Matrix driving circuit of an ink jet printer and a method of driving the

Abstract

An ink jet printer has a plurality of piezoelectric elements arranged in a matrix form in which each piezoelectric element is connected between one of TS lines and one of selection lines. The TS lines are connected, one by one and in a time sharing manner, to a voltage source E.sub.1 so as to be enabled. The remaining TS lines are connected to a voltage source E.sub.2 so as to be disabled. The selection lines are selectively connected to a voltage source E.sub.3 so as to be enabled. Non-selected selection lines are connected to a voltage source E.sub.4 so as to be disabled. A selected piezoelectric element connected between enabled TS line and enabled selection line is applied with a driving voltage. A non-selected piezoelectric element connected between enabled TS line and disabled selection line, or between disabled TS line and enabled selection line, or between disabled TS line and disabled selection line, is applied with a non-driving voltage. The voltages supplied from the respective voltage sources are selected so that the non-driving voltage is one third or minus one third of the driving voltage. With the thus determined non-driving voltage, no ink droplet is ejected from a nozzle corresponding to the non-selected piezoelectric element while ensuring a sufficient amount of ink to be ejected from a nozzle corresponding to the selected piezoelectric element.