Electrocoagulation: A Novel Contone High-Speed Dynamic Printing Technology

Elcography is a novel printing system based on the electrocoagulation of an electrolytically sensitized polymeric ink. By applying very short electric pulses to a colloidal ink solution sandwiched between a cathodic electrode array and a passivated rotating electrode, the ink adheres firmly to the positive electrode. The ink is then instantly transferable, after removal of surplus ink, onto plain paper. By modulating the electronic pulse time for each electrode, the volume of each coagulated dot is controlled in very fine increments, allowing true continuous-tone imaging. Because of its extremely fast writing process speed with parallel addressing (4 microseconds/dot), its low supplies cost, and its photographic quality (200 pixels per inch, 256 grey levels per pixel), Elcography has great enabling potential to convert a very wide scope of applications to digital printing such as newspaper publishing, commercial printing and photofinishing. Current printing speed is currently at 1 meter per second with potential speed that could go up to 3 meters per second. This paper will describe the fundamental characteristics of electrocoagulation printing as well as its decisive advantages over conventional printing processes.