JPH0323344B2 - - Google Patents

Info

Publication number
JPH0323344B2
JPH0323344B2 JP53133041A JP13304178A JPH0323344B2 JP H0323344 B2 JPH0323344 B2 JP H0323344B2 JP 53133041 A JP53133041 A JP 53133041A JP 13304178 A JP13304178 A JP 13304178A JP H0323344 B2 JPH0323344 B2 JP H0323344B2
Authority
JP
Japan
Prior art keywords
piezoelectric elements
transistor
ink
discharge
piezoelectric element
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
JP53133041A
Other languages
Japanese (ja)
Other versions
JPS5559971A (en
Inventor
Hiroshi Takeda
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Seiko Epson Corp
Original Assignee
Seiko Epson Corp
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Seiko Epson Corp filed Critical Seiko Epson Corp
Priority to JP13304178A priority Critical patent/JPS5559971A/en
Publication of JPS5559971A publication Critical patent/JPS5559971A/en
Publication of JPH0323344B2 publication Critical patent/JPH0323344B2/ja
Granted legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/015—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process
    • B41J2/04—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand
    • B41J2/045—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers
    • B41J2/04501—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits
    • B41J2/04581—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits controlling heads based on piezoelectric elements
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/015—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process
    • B41J2/04—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand
    • B41J2/045—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers
    • B41J2/04501—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits
    • B41J2/0452—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits reducing demand in current or voltage
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
    • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
    • B41J2/00—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed
    • B41J2/005—Typewriters or selective printing mechanisms characterised by the printing or marking process for which they are designed characterised by bringing liquid or particles selectively into contact with a printing material
    • B41J2/01—Ink jet
    • B41J2/015—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process
    • B41J2/04—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand
    • B41J2/045—Ink jet characterised by the jet generation process generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers
    • B41J2/04501—Control methods or devices therefor, e.g. driver circuits, control circuits
    • B41J2/04541—Specific driving circuit

Landscapes

  • Particle Formation And Scattering Control In Inkjet Printers (AREA)

Description

【発明の詳細な説明】 本発明はインクオンデイマンド方式に於けるイ
ンクジエツト記録装置に関するものである。DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an inkjet recording apparatus using an ink-on-demand system.

従来のインクジエツト記録装置の駆動回路を第
１図を用いて簡単に説明する。 The drive circuit of a conventional inkjet recording apparatus will be briefly explained with reference to FIG.

この回路は圧電素子３への電荷の充電を駆動ト
ランジスタ１をオンすることにより行ない、放電
は駆動トランジスタ１をオフした瞬間から抵抗２
及び抵抗４を通して行なわれる。抵抗２は圧電素
子３への充電特性を変化させ、インク粒子速度、
インク粒子径等の特性を制御するものである。 This circuit charges the piezoelectric element 3 with electric charge by turning on the drive transistor 1, and discharges the electric charge from the moment the drive transistor 1 is turned off through the resistor 2.
and resistor 4. The resistor 2 changes the charging characteristics of the piezoelectric element 3, and changes the ink droplet velocity,
It controls characteristics such as ink particle diameter.

この回路を用いたインクジエツト記録を高速で
行なうためには抵抗４の値を比較的小さくする必
要がある。すかしこの抵抗４はトランジスタ１が
オンの時通電され記録に全く関与しない電力損失
となる。したがつて従来の方法では高速化と低消
費電力化を同時に得ることができない欠点があ
る。 In order to perform inkjet recording at high speed using this circuit, the value of the resistor 4 must be made relatively small. However, this resistor 4 is energized when the transistor 1 is on, resulting in power loss that is not involved in recording at all. Therefore, the conventional method has the disadvantage that it is not possible to achieve high speed and low power consumption at the same time.

