Printhead Selection

Ink Jet Technology Showcase 2014

September 3-5, 2014Hilton Charlotte University Place

Charlotte, North Carolina

Printhead Selection

Yes, you become married to your printhead supplier

Your Company &

Product

Marriage

Only get one choice

Single Source

Long Term Relationship

Inkjet Technologies

Focus on Commercial Printheads

Shared Wall – Shear Mode D15

Shared Wall

Isolated Channel Technology

- 6

- GS

- i

Push Mode d33

Bend Mode d31

MultiDrop – Gray Scale Technology

- 9

• MultiDrop Technology• Gray Scale

Nozzle Plate Materials Nickel Stainless Steel Polyimide Silicon

Nozzle Holes Etching Laser Drilling Punching Electroform MEMs

Nozzle Plate Coatings Wetting – no coating Non-Wetting Coating

Nozzle Plate Technology

Key benefits: Improves initial priming Enables fast jet recovery Prevents settling of heavily pigmented inks Improves open time of fast drying inks Design allows easy integration

Continuous Circulation

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End Jetting

Side Jetting

- Continuous Ink Flow

I don’t know!Performance

Depends on the applicationReliability

Highly dependent on ink chemistry and Cleanliness

CostCost per nozzleReplacement CostEfficiency

Let’s Look at what’s offered

Which Technology is best?

-UPTIME

Shared Wall – Shear ModeCirculation

Shared Wall – Shear ModeIsolated Channel

Circulation

SII Printek provides the Drop On Demand piezoelectric printhead, which will satisfy all your needs by customizing the printhead material, structure and driving method, and supporting integrated air damper and other inkjet-related technologies to give compatibility with a wide range of applications.

1024GS High productivity (600[μL/sec]) Isolated channel technology:

Grayscale & variable binary mode 7 [pL] at one drop and maximum 49 [pL] at 7 drops. Built-in Ink Damper: Stable supply of ink to all 1024 nozzles.

RC1536Performance SPT RC1536

RC1536Print width 108.3mm

number of nozzles 1536

Resolution 360

Grayscale 8 levels

Drop Volume 17-100pl

Dot Frequency 10.4kHz (7drop)

Productivity/nozzle [kHz*pl] 1040

Productivity/head [ml/min] 95.8

number of heads/Bar*1 7

Max Discharge/Bar*2

[g/2@25m/min]48.8

(360dpi*634dpi)

*1: 1Bar=700mm

*2: Specific gravity=1.38

Shared Wall – Shear ModeIsolated Channel

Shared Wall

Isolated Channel Heads

Konica Minolta's next-generation flagship model, “KM1800i,” is a newly-developed high-performance multi-nozzle inkjet printhead furnished with 1776 nozzles and capable of a print width of 75 mm. The product features include an independent drive method that enables simultaneous jetting from all nozzles, 1776 nozzles with a high density of 600 npi and is ideal for commercial printing applications that require high-speed printing with the high image quality realized by the single-pass method. Major Features

Multi-nozzle structure with 1776 nozzles and a 600 npi high-density printhead

All-nozzle independent drive system, maximum drive frequency: 84 kHz

Stable discharge performance that realizes high image quality during high-speed printing

Grey scale performance with a maximum of 8 gradations

3.5 pl small droplets, UV-ink compatible

Next-generation Inkjet Printhead “KM1800i”

Micro-droplet Inkjet Printhead “KM128SNG-MB” manufactured using MEMS technology

This is Konica Minolta's first printhead for printed electronics manufactured using MEMS technology. This model enables accurate, high-precision and stable discharge of micro-droplets 1 picoliter in size and is the ideal head for display manufacturing applications on markets projected to expand in the future including OLED. Major Features

Utilizes silicon MEMS technology used in semiconductor processing

First printhead for printed electronics applications to achieve a 1 picoliter drop size

High-accuracy micro-printhead structure: 38mm print-width; 128 nozzles in one row

Per-nozzle precision drive enables highly-accurate and stable discharge

High ink resistance and optimization for low viscosity inks for industrial applications

Capable of highly uniform thin layer coating (100 nm level)

KM128SNG-MB

Shared Wall – Shear Mode

  CB1 CA3 CA4 CA5 CE2 CF1Print Method On demand piezo methodPrintable Area 53.6mm 53.7mm

