313 Japan ALPS Develops the World's Fastest Small Line Thermal Printer

ALPS Electric Co., Ltd. developed practical equipment such as POS and ECR to develop the fastest line-type thermal printer “PTMBL17/27” in its class with a printing speed of up to 200mm/sec. The model has been launched successively since September 2000. He also met with the audience at the “CEATEC JAPAN2000” exhibition held in Chiba Prefecture from October 3rd to 5th. Today, POS and ECR cash registers are widely used in supermarkets and small shops. However, in the past, cash register machines had a slow printing speed, and customers had to wait for a long time. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to develop a cash register that is faster and easier to load. The 24V DC-driven new product developed by ALPS caters to this market demand. To achieve the goal of high-speed printing, the most critical part is to deal with motor cooling problems and adopt print heads that can withstand high-speed loads. ALPS designed a mechanical structure with excellent heat dissipation performance and adopted a new type of print head that can be energized at a high speed. Finally, it successfully developed the world's fastest small-line thermal printer. The printer has made great progress compared with the PTMBL13/21, the fastest printer in the industry, which was exhibited inside ALPS in March 2000. Like another widely-aspected model "PTMBL35", "PTMBL17/27" uses the "paper drop-in method" in the opening and closing section of the feed roller, eliminating the need to manually load paper in a narrow space. The opening and closing section of the feed roller needs to be opened, and it can be closed after the paper roll is placed, making the whole process of loading paper easier and faster than before. In addition, the two models “PTMBL17” and “PTMBL27” of the product can handle the paper rolls of 58mm and 80mm, respectively. Therefore, the use of the paper is wider than before. [Main uses] POS/ECR machines, various analyzers, health management machines, etc. [Production/Sales Plan] Sample Availability: Sample prices start in September 2000: PTMBL17 7,000 yen PTMBL27 11,000 yen Monthly production: 20,000 units each Place of origin: Iwate-gun, Morioka factory, Iwate Prefecture [Specifications] Products Name PTMBL17PTMBL27 Printing Line Thermal Printing Paper Size 58mm/68mm80mm/82.5mm Dots Consisting of 432 dots/line 576 dots/line Dot density 8 dots/mm Printable width 54mm72mm Printing speed 200mm/sec Operating voltage range Print head/motor 24V DC logic control 5V+-5% DC current drive -