How It Works
TPG's use of low-energy activation paper and leading edge electronics has created a remarkable two-color printing solution.

Two Color Thermal Printing
Like monochrome thermal paper, two-color thermal paper is coated with heat reactive dye. The two-color paper contains two dyes that activate or turn color at different temperatures. The thermal print head heats the paper to one energy level to get the first color and heats to a slightly higher level to get the second color. This is represented in the figure on the right.

Red is imaged first at the lower energy and black is imaged next at the higher energy. The dashed lines show when the dot is fully developed for that color and when the dot is turned off on the print head.

TPG recognized these issues and partnered with Kanzaki Specialty Papers to develop a cost competitive, two-color thermal paper with low activation energies. The energy levels that activate the red (blue or green) and black dyes on this new paper are very close together. Since the energy levels are engineered so closely, the printer's electronics must be extremely sophisticated. TPG uses highly integrated electronics to accomplish this ground-breaking energy control.

With this breakthrough in highly integrated electronics and low-energy activation paper, TPG's ColorPOS technology is able to image two-colors at a high rate of speed. This technology preserves the life of the print head, enables the printer to operate from a standard 55 watt power supply for both monochrome and two-color printing, and most importantly, provides a lower cost two-color paper, making the use of two-color paper remarkably affordable.

Colors Available
Two-color direct thermal paper is presently available in red/black, blue/black, and green/black.