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LED printer

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Kodak LED printer
Oki LED printhead

An LED printer is a type of computer printer similar to laser printer. LED technology uses a light-emitting diode array as a light source in the printhead instead of the laser used in laser printers and, more generally, in the xerography process. The LED bar pulse-flashes across the entire page width and creates the image on the print drum or belt as it moves past.

LEDs are more efficient and reliable than conventional laser printers, since they have fewer moving parts, allowing for less mechanical wear. Depending on design, LED printers can have faster rates of print than some laser-based designs, and are generally cheaper to manufacture. In contrast to LED printers, laser printers have to rely on elaborate combinations of rotating mirrors and lenses that must remain in alignment throughout their use. The laser scans from one end of a line to another, then starts on the next line in a much more cumbersome way than with a LED printhead which has no moving parts.

UV-LED printer technologies refer to a non-impact, inkjet printing technique that instantly cures jetted ink droplets directly onto the printable substrate. The UV-LED lamp that houses the LEDs emit energy onto the specially formulated UV-LED ink, which contains photoinitiators and are reactive to the energy emitted by the UV-LED lamp.

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