JP2927921B2 - Photosensitive material processing equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus for developing, fixing, washing and drying long photosensitive materials.

(Prior art)

When the operator of the photosensitive material processing apparatus loads the photosensitive material into the photosensitive material processing apparatus and starts the developing process, if no trouble such as a failure occurs, the operator is free until the end of the developing process. In a photosensitive material processing apparatus, when developing a sheet-shaped photosensitive material, the time required to develop one photosensitive material is short, but a long photosensitive material ranging from several meters to several tens of meters is developed. Processing requires several tens of minutes. Therefore, during the development processing, the photosensitive material to be developed next or the photosensitive material after the development processing can be arranged and transported.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional photosensitive material processing apparatus, the length of the photosensitive material cannot be automatically detected until the trailing edge of the photosensitive material is detected. Could not be calculated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus capable of predicting the time until the development processing of a long photosensitive material is completed.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a photosensitive material processing apparatus for processing a long photosensitive material while transporting the photosensitive material, the photosensitive material processing apparatus is disposed at a predetermined position along a transport path of the photosensitive material, and detects the presence or absence of the photosensitive material. Means, and display means for obtaining and displaying the length of the photosensitive material that has passed the predetermined position based on a signal from the detection means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the display means is also used as a display means for a developer temperature in the photosensitive material processing apparatus, and a signal from the detection means indicates that there is no photosensitive material. When the display is switched to the presence, the display of the display means switches from the temperature of the developer to the length of the photosensitive material that has passed the predetermined position.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when a signal from the detection means switches between the presence and absence of the photosensitive material, the display of the display means displays the length of the photosensitive material passing through the predetermined position. Alternatively, it switches from the integrated length to the time until the photosensitive material is discharged.

[Action]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the presence or absence of the photosensitive material is detected by the detecting means arranged at a predetermined position in the middle of the transport path in the photosensitive material processing apparatus, and the photosensitive material having passed the predetermined position based on the detection signal. Is obtained and displayed by the display means. Generally, the operator knows the length of the photosensitive material and the time from when the photosensitive material passes through a predetermined position to when the photosensitive material is carried out of the photosensitive material processing apparatus,
The length of the photosensitive material that has not yet passed through the predetermined position can be estimated, and the time until the development processing of the photosensitive material is completed can be estimated (approximate).

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the leading end of the photosensitive material is detected by the detecting means arranged at a predetermined position of the photosensitive material processing apparatus, the length of the photosensitive material passing through the predetermined position is displayed by the display means. Therefore, the operator can estimate the time until the development processing of the photosensitive material is completed. Also,
Before the detection means detects the leading end of the photosensitive material, the developer temperature is displayed by the display means. Therefore, before performing the developing process, the operator can confirm that the developing solution is within a predetermined temperature range in which the developing process is appropriately performed, and start the developing process.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, after the rear end of the photosensitive material has passed the predetermined position, the time until the development processing of the photosensitive material is completed is calculated and displayed. Can be accurately recognized. However, until the trailing end of the photosensitive material is detected by the detecting means, it is impossible to calculate the time until the development processing of the photosensitive material is completed. Therefore, before the trailing end of the photosensitive material is detected by the detecting means, the length of the photosensitive material that has passed a predetermined position of the photosensitive material processing device is displayed by the display means,
The operator can estimate the time until the end of the development processing.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an automatic developing machine 10 according to the present embodiment.

The automatic developing machine 10 is provided with an insertion port 16 for inserting a photosensitive material 14 on the left side of FIG. At the lower part of the insertion slot 16, a support plate 62 supporting the magazine 60 is provided.
Is overhanging, and the magazine 60
Is to be loaded. A long photosensitive material 14 wound in layers on a reel (not shown) in the magazine 60.
Is housed. The photosensitive material 14 is pulled out from an outlet (not shown) of the magazine 60 and inserted into the insertion port 16.

As shown in FIG. 3, at the upper corner of the casing 12,
An operation / display panel 64 is provided.

