Dryer, liquid discharge apparatus, drying method, and inkjet recording apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10576757-B2
Application number	US-201916299016-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 11, 2019
Priority date	Mar 16, 2018
Publication date	Mar 3, 2020
Grant date	Mar 3, 2020

Abstract

A dryer includes a conveyor to convey a film including a first surface onto which a liquid is applied, a noncontact heater to heat the first surface of the film conveyed by the conveyor without contacting the first surface, a contact heater to contact and heat a second surface of the film opposite the first surface, and circuitry to set a first heating temperature of the contact heater less than 85° C. and set a second heating temperature of the noncontact heater to be 30° C. to 90° C. higher than the first heating temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dryer comprising:
a conveyor to convey a film including a first surface onto which a liquid is applied;
a noncontact heater to heat the first surface of the film conveyed by the conveyor without contacting the first surface;
a contact heater to contact and heat a second surface of the film opposite the first surface; and
circuitry to:
set a first heating temperature of the contact heater less than 85° C.; and
set a second heating temperature of the noncontact heater to be 30° C. to 90° C. higher than the first heating temperature.

2. The dryer according to claim 1 ,
wherein the circuitry sets the second heating temperature of the noncontact heater to be 140° C. or more and 160° C. or less.

3. The dryer according to claim 1 ,
wherein the circuitry sets the first heating temperature to be 70° C. or more and less than 85° C.

4. The dryer according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid is aqueous liquid.

5. The dryer according to claim 1 ,
wherein the contact heater includes a cylindrical member around which the film is wound.

6. The dryer according to claim 5 , further comprising a temperature sensor to detect temperature of a portion of a cylindrical surface of the cylindrical member to which the film is not wound.

7. The dryer according to claim 1 , wherein the film is made of oriented polypropylene as a material.

8. A liquid application apparatus comprising the dryer according to claim 1 .

9. A drying method comprising:
conveying a film including a first surface onto which a liquid is applied;
heating the first surface of the film without contacting the first surface;
contacting and heating a second surface of the film opposite the first surface;
setting a first heating temperature to heat the second surface of the film to be less than 85° C.; and
setting a second heating temperature to heat the first surface of the film to be 30° C. to 90° C. higher than the first heating temperature.

10. The drying method according to claim 9 ,
wherein the setting the second heating temperature sets the second heating temperature to 140° C. or more and 160° C. or less.

11. An inkjet recording apparatus comprising:
a conveyor to convey a film in a conveyance direction;
a first application device to apply a color ink onto a film conveyed by the conveyor;
a second application device to apply a white ink onto the film to which the color ink is applied by the first application device;
a first dryer including a drum and a plurality of nozzles facing the drum to discharge hot air from the plurality of nozzles onto the film wound around the drum;
a second dryer disposed upstream of the first dryer in the conveyance direction, the second dryer including a plurality of nozzles not facing a drum to discharge hot air from the plurality of nozzles onto the film; and
circuitry to set a first temperature of the hot air discharged from the plurality of nozzles of the first dryer to be higher than a second temperature of the hot air discharged from the plurality of nozzles of the second dryer.

12. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein the second dryer includes the plurality of nozzles and a plurality of infrared heaters, and
the plurality of nozzles and the plurality of infrared heaters are alternately arranged.

13. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein a dryer to heat the film is not disposed between the first application device and the second application device, and
an amount of solvent contained in the white ink is smaller than an amount of solvent contained in the color ink.

14. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 , further including a pre-coating liquid application device to apply a pre-coating liquid including at least nonionic aqueous emulsion onto the film.

15. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein a surface temperature of the drum is variable, and
the circuitry sets the first temperature of the hot air discharged from the plurality of nozzles of the first dryer to be 30° C. to 90° C. higher than the surface temperature of the drum.

16. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein a surface temperature of the drum is variable, and
the drum includes:
a temperature detection sensor to detect surface temperature of the drum; and
a cooler to adjust the surface temperature of the drum.

17. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 16 ,
wherein an opening width of the plurality of nozzles is 5 mm or more and 20 mm or less,
the circuitry maintains temperature difference between the surface temperature of the drum and the hot air discharged from the plurality of nozzles of the first dryer to be 30° C. or more and 250° C. or less, and
a wind speed of the hot air discharged from the plurality of nozzles of the first dryer is set to 20 m/s or more and 50 m/s or less.

18. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein the drum includes a temperature detection sensor to detect surface temperature of the drum, and
the circuitry controls the first temperature according to the surface temperature detected by the temperature detection sensor.

19. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein the drum includes a plurality of temperature detection sensors to detect surface temperature of the drum, and
the circuitry controls the first temperature according to the surface temperature detected by the plurality of temperature detection sensors.

20. The inkjet recording apparatus according to claim 11 ,
wherein a gap between a leading end of the plurality of nozzles and a surface of the drum is 5 mm or more and 30 mm or less, and
an interval of the plurality of nozzles facing the drum in the conveyance direction is 30 mm or more and 200 mm or less.

Assignees

• Nakamura Takuma
• Toda Naohiro
• Yamashita Hiroyuki
• Hamaguchi Masaya
• Inoue Yukie
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nakamura Takuma
• Toda Naohiro
• Yamashita Hiroyuki
• Hamaguchi Masaya
• Inoue Yukie

Classifications

• C09D11/10

  based on artificial resins · CPC title

• B41J2202/21

  Line printing · CPC title

• B41J2/2103

  Features not dealing with the colouring process per se, e.g. construction of printers or heads, driving circuit adaptations · CPC title

• C09D11/322

  Pigment inks · CPC title

• B41M7/009

  using thermal means, e.g. infrared radiation, heat · CPC title