Meteor Inkjet says its invention uses real-time monitoring of electrical feedback from the inkjet nozzle to detect clogged or clogging print nozzles.
Meteor Inkjet LTD, leading supplier of electronics, software, tools and services for industrial inkjet, has been granted a US patent for “Inkjet nozzle status detection” (United States Patent No. 11,504,966) by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The patent covers a system and method for determining, in real-time, the operational status of a nozzle in a piezoelectric industrial inkjet printhead. “Conventional solutions to jetting issues are often sufficient for scanning printers in applications where multiple passes can mitigate the impact of nozzle failure,” Meteor said. “But for single-pass systems running at high speed, or in applications where nozzle failure would have catastrophic consequences, existing inline imaging solutions are often complex and typically cost more than the print system itself. Additionally, because camera-based solutions identify printhead problems after-the-fact, they have limited use for predictive maintenance.”
Meteor’s VP of technology
and the primary inventor
Fernando Rodriguez, Meteor’s VP of technology and the primary inventor, said: “Our invention uses real-time monitoring of electrical feedback from the nozzle after piezoelectric excitation to detect clogged or clogging print nozzles. This disruptive innovation has the potential to remove a significant barrier to implementation of inkjet in applications where the impact of nozzle failure makes inkjet unsuitable.”
