- Thermal printer is a digital printing machine which produce image by selectively heating coated thermal paper.
Design: A thermal printer consists of four parts.
- Thermal head: generates heat and prints on paper.
- Platen: a rubber roller that feeds paper.
- Spring: applies pressure to the thermal head, causing it to contact the thermal paper.
- Controller boards: For controlling the mechanism.
Applications:
- Commercial applications like filling station pumps.
- In ticketing like bus, railways and flights.
- ATM machines prints receipts using thermal printers.
- Labels for shipping products.
- Hospital bills, swiping machines.
Advantages:
- Quite and faster.
- Small in size and light.
- Consume less power.
Disadvantages:
- Not suitable for large document printing.
- Only some colours are produced by using different temperatures.