Asymmetric Capacitor Placement in Drive Circuit Boards
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing liquid ejection apparatuses using piezoelectric elements for image formation on a medium face challenges in efficiently arranging the drive circuit on the wiring board, leading to potential instability and inefficiencies in power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A drive circuit board configuration that includes a first switching circuit, a second switching circuit, a smoothing circuit, and a bootstrap circuit with specific capacitor and diode arrangements to optimize the distance between components, ensuring efficient signal transmission and reduced power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the drive circuit is mounted on the wiring board without optimized component arrangement, then the circuit can be implemented, but the operation stability is insufficient and power consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making different parts of the circuit have different functions and optimizing their positions. Specifically, the first capacitor C1 is positioned closer to the second switching element pair (M3, M4) than to the first switching element pair (M1, M2), creating an asymmetric arrangement that locally optimizes the bootstrap circuit's performance for the second switching circuit, thereby reducing power consumption while maintaining stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent considers the spatial arrangement of components on the wiring board as an additional design dimension. By optimizing the two-dimensional layout of capacitors relative to switching element pairs, the patent achieves better electrical performance and power efficiency without adding more components or increasing circuit complexity.
2Measurement precision
If the capacitor is positioned equidistantly from both switching element pairs, then the layout is simple, but the signal accuracy and power consumption optimization is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the capacitor positioning asymmetric, with C1 being closer to the second switching element pair than to the first switching element pair. This local optimization improves signal accuracy for the second switching circuit without requiring complex additional components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The proposed drive circuit board design enhances signal accuracy and reduces power consumption, improving the stability and efficiency of the liquid ejection process.
Implementation Method 1
a bootstrap circuit that includes a first capacitor and a diode, and is configured to shift a level of a voltage value of a power supply voltage to be supplied to the first switching element pair in accordance with the first switching signal, and then supply the power supply voltage the level of which is shifted to the second switching element
Implementation Method 2
a smoothing circuit configured to smooth the second switching signal and output the second switching signal thus smoothed as the drive signal
Data Source
AI summary
A drive circuit board includes a drive circuit that includes a first driver circuit, a first switching element pair configured to output a first switching signal, a second driver circuit, a second switching element pair configured to output a second switching signal corresponding to the first switching signal, a smoothing circuit configured to output the drive signal obtained by smoothing the second switching signal, and a bootstrap circuit that includes a first capacitor, shifts a level of a power supply voltage to be supplied to the first switching element pair, and supplies the power supply voltage to the second switching element pair, wherein a distance between the first capacitor and the first switching element pair is longer than a distance between the first capacitor and the second switching element pair.