Inkjet & Digital Printing
FUJIFILM Dimatix Technology Integration
Monday 12. May 2008 - Helping companies incorporate the power of piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet technology into their manufacturing operations
Improvements in all types of drop-on-demand inkjet technologies have hastened inkjets adoption in an increasing number of applications, leading some industry observers to predict an “inkjet future” for digital printing.
But while inkjet is poised to become a mainstream technology for commercial printing, one form of the technology – piezoelectric drop-on-demand (Piezo DOD) – is superbly positioned to dominate industrial applications that are well within and far beyond the world of print production.
Piezo DOD is a proven industrial technology thats been used in wide-format printing and industrial marking and coding since the late 1980s. Over many years, FUJIFILM Dimatix, Inc. (originally known as Spectra, Inc.) has improved the technologys speed, accuracy, consistency and reliability – making piezo DOD suitable for a broad range of applications.
The hallmark of FUJIFILM Dimatix proprietary implementation of piezoelectric DOD inkjet technology is that it allows every jet on a FUJIFILM Dimatix printhead to operate concurrently and at a high throughput rate – without trading off drop placement accuracy – thereby enabling precision jetting at production speed. In addition, the durable materials FUJIFILM Dimatix uses in their manufacture allow the companys patented printhead products to jet the broadest range of inks and other fluids at sustained high frequencies.
Dimatix Technology Integration: Addressing Customers Unique Requirements
The same features that have allowed FUJIFILM Dimatix printheads to excel in demanding printing applications also have made them attractive to a growing number of manufacturers in industries beyond traditional print production.
In the printing industry, FUJIFILM Dimatix works with a renowned list of highly capable OEMs and systems integrators to bring its technology to market. But applying inkjet technology outside the printing industry poses a completely different set of challenges.
Dimatix Technology Integration (DTI) was formed in 2002 as an engineering group within FUJIFILM Dimatix – specifically to address customers whose unique requirements were not addressed by commercially available printer products.
As drop-on-demand inkjet technology grows in application and sophistication, the number of companies that need more than just great piezo DOD inkjet technology and components has increased. Today, DTI is staffed by dedicated teams of mechanical, electrical, chemical and software engineers who develop and integrate custom-tailored inkjet solutions based on FUJIFILM Dimatix core piezo DOD technology for a broad range of clients, fluids, applications and industries.
Although DTI engages with companies of any size who need the unique skills the group offers, most clients fit the profile of large end-user organizations that need systems designed and built to their specific requirements. Moreover these systems must be tightly integrated to the customers unique operation, and they must be industrially reliable.
Unique Projects and Applications
Often, the projects Dimatix Technology Integration teams work on make the customers product more valuable or give it an edge in the market that allows the client to increase sales or gain market share. But beyond that, these applications often defy characterization.
Every surface DTI clients print on is unique, the fluids they use are often unique and their manufacturing environments are unique. DTI has developed single-pass inkjet systems that print on substrates as different as dough, liquid icing, and other foods; many different types of plastics; durables like wood, ceramics and metals; and cloths and synthetic fabrics.
Plus, there can be variations within the same class of substrates. The media DTI clients print on can be hot, cold, wet, dry, rough, smooth, delicate, sturdy, porous, non-porous, rigid or flexible – depending on the manufacturing process, and even where in the process inkjet can be integrated most advantageously. Examples include digital decoration of chocolate and other baked goods, where the edible colorants are often applied while foods are still warm; and frozen treats, which are decorated while semi-solid prior to chilling.
Fluids Run the Gamut
Just as there are differences in substrates and environments, fluids jetted also run the gamut. DTI has developed inkjet systems to jet adhesives, conductive and dielectric inks; aqueous, solvent, and UV-curable and hot-melt inks; masking inks including photoresists, etch resists, anti-scratch and anti-glare compounds; enzymes, edible colorants and many other “functional fluids” – in addition to handling the full spectrum of inks used in the printing industry.
“FUJIFILM Dimatix inkjet technology is capable of handling fluids for a virtually unlimited range of applications. And in many cases, successfully integrating inkjet technology in the customers existing application requires as much knowledge of chemistry as it requires expertise in various engineering disciplines,” says Dr. Richard Baker, an inkjet printing and fluids expert, PhD in Chemistry and Director of Business Development for the FUJIFILM Dimatix Technology Integration group.
