Micro Piezo [1] is the brand name of the proprietary piezoelectric inkjet print head technology developed by Japanese imaging company Epson, which is also the only major printing company in the world to use piezoelectric technology throughout its entire inkjet printer range.[2]
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Micro Piezo technology is based on the phenomenon of piezoelectricity where materials like crystals and ceramics (known as “piezoelectric materials”) react physically by bending or changing shape when an electrical charge is applied to them.
Micro Piezo print heads share the same fundamental structure and method of operation as other piezoelectric print heads, where microscopic piezoelectric actuators are built behind the print nozzles. When an electrical charge is applied to them, the piezoelectric elements bend backward, drawing precise amounts of ink from the ink chamber into the firing chamber. When the electrical pulse is reversed, the piezoelectric elements bend the opposite way very rapidly, propelling the ink out of the nozzles at high speed.
To improve print resolution, speed and gradations, Epson has refined its Micro Piezo technology to be able to precisely eject ink droplets of up to five different sizes by controlling minute variations in the charge applied to the piezoelectric actuators of the print heads.
Epson began research into using the piezoelectric effect for printing in the late 1970s. Subsequently, the company introduced its first printer that used piezoelectric technology for its print heads in October 1984: the Epson SQ-2000. This printer featured a pioneering piezoelectric print head that was made of glass and had vertical-firing piezoelectric elements.[3]
In 1990, a special team of 80 of Epson’s top engineers, headed by Minoru Usui (who is the current president of Epson), was assembled to develop an advanced piezoelectric inkjet head for future generations of Epson printers. Its mission was to develop a print head that could outperform laser and thermal inkjet printing technologies in terms of both cost and quality and that could eventually be developed to print at much faster speeds.
The team’s effort resulted in a new high performance piezoelectric print head that the company branded as "Micro Piezo" that was first used in the Epson Stylus 800 which was launched in March 1993. This new generation print head became the basis for all future Epson inkjet print heads up to today.[4]
Compared to only other major inkjet printing technology, which is thermal inkjet printing technology, Epson claims that Micro Piezo technology has the following advantages: