms +/- 15 % |
| Adjacent resistance value |
1.5 % or less |
Reference
Kyocera's thermal printheads
Kyocera manufactures thermal printheads using an advanced thin film process that places a thermal storage layer, called a glaze layer, on the ceramic substrate so that there is a mound of glass under the heating element. The heat generated when the heating element becomes electrically live is transferred to thermal paper and ink ribbons during printing. Since the heating element is formed in thin film, the dot sequence is accurate and even, which provides outstanding heat response, that is, the response time needed to become electrically live and start generating heat. These features make this printhead suitable for high-speed and highly accurate printing. Changing the height and form of the glaze layer makes the printhead suitable for a range of applications and materials.
Example of a section view of the structure
Types of thermal printheads
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Flat type
Common configuration
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Corner-edge type
Mainly for
the high-speed barcode printing
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True-edge type
Mainly for
the card printing
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Applications of thermal printheads
Thermal printheads are characterized by a simple configuration and a compact and lightweight body. The features make the printhead flexible in design and suitable for a range of printing applications. Thermal printheads can also print on a range of materials, including paper and cards.
A range of printing equipment is able to accommodate thermal printheads. This equipment includes barcode printers, demand for which is expected to increase, especially in the food industry. Other examples are POS printers and ticket printers designed for mobile terminals that need to be smaller and lighter and to consume less power. Card printers can also use thermal printheads to print directly onto hard materials, such as cards. The product described in this release has been developed for digital photo printers that print out the image data captured by digital cameras as photos.
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| Inquiries |
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From Customers |
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KYOCERA Corporation
Thin Film Devices Division
Takeda Tobadono-cho, Fushimi-ku,
Kyoto 612-8501, Japan
Tel: 075-604-3404(Direct)
Fax : 075-604-3401(Direct) |
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From the Press |
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Kyocera Corporation
Corporate Communications
Head Office
Tel: 075-604-3416 (Direct)
Tokyo
Tel: 03-3274-1577(Direct) |
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