Drying ink in digital printing using infrared radiation

A system, comprising:

• an image forming station comprising multiple print bars arranged along an axis and configured to apply to a substrate being moved along the axis, droplets of printing fluids having multiple colors, respectively;
• and
• multiple dryers, which are mounted on the image forming station, and are interleaved with the multiple print bars along the axis, the multiple dryers are configured to dry the droplets applied to the substrate for forming an image on the substrate, wherein at least a dryer among the dryers comprises:
• an illumination assembly, which is configured to dry the droplets by directing the optical radiation to impinge on the substrate;
• and
• a temperature control assembly, which is configured to control a temperature of the substrate by directing a gas to the substrate, wherein the illumination assembly and the temperature control assembly are packaged together in a housing, and
• wherein the substrate comprises a flexible intermediate transfer member (ITM) comprising a stack of at least (i) a first layer, located at an outer surface of the ITM and configured to receive the droplets from the image forming system, and to transfer the image to a target substrate, and (ii) a second layer comprising a matrix that holds particles at respective given locations, wherein the second layer is configured to receive the optical radiation passing through the first layer, and wherein the particles are configured to heat the ITM by absorbing at least part of the optical radiation, and a processor, which is configured to receive a temperature signal indicative of a temperature of the substrate, and, based on the temperature signal, to control at least one of (i) an intensity of the optical radiation, and (ii) a flow rate of the gas.