Rohm Brings Thermal Printhead Compatible with Single-Cell Power Supplies

Rohm has recently announced the availability of a new thermal printhead for receipt printers in payment terminals capable of being driven by a single-cell li-ion battery.

Thermal printheads are electronic devices that print on special media (i.e. thermal paper) by precisely and repeatedly generating and dissipating heat. Conventional thermal printheads for payment terminals are driven by 2-cell li-ion batteries.

Unlike inkjet and laser printers, thermal printers operate quietly and do not use ink or require large toner cartridges. As such they have been adopted in barcode printers for logistics, quality processing, and medical applications as well as retail POS (Point of Sales) receipt printers and fax machines. However, due to the trade-off between print energy and print quality it is common to use thermal printheads requiring 2-cell li-ion battery drive.

In contrast, the KR2002-D06N10A utilizes special low resistance heat elements along with an optimized glaze design to improve heat storage characteristics. In addition, developing a new structure that combines a ceramic substrate with printed circuit board makes it possible to improve applied energy efficiency by 20% over Rohm’s conventional 2-cell drive products, enabling a reduction in head size.

Reviewing these fundamental structures and materials allowed Rohm to maintain print quality even with single-cell drive, contributing to greater device miniaturization and energy savings. And following the trend in recent years in the mobile terminal market for increased print quality and speed along with greater energy savings, compactness, and lighter weight, the demand for single-cell drive thermal printheads for receipt applications will continue to grow.