Johannesburg, 21 Aug 2013
Oc'e South Africa, a leader in digital document management and delivery, unleashes a new wave of innovation with the first wide-format printing solution taking advantage of the company's new, patented CrystalPoint technology, the ColourWave 650.
Oc'e CrystalPoint technology has been developed entirely by the company to deliver high-quality colour and black and white prints on plain and recycled paper. Using patented Oc'e TonerPearls, it is ideal for a wide range of applications including CAD plots, GIS documents and business graphics.
Driving this technology innovation, according to Chris Paulet, product manager of the Wide Format Printing Systems division of Oc'e South Africa, is the accelerated shift in the market demand for colour output.
Paulet says: "This technology is something that Oc'e started developing in the mid 1990s. At that time, we saw a number of trends in the market that are still valid today, that were blurring the lines between what had previously been separate applications. For example, there is more photography being mixed with CAD, for illustration and depiction of landscaping. In fact, with our colour CAD printers, one in every five prints tends to be a colour poster. Additionally, there is more business and consumer graphic printing. These developments influenced our technology choices. We also saw increasing demand for sustainability, as well as a need for more productive colour systems. We were looking for a solution that could address all of these requirements."
Helping drive the demand for colour, the CrystalPoint technology offers users the best qualities of inkjet technology, traditionally used by GIS customers, as it provides rapid output, ease of use, affordability and a relatively green solution; combined with the best features of LED/toner printing.
"Oc'e already has significant investments and knowledge in both toner and thermal inkjet. Both technologies have a lot of positive benefits, but they each also have their challenges. The challenges you see in thermal inkjet are primarily the media dependency, meaning you must use higher quality, more expensive paper for good output, versus toner, which gives you good quality on simple, plain paper. Bottom line, we wanted a technology that combined the best of both worlds, and that is what led to us developing the Oc'e CrystalPoint technology, which is somewhat of a hybrid."
At the heart of the CrystalPoint technology are small, solid, berry-sized objects, otherwise known as the Oc'e TonerPearls. "The pearls essentially replace ink and are housed in a transparent cartridge - imagine, you can actually see how much you have left," says Paulet.
Fed via gravity, the pearls roll into the imaging devices and get melted at 130 degrees Celsius into a toner gel. The heat essentially jellifies the pearl into a toner gel and is then jetted onto the media with no feathering. According to the ColourWave 650's specifications, a 600 dpi resolution is provided. The final step in the process is for the toner to crystallise onto the media.
"The CrystalPoint technology and TonerPearls give us very robust prints that are immediately dry for improved productivity. The strong adhesion means the result will not wrinkle or scratch, and an even semi-gloss finish is achieved. They are odourless prints, and it is an odourless system with no ozone emissions. One of the benefits of thermal inkjet is the movement of print heads in a swath motion that creates prints at high speed, and that is the thermal inkjet benefit we wanted to achieve with our imaging devices," explains Paulet.
"One of the most impressive characteristics of this technology is that no special media - like expensive, heavy, glossy paper - is needed in order to obtain a glossy or semi-glossy print. Imagine the financial savings," he adds.
Designed for the CAD and GIS markets as a base, the combination of the ColourWave 650 and CrystalPoint technology also does well with short-run point-of-purchase materials and poster printing, given its blend of cost-effective, full-colour printing, speed and energy consumption. In sleep mode, the ColourWave 650 consumes 50 watts, 210 watts in ready mode, and only 360 watts when active. It is also EPA Energy Star compliant. As a comparison, a computer and monitor will draw about 400 watts.
"With the introduction of Oc'e CrystalPoint technology, we are unleashing an important wave of innovation that's changing the face of the wide-format printing industry," concludes Paulet.
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