Card printer
Card printers , often also called chip card printers , are electronic desktop printers with single card feed or input magazines for printing and personalizing ISO standard plastic cards . This differentiates them from, for example, label printers , whose feed is based on continuous material. The card dimensions are usually 85.60 × 53.98 mm according to ISO 7816 standardized as ID-1. This format is also used for debit , credit , telephone cards , the EU driver's license , health insurance card or electronic ID card . One also speaks of the credit card format. The card printers are controlled via appropriate printer drivers or using their own programming language .
history
The forerunners of modern card printers
The history of the first card printers goes back to the 1980s. Until then, the only way to personalize plastic cards was by embossing and coloring them in a single color. With these early monochrome printers, it was initially difficult to incorporate logos etc. into the print image because the print resolution was too low - the monochrome personalizations initially had a resolution of only 2.75 dots / millimeter. Later the resolution was increased to 4 points / millimeter and 8 points / millimeter. For cost reasons, however, these devices were not suitable for the decentralized personalization of plastic cards. The first portable card printer was invented by Frank Dorner in Vienna and presented in 1985 under the name PDC 1800 at CeBIT in Germany.
Modern card printer
With the invention of dye-sublimation printing , the way was paved for four-color card printers. Dai Nippon Printing was the inventor of dye-sublimation printing . The DNP CPX10000 printer, released in 1989, weighed just under 45 kilograms and was not easy to transport, but it already had retransfer printing technology , in which a transparent film is first printed in color using the dye- sublimation printing process before this film is transferred to the card.
The dye-sublimation printers revolutionized the possibilities of card personalization from the 1990s, as the font and size became very flexible. While the printer models were initially limited in their output options by permanently installed fonts and sizes, support for TrueType fonts was quickly implemented. The print resolution had already been increased to the standard of 300 dpi still prevailing today.
Compared to the previously known retransfer card printers, smaller and lighter direct card printers began their triumphant advance. As the name suggests, this device class prints the print image directly on the card surface. Easier handling, lower printing costs and shorter printing times were bought with the disadvantage that the printed image no longer ran off the edge.
The price of these card printers, which was mostly over 20,000 DM (Deutsche Mark), was still a disadvantage.
In 1996 the French company Privilege caused a small revolution in the card printer market. It produced a small 4-color dye-sublimation printer, which was sold under the designation P300. This printer could print in four colors and monochrome and had a print resolution of 300 dpi. What was special about it was the price of less than DM 10,000 at the time. For the first time, a card printer also became a worthwhile investment for the end user, which marked the beginning of the era of mass decentralized personalization of plastic cards.
In 1998 the Austrian company Ulrich Electronic GmbH developed the TRW card printer, with TRW standing for thermal re-write printing. The printer was presented at CeBIT 1999 under the name CP2. However, there was still no talk of thermal re-write printing, but of "ClearSet technology".
Printing process
The principle is the same for almost all card printers: the plastic card is simultaneously fed past a thermal print head with a ribbon. Heat pulses from the print head transfer the color from the ribbon to the card. The standard resolution for card printing is 300 dpi (300 print points per inch or 11.8 print points per mm). Some retransfer card printers offer a print resolution of 600 dpi for high-resolution security applications (e.g. for microscripts or guilloches ).
There are various printing processes that differ in detail:
- Thermal transfer
- In the thermal transfer process, preprinted plastic cards are usually personalized in monochrome (one color). The color is "transferred" directly from the (monochrome) color ribbon to the card.
- Thermal sublimation
- In the thermal sublimation process, multi-zone ribbons based on the CMYK color set are used. The card to be printed is moved past the print head several times with the respective color zone. The color is vapor-deposited (sublimed) directly onto the card in gradations. A high color depth with up to 16 million colors can be displayed on the map. Usually, a final clear overlay is used (YMCKO color ribbon), which makes the card printing much more durable. It protects the personalized plastic card from mechanical abrasion and makes the print UV-resistant.
- Retransfer procedure
- In the first step of retransfer card printing, multi-zone ribbons based on the CMYK color set are used. However, the printing is not done directly on the card, but mirrored on a retransfer ribbon (also printing film). In the second step, the printed retransfer ribbon is applied hot to the card and laminated . The advantage of the retransfer process is its independence from the card surface. In particular, contact-based and contactless RFID chip cards can be printed on largely problem-free and running over the edge. The retransfer tape laminated to the card provides protection against abrasion.
- Thermal rewrite printing process (TRW)
- In contrast to the other methods, the thermal rewrite method does not personalize the card with the help of a colored ribbon, but stimulates a thermosensitive layer in the card. These cards can be personalized, deleted and rewritten repeatedly. The most common applications are the student ID based on a chip card, the validity of which changes every semester, and contactless ski passes that are reissued over and over again.
- Direct-to-card printing process
- DTC technology prints the colors by heating a ribbon carrier under a thermal print head, which works to transfer the color from the ribbon to a blank card.
- Offset printing process
- The offset printing process is used when large numbers of cards are to be printed. This process allows colors to be applied to the plastic card within the framework of the corporate identity (Pantone or HKS). The printing is done using printing plates and offset film and cannot be done with simple card printers. The print image is high-resolution and long-lasting.
Options
In addition to pure card printing, card printers can optionally read and encode magnetic strips, contact and contactless RFID chip cards . With the help of card printers, plastic cards can be optically and logically coded at the same time.
A distinction is made between one-sided and two-sided card printers with an automatic turning station. Plastic cards can also be provided with a laminate after personalization. The aim of the final lamination of a plastic card is the significantly longer shelf life and increased protection against forgery.
commitment
In addition to the classic application areas of time recording and access control (especially with photo personalization), countless other applications have established themselves, e.g. B. for personalized customer and membership cards, in sports ticketing and in local public transport for season ticket production, for school and university ID production as well as for the creation of national ID cards.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Company history of Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
- ↑ Trade fair innovations CeBit 1999 - ClearSet technology from Ulrich Electronic GmbH. Accessed on October 3, 2013.
- ↑ Printing method for card printing . Accessed October 15, 2015