A few years ago food inks appeared for printing on transfer materials, such as sugar and wafer papers. This sort of printing equipment is a small desktop printer which does not look different from the average office
printer. A transfer is loaded into the printer and a print is applied to it, then it is fixed on the product. Basically, this is some kind of confectionery with a flat surface.
Such printing has a big disadvantage, it is not universal.
The working area of the printer has some limits in the size of the required
print. The maximum possible print format is A3.The equipment like this will cope well with its task in private households. However, for the industrial volumes, completely different technologies are needed.
Everything, from the dimensions of the working area and printing speed to the method of supplying the material, must meet the tasks of a particular production.
Therefore, IQDEMY, taking on the development of its own food ink, set the task of developing not only ink, but also the technology of food ink printing for large-scale food production.
For today, this project is being actively developed on the basis of the R&D center as well as with the direct participation of leading chemists at the Chemicals research laboratory of IQDEMY .The result of the first stages of the task was food ink of two types:
- For a major customer from the world food industry, food inks have
been developed on the ground of natural dyes, which meet all the
necessary requirements and standards. Natural dyes are found in plant
and animal sources. The raw materials for their production can be
berries, flowers, leaves, root crops, etc. And what is more, R&D lab
experts offer all kinds of color shades, so this ink is just a godsend for
opponents of synthetic additives.
- Synthetic dyes, in comparison with natural dyes, give much brighter
and more saturated colors, which allow you to print images with a
photographic quality. Such inks are less sensitive to the conditions of
technological processing and storage, do not contain flavoring
substances and do not have biological activity. The first successful
synthetic dye ink tests have already passed at IQDEMY Chemicals
Laboratory.
The received printing compositions have already been tested as a part of
the development of specialized printing equipment for this technology.
On the scale of already established production, the introduction of new
equipment entails a number of difficulties:
• As usual ,it is necessary to solve problems with the search and
arrangement of the necessary space during the installation of new
equipment;
• It is imperative to carry out a set of measures to train employees
how to work on a new device;
• If the equipment is designed to perform new functions for the
enterprise, an update of the operation scheme of the entire
production line is required.
Taking this and many other possible problems into account, IQDEMY
developers have designed solutions that allow to introduce new
technology, minimizing all organizational difficulties. IQDEMY food ink
printing technology offers:
A printing module (expandable to any print format and size by adding
printheads) can be integrated into any production line, as well as function
as a separate independent printing center. In the context of large-scale food production speed, productivity of such equipment and ease of its
management are always important. Such module should not be an inert
closed system.
The capabilities of IQDEMY are almost unlimited to change the
structural parts of the module, combine it with any conveyor, and install it
in any line. This is the versatility of the module. Control electronics from
DPS allows you to expand the size of the print field to immense sizes by
adding a number of printheads and skillfully manage even hundreds of
printheads.
Combining the capabilities of design modifications and the functionality
of control electronics and software, such module, working in SinglePass
mode (or, if necessary, in MultiPass), can produce printing speeds
comparable to the speeds of conventional food conveyors, and often even
exceeding them. The performance of this combination of the module,
control electronics and software corresponds to large industrial lines.
IQDEMY printing technology allows you to apply the image on the
surface of almost any shape, lifting the carriage of the printing module to
a height of 100mm. This further expands the scope and application of the
module in the production of various products at the same time.
Do you have the unusual task which requires an exclusive solution? Ask our R&D center:
In summary, IQDEMY food ink printing technology will help to
introduce an innovative printing technology directly on the ready-to-use
product into an existing production and not allow the manufacturer to
incur serious costs for the reconstruction of the production.
The first stages and approbations of the project are completed - follow the
details of the development of the new technology in our social networks
such as: Vkontakte, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.