Liquid ejecting apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10160214-B2
Application number	US-201715804332-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 6, 2017
Priority date	Nov 10, 2016
Publication date	Dec 25, 2018
Grant date	Dec 25, 2018

Abstract

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting head including a substrate where a plurality of hollow portions are formed, a flexible plane that delimits a part of the hollow portion, and a piezoelectric element provided corresponding to the hollow portion, an inspection mechanism that inspects ejection of liquid from a nozzle based on an electromotive force of the piezoelectric element, and a signal generation circuit that generates a first drive signal and a second drive signal. The second drive signal maintains a state, where a second vibration portion including the second piezoelectric element and the flexible plane corresponding to the second piezoelectric element is deformed, during a detection period in which the inspection mechanism performs inspection based on vibration caused when a first vibration portion including the first piezoelectric element and the flexible plane corresponding to the first piezoelectric element is driven.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A liquid ejecting apparatus comprising:
a liquid ejecting head including a substrate where a plurality of hollow portions are formed, a flexible plane that delimits a part of the hollow portion in the substrate, and a piezoelectric element provided corresponding to and opposite to the hollow portion with the flexible plane in between;
an inspection mechanism that inspects ejection of liquid from a nozzle that communicates with the hollow portion based on an electromotive force of the piezoelectric element caused by vibration generated when the piezoelectric element is driven; and
a signal generation circuit that generates a first drive signal applied to a first piezoelectric element to be inspected among a plurality of piezoelectric elements corresponding to the plurality of hollow portions and a second drive signal applied to a second piezoelectric element different from the first piezoelectric element,
wherein the second drive signal maintains a state, where a second vibration portion including the second piezoelectric element and the flexible plane corresponding to the second piezoelectric element is deformed, during at least a detection period in which the inspection mechanism performs inspection based on vibration caused when a first vibration portion including the first piezoelectric element and the flexible plane corresponding to the first piezoelectric element is driven.

2. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second drive signal is maintained at a constant adjustment voltage during the detection period.

3. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a temperature detection mechanism that detects temperature of the liquid ejecting head,
wherein the adjustment voltage varies according to the temperature detected by the temperature detection mechanism.

4. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the second drive signal has a plurality of different adjustment voltages.

5. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second drive signal generates a waveform element that amplifies vibration of the first vibration portion by vibrating the second vibration portion during a vibration generation period in which the first vibration portion is vibrated by the first drive signal before the detection period.

6. The liquid ejecting apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first vibration portion and the second vibration portion are adjacent to each other with a wall delimiting the hollow portions in between.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Fukuda Shunya

Classifications

• B41J2/20

  for preventing or detecting contamination of compounds · CPC title

• B41J2/16579 Primary

  Detection means therefor, e.g. for nozzle clogging · CPC title

• B41J19/66

  Carriage-release mechanisms · CPC title

• B41J2/14201

  Structure of print heads with piezoelectric elements · CPC title

• B41J2/2142

  Detection of malfunctioning nozzles (generating single droplets or particles on demand by pressure, e.g. electromechanical transducers B41J2/045, B41J2/05; jet deflection sensors B41J2/125; for cleaning purposes B41J2/16579) · CPC title