JP2001096142A - Treatment liquid production apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten the dissolution time of a treatment agent. SOLUTION: Water in an approximately necessary minimum amount for completely dissolving a treatment agent is supplied to a dissolution tank 104 and water in the dissolution tank 104 is stirred by rotating a paddle 115. After that, a piercing member 140 is operated to feed the treatment agent to the dissolution tank 104 from a bottle 122 and the stirring is continued. When the treatment agent in the dissolution tank 104 is almost completely dissolved, a prescribed amount of water is jetted to the inside of the bottle 122 to wash the inside of the bottle 122 and further the stirring is continued, the paddle 115 is stopped to stop stirring the water in the dissolution tank 104. After that, a prescribed amount of water is jetted to the inside of the bottle 122 to carry out levelling washing and on completion of stirring for a prescribed period, the treatment is finished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a processing liquid generation apparatus, and more particularly, to a processing liquid generation apparatus that dissolves a processing agent in a liquid in a dissolution tank to generate a processing liquid.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a processing solution is prepared by dissolving a powdery or granular solid processing agent used for a photographic developing machine in water, it is necessary to dissolve the processing solution using a dedicated generator. Are known.

[0003] Generally, a powdery or granular processing agent is PET.
It is marketed in bottles made of plastic. The discharge port is sealed with an aluminum sealing member or the like in a state where the powdery or granular processing agent is contained in the bottle. Note that, for safety, a cover may be placed outside the discharge port so as to cover the seal member.

[0004] Such a bottle is loaded into the loading section of the generating apparatus with the discharge port facing downward with the lid removed.

[0005] A piercing member having a cylindrical blade is provided in the loading portion of the generating device so as to face the sealing member of the bottle to be loaded, and the blade of the piercing member pierces the sealing member in a ring shape. As a result, a predetermined amount of the treatment agent in the bottle is dropped into the lower dissolution tank.

[0006] A predetermined amount of water is stored in the dissolving tank.
By rotating the screw for stirring, the processing agent dropped from the outlet of the bottle is dissolved in water to generate a processing solution having a predetermined concentration.

[0007]

Generally, when a powdery or granular photographic processing agent is dissolved in water, if the water temperature is low, the powdery or granular developer is difficult to dissolve and takes a long time. It takes a long time to generate a developer. And
The higher the water temperature, the higher the dissolution rate tends to be.However, in order to increase the temperature of the water stored in the dissolution tank in order to increase the dissolution rate, there is a problem that a heating device such as a heater must be provided. there were. In addition, it is conceivable to use an increase in water temperature due to heat of dissolution generated when a solid processing agent (especially for development) is dissolved in water. However, the processing agent in the bottle is dissolved and used for development processing. If a sufficient amount of water is stored in the dissolution tank to generate a processing solution having a concentration, and the processing agent is dissolved with this amount of water, the water temperature does not rise sufficiently, and The dissolution rate cannot be increased. The reason is that the amount of water is too large for the generated heat of dissolution.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and has as its object to provide a processing liquid generating apparatus capable of shortening the time required for dissolving the processing agent in water.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a processing liquid generating apparatus according to the present invention comprises a dissolving tank for mixing a photographic solid processing agent and a liquid; And a control means for controlling the supply means so as to supply a predetermined amount of the liquid to the dissolving tank and then supply the remainder of the liquid.

According to the present invention, after a part of a predetermined amount of liquid used for producing a treatment agent in the dissolving tank is supplied to the dissolving tank, the remaining part of the liquid is dissolved in the treatment agent. Is supplied to the dissolving tank, so that a predetermined amount of liquid is supplied to the dissolving tank from the beginning to dissolve the treating agent, thereby increasing the temperature of the liquid due to heat of dissolution. The dissolution time required for the treatment agent to dissolve in the liquid can be shortened. It is assumed that a part of the predetermined amount of liquid is the amount of liquid necessary to completely dissolve the predetermined amount of the processing agent. After dissolving the processing agent in the liquid, the remaining liquid is additionally supplied to the dissolving tank in order to bring the processing liquid to a predetermined concentration, whereby a processing liquid having a predetermined concentration can be obtained in a short time. .