The operation / display panel 64 is connected to the control device 66 and has various operation switches 68 for controlling the operation of the automatic developing machine 10 and a display unit 72 composed of 7-segment LEDs.
And a liquid crystal display unit 70. One display unit 70
In FIG. 3 (left side), setting parameters and the like of the operating state are displayed. The other display unit 72 (third display)
On the right side of the figure, the developer temperature (° C.) or the processing length (m) is displayed. Switching between the display of the development temperature and the processing length is performed by a signal from the control device 66, and when the photosensitive material 14 is not present in the automatic developing machine 10, that is, during non-processing, the display of the developer temperature is performed, and The processing length is displayed in real time while processing the material.

Further, a display lamp 74 is provided between the display units 70 and 72 to notify the operator that "processing is possible".

As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of rollers 18 is provided inside the insertion slot 16. The roller 18 is rotated by a driving force of a driving motor 76 as a driving unit. The drive motor 76
Controlled by the controller 66. The drive motor 76 is provided with a rotary encoder 78. For this reason, the photosensitive material 14 inserted from the insertion opening 16
By being sandwiched between them, a conveying force is applied. The rotary encoder 78 is connected to the control device 66. Therefore, the rotary encoder 78 can detect the number of rotations of the pair of rollers 18 and supply the detection result to the control device 66.

In the vicinity of the pair of rollers 18, a photosensitive material detection sensor 80 that detects the presence or absence of the photosensitive material 14 is provided. The photosensitive material detection sensor 80 is configured by a reflection type infrared sensor having a light projecting unit and a light receiving unit, and irradiates the conveying path of the photosensitive material 14 with infrared rays. Here, when the photosensitive material 14 is present, the irradiated infrared rays are reflected by the photosensitive material and can be received by the light receiving unit. The photosensitive material detection sensor 80 is connected to the control device 66, and supplies the detection result to the control device 66.

Photosensitive material conveyed by the driving force of a pair of rollers 18
14 is guided to a processing unit 20 installed inside the automatic developing machine 10.

The processing unit 20 is provided with a processing tank 22. Processing tank 22
1 is divided into three tanks in the horizontal direction in FIG. 1 by two partition walls 24 and 26, and a developing tank 28, a fixing tank 30,
The washing tank 32 is provided. These tanks 28, 30, and 32 store a developer, a fixing solution, and washing water, respectively. Each of the tanks 28, 30, and 32 includes a plurality of rollers 36 and a guide plate 82 via a rack. The photosensitive material 14 is provided along the transport path. Above the partition wall 24 and the partition wall 26 in FIG. 2, a pair of rollers 40 and 42 and a guide plate 84 are provided, respectively, to guide the photosensitive material 14 to an adjacent processing tank. The rollers 40 and 42 are driven to rotate at a constant speed together with the rollers 36 by the driving force of the driving means 76.

The photosensitive material 14 inserted from the insertion port 16 and conveyed by the pair of rollers 18 is first immersed in the developing solution in the developing tank 28 by being sandwiched between the rollers 36 of the developing tank 28. Further, by being sandwiched between the rollers 36 of the fixing tank 30, it is immersed in the fixing solution in the fixing tank 30, and
By being held between the rollers 36 in the washing tank 32, the sheet is immersed in the washing water in the washing tank 32. In each tank, photosensitive material
14 is transported in a substantially U-shape by a plurality of rollers 36 to secure a predetermined processing time. The movement between the tanks is smoothly guided to the adjacent tanks by the rollers 40 and 42 and the guide plate 84.

A drying unit 44 is provided on the right side of the processing unit 20 in FIG. 2 (downstream in the transport direction of the photosensitive material 14). In the drying section 44,
A guide plate 48 is provided, and a plurality of rollers 50 are arranged from the washing tank 32 to the inside of the drying unit 44 so as to guide the photosensitive material 14 to the guide plate 48. The roller 50 is also rotated at the same transport speed as the roller 36. This allows
The photosensitive material 14 which has been subjected to the washing process in the washing tank 32 is nipped by these rollers 50 and transported to form a drying unit.
Guided to 44.

