Liquid discharge apparatus and liquid discharge method

A liquid discharge method of a liquid discharge apparatus including:

• a liquid discharge head including a discharge section having a nozzle discharging liquid as a liquid droplet, a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle, and a driving element that is configured to effect a change in a pressure of the liquid within the pressure chamber according to a driving signal;
• a driving signal generator that is configured to generate the driving signal;
• and
• a temperature detector that is configured to detect temperature, the liquid discharge method comprising:
• acquiring temperature information indicating the temperature from the temperature detector;
• and
• generating the driving signal including a first driving waveform that is to be supplied to the driving element when the temperature indicated by the temperature information is a first temperature, wherein
• the first driving waveform includes, within one cycle, N number of first discharge pulses arranged chronologically and N−1 number of first connection components each connecting two adjacent first discharge pulses among the N number of first discharge pulses where N is not less than three,
• each of the N number of first discharge pulses is a pulse whose potential changes to effect a change in the pressure of the liquid within the pressure chamber such that the liquid droplet can be discharged from the nozzle,
• each of the N−1 number of first connection components is a component maintained at a constant potential for a time period longer than or equal to 0.6 times a natural vibration period of the pressure chamber,
• when the temperature detected by the temperature detector is a second temperature higher than the first temperature, the driving signal includes a second driving waveform that is configured to be supplied to the driving element when the temperature detected by the temperature detector is the second temperature,
• the second driving waveform includes within one cycle, N number of second discharge pulses arranged chronologically and N−1 number of second connection components connecting two adjacent second discharge pulses among the N number of second discharge pulses,
• each of the N−1 number of second connection components is a component maintained at a constant potential,
• duration of a second connection component immediately before a second discharge pulse chronologically located at an end among the N number of second discharge pulses is longer than duration of a first connection component immediately before a first discharge pulse chronologically located at an end among the N number of first discharge pulses, and
• duration of a second connection component immediately before a second discharge pulse that comes before the second discharge pulse chronologically located at the end among the N number of second discharge pulses is shorter than duration of a first connection component immediately before a first discharge pulse that comes before the first discharge pulse chronologically located at the end among the N number of first discharge pulses.

A liquid discharge apparatus, comprising:

• a liquid discharge head including
• a discharge section having:
• a nozzle discharging liquid as a liquid droplet;
• a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle;
• and
• a driving element that is configured to effect a change in a pressure of the liquid within the pressure chamber according to a driving signal;
• a driving signal generator that is configured to generate the driving signal;
• and
• a temperature detector that is configured to detect temperature, wherein
• when the temperature detected by the temperature detector is a first temperature, the driving signal includes a first driving waveform that is configured to be supplied to the driving element when the temperature detected by the temperature detector is the first temperature,
• the first driving waveform includes within one cycle, N number of first discharge pulses arranged chronologically and N−1 number of first connection components each connecting two adjacent first discharge pulses among the N number of first discharge pulses where N is not less than three,
• each of the N number of first discharge pulses is a pulse whose potential changes to effect a change in the pressure of the liquid within the pressure chamber such that the liquid droplet can be discharged from the nozzle,
• each of the N−1 number of first connection components is a component maintained at a constant potential for a time period longer than or equal to 0.6 times a natural vibration period of the pressure chamber,
• the liquid discharge head discharges a liquid droplet to a medium,
• N number of liquid droplets that are discharged from the nozzle in one-to-one correspondence to the N number of first discharge pulses by the first driving waveform being supplied to the driving element are combined before landing on the medium,
• the N number of first discharge pulses each include an expansion element whose potential changes to expand a volume of the pressure chamber and a discharge element contracting the expanded volume of the pressure chamber to discharge a liquid droplet from the nozzle, and
• an absolute value of a potential change per unit time, of the discharge element of a first discharge pulse chronologically located at an end among the N number of first discharge pulses is greater than an absolute value of a potential change per unit time, of the discharge element of first discharge pulses chronologically located at other than the end among the N number of first discharge pulses.