Canon U.S.A.’s unique, newly released UVgel printing technology will soon be featured in a new line of roll-to-roll printers that will offer large-format print providers an unprecedented combination of productivity, image quality, application range, automation and low cost of operation. “We’re very excited to show this revolutionary new game-changing technology at SGIA,” said Toyotsugu Kuwamura, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Business Imaging Solutions Group, Canon U.S.A. “This new technology will power an upcoming generation of roll-to-roll printers that will help our customers increase their print production efficiency while lowering their operating costs, enabling them to profitably grow their business.” Key elements and benefits of the new UVgel technology include:
- A radically new UV curable ink from Canon that instantly gels on contact with the media, resulting in precise dot placement and area control for consistent high-quality images at high speeds.
- The large colour gamut of solvent inks combined with the environmental benefits and safety of latex and UV inks.
- Ultra-thin ink dispersion with almost no discernible physical profile, and “the lowest ink consumption rate” that can provide up to a 40% reduction in printing costs compared to eco-solvent and latex.
Canon added that these features, combined, result in cost-effective, non-toxic, durable, colour-fast, high-quality prints for almost any flexible media application. The new technology also incorporates several new hardware technology developments from Canon including:
- Advanced “next generation” piezoelectric printhead technology employing patented acoustic sampling technology that monitors nozzle performance on-the-fly during printing.
- A unique LED UV curing sub-system that operates independently from the printing system ensuring identical jetting to curing timing for every droplet – for unprecedented uniformity across the printed image.
- An LED-based UV system that cures without adding any heat to the media, making it easy to print on the thinnest, most heat-sensitive flexible media.
- Continuous, on-the-fly nozzle performance compensation facilitates confident, unattended printing and reduced print waste.
Canon’s new UVgel printing technology will be at the core of a family of new roll-to-roll printing products, the first of which will be a high-productivity 64-inch roll-to-roll printer to be released in the Spring of 2017, said the OEM.
