Drying unit for liquid electrophotographic printing apparatus and liquid carrier drying method using the same

A drying unit for a liquid electrophotographic printing apparatus, the unit comprising:

• a heating means that is installed in parallel to the running direction of a photosensitive belt out of contact with the photosensitive belt and that generates heat in order to dry and evaporate the liquid carrier directly from the photosensitive belt;
• a manifold that surrounds the heating means and that collects the gas carrier evaporated by the heating means;
• an inlet-outlet channel that forms the path for circular movement of the gas carrier collected in the manifold by forming a closed loop in communication with the manifold;
• at least one gas flowing means which is installed on the inlet-outlet channel and by which the gas carrier is circulated along the inlet-outlet channel;
• an inlet duct which is installed in the manifold and through which the gas carrier evaporated by the heating means flows in communication with the inlet-outlet channel;
• and
• a ventilation duct which is installed in communication with the inlet-outlet channel so that air flows in the manifold.

A liquid carrier drying method using a drying unit for a liquid electrophotographic printing apparatus provided in the printing apparatus comprising a developing unit that develops an image on a photosensitive medium using a liquid carrier as a mediator and a transfer unit that transcribes the developed image on a printing paper, so that the liquid carrier remaining on the photosensitive medium can be dried, the drying method comprising the steps of:

• calculating the amount of the liquid carrier on the photosensitive medium and determining an air injection condition according to the calculated amount of the liquid carrier;
• heating injection air according to the determined condition and evaporating the carrier on the photosensitive medium by injecting the heated gas at a predetermined speed in a manifold positioned near the photosensitive medium a the surface facing the photosensitive medium open;
• discharging out of the manifold the carrier evaporated from the photosensitive medium and the gas flowing in through the inlet-outlet channel;
• and
• condensing the evaporated carrier at the manifold, reheating the gas that is not heated and injecting the reheated gas at a predetermined speed into the manifold.

A method of drying a liquid carrier used in a liquid electrophotographic printing apparatus, comprising the steps of:

• developing an image on a photosensitive medium using a liquid carrier as a mediator;
• transcribing the developed image on a printing paper so that the liquid carrier remaining on the photosensitive medium can be dried;
• injecting hot air at least one inlet in an end of a manifold that runs parallel to the printing medium without contacting said photosensitive medium.
• evaporating said liquid carrier using a flow of hot air injected into said manifold;
• discharging the evaporated liquid carrier and hot air from the manifold using at least one outlet in an end of said manifold;
• condensing said evaporated liquid carrier discharged from said outlet;
• heating the air discharged from said manifold;
• and
• re-injecting said heated air back to said manifold for further drying.