Computer-to-plate technology (CTP) has now gone through more than 10 years. So far, the choice of the market has clearly conveyed such a message: commercial, packaging and direct printing are all thermal imaging technology; the newspaper industry is photosensitive and Thermal sensitivity is in a confrontation. From the perspective of the gradual increase in the global installed capacity, the growth rate of thermal sensitivity is significantly higher than that of photosensitive; of course, photosensitive still accounts for a considerable market share (mainly in Europe) due to long-term accumulation and early installation. Japan's newspaper industry accounts for 85% of the most thermal applications, and it is currently the most popular country in the newspaper industry that uses FM screen printing; North American thermal has reached 53% in 2007, and the increase in the Asia-Pacific newspaper industry also Mainly heat sensitive;
By the end of 2007, the total installed capacity of global CTP was about 41,000 units, and the total consumption of plates was 330 million square meters, of which 95 million square meters were photosensitive, and 230 million square meters were thermal sensitive, accounting for 70% of the market share; the total installed capacity of CTP in the global newspaper industry The installed capacity of Kodak Newspapers is more than 1,200 units, about 4,400 units; the total number of thermal sensitive units is more than 1,600 units, accounting for 37% of the market share.
Which technology represents the development direction of the newspaper industry
Which technology represents the development direction is also the most controversial issue when the newspaper industry invests in CTP. Speaking of this issue, it is better to look at the development direction of newspaper printing. Large-scale, large-volume, speed first, and print quality second, this has always been a true portrayal of newspaper printing, therefore, photosensitive has always thought that it is the most suitable technology for the newspaper industry, because of its plate-making speed, it used to dominate. However, the unique application of thermal technology in the development of CTP in the newspaper industry provides some reference for current customer investment. Is the print quality really not so important? If customers can not only enjoy the speed but also provide high-quality prints, but also experience the many conveniences brought by technological progress, why should they stand still? Let's review the development process of the two technologies. You should be able to make your own judgment:
Light camp:
In 1997, Agfa launched the first 532-nanometer green laser silver salt CTP (using the green laser silver salt version, the earlier is the 488-nanometer green laser); in 2001/2, the purple laser CTP with a laser wavelength of 405 nanometers was launched. At that time, the laser energy was 5 milliwatts, which was suitable for the purple laser silver salt version. In 2004/5, the purple laser CTP with a laser wavelength of 405 nanometers (30 milliwatts of laser energy) was introduced. The applicable plate material is purple laser polymer. Now the laser The energy has increased to 60-100 milliwatts, and why the laser energy is increased, in addition to the emphasis on increasing the speed of the photosensitive equipment suppliers, the development considerations behind it are mostly unclear, which will be discussed later; photosensitive in the 10 years of laser wavelength Several changes have taken place. The important thing is that each of the changes is suitable for the customer's plates, and silver salt has now become an obsolete technology. Therefore, customers say that the CTP technology changes too fast, and the poor technical compatibility refers to changes in light sensitivity. So far, the installed capacity of the domestic newspaper industry is about 124. Among them, 46 are purple laser polymers, 38 are thermally sensitive, and the other 40 are the silver salts mentioned above. Of course, if the upgrade cost of the machine is almost the same as that of the new equipment, the significance of the upgrade is not significant.
Thermal camp:
In 2000, under the situation of good development of commercial thermal CTP, Kodak launched a newspaper CTP with a laser wavelength of 830 nanometers, which was suitable for all thermal plates, but the speed was still slow at the time, only 40 folios / Hours, 2004/5 launched the same laser wavelength high-capacity CTP with the fastest 100-sheet folio, and in June 2008, the thermal press CTP with the largest newspaper production capacity was launched, with a speed of 100-150 folio / hour, the entire 8 In addition to the speed increase in the development process of the year, the laser wavelength remains unchanged, and the applicability of the plate material has not changed. It is particularly worth mentioning that the CTP installed by the China Youth Daily at the end of 2002 is still in use as the main force. The user's current needs to upgrade the on-site speed and commercial accuracy and plate format, it can be said that the investment has a high degree of effective use; while most of the silver salt CTP purchased in the same period has been idle, the environmental protection and the expensive plate prices continue Hidden dangers of use. Therefore, each progress of the thermal camp has its technical continuity and stability, and the investment in customers is very cherished. At this point, it is necessary to mention the aforementioned laser energy problem, because the technology of sheet metal develops faster than CTP equipment, and now the mainstream sheet technology is already processing-free sheet, in simple terms, it is to keep the CTP equipment unchanged Under the circumstances, the subsequent printing process is omitted, which of course is a major contribution to the timeliness of CTP technology. For the photosensitive device that has always claimed to be its first speed, such efficiency improvement may be purely relying on CTP device technology. The advancement cannot be achieved, so the development of the violet laser-free version becomes a top priority. However, everyone knows that the processing of the plate is to achieve the role of development and fixing, and the processing step is omitted. Then it is necessary to solve this problem in the exposure of the plate making. Therefore, the laser energy required for processing the plate is much higher In the ordinary CTP version, for thermal laser heads with high energy, it is natural to deal with processing-free plates. Customers do not need to replace the CTP equipment and directly use it. For purple laser equipment, improve their laser as soon as possible. Head energy has become a top priority for catching up with technological progress, so there is a move to increase the energy of the purple laser equipment from 5 milliwatts to 100 milliwatts. It is important to know that the supplier of the purple laser equipment used to be very vocal about the energy of the laser head. . Even so, it is impossible to fix the plate dots on the basis of only 100 milliwatts of energy. Therefore, they still need to complete the final dot dot fixing by means of the process of printing, but this time they avoid the use of chemicals The process of solvent development is changed to using "clean water" mixed with a special solvent for fixing. Strictly speaking, the treatment-free plate of the purple laser can only be called a plate without chemical washing. For users, the washing time, washing equipment, and washing process are still not saved.
