There is provided a piezoelectric actuator, including: a vibration plate; a first piezoelectric body; a second piezoelectric body; a first electrode disposed on a first surface of the first piezoelectric body; a second electrode disposed on a second surface of the second piezoelectric body; an intermediate electrode disposed on an intermediate surface of the first piezoelectric body and overlapping with the first and second electrodes; an intermediate trace connected to the intermediate electrode on the intermediate surface and drawn out to one side in a first direction beyond the first piezoelectric body and the second piezoelectric body; a first trace overlapping with the intermediate trace in the thickness direction and being conducted with the intermediate trace; and a second trace overlapping with the intermediate trace in the thickness direction and being conducted with the intermediate trace.

Disclosed is a method of manufacturing, a metal nozzle plate, in which is formed a nozzle for discharging a liquid and that is to be bonded with adhesive to a head chip provided with an actuator for discharging the liquid, the method including: forming the nozzle in a metal plate-like member; forming a groove in the metal plate-like member; and performing exterior processing with respect to the nozzle plate.

A liquid discharge head is provided in which heat of a heat sink is less apt to transfer to a head body. The liquid discharge head includes a head body 2a having a discharge hole for discharging a liquid therethrough, a driver IC 93 configured to control driving of the head body 2a, a casing 91 which is disposed on the head body 2a and has openings 91a and 91b on a side surface of the casing, and a heat sink 90 which is disposed on the openings 91a and 91b of the casing 91 and configured to dissipate heat generated in the driver IC 93, and a thermal insulation part 91e disposed between the heat sink 90 and the head body 2a. This makes it possible to reduce the likelihood that the heat of the heat sink 91e transfers to the head body 2a.

A method for depositing droplets onto a medium, utilising a droplet deposition head is provided. The head used in the method includes: an array of fluid chambers separated by interspersed walls, each fluid chamber communicating with an aperture for the release of fluid droplets and each wall separating two neighbouring chambers. Each wall is actuable such that in response to a first voltage, it will deform so as to decrease the volume of one chamber and increase the volume of the other chamber, and, in response to a second voltage, it will deform so as to cause the opposite effect on the volumes of its neighbouring chambers. The method includes the steps of: receiving input data: assigning, based on such input data, all the chambers within the array as either filing chambers or non-firing chambers, so as to produce bands of one or more contiguous filing chambers separated by bands of one or more contiguous non-firing chambers; actuating the walls of certain of the chambers such that: for each non-firing chamber, either one wall is stationary while the other is moved, or the walls move with the same sense, or they remain stationary: and, for each firing chamber the walls move with opposing senses; such actuations result in each firing chamber releasing at least one droplet, the resulting droplets forming bodies of fluid disposed on a line on the medium, such bodies of fluid being separated on the line by respective gaps for each of the bands of non-firing chambers, the size of each such gap generally corresponding in size to the respective band of non-firing chambers. The actuations of the walls of said firing chambers in the actuating step are such that, if only one of the two walls of each firing chamber were actuated in such manner, no droplets would be ejected from that firing chamber. A droplet deposition apparatus, a droplet deposition head and a computer program product are also provided.

There are provided a head chip and so on capable of improving the print image quality. The head chip according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is provided with an actuator plate having a plurality of ejection grooves and a nozzle plate having a plurality of nozzle holes individually communicated with the plurality of ejection grooves. The plurality of ejection grooves is arranged side by side so as to at least partially overlap each other along a predetermined direction. Further, the nozzle holes adjacent to each other along the predetermined direction out of the plurality of nozzle holes are arranged so as to be shifted from each other along an extending direction of the ejection grooves in the nozzle plate.

An ink-jet coater and a coating method for improving smoothness of a mixed part where the coating position in the previous scan overlaps the coating position in the next scan includes a robot arm configured to move a nozzle head unit by driving arms via an arm driving mechanism and a coating control unit configured to control driving of the nozzle driving mechanism and driving of the arm driving mechanism to execute coating on the coating object. The coating control unit performs coating by forming, in segmented coating surfaces formed by each scanning of the nozzle head unit, a normal coating region coated with a target coating film thickness and an overlapping coating region coated with a spray amount of the paint less than the normal coating region.

A liquid ejection head of a side shooter type includes a plate including nozzles arranged along a first direction and through which liquid is ejected, an actuator including pressure chambers communicating with the nozzles, dummy chambers each disposed between two adjacent pressure chambers, and sidewalls separating the chambers along the first direction and deformable to change a volume of each pressure chamber according to a signal, and covers having apertures and partly covering both ends of each pressure chamber in a second direction intersecting the first direction such that the pressure chambers communicate with a common chamber at both ends thereof through the apertures. Each cover includes a first portion on and between the sidewalls and a second portion other than the first portion, and a first length of the first portion is equal to or greater than a second length of the second portion in the second direction.

A liquid discharge head includes a base plate, a cavity plate located on the base plate and including a cavity, and a piezoelectric actuator substrate located on the cavity plate. The cavity plate includes: a first groove located inside a contact region with the piezoelectric actuator substrate and configured to release an adhesive for bonding the cavity plate and the piezoelectric actuator substrate; and a second groove located in a manner to surround the contact region with the piezoelectric actuator substrate and configured to release the adhesive. The base plate includes a third groove configured to open the first groove to the atmosphere. The third groove is configured to communicate between the first groove and the outside through a first hole communicating with the first groove and a second hole located outside the contact region of the cavity plate and the piezoelectric actuator substrate.

A piezoelectric actuator includes a common electrode on a piezoelectric layer at a first side adjacent to a first surface and extends over a plurality of piezoelectric elements. A plurality of first individual electrodes is on the piezoelectric layer at a second side adjacent to a second surface. Each of the plurality of first individual electrodes is at a piezoelectric element of the plurality of piezoelectric elements, and are not electrically connected together. A first insulating layer is on the common electrode at the first side and extends over the plurality of piezoelectric elements. A plurality of second individual electrodes is on the first insulating layer at the first side. Each of the plurality of second individual electrodes is at a piezoelectric element of the plurality of piezoelectric elements, and overlap centers of the plurality of first individual electrodes. The plurality of second individual electrodes are electrically connected together.

According to one embodiment, a liquid discharge head includes a pressure chamber and a nozzle. The pressure chamber extends in a first direction from a first end to a second end and forms a flow path for a fluid to be ejected from the nozzle. The nozzle is for ejecting liquid from the pressure chamber in a second direction intersecting the first direction. The nozzle is at a position offset from a midpoint of the pressure chamber in the first direction towards one of the first or second ends of the pressure chamber.