Further, in the processing liquid generating apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to the case where the processing agent is stored in the dissolving tank in advance, a processing for supplying the processing agent to the dissolving tank as in claim 2 is provided. An agent supply unit may be provided, and the control unit may control the treatment agent supply unit such that the treatment agent supply by the treatment agent supply unit is performed at least before the additional supply.

Further, the processing liquid generating apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
As in claim 3, further comprising a stirring means for stirring the liquid in the dissolving tank, wherein the control means controls the stirring means to start stirring before the treatment agent and the liquid are mixed. You can also.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a developing solution generating apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

The generating device 100 has an upper and lower two-layer structure.
The upper tank is a dissolving tank 104 for storing a predetermined amount of water in advance and dissolving a solid (for example, powder or granular) developer described later therein, and the lower tank dissolving the developer in water. This is a stock tank 110 for stocking the developed developer 108.

The bottom plate 104B of the dissolving tank 104 is formed in a mortar shape and has a boat bottom shape, and an opening 112 is provided at the lowest position, through which the processing liquid (developer) is dissolved. It is structured to flow down from 104 to the stock tank 110. The opening 112 has the ball valve 1
14 is attached, and the opening 112 is closed when the processing agent 106 is dissolved.

As shown in FIG. 1, a paddle 115 is disposed near the bottom of the dissolving tank 104 in the shape of a mortar (boat bottom). The paddle 115 has a stirring blade 115A, and is used when stirring to promote dissolution of the treatment agent by water in the dissolution tank 104. That is, the stirring blade 115A is attached to the tip of a rotating shaft 115B that is rotated by the driving force of a driving unit (not shown), thereby rotating the stirring blade 115A and promoting the dissolution of the processing agent.

One end of a pipe 116 is connected to the side wall 110A of the stock tank 110, is connected to a developing tank of a developing unit (not shown), and a pump 118 is provided at an intermediate portion thereof. By driving the pump 118, the processing liquid 108 in the stock tank 110 can be sent to the developing tank.

Above the melting tank 104, a casing 10
A loading section 120 for fixing the bottle 122 in which the powder or granular processing agent is sealed to the generating apparatus is provided with the upper surface of the OA as a support 124.

A circular hole 126 is provided at the center of the support 124. In the periphery of the circular hole 126, the bottle 1
An engagement portion 130 for fixing the 22 discharge ports 128 (see FIG. 3) to the support base 124 is provided. As shown in FIG. 3, the engaging portion 130 has a configuration in which a ring-shaped side wall portion 130A and a donut-shaped ceiling portion 130B are integrally formed at the upper end of the side wall portion 130A. Note that a cutout 132 is provided at the position of the ceiling 130B.

Radially projecting portions 134 are provided on the peripheral surface of the discharge port 128 of the bottle 122 in a diametrical direction corresponding to the cutout portions 132 of the engaging portion 130.

Here, when the bottle 122 is loaded into the loading section 120, the operation is performed by turning the bottle 122 upside down (discharge port 128).
Is turned down), and the protrusion 134 and the notch 132 are pushed into the engagement portion 130 with the projection 134 and the notch 132 facing each other. Thereafter, the bottle 122 is rotated. By this pushing and rotating operation,
The projection 134 is sandwiched between the support 124 and the ceiling 130 </ b> B, and the bottle 122 is mounted on the support 124 of the loading unit 120.
Fixed to

Below the loading portion 120, a piercing member 1 is provided.
Arranged so that 40 can move between a position (second position) for piercing seal member 202 (see FIG. 3) of bottle 122 and a standby position (first position, two-dot chain line in FIG. 1). Have been.

As shown in FIG. 4, the piercing member 140 includes
It is composed of a blade portion 142 in which sawtooth blades are arranged in an arc shape, and a cylindrical portion 144 that supports the blade portion 142. A bracket part 146 is attached to the outer periphery of the cylindrical part 144.

