JP2010188638A - Recorder and recording method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recorder and a recording method which can hold down running cost by reducing the power consumption required for heating support member. <P>SOLUTION: The recorder includes a platen 19 which has a top 19a for supporting a sheet-like continuous paper 13, a recording head which makes an ink adhere to the continuous paper 13 supported on the top 19a of the platen 19 and performs the recording, a fan 33 which can suck the continuous paper 13 through suction holes 31 opening on the top 19a of the platen 19, and a Peltier element 34 which collects thermal energy from an air sucked by the fan 33 through suction holes 31 and heats the platen 19 with the collected thermal energy. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer and a recording method.

  In general, an ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) is widely known as a recording apparatus that performs recording by attaching a recording material to a recording medium (for example, Patent Document 1). The printer described in Patent Document 1 includes a platen (support member) for supporting a sheet as a recording medium, and a recording head for ejecting ink (recording material) onto the sheet supported on the platen. Is provided. When the paper is transported onto the platen, the paper is ejected with ink from the recording head, printed (recorded), and transported downstream in the transport direction.

  In addition, the platen is provided with a heater, and heat from the heater is transmitted to the paper through the platen to promote drying of the ink attached to the paper. Further, in order to ensure flatness in the paper on which ink is ejected during printing, a suction hole is formed in the platen, and the paper is sucked through the suction hole to be in close contact with the platen.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-31893

  By the way, in the printer of Patent Document 1, when printing is performed on a paper having a size smaller than that of the platen, air is sucked from a suction hole that is not blocked by the paper, and the platen is deprived of heat by the air passing through the suction hole. The temperature was lowered. Therefore, in order to heat the platen to a temperature suitable for promoting the drying of ink, it is necessary to use a heater with a large calorific value, and there is a problem that the running cost associated with the power consumption of the heater increases. It was.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a recording apparatus and a recording method capable of reducing the power consumption necessary for heating the support member and suppressing the running cost. There is to do.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a support member having a support surface for supporting a sheet-like recording medium, and a suction capable of sucking the recording medium through a suction hole opened in the support surface. And heating means for recovering thermal energy from the air sucked by the suction means through the suction hole and heating the support member by the recovered heat energy.

  According to this configuration, the heating unit can efficiently heat the support member by using the thermal energy taken away from the support member as the suction unit sucks. That is, the heat energy possessed by the support member is taken away by the air passing through the suction holes formed in the support member. However, the heating means recovers thermal energy from the air sucked by the suction means, and uses the recovered thermal energy for heating the support member. Therefore, even if the amount of energy input from the outside in order to heat the support member is reduced, the temperature drop of the support member can be suppressed. Therefore, the power consumption required for the heating means to heat the support member can be reduced, and the running cost can be suppressed.

  In the recording apparatus according to the aspect of the invention, the heating unit includes a heat absorption unit that recovers the thermal energy from the air sucked by the suction unit, and a heat dissipation unit that radiates the thermal energy collected by the heat absorption unit. The Peltier element heats the support member with the thermal energy radiated by the heat radiating portion.

  According to this configuration, the support member can be heated by the heat generated by the Peltier element itself when the Peltier element is energized. Furthermore, since the heat energy taken along with the suction of the suction means can be reused for heating the support member, the support member can be efficiently heated. Further, since the Peltier element is smaller than, for example, a heater using a heat transfer wire, the Peltier element can be easily attached while avoiding a suction hole serving as a suction path of the suction means.

  In the recording apparatus of the present invention, the heating unit includes an annular body in which a medium that mediates thermal energy is enclosed, a compression unit that compresses the medium in the annular body, and an expansion that expands the medium compressed by the compression unit. The thermal energy of the air sucked by the suction means is transferred to the medium which has been expanded by the expansion means and the temperature has decreased, and the compression means has compressed and the temperature has risen The heat energy of the medium is transferred to the support member.

  According to this configuration, heat transfer from the air to the medium and from the medium to the support member can be efficiently performed by compressing and expanding the medium that mediates thermal energy to change the temperature of the medium.

