iSys V36 - Manual (Page 28)

T H E O R Y O F O P E R A T I O N
5.1 INTRODUCTION
The V36 plotter uses thermal technology to image incoming data directly to
the thermal sensitive media. The plotter electronics receive the incoming data
and sends it to the thermal printhead. Once a complete scan of data has been
loaded into the head, the scan is imaged onto the media. Then the media is
advanced for the next scan. This cycle is repeated until all the data has been
imaged.
The scan is made up of 14,208 bits. Each bit within the scan addresses an
individual nib in the printhead. Plot patterns are generated one scan at a time,
each scan consisting of a horizontal row of black dots. Each dot position
corresponds to one particular bit in the 14,208 bits which make up the scan.
If a bit is “1”, a black dot is printed on the media in the position corresponding
to the bit position in the buffer. Selected nibs are heated, causing a thermo-
chemical reaction with the coating of the media, resulting in a black dot.
5.2 PLOTTER FEATURES
Platen drive roller
The V36 plotter uses one roller driven by a stepper motor to perform two
functions:
1). Media movement.
2). Platen surface backing pressure for the head.
This results in few moving parts and high reliability.