The arm 146A of the bracket 146 is provided with a circular hole 148 coaxially therewith.
50 have been passed over. The shaft 150 is attached to an eccentric position of a cam plate 152 that is rotated by a driving force of a driving unit (not shown) (see FIG. 1).

Here, when the cam plate 152 makes one reciprocation of rotation within a range of a predetermined angle (90 °), the perforated member 140 is moved to the solid line position (second position) and the imaginary line position (second 1 position). At this time, at the first position, the urging force of the urging means (not shown) is accumulated, and when the rotation of the cam plate 152 passes through a predetermined angle, the accumulated urging force is released. The piercing member 140 is instantaneously moved from the first position to the second position.
, The serrated blade cuts the seal member 202 into an arc shape.

Although the seal member 202 is cut into an arc shape, a part of the seal member 202 remains without being cut, so that the
It remains without detaching from the discharge port of No. 2. However, the processing agent (developer) drops from the inside of the bottle 122 into the circular hole 126 of the support base 124 due to gravity.

A pipe 158 is provided at a position below the loading section 120 so as not to interfere with the movement of the piercing member 140. This pipe 158 is connected to a discharge port of the pump 164.

A pipe 168 attached to the intake of the pump 164 is connected to the water tank 160. Further, a pipe 162 is connected from the water tank 160 to an upper opening of the dissolving tank 104 via a pump 170. In addition, as a matter of course, the pipe 162 is arranged at a position where the operation of the perforated member 140 is not hindered.

The discharge port of the pipe 158 is slightly inclined, and is arranged such that the discharge port is not blocked when the granular processing agent falls. The discharge rate is 0.2 to 2 liters / minute, and the water discharged at this time is discharged toward the vicinity of the bottom of the bottle 122 (preferably, toward the center of the bottom of the bottle 122). The discharged water, after cleaning the inside of the bottle, flows out from the discharge port 128 of the bottle and flows down into the dissolution tank 104.

The water used for this washing becomes a part of the water necessary for dissolution.

That is, from the water tank 160, a pipe for storing water in the dissolving tank 104 and a pipe for guiding to the bip 168 dissolve a processing agent for one bottle 122 in a total amount to obtain a predetermined concentration. Water required to generate the processing liquid is discharged.

The operation of the present embodiment will be described below.

(Loading of Bottle 122) When the screw-out type lid is attached to the discharge port 128 of the bottle 122,
The lid is removed to expose the seal member 202.
In this state, the bottle 122 is turned upside down (the discharge port 128 is turned downward so as to correspond to the loading unit 120. At this time, the protrusion 134 formed around the discharge port 128 is
In a state in which it faces the notch 132 of No. 0, it is pushed into the engaging portion 130. Thereafter, when the bottle 122 is rotated about the discharge port, the protrusion 134 is moved to the support base 124 and the ceiling 13.
0B and is fixed. In this case,
The piercing member 140 is positioned at the first position.

(Water supply operation) Using a pump 170 and a pump 164, water necessary for producing a processing solution of a predetermined concentration with the processing agent sealed in the bottle 122 is dispensed from a water tank 160, respectively. 104 and bottle 1
Supplied at 22 locations.

At this time, the amount of water supplied to the dissolving tank 104 is set to a substantially minimum amount capable of completely dissolving the treatment agent sealed in the bottle 122. For example, assuming that the total amount of water required for generating the processing liquid is 9.27 liters, the amount of water supplied to the dissolving tank 104 is initially 5.27 liters, and 3.00 liters is used for cleaning a bottle 122 described later. I do. In addition, about 1 liter was used to reduce the total amount of water to 9.2.
Bottle 12 for level adjustment to 7 liters
Water is supplied in the same manner as in the washing of 2. In this way, by making the amount of water supplied to the initial dissolving tank 104 smaller than the amount of water required to generate a treatment liquid having a predetermined concentration, the water temperature can be raised by the heat of dissolution generated when the treatment agent dissolves. The result of the experiment using the developer was 9.27 l / 23
When about 2 kg of a powdery or granular treating agent was introduced into and dissolved in water at 0 ° C. while stirring, the water temperature reached 31 ° C. due to heat of dissolution. On the other hand, when the treatment agent was introduced into and dissolved in 5.27 liter / 23 ° C. water while stirring the water, the temperature of the water in the dissolution tank became 34.5 ° C. due to the heat of dissolution. Therefore, in the latter example, the treating agent could be dissolved in a short time.

