ImageXpert provides innovative ink jet analysis systems for research and development and production. Their JetXpert system allows for visualization and analysis of ink drops in flight through high-speed cameras and software. This provides insights into drop formation, sustainability, misting, and consistency that help optimize ink formulations and print parameters. JetXpert systems have helped many ink manufacturers successfully develop new inks. ImageXpert is continuously enhancing JetXpert's capabilities such as through automated motion and frequency sweep testing.

1. Innovative Ink Jet Analysis
Systems for R&D and
Production
ImageXpert, Inc.
Nashua, New Hampshire
www.imagexpert.com
www.jetxpert.com
www.jetxpert.com

2. Presentation Outline
• Introduction to ImageXpert
• How is In-Flight Analysis Used?
• JetXpert for visualization and analysis of drops-in-
flight
– JetXpert System Overview
– Adding Greater Capabilities
– New:, Hybrid Print Station, Smartcam
• Automated print quality analysis, and part inspection
– Hardware Platforms
– Overview of Tools for Print Quality Analysis
– Summary, Q&A
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3. Introduction to ImageXpert
• ImageXpert Inc. is a world leader in vision-based
inspection systems and solutions.
• Serving:
– digital printer manufacturers
– ink formulators
– jetted deposition system developers
• Offering a range of generalized inspection systems as
well as more specialized systems.
• Companies rely on ImageXpert systems in both R&D
and production.
• Constantly innovating with a special focus on ink jet
markets
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4. Visualization and Analysis
of Drops in Flight
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5. Why Analyze Drops In-Flight?
• Visualize Drop Formation
- Adjusting jetting parameters and ink formulation to optimize
drop formation means faster turnaround and cheaper
development. It also removes added complications from
substrate interaction.
• Test Sustainability
- The ability to test jet sustainability both automatically and
offline, saves both time and money. 30% of printer failures are
due to jet out.
• Diagnose Misting
- Usually less important for graphics, but critical for printed circuit
boards and other printed electronics applications.
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6. Why Analyze Drops In-Flight?
• Verify Nozzle-to-Nozzle Consistency
- Some heads, like the SX3 from Dimatix, feature individually
addressable nozzles. In these cases, in-flight drop analysis can
be used to optimize individual nozzle voltages, for highly
consistent performance across the head.
• Wetting
- High magnification cameras identify wetting problems in early
stages of development.
• Measure Drops
- For many applications, a particular drop volume or velocity is
required. Jetting parameters and ink formulations may be
adjusted until in-flight analysis shows that the desired
characteristics have been achieved.
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7. Case Study
• A few years ago, a prominent ink company with over 1000
employees sought to develop jetable metallic inks, for a variety
of decorative applications.
• Initial print testing was favorable, but as testing continued, print
electronics boards began blowing out at an alarming rate.
• High resolution, live video of the nozzle plate during jetting
showed that significant misting was occurring. This ink mist had
been building up on the electronics, and causing electrical
shorts.
• Live video of drop formation allowed new ink formulations and
jetting parameters to be tested far more rapidly and
inexpensively, until the misting problem was eliminated.
• The new inks passed QA and sustainability tests, and
successfully reached market.
www.jetxpert.com

8. Real Life Examples
• Over 50 Ink Manufacturers have used JetXpert to successfully
bring new inks to market, for applications including textile,
ceramic, traditional graphics, printed electronics, bioengineering,
medicine, additive manufacturing, and more.
• Total jetxpert in the market is about 150 systems
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9. JetXpert System Overview
• Measures drop volume, velocity, and trajectory
• Variable delay to visualize drop formation
• Very small footprint (~24” max. dimension)
• Single strobe event for imaging of single droplets
• 125ns minimum pulse width
• Data automatically saved in spreadsheet readable
format
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10. JetXpert System Overview
• Fully integrated system includes:
– LED strobe, control box, and control software
(GUI)
– Calibrated digital camera for image capture
– Workstation running ImageXpert software for drop
analysis
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11. Drop Visualization Example
Visualization of drops-in-flight:
• Single Event
• Variable Delay
• Calibrated Ruler
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12. Drop Analysis Example
Analysis of drops-in-flight:
• Radius (mm)
• Volume (pl)
• Velocity (m/s)
• Trajectory (degrees)
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13. Dimatix 1024 Starfire
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14. Xaar 1001 multi drops
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15. Toshiba Tech ceramic ink
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16. Adding Greater Capabilities
• Automation (motion)
– Enables sequential step and repeat
measurement along an entire print head
• Face-plate wetting visualization
– Second camera for visualization of face plate
wetting during firing
• Frequency sweep
– Automatically step through a series of user-
defined frequencies and assess print head
performance
• Ink supply system
– Active gravity meniscus control: meniscus level
remains constant while printing
• Ink collection system
• NEW! Two-camera system
– Measure drop position in X and Y
• NEW! Hybrid print system
www.jetxpert.com

