How Do Ink-Jet Printers Work?
Droplets of Ink
There isn't a home in the United States with a computer that doesn't have a printer. The technology that allows each of us to own our own printing presses has both advanced and become much more affordable in the last 15 years. Canon, HP, Epson and Lexmark dominate the market in printer sales, with most of those printers utilizing ink-jet technology. Ink-jets use a non-impact technology to apply the ink to the paper -- a series of nozzles precisely sprays very small drops of ink directly onto the paper to form the text or image. For color images, the drops are layered using primary colors to form the exact shade requested by the computer.
The Print Head
The print head of the ink-jet printer is analogous the brain of the printer. Moving on a belt, the print head assembly consists of the ink cartridge holders and the nozzles through which the ink flows. When printing, the paper feeder sends the paper under the print head assembly and the printer controller tells it precisely where to spray the ink droplets to form the image or text requested by your computer.
Piezoelectric and Thermal Ink-Jet Technology
There are two main technologies in the ink-jet world that control how the ink gets through the nozzle and onto the paper -- piezoelectric and thermal. Piezoelectric ink-jets use piezo crystals (materials that generate an electric charge when stressed). When the piezo crystals are charged, it forces a small amount of ink out of the nozzle. Thermal ink-jets (also called bubble-jets) use heat to vaporize ink and create a bubble, forcing ink out of the nozzle onto the paper. Both technologies produce similar quality output.
Tags: onto paper, print head, head assembly, nozzle onto, nozzle onto paper, piezo crystals