On September 11-14, 2006, HP held a customer event in Barcelona. About 1,400 people participated in the event, including about 600 HP wide format printer users (most customers were HP a year ago Acquired Scitex Vision customers), 400 wide format Inkjet Printer competitive customers, 200 distributors, HP sales staff and 100 analysts and journalists from around the world for the wide format industry.
The central topic of the event is X2, a new Piezoelectric inkjet printing technology. This technology will serve as a platform for new HP wide format products and may be used in other industrial printing fields. According to Dr. Ross Allen, HP Scitex's sales and business development manager, technologies like X2 only appear every 10 years.
At this event, HP previewed two new inkjet printers using X2 printheads and introduced two new inkjet printers currently on the market: TJ8500 and Designjet 10000s. The TJ8500 is a drum printer that uses new UV-resistant inks; and Designjet 10000s is a 104-inch OEM version of the ColorPainter 100S from Seiko I Infotech.
Print head made of silicon and glass
When HP acquired Scitex Vision last August, Scitex Vision had developed this X2 technology. Allen said: "When he saw Scitex has developed this technology, he was very happy. In this way, HP's inkjet design and manufacturing experience allows the X2 print head to enter the market faster. Scitex has Xaar licensed piezoelectric Inkjet technology, but according to Itai Halevy, HP Scitex ’s sales and business development manager, the X2 printhead does not include any royalties or other Xaar payments.
The X2 printhead uses a compact module design based on silicon and glass printhead chips with 128 nozzles. This printhead chip uses a unique double-sided "Side shooter" design, which means that ink droplets can be sprayed horizontally on the surface of the chip instead of vertically sprayed on the surface of the chip as designed in conventional printheads .
64 nozzles, ink pipes and piezoelectric actuators are installed on both sides of the silicon chip. A thin glass plate is connected to silicon to seal the ink tube. This glass plate is connected to silicon by anodic welding, which eliminates adhesives that may be corroded by industrial inks. Only silicon, glass, and epoxy can contact the ink, which makes the X2 printhead resistant to corrosion by industrial ink.
When a voltage pulse is applied, this piezoelectric actuator can refract a fraction of a micron glass plate into the ink pipe, and can eject ink droplets at a speed of 8 meters per second, which can eject a viscosity of 15 centipoise (CP) ink. The printhead chip has a resolution of 100 nozzles per inch, and it can be incorporated into multiple printhead modules that provide 800dpi print resolution.
Allen claims that the X2 printhead provides three times more nozzles per square inch than any other piezoelectric inkjet technology. The ejection rate is 30kHz, and the ink droplet size is 50 picoliters, which means that the X2 print head provides 10 ml more ink per minute at a linear printing speed of 2 meters per second. The printing format is 32.5 mm. This advanced technology in the HP Scitex X2 printhead is protected by 31 patents or patent applications.
In order to simplify installation and maintenance, the X2 print head integrates machinery, ink and electronics, allowing the print head to be inserted in its proper position and fixed with 2 screws. The positioning accuracy of the two mechanical positioning pins is better than 10 microns without adjustment. The ink connection is made through 2 ports, one sealed with an O-ring, so no ink tube is needed to connect and fix. Use standard 26-pin connectors for power and control signals.
This X2 print head is manufactured using microelectromechanical system (MEMS) technology commonly used in integrated circuit manufacturing, which can achieve consistent ink droplet volume and speed, and has high positioning accuracy, and can achieve high throughput and scale. Production volume.
Without providing a lot of details, HP previewed two new inkjet printers using the X2 print head-XL2200 and FB6500. Both will be available in the first half of 2007. The XL2200 is an upgraded version of the XL1500 wide format inkjet printer. The XL2200 is much faster than its predecessor and can spray 200 square meters per hour, while the 1500 can only spray 120 square meters. Unlike the 1500, the XL2200 will print on non-coated media. The FB6500 will be the mid-range product in the HP Scitex FB series of flat-format inkjet printers.
