Tonejet is a drop-on-demand

inkjet printing Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpens ...

technology that enables the direct digital deposition of

printing ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thicke ...

onto substrates. The Tonejet

digital printing Digital printing is a method of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format ...

process is targeted at commercial and industrial applications. Tonejet was first disclosed in

Patent Cooperation Treaty The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) is an international patent law treaty, concluded in 1970. It provides a unified procedure for filing patent applications to protect inventions in each of its contracting states. A patent application filed und ...

publication WO 93/11866 dated June 24, 1993, with the inventor named as Luis Lima-Marques, and assigned to Research Laboratories of Australia Pty. Ltd., in

Adelaide, Australia Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The demo ...

. A number of

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

s relating to the technology, including United States Patent 6,260,954, have been granted. Research Laboratories of Australia formed a partnership with

The Technology Partnership plc ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, a technology and product development company from the UK, to add hardware development expertise. Tonejet now has its headquarters in Cambridge, UK.

Process

The Tonejet process is an

electrostatic Electrostatics is a branch of physics that studies electric charges at rest (static electricity). Since classical times, it has been known that some materials, such as amber, attract lightweight particles after rubbing. The Greek word for amber ...

drop-on-demand deposition technology that enables high-quality images to be printed onto virtually any type of absorbing or non-absorbing substrate at high speed. The Tonejet process consists of electrostatic concentration and ejection of particles from a fluid. The Tonejet print head enables an

electric field An electric field (sometimes E-field) is the physical field that surrounds electrically charged particles and exerts force on all other charged particles in the field, either attracting or repelling them. It also refers to the physical field fo ...

to be applied to the

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thi ...

. The Tonejet ink is a key part of the ejection process; it consists of

electrically charged Electric charge is the physical property of matter that causes charged matter to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field. Electric charge can be ''positive'' or ''negative'' (commonly carried by protons and electrons respe ...

conventional

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compo ...

s in a non-conductive liquid. In the Tonejet printhead, an electric force is applied directly to the charged ink particles. The longer the electric pulse is applied, the more ink is ejected. The Tonejet ejection process concentrates the ink prior to ejecting the droplets onto the substrate, with continuous

greyscale In digital photography, computer-generated imagery, and colorimetry, a grayscale image is one in which the value of each pixel is a single sample representing only an ''amount'' of light; that is, it carries only intensity information. Graysca ...

control. The Tonejet printhead is a three-dimensional structure consisting of side walls, flow channels and ejectors. An ink meniscus is formed between the side walls and the ejector. The Tonejet printhead is therefore a simple, nozzleless, open structure.

Commercial products

In late 2007, Tonejet announced that it had produced the world's widest integral printhead for use in an industrial printer. The wide printhead would enable the vast majority of food and drink packaging to be printed in a single pass, thereby bringing substantial logistics and cost savings to the packaging industry. In 2008, Ball Packaging Europe announced that in cooperation with Tonejet, they would supply individually designed

beverage can A drink can (or beverage can) is a metal container designed to hold a fixed portion of liquid such as carbonated soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, fruit juices, teas, herbal teas, energy drinks, etc. Drink cans are made of aluminum (75% of w ...

s using the Tonejet process with photo quality, 600 dpi resolution. In June 2010,

Air Berlin Air Berlin PLC & Co. Luftverkehrs KG (), branded as airberlin or airberlin.com was a major German airline. At its peak, it was Germany's second-largest airline, as well as Europe's tenth-largest airline in terms of passengers carried. It was h ...

launched its own line of

s after becoming the first customer for Ball Packaging Europe's technology co-operation with Tonejet. There is some interest particularly in printing cans for the

craft beer Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...

market.

References

External links

{{Official, https://www.tonejet.com/ Non-impact printing

Process

Commercial products

See also

References

External links