The drying unit 44 is provided with chambers 52 above and below it, respectively, and is supplied with warm air. A plurality of roller pairs 54 are arranged between the upper and lower chambers 52 to convey the photosensitive material 14 in the horizontal direction in FIG. Drying section 44 from the guide plate 48
The photosensitive material 14 that has reached the position is transported in the horizontal direction in FIG.

A plurality of slit holes 56 are provided on the surface of the chamber 52 facing the roller pair 54 along the axial direction of the roller pair 54, so that the warm air in the chamber 52 is blown to the transport path of the photosensitive material 14. I have. Therefore, the photosensitive material 14 is dried by the warm air while being conveyed while being nipped by the roller pair 54 in the drying unit 44, and reaches the discharge port 58 of the drying unit 44. A support plate 88 supporting a magazine 86 extends outward from the outlet 58, and the dried photosensitive material 14 is wound on a reel provided in the magazine 86 supported by the support plate 88. It is configured to be accommodated.

As shown in FIG. 4, the control device 66 includes a CPU 92, a RAM 94,
It comprises a ROM 96, an input / output port 98, and a bus 99 such as a data bus and a control bus connecting these.

Operation / display panel 64, drive means
76, a rotary encoder 78, and a photosensitive material detection sensor 80 are connected. Further, a temperature sensor 100 for detecting the temperature of the developer in the developing tank 28 and a control signal line 102 for controlling a heater and a fan of the drying unit 44 are also connected.

The RAM 92 stores in advance the entire length of the transport path of the automatic processor 10, the dimensions of the transport path from the insertion port 16 where the photosensitive material detection sensor 80 is installed, the length of one rotation of the pair of rollers 18 in the automatic processor 10, and the like. Is stored.

In the present embodiment, the entire length of the conveyance path of the automatic developing machine 10 and the position of the photosensitive material detection sensor 80 are not limited to the vicinity of the insertion slot 16. Therefore, it is desirable to store it as a parameter.

 The operation of the present embodiment will be described below.

When the photosensitive material 14 is inserted from the insertion opening 16 in a substantially horizontal state, the photosensitive material 14 is held by the rollers 18. The driving of the roller 18 conveys the photosensitive material 14 and conveys it toward the developing tank 28. When the leading end of the photosensitive material 14 reaches the upper roller 36 disposed in the developing tank 28, the photosensitive material 14 is nipped and transported by the roller 36 toward the bottom of the developing tank 28.

The photosensitive material 14 that has passed through the rollers 36 is guided by the guide surface of the guide plate 82 and is held by the rollers 36 below. The photosensitive material 14 is inverted by being nipped by the rollers 36, guided by the guide surface of the guide plate 82, and
And is discharged from the developer surface of the developing tank 28.

The photosensitive material 14 discharged from the developing tank 28 includes rollers 40 and 42.
And is conveyed in the direction of the fixing tank 30.

In the fixing tank 30, the roller 36 and the guide plate 82 convey the fixing tank 30 in a substantially U-shape similarly to the developing tank 28, and then the water is also conveyed in the washing tank 32 and nipped by the rollers 50.

The photosensitive material 14 held by the rollers 50 is successively held by the rollers 50 extending to the drying unit 44, and the guide plate 48
Through to the drying section 44.

Hot air is blown into the drying section 44 into the chamber 52, and hot air is blown out from the slit holes 56. As a result, the photosensitive material 14 held between the pair of rollers 54 and conveyed in a substantially horizontal state is blown substantially uniformly with hot air, and is subjected to a drying process. The dried photosensitive material 14 is the outlet
It is discharged from 58 and stored in the magazine 86, and the processing of the photosensitive material 14 ends.

Hereinafter, the display control of the length during the processing of the photosensitive material 14 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 5 and the time chart of FIG.