In the recording apparatus of the present invention, the heating unit further includes a heat absorption plate for recovering the thermal energy of the air sucked by the suction unit.
According to this configuration, by providing the heat absorbing plate, the contact area between the air sucked by the suction means and the heating means can be increased. Therefore, since the amount of heat energy that can be recovered from the air increases, the support member can be heated more efficiently.

  The recording method of the present invention includes a suction step for sucking air from a suction hole opened in a support surface of a support member that supports a sheet-like recording medium, and heat for recovering thermal energy from the air sucked in the suction step. An energy recovery step; and a heating step of heating the support member with the thermal energy recovered in the thermal energy recovery step.

  According to this configuration, the same operational effects as those of the recording apparatus can be obtained.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of the printer according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along arrow 2-2 in FIG. 3. The plane schematic diagram of a platen. The plane schematic diagram of the platen in 2nd Embodiment.

(First embodiment)
A first embodiment in which the present invention is embodied in a lateral ink jet printer (hereinafter referred to as “printer”) and a recording method using the printer will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the following description in the specification, the terms “front-rear direction”, “left-right direction”, and “up-down direction” refer to the direction indicated by the arrow in the drawing of FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a printer 11 as a recording apparatus includes a cuboid body case 12. In the main body case 12, a feeding section 14 for feeding out the continuous paper 13 as a sheet-like recording medium, a printing chamber 15 in which printing is performed on the continuous paper 13 by ejection of ink as a recording material, and the printing A drying device 16 that performs a drying process on the continuous paper 13 to which the ink has adhered and a winding unit 17 that winds the continuous paper 13 that has been subjected to the drying process are provided.

  That is, a flat base 18 that divides the interior of the main body case 12 vertically is provided at a position slightly above the central portion in the vertical direction in the main body case 12, and is located above the base 18. This area is a printing chamber 15 in which a platen 19 having a rectangular plate shape is supported on a base 18. Then, in the area below the base 18, the feeding portion 14 is disposed at the position on the left side that is upstream in the conveyance direction of the continuous paper 13, and the position on the right side that is on the downstream side, A drying device 16 and a winding unit 17 are disposed.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a winding shaft 20 extending in the front-rear direction is rotatably provided in the feeding portion 14, and the winding shaft 20 is wound on the winding shaft 20 in a state where the continuous paper 13 is previously wound in a roll shape. And is supported so as to rotate together. In other words, the continuous paper 13 is fed from the feeding section 14 and conveyed downstream in the conveying direction when the winding shaft 20 rotates. Then, the continuous paper 13 fed out from the winding shaft 20 is wound around the first roller 21, the second roller 22, the third roller 23, and the fourth roller 24 in order to change the transport direction, and then wound up. The winding shaft 25 provided in the section 17 is wound by rotating based on the driving force of a transport motor (not shown).

  In the printing chamber 15, the second roller 22 and the third roller 23 that face in the left-right direction across the platen 19 are installed such that the tops of the peripheral surfaces are at the same height as the upper surface of the platen 19. The position has been adjusted. For this reason, the continuous paper 13 conveyed downstream between the second roller 22 and the third roller 23 in the printing chamber 15 is slid on the upper surface 19a (see FIG. 2) as the support surface of the platen 19. It comes to touch.

  As shown in FIG. 1, guide rails 26 (indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 1) extending in the left-right direction are provided in pairs on the front and rear sides of the platen 19 in the printing chamber 15. The upper surface of the guide rail 26 is higher than the upper surface 19a of the platen 19, and a rectangular carriage 27 is formed on the upper surface of both guide rails 26 along the both guide rails 26 based on the drive of a drive mechanism (not shown). It is supported so that it can move back and forth. A recording head 29 is supported on the lower surface side of the carriage 27 via a support plate 28. The recording head 29 functions as a recording unit that performs printing (recording) by ejecting ink onto the continuous paper 13 supported on the upper surface 19 a of the platen 19. In the printing chamber 15, a maintenance mechanism 30 for performing maintenance of the recording head 29 at the time of non-printing is provided in a non-printing area on the right side of the third roller 23.

Next, the configuration of the platen 19 will be described below with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the platen 19 is formed with a plurality of suction holes 31 penetrating the platen 19 in the vertical direction (thickness direction of the platen 19). That is, the suction hole 31 is formed so as to open on the upper surface 19 a and the lower surface 19 b of the platen 19. In addition, each opening diameter in the upper surface 19a side and the lower surface 19b side in the suction hole 31 is equal.

