A liquid discharge method of discharging a liquid from a nozzle of a liquid discharge head by applying a drive pulse to a drive element of the liquid discharge head includes an acquisition step of acquiring a recording condition including a first discharge characteristic and a second discharge characteristic of the liquid from the liquid discharge head, a determination step of determining the drive pulse to be applied to the drive element, based on the recording condition, and a driving step of applying the drive pulse determined in the determination step to the drive element. In the liquid discharge method, in the determination step, the drive pulse is determined by a determination method subjected to weighting in which a weight of the first discharge characteristic is greater than a weight of the second discharge characteristic.

A liquid discharge method of discharging a liquid from a nozzle of a liquid discharge head by applying a drive pulse to a drive element of the liquid discharge head includes an acquisition step of acquiring a state of a dot formed on a recording medium by the liquid discharged from the nozzle, as a recording condition, and a driving step of applying the drive pulse that varies depending on the recording condition acquired in the acquisition step, to the drive element. The drive pulse may include a first potential, a second potential different from the first potential, and a third potential different from the first potential and the second potential. The second potential may be to be applied after the first potential, and the third potential may be to be applied after the second potential.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a liquid discharge head configured to discharge a liquid from a nozzle, the liquid discharge head including: a liquid chamber communicating with the nozzle; a pressure generator configured to deform the liquid chamber to apply pressure to the liquid in the liquid chamber; and circuitry configured to apply a drive signal to the pressure generator to drive the pressure generator, the drive signal including at least one drive pulse. The drive pulse includes: an expansion element to expand the liquid chamber to a first volume; a holding element to hold the first volume of the liquid chamber expanded by the expansion element for a predetermined time; and a contraction element to contract the liquid chamber from the first volume held by the holding element to a second volume.

A liquid ejecting system includes a head unit that includes a nozzle for ejecting a liquid, a pressure chamber communicating with the nozzle, and a drive element for applying pressure fluctuation to a liquid in the pressure chamber by supplying a drive pulse, a first connection portion that is communicably connected to a server through a network, a decision portion that decides a waveform of the drive pulse supplied to the drive element based on first input information, and a first input portion to which the first input information is input from the server through the first connection portion.

A liquid discharge method of discharging a liquid from a nozzle of a liquid discharge head by applying a drive pulse to a drive element of the liquid discharge head includes an acquisition step of acquiring a recording condition, and a driving step of applying the drive pulse to the drive element. The drive pulse includes a first potential, a second potential different from the first potential, and a third potential different from the first potential and the second potential. The second potential is to be applied after the first potential, and the third potential is to be applied after the second potential. In the liquid discharge method, in the driving step, the drive pulse having the first potential that varies depending on the recording condition acquired in the acquisition step is applied to the drive element.

The present invention discharges ink from a plurality of inkjet heads and is used when performing drive whereby one droplet or a plurality of droplets are discharged onto and united on one pixel. A drive signal includes a drive waveform comprising N number (N being an integer of at least 2) of drive waveform elements and is configured so as to fulfil the relationship 1.1 Tc≤Ts≤1.4 Tc, when Tc is the natural vibration cycle determined from the inkjet head structure and Ts is the time from the start point of the drive waveform to the start point of the subsequent drive waveform. As a result, velocity deviation caused by the resonant frequency of a piezoelectric actuator driving the inkjet head can be suppressed when driving an inkjet head using multiple gradations.

A liquid jetting device is arranged to eject a droplet of a liquid. The device includes a nozzle, a liquid duct connected to the nozzle, an electro-mechanical transducer arranged to create an acoustic pressure wave in the liquid in the duct, and an electronic control system arranged to apply to the transducer a voltage signal having a waveform configured for ejecting a droplet from the nozzle. The waveform is further configured to quench a residual acoustic pressure wave in the liquid duct and includes a jet pulse, a subsequent first quench pulse having a polarity opposite to that of the jet pulse, and a subsequent second quench pulse having the same polarity as the jet pulse.

A digital printing system includes a print head and a processor. The print head is configured to jet droplets of ink. The a processor is further configured to translate a required shade of a color, to be printed at a given location on a substrate by the print head, into a sequence of pulses, the sequence including: (a) up to a predefined maximum number of driving pulses that cause the print head to jet respective droplets, and (b) a tickling pulse, which has a smaller amplitude than the driving pulses and which causes the print head to jet a droplet smaller than the droplets jetted in response to the driving pulses. The processor is additionally configured to apply the sequence of pulses to the print head.

The controller drives the piezoelectric body such that, when the cumulative number of times of the driving is a second number of times greater than the first number of times, the voltage difference is a second value smaller than the first value.

An image forming apparatus includes: an ink-jet head including a storage that stores phase transition ink, the ink jet head forms an image on a recording medium by ejecting the phase transition ink; and one or more hardware processors. The one or more hardware processors change a driving condition of the ink jet head for a case of ejecting the phase transition ink on a basis of a first reading result of a pattern image formed by the ink-jet head; estimate occurrence of a state change of the phase transition ink in the storage when the driving condition that is changed satisfies a predetermined condition; and determine whether a lifetime of the ink jet head is over in accordance with whether the occurrence of the state change is estimated.