Development of CTP technology and considerations for CTP overall solutions
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Since the application of CTP technology in 1995, after 12 years of development, it has entered the mature stage of the market. By the end of 2006, the number of CTP systems installed worldwide has exceeded 30,000. After 10 years of market cultivation, China's CTP market is gradually increasing in installed capacity every year. During this period, it has gone through two stages of development. From 1998 to 2003, it was the introduction period of the CTP market, and dozens of units were installed every year. In 2004, volume growth began, with an annual growth rate of 50%. Especially in 2005 and 2006, the annual installed capacity exceeded 200 units. The Chinese CTP market entered a period of rapid development. The Chinese CTP market will continue for the next 8 to 10 years. development stage.
First, the advantages of CTP direct plate making
The CTP direct plate making process eliminates the steps of photo-alignment, development, and rinsing compared with the traditional plate-making process. The CTP process brings the plate quality to be stable and controllable, and the printing machine utilization rate is also greatly improved.
From the aspect of improving efficiency, the CTP layout is clean, no need to trim the dirt, saving a lot of preparation time on the machine; the CTP plate registration is accurate, reducing the printing time of the printing machine; the CTP plate has a fast ink balance and reduces the consumption of a large amount of overprint paper. In terms of improving quality, the outlets are accurately restored, the printed product level is more abundant, and the FM network can be realized, as well as the frequency modulation and amplitude modulation hybrid screening, which greatly improves the printing quality. From the perspective of data processing technology control, the plate making process can directly carry out data control, and can perform printing compensation at different network points to achieve flexible control of the process.
Second, the development of CTP technology
According to the imaging principle, CTP can be divided into two categories: photosensitive (violet laser) and thermal. Photosensitive CTP is imaged using light-to-plate exposure; thermal CTP is a technique that utilizes 830 nm wavelength infrared thermal imaging. The thermal CTP mostly adopts an external drum imaging structure, and the photosensitive CTP mostly adopts an internal drum imaging structure.
1. Violet laser CTP with internal drum imaging structure is the perfect combination of quality, efficiency and cost
When the violet laser CTP is imaged, the plate is adsorbed in the drum. During exposure, the laser beam is irradiated onto the rotating mirror through the optical path, and the rotating mirror is rotated, and the laser beam is refracted onto the plate to form an exposure image (see Fig. 1). Since the distance between the plate and the rotating mirror is constant, the laser spot size and the focusing distance are kept constant, the optical system is simple, and the roller and the plate are stationary during the imaging process, so the failure rate is low.
2. Purple laser CTP quality improvement technology - laser energy automatic calibration
Laser energy auto-calibration This technology, which is only used in Founder and Fuji CTP equipment, can automatically calibrate laser energy, accurately control the laser energy reaching the layout, ensure accurate reproduction of the dots, and eliminate the need to manually adjust the exposure energy in daily production operations. Exposure time. The violet laser CTP plate-making quality with automatic laser energy calibration is comparable to the high-end thermal CTP plate-making quality.
3. Technical development of violet laser CTP laser
Since the violet laser can be illuminated in an instant, it needs to be activated instantly when it is exposed, and it is normally turned off. It is not necessary to start the laser at the same time as other lasers, so the loss is much lower than other lasers. The reason why the actual life of a laser laser is longer than that of other CTP lasers. The violet laser CTP does not need to replace the laser during the service life of up to 10 years. Even if the accidental replacement cost is low, the printing company that pays more attention to the application cost opens the door to adopt CTP technology, and also pays attention to quality and efficiency. Commercial printing companies offer better options.
The purple laser generator was first developed by Japan's Nichia, and now many international companies such as Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, NEC, Sanyo, Toshiba and Philips have joined the development work. Laser power has also increased dramatically over the past few years, power has grown from 5mW at the time of its inception to the current 250mW, and this development is far from reaching its end. With the popularization of Blu-ray DVD, the cost of lasers is further reduced, the energy is further improved, and the service life is longer. Because of the outstanding advantages of violet laser lasers, many prepress and print manufacturers have begun to adopt this technology. At Drupa 2004, Fuji, Esko, Escher-Grad, Highwater and other companies have launched the purple laser CTP, the purple laser CTP has become the mainstream CTP solution with indisputable facts.
4. External drum thermal CTP requires a large number of auxiliary technologies to ensure the normal operation of the equipment.
When the outer drum type thermal CTP is imaged, the plate is tightly attached to the surface of the drum, and the plate is rotated at a speed of several hundred to one thousand revolutions per minute. The laser is accurately stepped along the axis to complete the exposure of the plate. . The drum, plate and laser are closely matched to provide a complete image (see Figure 2).
With the outer drum structure, the imaging distance of the laser to the plate is only 5~10mm, so the thermal CTP must use the autofocus technology to ensure the image quality; the plate has a very high momentum during high-speed rotation, so it must have a complicated plate. Fixing and stabilizing technology; different specifications of the plate will change the balance of the drum, so there must be a specific counterweight balancing device to maintain the balance of the plate; thermal exposure requires a lot of heat, so there must be a temperature compensation system To ensure the stable operation of the laser and the overprint accuracy of the plate. Only with these auxiliary technologies can the thermal CTP achieve better image quality.
