Anatomy of printer technology and cost Micro-piezoelectric contrast bubble
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If it comes to generations, bubble jet technology is 15 years earlier than micro piezoelectric printing technology. One day in July 1977, Ichiro Ichiro of the 22nd Research Laboratory of the Canon Product Technology Research Institute in Meguro, Tokyo, when experimenting in the laboratory, accidentally placed the heated soldering iron on the attachment of the injection needle from the injection needle. The ink quickly flew up. Inspired by this, two years later, the bubble inkjet technology was invented. At the same time, Hewlett-Packard also invented the same technology, and began the history of inkjet printers.
Micro-piezoelectric printing technology was born in 1994, more than a decade later than bubble-type inkjet technology, but to really catch up, micro-piezo printing technology is the real "brother." Because in the 1970s of the last century, Epson began research on piezoelectric technology. After nearly 20 years, it finally succeeded in applying micro-piezo printing technology to the printer field in 1994 and realized productization. Both of them have been striving for development in the past 15 years, but from the market acceptance, the bubble-type inkjet technology still takes the lead in time, and it is 15 years ahead of the micro-piezo technology.
First, printing technology anatomy
1, working principle
The principle of micro-piezo inkjet printing technology is completely different from that of the thermal bubble type. It puts many small piezoelectric ceramics near the nozzle of the inkjet printer, and uses it to deform and oscillate under the action of voltage. The principle is to apply a voltage to it at the right time. The piezoelectric ceramic then expands and contracts to eject the ink in the nozzle to form a pattern on the surface of the output medium.
Bubble inkjet printing works by loading the ink into a very tiny capillary tube, which quickly heats the ink to the boiling point through a tiny heating pad, forming a very tiny vapor bubble that expands into a drop of ink. To the top of the capillary. The heating is stopped, the ink is cooled, the vapor condenses and contracts, and the ink stops flowing until the next generation of steam bubbles, thus circulating.
2, nozzle comparison
Epson's micro-voltage control technology features high print resolution and a unique ink process for perfect photo printing. The disadvantage is that the nozzle is too precise, and it is easy to malfunction when used improperly. Once the nozzle is blocked during use, the cost of clearing or replacing is relatively high, and it is not easy to handle. If the printer is not working properly, it may be scrapped. Moreover, the inkjet print head manufactured by the micro-piezoelectric inkjet technology has a relatively high cost, so in order to reduce the user's use cost, the print head and the ink cartridge are generally separated into a structure for reusing the nozzle, and the ink is not replaced when the ink is replaced. Print Head.
HP uses bubble inkjet printing technology, which is characterized by mature technology, low production cost of nozzles, and the use of integrated design of nozzles. The most direct benefit for DIYs is the ease of adding ink, but this technology It is decided that its print resolution (dpi) cannot be very high. However, the inkjet printing technology uses an ink cartridge that integrates the printhead and the ink cartridge. The number of integrated nozzles on the nozzle is much larger than that of the micro-voltage control technology. The number of nozzles is large, and the width of each line is wide. Of course, the time to complete a page of content will be short. Therefore, the same bubble jet printing technology is faster than the micro voltage control technology in printing speed.
3, ink drop comparison
Before discussing the two techniques, we need to know what makes the inkjet printer output beautiful photos and pictures. How is the difference in print quality between different models? To explore these issues, it is necessary to start with the technology of the nozzle, the core of the inkjet printer, from the formation process of each ink droplet. Printing accuracy has always been a technical indicator of user attention, and manufacturers are also promoting publicity in this regard. To effectively increase the value of dpi, it is necessary to have a small enough ink dot, that is, a small enough droplet volume. Higher print accuracy can only be achieved if the ink drops are small enough to improve the final print quality.
Reducing the volume of ink droplets, precisely controlling the position of ink droplets and the shape of ink dots, and reducing the splash of ink droplets have become important technical problems for inkjet printer manufacturers to improve print quality. The piezoelectric nozzle technology controls the piezoelectric device by an electric pulse signal to form a corresponding pressure of the ink, so that the corresponding volume of ink droplets are ejected from the nozzle. Compared with the bubble nozzle technology, the control of the ink droplet volume is more precise due to the control of the electric pulse signal which is easier and more precise, and the ink droplets are very rounded, which will form a splash and also stabilize the ink droplet ejection direction. The paper position of the ink dot is more precise. Many of Epson's models have a minimum droplet volume of 4 picoliters, 3 picoliters (Epson ME2), 2 picoliters (Canon i950), and individual models have reached a record 1.5 picoliter droplets (Epson) Stylus Photo R800). In terms of ink droplet control, the micro-piezoelectric method has some inherent advantages.
