Air blower and printing system

An air blower provided in an ink jet printer, the ink jet printer including a placing table on which a recording medium is placed, an ink head movable in a main scanning direction and including a nozzle that discharges ink onto the recording medium placed on the placing table and a nozzle surface provided with the nozzle, and a first moving mechanism that moves one of the placing table and the ink head relative to another in a sub-scanning direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to the main scanning direction, the air blower being structured to send air toward the recording medium, the air blower comprising:

• an opposing plate disposed above the placing table and on an upstream side of the ink head in the sub-scanning direction;
• a plurality of vents penetrating the opposing plate;
• a case defining an internal space together with the opposing plate;
• a blower fan that is disposed in the internal space, causes air to flow toward the vents, and sends air to the recording medium through the vents;
• and
• a heat source that is disposed between the vents and the blower fan in the internal space and generates heat;
• wherein
• the blower fan sends air toward a portion of the recording medium located on the upstream side of the ink head before ink is discharged from the ink head onto the recording medium or while ink is being discharged from the ink head onto the recording medium, and the blower fan sends air toward ink discharged onto the recording medium after discharging of ink from the ink head onto the recording medium is completed.