JP2001312037A - Photosensitive material processing method and photosensitive material processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that the normal coating application of a processing liquid is heretofore not possible because the components of the processing liquid are stuck near to the front end of a slot die as downtime passes by with a coating applicator which applies the processing liquid to a photosensitive material by the slot die. SOLUTION: The photosensitive material processing method for applying the processing liquid through a slit to the photosensitive material by supplying the processing liquid to the slot die consisting of at least the slip and manifold consists in returning at least a portion of the processing liquid in the slit to the supply side of the processing liquid after the end of the coating application.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus for processing a photosensitive material with a processing solution.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A photosensitive material such as a film, a photographic paper, a printing plate, or the like, has a developer, a fixing solution, a stabilizing solution,
It is treated with a treatment liquid such as washing water. As a photosensitive material processing apparatus for performing such processing, the photosensitive material is transported into a processing tank storing the processing liquid by a transporting unit including a plurality of transport roller pairs and the photosensitive material is immersed in the processing liquid. There is known an immersion-type processing apparatus that performs processing by performing the above-described processing.

In such an immersion type processing apparatus,
Since the processing solution deteriorates due to processing fatigue accompanying the processing of the photosensitive material or temporal fatigue due to carbon dioxide or oxygen in the atmosphere, the deterioration of the processing solution is recovered by replenishing the processing solution with a replenisher. Therefore, the components of the processing liquid at the start of the processing are different from the components of the processing liquid when the processing is continued thereafter, and it is impossible to perform strictly uniform processing. In addition, such an immersion type processing apparatus has a problem in that the amount of the processing liquid used and the amount of waste liquid are large, the running cost is high, and the maintainability of the apparatus is poor.

As a photosensitive material processing apparatus for solving such a problem, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-237455.
As described in the publication, instead of immersing the photosensitive material in the processing solution, a coating method in which only the processing solution necessary for processing the photosensitive material is applied to the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material to perform the processing. Equipment is also used. For example, JP-A-62-2
Japanese Patent No. 37455 discloses such a coating type processing apparatus in which a processing liquid supply nozzle having a plurality of processing liquid discharge holes is used to form a groove on the surface of the processing liquid supply nozzle or the like to form a roller (hereinafter, referred to as a roughening roller). There is disclosed a processing apparatus that applies a processing liquid by discharging a processing liquid to a “roughening roller”, and rotating by contacting the photosensitive material via the roughening roller.

[0005] However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho.
In the processing apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-205, there is a problem that the photosensitive film of the photosensitive material is damaged. In addition, it is preferable to use a small amount of the processing liquid as much as possible from the viewpoint of the running cost required for the processing and environmental problems, but in the above processing apparatus, the amount of the processing liquid supplied to the processing liquid supply nozzle is small. In such a case, it is difficult to make the supply amount of the processing liquid discharged from the plurality of processing liquid holes to the roughening roller uniform, and accordingly, the amount of the processing liquid becomes uneven. There is also.

In order to solve this problem, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 6-8956
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-27677 discloses a processing apparatus which has a processing liquid supply section above and has a slit-shaped lower end, and applies a processing liquid through the opening. Although this processing apparatus can achieve the desired purpose in principle, it has a problem in performance and stability as an applicator. In other words, the processing liquid is difficult to spread evenly over the entire width of the applicator because the supply port and the slit are directly connected, and a stable meniscus is difficult to be formed because the tip of the slit is in contact with the photosensitive material surface. There is.
As a result, the coating amount of the photosensitive material in the coating width direction and the coating direction is non-uniform, and the coating surface quality is likely to cause vertical streak-like unevenness and liquid cracking (so-called revulette in coating engineering). This problem can be solved by increasing the flow rate of the processing solution (in other words, the wet coating amount). However, if the coating amount is increased more than necessary, it becomes necessary to eliminate the surplus in the post-process and the like. Will result in waste liquid.

As a technique for solving such a problem, the present inventors have proposed Japanese Patent Application No. 11-361027. The technology is stable in the width direction even with a low application amount of the processing solution,
The coating can be applied uniformly in the flow direction, and the amount of waste liquid is extremely small or completely eliminated.

