Patent ID: 8113617

Claim:
An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising: a flow-passage unit including a plurality of pressure chambers, a plurality of nozzles provided so as to respectively correspond to the plurality of pressure chambers, and a plurality of individual ink passages through which the plurality of pressure chambers respectively communicate with the plurality of nozzles; a plurality of actuators including a plurality of individual electrodes provided so as to respectively correspond to the plurality of pressure chambers, a ground electrode which is disposed so as to face to the plurality of individual electrodes and to which is given a base potential, and a piezoelectric layer interposed between the plurality of individual electrodes and the ground electrode; a plurality of signal output circuits which are provided so as to respectively correspond to the plurality of actuators and each of which outputs a signal for giving a drive potential to a corresponding one of the plurality of individual electrodes for placing a corresponding one of the plurality of actuators into a charged state and each of which outputs a signal for giving the base potential to the corresponding one of the plurality of individual electrodes for placing the corresponding one of the plurality of actuators into a discharged state; at least one power supply device which supplies, to the plurality of signal output circuits, an electric power for giving the drive potential to the plurality of individual electrodes; at least one electric current detecting device which detects an electric current with respect to the electric power supplied by the at least one power supply device; and a control device including (a) a startup charging portion which controls the plurality of signal output circuits, upon startup of the ink-jet recording apparatus, such that all of the plurality of actuators are placed into the charged state from the discharged state in order at least one by one, when all of the plurality of actuators are in the discharged state and a termination discharging portion which controls, when an operation of the ink jet recording apparatus terminates, the plurality of signal output circuits, such that the plurality of actuators are placed into the discharged state from the charged state in order one by one, when all of the plurality of actuator units are in the charged state and (b) a power-supply inhibiting portion which inhibits the electric power from being supplied from the at least one power supply device when the electric current detected by any of the at least one electric current detecting device is equal to or larger than a threshold during execution of a control by the startup charging portion and during execution of a control by the termination discharging portion.