Printing Technologies

Our printing technologies capability uses ongoing research in electronics, optical systems, and chemistry for consumer product development and applications in industrial and manufacturing sectors. We provide hardware, firmware, and software support for all development. The program focuses on advanced graphic art equipment, image processing, pattern recognition techniques, materials handling, laser applications, and design of state-of-the-art printers and printing methods.

• High-quality Monochrome Printer
• Gray-scale Color Printing Using Solid Ink Jet
• Bar code Interference Analysis
• Optical Card System
• Ink-Jet Printing Inks
• Color Printing Using Thermally Transferred Sublimable Dyes
• High-quality Electrostatic Printer

High-quality Monochrome Printer
A major Japanese electronics firm came to SRI, acknowledging that its sales of impact printers were quickly being eroded by ink jet printers and requesting that we brainstorm new low-cost methods for monochrome printing. SRI held a series of innovation workshops and invented several promising concepts, including a method of printing hot-melt ink for water-fast prints and an ink jet design that was twice as fast as others on the market. SRI developed feasibility prototypes of both designs, and the high-speed design was used by the client in production. SRI also formulated a series of inks for use with these printheads.

Gray-scale Color Printing Using Solid Ink Jet
SRI has developed ways to alter solid-ink-jet printers that enable the production of tonal variations within each pixel. This capability significantly increases the quality of continuous-tone output. We worked on the hardware and the inks necessary for this technology.

Bar Code Interference Analysis
SRI performed an analysis of the bar code writing and reading system in use for letter sorting at the U.S. Postal Service. We analyzed the letter mail flow, the machinery in use for printing and reading the codes, and the ink involved in printing the codes. The analysis included visits to postal facilities to observe and test the sorting and printing machinery as well as to observe the mail flow and mail handling procedures. SRI made recommendations for areas of improvement in the bar coding system and performed work to implement some of the improvements. One area of improvement involved reformulating the ink used for printing the bar code to improve drying time and print quality.

Optical Card Systems
SRI has been developing memory systems using Drexler Technology's patented optical recording material. The development work has concentrated on recording material in a card format rather than a disk format. Our collaboration with Drexler has resulted in four systems: a microbar reader, microspot reader, debit machine, and microspot reader/writer. Several patents have been submitted as part of this development, including one for "quad density recording," which allows for higher-density recording on optical media than previously possible.

Ink-Jet Printing Inks
SRI has developed a proprietary technology for producing a full color range of water-based water-fast inks for continuous and bubble jet printers. This technology has been licensed for industrial continuous jet printing applications.

Color Printing Using Thermally Transferred Sublimable Dyes
A client came to SRI for help in developing a printing technology that could produce photographic-quality prints from images captured with a new electronic camera. SRI's printing and chemistry experts found that sublimable dyes on polyester produced a wide range of brilliant colors rivaling those available in photographic dyes. We developed a printing process that used a thermal head and a donor sheet with the three primary colors and black. This development for our client is now being marketed worldwide.

High-quality Electrostatic Printer
A venture capital group and a start-up company turned to SRI's expertise in printing technology to develop a fast, high-quality color-printing device. SRI tapped into in-house technology developed during its pioneering work in liquid toners to evaluate engineering designs that would allow for rapid printing of each primary color in succession with no drying time between colors. SRI's product development team eliminated the historic problems of staining, color overlap, and uneven density typically associated with the approach. SRI's printing system delivered a near-magazine-quality color reproduction for short run-printing and electronic duplication of snapshots for the photographic market. The technology is being commercialized by Colorep.