Where there is a need for quality printing on product packaging or products, CIJ Printing (Continuous Inkjet printing) is the first choice for smart business owners. The CIJ Printer has several advantages to offer, such as affordability, high speed printing capability, accuracy and efficiency.
Highly flexible and immensely versatile, these printers are finding their place in an increasing number of production environments today because they address a gamut of the challenges that other printing equipment fail to handle. Take a look at the evolution of CIJ printers, and it is obvious that they have emerged in response to these challenges, which is why they are able to resolve typical printing issues with ease.
The Controlled Drop Break-Off Mechanism
One of the common problems faced during printing processes is that the ink dispersion does not happen uniformly and consistently. This affects the print quality, leaving some characters appearing thicker or denser or darker than others. This flaw in output is even more evident when color printing tasks need to be done because the excess color in one spot and lack of it in another is rather evident with varying hues being visible in the final printed matter.
This is a problem that the CIJ Printer eliminates with its controlled drop break-off mechanism. It was in the 1960’s that Dr Sweet (from the Stanford University) improved upon the existing mechanism where the liquid ink stream was broken up into droplets. He applied a pressure wave pattern to break up the ink stream into perfectly uniformly-sized drops that would disperse with consistence, even spacing. This controlled dispersal resulted in a dramatic improvement in the print output quality, which continues to be one of the biggest advantages of using CIJ printers today.
Emergence Of Efficient Ink Flow Modulation Techniques
In the mid-1970’s, the CIJ print technology underwent yet another transformation. At the Lund Institute of Technology (Sweden), Professor Hertz developed techniques to modulate ink-flow characteristics that paved the way for flawless gray-scale printing. One of these techniques involved controlling the droplet number so that the color density of the output could be varied as per requirements. These ink flow modulation techniques are the reason why CIJ printers are in such high demand today. They deliver the most cost effective and high quality color printing.
The Drop-On-Demand Ink Ejection Method
The 1970’s also witnessed another significant change in CIJ printing techniques – the development of the drop-on-demand ink ejection method. This allows the ink droplet ejection to be carried out only when imaging on media is done. Thanks to this development, the problem arising from the unreliable ink circulation that took place in this printing technique was eliminated. Another advantage was that the whole continuous printing process was simplified quite significantly because the complex ink drop charging process and the need for deflection hardware was done away with.
In 1979, this technique was further enhanced to get rid of the nozzle clogging problem. It was Canon that came up with the first drop-on-demand ink-jet with a water vapor bubble addressing this issue. This was the bubble jet technology which was also mirrored at about the same time by Hewlett-Packard (HP).
The Disposable Inkjet Printer Head
Pricing concerns are one of the main challenges that printer makers have to address and Hewlett-Packard did this commendably with its 1984 launch of the ThinkJet printer. Not only was this printer priced quite affordably; its 12-nozzle printer head was so inexpensive that the user could simply throw it away once the ink was exhausted. Making print head replacement easy and affordable was an original idea from HP that changed the world of continuous inkjet printing forever because the issues arising from the lack of print head reliability still existed during this phase. With this evolution, there was simply no need for the user to risk using the same print head over and over again when they could just replace it with limited cash outlay with a brand new one that guaranteed perfect prints.
Modern Day CIJ Printers With Remote Web Interface
The latest evolution in CIJ Printer technology is, understandably, more to do with getting the printing task more ‘connected’ so that the user does not even have to be physically present to track the task or ensure that it is being done the way they want. Present day printers come with several features that let users carry out efficient printing from remote locations. A common way to enable this is for the printer to come with remote web interface which allows controlling and monitoring of the task through a web browser. The best part is that this technology makes CIJ printing perfect for the increasing number of individuals, worldwide, who carry out most of their technology related tasks using their smartphones.
However, a remote access feature often exposes the task to security vulnerabilities and problems arising from human error. What if someone uses the printer at its physical location in your office right when you are trying to print using your smart phone from home? What if someone shuts off the printer midway even as you believe the printing task is underway?
The good news is that these problems have also been addressed in the new age CIJ printer that allows remote access functioning. The operator can start or stop the printing task using a smartphone or PC with a web connection. If messages on the PC or smartphone need to be printed out, they can simply be downloaded to the printer. Plus, the printer keyboard can be locked so that changes can no longer be made online until a critical printing task is completed.
The present day CIJ Printer has undergone quite a few transformations to become highly efficient office equipment that is an invaluable asset to any business. If you want to enjoy maximum cost efficiency, high print quality, precision printing, flexibility and utmost ease of use then this is the printer you should be investing in.
Images “Inkjet printer word cloud concept / Shutterstock.com“
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