The side area taken apart. The cooling fan can be seen on the right side of the screen. This fan, as well as the main substrate, is located in this area. The main substrate is mounted with an SoC providing major functions such as printer control and image processing, as well as SDRAM and flash memory.
The side area taken apart. The cooling fan can be seen on the right side of the screen. This fan, as well as the main substrate, is located in this area. The main substrate is mounted with an SoC providing major functions such as printer control and image processing, as well as SDRAM and flash memory.
[Click to enlarge image]
The 60mm cooling fan made by ADDA of Taiwan. The model number is "AD0624MS-A70GL." The fan has 7 blades.
The 60mm cooling fan made by ADDA of Taiwan. The model number is "AD0624MS-A70GL." The fan has 7 blades.
[Click to enlarge image]
The bottom side of SCX-4501K. Sponges are stuck on both sides of the bottom.
The bottom side of SCX-4501K. Sponges are stuck on both sides of the bottom.
[Click to enlarge image]

We finished taking apart the upper half of the printer and moved on to the bottom half. We decided to begin with the side face, which looked easy to take apart. "Big, isn't it?" an engineer said.

The engineer pointed out the size of the cooling fan. It was roughly 60mm in diameter. Typically, fans are usually 40mm in diameter. In terms of the dimensions of the equipment, smaller fans contribute more to the reduction of thickness, as well as cost.

The fan with a bigger diameter was used "to keep the turning noise low," the engineer said. For blowing out the same amount of air, RPM of bigger fans are less than that of smaller ones, resulting in less turning noise.

Actually, the engineers commented, "the turning noise is very quiet" during the printing test of "SCX-4501K". According to the specifications on the catalog, the noise during printing is 45dBA max.

The fan with a bigger diameter seems to be one of the measures taken for noise reduction. It is anticipated that Samsung Electronics Co Ltd of Korea focused on noise reduction because the printer is intended for use on a desk.

This is not the only measure taken for noise reduction. A sponge is stuck on the bottom of the printer body. This is for prevention of operating noise and vibration, for example. We can see the policy of the company that accepts cost increase on the features it wants to improve, as it did on the design.

We will move on to the central area on the bottom.