Number of Channels 318/Head 636/HeadChannel Resolution/ Pitch

150dpi/169μm 300dpi/84.5μm

Gradation Mulitple drops Binary Mulitple drops

Grey Scale 8-Levels8-Levels

(Max 16-Levels)2-Levels

8-Levels(Max 16-Levels)

8-Levels

Drop Vokume 6-42pl 6-90pl 3pl 6-90pl 6-42pl

MaximumDot Frequency *1

4.8KHz(7drop)28.0KHz(1drop)6.2KHz(7drop)

2.8KHz(15drop)17.9KHz(1drop)

28.0KHz（ 1drop）6.2KHz（ 7drop）

2.8KHz（ 15drop）5.7KHz(7drop)

Linear Speed24m/min

@7drop,300dpi

31m/min@7drop,300dpi

35m/min@1drop,1200dpi

23m/min@1drop,1200dpi

31m/min@7drop,300dpi

35m/min@1drop,1200dpi

29m/min@7drop,300dpi

Head DrivingVoltage

14-28V 14-31V

Curcuit DrivingVoltage

36.5V 39.0V

Weight 30g 136g 152g 145gDimensions 62(W) × 61(D) × 18(H) 85(W) × 70(D) × 23(H) 85(W) × 74(D) × 33(H) 94(W) × 73(D) × 26(H)Others No Ceramic chassis with water channel Ink circulation type

http://www.toshibatec.co.jp/en/products/industrial/inkjet/specifications/

Pusher technology Ability to drive each

channel independently

Trident 256Jet-D™ Printhead designed for precision dispensingTrident 256Jet-D™ Printhead designed for precision dispensing

256 channels with 256 orifices 4.0”(10 cm) printing image. Up to 70°C Operating Temp. Ability to drive each channel

independently. Flow Through Technology. Inert Stainless Steel construction Scalable Ability to jet droplets

as small as 7 pl or as large as 120 pl.

Serviceable Design Ability to Clean = Long Life!

Serviceable Design Ability to Clean = Long Life!

Polyimide

Phosphoric Acid & KOH Alkaline Etchants

Nanosilver ink

Dielectric ink

UV Cured Overcoat

PEDOT:PSS

Examples:Trident Jettable MaterialsExamples:Trident Jettable Materials

Pusher technology

Bend Mode

Commercial

Inkjet Markets - Summary

Nat

ive

Dro

p S

ize

(pl)

Lar

geS

mal

l

Challenge for Inkjet

Simple Difficult

Wide Format

GraphicsCeramic Tiles

Textile

Apparel

Folding

CartonTextile

Smart Textile

Flexo

Packaging

Textile

Household

Polaris

Q ClassStarfire

Q Class

StarFire

StarFire

Samba

Performance Printhead Products

Sapphire/Emerald

Polaris StarFire

Addressable Jets 256 256 and 512 1024

Number of Rows 1 4 8

Ink Recirculation Optional Optional Yes

Native Drop Size Range (pl) 10, 30, 80 15, 35, 85 10, 25, 70

Jet Straightness,1 Sigma (mrad) 1.5 2 1.5

Max. Jetting Frequency (KHz) 50 40 50

- MEMS Drop Ejector- Drop-on-demand- Silicon MEMS construction with sputtered PZT film actuator - High print speeds: >100 kHz jetting frequencies- Native drop volumes (1…5 pL)- Multi-pulse capable for larger drop volumes (up to 6x )- VersaDrop Gray Scale- Excellent jet straightness

- Ink Compatibility- Wide ink latitude (material, temperature, viscosity range)- Continuous ink recirculation- Robust non-wetting coating- Aqueous (dye and pigment), UV, aqueous-UV, latex, and solvent-based inks

- Scalable Architecture- High resolution: 1200 nozzles per inch- Unique matrix nozzle pattern for ease of stitching- Small footprint and modular design- Field replaceable

SAMBA™ Inkjet Printhead Technology

Samba Family Design Space

Ink Viscosity (cPs)

Nat

ive

Dro

p Si

ze

(pl)

High

Web

Low

Sheet + Packaging

Materials Deposition

Textiles

Corrugated

UV Label

3

4

5

2

13 7 12

Bend Mode

PRINTHEAD SPECIFICATIONS DISCUSSION

Physical Performance Electrical / Power

Size Native Drop Size Drive Voltage

Weight Drop Sizes Power

Nozzle Plate Drop Velocity Data Interface

Number of Nozzles Number of Drops / Gray Scale

Nozzle Plate Surface Crosstalk

Rows of Nozzles Jet Straightness

Temperature Drop Frequency

Ink Viscosity Head Life

Ink Surface Tension

Printhead Materials

Printhead Specifications

The straighter and faster the drops fly, the larger the distance between the printhead and media (stand off) can be

and still get good image quality.