First, in step 200, the integrated value TL of the length of the photosensitive material 14 that has passed through the photosensitive material detection sensor 80 is read from the RAM 94, and the process proceeds to step 201, where the development temperature is detected by the temperature sensor 100. Display 7
2 displays the development temperature. In the next step 204, it is determined whether or not the photosensitive material 14 is detected by the photosensitive material detection sensor 80. If the determination is negative, that is, if the photosensitive material 14 is not detected, the process proceeds to step 201. If the determination in step 204 is affirmative, that is, if the photosensitive material 14 is detected, the process proceeds to step 206, where the display content of the display unit 72 is switched to the display of the processing length. Then, in step 208, the display length L is set to 0. In step 210, L is displayed on the display unit 72, and in step 211, the integrated value TL is displayed on the display unit 70. That is,
When the leading end of the photosensitive material 14 is detected, the display is switched to the length display, and the processing length L at this time becomes zero.

In the next step 212, it is determined whether a predetermined time (for example, one second) has elapsed. Here, when it is determined that the predetermined time has elapsed, the process proceeds from step 212 to step 214 to determine whether or not the photosensitive material 14 has been detected, that is, the rear end of the photosensitive material 14 has passed through the photosensitive material detection sensor 80. It is determined whether or not the light-sensitive material 14 is detected.
And the unit quantity 1 to be added to L is added (L ← L +
1) Then, after adding 1 to TL in step 218 (TL ← TL
+1), the process proceeds to step 210. The unit processing length is determined by (elapsed time in step 212) × (transport speed). Alternatively, it may be obtained from the rotation speed of the roller 18.

If it is determined in step 214 that the photosensitive material 14 is not detected, it is determined that the rear end of the photosensitive material 14 has passed, and the process proceeds to step 220.

Here, since the entire length of the transport path of the automatic developing machine 10 is known in advance, it is determined how many seconds are discharged if the transport is performed at a constant speed.

At step 220, the display on the display section 72 is displayed as a waiting time (the countdown is displayed in units of one second to indicate how many seconds the photosensitive material 14 is left from the automatic developing machine 10 and the processing is completed).
After switching to, it is determined in step 222 whether or not the processing is to be terminated. If the determination is affirmative, the processing is terminated. If the process is to be continued (negative determination), the process proceeds to step 201.
At this time, the display on the display unit 70, that is, the integrated value TL is displayed as it is.

In this embodiment, the photosensitive material detection sensor 80 is connected to the insertion port 16.
, But may be placed near the discharge port 58 or in the transport path.

In this case, the remaining time at the time of switching to the waiting time display is shorter than when the photosensitive material detection sensor 80 is near the insertion slot 16.

Although the processing liquid temperature is displayed for the developing liquid, the temperature of another processing liquid may be displayed.

The blinking of the processing enable display in FIG. 6 indicates that the next photosensitive material may be inserted.
Indicates that there are remaining.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, the photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention includes:
Since the length of the long photosensitive material that has passed through the detecting means can be displayed, the operator can predict the time until the end of the development processing, and can perform other operations during that time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the automatic developing machine according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the internal structure of the automatic developing machine, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a front view of the display unit, FIG. 4 is a control block diagram, FIG. 5 is a control flowchart, and FIG. 6 is a time chart. 10 Automatic processor 14 Photosensitive material 64 Operation / display panel 66 Control device 72 Display unit 80 Photosensitive material detection sensor

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G03D 3/00-17/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A photosensitive material processing apparatus for processing a long photosensitive material while transporting the photosensitive material, comprising: a detection unit disposed at a predetermined position along a transport path of the photosensitive material for detecting the presence or absence of the photosensitive material; Display means for obtaining and displaying the length of the photosensitive material passing through the predetermined position based on a signal from the detection means. 2. The display means also serves as a display means for the temperature of the developer in the photosensitive material processing apparatus, and when the signal from the detection means switches from the absence of the photosensitive material to the presence of the photosensitive material, the display of the display means is changed. 2. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature of the photosensitive material is switched from the temperature of the developing solution to the length of the photosensitive material passing through the predetermined position. 3. When the signal from the detecting means switches between the presence and absence of the photosensitive material, the indication on the display means is discharged based on the length of the photosensitive material passing through the predetermined position or the integrated length. 2. A photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing is switched to a time until the time elapses.