Patent ID: 8733879

Claim:
An inkjet recording apparatus capable of discharging ink from a recording head and forming a printed image on a sheet-shaped recording medium, comprising: a drying chamber provided on a downstream side of the recording head along a conveyance path of the sheet-shaped recording medium; a drying unit configured to circulate gas by using plural ducts connected to the drying chamber; a shutter member disposed in the drying chamber parallel to a conveyance direction of the sheet-shaped recording medium and movable in directions perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet-shaped recording medium; and a driving part configured to drive the shutter member in the directions perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the sheet-shaped recording medium, and control a flow cross sectional area for the gas in the drying chamber, wherein the drying unit includes a heat pump configured to separate water droplets from the gas, heat the gas to be high temperature dried gas, supply the gas as the high temperature dried gas to the drying chamber from a duct of the drying chamber on a gas supply side, cause moisture to move in the drying chamber from the sheet-shaped recording medium to the gas as the high temperature dried gas, and return the gas to the inside of the drying unit from a duct of the drying chamber on a gas discharge side after the moisture has been moved in the drying chamber to the gas.