Technology FAQs

Memjet technology is a new generation of printing technology for home and office customers, delivering 60-page-per-minute (one second per page) color printing performance at breakthrough costs per page and price points relative to performance. 

The technology consists of four main components including page-wide printheads, high performance controller chips, software and custom inks, which Memjet Home and Office sells to OEM brands to be integrated into their own branded printing devices. 

Memjet devices are page printers that are designed to process and print an entire color page in one second.  The page wide printhead prints the entire width of the page while the paper simply moves underneath the printhead.  The Memjet software and controller work together to efficiently process page data.  The controller contains a high speed 648 MHz processor and embedded memory sufficient to print even complex pages at rapid speeds.  Each printhead contains 70,400 nozzles and can print up to 900 million drops per second with minimal warm up time. 

Memjet's customized inks are absorbed into the paper in milliseconds.  Pages, even high-coverage pages, are smudge resistant and can be handled immediately after printing.

The Memjet printhead nozzles are small enough that the human eye is not able to see the impact of single clogged nozzles distributed randomly across a Memjet printhead.  Even so, the Memjet components and related ink delivery and maintenance systems have been carefully designed to mitigate clogging and other potential problems that lead to print quality issues.  

The surface of the Memjet printheads and the silicon nozzle's structure are designed to be effectively wiped clean by a maintenance system.  Each Memjet based device will be delivered with a maintanence system designed to keep nozzles healthy while the device is printing as well as after it has been idle for a period of time.  Maintenance system regimes have been designed into Memjet controller chips and can also be adjusted by OEM brands to support a range of printing environments and customer requirements.     

Certainly.  Memjet prototypes shown to date print at 60 pages per minute and are considered fast enough for most home and office printing environments.  As speeds increase beyond 60ppm, devices become less practical for desktop spaces due in part to more expensive paper movement systems and increased related mechanical robustness.  

In the future, we intend to work with partner brands to introduce higher speed shared office devices that run up to 120 pages per minute, matching the needs of workgroup and departmental users with revolutionary Memjet technology.

Yes.  Memjet inks are customized to ensure sustained performance and quality using a Memjet printhead.  Using the wrong ink can dramatically decrease the capability of a Memjet printhead and can ultimately destroy it.  While the chemistry and fluid dynamics of Memjet ink formulations are unique and specific, the Memjet water-based inks have many ingredients in common with inks used in home and office printing environments today.

While it may be possible to provide non-water-based, specialized inks such as UV-curable inks or solvent-based inks with Memjet printing systems, it is not common to use these inks in home and office printing environments, and not a current priority for Memjet Home and Office.   It is more likely that the other Memjet companies, focused outside of the home and office printing markets, will lead these development efforts.

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