Printer ink cartridges generally contain one or more partitions to reserve ink, besides a chip that communicates with the printer. The quality of printing by an inkjet printer largely depends on the smooth and continuous flow of ink. So, once the flow of ink slows down, it is essential to change the printer inkjet cartridges. Various types of inkjet printer ink cartridges are available in market. These include high priced printer inkjet cartridges manufactured by original equipment manufacturers such as Dell, Epson, etc., as well as non-branded compatible or re manufactured printer inkjet cartridges.
Workings of printer ink cartridges
Most printers, including Canon and HP, use thermal inkjet while printers manufactured by Epson use Piezoelectric Inkjets. The purpose of both types of inkjet is to ensure the smooth supply of ink for continued functioning of the printers.
In thermal inkjet printer cartridges, each ink reservior partition contains a heating element that responds to the signals provided by the printer by warming up. This heating leads to the vaporization of ink surrounding the heating element into a tiny air bubble that moves to the nozzle. This is followed by the ink droplet coming out of the nozzle onto the paper being used for printing. However, if the ink in the printer ink cartridges is less, the quality of printing will neither be of good quality nor smooth. The ink in the priner inkjet cartridges also acts as a coolant for the heating elements and its drying up can result in damage to the printer head.
In the case of Piezoelectric Inkjet printers, each nozzle contains a piezoelectric crystal that changes shape on receiving heat and throws out ink for printing.
Types and pricing of printer ink cartridges
Although most printer manufacturers recommend the usage of inkjet printer cartridges manufactured by them, several cheaper options are available on the market. Inkjet printer ink cartridges manufactured by OEMs are generally quite costly, so printer users prefer to use cheaper versions that are not only compatible with their printers but also provide good quality printing.
The cheaper inkjet printer cartridges are brand new products, with new components, and claim to provide the same quality as do OEM products. Another option available for printer users is the professionally re manufactured inkjet printer cartridges that have been used once, emptied, cleaned and refilled to match OEM standards.