本発明は、上記の欠点を除去するものであり、
その目的は、圧電素子を用いたインクジエツト記
録ヘツドに於いて記録の高速化、低消費電力化を
図ることにある。以下、本発明を、第２図ａ及び
ｂにより示される実施例に基づき説明する。駆動
トランジスタ１をオンすることにより圧電素子３
に抵抗２を介して充電されることは従来と同様で
あるが、第２図においては第１図における抵抗４
が放電用トランジスタ５におきかえられている。
このため駆動トランジスタ１に流れる電流は圧電
素子の充電に係る電流のみとなるので無駄な電力
消費はない。圧電素子３に蓄積された電荷は放電
トランジスタ５をオンにすることにより放電を行
なう。 The present invention eliminates the above drawbacks and
The purpose is to increase the speed of recording and reduce power consumption in an inkjet recording head using piezoelectric elements. The present invention will be explained below based on the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b. By turning on the drive transistor 1, the piezoelectric element 3
It is the same as in the conventional case that the resistor 4 is charged via the resistor 2 in FIG.
is replaced with a discharge transistor 5.
Therefore, the current flowing through the drive transistor 1 is only the current related to charging the piezoelectric element, so there is no wasted power consumption. The charges accumulated in the piezoelectric element 3 are discharged by turning on the discharge transistor 5.

放電トランジスタ５は、電源VHを用いてオン
するので放電はできるだけ短時間かつ速やかに行
なうほど消費電力は小となる。第２図ｂは、ａの
他の実施例を示すものである。ここで、第２図ａ
の回路の動作を説明する。まず、トランジスタ１
のベースにハイのパルスを入力しトランジスタ１
を導通させ電源VHにより圧電素子３を充電し、
インク噴射の準備を行なわせる。又、この充電
は、前記トランジスタ１のベースに加えられるパ
ルスがハイの間だけなされる。この時の様子を示
したのが第４図ａであり、図示されるように、圧
電素子３がたわんで、キヤビテイが拡大し、イン
クが、圧電素子３のために分だけ余計に流入して
くる。 Since the discharge transistor 5 is turned on using the power supply VH , the faster the discharge is performed in the shortest possible time, the lower the power consumption will be. FIG. 2b shows another embodiment of a. Here, Fig. 2 a
Explain the operation of the circuit. First, transistor 1
Input a high pulse to the base of transistor 1
conducts and charges the piezoelectric element 3 with the power supply VH ,
Make preparations for ink jetting. Also, this charging is done only while the pulse applied to the base of the transistor 1 is high. The situation at this time is shown in FIG. come.

圧電素子３が、十分充電されて、インク噴射を
行なうのに必要なだけたわんだ後、トランジスタ
５のベースにローのパルスが入力される。該トラ
ンジスタ５が導通すると、先に述べたようにトラ
ンジスタ１のベースに加わるパルスは一定時間だ
けハイで、その後ローとなりトランジスタ１はオ
フになつているので、圧電素子３の電源VH側の
端子からトランジスタ５経由で他方の端子に向け
て放電が起こる。そのため、第４図ｂに示すよう
に圧電素子３のたわみが元にもどり、そのどりに
よりインク４０が噴射される。又、ここで、放電
が行なわれる期間は、トランジスタ５のベースに
ローパルスが加えられている間である。又、第２
図ｂの回路の動作も以上と同様である。駆動回路
を２回路以上用い２個以上のインクノズルを持つ
ヘツドを駆動する場合は第３図に示すようにダイ
オード７を用いることにより放電トランジスタを
１個にまとめることが可能である。このとき放電
トランジスタ８としては全ての圧電素子に蓄積さ
れた電荷を放電するだけの定格を持てば十分であ
る。これらの例においてはNPN型のトランジス
タを用いた例を用いているがPNP型のトランジ
スタを用いても同様な回路が可能である。また駆
動トランジスタの飽和、遮断領域を利用するため
に小容量トランジスタを用いることができる。こ
こで、第３図の回路の動作を説明すると、以下の
ようになる。 After the piezoelectric element 3 is sufficiently charged and deflected enough to effect ink jetting, a low pulse is applied to the base of the transistor 5. When the transistor 5 becomes conductive, as mentioned earlier, the pulse applied to the base of the transistor 1 is high for a certain period of time, then becomes low, and the transistor 1 is off, so that the terminal on the power supply V H side of the piezoelectric element 3 A discharge occurs from the terminal to the other terminal via the transistor 5. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4b, the deflection of the piezoelectric element 3 returns to its original state, and the ink 40 is ejected. Further, here, the period during which discharge occurs is while a low pulse is applied to the base of transistor 5. Also, the second
The operation of the circuit of FIG. b is also similar to that described above. When two or more drive circuits are used to drive a head having two or more ink nozzles, it is possible to combine the discharge transistors into one by using a diode 7 as shown in FIG. At this time, it is sufficient for the discharge transistor 8 to have a rating sufficient to discharge the charges accumulated in all the piezoelectric elements. Although these examples use NPN type transistors, similar circuits are also possible using PNP type transistors. Furthermore, a small capacitance transistor can be used to utilize the saturation and cutoff regions of the drive transistor. Here, the operation of the circuit shown in FIG. 3 will be explained as follows.

