Canon has been consistently upgrading their sheetfed inkjet portfolio since the introduction of the VarioPrint i300 5 years ago. Originally positioned for transaction printing, books and portions of the direct mail market, upgrades enabled iSeries owners to enter more challenging markets, but could not fully meet the needs of commercial printers in quality intensive markets. With the introduction of two new VarioPPRINT iX models the iX3200 and iX2100, Canon is focused squarely on the needs of general commercial printers for high image quality on a wide media range and flexibility to run mixed media jobs at full speed. Canon will continue to market and support the current VarioPrint⁺ iSeries in the appropriate markets along with the new VarioPRINT iX Series. There is not a field upgrade path from the iSeries+ to the iSeries iX. The new devices will be ready to ship in July 2020.

Major Enhancements in the VarioPRINT iX Series

[is_paid] The iX devices are slightly faster than their iSeries+ brethren with the iX3200 delivering 320 A4 ipm (images per minute) as compared to 294 ipm on the i300. The xi2100 runs at 210 ipm as compared to the i200 at 194. The major difference is that the iX series will run more types of jobs, and run them at full speed on all supported media and coverage levels. Other major enhancements include:

•  Native resolution of 1200 dpi as compared to iSeries+ at 600dpi
• Expanded media range (60 – 350gsm/40# text – 130# cover uncoated and 90 – 350gsm/60# text – 130# cover offset coated)
• Ability to run mixed media jobs at full speed (something that challenged earlier iSeries models)
• Instant media switching with a printer input module supporting 4 trays of up to 4,500 sheets (with ability to connect multiple PIMs for max of 13,500 sheets in 12 trays)
• Enhanced drying to enable high coverage
• Improved registration control

New Technology Tailored to Commercial Print

Canon is bringing all required innovations under the umbrella of iQuarius ^iX technologies. There are four key areas that play an integral part in differentiating the iX series:  ink, transport, quality control and drying. In each of these areas, technology has been enhanced for iX series. New Print Heads & Ink New print heads were co-developed with with Kyocera and optimized for use with the iX series inks. Head control includes cooling the ink to control temperature in the print head and before the print head to optimize performance and drop formation. Each device supports 3 Kyocera KJ4B 1200 dpi print heads per color – 12 heads in total for CMYK. Heads are jetting 2 drop sizes (2 and 5 picoliter volumes)  representing 3 gray levels. iQuarius inks are developed and produced in house by Canon. This is their 4^th generation of polymer and water-based ink and provides stable jetting behavior optimized for the new heads. Optimal performance requires the use of conditioning liquid, ColorGrip, but the fluid is placed only where needed not on entire page. Precision Sheet Control Precision sheet control is needed to support mixed media and a broader range of media at full speed.  Transport is now managed with a perforated stainless steel belt and vacuum suction. This provides the ability to keep all media flat and aligned without the need for mechanical grips. It also reduces the print gap between the media and the printhead (reducing throw distance) for better drop control. This has the benefit of enhancing quality and enabling mixed media jobs and instant switching from one media type and size to another.  Registration and quality control is further enhanced by scanning each incoming sheet for deformities.  Errors are purged without slowing the device. Inline Quality Control Positioned just after the print head, the varioPRINT iX‐series offers two automated inline quality control routines to ensure consistent quality by detecting jet outs and evaluating past head performance to see if jet is fully out or experiencing  intermittent issues. Nozzle Activity Control (NAC) prints a quality assurance (QA) sheet that is inspected by an inline scanner to detect if nozzles are working properly. (QA sheet frequency can be set by the customer) The device automatically corrects for insufficient nozzle performance by increasing the droplet size from the surrounding nozzles. Nozzle Uniformity Control (NUC) can by run manually by a service engineer or dynamically before or during a run. For a dynamic NUC, QA charts are printed and scanned for each color. ( Dynamic NUC chart frequency can be set by the customer). Dynamic NUC is an optional fine‐tuning step enhancing the system’s quality over time and over all media types to drive uniform performance and avoid striping and streaking. Drying and Fixation Drying has become nearly as important as print heads when working with heavy coverage in the commercial printing space. Canon has introduced an innovative 2 step drying process. The first drying step happens in the drum using moderate heat and vacuum to hold the sheet  in place. After leaving the drum the ink is dry but not robust and not fully fused. An ink fixation step in the “post fixation unit” applies a quick heat shot combined with humidity to provide ink film formation without damaging sheet. Finally sheets are cooled following  fixation and prior to entering the perfecting step, stacking or finishing. This approach has the benefit of minimizing heat application , maintaining very flat sheets and enabling high color coverage at full speed.

Summary

Canon has not announced pricing for the iX series, however they have announced some pricing features.

• The cost model will be based on 3 coverage levels
• System will separate mono and color in terms of clicks
• Color and mono charges will be invoiced separately
• Pricing is will differ by region

Canon’s vision is to offer  commercial printing customers sheet fed options to support high volume and wide media choices from brochures to catalogs and direct mail. While the vision is simple, it requires a lot of innovations and functionality to make the vision come through with any ink load and consistent quality. These enhancements will come at a cost that necessitates that the current iSeries continue to serve the market for less demanding applications as the VarioPRINT iX opens new markets for Canon and their customers. Along with the announcement of the iX Series, Canon provided a detailed white paper which can be downloaded here  [/is_paid] [is_not_paid] [/is_not_paid]