In the present embodiment, the amount of water supplied to the dissolving tank 104 is substantially the minimum amount that completely dissolves the treatment agent enclosed in the bottle 122, but is limited to this amount. However, the dissolution time can be shortened if the amount is not less than the amount necessary for completely dissolving the treatment agent and less than the total amount of water necessary for producing the treatment liquid.

(Punching Operation) As described above, a predetermined amount of water is stored in the dissolving tank 104 before the sealing member 202 of the bottle 122 is pierced.

The piercing member 14 positioned at the first position
When the cam plate 152 is rotated with respect to 0, the accumulated urging force of the urging means is released, and the piercing member 14 is released.
0 vigorously moves (rotates) to the second position. With this moving (rotating) force, the saw-toothed blade portion 142 cuts the seal member 202 into an arc shape. At this time, the sealing member 20
If the two cannot be broken through by one cutting operation, the first
The movement from the position to the second position is repeated.

When the seal member 202 is pierced, the seal member 202 is opened by the weight of the processing agent in the bottle 122,
The treating agent passes through the inside of the cylindrical portion 144 of the perforated member 140 and falls into the dissolving tank 102. The sealing member 20
2 is a discharge port 128 of the bottle 122 and a seal member 202.
Is not cut and remains in contact, so that the sealing member 202 does not fall off the bottle 122.

(Dissolution Operation) Immediately before the above-described perforation operation is started, the water in the dissolution tank 104 is stirred by driving the paddle 115 and rotating the stirring blade 115A.
The paddle 115 is disposed near the bottom of the dissolving tank 104 in the shape of a mortar.

By the perforation operation, the discharge port 12 of the bottle 122 is
The powdery or granular treatment agent dropped from 8 falls into the water in the dissolution tank 104. The dropped treatment agent dissolves in the stirring water, and especially when the temperature of the water is low, there is a granular treatment agent that cannot be completely dissolved and precipitates at the bottom of the dissolution tank 104. However, in the present embodiment, the corners of the inner periphery of the melting tank 104 (portions indicated by the ridge lines R in FIG. 2), that is, the ridge lines R between the side walls 104S and between the side walls 104S and the bottom plate 104B.
Are continuous on an arc surface, and there is no region where a granular processing agent is deposited. Therefore, all of the granular processing agent concentrates near the bottom of the mortar, is stirred by the paddle 115, and completely dissolves with time.

When the rotational speed of the paddle 115 decreases, the dissolving time of the treating agent also increases. However, in order to keep the dissolving time of the treating agent within 25 minutes, the power supply voltage must be 100 V / 50.
Assuming a case where the voltage drops from HZ to 90V / 50HZ,
The rotation speed of the paddle 115 is set to 800 to 1500 rpm,
Preferably, it is set to 1100 to 1200 rpm.

According to the present embodiment, since the treating agent is introduced into the stirring water, the contact specific surface area between water and the treating agent is increased, and the dissolving of the treating agent is further promoted. At this time, since the heat of dissolution is generated, the temperature of the water in the dissolution tank 104 increases,
Since it becomes more easily dissolved, the dissolution time can be shortened.

(Washing) Sealing member 202 of bottle 122
When the granular processing agent passes through the inside of the perforated member 140, a part of the perforated member may be attached to the perforated member 140 moved from the first position for perforating the perforated member to the second position. If this is left undisturbed, the surrounding moisture and melting tank 10
The water splashes from 4 and solidifies, and this may be repeated and deposited. Further, on the inner surface of the bottle 122, a granular treatment agent may remain without being naturally dropped by gravity.