先に述べたように、複数ある圧電素子のうち、
噴射を必要とするものについてだけ、対応するト
ランジスタ１のベースにハイパルスを供給して充
電を行なわせる。この時、噴射の必要のない圧電
素子については、対応するトランジスタのベース
にハイパルスが入力されないため、放電されたま
まとなつている。そて、インク噴射を行なう圧電
素子が十分充電された後トランジスタ８のベース
にローパルスが入力されると、全ての圧電素子の
放電が始まるわけであるが、この時、充電されて
いた圧電素子は放電を行なつてインク噴射を行な
うが、充電されていなかつた圧電素子について
は、もともと充電されていないので機械的振動を
起こさず、なんの動作も行なわない。 As mentioned earlier, among the multiple piezoelectric elements,
Only those that require injection are charged by supplying a high pulse to the base of the corresponding transistor 1. At this time, piezoelectric elements that do not require injection remain discharged because no high pulse is input to the base of the corresponding transistor. Then, when a low pulse is input to the base of transistor 8 after the piezoelectric element that performs ink jetting is sufficiently charged, all the piezoelectric elements start discharging. Although the piezoelectric element is discharged and ink is ejected, the uncharged piezoelectric element does not cause any mechanical vibration and does not perform any operation because it has not been charged to begin with.

以上に示すように、トランジスタ８によりいつ
せいに放電を行なつても、各圧電素子に対する悪
影響は全くない。 As shown above, even if the transistor 8 discharges at any time, there is no adverse effect on each piezoelectric element.

以上の如く本発明はインクジエツト記録の高速
化及び低消費電力化に有益な発明であり、さら
に、以下に示す格別の効果を有する。 As described above, the present invention is useful for speeding up inkjet recording and reducing power consumption, and further has the following special effects.

すなわち、 (a) 充電用スイツチ手段により充電されて、イン
ク噴射の準備ができた複数の圧電素子に対して
共通の一つの放電用スイツチ手段を動作させる
ことにより、一斉に放電を行なわせることが可
能となり、インク噴出のタイミングを各インク
ノズルについて同時とすることができる。この
ため、印字ずれ等が防止され、印字品質が格段
に向上する。 That is, (a) it is possible to cause a plurality of piezoelectric elements that have been charged by the charging switch means and are ready to eject ink to discharge all at once by operating one common discharge switch means; This makes it possible to eject ink at the same time for each ink nozzle. Therefore, printing misalignment and the like are prevented, and printing quality is significantly improved.

(b) インク噴射を行なわないノズルについては、
充電用スイツチ手段が動作せず、圧電素子に対
する充電が行なわれない。したがつて、共通の
放電用スイツチ手段が動作して、放電経路が形
成されても、放電すべき電荷がほとんどないの
で、インクの噴射が起きない。(b) For nozzles that do not eject ink,
The charging switch means does not operate, and the piezoelectric element is not charged. Therefore, even if the common discharge switch means operates and a discharge path is formed, there is almost no charge to be discharged, so no ink jetting occurs.

