ETP technology

for ceramic tiles digital printing

VIII°Acimac annual meeting on technologies for

ceramic tiles digital decoration

Alberto Annovi 27/09/2016

Market demands

2

The optimization of the ceramic digital process now goes in

the direction of ensuring:

- flexibility

- productivity

- short time-to-production

- operating costs reduction

TecnoFerrari is now introducing a new print technology in

ceramic market in order to match these and future needs

An example of flexibility limitation

3

Effect inks (e.g. Glossy, Matt, Luster, Glue, …):

- need specific printhead model with increased discharge

- discharge or coverage limitations if using decoration heads

- printheads installed for testing effect inks

- customers need to «guess» printer configuration

- different printhead model → different spare part

An example of productivity limitation

4

Repeatability of same product at higher line speed:

- waveform change or dpd limitations

- different drop placement accuracy and «wood effect»

- tonality change

- printhead overspray and dripping

An example of time-to-production limitation

5

Repeat existent production with a new printer:

- differences in printhead dpd and drop size

- difficulties in matching few «light» products quality

- different inks for different printhead

- different printhead resolution

Two examples of cost reduction limitation

6

Printhead size vs ceramic tile size:

- external printheads & electronics cost for using few mms

- additional maintenance/recovery cost for these heads

Dripping or spitting ink for keeping all nozzles active:

- ink waste cost

- belt cleaning device additional maintenance cost

Our innovative print technology

7

Let’s see how our innovative print technology can

give performance and reliability that are required for the latest

generation print technologies

moreover

improve flexibility, productivity

time-to-production and operating costs reduction

1. Our innovative print technology performances

8

2. Inside the innovation

9

3. Integration into a new printer

10

What we obtained

11

Performance:22 gr/sqm* laydown at 50 m/min @360 dpi

Reliability:

Robust metal plate, efficient and stable recirculation with dumpers

Flexibility:Same head model can be used for high discharge effects

Productivity:Long cleaning intervals, same quality at low and high speed

Time-to-production:Resolution, drop size and same inks allow easy design repeatability

Operating cost reduction:Reduced printheads number, no degassers, nozzles-active maintenance

* Provided ink density is 1.3 gr/cm³

Thank you

12

This and further innovations

for single & multi pass printing at