Understanding Piezo Printheads and Drive Waveforms

Printhead operation, testing, and waveform optimisation

Wednesday 15 - Thursday 16 July 2026

Novotel Gent Centrum, Ghent, Belgium

COURSE FOCUS

This course is intended for inkjet practitioners who are starting their journey in detailed inkjet printhead testing or who desire to expand their knowledge of different commercially-available piezoelectric drop-on-demand technologies. The course starts by reviewing each main printhead supplier and its offerings, covering the concept of operation, physical architecture and highlighting differences and commonalities, including waveforms.  Using real test results from the 4 different optics and the varied print systems in the DoDxAct laboratory, we then describe diagnostic methods for camera-based in-flight analysis (drop watching) and both qualitative and quantitative asessment of printing.  The final part presents examples of waveform optimizations across the different technologies described in section 1, chosen to represent the wide application space of industrial manufacturing where inkjet plays a role, and to highlight where waveform optimization can and cannot be expected to make a difference.

COURSE OUTLINE

Course LeaderS

Dr Mark Bale, Director
DoDxAct, UK

Mark Bale is a PhD qualified Physicist who started DoDxAct Ltd in 2017 in order to provide practical support to those developing technology for the industrial inkjet printing industry based on independent laboratory facilities. Specialising in print heads, inks and the optimisation of print process, Mark is recognised by leading vendors of inks, heads, printers and components as someone who can enable their technology in the market and support their customers to success. DoDxAct's clients list comprises start-ups to globally-recognised brands, spanning 4 continents with the common goal of getting the most out of their inkjet products or application.

After starting his career in Oxford and Cambridge University Spin-off companies Opsys and CDT, Mark got into inkjet by helping develop the process to print OLED displays, including the print strategy & metrology to optimise the uniformity. Mark then worked with Sun Chemical for over 10 years, ultimately leading a team that supported the integration of cutting-edge inkjet ink developments of all types into OEM customers of their SunJet branded and private labelled products.