The two leading technologies for forcing ink out of a nozzle on demand are thermal DOD and piezoelectric DOD . Additional technologies include electrospray, acoustic discharge, electrostatic membrane and thermal bimorph.
12.
Linvill calculated the length, width, and thickness of a bimorph reed necessary for a resonance frequency of 200 Hz that could produce enough mechanical energy to stimulate a fingertip above the threshold of the sense of touch.
13.
To counter this negativity, Bliss programmed an SRI computer to present text in a moving belt display, similar to that in Times Square New York City, on both his air jet stimulator array and on the Stanford bimorph array.
14.
Based on these calculations, an array of bimorphs was constructed for reading rate tests with the computer simulation at SRI . The computer simulation presented tactile images of perfectly formed and aligned letters in a stream that moved across the bimorph array.
15.
With funding established, Bliss joined the Stanford faculty half-time, the other half being at SRI . At SRI tactile reading experiments were conducted to maximize the reading rates achievable with the Optacon, as well as development of the bimorph tactile array and the optics for the camera.
