Toner cloud generation and its supply over the width of printing area

Abstract

Toner cloud generation along with controlling its movement is one of the most important parameters in the development of digital printing by toner cloud beam technique. As for the experimental set-up for toner cloud generation, the conductive toner particles were sprayed at the center of a wide chamber shape dented electrode as the lower electrode placed parallel to the upper electrode, leaving a small gap between them using two insulating sheets. Electric field was applied between the two electrodes. The toner moved up and down between the two electrodes by electrostatic force forming the toner cloud, which propagated to both ends of the dented electrode. This research studied the toner cloud generation conditions using the wide chamber shape dented electrode. We found that the applied voltage, the toner amount, the depth of the dented electrode, the slope of the nesa glass, and the slope of the system were the influencing factors that governed the toner cloud generation and its movement. An increase in the applied voltage led to a faster toner cloud speed. When a greater amount of toner was placed into the dented electrode, a faster toner cloud movement was obtained. Contrastly, the toner cloud speed decreased when increased the depth of dented electrode. An increase of the slope of nesa glass increased the toner cloud speed. However, the toner cloud speed was not significant to the system when the slope was between 0-5 degrees. It was also found that the width of toner cloud decreased when the applied voltage increased. Furthermore, the two-overlapped cone shape dented electrode could be used for transporting the conductive toner to the printing system. This research also explained the possible phenomena for the toner cloud generation and performance