[0008]

However, in the processing by the slot die disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 11-361027, the processing liquid adheres to the tip of the slot die after the coating is completed. For example, when the time interval until the processing operation is relatively long, the component of the processing liquid is fixed near the tip of the slot die, and application in this state may cause application unevenness and application streaks. There was a concern that it would be easier. Even in such a case, the tip of the slot die is appropriately cleaned,
Cleaning will help to resolve the problem, but not only will the work efficiency deteriorate, but also extra waste (waste liquid) will be generated.
In some cases, there is a problem that the slot die needs to be disassembled and maintained. The present invention has been proposed in view of the above concerns.

[0009]

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing a photosensitive material, comprising supplying a processing liquid to a slot die comprising at least a slit and a manifold, and applying the processing liquid to the photosensitive material through the slit. After the coating is completed, at least a part of the processing liquid in the slit is returned to the supply side of the processing liquid. In realizing the photosensitive material processing method, it is preferable to use a photosensitive material processing apparatus including at least a slot die including a slit and a manifold, and a processing liquid supply unit including a piston and a cylinder. it can.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a slot die. The material is not particularly limited, as long as it satisfies the corrosion resistance to the processing solution and the mechanical accuracy, and for example, stainless steel is preferable. In addition, chrome-plated general-purpose steel, plastics, and the like can be used. In the case of manufacturing with a metal, an annealing treatment may be performed in advance in order to eliminate stress strain at the time of machining.

The structure of the slot die 1 will be described. Reference numeral 2 denotes a processing liquid supply port, which is connected to the manifold 3. The manifold 3 is used to spread the flowing processing solution in the width direction, and is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No.
These elements are not provided in Japanese Patent No. 27677. After the processing liquid is once filled in the width direction with the manifold 3, the action of supplying the processing liquid to the slit portion 4 is performed, so that the flow rate of the outflow from the slit portion 4 can be made uniform in the width direction. Usually, the processing liquid supply port 2 may be provided at one location at the center of the slot die in the width direction, but may be provided at a plurality of locations in the width direction of the slot die. The cross-sectional shape of the manifold 3 is circular in this embodiment, but is not limited to this, and may be any shape. The cross-sectional area of the manifold 3 may not be constant over the width direction of the slot die. For example, in order to further improve the uniformity of the flow rate of the processing liquid flowing out in the width direction, the cross-sectional area is gradually reduced toward the end. Is also good.

Although not shown in FIG. 1 for the sake of convenience, both ends of the manifold portion of the slot die 1 in the application width direction and both ends of the slit portion 4 are plugged so that the processing liquid does not flow out. In this case, the above-mentioned stopper is provided so that the effective length in the width direction of the slit portion 4 is equal to or slightly larger than the application width of the photosensitive material to be processed.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a photosensitive material which is conveyed from left to right in the figure by a driving device (not shown). The light-sensitive material detector 6 detects the presence of the photosensitive material 5 being conveyed. By controlling the processing liquid supply device 10 based on a signal from the detector 6 by a method described later, the waste liquid of the processing liquid 7 is substantially reduced. It becomes possible to apply the processing liquid to the photosensitive material without any
Further, it is possible to suppress the adhesion of the processing liquid or the adhered substance of the processing liquid component to the tip of the slot die, which is the object of the present invention.

The transport roller 8 may be driven or non-driven, and the material of the roller is not particularly limited, and may be a roller used in a conventional photosensitive material processing apparatus. In addition, it is preferable to arrange rollers so that the photosensitive material is conveyed substantially horizontally in consideration of the application stability of the processing liquid.

Although not shown in the present embodiment, a liquid tray or the like may be disposed below the slot die and collected in consideration of the possibility that a small amount of surplus will be generated when the processing liquid is applied.

The details of the processing liquid supply device 10 used in the present invention will be described. In the present invention, the processing liquid supply means is constituted by the cylinder 13 and the piston 14. Piston 1
4 preferably includes a seal member 15 to ensure the sealing of the processing liquid, and for example, a commercially available O-ring or the like can be preferably used.

The means for reciprocating the piston 14 in the present invention is not limited, but FIG. 1 illustrates a system using a motor 20 and ball screws (21 and 22). Reference numeral 21 denotes a male screw side of the ball screw, and reference numeral 22 denotes a female screw side of the ball screw. Connect the male screw to the motor 20
, The female screw side 22 moves right and left in the figure. Since the linking member 16 for linking with the piston 14 is attached to the female screw side 22, the movement of the female screw side 22 is transmitted to the piston 14 as it is. Arrow E
And exercise like F. Reference numeral 23 denotes a bearing for supporting the male screw side 21 and smoothly rotating the male screw side 21.

