8 ZXP Series 7 Card Printer Service Manual P1036102-007
Theory of Operation
Printing Technologies and Ribbons
Dye Sublimation Printing
In Dye Sublimation Printing, each printhead heating element is applied voltage at one
of a number of pulse widths.
A wider pulse results in the element getting hotter, which converts more of the dye (at
that pixel location) to a gas and diuses it into the surface of the card (a wider pulse
gives more intense color at that pixel).
This is repeated for each of the dye panels (i.e., Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan), to result
in full-color images.
Card
Printhead
Gaseous dye is
absorbed by the card
Ribbon Carrier
Layer
Ribbon Ink
Layer
Thermal Transfer Printing
In Thermal Transfer Printing, voltage is either applied or not applied to each printhead
printing element. If voltage is applied, the ink at that location is transferred to the
surface of the card.
Each pixel is either printed (i.e., the ink is transferred to the card) or not; there are no
intermediate levels.
Thermal Transfer printing with a black (K) resin panel is used for printing bar codes,
since contrast between the light and dark areas is the highest and the edges are the
sharpest.
Card
Printhead
Ink is transferred to the
surface of the card
Ribbon Carrier
Layer
Ribbon Ink
Layer
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