ELECTRIC LOAD DRIVING CIRCUIT

• US 20100102882A1
• Filed: 10/26/2009
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: TABATA, Kunio, MIYAZAKI, Shinichi, IDE, Noritaka, OSHIMA, Atsushi, YOSHINO, Hiroyuki, AZAMI, Nobuaki
• Granted Patent: US 8,693,225 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 330/251
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04541 Specific driving circuit
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04581 controlling heads based on piezoelectric elements
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/04588 using a specific waveform
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/14274 of stacked structure type, deformed by compression/extension and disposed on a diaphragm

Abstract

An electric load driving circuit for driving an electric load having a capacity component includes a plurality of power sources generating different voltages, capacitors provided parallel to the plurality of power sources, a switch control unit that switches connections between the capacitors and the electric load and thereby switching a voltage applied to the electric load, discharge paths that enable discharging electric charge stored in the capacitor, and a discharge control unit that controls a quantity of electric charge discharged from the discharge paths.

Claims

1. An electric load driving circuit for driving an electric load having a capacity component, the electric load driving circuit comprising:

a plurality of power sources generating different voltages;

capacitors provided parallel to the plurality of power sources;

a switch control unit that switches connections between the capacitors and the electric load and thereby switches the voltage applied to the electric load;

discharge paths that enable discharging electric charges stored in the capacitors; and

a discharge control unit that controls a quantity of electric charge discharged via the discharge paths.

2. The electric load driving circuit according to claim 1, wherein the discharge control unit detects terminal voltages of the capacitors and controls the quantity of electric charges to be discharged from the capacitors in accordance with the result of the detection.

3. The electric load driving circuit according to claim 1, further comprising a voltage waveform storage unit that stores a voltage waveform applied to the electric load,

wherein the switch control unit switches the connections between the capacitors and the electric load in accordance with the voltage waveform, and

the discharge control unit controls the quantity of electric charges discharged via the discharge paths in accordance with the voltage waveform.

4. The electric load driving circuit according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the discharge paths provided for each of the capacitors is a path capable of discharging electric charge stored in the capacitor to another capacitor.

5. An electric load driving circuit for driving an electric load having a capacity component, the electric load driving circuit comprising:

a power source generating a voltage;

a capacitor provided in parallel to the power source;

a switch control unit that switches a connection between the capacitor and the electric load and thereby switches the voltage applied to the electric load;

a discharge path that enables discharging electric charge stored in the capacitor; and

a discharge control unit that controls a quantity of electric charge discharged via the discharge path.