The invention relates to an ink jet printer having a print carriage, a curing unit and a holder arranged to move a recording medium relative to the carriage assembly in a sub-scanning direction, wherein the print carriage is movable in a main scanning direction normal to the sub-scanning direction, and a print head unit arranged on the print carriage for printing a swath of an image onto the recording medium in each scan pass of the print carriage, the print carriage further having a mirror assembly arranged to deflect light from the curing unit onto an exposure area on the printed swath.

A light irradiator includes a light source and its drive, a heat-dissipating member, and a rectangular housing with vents and a light-emission opening. The housing includes a first surface having a first side with a first dimension and a second side with a second dimension, a second surface having the second side and a third side with a third dimension, and a third surface having the first and third sides. The light-emission opening is in the first surface. First and second vents are in the second surface, with the first vent nearer the opening than the second vent, and the second vent opposite to the opening. An axial fan and a first plate are at the second vent. The first plate faces the axial fan with a spacing less than or equal to the first dimension between them. A second plate outside the housing separates the first and second vents.

An illumination control method of LED lamps for ink-jet printers including a recording head in which ink discharge printing ranges are formed in a printing direction and an LED lamp in which light emitting diodes are arranged at a rear side of the recording head with respect to the printing direction. In an ink-jet printer in which the light-emitting diodes are divided into plural areas and the light amount for each area can be individually controlled by a controller, and among the light-emitting diodes, the light amount of the light-emitting diode that first scans a glossy printed surface is set to a light amount that does not cause ink curing. The light amount of the light-emitting diode of the area that first scans is set so the total light amount on the glossy printed surface is less than or equal to the critical exposure amount of the integrated illuminance.

Provided is a light source device in which the housing is not full of heat, and the risk of inhaling dust in the housing or the risk of reduction of life of the fan device becomes reduced. In an aspect, a light source device according to the present disclosure includes a light source; a light source control unit for controlling turning on/off and a quantity of light of the light source; a cooling fan for cooling the light source; and a fan control unit for controlling a number of revolutions of the cooling fan, wherein the fan control unit is configured to: control the number of revolutions of the cooling fan to become a first number of revolutions depending on the quantity of light of the light source when the light source is turned on, and control the number of revolutions of the cooling fan to become a second number of revolutions lower than the first number of revolutions by waiting for a predetermined waiting time when the light source is turned off.

There is provided an image recording apparatus including: head configured to discharge a photo-curing liquid to a medium; irradiator configured to irradiate a curing light to cure the photo-curing liquid; distance measurer including first light emitter configured to emit a ranging light to measure a distance to the medium, and first light receiver configured to receive the ranging light; and casing housing the head, the irradiator and the distance measurer, and having a window through which an inside of the casing is visually perceptible. First filter is provided on the window, the first filter having a function of restraining transmission of the curing light more compared to transmission of a visible light. Second filter is provided on the first light receiver, the second filter having a function of restraining transmission of the visible light more compared to transmission of the ranging light.

An image-forming apparatus that can restrict reduction in the accuracy of image formation onto a recording material is provided. An image-forming apparatus includes an image-former that discharges ink to a conveyed recording material; a recording-material heating unit that is disposed in an upstream side of the image-former; a chassis that covers the recording-material heating unit; and a shielding member that is disposed between the chassis and the image-former and shields inflow of air, which is discharged from a recording-material outlet, into the image-former.

A printing apparatus, including a discharging head, a relative movable assembly to move a printable medium and the discharging head relatively, and a lighting unit including a plurality of light sources to emit light for curing the ink, is provided. A part of the plurality of light sources is arranged in a first lighting area, and another part of the plurality of light sources is arranged in a second lighting area. A quantity of the light sources per unit area in the second lighting area is smaller than a quantity of the light sources per unit area in the first lighting area. A direct distance from the discharging head to the second lighting area in a direction parallel to the predetermined direction is shorter than a direct distance from the discharging head to the first lighting area.

A liquid discharge apparatus includes: a head, a radiation unit, a movement mechanism, and a controller. The controller is configured to: acquire a radiation distance for each of a plurality of areas defined on a surface of a recording medium; control the movement mechanism and the head to discharge the liquid to the surface of the recording medium; and control the radiation unit to radiate the light onto the plurality of the areas of the recording medium so that the longer the radiation distance for each of the plurality of areas, the stronger a light emission intensity of each of the plurality of light sources which faces each of the plurality of areas in the first direction.

There is provided an inkjet printer including a platen that supports a recording medium; an inkjet head having a nozzle surface that ejects ink, which cures by being irradiated with light, toward the recording medium; a light irradiation device that irradiates the ink attached to the recording medium with light; and a carriage that is mounted on the inkjet head and the light irradiation device, and is scanned with respect to the platen; where an uneven portion for suppressing stray light from the light irradiation device from reaching the nozzle surface is provided in a portion closer to the nozzle surface than the light irradiation device in a scanning direction; and the uneven portion is provided at a position facing a space on a path of the stray light from the light irradiation device to the nozzle surface in a space between the portion and the platen.

A three-dimensional object printing apparatus includes a first head, an energy emitter, and a moving mechanism. The first head has a first nozzle face in which a nozzle for ejecting liquid is provided. The energy emitter has an emission face from which energy for curing the liquid ejected from the first head is emitted. The moving mechanism changes relative position of the first head and the energy emitter in relation to a three-dimensional workpiece. The moving mechanism includes a linear motion mechanism that changes the relative position of the first head and the energy emitter in relation to the workpiece along a first axis, a first up-and-down mechanism that moves the first nozzle face along a second axis intersecting with the first axis, and a second up-and-down mechanism that moves the emission face along the second axis.