4, ink contrast
Since there is no need for heating during ink jetting, the ink does not undergo chemical changes, and the ink composition requirements are not very high, but its production cost is relatively high, which is more expensive than bubble technology. The shortcoming of the bubble technology is that the ink is heated during use, and the ink is prone to chemical changes at high temperatures, and the properties are unstable, so the color authenticity is affected to some extent; on the other hand, the ink passes through the bubbles. The directionality and volume of the ink particles are not well mastered, and the edges of the printed lines are easily uneven, which affects the print quality to a certain extent. Although the nozzles made by thermal inkjet technology are relatively low in cost, the electrodes in the nozzles are subject to electrolysis and corrosion, so generally there is no long service life. In addition, since the ink undergoes chemical changes due to heating, since the ink contains a large amount of harmful ions, when a chemical reaction occurs, agglomerated substances are generated, which may affect the health of the user for a long time.
Second, the analysis of printing costs
The cost of printing is a problem that users are more concerned about. The cost mainly comes from the consumption of consumables. The consumables of inkjet printers mainly include paper and ink cartridges. In terms of paper, the price of printing media required for purchasing various brands of printers is not much different. The ink cartridge is the pain of the user forever. As long as the printer is used, the consumption of the ink cartridge is inevitable.
Printers that use bubble technology are usually integrated with the print head and the ink cartridge, commonly known as "head water integration", while printers using micro-piezoelectric printing technology are usually separated from the print head and the ink cartridge, commonly known as "head water separation." The difference between the two printing technologies also brings about fundamental differences in printing costs.
First, inkjet printers that use bubble printing technology use a "head-to-water" approach, each cartridge includes a new printhead, so each of its cartridges is more expensive. Inkjet printers using micro-piezo printing technology use "head water separation", so there is no need to replace the print head when replacing the ink cartridge. A print head can be used for a long time until the print head is damaged, so the cost of a single ink cartridge is lower. .
Secondly, the two types of printing technologies, "bubble type" and "micro-piezo", in addition to the above-mentioned different connection modes of the print head and the ink cartridge, also adopt different ink dispensing forms, and the printing cost control also reflects two Different ways. The micro-piezo printing technology represented by Epson inkjet printers usually separates the inks of different colors, so that each drop of ink of each color ink can be fully utilized, which is more economical and practical. Inkjet printers with bubble-printing technology represented by Hewlett-Packard are mixed in a variety of colors, which is a waste, because when one of the colors is used up, even if the other colors are not used up, replace.
Finally, printers that use "head water separation" may cause nozzle clogging due to friction with the paper and evaporation of the ink after prolonged use. Once blocked, the printed content will appear white lines, broken lines and colors. Not allowed to wait for the phenomenon. As the printheads are used for an extended period of time, the more serious these phenomena become, the more opportunities there are. The solution is to clean, use a large amount of ink to open the blocked nozzle, and waste a lot of valuable ink. When the number of nozzles that cannot be recovered reaches a certain amount, the print head must be replaced. In this regard, the printer with "head water integration" will basically not appear, because the printer is newly purchased with the ink cartridge, each print head only needs to complete the printing volume of one ink cartridge, the time and the amount of printing are used. a bit less.
In addition, the above is only analyzed for the cost of a single ink cartridge. In fact, the long-term cost of a printer using "micro-piezoelectric printing" "head water separation" is higher than that of an inkjet printer using a bubble printing technology "head water integration". Experiments have shown that inkjet printers that use "head water separation" usually have a certain degree of blockage and damage when each print head finishes the printing task of 4~5 ink cartridges, and the print head of this printer It is usually much more expensive than "the head is not integrated", and once replaced, it is equivalent to about half the price of the entire printer. At the same time, the replacement of such a print head is usually carried out by a special maintenance technician, and a certain maintenance cost is also required, so that the cost of each ink cartridge is actually higher than that of the "head water integrated" ink cartridge.