Continuous inkjet printers

A continuous inkjet printer is a type of inkjet printer that generates a continuous stream of ink droplets with a predefined diameter.

The term ‘CIJ printer’ is often used as an abbreviation of ‘continuous inkjet printer’.

In continuous inkjet printing, any droplets not needed to produce the printed image or text are given an electrical charge as they pass through a charge electrode. They are then deflected by another electrode into a recess where they are returned back to the ink container. The droplets required to produce the image or text are not charged and are directed onto the printing matrix.

Using a continuous inkjet printer to mark products has many advantages, including the following:

• Continuous inkjet printers can mark products without physically touching their surface and regardless of the surface’s shape or the material it is made of.
• The texts or images printed by a continuous inkjet printer can be updated in an automated way.
• Continuous inkjet printers can be used to print all sorts of codes, from traditional barcodes to the more advanced data matrix codes.
• Continuous inkjet printers can mark products at high speed.

Continuous inkjet printers are used in a variety of sectors, including:

• The food sector: for safety reasons, the marking of food products must offer a certain quality. Continuous inkjet printers can fulfill this task by offering a high quality printing.
• The pharmaceutical sector: similar to the food sector, the pharmaceutical sector requires a high degree of quality when it comes to marking. Continuous inkjet printers ensure that this degree of quality is always met.
• Industry in general: continuous inkjet printers are widely used for industrial marking. A clear example of this are electronic components, which can be easily damaged if the labeling machine cannot do the marking without touching the components’ surface. Continuous inkjet printers solve this problem by marking electronic components without touching their surface.