In recent years, the importance of payment terminals and mobile label printers for logistics has continued to grow due to the expansion of electronic payments. For mobile label printers and payment terminals, thermal printers powered by 2-cell lithium-ion batteries have become widespread due to their speed and print quality.
Single-cell lithium-ion battery power allows printers to be smaller, lighter, and more energy-efficient, but drawbacks such as slower print speeds and shorter battery life limit their widespread use. In response, ROHM has developed a thermal printhead that can achieve the same print performance as a 2-cell unit, even with a single lithium-ion battery cell.
The KR2002-Q06N5AA utilizes a radically new structure that breaks with convention. In addition to optimizing the enamel design (which acts as a heat storage layer) and employing special low-resistance heating elements, the structure of the protective film on these elements has also been optimized. This ensures efficient heat transfer to printing media such as thermal paper and thermal transfer ribbons. Simultaneously, improvements to the controller's integrated circuit and wiring structure enhance printing performance by efficiently converting the energy supplied to the device into thermal energy. This simultaneous improvement in heat transfer and energy efficiency allows ROHM to achieve significant energy savings.
These improvements allow the printer to achieve the same speed and print quality as conventional printheads powered by two lithium-ion battery cells (7.2V) using only one cell. ROHM has also managed to reduce the energy required for printing by approximately 30% compared to existing single-cell-powered thermal printheads. This translates into greater energy efficiency while simultaneously reducing the size and weight of the thermal printers.
In the future, ROHM will continue to expand its considerable range of thermal printheads that offer high image quality, industry-leading print speeds, and superior efficiency.
Key Specifications
*For more information on printheads for mobile printers, please refer to the following URL on the ROHM website:
https://www.rohm.com/products/printheads/mobile-printers
Availability: December 2023 (OEM quantities)
Application examples:
Label printers for logistics, inventory management terminals, receipt printers for payment terminals (Figure 5), POS (point of sale) printers
