A liquid discharge apparatus includes a heater configured to heat a medium, a detector configured to detect a temperature of the heater, a conveyor configured to convey the medium during a printing operation, and circuitry configured to control the heater to heat the medium with a first output during a preheating operation before the printing operation, control the heater to heat the medium with a second output that is equal to or higher than the first output when the temperature of the heater reaches a predetermined threshold value to complete the preheating operation, and control the conveyor to start conveying the medium to start the printing operation.

To suppress the risk of ink bleeding and thereby attain an improved printing quality, a printing apparatus is provided that carries out an inkjet printing operation for a medium. The printing apparatus includes inkjet heads that eject droplets of ink using inkjet technique; and ultraviolet light sources that radiate ultraviolet light. The ink ejected from the inkjet heads contains an ultraviolet absorbent that absorbs ultraviolet light, and a solvent that dissolves or disperses the ultraviolet absorbent. The ejected ink is adherable to the medium and fixable by evaporating the solvent. The ultraviolet light sources irradiate the ink adhered to the medium with ultraviolet light so as to volatilize and remove at least part of the solvent from the ink.

Ink dryers of the present technology include a heated platen configured to pivotally attach to a digital printer, and a controller that controls the temperature of the heated platen. The ink dryers may also include a current sensor that allows the controller to determine if whether the printer is active or asleep. The controller may turn on the heated platen when the printer is active, and turn off the heated platen when the printer is asleep.

In a medium heating device, a medium is conveyed along a conveyance path. A first contact heater contacts a back surface of the medium. A second contact heater is disposed downstream from the first contact heater in a conveyance direction of the medium and contacts the back surface of the medium. A non-contact heater faces the second contact heater across the conveyance path and heats a front surface of the medium at a position separated from the medium on the conveyance path. In an operation period in which the medium is intermittently conveyed on the conveyance path, circuitry supplies power to each of the first contact heater, the second contact heater, and the non-contact heater to generate heat, and the power supplied to the second contact heater is smaller than the power supplied to the first contact heater.

A liquid discharge apparatus is provided that includes a discharge unit configured to discharge a liquid onto a medium, a support portion configured to support a portion of the medium, the liquid being discharged from the discharge unit onto the portion of the medium, a housing including therein the discharge unit, a humidity detection unit configured to detect a humidity, and a display control unit configured to display an indication prompting adjustment of a temperature or humidity when the humidity detection unit detects a humidity less than a lower limit value, and configured to display an indication prompting adjustment of a temperature or humidity when the humidity detection unit detects a humidity exceeding an upper limit value greater than the lower limit value.

The present disclosure relates to vinyl substrate printing. In an example, a vinyl printing apparatus is disclosed wherein the apparatus comprises a media path to convey a vinyl substrate along a feed direction from a substrate supply to a print zone; an inkjet printhead to print on the print substrate at the print zone; and a heater upstream of the print zone to heat the print substrate to evaporate a plasticizer from a surface of the print substrate.

In some examples, a media conditioner includes a conveying component to convey a sheet of printable media, a first heating element to heat a first portion of the conveying component, a second heating element to heat a second portion of the conveying component, and a controller. The controller is to provide a variable first power level to the first heating element and a variable second power level to the second heating element to cause the first and second heating elements to generate heat. In addition, the controller is to determine a first parameter based on the first power level and to determine a second parameter based on the second power level. The controller is also to produce a result indicator based on a result of a comparison between the first parameter and the second parameter.

A medium heating device is provided, which is configured to heat a medium that is conveyed in a state where liquid is ejected onto the medium, and which includes: a support unit configured to support the medium that is conveyed in a state where the liquid is ejected onto the medium; a first heater configured to heat a first surface, of the medium, onto which the liquid ejected; and a second heater configured to heat a second surface of the medium opposite from the first surface. A region heated by the second heater includes a region downstream from a region facing the first heater.

Provided is an inkjet printing device including an ink storage unit configured to store an ink, an ejection head configured to eject the ink to form a print layer, and a heating unit configured to heat a material to be printed, wherein the ink is an aqueous clear ink including a resin and water, the inkjet printing device has a low gloss printing mode that is a printing mode for imparting low gloss, and a high gloss printing mode that is a printing mode for imparting high gloss, and the heating unit is configured to heat to satisfy the following formula T.sub.matte>T.sub.gloss, where T.sub.matte (degrees Celsius) is a temperature of a low gloss printing region of the material to be printed where the low gloss printing region is printed with the low gloss printing mode when the aqueous clear ink is deposited on the material to be printed, and T.sub.gloss (degrees Celsius) is a temperature of a high gloss printing region of the material to be printed where the high gloss printing region is printed with the high gloss printing mode when the aqueous clear ink is deposited on the material to be printed.

Power allocation in printing devices is disclosed. Independent load requests are received from printing device heater systems. Power grants are allocated based on a general power arbitration of a power source in response to the independent load requests. A power grant is adjusted based on an orientation of a medium to provide an adjusted grant from the power source to a printing device heater system of the printing device heater systems.