Another interesting presentation at the 21st European Inkjet conference run by IMI Europe was from FUJIFILM Speciality Ink Systems. Jon Harper-Smith described a new hybrid UV ink technology that they have been developing.
Alternative sources of thermal inkjet technology
With the apparent demise of Olivetti in Italy as a source of thermal inkjet heads, it was very interesting to learn of developments from Taiwan at the recent 21st European Inkjet Conference run by IMI Europe in Lisbon, Portugal. One of the speakers, Dr Daniel Lan, Managing Director of IUT, described their experience in developing thermal inkjet technology. This began at ITRI in 1993 and R&D led to the formation of three manufacturing spin-offs. IUT has manufactured 11 million ink jet printhead cartridges over 13 years, and since 2004 a major shareholder has been Asus.
Dr Lan explained that what they have been able to offer in the past has been restricted by patents, particularly those from HP. Although they were convinced their technology worked around IP restrictions, the cost and timescales of challenging any legal action was prohibitive. But that may change next year when in late 2014 a significant number of fundamental patents, including matrix addressing, over-edge ink supply and nozzle densities greater than 300 dpi expire.
In addition IUT is developing some new printheads. Special materials are being evaluated to allow solvent inks to be used. And 2 and 4 inch wide heads are being developed. These are intended for fixed array single pass applications.
Mike Willis, Pivotal Resources
Inkjet Technology Showcase 2013 - Video blog
Industrial decoration using digital inkjet technology: an infographic
Adoption of digital technology in industrial applications
Digital printing using inkjet technology offers benefits across a wide range of industrial applications. These benefits include the ability to introduce new designs and products rapidly, defining deposition digitally so that it can be changed every time, depositing onto delicate substrates without contact, and depositing functional materials as well as just colours.
Inkjet technology & printed electronics
Drop on demand inkjet deposition of nano-particle conductive inks have already found niches in the fields of photovoltaics, OLEDs, displays and RFID. Flexibility sets inkjet apart from traditional methods; inkjet technology allows for the additive deposition of thin line circuits on a range of substrates including those that are three dimensional.