In processing the photosensitive material, it is often preferable to have a certain width in the processing speed (in other words, the coating speed) and the wet coating amount per unit area of the processing liquid. The motor 20 in FIG. 1 is desirably capable of controlling the number of revolutions so that various flow rate values of the liquid can be selected. For example, those using a servo mechanism, those using an inverter, those using a stepping motor, and the like can be used. Further, a reduction gear such as a gear may be used as necessary.

The processing procedure of the photosensitive material according to the present invention will be described in detail. Motor 20, suction valve 1 described below
1. The discharge valve 12 is connected to the control device 30.

The position of the piston 14 shown in FIG. 1 is the position at the start of processing (hereinafter referred to as the origin position). First, the suction valve 11 is opened, the discharge valve 12 is closed, and the motor 20 is driven to move the piston 14 in the direction of arrow F. The rotation speed of the motor 20 at this time is not particularly limited. Thus, the processing liquid 7 is filled in the cylinder 13. There are various methods for moving the piston to a desired position and stopping the piston. For example, a method of rotating the ball screw a predetermined number of times by utilizing the fact that the movement amount per rotation of the ball screw is known, Position is detected by a sensor (not shown), and the signal
For example, a method of controlling 0 can be used. Either method can be easily realized by the function in the control device.
As the control device 30, for example, a commercially available sequencer can be used. The amount of the processing solution to be filled should be at least the amount of the processing solution necessary for one photosensitive material.

Next, the supply timing of the processing liquid in the control device is determined based on a signal from the photosensitive material detector 6 which detects the leading end of the photosensitive material conveyed at a constant speed in the direction M in the drawing by a conveying device (not shown). decide. The supply timing is
For example, a time obtained by dividing the transport speed of the photosensitive material 5 by the distance from the photosensitive material detector 6 to the tip of the slot die from the time when the signal is received is set as a timer set value in the control device. can do. Note that the set value of the timer may be appropriately corrected in view of the application state of the slot die 1.

When the above-mentioned supply timing is reached, the suction valve 11 is closed, the discharge valve 12 is opened, and the motor 20 is driven to move the piston 14 in the direction of arrow E in the figure. Thereby, the processing liquid 7 is supplied to the slot die 1. The moving speed of the piston 14 in the direction E can be determined by the desired wet application amount of the processing liquid 7, the conveying speed and the processing width of the photosensitive material 5, and the inner diameter of the cylinder 13. The rotation speed of the motor 20 at the moving speed is the ball screw 2
It can be calculated from the screw pitch of 1. The calculation of the moving speed and the number of rotations of the motor can be easily realized by the function of the control device 30. Since the fluctuation in the flow rate of discharging the processing liquid 7 causes uneven application of the processing liquid as it is, and the seal member 15 provided on the piston 14 slides on the inner wall of the cylinder 13 with a constant frictional resistance, It is desirable that the motor has sufficient rotational accuracy and rotational torque.

The stop timing of the motor 20 based on a signal indicating that the end of the photosensitive material has been detected by the photosensitive material detector 6,
That is, the timing at which the end of the photosensitive material 5 passes through the front end of the slot die is determined, and the motor 20 is stopped at the stop timing. The stop timing can be determined in the same manner as the above-described liquid supply timing.
After the motor 20 is stopped, the suction valve 11 is switched to the open side and the discharge valve 12 is switched to the closed side. Then, the processing liquid in the cylinder is returned to the processing liquid tank 9 by moving the piston 14 in the direction E. The piston 14 is stopped at the home position described above. This completes a series of procedures for coating one photosensitive material.

Next, the suction valve 11 is switched to the closed side and the discharge valve 12 is switched to the open side, and the piston 14 is moved in the direction F to suck the processing liquid remaining in the slit portion 4 and to supply the processing liquid. That is, in FIG. 1, the processing liquid is returned into the cylinder 13 of the processing liquid supply device 10. The addition of this step is a feature of the present invention, which has solved the conventional problems. In other words, if the processing liquid adheres to the tip of the slot die after the coating is completed, especially when the time interval until the next photosensitive material processing operation is relatively long, etc. Since the components of the processing liquid are fixed in the vicinity, it is possible to avoid a concern that application in this state tends to cause application unevenness and application streaks.