The thermal technology was relatively late because of its relatively late involvement in the newspaper market, and because of its relatively slow early speed. The development of the CTP of the newspaper industry was greatly limited. Now Kodak Thermal has made a new breakthrough in speed and the fastest publishing With a speed of more than 140 folios and a comprehensive product range, it will inevitably have an impact on the development of the newspaper market.
The outstanding features of Kodak thermal CTP
1) Thermal imaging technology is stable and reliable
Kodak's unique SQUAREspotTM square spot thermal imaging technology has won the GATF award of the American Printing Technology Foundation five times since its launch. It is the leader in the CTP field. It has successfully installed 12,000 units worldwide and more than 400 domestic units, ranking first in the market for six consecutive years. , Is recognized as the best thermal imaging technology.
The exposure principle of SQUAREspotTM square spot thermal imaging technology is as follows: a total of twenty infrared laser diodes are installed on the laser bar, and the light emitted by each laser diode is focused on the entire light valve through the prism to make the energy distribution more uniform. The light passes through the 240 10.6mx 2.5m square windows opened on the light valve and then is focused on the printing plate by the prism. Therefore, even if several laser diodes are gradually aging, only proper adjustment of the laser energy can still expose normally. In addition, the current value of the laser diode can be checked through a remote diagnosis system to accurately predict the life of the laser head.
Since Kodak launched the first generation of thermal CTP in 1996, the laser head has undergone five major upgrades and upgrades in 10 years, and it has become more stable and reliable while keeping the laser wavelength unchanged. Kodak CTP uses a diode laser, the laser only lights up during exposure. According to the survey of Kodak ’s huge installations around the world, the average effective exposure time is 5500 hours, which means that the average life span has reached 4-5 years, plus customers The convenience conditions in Kodak's terms of service can be used ingeniously, even if a laser is replaced, the cost is very low.
Generate accurate dots and shorten printing preparation time
Generally, a printed dot is composed of multiple laser dots. During raster image processing, it is divided into many grating grids. Most manufacturers use circular laser dots to fill this dot, and the circular laser dots are more than the grating grid. Large, so the dot size is not accurate. Moreover, since the energy of the Gaussian circular laser dot gradually decreases from the center of the circle to the edge, the edges of the dots formed are not sharp and steep, the ink is easily emulsified during printing, and the adjustment of the water-ink balance takes more time.
Kodak uses square laser dots, which are perfectly matched to the grating grid, and the energy distribution is uniform. Therefore, the edges of the dots are sharp and clear, and can be accurate to 1% to 99% of the dots. Therefore, the ink is printed quickly during printing, the ink is more stable, and the preparation time can be It is greatly shortened, and the expansion rate of the dot formed by the square light spot during the printing process can be effectively controlled, which can fully improve the printing quality and production efficiency of the existing Printing Machine.
2) Simple printing process control, easy to realize FM screen printing
FM screening technology has been launched for nearly ten years, but it is rarely used in large-scale production because they all use Gaussian-shaped round laser spots, whose energy distribution gradually decreases from the center to the circumference, and the exposure limit is not clear. With changes in laser energy, emulsion thickness, and development conditions, dot size and edges are more likely to change. Moreover, the diameter of the circular laser dots is mostly above 15 microns, which is larger than the grating grid. When randomly distributed, the dots that cannot accurately represent a certain value always have some unpredictable changes. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly adjust the printing conditions. Establishing stable process parameters is time-consuming and labor-intensive, making it difficult to put into mass production.