There are two main types of thermal laser technology. One is a multi-beam arrangement of laser tubes, which is characterized by multi-beam arrangement of infrared diodes with output power below 1W. This type of laser is common in early imported CTP equipment and current domestic thermal CTP equipment; the other is more Advanced thermal lasers are grating light valves and GLVs. This technology uses a grating light valve to control hundreds of lasers. Through a complex grating system, the beam reaches the plate, which allows the drum to spin at a lower speed. The disadvantage of production efficiency is that the whole laser is more complicated, the failure rate is higher, and the maintenance and replacement cost is higher.
5. From the ever-developing purple laser photopolymerization plate, the purple laser technology that comes from the future
Compared with other CTP plates, the main advantages of the violet laser photopolymerization plate are lower cost, high sensitivity, good development stability and high printing durability. In recent years, with the development of violet lasers, a larger development space for photopolymer plates has been given.
The current violet laser photopolymerization plate can reproduce 1% to 99% of the dots under the precision of 200 lines. The plate supports 300 lines of amplitude modulation and net addition, 20μm frequency adjustment network, and adopts squared point and eye frequency modulation and amplitude mixing and screening technology. In the actual printing, it reaches 510 lines; the printing durability is also very outstanding, up to 200,000 impressions (up to 1 million impressions after baking), UV printing without treatment, UV printing printing resistance up to 100,000 impressions . The latest LP-NV2 violet laser photopolymerization version, which will be put into production at the Fuji Suzhou version, will be further improved in quality.
Due to the advantages of violet laser photopolymerization plates in terms of development stability, sensitivity, and cost of use, many plate manufacturers have increased their investment in violet laser photopolymer plates. The current violet laser photopolymer plates are available in a variety of brands and channels.
In terms of chemical-free plates, Citiplate, Fuji and Agfa have introduced the corresponding chemical-free violet laser plates. The current violet laser CTP has fully supported the chemical-free plate. As the internationally renowned prepress expert Andrew Tribute said, the violet laser-free chemically-treated plate is technically far ahead of the thermal-free chemical-free plate, only from this. Point of view, the future mainstream CTP technology must be purple laser technology.
From Drupa 2004 and IPEX 2006, China International All India Exhibition, combined with the growth rate of the violet laser CTP market in the past four years, with the continuous development of purple laser technology, the purple laser technology will gradually replace the thermal technology, occupying The dominant position of the CTP market.
The Founder Carving Dragon CTP has been released using violet laser technology. After the dragon was released, it quickly made a breakthrough in the market. In just one month, more than a dozen well-known printing companies have chosen Founder Dragon CTP. This is not only the embodiment of the comprehensive advantages of Peking University Founder, but also inseparable from the many advantages of the purple laser CTP itself.
Third, the factors that need to be considered in the overall solution of CTP
We know that the CTP system is not synonymous with a single hardware device or process. Its development and universal application have given the entire printing industry a comprehensive digital and streamlined connotation. The advent of the CTP process era, the integration of JDF, PDF, JMF, CMS and other independent technologies into a new all-digital process technology science.
The digital process is the basic guarantee for the application of CTP systems. It involves the ability to interpret documents, large-scale generation capabilities, error correction capabilities, dot control capabilities, standard CIP3 ink control interfaces, operational friendliness, as well as overall CTP system efficiency, proofing device applications.
Professional color process implementation services are the basis and key to the digitalization of traditional printing companies. After adopting CTP technology, printing enterprises should not only rely on direct plate-making technology to improve quality, improve quality stability, improve efficiency, but also play the value brought by CTP as the basis of data processing technology control. No good process experts provide professional process implementation, no matter how good the hardware equipment is nothing more than nothing. This makes us have to pay attention to the integrity of the entire CTP solution when choosing CTP. Not only CTP equipment, but also digital processes and professional color process implementation services.
The Founder Changyi Commercial CTP overall solution launched by Beijing Peking University Founder Electronics Co., Ltd., in addition to the Purple Laser CTP, also includes the two core components of Founder Changliu Digital Workflow and Founder Yicai Professional Color Process Implementation Service.
Founder Changliu digital workflow has strong compatibility and strong business adaptability. A set of processes responds to all business needs. Changliu has the friendliness of easy to learn and use, and the terminology conforms to domestic usage habits. Changliu also has a variety of proofing methods. To meet the production requirements of domestic complex printing environment, Changliu can also connect hundreds of output devices, flexible scheduling services, and comprehensively protect equipment investment. After several years of market testing, Founder Changliu Digital Workflow has been fully recognized by the market for its successful application of more than 1,000 users.
Founder Yicai professional color process implementation service to build a color management system based on CTP digital plate making process, with service as the core, through comprehensive measurement tools and means, comprehensively combing and reconstructing the digitalization process control standards of printing enterprises, with specialization On-site operation, training guidance and continuous follow-up visits are the means to establish an effective digital quality control bridge between people, materials and equipment for printing companies.
It is precisely because Founder Changyi Commercial CTP's overall solution has unique advantages, so it has achieved remarkable results in the market. The number of CTPs that the company is selling and installing in China has accumulated more than 100 units. The reason why such a result can be achieved, and the printing companies are adopting new technologies, are more and more concerned about the application cost of new technologies, and are paying more and more attention to how to make new technologies in the enterprise. The fast, large-scale application has a direct relationship. I hope this article can bring some help to the enterprises that are going to digital printing, and also thank many users for choosing the Founder Changyi commercial CTP solution!