TI has successfully developed an integrated RFID container label

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments, a manufacturer of RFID tags, and a manufacturer of cardboard and packaging products in Chicago, have jointly developed a packaging model that uses RFID tags on containers—“RFID Cartridge Integration Tags”. . This model integrates an RFID tag inlay directly into the corrugated cardboard box. The tag antenna is printed directly onto the box with conductive ink. The antenna is sealed with an RFID tag with a conductive strap. Corrugated cardboard box is divided into three layers: an inner wall layer (noodle board), middle wave layer and outer wall layer (noodle board). The inlays embedded in the inner wall and the corrugated layer are well protected.

This butterfly-shaped RFID strap consists of an integrated circuit and two conductive pads.

The company predicts that this model of integrating RFID inlays into packaging materials will save labor costs and material costs for consumer packaging companies in the future, because this model does not require the purchase of separate packaging labels.

“This type of box is a future product, a bit like a concept car,” said Joseph LeBlanc, vice president of R&D for Smurfit-Stone. “The large-scale production of such a product requires a lot of demand, compared to existing intelligence. The demand for labels is even greater." However, he believes that the proof of this concept is an important step. Compared with the manufacture of finished RFID tags, this type of RFII) strap has less production materials and fewer production steps, making it possible to produce a large amount of low-cost production.

"We have been developing samples of this type of RFID integration tape for 18 months," said Tony Sabetti, TI-RFID Head of UHF/Retail Supply Chain. "This is the first RFID tag printed directly on the packaging material by the antenna. With sample."

Sabetti said that the latest developments in the quality and concentration of conductive inks have greatly improved the readability of bare tags in packaging boxes. He added that the tape could be produced by the labeling method of TI-RFID/Smurfit-Ston RFID or the labeling process, and the antenna would be printed on the label inlay, and then the tape would be sealed. Placing an antenna on an Ic chip does not need to be performed in a space-free manner. It is for this reason that some label packagers are interested in this type of tag tape.

LeBlanc said that although the requirements for RFID integrated packaging are still not high, Smu~t-Stone has already done a preliminary model development, because they believe that with more and more items labeling requirements, consumer packaging companies will eventually use this Integrated tagging mode.

Reprinted from: Printed Today