Then, after the treatment agent drops from the bottle 122 and the treatment agent is dissolved to some extent by the above-described dissolving operation, the pump 164 is operated. As a result, the water is vigorously discharged from the discharge port to the inside of the bottle 122 to clean the inside of the bottle 122. (See FIG. 5) This water is a part of the water necessary to generate the processing liquid as described above, and flows down to the dissolving tank 104 together with the granular processing agent remaining in the bottle 122. The processing agent and water that have flowed down in this way fall into the dissolving tank 104 and become a part of the solute and solvent of the processing liquid to be generated, thereby reducing the concentration of the processing liquid already generated in the dissolving tank. Set to a predetermined concentration. Further, since the processing agent attached to the perforated member 140 is also washed away, there is no problem of solidification of the processing agent.

After a predetermined amount of water has been discharged and the inside of the bottle 122 and the perforated member 140 have been washed, the perforated member 140
Is returned to the first position, the perforating member 140 is in a standby state for perforating the sealing member 202 of the next bottle 122.

(Control Operation) Next, a control operation in the present embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 6, the controller (CP
U, RAM, ROM, etc., a microcomputer) 210 includes an input device 212, a pump 170 for supplying water to the dissolving tank 104, a pump 164 for supplying water for cleaning the bottle 122, and a perforating member 140. It is connected to a cam plate 152 to be operated and a paddle 115 for stirring water stored in the dissolving tank 104.

When the operator gives a start instruction from the input device 212 with a start button (not shown), the processing agent dissolving process shown in FIG. 7 starts.

In step 230, the pump 170 is operated to supply 5.27 liters of water used for dissolving a predetermined amount of the treating agent into the dissolving tank 104. The amount of water supplied here is the minimum necessary for completely dissolving the treating agent as described above, and the liquid temperature of the water is 23 degrees. In step 232, the paddle 115 is rotated to start stirring water in the dissolution tank 104. Step 234
Then, the perforating member 140 is operated, and the treating agent is charged from the bottle 122 into the dissolving tank 104. In step 236, the process waits until a predetermined time required for completely dissolving the treatment agent in water has elapsed from the introduction of the treatment agent. The liquid temperature after the elapse of the predetermined time is 34.5 degrees. After the elapse of the predetermined time, in step 238, 3 liters of water is jetted from the discharge port into the inside of the bottle 122 through the pump 164 to wash the inside of the bottle 122 and the periphery of the perforated member 140. As a result of the cleaning operation, the water used for cleaning and the processing agent remaining inside the bottle 122 are removed from the dissolving tank 1.
It flows down to 04. The liquid temperature at the end of this cleaning operation is 3
0 degrees. During each of these steps, the stirring of the processing liquid stored in the dissolving tank 104 is continued. Step 2
At 40, the process waits for a predetermined period of time necessary to generate the processing solution having the predetermined concentration of the stirring. The liquid temperature after the elapse of the predetermined time is 31 degrees. After the elapse of the predetermined time, the paddle 115 is stopped in step 242 to stop stirring the water in the dissolving tank 104. The liquid temperature at this point is 31.5 degrees. In step 244, 1 liter of water is again ejected from the discharge port into the bottle 122 via the pump 164 so that the processing liquid in the dissolving tank 104 has a predetermined concentration, and level adjustment cleaning is performed. The jetted water is in the dissolution tank 10
The liquid temperature at the time of flowing down to level 4 and completing the level adjustment cleaning is 30 degrees. This level adjustment cleaning is not intended to clean the inside of the bottle 122 and the like.
The total amount of water (diluting water) in the dissolving tank is adjusted to a predetermined value in order to dissolve the processing agent contained in the dissolving tank 22 and finally bring the concentration of the processing solution in the dissolving tank to a predetermined concentration. (In the above embodiment, 9.25 liters). In step 246, the paddle 115 is rotated again to agitate the water in the dissolution tank 104 for a predetermined time, and the generation of the processing liquid is completed.

