Supertank printer
Supertank printers are a type of continuous ink system inkjet printer. Supertank printers differ from traditional inkjet printers in that the printhead is connected via a tube system that draws ink from large ink tanks built into the printer, which are filled and refilled via ink bottles, eliminating the need for ink cartridges. Cost-per-page is significantly lower than traditional cartridges, as replacement ink bottles contain enough ink to print thousands of pages, and typically cost under $20.
Advantages
- Printing costs are lower with the use of low-cost replacement ink bottles vs. ink cartridges.
- The convenience of printing thousands of pages with fewer interruptions to replenish ink.
- As an inkjet printer, it dispenses ink droplets at a very high speed, which allows for a relatively long distance between the printhead and the substrate, and a high drop-ejection frequency, allowing for high-speed printing.
- The reduction of waste due to the elimination of used cartridges and their packaging.
- The printer manufacturers are being forced to measure the ink volume remained in the printer by optical measurements and cannot use smart chips for planned obsolescence, since the ink cartridge is integrated into the printer, and filled every time ink runs out.
Disadvantages
- The initial cost to purchase is higher than equivalent cartridge printers, which often follow the razor and blades model of selling the printers at or below cost to generate later sales of proprietary cartridges.
- In supertank printers with fixed printheads, printhead replacement can be expensive, if possible at all.