Konica print head model name meaning — Printhead Basics (Part 10) ARTJET 2026

1_1. The Shared Wall Structure — Nozzles That Jetting Together

• Early Konica print heads did not operate each nozzle independently. Instead, they used shared walls between nozzles, causing them to influence one another.
• This is the Shared wall structure shown on the left side of the diagram above.
• When one nozzle jets ink, the nozzle directly next to it must wait and cannot fire at the same time.
• Only after the adjacent nozzle finishes jetting can the next nozzle take its turn.
• This linked operation creates several disadvantages.
• Each nozzle must wait its turn, meaning ink is not being fired during that wait time.
• In other words, when moving quickly along the X axis to achieve high resolution, the Shared wall structure requires a lower carriage speed — because of the built-in wait time — in order to produce high-dpi output.
• Additionally, after the wall moves to jet ink, it must come to a complete stop before moving again for the next jetting cycle.
• If this doesn’t happen, ink may be jetted before the chamber is fully refilled, causing the drop to break into smaller satellite droplets.
• Or the wall may still be vibrating slightly when voltage is applied again, resulting in imprecise movement and ink drops that don’t fall perfectly vertical.

1_2. The Independent Drive Structure — No Waiting Required

• With Independent drive, there is no need to wait for adjacent walls to stabilize, so each nozzle can fire more frequently within the same time window. Ink output per unit time naturally increases.
• Compared to Shared wall, the carriage can move at the same X-axis speed while achieving a higher dpi — meaning faster printing.
• By the same logic, running the carriage at the same speed as a Shared wall head still yields higher dpi output.
• And because each nozzle is unaffected by the micro-vibrations of adjacent walls, jetting is more stable than with Shared wall structures.
• Today, virtually all Konica print heads use Independent drive rather than Shared wall.
• If you see the letter [ i ] in a Konica head model name, think of it as standing for Independent.

2_1. The Basic Naming Convention

• KM stands for Konica Minolta.
• The number that follows — such as 1024 — is the total nozzle count. 512 means 512 nozzles, 1024 means 1,024 nozzles, and 1800 means 1,800 nozzles.
• The letters after the number — SHB, MHE, LHE — indicate ink drop volume. S (Small) means approximately 6pl or less; M (Middle) means 12–14pl; L (Large) means 30pl or more for i-series heads. However, for older heads like the 512LH and 1024LH, L indicates 42pl.
• The letter H — as in SHB, MHE, LHE — stands for Heater. A model with H has a built-in heater inside the head for warming ink. The 4th and 5th models in the photo above — KM1024iMAE-C and KM1024iSAE-C — have no H, and their spec sheets confirm “No” under the built-in heater section.

2_2. Putting It Into Practice

• Let’s decode the model name KM1800iSHC-C:
• KM: Konica Minolta
• 1800: 1,800 nozzles
• i: Independent drive — nozzles operate independently, resulting in high jetting frequency
• S: Small drop volume — 6pl or less
• H: Built-in heater

As you can see, just reading the letters in a Konica model name gives you a solid picture of what the head is.

• This chart shows the development trends for Konica heads.
• Heads are growing physically larger, with total nozzle counts increasing from 512 to 1,800 — driven by goals of higher print speeds and single-pass capability.
• The structure has shifted from Shared wall to Independent drive, and jetting frequency continues to rise — pointing toward higher resolution output.
• NPI (nozzles per inch), which determines native Y-axis resolution, is also trending upward from 360 to 600npi.

• Models up through the 512, 1024, and 1800 used Shear mode. Starting with the MEMS head, Konica transitioned to Bending mode.
• Whether the MEMS model has reached stable, widespread field use is still unclear.
• Shear mode was explained above. Bending mode pushes ink downward from above to eject it — generally considered a more stable jetting method than Shear mode.
• The diagram below illustrates the difference.

• 

• According to Konica’s promotional materials, the key improvements are as follows:
• Nozzle plate changed from film to metal or plastic — improved durability
• Shift from Shear mode to Bending mode — improved jetting stability and performance
• Improved jetting angle and ink drop straightness
• Wider ink acidity range now supported due to the metal or plastic nozzle plate
• When we recently checked Konica’s latest documentation, the MEMS model name no longer appeared — instead, the KM800 and KM1600 series were listed as new additions.
• Whenever a new head is released, always verify whether it has stabilized in the field — check whether other printer manufacturers are using the same head, and confirm its stability and performance before deciding to adopt it.
• Just as Ricoh’s Gen5i head — despite its excellent print quality — has never been mass-produced due to durability concerns, Konica’s KM1800i, originally developed for single-pass use, also had jetting stability issues. Whether those have been resolved is unclear.