The change in the liquid temperature during the treatment agent dissolution treatment described above is as follows.
This is as shown in the table shown in FIG. 8A and the graph shown in FIG.

According to the present embodiment, since the water used for dissolving the treating agent is almost the minimum necessary for completely dissolving the treating agent, it is generated when the treating agent is dissolved. The temperature of the water due to the heat of dissolution can be increased, and the dissolution time can be shortened as compared with the case where all the liquids necessary to generate a processing solution having a predetermined concentration are dissolved at once. In addition, since the water is stirred before mixing the treatment agent and water, and the treatment agent is supplied during the stirring of the water, the contact specific surface area between the treatment agent and water increases, and the treatment agent is easily dissolved. In addition, the dissolving time of the treating agent can be further reduced.

In the present embodiment, water is used as the solvent for producing the treatment liquid. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, water containing a surfactant may be used. it can.

In the embodiment described above, the controller 210 controls the start and stop of the operation of the pump 164 and the pump 170 to execute the timing and amount of water supply. Level sensors may be set at a plurality of liquid (water) level positions in the tank, and the operation of these pumps may be stopped by a signal from the level sensor detecting the surface of the liquid. For example, a level sensor capable of detecting the liquid levels of 5.27 liters, 8.27 liters, and 9.27 liters is disposed in the dissolution tank. When the processing liquid generating apparatus is started, the pump 170 is operated, and when the 5.27 liter sensor detects the liquid level, the pump 170 is stopped. After operating the pump 164 for cleaning the bottle 122, when the 8.27 liter sensor detects the liquid level, it is determined that the cleaning has been completed with 3 liters of water.
64 is stopped. Then, finally, when the 9.27 liter sensor was activated by restarting the pump 164 for leveling cleaning, the water in the dissolution tank was reduced to 9.2 of the total amount.
The pump 164 is stopped when it becomes 7 liters.

[0056]

As described above, according to the processing liquid generating apparatus of the present invention, the amount of liquid (water) used to dissolve a certain amount of processing agent is reduced by dissolving the processing agent. It is necessary to obtain the target concentration by increasing the temperature of the liquid (water) due to the heat of dissolution generated when the processing agent is dissolved, by making the amount smaller than the amount of the processing liquid having the target concentration. As compared with the case where the treating agent is completely dissolved in the liquid, the dissolving time required for completely dissolving the treating agent in the liquid can be shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic diagram of a generation device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a bottom structure of a melting tank.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a loading section and a bottle spout engaged with the loading section.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a piercing member.

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view of the bottle showing a flow of tap water for cleaning the inside of the bottle.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a control system of the melting tank in the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a processing liquid dissolving process in the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a table (A) and a graph (B) showing a change in liquid temperature during the treatment agent dissolving treatment in the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 generator 104 dissolving tank 120 loading section 122 bottle 128 discharge port 130 engaging section 140 perforating member 142 blade section 144 cylindrical section 158 pipe 160 water tank 164 pump 170 pump 202 sealing member 210 controller

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H098 BA09 BA15 BA16 EA05 EA06 4G035 AA23 AE02 AE13 4G037 AA02 AA04 AA18 AA20 EA02 4G078 AA04 AA21 AB20 BA05 CA01 CA12 DA19 EA10 EA20

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A dissolving tank for mixing a photographic solid processing agent and a liquid, supply means for supplying the liquid to the dissolving tank, and a predetermined amount of the liquid supplied to the dissolving tank. And a control means for controlling the supply means so as to supply the remainder of the liquid. 2. A treatment agent supply unit for supplying the treatment agent to the dissolving tank, wherein the control unit controls the supply of the treatment agent by the treatment agent supply unit so that the supply of the treatment agent is performed at least before the additional supply. 2. The processing liquid generating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing liquid supply unit is controlled. 3. A stirring means for stirring the liquid in the dissolving tank, wherein the control means controls the stirring means so as to start stirring before mixing the treatment agent and the liquid. The processing liquid generating apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein