Systems and method of maintaining a uniform temperature distribution in an inkjet head. The inkjet head includes a plurality of ink channels that jet droplets of a liquid material onto a medium using piezoelectric actuators. A temperature controller includes a non-jetting pulse generator that provides non-jetting pulses to one or more of the piezoelectric actuators to generate heat. The non-jetting pulses cause the piezoelectric actuators to actuate without jetting a droplet from its corresponding ink channel.

A jetting device includes an ejection unit arranged to eject a droplet of a liquid. The ejection unit includes a nozzle, a liquid duct connected to the nozzle, and an electro-mechanical transducer arranged to create an acoustic pressure wave in the liquid in the duct. The jetting device further includes a filter arranged to filter the liquid being supplied into the duct and a filter status detection system arranged to detect an obstruction status of the filter by measuring a property of the liquid in the duct. The filter status detection system includes a circuit configured for measuring the electric response of the transducer, for recording changes in the electric response that represent pressure fluctuations induced by the acoustic wave in the form of a time-dependent function, and for judging the obstruction status of the filter on the basis of that function.

A liquid ejecting apparatus includes an ejecting unit and a drive circuit that generates the drive signal in accordance with a first voltage and a second voltage. The drive circuit includes a first pair of transistors, a second pair of transistors, and an integrated circuit that includes a first terminal to which the first voltage is applied, a second terminal to which the second voltage is applied, a first output terminal group which outputs a first control signal group for controlling the first pair of transistors, and a second output terminal group which outputs a second control signal group for controlling the second pair of transistors. The first terminal, the second terminal, the first output terminal group, and the second output terminal group are arranged along one side of the integrated circuit. The second output terminal group is disposed between the first terminal and the second terminal.

A liquid discharging apparatus includes a head unit which includes a discharge unit which discharges a liquid, a controller which controls discharging of the liquid, a plurality of first signal lines which connect the controller to the head unit, and at least one second signal line which connects the controller to the head unit, in which, the controller transmits the differential signal to the head unit via the first signal lines, and in which the head unit transmits the state signal in analog format to the controller via the second signal line.

A liquid ejecting apparatus is provided comprising: a liquid ejecting head; and a controller. The liquid ejecting head including: a nozzle from which a liquid is ejected; a first communication passage that is in communication with the first nozzle; a first pressure compartment; a first drive element that changes a pressure of the first pressure compartment; a first passage that connects the first pressure compartment and the first communication passage; a second pressure compartment; a second drive element that changes a pressure of the second pressure compartment; a second passage that connects the second pressure compartment and the first communication passage. The controller performs a first mode and a second mode, the first mode being a mode in which liquid flows from the first pressure compartment through the first communication passage to the nozzle, and liquid flows the second pressure compartment through the second communication passage to the nozzle, and, the second mode being a mode in which liquid flows from the first pressure compartment through the first communication passage to the nozzle, and liquid flows from the nozzle through the second communication passage to the second pressure compartment.

A repeatable manufacturing process uses a printer to deposits liquid for each product carried by a substrate to form respective thin films. The liquid is dried, cured or otherwise processed to form from the liquid a permanent layer of each respective product. To perform printing, each newly-introduced substrate is roughly mechanically aligned, with an optical system detecting sub-millimeter misalignment, and with software correcting for misalignment. Rendering of adjusted data is performed such that nozzles are variously assigned dependent on misalignment to deposit droplets in a regulated manner, to ensure precise deposition of liquid for each given area of the substrate. For example, applied to the manufacture of flat panel displays, software ensures that exactly the right amount of liquid is deposited for each “pixel” of the display, to minimize likelihood of visible discrepancies in the resultant display.

Printheads and methods of operation. In one embodiment, a printhead includes a plurality of jetting channels comprising first jetting channels configured to jet a first print fluid and second jetting channels configured to jet a second print fluid, and a driver circuit communicatively coupled to actuators of the jetting channels. The driver circuit receives a drive waveform comprising first jetting pulses provisioned for the first print fluid and second jetting pulses provisioned for the second print fluid, and gating signals comprising a first active gating signal designated for jetting the first print fluid and a second active gating signal designated for jetting the second print fluid. The driver circuit selectively applies the first jetting pulses to actuators of the first jetting channels based on the first active gating signal, and selectively applies the second jetting pulses to actuators of the second jetting channels based on the second active gating signal.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes a head and a switching device. The head includes a piezoelectric element and a pressure chamber configured to discharge liquid. The switching device is configured to select application or non-application of a drive voltage waveform to the piezoelectric element. The drive voltage waveform includes a discharge waveform to pressurize and discharge the liquid in the pressure chamber and a damping waveform to suppress residual vibration in the pressure chamber. The damping waveform is disposed after the discharge waveform in time series. The switching device includes a switch and a diode. The switch is configured to be turned on in a falling waveform element of each of the discharge waveform and the damping waveform. The diode is connected in parallel with the switch in a direction opposite to the falling waveform element of each of the discharge waveform and the damping waveform.

A recording apparatus includes a white ink jet head, a non-white ink jet head, and a control section that controls performing recording by performing a main scan a plurality of times in which, while a position of an ink jet head relative to the recording medium is moved, an ink composition is ejected from the ink jet head and is applied to the recording medium. The control section performs recording in a first recording mode in which the white ink composition and the non-white ink composition are applied to the same scan region of the recording medium by the same main scan and recording in a second recording mode in which the white ink composition and the non-white ink composition are applied to the same scan region of the recording medium by different main scans.

There is provided a method for controlling driving of an inkjet head including recording elements each including a nozzle and a driving element. The method includes a pulse width setting step. In this step, when a predetermined number of ink droplets ejected according to the predetermined number of driving pulses are made to land in the same pixel range, the predetermined number of first driving pulses each having a pulse width longer than a reference pulse width and the predetermined number of second driving pulses each having a pulse width shorter than the reference pulse width are combined for each of the recording elements and obtained combinations are respectively output to the recording elements. The predetermined number is two or more.