Examples relate to a drying cylinder for an image forming apparatus. The drying cylinder comprises a curved wall and a plurality of gas outlets spaced apart over the curved wall. The drying cylinder is to continuously rotate about its longitudinal axis and provide gas through the plurality of gas outlets perpendicularly onto a print medium with printing fluid deposited thereon to dry the printing fluid.

Apparatus to apply a fluid to a substrate, the apparatus includes a first roller to rotate about an axis and apply a fluid to a first side of the substrate. The first roller includes an outlet to provide gas to the substrate to guide the movement of the substrate subsequent to the application of fluid to the substrate.

A curing station for curing printing ink of a direct print on containers, comprising a conveyor for conveying the containers preferably in container holders, and further comprising at least one UV light unit for curing the printing ink, characterized in that the at least one UV light unit comprises a 2D arrangement of UV LEDs for generating a UV light field for curing the printing ink.

The invention relates to a drying unit (22) for drying printed substrates (21), comprising a chamber (23) with a gaseous medium which is oxygen-reduced by means of an inert gas, wherein the substrates (21) are guided through the chamber (23) or at least can be guided through the chamber, and the chamber (23) has an entrance for the substrates (21) to be guided into the chamber (23) in the transport direction (T) of the substrates (21). The entrance for the substrates (21) to be guided into the chamber (23) is formed by two cylinders (04; 06) which are positioned against each other longitudinally. The cylinders (04; 06) positioned against each other at the entrance of the chamber (23) form a printing unit (03). One of the cylinders (04) is designed as a printing cylinder (04), and the other cylinder (06) is designed as a cylinder (06) which interacts with the printing cylinder (04) and applies a printed image onto the affected substrates (21). The two cylinders (04; 06) which are positioned against each other under pressure at the entrance of the chamber (23) form a seal which runs axially to the cylinders (04; 06) for preventing the oxygen-reduced gaseous medium from leaking out of the chamber (23) and/or for preventing oxygen from the ambient air from entering the chamber (23). The printing unit (03) arranged at the entrance of the chamber (23) is designed as a printing unit (03) for an intaglio printing process.

A curing station for curing printing ink of a direct print on containers, comprising a conveyor for conveying the containers preferably in container holders, and further comprising at least one UV light unit for curing the printing ink, characterized in that the at least one UV light unit comprises a 2D arrangement of UV LEDs for generating a UV light field for curing the printing ink.

The invention relates to a drying unit (22) for drying printed substrates (21), comprising a chamber (23) with a gaseous medium which is oxygen-reduced by means of an inert gas, wherein the substrates (21) are guided through the chamber (23) or at least can be guided through the chamber, and the chamber (23) has an entrance for the substrates (21) to be guided into the chamber (23) in the transport direction (T) of the substrates (21). The entrance for the substrates (21) to be guided into the chamber (23) is formed by two cylinders (04; 06) which are positioned against each other longitudinally. The cylinders (04; 06) positioned against each other at the entrance of the chamber (23) form a printing unit (03). One of the cylinders (04) is designed as a printing cylinder (04), and the other cylinder (06) is designed as a cylinder (06) which interacts with the printing cylinder (04) and applies a printed image onto the affected substrates (21). The two cylinders (04; 06) which are positioned against each other under pressure at the entrance of the chamber (23) form a seal which runs axially to the cylinders (04; 06) for preventing the oxygen-reduced gaseous medium from leaking out of the chamber (23) and/or for preventing oxygen from the ambient air from entering the chamber (23). The printing unit (03) arranged at the entrance of the chamber (23) is designed as a printing unit (03) for an intaglio printing process.

A printed film curing apparatus for accelerating cure time includes a film tube having an open tube top end, a tube sidewall, and an open tube bottom end defining a tube inside. The tube inside receives a roll of freshly printed media. An intake housing is selectively engageable with the tube top end. An intake fan is coupled within the intake housing to draw air through a plurality of intake slots of the intake housing into the tube inside. An exhaust housing is selectively engageable with the tube bottom end. An exhaust fan is coupled within the exhaust housing to draw air from the tube inside and push it out of a plurality of exhaust apertures of the exhaust housing. A control unit has a control panel, a microprocessor, and a power supply to operate the intake fan and the exhaust fan.

In an method for double-sided printing to a recording medium, a first side of the recording medium is printed to with a liquid first color separation, the liquid first color separation is pre-dried such that a predetermined final drying state remains unachieved, where the pre-dried state is a transportable intermediate state that is between a wet print image directly after printing and the predetermined final drying state, a second side of the recording medium is printed to with a liquid second color separation, and the pre-dried first color separation and the second liquid color separation are jointly dried to entirely achieve the predetermined final drying state for both the first and second color separations.

In an example, a printer ink dryer unit comprises at least one ultraviolet light source to dry a printer ink layer by causing evaporation of a solvent fluid therefrom.

In an example, a printer ink dryer unit comprises at least one ultraviolet light source to dry a printer ink layer by causing evaporation of a solvent fluid therefrom.