Technical Analysis: On CTcP and CTP (I)

CTcP has officially entered China since the end of 2003 and it has been less than two years. It has achieved impressive sales of nearly 30 sets of sales. Yonghong Group ordered one CTcP order at a time, creating the highest single-digit sales of domestic CTP equipment to date. As a brand-new platemaking technology, CTcP quickly emerged in China with the advantages of both quality and efficiency. Not only has it attracted widespread attention in the industry, but it has also caused people to reorient and think when purchasing new technologies.

CTcP technology has shocked the industry as far back as the drupa exhibition in 2000, and it has long been known worldwide. Just because of the late arrival time in China, and not being understood by the country, there have been misunderstandings and even distortions. With the continuous increase of CTcP sales volume and users, various rumors and arguments have not been defeated in the face of facts. The true appearance of CTcP is clearly displayed in front of everyone.

First, the technical background

Since the birth of CTP technology, printing companies have to pay for high production costs while enjoying the digital, high-efficiency and standardized production brought about by digital technology. Because CTP uses a laser as a light source, the wavelength range of exposure of the plate is very narrow, resulting in the exposure energy not reaching the requirements of the PS plate, and the original PS plate cannot be applied at all. The cost of R&D and use of CTP special plates has also greatly exceeded that of traditional PS plates. From the time of purchase, I would not be able to use it and become the biggest problem encountered in the promotion of CTP equipment.

Although the current value of CTP plate material has declined, it still differs from the use of the ordinary PS plate. According to the latest survey results of a professional institution, among all the factors affecting the use of CTP, 90.9% of the surveyed companies preferred the cost of the media. Obviously, after several years of development, the high cost of use is still the biggest obstacle to companies using CTP. People are unanimously looking forward to a new type of CTP technology that has both technological advancement and economic efficiency.

The development of CTcP technology is precisely to meet the needs of the market, and its emergence has solved the bottleneck problem that has long constrained the development of CTP technology. For the development of CTP technology has opened up a broader space.

Second, technical analysis

CTcP is a new type of CTP technology that uses ordinary PS plates for computer-to-plate. The biggest feature of this technology is the integration of advanced digital production elements with traditional plate-making quality elements, which makes CTcP not only has the high quality and high efficiency of CTP, but also retains the features of easy operation and stable performance when traditional plates are printed on the machine. . This is contrary to the rumor that CTcP's technology content is not high, its quality is not good, and it has not changed much compared to traditional platemaking.

In fact, based on traditional and technological innovations do not conflict, but complement each other. From the traditional changes, uncertainty and risk are greater, and the foundation of traditional innovation is stronger, more stable, and less risky.

1. CTcP's main technology is the latest research and development results, all have patent protection.

The main new technology is a digital point imaging technology, which for the first time successfully achieved the efficient use of UV light sources to generate clear dots.

CTcP uses a new digital dot-mapping technology based on Digital Micromirror Devices (DMD). DMD components were developed by Texas Instruments, Inc. and originally used in industrial high-precision imaging applications such as DVD device imaging. Bessie Corporation introduced the high-definition imaging technology into the field of plate making, combined with the features of the pre-press plate making, and developed a brand-new plate making technology that can precisely control the exposure of the pixels. Therefore, CTcP exposure systems integrating optical, electrical, electronics, computer science, and other sophisticated technologies are not rumored as simple digital technologies can manage.

Although CTcP uses ordinary PS plates, precise numerical control imaging places high requirements on the energy and stability of the light source. However, the low energy and severely attenuated UV light sources used in traditional filmmaking cannot meet the demand for CTcP exquisite imaging. CTcP actually uses a special new type of short-arc UV high-pressure mercury lamp as a light source, which has more stable light energy, more concentrated energy and longer life.

The main new technology II: Maglev drive technology

Although CTcP uses a bench-type exposure, its motion and positioning are different from the general mechanical or electronic transmission. Designers have introduced advanced magnetic levitation drive technology into the platform-type exposure structure, eliminating mechanical wear and accumulated errors, greatly improving positioning accuracy (±2 μm) and equipment life.

It is reported that CTcP's DSI step-by-step exposure technology has been fully upgraded and replaced by DSI2 technology to achieve continuous exposure, the efficiency has been greater than ever before.

2. Square pixels and super screening technology make CTcP achieve high imaging results at low resolution.

CTcP is one of several CTP devices that pioneered the use of square pixels to form a network.

In terms of image expressiveness, the dots formed by square pixels are sharp and sharp, and can better represent the details of the image. In terms of imaging efficiency, square pixels do not need pixel overlap, and their effective area coverage is much larger than the coverage of circular pixels that require pixel overlap. Therefore, a square pixel can achieve imaging effect of 2400 dpi pixels at a resolution of 1500 dpi. , Reduce the amount of data and increase the speed of RIP.

In order to improve the accuracy of the image, CTcP has also introduced the popular super screening technology. Since super-screening technology is implemented in RIP, using 1-bittif open format, CTcP systems that are compatible with most of the processes on the market do not have the possibility that super-fine screening may not be achieved. In fact, many well-known CTP devices have adopted super-fine screening technology in order to further improve the fine effects of imaging.

Figure 1 Comparison of CTcP and CTP Plates

(to be continued)