All industries using today analog printing technologies are more and more looking for ink jet solutions in order to address their needs in term of flexibility, performance and cost. This interest come from the final customer who want to have a customized product, from few to million units, each could be different. But going from analog to digital introduce to change or adapt the manufacturing flow and existing equipment. Few companies are ready to invest into a next equipment generation but not for the others. In fact, a technical transition period is necessary for these companies before to go on a full and ultimate digital printing solution.A modular ink jet print engine, is one of the best solution in order to help the industrial producer to make the bridge from hybrid to digital press. During and after this transition period, the product will be produced with the same technology without big difference for the final customer. It's an education phase for everybody.In this paper, we describe an ink jet print engine able to be implemented into a digital and/or analog industrial press. This document will explain the architecture of the print engine including the data management, hydraulic and fluid control, software, firmware architecture and the capabilities to address monochrome, color and others applications. For conclusion, experiences on industrial equipments and applications are described.
Paul Morgavi, "Modular Ink Jet Print Engine for Industrial Applications" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP19), 2003, pp 547 - 551, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2003.19.1.art00023_2