The continuing miniaturization in almost all technical areas creates constant challenges for industry, development and research facilities.
Ever smaller amounts of adhesive, liquid, oil, grease and a multitude of other media must be dispensed reliably and accurately in dosage and placement with short cycle times.
The precise positioning and quantity of fluids such as glue, reagents or any other substance has a great influence on the overall quality of a medical device.
This method has disadvantages: Despite all of these disadvantages, contact dispensing is still used in the majority of automated processes today, because of: Gear pump Pressure-time systems In non-contact dispensing, the drop also forms at the end of a nozzle, but far enough away from the target area that the drop separates from the nozzle before it hits.
Because of increasing requirements in regards to cycle time and accuracy in almost all areas of production, non-contact dispensing is constantly gaining importance.
This state is characterized by the Weber number: where The physical border line between drop- and jet-forming is around a Weber-number of 8.
Ink-jet systems have the following inherent properties: • Very small single-drop volumes are achievable (8 picolitres) • High dispensing frequencies can be realised (some kHz) • Low costs for mass production • Only certain low-viscosity media are dispensable (i.e. no volatile media) • Principally not leak-proof For industrial production, the dispensing amounts and the range of viscosity spectra of ink-jet systems for most applications are too small.