Dumb Question

[firefighter170]

How does a lifepak 12 print? Ive never seen or heard of anyone changing an ink cartridge?

 

[Simusid]

They don't use ink. They have thermal printers and use special paper.

 

[mgr22]

Thermal printing.

 

[kevinjgray88]

thermal and either 50mm or 100mm paper

 

[DarkStarr]

gonna have to go with thermal printing

 

[Cohn]

Thermal

 

[jjesusfreak01]

Thermal paper makes it easy to mess with people who don't know what it is. You can write on it using your fingernail or any other tipped object, and people will think it's magic!!!

 

[MasterIntubator]

Magic fairy ink that Marquette installed changing the once loved LP10 design forever.

 

[Phlipper]

I must admit, as a tech head I wondered that myself. Thanks.

 

[cmetalbend]

Well as a Master printer of 12yrs, I can say I highly doubt it's thermal. If you can scratch it and it marks, its called Self Imaging. The pressure(it doesn't take much) actually breaks microscopic size bubbles of carbon. Thermal imaging has to have temp changes to leave any kind of mark. Thermal ink, can disappear, or appear upon temp change and is used when somthing is gonna be used in High temp applications, like laser printers. Thermal paper is genarally used to indicate temp of an object. Like those cups for drug testing urine.

 

[reaper]

It is a thermal printer. Almost all monitors use thermal printers, always have.

 

[JJR512]

So there's a bunch of people who say it's thermal, and one who says it can't be. There's an easy way to test this. Take a strip of paper and expose it to heat, some pretty good heat (but not flame). If it darkens, it's thermal paper, and probably a thermal printer.

cmetalbend, as for the reasons you use to say why it probably isn't thermal...Wouldn't dragging a fingernail or other tipped object—as mentioned by jjesusfreak01—across the paper cause friction, thus creating markings on thermal paper?

 

[ffemt8978]

Every thermal printer I've seen, the ink fades to a light brown, or rust color over time but I haven't seen that with monitor print outs.

 

[JJR512]

It may not be. The paper doesn't have that slick feel like other thermal printer paper I'm familiar with.

 

[HotelCo]

blank

 

[cmetalbend]

So there's a bunch of people who say it's thermal, and one who says it can't be. There's an easy way to test this. Take a strip of paper and expose it to heat, some pretty good heat (but not flame). If it darkens, it's thermal paper, and probably a thermal printer.

cmetalbend, as for the reasons you use to say why it probably isn't thermal...Wouldn't dragging a fingernail or other tipped object—as mentioned by jjesusfreak01—across the paper cause friction, thus creating markings on thermal paper?

There might be a certain amount of friction there, but not enough to cause a thermal reation IMAO. The extreme heat test might show somthing, but most paper will do somthing, wrinkle, fad, or such.. Typically thermal printers use an ultraviolet light to cure the ink. If it is thermal paper the heat test will turn the entire thing the color of the mark with very little heat, remember your nail will and how hot is that.. Self imaging paper will show marks only where pressure has been applied and only where the coating has been applied to the paper. And most of the time (Not always) the coating stops near the edges where the printer grips the paper to process it. I would almost try that First.

 

[reaper]

Physio-control lists it as a Digital Thermal Array printer, Using thermal ekg paper in 50 and 100mm.

Here is link to company that specializes in the paper. They explain it a little bit on there about the different types of printers. The LifePaks use a Chemical Thermal paper. Activated by heat.

http://www.pcicharts.com/PDF/PCI-Medical-Recording-Charts.pdf

 

[cmetalbend]

There might be a certain amount of friction there, but not enough to cause a thermal reation IMAO. The extreme heat test might show somthing, but most paper will do somthing, wrinkle, fad, or such.. Typically thermal printers use an ultraviolet light to cure the ink. If it is thermal paper the heat test will turn the entire thing the color of the mark with very little heat, remember your nail will and how hot is that.. Self imaging paper will show marks only where pressure has been applied and only where the coating has been applied to the paper. And most of the time (Not always) the coating stops near the edges where the printer grips the paper to process it. I would almost try that First.

Ok after some in depth research most medical printers use somthing called Chemical/thermal paper substraits. Chemical (CF reacting to the CB) most likely, thermal likely is another ply between the two....But whether the printer(lifepack 12) is a thermal printer, or just uses thermal paper has yet to be answered. Like I mentioned Thermal printers use an ultraviolet light to cure the ink most of the time. But a person doesn't add ink to a lifepack 12 at all. Self imaging is a term used to describe a paper that needs no ink to mark, simply impression by another object(pen,fingernail, scribe, or what ever.) So I dunno, anybody else feel free to chime in.

 

[cmetalbend]

Physio-control lists it as a Digital Thermal Array printer, Using thermal ekg paper in 50 and 100mm.

Here is link to company that specializes in the paper. They explain it a little bit on there about the different types of printers. The LifePaks use a Chemical Thermal paper. Activated by heat.

http://www.pcicharts.com/PDF/PCI-Medical-Recording-Charts.pdf

You posted just before me, and I agree there is a thermal reaction there somwhere. Considering that a fingernail can make a mark, it must be the impression causing the chemicals to react making heat, thus a mark. So IMAO they use thermal reactive paper but aren't a true thermal printer. Because they don't use any ink only scribes to cause the paper chemicals to react. Otherwise my fingernail is a thermal printer. Clear as mud right? The CT paper is heated by the scribes so I guess in that case the heat makes the chemicals react, leaving the mark.

 

[devaE2]

From the maintenance manual:

"The LIFEPAK 12 defibrillator/monitor uses either a 50 millimeter (mm) or 100 mm thermal array printer. In either case, the A01 System PCB printer controller governs motor speed, adjusts print strobe pulse width, senses paper presence and door closure, senses printhead temperature, and provides the data to be printed. Printer fonts are stored in memory devices located on the A01 System PCB."

My emphasis added.