Digital ceramic printing on glass has allowed for new possibilities and improvements in flat glass decoration and treatment[1] such as high levels of customization, translucency and opacity control, light diffusion and transmission, ability to calculate solar heat gain co-efficiency,[1] electrical conductivity, slip resistance, and reduced occurrences of bird collision.
Silk screen printing, where the ink is applied directly onto the surface of the glass through a mesh stencil, was patented in 1907.
[3] Digital printing with ceramic inks, desirable for decorative, functional and environmental purposes, poses a new set of challenges addressed through technological innovations.
An inline dryer was developed for real time drying to occur and to maximize factory space.
A smooth color switching system in included so machine operators can easily shift between print jobs and increase throughput.
The high resolution print quality - up to 720 dpi - and the precision of the printers allow glass processors to print anything from fine, sharp, small elements to complex full color images on glasses up to 3.3X18 meters in size.
[4] The inks used in digital printing on glass mimic the CMYK color model and are made of ceramic frit and inorganic pigments and elements.
The image processing software bridges the glass printer and the inks and is also the design tool for preparing the graphic file for printing.
The precision and complexity of the calculations and measurements executed by the software allow designers can achieve their desired outcome.