Producing a hot-air flow in a printer to heat a print media

Abstract

A printer comprises a heating system to produce a hot-air flowimpinging on a print media, the heating system comprising a heat source, a fan, and an air chamber. The air chamber has an air-impinging plate with air-impinging holes adjacent to the print media. The heating system provides first and second partially overlapping hot-air circulation circuits. The first hot-air circulation circuit leads from the heater through the holes of the air-impinging plate to direct hot air through the air-impinging holes to the print media in the course of printing operation. The second hot-air circulation circuit leads back to the heater through a recirculation channel without passing through the air-impinging holes of the air-impinging plate to prevent air from being directed onto the print media, in the course of the heat-up operation. The heating system further comprises circuit-switching arranged to switch the air flow between the first and second hot-air circulation circuits.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.