Piezoelectric element drive method and liquid ejecting device
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYohei Nakamura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Liquid is forced to be ejected from a liquid chamber as a drive voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element that forms part or all of the walls of the liquid chamber by means of a drive circuit to deform the piezoelectric element. The drive circuit applies a pre-drive voltage to the piezoelectric element prior to the application of the drive voltage waveform for driving the piezoelectric element. The pre-drive voltage is higher than the highest voltage level of the drive voltage waveform.
Claims17
A piezoelectric element drive method of applying a voltage to a piezoelectric element by means of a drive circuit to deform the piezoelectric element, the method comprising:
- a step of applying a drive voltage waveform to the piezoelectric element by means of the drive circuit to drive the piezoelectric element;
- and
- a step of applying a pre-drive voltage to the piezoelectric element prior to applying the drive voltage waveform;
- the pre-drive voltage being higher than a highest voltage of the drive voltage waveform.
A liquid ejecting device for ejecting liquid from a liquid chamber to record an image by applying a voltage to a piezoelectric element that forms a wall of the liquid chamber and thereby deforming the piezoelectric element, the device comprising:
- a drive circuit that applies a drive voltage waveform to the piezoelectric element and also applies a pre-drive voltage to the piezoelectric element prior to applying the drive voltage waveform,
- the pre-drive voltage being higher than a highest voltage of the drive voltage waveform.
A liquid ejection method comprising:
- preparing a liquid ejection head having an ejection port for ejecting liquid and a piezoelectric element for generating energy to be utilized to eject liquid;
- applying a voltage of a predetermined level to the piezoelectric element for a predetermined period of time;
- and
- applying a drive voltage waveform showing a highest voltage level higher than the predetermined level for a predetermined application time shorter than said predetermined period of time to eject liquid from the ejection port after applying said voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.