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US 12,097,702 B2Granted
Inkjet head
AssigneeRISO Technologies Corporation
InventorsNoriyuki Kikuchi, Hiroki Ikegami
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
According to one embodiment, an inkjet head includes a pressure chamber for ink, a nozzle plate including a nozzle connected to the pressure chamber, an actuator to change a volume of the pressure chamber, and a drive circuit that drives the actuator. The drive circuit drives the actuator according to a drive waveform including an expansion waveform, a first weak contraction waveform, a contraction waveform, and a second weak contraction waveform.
Claims14
An inkjet head, comprising:
- a pressure chamber for ink;
- a nozzle plate including a nozzle for ejecting ink from the pressure chamber;
- an actuator configured to change a volume of the pressure chamber;
- and
- a drive circuit configured to drive the actuator according to a drive waveform, wherein the drive waveform includes:
- an expansion portion that drives the actuator in an expansion direction expanding the volume of the pressure chamber,
- a first weak contraction portion after the expansion portion that drives the actuator in a contraction direction contracting the volume of the pressure chamber,
- a contraction portion after the first weak contraction portion that drives the actuator in the contraction direction by an amount greater than the first weak contraction portion,
- a second weak contraction portion after the contraction portion that drives the actuator in the contraction direction by an amount less than the contraction portion, and
- a holding portion between the expansion portion and the first weak contraction portion, the holding portion not driving the actuator in either the contracting direction or the expansion direction, wherein
- the drive waveform comprises a first droplet ejection operation and a second droplet ejection operation after the first droplet ejection operation,
- the holding portion, the first weak contraction portion, the contraction portion, and the second weak contraction portion are in the second droplet ejection operation, and
- a sum of a holding time of the holding portion and a first weak contraction time of the first weak contraction portion is greater than or equal to a holding time of a first droplet ejection operation holding portion plus 0.4 microseconds, but less than or equal to the holding time of the first droplet ejection operation holding portion plus 0.6 microseconds.
10 more elements
A drive circuit for driving an actuator of an inkjet head, the driving circuit supplying a drive waveform including:
- an expansion portion that drives an actuator in an expansion direction for expanding the volume of a pressure chamber;
- a first weak contraction portion after the expansion portion that drives the actuator in a contraction direction contracting the volume of the pressure chamber;
- a contraction portion after the first weak contraction portion that drives the actuator in the contraction direction by an amount greater than the first weak contraction portion;
- a second weak contraction portion after the contraction portion that drives the actuator in the contraction direction by an amount less than the contraction portion;
- and
- a holding portion between the expansion portion and the first weak contraction portion, the holding portion not driving the actuator in either the contracting direction or the expansion direction, wherein
- the drive waveform comprises a first droplet ejection operation and a second droplet ejection operation after the first droplet ejection operation,
- the holding portion, the first weak contraction portion, the contraction portion, and the second weak contraction portion are in the second droplet ejection operation, and
- a sum of a holding time of the holding portion and a first weak contraction time of the first weak contraction portion is greater than or equal to a holding time of a first droplet ejection operation holding portion plus 0.4 microseconds, but less than or equal to the holding time of the first droplet ejection operation holding portion plus 0.6 microseconds.
6 more elements
A method for driving an actuator of an inkjet head, the method comprising:
- applying a drive waveform from a drive circuit to an actuator, the drive waveform including:
- an expansion portion that drives the actuator in an expansion direction expanding the volume of a pressure chamber,
- a first weak contraction portion after the expansion portion that drives the actuator in a contraction direction contracting the volume of the pressure chamber,
- a contraction portion after the first weak contraction portion that drives the actuator in the contraction direction by an amount greater than the first weak contraction portion,
- a second weak contraction portion after the contraction portion that drives the actuator in the contraction direction by an amount less than the contraction portion, and
- a holding portion between the expansion portion and the first weak contraction portion, the holding portion not driving the actuator in either the contracting direction or the expansion direction, wherein
- the drive waveform comprises a first droplet ejection operation and a second droplet ejection operation after the first droplet ejection operation,
- the holding portion, the first weak contraction portion, the contraction portion, and the second weak contraction portion are in the second droplet ejection operation, and
- a sum of a holding time of the holding portion and a first weak contraction time of the first weak contraction portion is greater than or equal to a holding time of a first droplet ejection operation holding portion plus 0.4 microseconds, but less than or equal to the holding time of the first droplet ejection operation holding portion plus 0.6 microseconds.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.