“The challenge for DTI,” Baker explains, “lies in understanding how to integrate FUJIFILM Dimatix inkjet technology so that it operates seamlessly within each customers unique application and environment – whether that means fully operational on a high-speed production line, in a laboratory setting developing new functional fluids, or prototyping new industrial, biological or electronics manufacturing processes.”
This uniqueness is distinctly different from commercial print production; where paper products and two or three types of vinyl comprise the lions share of target media; and where inks are many and varied, but fairly well known.
DTI Engineering Expertise
To support these diverse industrial companies and applications, DTI provides a range of services that help companies integrate FUJIFILM Dimatix inkjet technology in their unique products or manufacturing processes. These services can range from conducting initial feasibility work, to providing broad assistance in designing, building and supporting fully functioning custom production solutions based on FUJIFILM Dimatix proprietary printhead technology.
Dimatix Technology Integration teams provide focused skill sets in the areas of mechanical engineering, process control including industrial I/O, and in integration covering mechanical, electrical, industrial interface and ink components. The groups electrical engineering strengths include high-speed data paths, system control, end-user software, embedded systems programming, GUIs, image flow and data processing. Customized electronics ensure optimal performance of the systems designed or developed by DTI.
Because DTIs technology often is used as one link in a manufacturing chain, Technology Integration engineers also recognized early on the need to provide ongoing post-installation support. For example, if a standalone printer stops, it typically affects production of that individual job or printing process. But if a high-speed printing system used for decorating products feeding in from 16 production lines stops working, it can bring the entire production line down. Immediate response to customers unique problems is as important as system reliability in making sure the lines keep moving.
Dimatix Technology Integration Systems
Many of the systems DTI designs, builds and supports are unique – designed to be embedded in manufacturers proprietary production lines. These “secondary processes” often add substantial value to the customers product, or enhance their production process – or achieve both goals.
However, to make the inkjet system an integral part of the customers operation, the DTI group often needs to develop semi-custom components, subsystems and fluids.
Over time, DTI has built a veritable arsenal of semi-custom inkjet hardware sub-systems that can be used in building custom systems based on FUJIFILM Dimatix inkjet technology, including three different types of controllers, 28 printing clusters ranging in print width from 2.5 to 30 inches, electronic triggers, different types of fluid delivery systems, and inks and other fluids.
The DTI group also offers complete production systems including multiple configurations of the Merlin FG, an industrial imaging system designed for non-impact variable imaging and decoration of food products using edible food grade colorants.
The Merlin FG can be configured with imaging hardware, control electronics and fluid maintenance as an inline unit thats fully integrated with the customers existing food manufacturing line. Or it can be ordered as one or more standalone production systems complete with conveyor.
For food decoration – which is one of DTIs core strengths – the group also offers a line of specially formulated FDA-compliant and Kosher certified Tapestry Food Colorants, which are designed and approved to print on a variety of food products, including chocolate.
At Drupa 2008, the Technology Integration group is exhibiting a protypical inkjet production system called the XP-200, which demonstrates how inkjet technology can be used in industrial product decoration.
New Markets – and New Challenges
FUJIFILM Dimatix products fall into two categories: macroprinting and microprinting.
Macroprinting includes tried-and-true industrial inkjet applications such as wide format printing, addressing, bar coding and newer applications such as product decoration and pill printing, as well as large-feature fluid deposition such as scratch resistant coatings, adhesives and conductive and non-conductive patterning.
Microprinting involves jetting droplets of picoliter-sized functional fluids onto all types of surfaces. Microprinting fluids range from liquid silver used in the fabrication of flexible electronic circuits, to organic “inks” found in applications such as in creating and analyzing DNA arrays for the biosciences, among many others.
FUJIFILM Dimatix macroprinting innovations are already helping thrust inkjet into contention for the future of digital printing. Now, the microprinting capabilities afforded by key technologies like FUJIFILM Dimatix Shaped Piezo Silicon MEMS fabrication are opening not just new markets, but new vistas for the company that are far afield of wide format printing and industrial marking and coding. (See “Applications” sidebar.)
“Whether companies are jetting ink, food colorants, neutraceuticals, conductive silver or any other fluids, the challenge – and goal – of Dimatix Technology Integration is in understanding how to integrate FUJIFILM Dimatix inkjet technology so that it operates seamlessly within each customers unique application and environment.
“And I would have to admit, we have become rather accomplished at meeting both,” says Baker.
“We have the technology, the team, the track record and the tools to help industrial companies succeed.”