Transcript InkjetPrimer

Inkjet Primer
Mark Hibbard : Recharger Magazine
[email protected]
Frontloading:
Direct to MEDIA Printing
•For the novice recycler
•Principal cartridge functions
•Ink composition
•Inkjet cartridge types
•Basic recycling process.
•Theory of ink delivery
•Cartridge filling methods,
• Proper test print procedures
o
Inkjets
HP (44 %)
Canon (36%)
Epson (18%)
 Thermal
Technology
 Piezoelectric
Technology
A Map of Printer
Technology
Non-Impact Printers
Inkjet
Dye-sub
Laser
Drop-onDemand
Piezo
Thermal
Continuous
Market Leaders in the TIJ
industry are HP and Canon.
HP
CANON
Hewlett-Packard:
• 1984 - First thermal inkjet
printer and print cartridge
• Biggest supplier of thermal
inkjets
Canon:
 1977 - “Bubble-jet”
 Drop Modulation Technology
 Durable Printheads (LOW COST)
Piezoelectric Technology (PT) uses
a electromechanical crystal to
eject ink.
• The ink is controlled by a voltage - No voltage, positive
voltage, and negative voltage :
– Controls shape, volume, and speed of droplets
– Pulse-width modulation = fast printing speeds
Thermal inkjets use bubbles to
eject ink.
• Well formed and predictable drops
• Thermodynamic process (read MTBF)
• Localized heat … ambient … temperature
Color Ink-Jet
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Inexpensive Hardware cost (SUB $100.00)
Slow
Simultaneous Issue of 4 Colors
Colors can run if paper gets wet
Archive … water fastness, mottling, bleed with low quality substrate
Consumables ---36 cents/pp ++++
Total Cost / page
Ink Jet
HP 855
Cpp
36000
$12,554
$32
$210
$122
$12,918
$0.359
Pages printed
Paper & toner
Main/PM
Cost of printers/5yr
Staffing
$0.349
$0.001
$0.006
$0.003
97.2%
0.2%
1.6%
0.9%
Color Ink-Jet Printers
• Print head, including Ink filled cartridge moves
horizontally across paper surface
• Each of 4 cartridges (CYMK) has 50 ink-filled
firing chambers
Color Thermal Ink-Jet
Printers
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Ink Flows Into Firing Chamber
Quickly Heated Ink Vaporizes Creating Bubble
Vapor Bubble Pushes Ink Out Nozzle
Droplet Is Propelled Toward Paper by Bursting
Bubble
• Removal of Heat Collapses Bubble and Pulls More
Ink Into Firing Chamber.
Color Ink-Jet Printers
Thermal (TIJ) and Piezoelectric have
some things in common.
Reservoirs
Containing
Liquid Ink
Ink Droplet
• Clean droplets from nozzle to paper
• Components embodied in cartridge
The multi-layer actuator head
solved problems of earlier piezo
heads.
• Only Epson
• Why?
