A liquid discharge apparatus includes a liquid discharge head and a head drive controller to output a drive waveform including one pulse or two or more pulses selected according to a droplet size. In a case that the drive waveform includes the two or more pulses, the drive waveform includes a final pulse at an end of the two or more pulses. The final pulse includes a first expansion waveform, a first contraction waveform element, a second expansion waveform element, a second contraction waveform element, and a third expansion waveform element. A time period from a start of the first contraction waveform element to a start of the second expansion waveform element is less than 0.5 Tc. A time period from the start of the first contraction waveform element to a start of the second contraction waveform element is within a range from 0.5 Tc to 0.6 Tc.

In a case where a plurality of times of relative movement between a board and a liquid jet head are performed and liquid is jetted to the board from the liquid jet head during each relative movement to form a pattern on the board, a first relative movement is performed and the liquid is jetted from the liquid jet head to form a first pattern element on the board, a second relative movement is performed and the liquid is jetted from the liquid jet head to form a second pattern element at a position in contact with the first pattern element and to form the pattern including the first pattern element and the second pattern element, and a relative movement speed lower than a relative movement speed of the second relative movement is applied to the first relative movement.

An inkjet recording apparatus and an inkjet recording method which enable changing a droplet amount without changing a droplet speed of an ink discharged from the same nozzle, and including an inkjet head which expands and contracts a capacity of a pressure chamber by applying a driving signal to an actuator and a driving circuit which applies the driving signal to the actuator, the driving signal including a first expansion pulse which starts from a reference potential and expands the capacity of the pressure chamber, a first contraction pulse which contracts the capacity of the pressure chamber to discharge the ink from the nozzle, a second expansion pulse which expands the capacity of the pressure chamber, and a second contraction pulse which contracts the capacity of the pressure chamber and returns to the reference potential in the mentioned order, the driving circuit being configured to enable discharging different droplet amounts of the ink from the same nozzle by changing a potential difference between a start edge and an end edge of the first contraction pulse.

A system includes a print head including multiple nozzles formed in a bottom surface of the print head. The nozzles are configured to eject a liquid onto a substrate. The system includes a gas flow module configured to provide a flow of gas through a gap between the bottom surface of the print head and the substrate. The gas flow module can include one or more gas nozzles configured to inject gas into the gap. The gas flow module can be configured to apply a suction to the gap.

A liquid ejection apparatus includes a supply control section 401 that controls the supply and stop of a liquid to pressure chambers communicating with ejection ports to eject the liquid, and a negative pressure generating section 1004 that generates a negative pressure. The liquid ejection apparatus also includes a negative pressure control unit 230 using the negative pressure generated by the negative pressure generating section 1004 to adjust the pressure of the liquid flowing through a collection channel. To stop a flow of the liquid, the supply control section 401 stops the supply of the liquid, and then the negative pressure generating section 1004 is stopped.

According to one embodiment, a driving device includes a head driver configured to generate and apply a driving signal to an actuator for ejecting a liquid from a pressure chamber connected to a nozzle, the driving signal including a contraction pulse, the contraction pulse causing the actuator to contract a volume of the pressure chamber, and end application of the contraction pulse when a flow rate of the liquid from the nozzle has a negative value in a liquid ejection direction from the nozzle.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes a liquid ejecting portion which has a nozzle that ejects liquid, and a flushing receptive body which receives the liquid that is ejected in a flushing operation in which the liquid is ejected from the nozzle, the flushing receptive body including a receiving member that is able to receive the liquid, a receiving member holding portion which holds the receiving member, and a fixing member with conductivity that fixes the receiving member to the receiving member holding portion by contacting the receiving member and has a mesh form portion that forms an adhesion surface to which the ejected liquid is adhered with the receiving member in the flushing operation, in which the fixing member is electrically grounded.

According to one embodiment, an inkjet head includes a pressure chamber for ink, a nozzle plate including a nozzle connected to the pressure chamber, an actuator to change a volume of the pressure chamber, and a drive circuit that drives the actuator. The drive circuit drives the actuator according to a drive waveform including an expansion waveform, a first weak contraction waveform, a contraction waveform, and a second weak contraction waveform.

A method for setting a drop shape in a printing process, including the steps of controlling (S101) a piezo element of a printing nozzle by a first voltage profile; detecting (S102) an electric current value averaged over the first voltage profile or a sound amplitude averaged over the first voltage profile; controlling (S103) the piezo element of the printing nozzle by a second voltage profile; detecting (S104) an electric current value averaged over the second voltage profile or a sound amplitude averaged over the second voltage profile; and selecting (S105) the voltage profile with the lower detected current value or the lower detected sound amplitude.

A driving signal generation circuit generates a main driving signal including, in each of driving periods, at least a first sub driving signal including a first driving pulse and a second driving pulse, and a second sub driving signal including a third driving pulse and provided before the first sub driving signal. A driving signal supply circuit includes a first dot generator supplying the first sub driving signal but not supplying the second sub driving signal to an actuator coupled with a vibration plate defining a portion of a pressure chamber, and a second dot generator supplying the first sub driving signal and the second sub driving signal to the actuator.