Heating print agent on print media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11981121-B2
Application number	US-201917767577-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2019
Priority date	Nov 5, 2019
Publication date	May 14, 2024
Grant date	May 14, 2024

Abstract

Examples relate to methods to heat a print agent deposited on a print agent, print an image on a print media and heating systems for a heating a print agent deposited on a print media. A heating system comprises a radiation emitter to irradiate a print agent deposited on a print media, a reflector to reflect a radiation emitted by the radiation emitter back to the radiation emitter, and a displacing member to shift the heating system between a pre-heating position wherein the radiation reflected back to the radiation emitter has a higher magnitude and a heating position wherein the radiation reflected back to the radiation emitter has a lower magnitude.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A heating system for heating a print agent deposited on a print media, the heating system comprising:
a radiation emitter to irradiate a print agent deposited on a print media;
a reflector to reflect a radiation emitted by the radiation emitter back to the radiation emitter; and
a displacing member to shift the heating system between a pre-heating position wherein the radiation reflected back to the radiation emitter has a higher magnitude and a heating position wherein the radiation reflected back to the radiation emitter has a lower magnitude.

2. The heating system according to claim 1 , wherein the reflector substantially covers a front face of the radiation emitter when the heater system is in the pre-heating position.

3. The heating system according to claim 1 , wherein the radiation emitter comprises:
a heating element; and
a housing accommodating the heating element, the housing having an opening to allow a radiation to pass through the opening.

4. The heating system according to claim 3 , wherein the housing comprises a rear wall, a first sidewall and a second sidewall, the first and the second sidewalls outwardly extending from opposite ends of the rear wall.

5. The heating system according to claim 4 , wherein the reflector extends from a distal end of the first sidewall to a distal end of the second sidewall when the heating system is in the pre-heating position.

6. The heating system according to claim 4 , wherein the reflector comprises a central plate and two lateral plates extending from opposite ends of the central plate.

7. The heating system according to claim 6 , wherein the lateral sides of the reflector extend towards the rear plate of the housing to surround the radiation emitter when the heating system is in the pre-heating position.

8. The heating system according to claim 1 , wherein the displacing member is to move the radiation emitter with respect to the reflector.

9. The heating system according to claim 1 , wherein the displacing member is to move the reflector with respect to the radiation emitter.

10. The heating system according to claim 1 , wherein the displacing member comprises a rotating mechanism to rotate one of the reflector and the radiation emitter about the other.

11. A method to heat a print agent deposited on a print media comprising:
heating a radiation emitter by reflecting with a reflective surface an amount of a radiation emitted by the radiation emitter back to the radiation emitter; and
shifting a position of the radiation emitter and the reflective surface to reduce the reflected amount of radiation, when the radiation emitter reaches a predetermined temperature; and
irradiating a print agent deposited on a print media.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein shifting a position of the radiation emitter and the reflective surface comprises moving the radiation emitter with respect to the reflective surface.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein shifting a position of the radiation emitter and the reflective surface comprises moving the reflective surface with respect to the radiation emitter.

14. The method of claim 11 comprising shifting a position of the radiation emitter and the reflective surface to increase the reflected amount of radiation after irradiating a print agent deposited on a print media.

15. A non-transitory machine readable storage medium encoded with instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause a heating system for a printing system to:
direct a radiation from a radiation emitter to a reflective surface for redirecting an amount of the radiation towards the radiation emitter;
obtain a temperature of the radiation emitter;
induce a relative movement between the radiation emitter and the reflective surface when the temperature of the radiation emitter is higher than a predetermined temperature to reduce the amount of radiation redirected towards the radiation emitter; and
direct a radiation from the radiation emitter to a print agent deposited on a print media.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Castells De Monet Raimon
• Tarradas I Juan Josep
• Barbetta Marco Ignacio

Classifications

• B41J11/00218 Primary

  Constructional details of the irradiation means, e.g. radiation source attached to reciprocating print head assembly or shutter means provided on the radiation source · CPC title

• B41F23/0406

  by radiation (B41F23/0436 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B41J11/0021 Primary

  using irradiation · CPC title

• B41F23/045

  by radiation · CPC title