Dryer rollers with increasing contact area for balanced heat transfer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drying systems in high-speed printing systems face inefficiencies due to a constant web path length and limited adaptability, leading to imbalanced power consumption and heat profile across rollers, which can result in inadequate drying performance.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of dryer rollers with an increasing contact area as the web travels through the dryer, allowing for a more balanced heating duty cycle and improved power utilization by adjusting the contact area and heat transfer across successive rollers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the web path length through the dryer is kept constant, then the drying time is consistent, but the power consumption becomes imbalanced across rollers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by varying the contact area of different rollers along the web path. Initial rollers have smaller contact areas while subsequent rollers have progressively larger contact areas. This localized differentiation allows each roller to operate at balanced power levels, with earlier rollers providing intensive heating over short contact and later rollers providing extended heating over longer contact, resolving the power consumption imbalance while maintaining consistent drying performance.
2Device complexity
If all rollers have equal contact area with the web, then the dryer structure is simple, but the heating duty cycle is imbalanced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the contact area parameter progressively across the series of rollers. Instead of maintaining a constant contact area, each subsequent roller has an increased contact area with the web. This parameter variation balances the heating duty cycle by compensating for the decreasing temperature differential between the web and rollers as the web progresses through the dryer, achieving efficient heat transfer across all rollers without complex control systems.
3Use of energy by moving object
If the contact area increases for subsequent rollers, then the power utilization improves, but the dryer structure becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the drying function across multiple rollers with differentiated contact areas. By dividing the drying process into stages handled by individual rollers with progressively increasing contact areas, the system achieves improved power utilization efficiency. Each roller is optimized for its specific position in the drying sequence, with earlier rollers using smaller contact areas for initial heating and later rollers using larger contact areas for continued drying, thereby resolving the contradiction between efficiency and complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration enhances the drying efficiency and power consumption profile, ensuring consistent and effective drying of the printed web by optimizing heat transfer and reducing the system's power rating while maintaining high-quality image production.
Implementation Method 1
the web is quickly passed underneath printheads which discharge small drops of ink... The web may then be dried... dryer rollers with increasing contact area... heating duty cycle among the rollers
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and methods for dryer rollers of a print system with increasing wrap angles. In one embodiment a dryer includes a turning device configured to rotate about an axis, and to guide a web of print media. The dryer also includes rollers configured to transport the web from an entrance of the dryer to the turning device. The rollers include a series of three or more rollers positioned in the dryer to consecutively increase an amount of contact area with the web as the web travels toward the turning device.