US-12617220-B2 - Drying device, printing apparatus, and control method thereof

US12617220B2US 12617220 B2US12617220 B2US 12617220B2US-12617220-B2

Abstract

A drying device includes a conveying unit, a hot air blowing unit, a passage forming unit, and an adjusting unit. The conveying unit conveys a medium to which a liquid is discharged from a discharging head. The hot air blowing unit includes a blowing unit that blows air, and a heating unit that heats air. The passage forming unit forms, between the hot air blowing unit and a region on a conveying unit conveyance path, a circulation path through which air blown from the hot air blowing unit is circulated. The adjusting unit adjusts a ratio between inside air circulating through the circulation path and outside air that is introduced into the circulation path. If a temperature increase condition is established, the adjusting unit increases a ratio of the inside air. If a temperature decrease condition is established, the adjusting unit increases a ratio of the outside air.

Inventors

Toshinobu Tokita
Yoshikazu Abe

Assignees

CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240308
Priority Date: 20230314

Claims (15)

1 . A drying device comprising: a conveying unit configured to convey a medium to which a liquid is discharged from a discharging head; a hot air blowing unit including a blowing unit configured to blow air, and a heating unit configured to heat air; a passage forming unit configured to form, between the hot air blowing unit and a region on a conveyance path of the conveying unit, a circulation path through which air blown from the hot air blowing unit is to be circulated; an adjusting unit configured to adjust a ratio between inside air circulating through the circulation path and outside air, outside the circulation path, that is introduced into the circulation path; and a control unit configured to control the adjusting unit, wherein, if a temperature increase instruction from a user is received through an input device, the control unit controls the adjusting unit to increase a ratio of the inside air, and if a temperature decrease instruction from a user is received through the input device, the control unit controls the adjusting unit to increase a ratio of the outside air.
2 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein, if the temperature decrease instruction is received, the control unit controls the hot air blowing unit to decrease a temperature of air blown from the hot air blowing unit, and if the temperature increase instruction is received, the control unit controls the hot air blowing unit to increase the temperature of air blown from the hot air blowing unit.
3 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein the adjusting unit is configured to adjust at least one of an introduction amount of the outside air and an exhaust amount of the inside air to outside the circulation path.
4 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein the circulation path includes an introduction portion configured to introduce outside air outside the circulation path, and an exhaust portion configured to exhaust inside air inside the circulation path, and wherein the adjusting unit is configured to adjust an exhaust amount at the exhaust portion.
5 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein the circulation path includes an introduction portion configured to introduce outside air outside the circulation path, and an exhaust portion configured to exhaust inside air inside the circulation path, and wherein the adjusting unit includes a movable member configured to change an opening amount of the exhaust portion.
6 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein the circulation path includes an introduction portion configured to introduce outside air outside the circulation path, and an exhaust portion configured to exhaust inside air inside the circulation path, and wherein the adjusting unit includes a blowing unit configured to blow air in an exhaust direction of the exhaust portion at a position adjacent to the exhaust portion.
7 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein the passage forming unit has an opening portion configured to allow the circulation path to communicate with an outside, and the adjusting unit includes a movable member configured to change an opening amount of the opening portion.
8 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein the circulation path includes an introduction portion configured to introduce outside air outside the circulation path, and an exhaust portion configured to exhaust inside air inside the circulation path, and wherein the adjusting unit includes an external blowing unit disposed outside the passage forming unit and configured to blow air toward the introduction portion.
9 . The drying device according to claim 1 , wherein the circulation path includes an introduction portion configured to introduce outside air outside the circulation path, and an exhaust portion configured to exhaust inside air inside the circulation path, and wherein the adjusting unit includes an external blowing unit disposed outside the passage forming unit and configured to blow air toward the introduction portion through a region where the discharging head discharges the liquid to the medium, and further includes an external heating unit disposed outside the passage forming unit and configured to heat air blown from the external blowing unit at a position on a side of the blowing unit with respect to the region on the conveyance path.
10 . The drying device according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of air inside the circulation path, wherein the control unit is configured to control the adjusting unit based on a detection result of the temperature sensor.
11 . The drying device according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of an inner wall surface of the circulation path, wherein the control unit is configured to control the adjusting unit based on a detection result of the temperature sensor.
12 . The drying device according to claim 1 , further comprising a temperature sensor configured to detect a temperature of the region on the conveyance path, wherein the control unit is configured to control the adjusting unit based on a detection result of the temperature sensor.
13 . A printing apparatus comprising: a conveying unit configured to convey a medium to which a liquid is discharged from a discharging head; a hot air blowing unit including a blowing unit configured to blow air, and a heating unit configured to heat air; a passage forming unit configured to form, between the hot air blowing unit and a region on a conveyance path of the conveying unit, a circulation path through which air blown from the hot air blowing unit is to be circulated; an adjusting unit configured to adjust a ratio between inside air circulating through the circulation path and outside air, outside the circulation path, that is introduced into the circulation path; and a control unit configured to control the adjusting unit, wherein, if a temperature increase instruction from a user is received through an input device, the control unit controls the adjusting unit to increase a ratio of the inside air, and if a temperature decrease instruction from a user is received through the input device, the control unit controls the adjusting unit to increase a ratio of the outside air.
14 . The printing apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the input device is an operation panel provided on the printing apparatus.
15 . The printing apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein the input device is an external terminal disposed outside the printing apparatus and connected to the printing apparatus.

