Printers CSIT 301 (Blum)

Types of Printers Impact Inkjet Dye-sublimation Laser Dot matrix Bubble jet Piezoelectric Dye-sublimation Laser CSIT 301 (Blum)

Resolution Printer resolution is generally reported in dots per inch (dpi). The horizontal and vertical dpi do not have to be the same. If the horizontal and vertical dpi are 300, then there are 300300=90,000 dots per square inch. Dpi can be misleading – especially when comparing different types of printers The dot’s size, shape, and placement as well as the toner or ink’s characteristics can affect print quality. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Metric 600 dpi 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters = 0.0254 meters 0.0254 m / 600 = 0.0000423 meters per dot (the diameter) 0.0423 millimeters 42.3 micrometers or microns CSIT 301 (Blum)

Resolution Enhancement Resolution Enhancement (Technology) REt is a set of techniques that can make a printer appear to have a higher resolution that it does. One technique will allow for variable sized dots. The decision will be based on the surrounding dots. The idea is to give a shape a sharper (less pixilated) edge. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Two HP printer specs CSIT 301 (Blum)

Speed There are various issues in measuring printing speed. Normal mode versus draft mode (resolution) Black speed versus color speed Text versus graphics Character printing (cps: characters per second) versus page printing (ppm: pages per minute) First page versus bulk printing CSIT 301 (Blum)

Speed Different companies test in different ways. So comparisons between companies based on their published specs is difficult. Some test from applications. Some test on pre-rasterized files. Some start the clock when the paper feeder starts. Article on printer speed http://www.pcworld.com/news/article.asp?aid=16386 CSIT 301 (Blum)

“Raster” definition CSIT 301 (Blum)

Cost Another factor to consider is, of course, cost. There is not only the cost of the printer itself but the cost of printing – measured in cents per page. Some printing requires special paper, so paper costs might need to be factored in as well. Some companies will lose money on the sale of a printer, knowing that they will recover the loss and then some on the ink cartridges. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Impact Impact printers are so named because they make physical contact with the surface on which they are printing. The standard impact printer is the dot matrix printer. Striking pins force a ribbon into contact with page Quality varies with number of pins: 9 - 24 Often “legacy” printer Good if there are forms with carbon papers for duplicate or triplicate copies. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Dot Matrix Specs cpi: characters per inch cps: characters per second ips: inches per second mtbf: mean time between failures CSIT 301 (Blum)

Ink Jet An ink jet printer sprays ink through nozzles onto the page. In this context ink refers to a liquid as opposed to toner which is a powder. There are two standard methods for spraying: Thermal bubble used by Canon and Hewlett Packard Piezoelectric used by Epson They use different inks – the thermal bubble ink will be heated and requires different thermal properties. If you are refilling cartridges, make sure it is the correct type of ink. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Thermal Bubble Jet Bubble Heating causes a bubble to form, that pushes ink out of the nozzle. When the bubble bursts more ink is pulled in from the reservoir. CSIT 301 (Blum)

“Piezoelectricity” definition CSIT 301 (Blum)

Piezoelectric Jet Swelling crystal Piezoelectric means that there’s a relationship between a substance’s mechanical properties (size, pressure, etc.) and its electrical properties (charge, current, etc.). The electric signal causes the crystal to swell, pushing liquid from the nozzle. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Print Head The print head houses hundreds of nozzles for spraying the ink. In some printers, this comes with the cartridges and is disposable. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Stepper Motor A stepper motor, belt and stabilizer bar allow the print head to be placed at a precise horizontal position. CSIT 301 (Blum)

“Stepper Motor” definition CSIT 301 (Blum)

Rollers Another stepper motor controls the rollers move the paper from the paper tray or feeder to print head, giving control over vertical positioning. CSIT 301 (Blum)

And the rest A printer also has a power supply, a circuit board to house memory and control circuitry. The data comes through a port – typically a parallel port or a USB. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Ink Jet Printing Steps Application sends data to printer driver. Driver converts data to form printer understands and establishes a connection to the printer. Data is sent. Received data is placed in printer’s buffer. (May check that nozzles are clean and ready.) CSIT 301 (Blum)

Ink Jet Printing Steps (Cont.) Check for paper and start feed. Stepper motor positions print head. Ink is sprayed. This is multiple steps in color printing – the cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks are applied. Another stepper motor moves the rollers –positioning it for the next row of printing. Park the print head and move the paper to the output tray. CSIT 301 (Blum)

The Quality of Paper While the ink dries quickly, there can be some spreading (“feathering”) before it dries. Having a high nozzle resolution is meaningless if the ink spreads significantly. High quality ink jet paper has a waxy finish or coating that keeps the ink from spreading. CSIT 301 (Blum)

The Quality of Paper (Cont.) Images on paper are formed by reflection. White light (a mixture of all colors) hits the paper, and in a given spot certain colors are absorbed and others reflected. Light can be reflected “specularly” or “diffusely” depending on the smoothness or roughness of the paper. This is referred to as the paper’s brightness. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Paper Brightness Brightness number CSIT 301 (Blum)