– Large heads and high voltage
• 1989 – Development of multilayer actuator
– More pressure, faster
– Lower voltage, lower circuitry
Creating Color
• Two Methods for Creating a Particular
Hue
– Multiple layers require transparent inks
• Color also depends on medium which it is applied to
– Adjacent
• Different colored dots closer together than the eye
can resolve appear to be single color
• Dithering
Color Printing
Terminology, HSI
• Chromaticity diagram
– Any color characterized by its H, S, and I
– Mathematically convertible to other representations, e.g., RGB,
CYMK
• Hue
– Commonly referred to as color
• Saturation
– How “red” the color red is
• Intensity
– How “bright” the color is
Additive Color
• Mechanism used on TV, color monitors
• Red, Green, and Blue
• All colors added together produce white
Subtractive Color
• Control what color is reflected
– White: all colors reflected
– Red: only red is reflected, all other colors
absorbed (subtracted)
– Black: no colors are reflected
Printing Color, CYMK
• Color printing uses 4 pigments
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Cyan (blue-green)
Yellow
Magenta (purple-red)
blacK
• Fixed dot size
– Lighter shades are produced by leaving more
dots white (unprinted)
Halftone ….. Printing
Color
Dithering
• To Produce Colors Beyond Simple Mix of Primary
Colors (8 Colors), Specific Combinations of Yellow,
Cyan, and Magenta Dots Are Used
• Dots Are Not Placed in Same Spot, but Close
Together (Dithering)
• Eye Blends Discrete, Separately Colored Dots
Into Single Color - Color averaging
Color Dithering
Paper Characteristics
• Uncoated paper
– Rough surface, scatters light
– Blurs image
– Inks “bleed” into paper
• Coated paper
– Smoother surface reflects light more precisely
– Coating prevents color bleed
• Thickness measured by weight in pounds
– Better paper better image
– Generally 25-45lb papers are well founded
Font Formation
•
Bitmapped Fonts
– Bit pattern stored in ROM or downloaded from host computer into
printer (saves transmission time (ttfp) if font characteristics are not married
to document)
•
– However you have one pattern for each character of each typeface of
each attribute of each size that must reside within dynamic memory
within PC …lot of storage faster printing … high end printers load
fonts onto hard drive onboard … then entire workgroup of pc’s need less
memory (total overall cost of LAN decreases)
Outline (vector) Fonts (most plotters/high end graphics)
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Mathematically described
Scalable
Bold facing, italics
Easier conformance to various print densities
Array of vectored data married to drawing or document
Accurate, high quality, thin line control, costly (but becoming cheaper)
Piezoelectric vs. Thermal Inkjet
Thermal:
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Replaceable Consumable
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Cost vs. life tradeoff
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Ink droplet control (limited)
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Printhead technology upload-able
 Printers have a longer life
Piezoelectric:
• Flexible development in
supplies
• Print heads
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Faster
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Last longer
More expensive
No heating/cooling process
Able to control droplets’
speed
More control over ink shape
and size
Customer Driven Market
Choices and POV
– As a software – hardware developer
• Piezoelectric has more R&D potential
– As a consumer
• Thermal is cheaper … reliability=
– Resolution is a factor
• Business
• Schools
• SOHO
InkJet Cartridge Recycling
The exact recycling process depends on
the cartridge type.
In general it includes:
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electrical testing of the circuit
cleaning and unclogging of nozzles
Refilling
test printing
sealing of print head
packaging
InkJet Cartridge Recycling - Yield
The recycling yield varies by cartridge type:
HP 51626 ---- 85-95%
HP 51629 ----- 65-85%.
51629 cartridges seem to be less durable and have more
physical defects such as vacuum leaks between housing
and lid, loose contacts, etc.
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Ink Refill Kit For Hewlett Packard HP 51626aPrice:
Refurbished InkJet Cartridge To Replace HP 51626A, #26Price:
OEM Hewlett Packard Black Inkjet Cartridge - 51626aPrice:
$9.95
$19.99
$27.99
InkJet Cartridge Recycling - Cleaning
Successfully cleaning the cartridges and
unclogging the nozzles is one of the keys
to a profitable recycling operation. The
difference can mean a 50% increase in
recycling cartridge yield.
InkJet Cartridge Recycling - Cleaning
Many different cleaning methods
– Hot water flushing
– Steam Cleaning - may damage nozzle
plates in HP cartridges
– Ultrasonic cleaning by itself is highly
ineffective and can destroy the nozzle
area.
InkJet Cartridge Recycling – Ink Source
– See sources on www.rechargermag.com
– Good ink manufacturers in the USA as well as
Europe
– No one manufacturer has the best ink for all
different types of cartridges..
