Laubner GmbH Implements Mobile Workplaces With Powerful Thermal Transfer Printers Of TSC Auto ID

New vistas opened up for mobile label printing as the company Laubner GmbH recently developed a new concept for mobile workplaces using compact thermal printers of TSC Auto ID’s ME240 series. Safety aspects were top priority: these robust printers can be operated at a much safer low voltage of 24 instead of the usual 230 volts, with no compromise in performance.

“This solution is particularly appropriate in the automation sector, as in this field operational safety and flexibility are top priority“, says Andreas Laubner, executive manager of Andreas Laubner GmbH, a company founded in 1996, now situated in Maxdorf, Germany. His system house specializes in automatic identification and printing systems. Also including mobile workstations in flexible industrial design, that allow data processing and label printing to take place even when there is no direct power connection on site, i.e. in warehouses, production or at alternative workplaces.

The tubular steel components are hard-wearing, but due to their light metal housing, their net weight is low. It takes only two moves to manoeuvre the station effortlessly on its four rubber castors, two of which are equipped with a brake.

The two practical workstations of the LAMA24 series, which can in-clude a PC, keyboard, barcode scanner and printer, are driven by two 12 volt accumulators connected in series. This means that with mobile versions of industrial printers and the usual operational volt-age of 24 volts DC, sine wave inverters can be applied without difficulty. Depending on the number of installed devices, the batteries allow an operating time of 8 to 16 hours.

The problem is that “most label printers are operated with 230 volts AC,” explains Laubner. He adds: “Our solution, successfully imple-mented since approximately four weeks at two of our customers, needed a printer that could be easily adjusted retrospectively to 24 volts.”

Experts from Maxdorf judge the compact thermal transfer ME240 printer of the TSC series which offers two models (203 dpi/6 ips and 300 dpi/4 ips) to be best appropriate for this purpose. It offers an internal power supply, which can be deactivated and replaced by a 24 volt mains connection. The robust metal housing and the stable print mechanism, made from injection-moulded aluminium, resist adverse environmental conditions. Standard features are a USB interface, a serial port, and a storage capacity of 8 MB DRAM and 4 MB FLASH, which can be extended to 4 GB by means of an SD FLASH memory card slot.

Printing data is transferred to the printer in full operation, from a stationary PC, via WLAN through a print server or directly from a terminal that has been integrated within the station.

The scope of the delivery will not only include the TSPL-EZ firm-ware but also the file manager and a programming language, sup-porting isolated applications and downtimes. As such label printing is always possible, even when there is no connection to the host computer. Furthermore, with the Laubner mobile workplace station a battery guard combined with an AccuGuard backup and recovery software, prevents the accumulators’ deep discharge and the uncontrolled disconnection (switch off) of the supply voltage during operation.

So, what are the advantages of a station such as this, compared to portable devices? Andreas Laubner states: “With our mobile printing station you can use powerful industrial printers and midrange printers, such as the compact ME240 with minimum space requirements.” These are most convincing due to their higher printing speeds, better printing quality and faster label output. Furthermore, as there is more label and thermal ribbon in stock, the user has the advantage that material needs to be changed less frequently saving valuable time, time that can be used more wisely on other tasks.