SIP4.0 - Smart Inkjet Printhead 4.0 Creates the Smart Inkjet Platform of the Future
Ingénierie et Architecture
The inkjet printhead, crucial for inkjet technology, requires stable and precise control of various conditions, including ink temperature and pressure, to ensure consistent jetting performance. Furthermore, the delicate and fragile nature of inkjet printheads has necessitated the incorporation of methods to detect, compensate for, or conceal defects.
The complexity, sensitivity, and fragility of integrating inkjet technology with these printheads, along with the investment and development time required for industrialization, have been factors in the failure of many new industrial inkjet applications. In 2021, iPrint launched the internal project, Smart Inkjet Printhead 4.0 (SIP4.0),supported by Ursula Wirz-Stiftung and HEIA-FR R&D funds, aimed at revolutionizing inkjet technology by developing core technologies that will transform printheads into smart devices.
This next-generation inkjet printing technology utilizing SIP4.0 is expected to meet the demands of inkjet application fields previously unattainable. At the core of the SIP4.0 project lies the utilization of piezo sensing technology. Leveraging the reverse and direct piezoelectric effect, the actuators within piezo-driven inkjet printheads serve dual purposes: ejecting ink droplets and sensing the printhead's current status. The hundreds or thousands of piezoelectric elements in each printhead enable precise detection of the individual nozzle status. A significant amount of data can therefore be gathered, analyzed and employed to correct, the printing process.
The reliability of the inkjet technology in a closed loop configuration will therefore be significantly improved. Moreover, the development of SIP4.0 low-noise sensing technology and a deep understanding of inkjet printhead structure and ink rheology analysis enable the extraction of several new types of information (Fig.1) that were not possible with past technologies.
The presentation will first delve into the complexities and challenges of current inkjet technology, introduce several advanced inkjet technologies based on iPrint's SIP4.0 program, and conclude with the integration of smart inkjet print head SIP4.0 technology with AI and machine learning. The objective is to facilitate discussion on the potential of the Smart Inkjet Platform (SIP) as the inkjet printing system of the future.