Green Technology
Induction Heating Technology
As part of its effort toward energy-saving for digital MFPs, Konica Minolta is committed to reducing power consumption during the fusing process, by employing induction heating (IH) fusing technology.
In fiscal year 2005, Konica Minolta released the bizhub 750/600, which was the first product to introduce the IH fusing technology. It achieved a significant reduction in energy consumption as compared with its predecessor. At the time, the bizhub 750/600 boasted the highest energy-saving level in the market.
In 2007, we introduced the bizhub C550, the industry’s best energy-saving model in it’s segment. Compared with the bizhub C450, the bizhub C550 can output ten more pages per minute, while achieving a 41% reduction in energy consumption .
In 2009, Konica Minolta introduced the next generation of energy saving models, that reduced heat, power consumption and CO2/NOx/Sox.
Simitri HD and Simitri Toners with Biomass reduce the impact on the environment.
Konica Minolta has been focusing on an environmentally conscious polymerised toner through the research and development of emulsion polymerised technology. In 2000, production of the Simitri toner began, followed by the more advanced Simitri HD toner in 2006 which allowed fusing at lower temperatures while offering higher image quality.
Simitri HD and Simitri toners offer the environmental benefits of low energy consumption during production, less energy consumption during use, and reduced CO2 emissions during disposal through the use of plant-based resources from a carbon neutral viewpoint, reducing the impact on the environment from the production, usage to disposal phases in various ways.
Konica Minolta has been using plant-based resources for Simitri HD and Simitri Toners since 2000.
Simitri HD and Simitri toners have been environmentally conscious toners, since the start of production in 2000, as approximately 9% of their resources are plant-based. Furthermore, all four colours – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black – have used plant-based resources from the introduction of Simitri colour toners in 2002.
Since 1938, original copiers used a photoconductor (drum) that was coated with arsenic and selenium, two very toxic substances.
This technology was used by all subsequent models for years, and some also added cadmium, which is also toxic.
In 1983, Minolta introduced the EP450Z copier that used an organic photoconductor (OPC) drum that had coating based on kelp (seaweed) Further enhanced in 2005 with patented addition of Flourine coating. Konica used first with launch of U-bix1200 copier in 1984