Issue#0726/1 - Inkjet technology development is continuing at a rapid pace, with Epson breaking through the constraining barriers that prevented the production of faster printers.
A new, faster inkjet print engine has been announced by Epson for use in a family of products due for shipping in September.
Thanks to a new generation of Micro Piezo print head, the new engine is said to be capable of offering draft print speeds of up to 37ppm in mono and up to 20ppm in colour. At these speeds, Epson is competing hard (in mono, at least) with Hewlett-Packard’s fastest inkjet engine, rated at 36ppm in mono and 35ppm in colour.
Extra speed has been achieved through several technological improvements in print head design.
Firstly, the materials used in the mechanical print head have been produced to finer tolerances, meaning thinner films, allowing greater flexibility and more rapid movement.
Old & new Micro Piezo head designsMicro Piezo technology uses the mechanical squeezing action of a thin film PZT (Piezoelectric Transducer) actuator to propel ink out of the nozzle onto the paper in contrast to print heads using thermal inkjet technology where the ink is propelled by a rapidly expanding air bubble created by flash heating of the ink by a resistor placed behind the nozzle.
Rolf on stage with the original wobbleboardImagine doing a ‘Rolf Harris’ with a wobbleboard made of half-inch (12mm) sheet of plywood (for those who know Rolf; flexing the sheet rapidly backwards and forwards to make music for those who don’t!) and then doing the same with a quarter-inch (6mm) sheet. Much more movement at a higher frequency, is possible with the thinner sheet of wood.
It is exactly the same with the Micro Piezo print head – the walls of the new nozzle chambers in the print head can vibrate backwards and forwards more rapidly and with a larger pitch than the walls in the previous generation.
Primarily, this allows a higher firing frequency of each nozzle (meaning the print head can move over the media faster, thus increasing print speed) but it also allows a higher level of flexibility when it comes to choosing the required drop size to fire from the nozzle.
Secondly, Epson has been able to place more nozzles on the print head, pushing native nozzle density up to 360 nozzles per inch (the highest density currently available with piezo electric technology). Although this does not appear to be impressive alongside the nozzle density equating to 1,200dpi in Canon and Hewlett-Packard’s print heads, this is a significant improvement on the previous generation of Micro Piezo head.
Print head uses thin film Piezo technologyNozzle density is important to print speed because it determines how many times the print head is obliged to pass across the paper to create an image of suitable quality. A very low density print head needs to pass many more times than a high density head, thus restricting print speed.
Put these two elements together and the potential for faster printing is greatly enhanced.Further benefit is gained by Epson by bringing manufacturing of the piezoelectric in-house, thus giving greater control over the print head manufacturing process.
Epson anticipates that these new processes will allow the company to continue the process of increasing print speeds and reducing the size of print heads, thus allowing the manufacture of faster and more compact inkjet devices. Spin-off benefits will be the ability to migrate Micro Piezo technology from the consumer printer environment further into business and industrial environments.
Potential for wide migration of the technology is partly enhanced because the mechanical nature of the firing process allows a wider range of liquids to be used in the print heads. Whereas liquids used in thermal print heads must withstand the heating and vaporising process without damage, a mechanical process does not place these stresses on the liquid.This is allowing Epson’s technology to be used as a replacement for traditional photolithographic processes in the manufacture of such items as electronic circuit boards and LCD colour filters for flat panel displays. The inkjet process is more eco-friendly than photolithography and Epson claims that it will allow smaller factories to do the same work with less impact on the environment as well as improving productivity and reducing production costs.
Epson stylus photo rx685In terms of its own inkjet printer range, Epson is making good use of the new technology with a range of new products based on the new engine.
Epson stylus dx8400By increasing the raw print speed of its printers, Epson believes that it has improved its attractiveness to the small business market. To capitalise on this fact, one of the new products announced is a single-function printer, Stylus D120, which is fairly and squarely targeted at business users
As these new products are due for full launch in September, we will check out the details and cost comparability when all the information is available. The new products will include:
- Stylus D120 single function business printer
- Stylus DX7400 and DX8400 4-ink 3-function home/small office multifunction device
- Stylus DX9400F 4-ink 4-function home/small office multifunction device
- Stylus Photo R285 6-ink photo printer
- Stylus Photo RX585 and RX685 6-ink multi-purpose multifunction devices
Epson stylus d120Epson has long enjoyed a significant position in the inkjet market with leadership of some of the market segments. These new devices should help to consolidate that position and engender loyalty with existing, frequent-use customers (historically, infrequent users complain of blocked nozzles and failing print heads when the printer is not used frequently enough).
~End~
