News

Pay at the Pump: A Unique Printing Challenge

August 8, 2005

You see them everywhere; self-service gas pumps that allow the driver to pull in, pump his own gas, pay right there at the pump, and leave just as fast as he can drop the car into gear.  Popular in the United States, "pay at the pump" is also employed worldwide; the UK, Israel, Germany and Taiwan are just a few of the countries that enjoy the fast turnaround benefits of pumping your own fuel.  Rarely do these self-service pumps let us down.  But consider the conditions that these integral parts of the driving experience face!  Temperatures between -20 F and +120 F are routine, depending upon whether you're pumping your petrol in Minneapolis in February or Israel's Negev Desert in July.  Humidity can be "summer in New Orleans" high or "winter in Denver" low.   Rain gets blown onto and into these pumps, the sun beats on them, ice forms, salt condenses when they're located near the shore.  But we expect them to work, day-in and day-out.  This is especially true of the components customers interact with directly, such as the printer.

When Gilbarco®, the number one manufacturer of gas pumps in the world, was starting the design for their next generation fuel dispenser, they were faced with these issues and many more.  How long would drivers be willing to wait for a receipt in an increasingly harried world?  How can vandalism be kept to a minimum without increasing printer complexity?  Can one printer generate simple receipts cost-effectively, yet also be used as part of a Smart Merchandising program later?  To help resolve these issues, Gilbarco turned to HECON®/Hengstler, who have been making printers for over 30 years.

Gilbarco had historically used thermal printers in their pumps for the obvious reasons; no ribbons to replace, fewer moving parts for greater reliability and lower cost, smaller size, less noise, etc.  They wanted to stay with thermal, but had a number of other goals to accomplish.  "Gilbarco and HECON/Hengstler worked closely together during all stages of the printer design, but none was more important than the planning stage, where the key drivers for the project were identified", says Randy Watkins, Lead Engineer for Gilbarco.  Ultimately, the key thermal printer needs came down to these:

Reduce Price - As features in the Gilbarco pumps grew, it was important to keep component costs low, and the printer was a key component.

USB Interface - "Gilbarco has had poor experiences with slower serial interfaces, because the printer would often `catch up' to the interface and have to wait for more data", according to Randy Watkins.  "This would cause the printout to stop, and the customer would think printing was done and try to remove it.  With a USB interface, the data transfer is so fast that there is never a point where the printer is waiting for more data and the printout is dispensed smoothly."

Reliable at Temperature and Humidity Extremes - Due to the wide range of temperature and humidity experienced by fuel dispensers, reliable operation at these extremes was crucial.

High Print Quality - The printout is the one thing that customers take away from their interaction with the gas pump, and it needs to be clearly legible and easily read.

Jam-Free Performance - A printer paper jam can be a major source of irritation to the user.  If the printer cannot print a receipt at the end of the transaction, the driver must decide if he can do without or is willing to go inside the store to obtain a receipt.  Jam-free performance was critical to Gilbarco's customers.

Easy Paper Handling - The only regular maintenance in a gas pump printer is the need to replace the paper supply roll when it is exhausted.  This function is performed by individuals with minimal training and must be intuitively obvious, and as automated as possible.

Ease of Assembly - The printer must be mounted in the fuel dispenser during production, and it was important to minimize labor costs during assembly.

High Print Speed for Future Applications - Being the number one gas pump manufacturer in the world, Gilbarco is on the leading edge of pump-related technologies.  One area that Gilbarco sees as exploding in the future is the use of pump-based merchandising.  This will require the rapid printing of full graphics coupons at the pump.

With these goals in mind, Gilbarco and HECON®/Hengstler set out to design the ideal printer for this application.  Numerous events were held that included representatives from Gilbarco's engineering, purchasing, marketing, production, and QC departments, along with engineers from the HECON®/Hengstler facilities in Germany and the U.S.

"Various design concepts were mocked up and tested to address the key needs that had been identified", says David Widmann, HECON®/Hengstler General Manager for North America.  "Tests were devised for each concept.  For example, ease of paper loading was evaluated by handing Gilbarco production employees on their way to lunch a roll of paper and asking them to load the printer without explanation.  Similar tests were conceived for the other measurable key needs."

Solutions came from everywhere.  In one case, the shape of a cutout on the output chute was modeled after a similar cutout in a sugar packet holder noticed by one of the engineers in a restaurant.  Paper jams were eliminated by strict attention to the entire paper path.  In particular, mating surfaces and edges were carefully designed to eliminate points where the paper edge could catch.  Specially-designed conductive plastics were used to discharge any static buildup to prevent paper from adhering to the paper path, as well as to improve ESD and RFI/EMI performance.

When the dust settled, the joint effort between Gilbarco and HECON®/Hengstler had accomplished its goal; creating the new C-56 printer that met all of Gilbarco's key needs.  Features included: - Low price - High-speed USB interface - -30ºC to +70ºC operating temperature range - 20% to 90% relative humidity operating range - Excellent print quality for text, graphics and bar coding - Jam-free operation - Automatic paper loading with self-centering feature. - The C-56 mounts with only two screws, simplifying installation. - The printer breaks down into separate modules without tools in seconds, making repair or replacement in the field uniquely simple. - The C-56 prints at up to 220 mm/second (about 8.6 inches per second) to minimize customer waits and produce graphic coupons and images quickly. - Passive cutter guaranteed for one million receipts.

The end results have been even better than expected.  Prior to the introduction of the C-56, paper jams and printer lockups were major sources of complaint for Gilbarco's Service Group.  With the new printer, these have all but stopped.  "Gas station owners have nothing but positive things to say about the simplified paper loading and self-centering features, and are pleased with the higher print speeds", reports Gilbarco's Randy Watkins.  With thousands of C-56 printers already in the field in their Encore 500 fuel dispensers, Gilbarco plans to add the C-56 to the more advanced Smart Merchandising dispensers soon.  As Gilbarco rolls out its Smart Merchandising program, the C-56 will become an even more important element of the program.

Continuous improvement and feature growth is ongoing.  A Chinese character set was recently added to the C-56 family to allow the printing of Chinese ideograms, and a serial version of the printer is now available for legacy applications that are not graphics intensive.  Work is currently being done on accommodating larger paper rolls for certain higher-usage Smart Merchandising applications.

So next time you fill the tank, consider the printer.  If it contains the high-speed HECON®/Hengstler C-56 thermal printer, you'll be back on the road just that much faster.