つまり、充電がなされていない圧電素子に対
して放電を行なわせようとしてもなんら悪影響
は、生じない。このため、本願においては、イ
ンク噴射を行なうノズルと行なわないノズルを
区別して放電を行なわせる必要がなくなり、イ
ンク噴射の制御が大幅に簡単になる。 In other words, even if an uncharged piezoelectric element is attempted to discharge, no adverse effects will occur. Therefore, in the present application, there is no need to distinguish between nozzles that perform ink jetting and nozzles that do not perform discharge, and the control of ink jetting is greatly simplified.

【図面の簡単な説明】[Brief explanation of the drawing]

第１図は従来の実施例を示す回路図である。第
２図ａ，ｂ及び第３図は本発明の実施例を示す回
路図である。第４図は、インクが噴射される時の
状態を説明する図である。 １……駆動トランジスタ、２……制御抵抗、３
……圧電素子、４……放電抵抗、３……放電トラ
ンジスタ、６……ダイオード。 FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing a conventional embodiment. FIGS. 2a and 2b and 3 are circuit diagrams showing embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state when ink is ejected. 1... Drive transistor, 2... Control resistor, 3
...Piezoelectric element, 4...Discharge resistor, 3...Discharge transistor, 6...Diode.

Claims (1)

【特許請求の範囲】[Claims] １ インクに圧力を加え吐出させる圧力印加素子
として圧電素子を用いたインクオンデイマンド型
のインクジエツト記録装置において、インク加圧
のための各ノズルごとに設置された複数の圧電素
子と、該複数のおのおの圧電素子の充電のために
それぞれ１つずつ設置された充電用スイツチ手段
と、一端が前記複数の圧電素子のおのおのの所定
の一端に接続され、他の一端が、前記複数のおの
おのの圧電素子ごとに設置された放電用のダイオ
ードを介して前記おのおの圧電素子の他端に接続
され、前記おのおのの圧電素子に充電された電荷
を放電するための前記複数の圧電素子の全てに共
通な１つの放電用スイツチ手段とから構成される
ことを特徴とするインクジエツト記録ヘツドの駆
動回路。1. In an ink-on-demand type inkjet recording device that uses a piezoelectric element as a pressure applying element to apply pressure to ink and eject it, a plurality of piezoelectric elements installed for each nozzle for pressurizing ink, and a plurality of charging switch means installed one by one for charging each of the piezoelectric elements, one end connected to a predetermined end of each of the plurality of piezoelectric elements, and the other end connected to a predetermined end of each of the plurality of piezoelectric elements; A single piezoelectric element common to all of the plurality of piezoelectric elements is connected to the other end of each of the piezoelectric elements via a discharging diode installed at each of the plurality of piezoelectric elements, and is used to discharge the electric charge charged in each of the piezoelectric elements. 1. A drive circuit for an inkjet recording head, comprising a discharge switch means.
JP13304178A 1978-10-28 1978-10-28 Driving circuit for ink jet recording head Granted JPS5559971A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP13304178A JPS5559971A (en) 1978-10-28 1978-10-28 Driving circuit for ink jet recording head

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
JP13304178A JPS5559971A (en) 1978-10-28 1978-10-28 Driving circuit for ink jet recording head

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
JPS5559971A JPS5559971A (en) 1980-05-06
JPH0323344B2 true JPH0323344B2 (en) 1991-03-28

Family

ID=15095422

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
JP13304178A Granted JPS5559971A (en) 1978-10-28 1978-10-28 Driving circuit for ink jet recording head

Country Status (1)

Country Link
JP (1) JPS5559971A (en)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3036922A1 (en) * 1980-09-30 1982-05-13 Siemens AG, 1000 Berlin und 8000 München CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENT FOR DRIVING POINT NOZZLES
JPS58208064A (en) * 1982-05-29 1983-12-03 Fujitsu Ltd Drive circuit of ink jet recording apparatus
JPS6240066A (en) * 1985-08-16 1987-02-21 Canon Inc High-voltage power unit

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS49123238A (en) * 1973-03-16 1974-11-26
JPS51104224A (en) * 1975-03-12 1976-09-14 Ricoh Kk

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS49123238A (en) * 1973-03-16 1974-11-26
JPS51104224A (en) * 1975-03-12 1976-09-14 Ricoh Kk

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS5559971A (en) 1980-05-06

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