US 12,220,916 B2
Liquid discharge apparatus
Masanori Mikoshiba, Shimosuwa-machi (JP); Motoki Takabe, Shiojiri (JP); Takanori Aimono, Matsumoto (JP); and Jingling Wang, Shiojiri (JP)
Assigned to Seiko Epson Corporation, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Feb. 6, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/164,999.
Claims priority of application No. 2022-017211 (JP), filed on Feb. 7, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2023/0249456 A1, Aug. 10, 2023
Int. Cl. B41J 2/045 (2006.01); B41J 2/14 (2006.01)
CPC B41J 2/04588 (2013.01) [B41J 2/04581 (2013.01); B41J 2/14233 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A liquid discharge apparatus comprising:
a diaphragm that has a first surface and a second surface facing in a direction opposite to the first surface;
a pressure chamber substrate laminated on the first surface and including a partition wall partitioning a pressure chamber communicating with a nozzle for discharging liquid;
a piezoelectric element laminated on the second surface and including a first active portion that overlaps a center of the pressure chamber when viewed in a thickness direction of the diaphragm and a second active portion that overlaps the pressure chamber at a position closer to an outer edge of the pressure chamber than the first active portion; and
a drive signal generation portion that generates a first drive signal that drives the first active portion and a second drive signal that drives the second active portion, wherein
the first drive signal includes a first shrinkage element that shrinks a volume of the pressure chamber per periodic unit period,
the second drive signal includes a second shrinkage element that shrinks the volume of the pressure chamber per unit period, and
a shrinkage step is executed in which a first period and a second period overlap, and the first shrinkage element is supplied to the first active portion in the first period, and the second shrinkage element is supplied to the second active portion in the second period.