Claims
- 1. A recording apparatus comprising:
- a marking fluid head comprising:
- a nozzle,
- a pathway in communication with said nozzle, and
- an actuator comprising first and second electrodes;
- a driving circuit responsive for selectively applying a driving voltage signal to said first and second electrodes to fill said pathway with marking fluid and to eject said marking fluid from said nozzle; and
- first control means for control setting at least one of a duration for applying the driving voltage signal and magnitude of the driving voltage, said first control means comprising:
- a voltage detection circuit for detecting the voltage across said first and second electrodes,
- a charge detection circuit for detecting the charge accumulated across said first and second electrodes,
- a recording apparatus condition determination circuit for determining at least one of (1) an input voltage to said recording apparatus, (2) ambient temperature, (3) ambient humidity, (4) amount of time said recording apparatus has been operating, (5) the temperature in the vicinity of the marking fluid jet head, (6) age of the ink, and (7) ambient air pressure, and
- wherein said first control means sets at least one of the duration for applying the driving voltage signal and the magnitude of the driving voltage signal in accordance with the voltage detected by said voltage detection circuit, the charge detected by said charge detection circuit, and the recording condition determined by said recording apparatus condition detection circuit.
- 2. An ink jet printer control method for an ink jet printer provided with an ink jet print head having a nozzle, an ink channel in communication with the nozzle, and an electrostatic actuator comprising a diaphragm arranged in a part of the ink channel and an electrode placed outside of the ink channel opposite to the diaphragm, distorting the diaphragm by means of an electrostatic force generated by applying voltage to the electrostatic actuator thereby performing printing with ink droplets ejected from the nozzle, and further comprising target value generation means for generating a target value for the amount of charge to be stored in the electrostatic actuator, target value charging means for charging the electrostatic actuator up to a charge value substantially equal to the target value, discharge means that discharges the electrostatic actuator, charge/discharge timing control means for controlling following timings; start and stop charging timing for the target value generation means and for the target value charging means, stop discharging timing for the discharge means; and printer condition detection means for detecting the condition of the ink jet printer, and charge condition storage means for storing the charge/discharge conditions for the electrostatic actuator according to the printer condition; wherein said control method comprising steps of:
- starting charging of the electrostatic actuator by means of the target value generation means and the target value charging means;
- deciding a target charge value based on the ink jet printer condition;
- outputting the target charge value from the target value generation means;
- stopping the charging of the electrostatic actuator by means of the target value charging means; and
- discharging the electrostatic actuator by means of discharge means.
- 3. A method for recording on a medium by a recording apparatus comprising the steps of:
- providing a marking fluid jet head having a nozzle, a pathway in communication with the nozzle, and an actuator comprising a diaphragm provided at one part of the pathway, a first electrode provided in opposition to the diaphragm and a second electrode provided on a portion of the diaphragm, the first and second electrodes forming a capacitor;
- applying a driving voltage signal to the first and second electrodes to electrostatically attract the diaphragm towards the first electrode in a first direction to fill the pathway with marking fluid;
- electrically coupling the first electrode to the second electrode causing the diaphragm to move in the opposite direction away from the first electrode to thereby eject the marking fluid from the nozzle;
- detecting a recording condition of the recording apparatus; and
- controlling at least one of the application of the driving voltage signal and a duration of coupling the first electrode to the second electrode in accordance with the detected recording condition.
- 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the recording condition is a voltage across the first and second electrodes.
- 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the recording condition is at least one of (1) an input voltage to the recording apparatus, (2) ambient temperature, (3) ambient humidity, (4) amount of time the recording apparatus has been operating, (5) temperature in the vicinity of the marking fluid jet head, (6) age of the marking fluid and (7) ambient air pressure.
- 6. A method for recording on a medium by a recording apparatus comprising the steps of:
- providing a marking fluid jet head having a nozzle, a pathway in communication with the nozzle and a diaphragm provided at one part of the pathway,
- forming a capacitor having a first electrode and a second electrode arranged on the diaphragm;
- applying a charging voltage signal to the capacitor to cause the pathway to fill with marking fluid;
- discharging the capacitor thereby eject the marking fluid from the nozzle;
- detecting a recording condition of the recording apparatus; and
- controlling at least one of the application of the charging voltage signal and a duration of discharging the capacitor in accordance with the detected recording condition.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the recording condition is a voltage across the capacitor.