17. Motion for Print Head Tuning/Optimization
• For applications that require individual nozzle accuracy
such as OLED manufacturing
• One axis of automated motion is used for sequential
analysis of each jet on a print head
• Velocity and volume are measured for each jet across
a print head
• Jet-drop-outs or misdirected jets can be detected
• Data can be used to drive individual nozzle adjustment
to achieve uniform, predictable jetting behavior across
head
www.jetxpert.com

18. Face Plate Wetting Visualization
• 2-camera system configuration includes
– One camera for drop-in-flight analysis
– Second camera for visualization of face plate
wetting during firing
– Easy switching between modes via user
interface
Image series captured with
JetXpert of 5 nozzles visualized
during firing, HP-45 print head
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19. JetXpert Video – Wetting
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20. Konika Minolta ceramic ink
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21. Frequency Sweep Capability
• Fluids and print heads operate differently at different
firing frequencies
• Fluid manufacturers need to verify that their fluids
behave across the range of frequencies specified by
the print head manufacturer
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22. Universal Ink Supply System
• For use in R&D
• Single color delivery module
• Active gravity meniscus control: meniscus level
remains constant while printing
• Suitable for all liquid inks
• Fully integrated and available as a stand-alone
system or as an add-on to JetXpert systems
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23. New - JetXpert OEM: Integrated Process Control
• A self-contained drop-in-flight analysis
system specifically designed for integration
into ink, printing, and deposition systems
• Very small optical system
• Customizable hardware and software
– Hardware options from fully integrated
stand-alone units to component kits
– Software options from drop visualization
through full droplet analysis
Available for high volume projects only
www.jetxpert.com

24. New – Hybrid Print Station
• The JetXpert print station enables analysis of drips in
flight, and print testing, all in the same test fixture.
• Optional linear stage and optional conveyor for material
transport and automated sample printing.
• Manual print stage with
encoder for print testing.
• Optional camera for print
quality visualization.
• Available as retrofit for
existing systems.
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25. System operation
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26. A Mount for Every Head
PEEK
(1) Konica- Minolta 512 (2 ) Konica- Minolta 1024 (4 ) DX5 , Epson (5) S-Class (6 ) S- Class w/ SubTank + Heater
(3 ) Galaxy- Mount- Vers2 285- MTSCLASSTANK_A
285- MTKMM512 285- MNTDX5A 285-MTSCLASS
285- MTKMM1024 285- Galax y A
PEEK
(9 ) Q- Class_Mount- 1 _RevA with Sub- Tank (1 0 ) Q- Class w / o Subtank (11) Trident 256
(7) Seiko (8) Kyocera-Mount1_RevB 285 - MTQCLASS 285- MTQCLASSNT
285-MTSEIKO 285-MTKY1_B 285-MTRI256
PEEK
(1 4 ) Im tex HP4 5 Production (15) XAAR 101
(1 2 ) HP4 5 ShoeHolder (1 3 ) Im tex HP4 5 DEMO (1 6 ) Ricoh Gen4 _RevA (1 7 ) Ricoh Gen5
285- HP45IMPR 285-MTXAAR
285- MTHP45 285- HP45IM 285- MNTRICOH 285- MNTRICOH5A
(1 8 ) Toshiba Tech
285- MNTOSTECHA
(1 9 ) Meteor Option (2 0 ) Dim atix – 1 0 2 4 (2 1 ) DiMatic Bridge 1 0 2 4 Development (2 2 ) XX Option
285- MNTMETEOR 285- DIAMX1024 285- MNTDMBRID1024 285- MNTXXXX
PrintHeadMountingDiagram_RevH.doc
X
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27. New: Mount for Dimatix 1024
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28. Automated Print Quality
Analysis & Part Inspection
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29. Hardware Platforms
• Motion System
– Fully automated XY motion with a battery of
available measurement tools, including 3d laser
topography, color and b&w cameras,
densitometer, and line scan.
• Stand Alone Line Scan
– 1D motion with high resolution image capture,
especially appropriate for analysis of solar cells,
and long, narrow targets.
• Scanner
– Cost effective solution for fast, accurate print
quality analysis, including automatic document
feeding.
• Fixed Cameras
– Ideal for analysis of three dimensional parts.
Custom lighting provides optimal image quality,
even for difficult surfaces and shapes.
www.jetxpert.com

