Head drive unit and inkjet printer

摘要

An object is to provide a head drive unit that prevents an increase in viscosity of inks in nozzles even when a head is present outside an image forming region and also provide an inkjet printer, and the head drive unit includes: a drive signal output device 31 that outputs either a discharge signal or a meniscus oscillation signal to each head; a cycle generator 326 that generates a cyclic oscillation timing signal for the meniscus oscillation signal; an input interruption detector 324 that detects that input of a print timing signal is interrupted; and a drive signal selector 32 that selects the meniscus oscillation signal as a drive signal output from the drive signal output device and continuously applies the meniscus oscillation signal to all nozzles of each head in synchronization with an oscillation timing signal when interruption of the input of the print timing signal is detected.

主权项

1. A head drive unit comprising:
an inkjet head driven based on a drive signal; and a head drive apparatus that outputs a discharge signal to the inkjet head based on image data and a print timing signal that are input from an external apparatus, and discharges a droplet from a nozzle to form an image on a recording medium, wherein the head drive apparatus comprises:
a drive signal output unit for outputting either the discharge signal used for discharging a droplet from the nozzle to form an image or a flushing signal used for forcedly discharging a droplet from the nozzle without forming an image as a drive signal to the inkjet head, the drive signal output unit continuously applying the flushing signal to all nozzles of the inkjet head in synchronization with a cyclic flushing timing signal when the input interruption detection unit detects that input of the print timing signal has been interrupted;a cycle generation unit for generating the cyclic flushing timing signal for the flushing signal;an input interruption detection unit for detecting that no input is made and input of the print timing signal is interrupted even though a preset time has elapsed by monitoring input of the print timing signal; anda drive signal selection unit for selecting the flushing signal as the drive signal output from the drive signal output unit.