Today HP held a briefing for media and analysts to announce a significant technology breakthrough for HP Inkjet Web Presses.  High Definition Nozzle Architecture, or HDNA, is a field upgradable improvement (no forklifts!) that will be available in beta this year and commercially in 2016.  It effectively increases speeds in Performance Mode up to 800 fpm for a 33% speed increase (Quality Mode up to 400 fpm) with a native resolution of 1200 dpi, with 2400 nozzles per inch.  HP sent us print samples in advance, and WOW, they are amazing. 

You will be able to see samples for yourself at Hunkeler Innovationdays, Jetcomm and DscoopX. The existing installed base will be able to benefit from an upgrade to this technology, and new presses will start to be manufactured with it in the 2016 timeframe.  An important aspect of these heads is that they are the same form factor as existing heads, making field upgrades much easier.  HP indicates upgrades will require a combination of hardware, software and firmware that will be able to be accomplished with minimal disruption to productivity on the floor

A key element of this technology is the placement of nozzles BETWEEN nozzles on the existing printhead that allow a dual drop weight and doubles the number of nozzles to 21,120. Dual drop weight enables smoother color transitions, lower grain and a greater number of addressable colors within the color gamut, as well as 5 different gray levels in a pixel, which cannot be achieved with a single drop size.

While this is a significant technology breakthrough, HP was careful to point out that it is just one of the innovations in the HP pipeline for Inket Web Press owners.

Watch for more technical detail on WhatTheyThink on Monday with an article from David Zwang.  I’m sure if I got any of this wrong, someone will correct me!