  Further, each suction hole 31 is formed with a plurality of (17 in FIG. 3) suction holes 31 in a plurality of rows (seven rows in FIG. 3) along the front-rear direction at a predetermined interval in the left-right direction. Are regularly arranged. Further, below the platen 19 (that is, an area between the platen 19 and the base 18), a fan 33 is provided as a suction means for sucking air in each suction hole 31. Then, by driving each fan 33, a negative pressure is generated in each suction hole 31, and the continuous paper 13 is sucked through each suction hole 31 through the suction hole 31 by the generation of the negative pressure, and the upper surface of the platen 19. The continuous paper 13 is adsorbed by 19a.

Next, a heating apparatus for heating the platen 19 will be described below with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a plurality (four in FIG. 3) of Peltier elements 34 as heating means are provided in the front-rear direction on the lower surface 19b of the platen 19 between the suction hole arrays 32 adjacent in the left-right direction. A plurality of aligned Peltier element rows 35 (six rows in FIG. 3) are regularly arranged and fixed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, as an example, the Peltier element 34 is configured such that a rectangular plate-shaped heat radiation part 36 and a heat absorption part 37 sandwich an arbitrary number of P-type semiconductors 38 and N-type semiconductors 39. Has been. Note that the P-type semiconductor 38 and the N-type semiconductor 39 are alternately arranged and electrically connected in series. Each Peltier element 34 is attached to the platen 19 so that the heat radiating portion 36 is fixed to the lower surface 19b of the platen 19 so that heat can be transferred.

  When a current is supplied to each Peltier element 34 from a power supply means (not shown), the thermal energy of the Peltier element 34 moves from the heat absorbing part 37 to the heat radiating part 36. Therefore, the Peltier element 34 heats the platen 19 with heat energy radiated from the heat radiating portion 36.

  Further, a heat sink 40 as a heat absorbing plate is fixed to the heat absorbing portion 37 of each Peltier element 34 so as to be able to transfer heat to the heat absorbing portion 37. In the heat sink 40, a plurality of fins 41 are erected with a space from each other downward. Therefore, the air sucked by the fan 33 and passed through the suction hole 31 passes through the fins 41 and is sucked by the fan 33.

Then, next, the effect | action at the time of heating the platen 19 provided with such a Peltier device 34 is demonstrated.
When the power of the printer 11 is turned on, a control unit (not shown) starts the suction drive of the fan 33 (suction step) and drives the power supply means to start the supply of current to the Peltier element 34.

  Then, since Joule heat is generated in the Peltier element 34 based on the electric resistance of the Peltier element 34 itself, the Joule heat is transferred from the heat radiating portion 36 to the platen 19 to heat the platen 19. Further, the Peltier element 34 heats the platen 19 by the thermal energy because the thermal energy on the heat absorbing portion 37 side moves to the heat radiating portion 36 and is radiated to the platen 19 by the Peltier effect.

  Then, since the air sucked by the fan 33 and passing through the suction hole 31 is lower than the temperature of the platen 19, when passing through the suction hole 31, heat energy is transmitted from the platen 19 and the temperature rises.

  Here, since the heat sink 40 is attached to the heat absorbing portion 37 so that heat can be transferred, the heat energy of the heat sink 40 is also taken away and cooled as the heat energy moves from the heat absorbing portion 37 to the heat radiating portion 36. Become. Therefore, when the warmed air passes through the heat sink 40 and is sucked into the fan 33, the thermal energy of the air moves to the heat sink 40 (thermal energy recovery step).

  That is, in the heat sink 40, the heat energy recovered from the air in this way moves to the heat radiating portion 36 via the heat absorbing portion 37 and is radiated from the heat radiating portion 36 to the platen 19 (heating step). Therefore, the temperature of the heat radiating part 36 and the platen 19 rises, and the temperature of the heat absorbing part 37 and the heat sink 40 is lowered, so that heat energy can be continuously recovered from the air.

  When the platen 19 is heated to a desired temperature suitable for printing, the amount of heat energy transferred from the heat absorbing portion 37 to the heat radiating portion 36 is adjusted by controlling the current supplied to the Peltier element 34. The temperature of the platen 19 is maintained.

