Patent ID: 7225560

Claim:
A printing plate curing system, comprising: a conveyer operable to move a printing plate through the curing system; a plurality of lower energy radiators disposed below the conveyer and operable to radiate energy onto the bottom of the printing plate; a plurality of upper energy radiators disposed above the conveyer and operable to radiate energy onto the top of the printing plate; a controller operable to monitor a location of the printing plate and to control power supplied to the lower and upper energy radiators to radiate energy onto the printing plate; and at least one temperature sensor that provides a temperature indication and wherein the controller controls the lower and upper radiators based in part on the temperature indication of the at least one temperature sensor, wherein the energy radiators emit infrared radiation and the controller is further operable to compose the temperature indications provided by the temperature sensors as a thermal image of the printing plate and the controller controls the lower and upper radiators based on the thermal image of the printing plate.