Trident establishes inkjet integration partnership with iTi

Trident Industrial InkJet, an ITW company, has announced a partnership with imaging Technology international ( iTi ) of Boulder, Colorado, USA to integrate Trident's industrial inkjet printhead technology into digital manufacturing and printing solutions in response to growing market demand. 

Trident's robust, industrial inkjet printhead technology is ideally suited for emerging inkjet applications in sectors including flat panel displays, coatings, precision deposition of conductive and resistive fluids, and full color process printing. Trident will team with iTi to produce development and production equipment to satisfy the need for evaluation tools, production manufacturing and short run printing.

The ability to jet printing inks or specialized fluids reliably at micron accuracy onto a moving substrate will characterize systems jointly developed by iTi and Trident - a combination of iTi's integration expertise and Trident's robust stainless steel printhead technology.

The companies will jointly develop an Inkjet Drive Engine (IDE) to provide an intuitive, self contained control unit for driving Trident printheads. The IDE will include software to control the printhead firing patterns, an ink supply system incorporating ink degassing, a graphical user interface and an applications programming interface (API) to enable integration of Trident printhead technology with a variety of development and production printing systems.

iTi will integrate its complete family of inkjet development tools, including the XY Materials Deposition System, Drop Watcher and the Inkjet Web Press with the Trident family of printheads. The Drop Watcher is available immediately for the 768Jet printhead.

Trident business manager Steve Liker commented: ‘Everyone recognizes iTi's capabilities. They have extensive experience developing and integrating inkjet into new industrial markets. Trident has the printhead and fluid expertise, as well as the advantage of an inert stainless steel printhead with removable orifice plate for cleaning, repair and flexibility of design. The partnership with iTi enables us to respond to the needs of a market searching for printing, coating and deposition solutions.’

Bruce Morgan, CEO of iTi said: ‘We are pleased that our skills at integrating inkjet technology into industrial applications have been recognized by Trident. They are a leading supplier of robust, production quality printheads that are well suited to the demands of manufacturing, and they have the resources of ITW backing their thrust into new industrial inkjet markets.’

Dr Ross Mills, chief technology officer of iTi, said: ‘The agreement with Trident gives iTi access to a class of printheads that are ideally suited to many of the demanding industrial applications in which we specialize. The unique stainless steel construction of their printheads, along with the ability to clean and repair blocked nozzles, provides iTi with an important tool for dealing with the complex fluid chemistries that characterize many manufacturing system implementations.’