Patent ID: 8849170

Claim:
A toner fixing system for fixing toner onto a receiver medium, the toner having a toner glass transition temperature, comprising: a reservoir containing a heating liquid; a liquid-heating system for warming the heating liquid in the reservoir to a temperature greater than the toner glass transition temperature; a rotatable liquid-blocking barrier with an inner surface and an outer surface; a media-transport system for transporting the receiver medium along a transport path in which the receiver medium contacts or is entrained around the liquid-blocking barrier in a contact zone so that the receiver medium is brought into contact with the outer surface of the liquid blocking barrier; and a porous material arranged to absorb heating liquid from the reservoir and bring the absorbed heating liquid into contact with the inner surface of the liquid blocking layer for at least a portion of the contact zone, such that heat is transferred through the liquid-blocking barrier from the absorbed warmed heating liquid to the toner, thereby raising a temperature of the toner to a level above the toner glass transition temperature.