The Land of Technology

Ink jet is a technology that enables the delivery of liquid ink to a medium whereby only the ink drops make contact with the medium. It is consequently a non-impact printing method. Much of the key theory behind the ink jet
technology was acquired at the end of the nineteenth century by Lord Rayleigh (Rayleigh, 1878) but the development of the technology itself did not start until the late 1950s and 1960s.
Ink jet has three basic components, all of which need to work well in order to produce an acceptable output. These pieces are the print head, the ink, and the medium.  Ink jet technologies are typically classified in two large classes: Continuous Ink Jet (CIJ) and Drop-on-Demand Ink Jet (DOD). In CIJ, ink is squirted through nozzles at a constant speed by applying a constant pressure. The jet of ink is naturally unstable and breaks up into droplets shortly after leaving the nozzle. The drops are left to go to the medium or deflected to a gutter for recirculation depending on the
image being printed. The deflection is usually achieved by electrically charging the drops and applying an electric field to control the trajectory. The name `Continuous’ originates in the fact that drops are ejected at all times.

Tags: Inkjet