InkJet Cartridge Recycling – Shipping Sealing
– Nozzle plate must be sealed
– The nozzle plate must be grease free and
clean, before applying the sealing tape
– CLEAN is key
InkJet Image Performance
• An inkjet printer places extremely small
droplets of ink on to the paper
– These dots are very small 50 to 60 microns in diameter
– A human hair is approximately 70 microns in diameter
– These dots are positioned together to achieve very high
dpi [dots per inch] resolutions and GREAT COLOR
– There are 28 IJ printers capable of producing photoquality images for less than 225 dollars
Speed / Resolution
• Graphics
– Bitmaps
– Pixel
– Each pixel requires 1 byte for a 256
colour image i.e. a 640 by 480 pixel
display requires 307,200 bytes
Pages Printed ...
Pages Printed (billions)
350
300
Group 1
250
Group 2
200
Group 3
150
Group 4
100
Group 5
Group 6
50
0
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
Highest Growth COLOR only
2001 Color Pages Printed by Group
Group 1
5%
Group 6
6%
Group 2
18%
Growth 2001-2003 Color Pages
Group 5
24%
34.6%
73.9%
Group 1
Group 2
52.4%
Group 3
Group 4
Group 3
19%
Group 4
28%
70.3%
Group 6
76.5%
65.7%
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Home and Small Office Printing >
Education
Professional Business Communication
Business High Volume
Business Presentation / Marketing
Publishing / Proofing / Pre-press >
Group 5
Group 1
>
>
>
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Group 6
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Revenue Distribution Across
Color Model
Consumables / Revenue (billions USD)
2003
Group 6
Year
2002
Group 5
Group 4
2001
Group 3
Group 2
2000
Group 1
1997
0.00
1.00
2.00
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3.00
4.00
Home and Small Office Printing
Education
Professional Business Communication
Business High Volume
Business Presentation / Marketing
Publishing / Proofing / Pre-press
>
>
>
>
>
>
Group 1
Group 2
Group 3
Group 4
Group 5
Group 6
Model Observations --Assumptions / Corrections
• Networking systems adopt
Color Management System
in current use (PostScript,
Kodak, PDF)
• Memory prices stay at
current levels ---- Color
TTFP dependent on
memory. ($2.00/mb)
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TCO - Total cost of ownership
is fundamental to MIS
procurement
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Ink Jet systems have high
consumables cost (only sBU)
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In 2002 Color hardware has
TOC of HP 5si in 1997
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Cost per page of color not
fully depreciated yet (~2005)
Solid-Ink Color
Printers
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Tektronix Phaser - Xerox Legacy
Ink Solid at Room Temperature Distributed in 4, Wax-like
Uniquely Shaped Blocks
Printer Melts Ink Into Reservoirs in Print Head
Base of Nozzle Contains Piezoelectric Membrane
To Fill Nozzle, Piezoelectric Membrane Wall Extends Out,
Forcing Ink in
Amount of Ink Controlled by Amount of Flexure
Media independence
Some fine tuning at customer site for fusing
Excellent transparency
Solid-Ink Color Printers
Solid Ink Printers
• Tektronix Family (~ 165 lb)
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MSRP
Phaser 840 32 mb
Phaser 850 64 mb
Phaser 850 128 mb
$2560
$3226
$4204
1000dpi
1200dpi
1200dpi
• Brother Family
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HS 5000
HS 5300
16 mb
32 mb
$1300
$1600
600dpi
600dpi
• Xerox Legacy (packaged)
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Xerox is post packaging Tektronix engines similar to HP/Canon arrangement. The
advantages are clearly customer oriented.
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Maintenance and support system is extensive through dealer network
Xerox is boosting memory, paper-handling, graphics, and firmware offerings in their
bundled packages
Leveraging connectivity to copiers, networks, enterprise software, intranets ..