30. Motion System
<VIDEO HERE>.
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31. Print Quality Analysis
• Line width, edge raggedness
• Inter color bleed
• Dot Quality (inc. size, shape,
perimeter length, darkness,
position, satellites)
• Solid Area Quality (inc. mottle,
stdev)
• Color Registration
• Skew/image Registration
• Text Quality
• Materials Interaction
• Analysis for Ceramics and Textiles
• Both Statistical Data and Individual
Measurements are Reported
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32. Line Width/Edge Raggedness
• Fully customizable
reports.
• Available measurements
include both line width,
and variations in line
width (stdev, max, min,
RMS, etc), as well as
edge raggedness.
• Advanced edge finding
and thresholding tools
are available, as well as
automatic positioning
based on fiducials.
www.jetxpert.com

33. Dot Positioning/Dot Quality
• Allows automatic output of
each dot’s xy position to a
spreadsheet.
• Includes information about
dot quality, including
raggedness, axis ratio,
gray average, perimeter,
satellite count, area,
perimeter, radius, etc
• Allows creation of custom
measurements
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34. Banding
• Measurements include
information about the size
and quantity of bands, as
well as contrast and rate
(sharpness)
• Statistics for each
measurement are
available, including
average, stdev, min, and
max.
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35. CMYK Registration
• CYMK registration is
measured and reported
automatically.
• When using the standard
target with default reports,
measurements include
vertical and horizontal
offset between Black and
Cyan, Magenta, and
Yellow.
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36. Dot Position Analysis
• Using a line scan camera, large images of printed dot
patterns can be captured in a single pass without step-
and-repeat
– High accuracy
– High speed
– Small footprint
• Dot position analysis
often compares
actual dot centroid
positions and
spacing to expected
values
conceptual animation
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37. New: Strip Analysis
• System measures both overall part
dimensions and print attributes to high
accuracy (<10um).
• Backlight automatically finds pinholes
down to 30um.
conceptual animation
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38. New: Strip Analysis (ctd.)
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39. Printed Electronics
• 2-D systems can measure
lead width, raggedness,
spacing, and 3-D systems can
measure height profile…
www.jetxpert.com

40. Solar Cell Inspection
Macro cell variations
(NIR line scan
camera)
Finger spacing and quality with
visible line scan camera
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41. Summary
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42. A Range of Applications
ImageXpert systems offer flexible solutions to meet a
wide variety of applications, in diverse industries.
• Powerful, customizable ImageXpert image analysis
software is at the core of all of our systems
• Optics and lighting are tailored to meet the needs of
each application.
• All of our systems are expandable and can be
upgraded as customer needs change
www.jetxpert.com

43. Support and Service
• At ImageXpert, we are committed to excellent customer
service and support.
• We offer:
– Personalized attention
– Customization and application engineering
– Production line and R&D service contracts
– In-Depth Training
www.jetxpert.com

44. Thank you!
www.jetxpert.com
info@imagexpert.com
603-598-2500
www.jetxpert.com