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The term ink system describes the parts of an inkjet printer that are needed to supply the printheads with ink.
In the simplest case, an ink system can consist of a container that is filled with ink to such an extent that its liquid level is slightly below the level of the nozzle plate of the printhead used. This purely theoretical consideration is hardly usable in practice.
A much more complex design is required for stable operation suitable for everyday use. In most cases, a piezo inkjet printhead requires an ink supply that is pressurized with a slight vacuum in the single-digit millibar range.
Without this vacuum, the ink from an ink tank located higher than the nozzle plate would simply run uncontrolled through the printhead.
From many years of experience, we know that the development of an ink system adapted to a target application presents most users with major challenges.
In addition to functional requirements, various properties, such as material compatibility, weight, size and also manageability in the event of any necessary cleaning or repair, play an important role.
In order to enable the development of inkjet applications that can be planned in terms of time and cost, we have begun to develop and produce a whole series of components for the manufacture of ink systems that are coordinated with one another.
In the conception of our modular system, we have taken great care to ensure that the individual components are small, light and inexpensive to manufacture.
The resulting portfolio allows the uncomplicated construction of ink systems for all applications known to us.
From the simple reservoir for dropwatching or dosing applications up to a fully automatically controlled circulation system with filling, emptying and independent cleaning, almost everything imaginable can be realized.
It is highly recommended to use exactly the same arrangement of components that will be used in the target machine for the often necessary preliminary tests in the development phase of a machine project.
In the following you will find photos of the individual components and illustrations of possible variants of use from a CAD system.
In addition to the system components shown here, we also supply subassemblies for the assembly of vacuum regulators as well as electronics and software for the operation of so-called cleaning and capping stations.
The tank shown here can be used universally.
It is suitable for laboratory use because it can be disassembled and cleaned very easily due to special glass threads.
The glass body can be ordered in different lengths.
Only the glass, POM parts, stainless steel and a selectable sealing material come into contact with the liquid used.
As standard, we supply the tank with flat gaskets and O-rings made of peroxide-cured EPDM.
The tank can be equipped with a level sensor as shown in the picture. A heating module can also be installed. The square base of the tank is 32 x 32 mm.
In the meantime, we have developed and manufactured various components that are suitable for the construction of tank systems. We take great care that weight, costs and size remain within a range that is also acceptable for the production of small series.
The picture placed next to this text shows a rather special tank that can be used for high viscosity liquids.
It has a solid ink heater made of anodized aluminum. The sight glass in the middle can be equipped with a level sensor.
Because of the height of the heater, the vacuum in the air space of the tank must be a few millibars higher. This has been extended by a POM part so that no liquid gets into the vacuum system.
The tank can be filled and emptied automatically from below. Flushing fluid can be supplied and removed via a second connection.
The picture on the left shows an ink tank variant that we often use for test machines and dropwatcher systems. This tank can be operated with a very small amount of ink. The lower tank compartment is filled automatically from the upper one. The upper tank compartment must be filled manually. The system is also suitable for production machines with a low consumption.
To facilitate a plannable setup of ink systems, we have developed various electronic components to provide required functions.
There are modules for measuring pressures and temperatures. The evaluation of input signals and output of signals is also simply solved. DC voltages up to 50V at 1 Amp. can be easily switched or output as PWM signal. To control the components we use a popular single board computer.