  Therefore, when printing is performed by the printer 11, the continuous paper 13 fed from the feeding unit 14 is attracted to the upper surface 19 a of the platen 19, so that the ink from the recording head 29 is improved in a state where the flatness of the continuous paper 13 is improved. Spray to print.

  Since the platen 19 is heated by the Peltier element 34, the ink adhering to the continuous paper 13 is accelerated to be dried and slightly dried on the platen 19 to suppress ink flow. Thereafter, the paper is transported to the drying device 16 on the downstream side in the transport direction and subjected to a drying process, whereby the printing is fixed on the continuous paper 13.

According to the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) The Peltier element 34 can efficiently heat the platen 19 by utilizing the thermal energy taken away from the platen 19 by the suction of the fan 33. That is, the thermal energy of the platen 19 is taken away by the air passing through the suction holes 31 formed in the platen 19. However, the Peltier element 34 recovers thermal energy from the air sucked by the fan 33 and uses the recovered thermal energy for heating the platen 19. Therefore, even if the amount of energy input from the outside in order to heat the platen 19 is reduced, the temperature drop of the platen 19 can be suppressed. Therefore, the power consumption required for the Peltier element 34 to heat the platen 19 can be reduced, and the running cost can be suppressed.

  Further, in the conventional method of heating the platen 19 using a heater such as a heating wire, power consumption is large and dedicated equipment is required. On the other hand, since power consumption is reduced by using the Peltier element 34, power can be supplied from a general outlet.

  (2) The platen 19 can be heated by the heat generated by the Peltier element 34 itself when the Peltier element 34 is energized. Furthermore, since the heat energy taken away by the suction of the fan 33 can be reused for heating the platen 19, the platen 19 can be efficiently heated. Further, since the Peltier element 34 is smaller than, for example, a heater using a heat transfer wire, the Peltier element 34 can be easily attached while avoiding the suction holes 31 serving as the suction path of the fan 33.

  (3) By providing the heat sink 40, the contact area between the air sucked by the fan 33 and the Peltier element 34 can be increased. Therefore, since the amount of heat energy that can be recovered from the air increases, the platen 19 can be heated more efficiently.

  (4) The temperature of the air sucked by the fan 33 is lowered because heat energy is taken away by the heat absorbing portion 37 and the heat sink 40. Therefore, the temperature of the exhaust gas from the printer 11 can be lowered and the influence on the periphery of the printer 11 can be suppressed.

  (5) Since the Peltier element 34 has excellent response characteristics, the temperature of the platen 19 can be easily controlled. Moreover, since the Peltier element 34 does not have a movable part, the platen 19 can be heated while suppressing noise and vibration.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment only in that the configuration of the heating means is changed, and the other configurations are the same. Are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the platen 19 of the present embodiment has a plurality of (17 in FIG. 4) suction holes 31 having a plurality of suction holes 31 (13 in FIG. 4) along the front-rear direction. They are regularly arranged so as to be formed at predetermined intervals in the left-right direction.

A heat pump 42 as a heating unit for recovering heat energy in the air and heating the platen 19 is provided below the platen 19 in the vertical direction.
Next, the heat pump 42 will be described below with reference to FIG.

  A hollow first tube body 43 is fixed to the lower surface 19b of the platen 19 so as to be able to transfer heat to the platen 19. The first tubular body 43 is formed by bending a plurality of portions of one long member. That is, the first tubular body 43 extends in the front-rear direction and is 1 in the left-right direction among a plurality of (in this embodiment, 12) heating units 43 a disposed between the suction hole rows 32 adjacent in the left-right direction. It forms so that the heating parts 43a of the arrangement | positioning aspect which pinched | interposed the one suction hole row | line | column 32 may be connected.

The both ends of the first tube body 43 are connected to an expansion valve 44 as an expansion means and a compressor 45 as a compression means, respectively.
Further, below the platen 19, a heat exchanger 48 connected to the expansion valve 44 by a hollow second tube 46 and connected to the compressor 45 by a hollow third tube 47 is provided. ing.

