Concentric duct system for a dryer of a printing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10245853-B2
Application number	US-201815908220-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 28, 2018
Priority date	Feb 28, 2017
Publication date	Apr 2, 2019
Grant date	Apr 2, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods for concentric duct system for a dryer of a printing system. One embodiment includes a dryer of a printing system and a duct system. The dryer includes web conditioners sources to condition a web of print media, intake ports to supply air for the web conditioners, and outlet ports to remove air for the web conditioners. The duct system includes a supply hub and a return hub. The supply hub includes a tubular body with a lower portion and an upper portion, and supply nodes around the lower portion. The return hub includes a body around the upper portion of the supply hub, and return nodes around the body. The duct system further includes supply ducts to connect the supply nodes and the intake ports, and return ducts to connect the return nodes and the outlet ports.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a dryer of a printing system comprising:

web conditioners configured to condition a web of print media;
intake ports configured to supply air for the web conditioners; and
outlet ports configured to remove air for the web conditioners; and
a duct system for the dryer comprising:

a supply hub including supply nodes around a body of the supply hub and configured to connect with the intake ports via supply ducts; and
a return hub including return nodes around a body of the return hub and configured to connect with the outlet ports via return ducts;
wherein the supply hub and the return hub are configured to position concentrically with one another.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein:
the supply hub and the return hub are positioned concentrically with one another on a side of the dryer; and

the supply hub and the return hub occupy a center of the side of the dryer.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the duct system further includes:
supply ducts each including a rigid body with a first end configured to removably attach to a supply node on the supply hub, and a second end configured to removably attach to one of the intake ports of the dryer; and
return ducts each including a rigid body with a first end configured to removably attach to a return node on the return hub, and a second end configured to removably attach to one of the outlet ports of the dryer.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein:
one or more supply ducts branch into multiple second ends configured to removably attach to multiple intake ports spaced in a radial direction within the dryer.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein:
the multiple intake ports belong to different web conditioners within the dryer.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein:
one or more return ducts branch into multiple second ends configured to removably attach to multiple outlet ports spaced in a radial direction within the dryer.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein:
the multiple outlet ports belong to different web conditioners within the dryer.

8. The system of claim 2 wherein:
the dryer includes a rotating drum; and
the supply hub includes an opening on an axial end of a lower portion of the supply hub configured to supply air near the center of the side of the dryer.

9. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a gasket that borders around each of the supply nodes to seal connections with a base end of an aligned supply duct; and
a gasket that borders around each of the return nodes to seal connections with a base end of an aligned return duct.

10. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a printer to apply wet colorants to the web of print media.

11. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
an enclosure configured to surround the dryer wherein the enclosure provides external access to the supply hub and the return hub.

12. An apparatus comprising:
a supply hub configured to provide air to intake ports of a dryer, the supply hub including supply nodes around a perimeter of the supply hub, the supply nodes configured to connect with the intake ports via supply ducts; and
a return hub configured to receive air from outlet ports of the dryer, the return hub including return nodes around a perimeter of the return hub, the return nodes configured to connect with the outlet ports via return ducts;
wherein the supply hub and the return hub are configured to position concentrically with one another.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein:
the return hub is stacked on top of the supply hub in a concentric configuration;

the return ducts are configured to attach to the return nodes around a circumference of the return hub in a first plane that overlaps with an upper portion of the supply hub; and
the supply ducts are configured to attach to the supply nodes around a circumference of the supply hub in a lower portion in a second plane that is below that first plane.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising:
latches to removably attach the return ducts with the return nodes and the supply ducts with the supply nodes.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising:
gaskets to seal connections of the return ducts with the return nodes and to seal connections of the supply ducts with the supply nodes.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein:
one or more of the supply ducts include a rigid body that aligns with the supply nodes of the supply hub and multiple intake ports of the dryer; and

one or more of the return ducts include a rigid body that aligns with the return nodes of the return hub and multiple outlet ports of the dryer.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising:
an enclosure configured to surround the dryer wherein the enclosure provides external access to the supply hub and the return hub.

18. A system comprising:
a dryer of a printing system comprising:

web conditioners configured to condition a web of print media;
intake ports configured to supply air for the web conditioners; and
outlet ports configured to remove air for the web conditioners; and
a duct system for the dryer comprising:

a supply hub for the intake ports of the web conditioners; and
a return hub for the outlet ports of the web conditioners;
wherein the supply hub and the return hub are positioned concentrically with one another on a side of the dryer.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein:
the supply hub is stacked on top of an upper portion of the return hub.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein:
the return hub is stacked on top of an upper portion of the supply hub.

Assignees

• Boland Stuart James
• Johnson Scott Richard
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Boland Stuart James
• Johnson Scott Richard

Classifications

• F26B21/25

  partly outside the drying enclosure · CPC title

• B41J11/002 Primary

  Curing or drying the ink on the copy materials, e.g. by heating or irradiating · CPC title

• F26B3/18

  by conduction, i.e. the heat is conveyed from the heat source, e.g. gas flame, to the materials or objects to be dried by direct contact · CPC title

• B41F23/04

  by heat drying, by cooling, by applying powders {(B41F23/005 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B41J11/0022 Primary

  using convection means, e.g. by using a fan for blowing or sucking air · CPC title