Time to First Page : Cost per Copy
: Total Overall Cost
TtFP
ToC
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Mechanical design
Color process
Memory
Raster graphics processing
RISC processor (proportional to # of printers manufactured)
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CpC
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Energy
Color process
Media
Marking material
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Initial purchase price
CpC
Maintenance
Network efficiency
Product lifecycle
Consumables other than
marking materials
Skewed to higher volume
printers
Lease/purchase (36mo min)
Administrative cost
Coverage model of 5% is
obsolete …… 2001
estimates that coverage is
approaching 15% driven
by applications !!
Paper Handling ….
OPERATIONS
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Printer receives the data and saves some of the data in a
buffer.
This buffer means that the printer can finish with the actual print
process quickly, rather than having to wait for the actual page to
print. A buffer, depending on its size, can hold information for a
large amount of print jobs
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If the printer has been idle for any length of time it will likely go
through a short cleaning phase
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The control circuitry activates the paper feed stepper motor,
engaging the motors to feed a sheet of paper from the paper
tray/feeder. If there is no paper or a problem with the paper, the
process is stopped
Operations
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Once the paper is positioned the print head stepper motor moves
the print head assembly across the page
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The motor pauses for a fraction of a second each time the print
head sprays a dot of ink on to the page and then moves fractionally
before spraying again
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Multiple dots are made at each stop. It sprays the CMYK colours
in precise combinations to make other colours possible
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At the end of each complete pass the paper feed stepper motor
advances the paper fractionally and the print head is rest to the
beginning of the page or, alternatively, continues to print in the
reverse direction
Operations
• This continues until printing is complete
• At which point the print heads are parked and the paper
feeder motor spins the rollers to push the completed page
out onto the paper tray
• Note : Inkjet printers are often sold at a loss by
manufacturers on the basis of future revenue from
cartridges!
• Note : Photo quality paper is the best bet for printing
things like images. On low quality paper the ink tends to
feather or disperse, resulting in a smudged appearance
Product Lifecycle Management
Formation
Product
Definition
Production
Product
Distribution
Sustained
Operations
Product Line (SKU) Information Management
Materials Management
Product Documentation
Product Planning / Scheduling
Remov
al
Strategy …
That depends on your market. 80% of the
NA Remanufactured Market is
51626, 51629, 51645, 51641, 51625, 51649,
BC 01/02.
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Remanufacturers Position/
Orientation
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89% in support of business imaging
Publishing area new and untapped
Quality first … price second
Education Gap
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Printer operation
CONNECTIVITY
Administration
Color management standards
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Adobe, ICC, Kodak
3-6 year lag
• Roadblocks
– Color systems in general
– Simpler system w/ ink
– Market growth 80% in two
years
– Value chain could change if
you sell direct.
Color Consumables Revenue
(billions)
Consumables Revenue by Printer Engine (IDC)
$45.0
$40.0
$35.0
$30.0
$25.0
$20.0
$15.0
$10.0
$5.0
$0.0
1996
Thermal Ink Jet
Dry Toner
Solid Ink
Dye Sublimation
Thermal Wax Transfer
Other
Total Color Mkt.
1998
2000
2002
2004
Model built from IDC Data
•Better cost per page data
•Better separation from printer TOC
Standards UPDATE
What has been done?
•DIN 33872 - Determination of the yield of consumables ( toner / ink, black )
For copiers, printers, fax equipment and their combinations.
•ASTM F 1856 - Standard Practice for Determining Toner Usage for
Printer Cartridges.
•ANSI W1 1420-D - Standard for All-in-One Toner Cartridge Yield for
Monochrome Laser Printers
•ECMA
•IDC whitepaper
Measurement of Cartridge Yield
What are the issues?
•Scope
•Copiers/Fax
•Inkjet
•Color
•Type of file to use
•Grayscale content
•% coverage
•file format
•Determination of end of life
Acknowledgements:
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Companies:
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www.canon.com
www.hp.com
www.epson.com
http://www.inksolution.net/
Articles:
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www.industrialtechnology.co.uk/epson.htm
www.pctechguide.com
www.digitalkamera.de/Drucker/Tintenstrahl-en.htm