“Specular” definition CSIT 301 (Blum)

“Diffuse” definition CSIT 301 (Blum)

Laser Printer There are many misconceptions about laser printing. Some think that “laser” implies something about the speed of the printer. Some think that the laser burns the image into the paper. The laser is used mainly because it is easy to collimate as opposed to the laser’s intensity which need not be that great. CSIT 301 (Blum)

“Laser” definition Yes, Virginia, the word “laser” is an acronym. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Photoconductors Actually the key is not laser light but the photoconductivity. In a semiconductor, electrons are not free to move around (conduct) unless they are “promoted” (given enough energy to move) from the valence band to the conduction band. The valence band and conduction band are separated by the gap. In a photoconductor an electron can get the required energy from light. CSIT 301 (Blum)

“Photoconductivity” definition CSIT 301 (Blum)

Laser printing A drum is made from a photoconductor. Corona wire A drum is made from a photoconductor. The primary corona wire places positive charge on the drum. It’s dark so the charges can’t go anywhere (the drum is a poor conductor in the dark) Note: two of my resources disagree on what is positive and negative. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Laser Printing (Cont.) The laser is directed onto the drum, scanning across, turning on and off. Places where the laser light hit can conduct and the positive charge leaves the drum surface. CSIT 301 (Blum)

CSIT 301 (Blum)

Laser Printing (Cont.) Positively charged toner is applied to the drum. It is repelled by parts of the drum that still have a positive charge (like charges repel) but is attracted to places where the laser has shone. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Toner is plastic and pigment. Pigment to add color to the page. Plastic to melt into the page and hold the pigment in place. Some of the print head (parts that are more likely to wear out) comes along with the toner cartridge. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Laser Printing (Cont.) Next, negatively charged paper is introduced. It attracts the toner more strongly than the neutral parts of the drum. After picking up the toner the paper is discharged so that the paper won’t cling to the drum. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Laser Printing (Cont.) At this stage the toner is just sitting on the page. Next it passes through the fuser (heated rollers). When a laser printer is warming up – the fuser is literally warming up. The toner is melted into the page. The fuser is made of Teflon, so the toner doesn’t stick to it. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Laser Printing (Cont.) The drum is exposed to light, the erase lamp, so that now all of the charge can leave it. This “erases” any image written onto the drum by the laser. It is ready for the next page. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Two Power Supplies A laser printer has two power supplies. Recall that part of a power supply is a transformer that takes the 120 V (rms) power supplied and can raise (step up) or lower (step down) the voltage. The primary power supply handles the motors, control circuitry etc. The high-voltage power supply handles the primary corona wire. This high-voltage power supply is particularly dangerous. CSIT 301 (Blum)

System Board A laser printer has a system board housing the required RAM and ROM. Some of the processing needed to display an image can be done by the printer itself. One can add to the printer’s RAM in the same way one can add RAM to a computer’s system board. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Dye Sublimation A dye sublimation (a.k.a. thermal dye transfer) printer is a very high-end color printer. While other laser printers achieve their color by having nearby dots of cyan, yellow, magenta and black (called dithering), in the dye sublimation process these pigments actually mix. For each color there is a film (like cellophane), the print head heats the film which turns into a gas. The gas is absorbed by the nearby paper and re-solidified. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Sublimation: solid  gas CSIT 301 (Blum)

Printers understand ASCII CSIT 301 (Blum)

Some ASCII characters are instructions for the printer CSIT 301 (Blum)

PostScript PostScript is a Page Description Language developed by Adobe mainly for laser printers. In PostScript, the graphics are vector or object-oriented rather than bitmapped. Because the printer is given a description of a graphic rather than precise directions of dot placement. This makes the graphics more scalable since the printer is responsible for turning the graphic into dots it can readily change the size of the graphic before rasterizing it into a bitmap. RIP: raster image processor CSIT 301 (Blum)

Variations Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is a mixture of PostScript directions and some bitmapped graphics. What PostScript files (extension: ps) are for printers, Portable Document Files (extension: pdf) are for displays. CSIT 301 (Blum)

PostScript CSIT 301 (Blum)

PCL Printer Control Language (PCL) was developed by Hewlett Packard. PCL is more advanced than ASCII but not quite a true Page Description Language like PostScript. Less portable than PostScript. CSIT 301 (Blum)

CSIT 301 (Blum)

Windows GDI Windows Graphical Device Interface (GDI) is part of the operating system that handles graphics for display or printing. It does the rasterizing to bitmap instead of having the printer’s control board do it. CSIT 301 (Blum)

Windows GDI CSIT 301 (Blum)

References http://computer.howstuffworks.com/inkjet-printer.htm/printable http://computer.howstuffworks.com/laser-printer.htm/printable All in One A+ Certification, Meyers and Jernigan http://www.webopedia.com CSIT 301 (Blum)