  Although the detailed illustration is omitted in FIG. 4, the heat exchanger 48 includes a platen 19, a fan 33, and a hollow fourth tube body 49 that are bent in the same manner as the first tube body 43. It is arranged at a position between.

  Further, the heat exchanger 48 is provided with a heat sink 50 as a heat absorbing plate made up of a large number of plate-like fins, and a fourth tube body 49 is inserted into a hole formed in each fin. That is, the heat sink 50 is provided with fins in a flange shape with respect to the fourth tube body 49 so that heat can be transferred to the fourth tube body 49.

  A medium (for example, carbon dioxide) that mediates thermal energy is enclosed in each of the tubes 43, 46, 47, and 49, and the medium can move between the tubes 43, 46, 47, and 49. Yes. In other words, each tubular body 43, 46, 47, 49 forms an annular body through which the medium can flow.

Then, next, the effect | action at the time of heating the platen 19 provided with such a heat pump 42 is demonstrated.
In the heat pump 42, the medium moves in the pipes 43, 46, 47, and 49 along the circulation direction indicated by the white arrow in FIG. 4 with the action of the expansion valve 44 and the compressor 45. ing.

  That is, the medium in the first tube 43 is sent to the second tube 46 after the pressure is reduced by the expansion valve 44. Then, since the volume of the expanded medium increases, the temperature decreases.

Further, the fan 33 is driven to suck air from the suction hole 31 (suction step).
For this reason, the medium whose temperature has decreased is brought into contact with the air sucked in the heat exchanger 48 as the fan 33 is driven, thereby recovering the thermal energy of the air (thermal energy recovery step). The heat sink 50 can transfer heat to the medium in the fourth tube body 49 via the fourth tube body 49. Therefore, when the air contacts the heat sink 50, the heat energy of the air is transmitted to the medium via the heat sink 50.

  Accordingly, the medium is heated in the fourth tube 49 and the medium is sent into the third tube 47, so that the temperature of the medium in the third tube 47 is the second tube 46. It is higher than the temperature of the medium inside.

  The medium in the third tubular body 47 is sent into the first tubular body 43 in a state compressed by the compressor 45. Then, since the volume of the compressed medium decreases, the temperature rises.

  Therefore, when the medium moves from the compressor 45 side (left side in FIG. 4), which is the upstream side in the circulation direction, in the first tube body 43 toward the expansion valve 44 side (right side in FIG. 4), which is downstream. The heat energy of the medium having a high temperature is transferred to the platen 19 having a low temperature, and the platen 19 is heated (heating step).

  On the other hand, the medium whose thermal energy has been taken away by the platen 19 is increased in volume again by the expansion valve 44 and the temperature is further decreased, and the thermal energy is recovered from the air in the heat exchanger 48 (thermal energy). Recovery step). That is, the heat pump 42 heats the platen 19 by repeatedly performing heat absorption from the air and heat radiation to the platen 19.

According to the said 2nd Embodiment, in addition to the effect of (1)-(5) in 1st Embodiment, the following effects can be acquired further.
(6) Heat transfer from the air to the medium and from the medium to the platen 19 can be efficiently performed by compressing and expanding the medium that mediates thermal energy to change the temperature of the medium.

In addition, you may change the said embodiment as follows.
In the above embodiments, the heat sinks 40 and 50 may not be provided.
-In each said embodiment, if the heat sinks 40 and 50 increase the contact area with the air attracted | sucked by the fan 33, the shape, size, and number can be changed arbitrarily.

  In each of the above embodiments, the Peltier element 34 and the heat pump 42 are individually provided, but a configuration in which both are provided may be employed. That is, by using the heat pump 42 excellent in heating efficiency with respect to power consumption and the Peltier element 34 excellent in temperature controllability, the power consumption can be further suppressed and the platen 19 can be easily heated to a desired temperature. In addition, the medium of the heat pump 42 has a higher temperature toward the compressor 45 before the heat energy is transmitted to the platen 19. Therefore, the Peltier element 34 may be arranged on the expansion valve 44 side and heated so as to suppress the temperature variation of the platen 19. Thereby, it is possible to suppress deterioration in image quality due to drying unevenness of the image printed on the continuous paper 13.