New anti-UV ink
Allen also described new UV-resistant inks that can be matched with X2 printheads. He pointed out that this new ink is based on baseless and is a "100% solid" chemical agent. This means that all the ink printed on the printing medium can be converted into solid without any material loss and evaporation (do not mistake it for being solid at normal temperature, and the solid ink ejected after melting).
This 100% solid chemical agent has advantages in the absence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs): no requirement for quick drying, low point diffusion, feather spreading, good ink permeability, and no slagging on the nozzle (when No need to cover the print head when not in use). This new UV-resistant ink provides printing speeds twice as fast as solvent-based inks. With this new X2 inkjet printer, HP will be the only wide format inkjet printer manufacturer that can produce printheads, inks, and inkjet printers.
The innovation of the current X2 print head is reflected in the following aspects:
1. Higher resolution: The current X2 print head is most suitable for 400dpi printing, but it may be relatively easy to redesign the X2 print head for different print resolutions;
2. Higher speed: The current X2 print head supports 400smph printing, but in the future X2 printers can print at 4000smph;
3. Smaller ink droplet size: The current X2 printhead has a large (50 picoliter) ink droplet size, which is suitable for UV-resistant inks, but can be redesigned for printing based on the smaller ink droplet size of water-based or solvent-based inks head;
4. Variable ink drop size: The current X2 print head does not support grayscale printing, but different ink drop sizes or variable ink drop sizes can be developed based on the X2 printhead to print in grayscale.
When asked whether X2 technology can be described as full-dimensional print engine technology (SPT), Allen replied that HP will not apply SPT to X2 printing technology, although there are similarities.
There is currently no plan to replace any other printhead technology with X2 printhead technology, including Seiko I Infotech and Xaar printhead technology.
X2 print head technology will increase the penetration of the high-growth wide-format printing market. When HP acquired Scitex Vision, Scitex Vision already had 1,700 inkjet printers. In Barcelona, HP Scitex said that it has now installed 2,300 inkjet printers, which means that about 600 units are shipped annually. The HP Scitex shipment rate is about 150 units per quarter. When X2 inkjet printers start shipping in the first half of next year, the shipment rate will accelerate a bit.
In addition, X2 print head technology can see some applications in HP's other industrial printing fields. In short, X2 print head technology is a major addition to the HP inkjet printing intellectual property series.
TJ8500
TJ8500 is a drum inkjet printer, similar to TJ8300. The main difference between them is that TJ8300 uses solvent-based ink and TJ8500 uses UV-resistant ink. The use of HP Scitex UV850 Supreme ink makes TJ8500 have two obvious advantages compared with TJ8300. First, the TJ8500 has a built-in treatment system based on UV lamps, which does not require the external dryer required by the TJ8300; second, the TJ8500 can be used on non-coated and non-treated substrates including rubber sheet / screen paper and non-coated Synthetic materials. TJ8300 cannot print on uncoated substrates.
The minimum resolution of the TJ8500 is 336dpi, and it can print at a maximum speed of 400smph (that is, 70 sheets per hour (165X370cm)). The highest resolution of the TJ8500 is 600dpi, printing at a speed of 100smph, or 26 sheets per hour. TJ8500 is available now, but the price is unknown.
Designjet 10000s
Designjet 10000s is a wider version (104 inches) of the 64-inch Designjet 9000. Like 9000, Designjet 10000s is based on Seiko I Infotech technology. Designjet 10000s is an OEM version of Seiko's Colorpainter 100S. Due to the increased format and faster printing speed (16.35smph), HP Designjet 10000s allows users to create wider applications and provide more options to consumers. To support rolls weighing up to 110 kg (242 lbs), a new overweight reel is installed. This device also supports 2 pre-loaded rolls for parallel printing. When connected to an optional 104-inch high-speed dryer, the HP Designjet 10000s can perform long-term unattended printing at maximum printing speed. The Designjet 10000s is now priced at $ 59,995.
