Thermal Printers and Print Mechanisms
Printed receipts and documents are essential in our daily lives. BVM provides a variety of thermal printers, suitable for ticketing, vending machines, ATMs, and kiosks. They also offer portable printers for A4 printing on the go. Since their inception in the 1970s with devices like the ZX Spectrum and early fax machines, thermal printers have advanced significantly. Their core technology involves heat-reactive paper and thermal print heads. Current processing speeds reach about 350mm per second.
Thermal printers are highly reliable due to few moving parts and only require paper as a consumable, with no need for ink, cartridges, toner or ribbons.
Each print maintains consistent quality.
What is Thermal Printing?
Thermal printing involves a heat transferred from a thermal print head to a chemically treated thermal paper. As the heating elements form text and graphics, a thermochemical reaction takes place, so the text and graphics can be seen. Because there are only a few moving parts, thermal printers offer years of reliability, minimal maintenance and consistent operation. One of the most distinctive benefits is its inherently quiet operation.
A thermal printer comprises these key components:
- Thermal Head: the print head generates heat which causes a thermochemical reaction and prints on the paper
- Platen: the platen is a rubber roller that feeds paper
- Spring: the spring applies pressure to the thermal head, keeping it in contact with the thermosensitive paper
Applications
Thermal printers and thermal print mechanisms are small, light and consume little power, making them ideal for portable and retail applications. Commercial applications of thermal printers include petrol station pump receipts, information kiosks, point-of-sale systems, voucher printers, ticket machines, hospital cardiac monitors and more.
Thermal Printers
Embedded Thermal Printer Mechanisms
Compact low-voltage thermal printer mechanisms are ideal for portable printing due to low power consumption, extending battery life, and saving design space.
The new low voltage LTPD and CAPD series offer fast, reliable mobile solutions with excellent design flexibility. For high-performance needs, the CAPM series supports 300 mm/second print speeds, a service life of up to 200 km, and is suitable for outdoor ticket printing.
These mechanisms are lightweight and energy-efficient, perfect for petrol station receipts, kiosks, point-of-sale systems, and more.
Thermal Kiosk Printers
The Seiko Thermal Kiosk Printer Series “Edito” offers a fast, reliable, and versatile solution. This series includes base and output control models with push and pull detection, as well as presenter models with a control module.
- Base Model KSM347: print mechanism, controller, paper holder and flex paper channel
- Output Control Model KSM347O: base model including output control module with anti jam control and active pull protection
- Presenter Model KSM347P: base model including presenter control module for save paper handling
- Retractor Model KSM347R: presenter model including retractor control module for save paper handling and possible paper retraction. Also internal printing possible (no access from outside)
Thermal Panel Printers
To integrate a panel printer, simply cut a hole in your product’s fascia and slide the panel printer in from the front. Secure it with the supplied clamp and connect the power and data from a USB or Serial port. With Seiko’s “Easy Paper Load”, drop in the paper roll, close the door, and tear off the loose end at the serrated edge.
Panel printers are compact, easy to install, highly reliable, and require no ink!
Ideal for trained staff, they are commonly used in medical devices, diagnostic equipment, and building control panels. If you need quick printouts for portable drug testers or exhaust analysers, consider a panel printer. Explore the DPU-D2 and DPU-D3 from Seiko Instruments for more details.
In-Vehicle Thermal Printers
These in-vehicle thermal printers are mobile yet can be permanently mounted, powered by the vehicle battery. Ideal for emergency services, utility companies, and fleet vehicles, they support print widths up to A4 and communicate via USB, Bluetooth, or WiFi. BVM’s printer is excellent for printing receipts, invoices, and tickets on the go.
- Easy-to-read control interface and simple drop-in paper loading
- Dual tear bars allow easy tear-offs
- True WYSIWYG printing with the Windows driver
- Printer integration is quick and easy with Windows driver or Android and Microsoft SDKs (Apple iOS under preparation)
Thermal Label Printers
The Smart Thermal Label Printers simplify creating custom labels directly from your PC, featuring your logo and a postal-approved barcode. Combine fonts, graphics, and barcodes effortlessly on one label.
- Intuitive ! Automatically imports address information from various applications.
- Economical ! No ink, toner or ribbon needed.
- Modern ! Elegant and compact design
- Compact ! Small footprint, suitable for any work station
- Easy ! Uncomplicated change of labels and tags
- Individual ! Biggest range of labels and tags in the market with over 50 SKUs
Thermal POS Receipt Printers
Seiko’s RP-series receipt printers set a new standard in POS with outstanding performance, reliability, and modern design. The new RP-F Series offers an optional display, while the RP-E Series provides versatile solutions for any point-of-sale challenge.
Receipt, slip, ticket and more. RP-F10/RP-E10 series is ideal printer for many applications
- Seiko RP-F Series, compact thermal printers and come with an optional 4.3 inch colour display.
- Seiko RP-E Series printers generate receipts at 1.15 feet per second (350 mm per second).
Portable Thermal Printers
The compact and lightweight Seiko portable thermal printers (with Bluetooth options) are perfect for printing anywhere. They cater to diverse applications like field sales, inspections, mobile medical services, and ticket issuance.
Transitioning to mobile computing boosts efficiency, reduces transaction times, and enhances revenue opportunities. However, equipment must be durable and user-friendly for non-IT professionals, and solutions should ensure a quick return on investment.
Mobile printing demand is rising across various sectors!
It’s becoming essential in industrial, logistics, and retail markets, especially with the use of smartphones and tablets.
SII Portable Print Service for Android and iOS
The Print Service recognizes Bluetooth and WLAN coupled Seiko Instruments printers, and allows printing directly from various apps (for example the browser).
The following printers are supported:
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Our supporting team have all worked in an embedded environment for a number of years, consequently providing knowledge, experience and good advice around all BVM’s products & services when and where you need it. We don’t profess to know everything you need at the time – but we’ll always help in the first instance and get back to you when a little more information is required.
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