- 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the recording condition is at least one of (1) an input voltage to the recording apparatus, (2) ambient temperature, (3) ambient humidity, (4) amount of time the recording apparatus has been operating, (5) temperature in the vicinity of the marking fluid jet head, (6) age of the marking fluid and (7) ambient air pressure.
- 9. An ink jet printer provided with an ink jet print head comprising:
- a nozzle;
- an ink channel in communication with said nozzle;
- an electrostatic actuator comprising a diaphragm which is provided in a part of said ink channel and an electrode arranged outside of said ink channel opposite to said diaphragm; and
- voltage application means having a first circuit for applying a drive voltage signal to said electrostatic actuator to attract the diaphragm towards said electrode, and a second circuit for electrically coupling said diaphragm to said electrode causing said diaphragm to move in an opposite direction away from said electrode to thereby eject ink droplets from said nozzle;
- wherein a charge time constant, consisting of a capacitance of said electrostatic actuator and a charge resistance through which charge current flows into said electrostatic actuator, is set at a value less than approximately 1/2 a charge period.
- 10. An ink jet printer provided with an ink jet print head comprising:
- a nozzle;
- an ink channel in communication with said nozzle;
- an electrostatic actuator comprising a diaphragm which is provided in a part of said ink channel and an electrode arranged outside of said ink channel opposite to said diaphragm; and
- voltage application means having a first circuit for applying a drive voltage signal to said electrostatic actuator to attract said diaphragm towards said electrode, and a second circuit for electrically coupling said diaphragm to said electrode causing the diaphragm to move in an opposite direction away from said electrode to thereby eject ink droplets from said nozzle;
- detecting means for detecting a recording condition of said ink jet printer; and
- controlling means for controlling at least one of an application of the driving voltage signal and a duration of coupling said diaphragm to said electrode in accordance with the detected recording condition.
- 11. A The ink jet printer of claim 10, wherein the recording condition is a voltage across said diaphragm and said electrode.
- 12. The ink jet printer of claim 10, wherein said recording condition is at least one of (1) an input voltage to said ink jet pinter, (2) ambient temperature, (3) ambient humidity, (4) amount of time said ink jet printer has been operating, (5) a temperature in the vicinity of the ink jet head, (6) age of the marking fluid and (7) ambient air pressure.
- 13. A method for recording on a medium comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a marking fluid jet head having an array of nozzles, corresponding pathways in communication with respective ones of the nozzles and corresponding diaphragms provided at one part of each the pathways;
- (b) forming a plurality of capacitors, each corresponding to respective ones of the pathways, each one of the capacitors having a first electrode and a second electrode disposed on a corresponding diaphragm;
- (c) selecting at least one of the nozzles for printing a pattern by:
- selecting at least one of the capacitors by applying a charging voltage signal to at least a selected one of the capacitors to fill a respective one of the pathways with marking fluid, and
- discharging the selected ones of the capacitors charged in the previous step to thereby eject marking fluid droplets from the selected nozzles;
- (d) repeating step (c) to print successive patterns; and
- (e) determining a recording condition comprising at least one of (1) an input voltage to the recording apparatus, (2) ambient temperature, (3) ambient humidity, (4) amount of time the recording apparatus has been operating, (5) temperature in the vicinity of the marking fluid jet head, (6) age of the marking fluid and (7) ambient air pressure; and
- (f) controlling a duration for discharging the selected capacitor in accordance with the detected recording condition.
- 14. A method for recording on a sheet comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a marking fluid jet head having an array of nozzles, corresponding pathways in communication with respective ones of the nozzles and corresponding diaphragms provided at one part of each the pathways;
- (b) forming a plurality of capacitors, each corresponding to respective ones of the pathways, each one of the capacitors having a first electrode and a second electrode disposed on a corresponding diaphragm;
- (c) selecting at least one of the nozzles for printing a pattern by:
- applying a charging voltage signal to at least a selected one of the capacitors to fill a respective one of the pathways with marking fluid, and
- discharging the selected ones of the capacitors charged in the previous step to thereby eject marking fluid droplets from the selected nozzles; and
- (d) repeating step (c) to print successive patterns;
- (e) determining a recording condition comprising at least one of (1) an input voltage to the recording apparatus, (2) ambient temperature, (3) ambient humidity, (4) amount of time the recording apparatus has been operating, (5) temperature in the vicinity of the marking fluid jet head, (6) age of the marking fluid, and (7) ambient air pressure; and
- (f) controlling the application of the first driving voltage signal in accordance with the detected recording condition.
