Patent ID: 8702190

Claim:
A liquid jet head, comprising: a channel surrounded by wall members at least partially formed of a piezoelectric body that is subjected to polarization processing in one direction; a pair of electrodes sandwiching the piezoelectric body for applying an electric field in a direction substantially orthogonal to the one direction; and a drive section for driving the piezoelectric body by setting a voltage of one of the pair of electrodes to a low voltage having a relatively small absolute value, and by supplying a drive signal to the other one of the pair of electrodes; wherein the drive section comprises a switching element for switching the voltage of the one of the pair of electrodes from the low voltage to a high voltage having a relatively large absolute value; wherein the channel comprises a plurality of discharge channels and a plurality of dummy channels alternately arranged on a surface of a substrate, the plurality of discharge channels and plurality of dummy channels being spaced apart from each other through the intermediation of a plurality of partition walls formed of the piezoelectric body; wherein the one direction comprises a direction normal to the surface of the substrate; wherein the pair of electrodes comprises a plurality of pairs of electrodes each having a common electrode and a drive electrode, the plurality of common electrodes being disposed on respective side surfaces of the plurality of partition walls on the discharge channel side, and the plurality of drive electrodes being disposed on respective side surfaces of the plurality of partition walls on the dummy channel side; wherein the drive section drives the plurality of partition walls by setting a voltage of the plurality of common electrodes in common to the low voltage, and by supplying the drive signal individually to the plurality of drive electrodes; and wherein the drive section applies an electric field exceeding a coercive field of the piezoelectric body to the plurality of partition walls between the plurality of common and drive electrodes by controlling the switching element to set the voltage of the plurality of the common electrodes in common to the high voltage, and by setting a voltage of the plurality of the drive electrodes in common to the low voltage.