A guide to industrial inkjet printing
Inkjet technology has become a household word due to its presence on the consumer desktop as a low cost, reliable, relatively quick and convenient method of printing digital files. Although inkjet technology has been around since the 1950s in speciality printing, the impact of the technology in a wide range of industrial applications is just now becoming clear.
Benefits of inkjet technology
Inkjet technology is increasingly viewed as more than just a printing or marking technique. It can also be used to apply coatings, to deposit precise amounts of materials, and even to build micro- or macro-structures. The introduction of industrial inkjet technology into manufacturing environments has the potential to make a revolutionary step-change.
The benefits of inkjet technology are significant and include:
- The reduction of manufacturing costs
- Provision of higher quality output
- Conversion of processes from analogue to digital
- Reduction in inventory
- Printing onto very large, very small, fragile or non-flat substrates
- Reduction of waste
- Mass customization
- Faster prototyping
- Implementation of just-in-time manufacture.
How does inkjet technology work?
Inkjet
In theory, inkjet technology is simple – a printhead ejects a pattern of tiny drops of ink onto a substrate without actually touching it. Dots using different colored inks are combined together to create photo- quality images.
In practice however, successful implementation of the technology is very complex. The dots that are ejected are smaller than the diameter of a human hair (70 μm), and they need to be positioned very precisely to achieve resolutions as fine as 1440x1440 dots per inch (dpi).
This precision requires multi-disciplinary skills: a combination of careful design, implementation and operation across physics, fluid mechanics, chemistry and engineering.
Industrial inkjet printing
Industrial inkjet printing essentially means using inkjet technology as a printing or deposition process in manufacturing or on production lines - a similar principle to the inkjet printer on your desktop but very different in scale.
Industrial inkjet printing systems, and the industrial inkjet print heads they are based on, are broadly classified as either continuous (CIJ) or drop on demand (DOD), with variants within each classification.
As the name implies, continuous inkjet technology ejects drops continuously from the printhead. These drops are then either directed to the substrate as printing drops or to a collector for recirculation and re-use. While drop on demand technology ejects drops from the printhead only when required.
Bürkert’s valves for inkjet printing
Bürkert supply a number of valves and manifold systems for industrial inkjet printing, such as the Type 6011, Type 0127 and Type 6650. Read further information on our competencies ‘Burkert valves for industrial inkjet printing’.
Plunger valve 2/2 way direct-acting
- Direct-acting and compact small-format valve with diameter of up to DN 2.4
- Screwed coil system
- Simple and quick flange or manifold installation
- Quick coupling (push-in fitting) for plug-in hose connections
2/2 or 3/2-way rocker solenoid valve with separating diaphragm
- For the highest chemical resistance requirements
- Compact design with 16 mm width and a flow coefficient of up to 0.058
- Proven reliability since 1993
- Flexible design for customised solutions
- High back-pressure tightness, excellent cleanability and 100% duty cycle
2/2-way Flipper-Solenoid Valve with separating diaphragm
- Only 4.5 mm wide
- Medium isolation, for aggressive fluids
- Direct-acting
- Vacuum up to 7 bar
- Short response times