- 15. A recording apparatus comprising:
- a marking fluid head comprising:
- a nozzle,
- a pathway in communication with said nozzle, and
- an actuator comprising,
- a diaphragm provided at one part of said pathway,
- a first electrode provided in opposition to said diaphragm, and
- a second electrode provided on a portion of said diaphragm; and
- a driving circuit for selectively:
- applying a first driving voltage signal to said first and second electrodes to electrostatically attract said diaphragm towards said first electrode in a first direction to fill said pathway with marking fluid, and
- electrically coupling said first electrode to said second electrode causing said diaphragm to move in the opposite direction away from said first electrode to thereby eject said marking fluid from said nozzle,
- wherein said driving circuit comprises a decoding circuit for receiving a control signal, the control signal including at least one of a charging signal and a discharging signal, and at least one of first switch means for selecting the first driving voltage to be applied to said first and second electrodes in response to the charging signal decoded by said decoding circuit and second switch means coupling said first electrode to said second electrode in response to a discharging signal decoded by said decoding circuit; and
- first control means for control setting at least one of a duration for applying the first driving voltage signal and a magnitude of the first driving voltage,
- wherein said first control means comprises a recording apparatus condition determination circuit for determining at least one of (1) an input voltage to said recording apparatus, (2) ambient temperature, (3) ambient humidity, (4) amount of time said recording apparatus has been operating, (5) temperature in the vicinity of the marking fluid jet head, (6) age of the marking fluid, and (7) ambient air pressure,
- wherein said first control means sets at least one of the duration for applying the first driving voltage signal and the magnitude of the first driving voltage in accordance with the recording condition determined by said recording apparatus condition detection circuit.
- 16. An ink jet printer provided with an ink jet print head comprising:
- a nozzle;
- an ink channel in communication with said nozzle;
- an electrostatic actuator comprising a diaphragm which is provided in a part of said ink channel and an electrode arranged outside of said ink channel opposite to said diaphragm;
- voltage application means for applying a voltage to said electrostatic actuator to distort the diaphragm to eject ink droplets from said nozzle, said voltage application means comprising:
- charge rate control means for controlling a charge rate in charging said electrostatic actuator, and
- discharge means for discharging the charge at a discharging rate from said electrostatic actuator; and
- charge/discharge timing control means for controlling:
- (1) start and stop charging timing for said charge rate control means, and
- (2) stop discharging timing for said discharge means,
- wherein a charge time constant, consisting of a capacitance of the electrostatic actuator and a charge resistance through which charge current flows into said electrostatic actuator, is set at a value less than approximately 1/2 a charge period.
- 17. An ink jet printer provided with an ink jet print head comprising:
- a nozzle;
- an ink channel in communication with said nozzle;
- an electrostatic actuator comprising a diaphragm which is provided in a part of said ink channel and an electrode arranged outside of said ink channel opposite to said diaphragm; and
- voltage application means for applying a voltage to said electrostatic actuator to distort the diaphragm to eject ink droplets from said nozzle, said voltage application means comprising:
- charge rate control means for controlling a charge rate in charging said electrostatic actuator, and
- discharge means for discharging the charge at a discharging rate from said electrostatic actuator,
- wherein said charge rate control means is configured so that the pressure inside the ink channel is maintained at a value of at most 2.times.10.sup.5 pascal.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
5-145212 |
Jun 1993 |
JPX |
|
5-145213 |
Jun 1993 |
JPX |
|
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This is a Divisional of pending prior application Ser. No. 08/259,656 filed on Jun. 14, 1994. This application is related to the following commonly-assigned, co-pending patent application:
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Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
259656 |
Jun 1994 |
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