Ardeje
Fluid jetting expertise
4, rue Georges Auric
26000 Valence
Tél. +33 (0)4 75 78 26 60
Fax +33 (0)4 75 78 26 69
contact@ardeje.com
skills | products | dedicated systems | research
Skills
Ardeje's competencies in DOD inkjet printing
For more than 10 years, our RD efforts contributed to the manufacturing of advanced printing systems for research purposes and industrial applications. Thanks to close relationship with universities and research labs, as well as with world leading companies, Ardeje has been able to continuously up date and further develop its expertise related to drop-on-demand (DOD) ink jet printing.
Someone may consider that industrial drop-on-demand ink jet printing is as easy as office printing In Ardeje, our team expertise covers all the key topics related to DOD ink jet printing :
- hydraulics and fluid mechanics
- driving electronics
- advanced mechanics
- software control, printing/material deposition strategy
- material science and functional ink formulation
With time to market being increasingly important, this unique know-how will help our customer in speeding up their developments of new product or new process.
R&D Topics
Innovative fluid jetting : Ardeje's main research areas
From printed electronics to optics, rapid manufacturing and biology, Ardeje develops printing processes and equipments that will allow our customers manufacturing smart objects on different substrates (glass, plastics, fabrics, metal...)
From yesterday's graphic inks to tomorrow's conductive fluids and functional materials
Thanks to numerous applications developed in the field of graphic arts over a decade, Ardeje gained a strong expertise related to ink jet printing, in particular piezoelectric DOD. Ardeje now makes this knowledge available for innovative high value added applications, such as large area printed electronics. With a continuous stream of new inkjettable materials brought by the chemical industry, combined with the skills and experience of our engineers, our R and D team is now working developing new manufacturing processes pertaining to RFID-tags, silicon and organic photovoltaics, smart textile,...
Projects
Ardeje's involvement in European projects and clusters
For many years, Ardeje has been involved in European R and D projects, with renowned laboratories in various countries like France, England, Germany or the Netherlands, and world leading companies. Whether scientific or technological development, these projects are dealing with:
- UV inks printing, for the graphic arts and now, pad and screen printing applications
- Printing conductive fluids for electronics, with the aim to replace wire bonding
- UUV resins printing for 3D rapid prototyping and manufacturing
- Liquid metal for 3D manufacturing
- Smart textile, sensors and MEMS printing directly onto fabrics
Ardeje is member of several first-class clusters (Minalogic, Tenerrdis, Techtera) and is involved in in cutting-edge projects:
- Large area process for glass surface functionalization in ophthalmology
- Ink jet-printed organic solar cells
Equipements
Ardeje's tools for fluid jetting parameters control: the cornerstone for micro deposition accuracy
With more and more projects related to material deposition other than inks, with demand for increasing resolution continuously, meaning smaller droplets, smaller nozzles, understanding how liquids are breaking down into droplets, and what are the key parameters is a must before even thinking the printing process.
Ardeje pioneered drop formation research, and was among the very first to develop vision equipment and software that allow users to better understand the main parameters influencing print quality, and now fluid jetting capabilities.
From observation of jet breaking into droplets, to analysis of its impact on the substrate, through the control of drop tail and satellite, our equipment allows a complete control over all jetting parameters. Most ink manufacturers have been using Ardeje VisuDrop equipment to fine tune their ink formulation, as well as research laboratories. Even flat display manufacturers did the same.
Our development lab equipments
Several state of the art labs are available to demonstrate the feasibility of an ink jet-based innovative application, at any development stage. These labs form an optimal environment to our customers for cost-effective inkjet printing potential evaluation for their applications:
- fluid jetting analysis and understanding lab,
- early stage jetting trials lab : low-cost printhead based desktop printers are used to check and make preliminary samples
- Pilot jetting lab: larger print area, increased number of nozzles or channels per printhead allows making sample that are closer from full scale product or device.
These labs, combined with our expertise, are invaluable tools helping speeding up process developments and reducing time-to-market.