  In each of the above embodiments, the recording medium is the continuous paper 13. However, the recording medium is not limited to paper, and may be, for example, a film or cloth. Further, the recording medium is not limited to the long continuous paper 13 and may be a rectangular recording medium. Note that the heating configuration of the platen 19 according to the present embodiment may be applied to a printer that conveys a recording medium by bringing a conveying belt on which the recording medium is placed into sliding contact with the platen.

  In the above embodiment, the recording apparatus is embodied in the ink jet printer 11, but a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects or ejects liquid other than ink may be employed. The present invention can be used for various liquid ejecting apparatuses including a liquid ejecting head that ejects a minute amount of liquid droplets. In addition, a droplet means the state of the liquid discharged from the said liquid ejecting apparatus, and shall also include what pulls a tail in granular shape, tear shape, and thread shape. The liquid here may be any material that can be ejected by the liquid ejecting apparatus. For example, it may be in a state in which the substance is in a liquid phase, such as a liquid with high or low viscosity, sol, gel water, other inorganic solvents, organic solvents, solutions, liquid resins, liquid metals (metal melts ) And a liquid as one state of a substance, as well as a material in which particles of a functional material made of a solid such as a pigment or metal particles are dissolved, dispersed or mixed in a solvent. Further, typical examples of the liquid include ink and liquid crystal as described in the above embodiment. Here, the ink includes general water-based inks and oil-based inks, and various liquid compositions such as gel inks and hot melt inks. As a specific example of the liquid ejecting apparatus, for example, a liquid containing a material such as an electrode material or a color material used for manufacturing a liquid crystal display, an EL (electroluminescence) display, a surface emitting display, a color filter, or the like in a dispersed or dissolved state. It may be a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting, a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a bio-organic material used for biochip manufacturing, a liquid ejecting apparatus for ejecting a liquid as a sample used as a precision pipette, a printing apparatus, a microdispenser, or the like. In addition, transparent resin liquids such as UV curable resin to form liquid injection devices that pinpoint lubricant oil onto precision machines such as watches and cameras, and micro hemispherical lenses (optical lenses) used in optical communication elements. A liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects a liquid onto the substrate or a liquid ejecting apparatus that ejects an etching solution such as acid or alkali to etch the substrate or the like may be employed. The present invention can be applied to any one of these liquid ejecting apparatuses.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Printer (recording device), 13 ... Continuous paper (recording medium), 19 ... Platen (support member), 19a ... Upper surface (support surface), 31 ... Suction hole, 33 ... Fan (suction means), 34 ... Peltier element (Heating means), 36 ... heat dissipation part, 37 ... heat absorption part, 40, 50 ... heat sink (heat absorption plate), 42 ... heat pump (heating means), 43 ... first tube (annular body), 44 ... expansion valve ( Expansion means), 45 ... compressor (compression means), 46 ... second tube (annular body), 47 ... third tube (annular body), 49 ... fourth tube (annular body).

Claims (5)

A support member having a support surface for supporting a sheet-like recording medium;
A suction means capable of sucking the recording medium through a suction hole opened in the support surface;
A recording apparatus comprising: heating means for recovering thermal energy from the air sucked by the suction means through the suction holes and heating the support member by the recovered heat energy. The heating means includes a heat absorption part that recovers the thermal energy from the air sucked by the suction means;
A Peltier element having a heat radiating part for radiating the thermal energy recovered by the heat absorbing part,
The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the Peltier element heats the support member with the thermal energy radiated by the heat radiating unit. The heating means includes an annular body in which a medium for mediating thermal energy is enclosed;
Compression means for compressing the medium in the annular body;
Expansion means for expanding the medium compressed by the compression means,
The heat energy of the air sucked by the suction means is transferred to the medium which has been expanded by the expansion means and the temperature thereof has decreased, and the heat of the medium whose temperature has been increased by compression by the compression means. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein energy is transferred to the support member. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating unit further includes a heat absorption plate that collects the thermal energy of the air sucked by the suction unit. A suction step for sucking air from a suction hole opened in a support surface of a support member that supports a sheet-like recording medium;
A thermal energy recovery step of recovering thermal energy from the air sucked in the suction step;
A heating step of heating the support member with the thermal energy recovered in the thermal energy recovery step.

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