Method and System For Optimally Drying Ink On A Substrate Material

A system for drying printed ink on the face of an envelope, comprising:

• a conveyor system including a conveyor deck and a motor for driving the conveyor deck, the conveyor deck operative to receive and convey the printed mailpiece envelope;
• a dryer disposed over the conveyor deck and operative to dry the printed ink the mailpiece envelope, the dryer having at least one variable output element for producing a plurality of dryer configurations;
• a sensing device operative to measure a penetration time indicative of the time elapsed to dry a printed ink from a liquid state;
• and
• a processor operative to adapt the variable output dryer to a desired dryer configuration based upon the measured penetration time.

A method for optimally drying ink printed on the face of a substrate material, comprising the steps of:

• depositing ink on the substrate material;
• reflecting light energy from the surface of the ink while in a liquid state;
• measuring the intensity of the reflected light energy to determine a penetration time indicative of the time elapsed to dry the ink;
• and
• drying the ink deposited on the face of the substrate material.