Patent ID: 7510596

Claim:
A thermal processor, comprising: an oven for thermally developing an imaging media which produces gaseous contaminants during development including an odorous portion and a condensable portion which condenses at or below a condensation temperature, the oven having a dwell section and a cooling section; and a contaminant removal cartridge having a housing configured to selectively couple to the oven, and including within the housing: a heat exchanger configured to receive a first air flow at a first temperature from the dwell section and a second air flow at a second temperature from the cooling section downstream of the first air flow, the first and second temperatures being above the condensation temperature and the first and second air flows including gaseous contaminants, the heat exchanger further configured to cool the first air flow to the second temperature before mixing the first and second air flows and to cool the mixed air flow to a desired filtering temperature, which is below the condensation temperature, so as to condense and collect substantially all of the condensable portion of the gaseous contaminants therefrom to form a filtering air flow; and a filter module configured to receive the filtering air flow, to collect substantially all remaining condensed contaminants, and to absorb substantially all of the odorous portion of the gaseous contaminants therefrom to form an exhaust air flow.