Description

BACKGROUND Field The present disclosure relates to a drying device, a printing apparatus, and a control method thereof. Description of the Related Art As a technique of drying a liquid on a medium such as paper, there is known a technique of promoting drying of a liquid by blowing hot air to a medium. For example, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2018/0222214 discloses a technique of discharging emulsion ink to a medium and then drying the emulsion ink using hot air to fix it to the medium. U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2018/0222214 also discloses a technique of circulating hot air. By circulating hot air, power of a heater that heats air can be saved. When a drying device is turned on, time is taken until inside air circulating in the device reaches a predetermined temperature. A long turn-on time hinders a quick shift to drying work, so the conventional technique has room for improvement in shortening the temperature increase time of inside air. When the user works on the drying device for replacement of a medium or error handling, the workability of the user can be improved by decreasing the temperature of hot air. However, if the decrease of the temperature of hot air takes time, the workability of the user is impaired. The conventional technique also has room for improvement in shortening the temperature decrease time of inside air. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides a technique of adjusting the temperature of inside air of a drying device in a shorter time. According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a drying device includes a conveying unit configured to convey a medium to which a liquid is discharged from a discharging head, a hot air blowing unit including a blowing unit configured to blow air, and a heating unit configured to heat air, a passage forming unit configured to form, between the hot air blowing unit and a region on a conveyance path of the conveying unit, a circulation path through which air blown from the hot air blowing unit is to be circulated, an adjusting unit configured to adjust a ratio between inside air circulating through the circulation path and outside air, outside the circulation path, that is introduced into the circulation path, and a control unit configured to control the adjusting unit, wherein, if a temperature increase condition is established, the control unit controls the adjusting unit to increase a ratio of the inside air, and if a temperature decrease condition is established, the control unit controls the adjusting unit to increase a ratio of the outside air. Further features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the attached drawings). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 2A is a view for explaining the operation of an adjusting unit; FIG. 2B is a view for explaining the operation of the adjusting unit; FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control circuit of the printing apparatus in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a control unit; FIG. 5 is a view showing another arrangement example of a drying device; FIGS. 6A and 6B are views showing another arrangement example of the drying device; FIG. 7 is a view showing another arrangement example of the drying device; FIGS. 8A and 8B are views showing another arrangement example of the drying device; FIGS. 9A and 9B are views showing another arrangement example of the drying device; FIGS. 10A and 10B are views showing another arrangement example of the drying device; and FIG. 11 is a view showing another arrangement example of the drying device. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Note, the following embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the claimed disclosure. Multiple features are described in the embodiments, but limitation is not made to an disclosure that requires all such features, and multiple such features may be combined as appropriate. Furthermore, in the attached drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same or similar configurations, and redundant description thereof is omitted. <Printing Apparatus> FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a liquid discharge apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The liquid discharge apparatus 1 according to the embodiment is an inkjet printing apparatus that prints by discharging liquid ink to a printing medium. However, the present disclosure is applicable to even printing apparatuses and liquid discharge apparatuses of other types. In FIG. 1, arrows X and Y indicate horizontal directions crossing each other, and an arrow Z indicates a vertical direction. In the embodiment, the X and Y directions are perpendicular to each other. Note that “printing” not only includes the formation of significant information such as characters and g