Wet-type image forming apparatus and method thereof

A wet-type image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image forming unit including at least one photosensitive medium and at least one developing unit;
• an intermediate transfer belt for receiving an image which is transferred from the photosensitive medium;
• a squeeze roller for squeezing out a carrier component from the image on the intermediate transfer belt and removing at least a portion of the carrier component;
• a drying unit for heating the intermediate transfer belt to evaporate the carrier component in the image formed on the intermediate transfer belt and thereby remove a further portion of the carrier component;
• a transferring and fixing unit for transferring and fixing the image whose carrier is partially removed onto a print medium;
• a cooling unit for cooling the intermediate transfer belt by making the intermediate transfer belt directly contact a coolant;
• and
• a carrier purifying unit for oxidizing and exhausting carrier vapor generated during the transferring and fixing processes by using an oxidation catalyst filter.

A wet-type image forming method, comprising the steps of:

• a) forming visible images by developing electrostatic latent images formed on at least one photosensitive medium with a liquid-phase developer;
• b) transferring the visible image from the photosensitive medium to an intermediate transfer medium to form an image;
• c) squeezing carrier in the image on the intermediate transfer medium to remove a portion of the carrier;
• d) heating the intermediate transfer medium to evaporate the carrier in the image on the intermediate transfer medium and thereby remove additional carrier;
• e) transferring and fixing the image whose carrier component is partially removed from the intermediate transfer medium onto a print medium;
• f) purifying carrier vapor generated during the fixation process;
• and
• g) cooling the intermediate transfer medium.