The Science inside an Inkjet Printer
There are many different types of printers on the market today. One of the most popular and widespread technologies is the inkjet printer. This type of printer utilizes very small droplets of ink to create high-quality text, images, or photos on a piece of paper. To its advantage, an inkjet printer is low-cost and very low maintenance-making it the optimal printer for many homes and small businesses.
How they work
Compared to other types of printers, an inkjet printer is not a very complicated piece of equipment. Most inkjet printers only have a few moving parts, and a single printed circuit board (PCB). The major mechanical components of an inkjet include the print head assembly, ink cartridge, print head motor, belt, and paper feed rollers.
When the printing signals are sent from a computer to the printer, the paper feed roller is instructed to pull a sheet of paper into place. The print head assembly and ink cartridge (sometimes combined as a single unit) are moved back and forth over the paper by the print head motor and belt. As the print head assembly deposits ink on the paper, the feed rollers control the speed of the paper through the printer.
An inkjet printer does not touch the paper when it prints. The ink is sprayed onto the surface with tiny nozzles that are either heat or mechanically activated with a small electrical charge. The amount of ink deposited from each nozzle is so small that it would take more than one million droplets to cover one square inch of paper (most inkjet printers can lay down several million droplets per second!).
Choosing paper and ink
Printing quality with an inkjet printer is very dependant on the proper inkjet cartridge, and paper quality. Many inkjet printers have the print head built directly into the cartridge itself. This is often the most expensive, and fragile, part of the printer (that helps to explain their high replacement costs). An inferior replacement ink cartridge may result in poor print quality, so it often makes sense to purchase OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) print cartridges bearing the name of the original printer manufacturer.
The ink droplets from an inkjet printer are very small, but they can still soak into paper fibers resulting in images that appear blurry, smeared, or washed out. Choosing a high-quality "inkjet-approved" paper for printing text, or an "inkjet photo" paper for high-quality photographic images, will keep the ink droplets on the surface of the paper for better printing results.
The future of inkjet printers
The earliest inkjet printers boasted the ability to print 300 x 300 dpi (droplets per inch) of black ink on a piece of paper. Today, a quality inkjet printer will deposit 4800 x 1200 dpi with six-color cartridges-at less than half the price of the original black and white printer.
Technologically, with the proper paper and ink cartridge, the printing quality of today's inkjet printer is very high. Future advancements will be made in printing speed, the ability of specialized inks to resist smudging and fading (colorfastness), and a continuing effort to miniaturize components such as the ink cartridge, print head, and feed mechanisms.
How they work
Compared to other types of printers, an inkjet printer is not a very complicated piece of equipment. Most inkjet printers only have a few moving parts, and a single printed circuit board (PCB). The major mechanical components of an inkjet include the print head assembly, ink cartridge, print head motor, belt, and paper feed rollers.
When the printing signals are sent from a computer to the printer, the paper feed roller is instructed to pull a sheet of paper into place. The print head assembly and ink cartridge (sometimes combined as a single unit) are moved back and forth over the paper by the print head motor and belt. As the print head assembly deposits ink on the paper, the feed rollers control the speed of the paper through the printer.
An inkjet printer does not touch the paper when it prints. The ink is sprayed onto the surface with tiny nozzles that are either heat or mechanically activated with a small electrical charge. The amount of ink deposited from each nozzle is so small that it would take more than one million droplets to cover one square inch of paper (most inkjet printers can lay down several million droplets per second!).
Choosing paper and ink
Printing quality with an inkjet printer is very dependant on the proper inkjet cartridge, and paper quality. Many inkjet printers have the print head built directly into the cartridge itself. This is often the most expensive, and fragile, part of the printer (that helps to explain their high replacement costs). An inferior replacement ink cartridge may result in poor print quality, so it often makes sense to purchase OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) print cartridges bearing the name of the original printer manufacturer.
The ink droplets from an inkjet printer are very small, but they can still soak into paper fibers resulting in images that appear blurry, smeared, or washed out. Choosing a high-quality "inkjet-approved" paper for printing text, or an "inkjet photo" paper for high-quality photographic images, will keep the ink droplets on the surface of the paper for better printing results.
The future of inkjet printers
The earliest inkjet printers boasted the ability to print 300 x 300 dpi (droplets per inch) of black ink on a piece of paper. Today, a quality inkjet printer will deposit 4800 x 1200 dpi with six-color cartridges-at less than half the price of the original black and white printer.
Technologically, with the proper paper and ink cartridge, the printing quality of today's inkjet printer is very high. Future advancements will be made in printing speed, the ability of specialized inks to resist smudging and fading (colorfastness), and a continuing effort to miniaturize components such as the ink cartridge, print head, and feed mechanisms.
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