How Do Inkjet Printers Work?

July 28,2022

Over the years, it has gradually become fashionable for computers to enter people's work and life. With the deepening of applications, people are no longer satisfied with the way of only displaying documents and pictures on the screen, but want to see the effect of printing on paper, so printers have begun to sell well in the market.

There are three common types of printers on the market today: dot matrix, inkjet and laser printers. The dot matrix printer has passed its glory period and is gradually entering the dusk; and although the price of laser printers is falling, there is still a certain gap compared with the mainstream color inkjet, and if color is used, the price will be much higher. From this point of view, the popularity of inkjet printers is not surprising.

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The inkjet printer was developed after the dot matrix printer and adopted a non-strike working method. According to the working principle, inkjet printers can be divided into two types: solid inkjet and liquid inkjet (now the latter is more common), and liquid inkjet can be divided into bubble type (canon and hp) and liquid piezoelectric type ( Epson). Bubble jet is to heat the nozzle to make the ink bubble and spray onto the printing medium.

The principle of inkjet printer

Inkjet printers were developed after dot matrix printers and used a non-strike way of working. The more prominent advantages are small size, simple and convenient operation, low printing noise, and pictures comparable to photos that can be printed when using special paper. After several years of honing, the technology of inkjet printers has come a long way.

At present, inkjet printers can be divided into two types: piezoelectric inkjet technology and thermal inkjet technology according to the working mode of the print head. According to the material properties of inkjet, it can be divided into water material, solid ink and liquid ink and other types of printers. Below we describe them separately.

Types of Inkjet Printers

Piezoelectric inkjet technology is to place many small piezoelectric ceramics near the nozzle of the print head of the inkjet printer, and use the principle that it will deform under the action of voltage, and timely add voltage to it. The piezoelectric ceramics then expand and contract, so that the ink in the nozzle is ejected, and a pattern is formed on the surface of the output medium.

The cost of inkjet printheads made by piezoelectric inkjet technology is relatively high, so to reduce the cost of use for users, the printheads and ink cartridges are generally made into separate structures, and it is not necessary to replace the printheads when replacing the ink. This technology was originally created by Epson, because the structure of the print head is relatively reasonable, and the size and usage of the ink droplets can be effectively adjusted by controlling the voltage, so as to obtain higher printing accuracy and printing effect. It has strong control of ink droplets and is easy to achieve high-precision printing. Now the ultra-high resolution of 1440dpi is maintained by Epson. Of course, it also has shortcomings. If the nozzle is blocked during use, the cost of dredging or replacement is relatively high and it is not easy to operate. If it is not good, the entire printer may be scrapped. At present, the products using piezoelectric inkjet technology are mainly Epson inkjet printers.

Thermal inkjet technology is to let the ink pass through a fine nozzle, under the action of a strong electric field, a part of the ink in the nozzle pipe is vaporized to form a bubble, and the ink at the nozzle is ejected to the surface of the output medium to form patterns or characters. So this inkjet printer is sometimes called a bubble printer. The nozzle made by this technology is relatively mature and low in cost, but because the electrodes in the nozzle are always affected by electrolysis and corrosion, it will have a lot of influence on the service life. Therefore, the print head using this technology is usually made together with the ink cartridge, and the print head is updated at the same time when the ink cartridge is replaced. In this way, the user does not have to worry too much about the problem of clogging the nozzle. At the same time, in order to reduce the cost of use, we often see the situation of injecting the ink cartridge (adding ink). Immediately after the print head is filled with ink, the special ink can be filled immediately. As long as the method is proper, a lot of consumables costs can be saved.

The disadvantage of thermal inkjet technology is that the ink will be heated during use, and the ink is prone to chemical changes at high temperatures, and its properties are unstable, so the authenticity of the printed color will be affected to a certain extent; When the bubbles are ejected, the directionality and volume of the ink particles are difficult to grasp, and the edges of the printed lines are easy to be uneven, which affects the printing quality to a certain extent. Therefore, the printing effect of most products is not as good as that of piezoelectric technology products.