Image Quality Drop Shape, Volume, Speed and accuracy

Drop Size(s)

Native Drop Size

Larger Drops Created by multi-drop

Variation +/-10% @ 1-s(1-sigma =68%)

Drop Velocity

- 54

- 7 m/s

- 8 m/s

1 93.5

4.5

5.5

6.5

7.5

8.5

Drop Velocity

Nozzle Number

Me

ters

pe

r S

ec

on

d

Accuracy of Drop Placement

Printheads types vary

4 – 9 meters per second

Variation +/-15% @ 1-s(1-sigma =68%)

Throw Distance

- Printhead

2-5mm

- Carriage Motion

- Air currents

Higher Velocity

Larger Drops

e = ½ mv2

Printer Productivity

A = N x F / R ²

Where A = Area Fill Rate (inches/second)

N= Nozzles

F= Drop Rate (Hertz)

R = Print Resolution (dpi)

Ross R Allen, “Ink Jet Printing with Large Pagewide Arrays: Issues and- Challenges” Recent Progress in Ink Jet Technologies” Volume 2,- Edited by Eric Hanson, Published by “Society of Imaging Science &- Technology”, ISBN: 0-89208-220-88

Printhead Productivity – Ink Flow Rates

Nozzle Flow

Ink Rate = Drop Size x Drop Frequency

Printhead Flow

Ink Rate = Drop Size x Drop Frequency x nozzles

Comparison: Ink Lay-Down at similar line speeds

Ceramic Ink SG1024M SG1024L* Competitor A Competitor Z

Large Drop (ng) 91 182 126 118 Max Freq (kHz) – Grayscale Mode 13.8 10 4.8 6 Native Resolution (dpi) 400 400 300 360

Process Resolution (dpi) 840 840 290 360**adjusted to equalize line speed

g/m2 44 68 15 20 Ng-KHz 1256 1820 605 708 Line Speed (m/min) 25 25 25 25

Dimatix is double with medium drop and

Dimatix is 3.5x coverage (lay-down) with large drop

Dimatix Dimatix

* Product spec subject to change

Specified in mRad

+/- 5 milli-radians

1-s = 68%

Larger gap = higher placement variation

Deviation Angle – Jet Straightness

- Printhead

2-5mm

- Carriage Motion

- Air currents

* Typical production sampling

Image Quality Drop accuracy – Deviation angle

Dimatix Best Metal*

Dimatix Metal**

Kapton/Plastic - Best

Kapton/Plastic - Typical

* Dimatix Best metal = StarFire and Polaris** Dimatix metal = S-Class

Data RatesBig data

Min 4 up to 12 color planes multiply that by 600 or 1200 dpi

gray scale - 2,3 or 4 bits per pixel billions upon billions of pixels (“stars”, Sagan)

And then deliver all this data at precise timing Head skewed in various layouts

1/10 of 600 dpi = 4 microns electronic alignment

Printhead Drive Electronics and

Software

Samba 100,0000 x 5312 x 2 =

1,062,400,000 bits per second

KJ4B-1200 64,000 x 5312 x 2 =

679,936,000 bits per second

- Media type - Ink type- Chemical compatibility of

printhead

- Physical constraints of configuration

- Size of smallest dot

- Greyscale/binary mode

selection

- Calculate number of heads per

colour

- Long term pricing and ink

revenue

- Time to market opportunity

- Credibility of partners and technology

Selection process

Thank You

The Technology Partnership plc ‘TTP’

Melbourn, Herts. SG8 6EE. UK

Mike RaymondTechnical Sales – Business DevelopmentPhiladelphia, USA

Mike.Raymond@ttpMeteor.com

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