A printing apparatus inputs print data, generates a driving pulse to cause a plurality of print elements of a printhead to perform a printing operation and generates a print data signal based on the input print data to cause the printhead to print on a print medium. At this time, for example, the signal generation timing is controlled so as to determine, based on a driving pulse width, a generation range of the print data signal so as not to overlap with the leading edge and the trailing edge of the driving pulse. Subsequently, the generated driving pulse and the generated print data signal are transferred to the printhead, and the printhead is driven to print on the print medium.

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 drive controller includes: circuitry configured to: drive a liquid discharge head, including a discharge port and a valve to open and close the discharge port, to discharge a liquid from the discharge port, generate a drive pulse to drive the valve to open and close the discharge port; and the drive pulse including: a first drive pulse to hold the valve at a first displacement amount for a first holding time; and a second drive pulse to hold the valve at a second displacement amount for a second holding time, wherein the second holding time is shorter than the first holding time, and a second average value of the second displace amount is larger than a first average value of the first displace amount.

An object of the present disclosure is to narrow the width of an electric wiring substrate and downsize a printing head. An aspect of the present disclosure provides an inkjet printing apparatus, including: a printing head including a plurality of nozzles ejecting ink and a piezoelectric element corresponding to each of the plurality of the nozzles; a control unit configured to control printing by the printing head; a signal generation unit configured to generate a driving signal to drive the piezoelectric element; a selection unit configured to select for each nozzle one type of the driving signal out of a plurality of types of the driving signals generated by the signal generation unit; and a plurality of wiring lines having different wiring widths from each other to communicate the plurality of types of the driving signals supplied to the selection unit from the signal generation unit.

A printing apparatus includes a printing head having nozzles configured to eject droplets, a carriage having the printing head mounted thereon, a control unit configured to control the ejection of the droplets from the nozzles, a detection unit configured to detect the droplets ejected from the nozzles, a determination unit configured to determine an ejection state of the nozzles based on the detection result obtained by the detection unit, a reception unit configured to receive a user input to select a mode, and a setting unit configured to set the mode based on the user input, wherein the control unit causes the droplets to be ejected from the nozzles while moving the carriage relative to the detection unit, and the determination unit determines the ejection state of the nozzles based on the detection result of the droplets ejected while moving the carriage relative to the detection unit.

A drive device includes a drive circuit to output a drive signal that is to be applied to an actuator of a liquid ejection head for ejecting liquid droplets. The drive signal includes an adjustment ejection waveform portion that includes a first portion having an expansion pulse that decreases pressure in a pressure chamber of the actuator and a second portion having a contraction pulse that increases pressure in the pressure chamber. The contraction pulse includes voltage increase changes that change the voltage applied to the actuator stepwise and a return pulse that is between a pair of voltage increase changes. The return pulse changes from a first voltage level that is less than a maximum voltage level of the contraction pulse to a second voltage level that is greater than a minimum voltage level of the expansion pulse.

A method of ejecting an ink droplet from an inkjet nozzle device having an actuator and a meniscus pinned across a nozzle opening. The method includes the steps of: delivering a sub-ejection pulse to the actuator for perturbing the meniscus from a quiescent state; and subsequently delivering an ejection pulse to the actuator at an instant when the meniscus is perturbed from its quiescent state, the ejection pulse ejecting the ink droplet from the nozzle opening. A time period between a trailing edge of the sub-ejection pulse and a leading edge of the ejection pulse controls a droplet volume of the ejected ink droplet.

A driving circuit for driving a capacitive load includes a signal modulation section that causes an original drive signal to be pulse-modulated to generate a modulation signal, a signal amplification section that amplifies the modulation signal to generate an amplification modulation signal, and a coil that smooths the amplification modulation signal to generate a drive signal.

According to one embodiment, a liquid ejection drive device includes a drive circuit configured to apply a drive signal to an actuator for driving an ejection of a liquid from a pressure chamber connected to a nozzle. The drive signal includes a multidrop waveform with a plurality of drop waveforms each for causing one droplet to be ejected. Each drop waveform has an expansion phase, a normal phase, and a contraction phase. At least one drop waveform in the plurality of drop waveforms is an adjustment drop waveform having an auxiliary contraction phase in which contraction of the pressure chamber is less than in the (full) contraction phase. This auxiliary contraction phase is after the expansion phase but before the (full) contraction phase.

A liquid droplet ejecting apparatus, includes: an ejecting head which ejects liquid droplets; a light source which causes light to be radiated toward a flight space of the liquid droplets with a first output power or a second output power; a detecting element which detects received amount of the light radiated from the light source and passed through the liquid droplets flying in the flight space; and a controller. The controller causes the light to be radiated from the light source with the first or second output power at a timing of the ejecting head being driven to eject the liquid droplets; in a first detecting mode, executes a detection about an ejection failure of the nozzles based on the received amount of the light; and in a second detecting mode, executes a detection about a phenomenon causing the ejection failure based on the received amount of the light.