A LED printing technology

Recently, Lexmark launched a color laser printer using a LED engine Lexmark C910. Provide A3 format color printing function, color and black and white print speeds up to 29 pages per minute, home printing time is less than 15 seconds, claiming to be the world's fastest color laser printer.

LED full name light emitting diode array (Light Emitting Diode / LED array) optical scanning imaging technology. With the dense LED array as a light emitter data by LED electrical signal into a light signal and onto the photosensitive drum by the image. We can see that the LED printer is electronic imaging printer, by a group of light emitting diode (LED) instead of laser photo imaging. The light emitting diode is a semiconductor light-emitting energized, the imaging plane of each point corresponding to a light emitting diode, this technology is the main characteristics of LED light source has the advantages of small volume, light transmission distance is short, without mechanical transmission constraints, smaller LED array imaging system.

In principle, LED technology and Laser technology need to generate latent image on the imaging drum. The difference is that the Laser technology is the laser hair out of a laser beam to rotate through the prism and other mechanical device is a laser beam in the axial direction of the imaging drum, the drum itself through imaging rotation of the laser beam in the radial direction of the mobile imaging drum, corresponding with the actual image as a two-dimensional latent structure. The LED technology is a corresponding light emitting diode illumination imaging drum, which is imaged on the axial direction of the imaging drum, and is imaged on the radial direction of the imaging drum through the rotation of the imaging drum.

If the diameter of the LED continues to narrow, then you can continue to improve the resolution (that is, print resolution), while the print resolution increases, the printing speed does not slow down. More importantly, the LED color printer is due to the imaging principle of LED, you can achieve a color image at the same time (at the same time) imaging, color file to complete a print. These two factors make the speed of LED printing, especially color printing speed higher than the use of common Laser technology printers. In the Laser technology of the printer, the print resolution increased, the laser hair out of the laser beam in the imaging drum scanning point increases, the printing speed in a certain range of slow. But at present, in the Laser printing technology, there is a new 4-2-1 printing engine, but also to achieve a color image at the same time (simultaneous) imaging, color printing and black and white printing speed the same function.

However, the LED printing technology, print resolution and LED hardware has a strict relationship between the need to improve the resolution of the LED component itself to do smaller, more difficult. Laser technology can be more convenient to use a number of technologies, such as laser pulse modulation technology. The size, shape and position of the pixel can be varied by adjusting the wavelength and amplitude of the laser pulse. HP's FastRes 1200 technology, for example, enables users to print high-quality text and images near 1200dpi using 600dpi's laser printing engine. EPSON developed the 600 DPI levels (AcuLaser Color 2400 extension II), users can also use 600dpi laser print engines close to 2400dpi high quality print text and images.

In printing, LED from only one direction by pulse modulation technology, therefore, print the relative particle color transition is obvious, not too smooth, but using a two-dimensional laser technology can obtain better control, uniform color transition.

At present, the mainstream technology of laser printing is Laser technology, which is used by most manufacturers. Only OKI has always insisted on the use of LED technology in laser printers, FUJITSU, CASIO and Lexmark also have some of the technology products, but the market share is very low. However, LED technology also has its advantages and characteristics of the user to choose what technology can be selected according to their own laser printer needs.

Source: IT168