Liquid discharge head, liquid discharge apparatus, and liquid discharge method
OwnerNaoyuki TAKEZOEinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A liquid discharge head includes a pressure chamber; a nozzle to discharge a liquid from the pressure chamber; a nozzle plate on the pressure chamber; and an actuator on the nozzle plate, the actuator deforming the nozzle plate to discharge the liquid in the pressure chamber from the nozzle, wherein a drive voltage is applied to the actuator to generate a controlled flow of the liquid in the pressure chamber.
Claims20
A liquid discharge head, comprising:
- a pressure chamber;
- a nozzle to discharge a liquid from the pressure chamber;
- a nozzle plate on the pressure chamber;
- and
- an actuator on the nozzle plate, the actuator deforming the nozzle plate to discharge the liquid in the pressure chamber from the nozzle, wherein
- a drive voltage is applied to the actuator to generate a controlled flow of the liquid in the pressure chamber.
A liquid discharge apparatus, comprising:
- a liquid discharge head including:
- a pressure chamber;
- a nozzle to discharge a liquid from the pressure chamber;
- a nozzle plate on the pressure chamber;
- and
- an actuator on the nozzle plate, the actuator deforming the nozzle plate to discharge the liquid in the pressure chamber from the nozzle;
- and
- a head driver configured to apply a drive voltage to the actuator to generate a controlled flow of the liquid in the pressure chamber.
A liquid discharge method for controlling a liquid discharge head including a pressure chamber, a nozzle, a nozzle plate on the pressure chamber, and an actuator on the nozzle plate, the liquid discharge method comprising:
- applying a first drive voltage to the actuator to deform the nozzle plate to discharge a liquid from the pressure chamber via the nozzle;
- and
- applying a second drive voltage the actuator to generate a controlled flow of the liquid in the pressure chamber without discharging the liquid from the nozzle, wherein
- the second drive voltage is smaller than the first drive voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.