Kodak uses square laser dots with a minimum side length of 10 microns, which accurately matches the grating grid, uniform energy distribution, and very clear exposure limits. Changes in laser energy, emulsion thickness, and development conditions have little effect on the dots, and the edges of the dots Sharp and stable, the fluctuation is less than 2%, it can be accurately predicted, the adjustment of printing is relatively simple, and it is easy to establish stable process conditions, so it can be widely used in the actual production environment. Kodak is currently the only manufacturer in the world that can provide 10 micron FM screening technology, and a large number of customers are investing in production. Through FM screening, printing ink can be saved by 15-20%, and it can be printed with 40 grams of newsprint without ink penetration.
Due to the use of Kodak ’s unique laser head exposure technology, Kodak Newspaper CTP can make 175 lines at 1200dpi for semi-commercial printing on light coated paper, or it can use Kodak ’s Fangjia FM screening technology to achieve newspaper printing. Commercial printing quality.
3) Dynamic focusing and temperature compensation to ensure accurate registration
Kodak CTP uses external drum thermal imaging technology. The printing plate is clamped on the cylinder by a strong plate clamp on one side and fixed on the cylinder by a strong magnet on the other side. The upper and lower plates are smooth. The physical characteristics during exposure are similar to the plate to the printing cylinder. When outputting high network cable or FM network, the fine dots are not deformed. When imaging, the roller is only 200 rpm, and the operation is very stable.
Kodak's unique dynamic focusing and temperature compensation system can automatically perform dynamic focusing according to the change of plate thickness during the imaging process to ensure stable and consistent imaging. Sometimes the coating on the surface of the plate is uneven, or the thickness is uneven due to foreign objects such as dust on the back. The Kodak laser head uses a low-energy laser to automatically measure the distance from the surface of the plate to the laser head in order to adjust the focus in real time and ensure the actual It can accurately focus during exposure, and obtain clear and strong exposure on various plates. Kodak's CTP can also adjust and compensate for the thermal expansion and contraction of the printing plate caused by changes in the ambient temperature, ensuring that the same machine exposed at different times or even different machine exposure can be accurately registered, which is convenient To improve the efficiency of the revision operation and load balancing of CTP equipment. The registration accuracy of the same machine is ± 10 microns, and the registration accuracy of different machines is ± 40 microns. In order to save time, several machines can produce a set of different color versions separately, which effectively uses the function of the process and greatly saves the time of plate making.
4) Kodak thermal CTP is the most environmentally friendly and has a low operating cost
Because the wavelength of the laser head is 830 nanometers, Kodak CTP can be operated in the bright room, which is very user-friendly. The supplemental liquid per square meter of liquid medicine is 30-60 ml, and the PH value of the liquid medicine is 9, which is weakly alkaline and can be directly discharged. The replenishing solution of this kind of medicine solution is 100-130 ml; the PH value of the medicine solution reaching 11 to 13 belongs to the strong alkaline category, so its cleaning frequency is very high, otherwise "sludge" is easy to be produced in the processor. Kodak laser heads have an average exposure time of 5500 hours, and the cost of laser diodes is also very low. The exposure system of the purple laser is operated by a set of calibration mechanisms of the laser prism. Even if the low-power laser head itself does not fail, the life of the entire mechanism will be much lower than the nominal, and so far, there is no domestic purple Laser CTP has been used for more than 4 years.
In addition, since the thermal CTP uses the external drum exposure principle, the laser energy distribution is uniform (high accuracy), the bending direction of the CTP plate and the plate cylinder is consistent, and the laser head is very close to the plate surface, which ensures the error of the imaging dot And the deformation rate is much smaller than the inner drum or platform CTP equipment.
For a thermal plate that requires a large amount of energy for exposure, it means that external factors such as changes in processing conditions have little effect on the image quality, which also makes the thermal plate have higher imaging stability than the photosensitive plate.
5) Kodak CTP has good upgradeability
All Kodak CTP can be upgraded from low speed to high speed, from newspaper resolution to commercial resolution, from narrow to wide format at the customer site to meet different needs. Among domestic users, Wenhui Xinmin Newspaper Group was based on the initial selection of Kodak Allwin Newspaper 100, and as the business developed, the equipment was upgraded to Allwinner 150.
Through the above introduction, I believe that users can have an objective comparison when choosing device models. No matter which technology is ultimately selected, they will definitely choose the one that suits you best.
1. Side gauge can be fine adjust according to different abgle of paper
2. Speed can be adjusted according to operator`s skill
3. Levels of security design, protect operators from any danger
4.High precision of slitting blade
5. Foldable collect table, and can be adjusted in height and length
6.Patented design of fixing structure of blades, ensure precise of slitting
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Anhui Innovo Bochen Machinery Manufacturing Co., Ltd. , https://www.innovomachines.com