The time when the processing liquid is sucked into the supply side may be after the processing (coating) of the photosensitive material one by one or at the time when the processing of a desired number of photosensitive materials is completed. In the former case, after a predetermined amount of the processing liquid in the slit section 4 is sucked into the supply side of the processing liquid, the suction valve 11 is opened and the discharge valve 12 is switched to the closed side to continue the processing for the next photosensitive material processing. An operation of sucking the processing liquid is performed. When the valve operation is performed, the motor 20 may be temporarily stopped as needed. When the processing liquid in the slit section 4 is sucked to the supply side when the processing of the desired number of photosensitive materials is completed, the suction operation can be performed by, for example, pressing a push button switch (not shown). .

The amount of suction is not particularly limited, but it is preferable that the processing liquid is sucked in a range of 1 mm or more from the outlet end of the slit portion 4 and not reaching the manifold 3, and more preferably, the slit amount. 1 from the exit end of part 4
mm or more and 10 mm or less.

The amount of movement of the piston 14 according to the amount of suction can be controlled in accordance with the description of moving the piston 14 to a desired position and stopping it. The piston moving speed at this time is not particularly limited.

The effective internal volume of the cylinder 13 (the maximum filling amount of the processing liquid 7) used in the present invention is at least
Or more of the processing liquid per sheet is required.

[0030]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below with reference to examples. As a photosensitive material, an aluminum lithographic printing plate (Kikuzen size) using a silver complex salt diffusion transfer method using an aluminum plate as a support, and an image output by an output device using a laser as a light source was used. The inner diameter of the cylinder 13 was 40 mm, and the effective capacity was 100 cc. The composition of the processing liquid for processing the printing plate is shown below. The wet coating amount of the processing liquid is 45 cc / m ²
And <Developer> Sodium hydroxide 25 g Polystyrene sulfonic acid / maleic anhydride copolymer (average molecular weight 500,000) 10 g Sodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate 2 g Sodium sulfite anhydrous 100 g Monomethylethanolamine 50 g 2-Mercapto-5-nheptyl-oxadi Azole 0.5g Sodium thiosulfate (pentahydrate) 8g Hydroquinone 15g 1-Phenyl-3pyrazolidinone 3g Make the total amount 1000 ml. pH (25 ° C.) = 13.1

An application test of the above treatment liquid was performed. At this time, the operation of the present invention is carried out by continuously processing 30 sheets of the photosensitive material (the amount of the processing liquid sucked in the slit portion is 3 m from the exit end of the slit).
After 12 hours, 24 hours, and 48 hours, the photosensitive material was processed without cleaning the tip portion of the slot die and the slit portion 4 at all.

As a result, the processing solution used in the present embodiment contains a substance, which is typified by hydroquinone, which becomes a solid when dried and thus precipitates. There was no solid matter near the tip of the die, and it could be applied well.

As a comparative example, the processing of the photosensitive material was performed in a state where the processing of the present invention, that is, the processing liquid suction operation of the slit portion 4 was not performed after the processing was completed, and was left as it was.

As a result, deposits were already observed at the tip of the slot die after 12 hours had passed, and when the processing solution was applied to the photosensitive material in that state, coating streaks due to the deposits occurred up to four sheets from the start. . On the fifth and subsequent sheets, the precipitate was naturally removed or dissolved in the processing solution, so that the coating could be performed normally. After 24 hours, 4
The same result was obtained in the coating test after 8 hours.

[0035]

According to the present invention, in providing a processing apparatus that does not substantially generate waste liquid, it is possible to solve a conventional problem in which components of the processing liquid tend to be stuck to the vicinity of the tip of the slot die. Was.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an example of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Slot die 3 Manifold 4 Slit part 5 Photosensitive material 7 Processing liquid 8 Conveyance roller 10 Processing liquid supply device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for processing a photosensitive material, comprising supplying a processing liquid to a photosensitive material through said slit by supplying a processing liquid to a slot die comprising at least a slit and a manifold. A method for processing a photosensitive material, comprising returning at least a part of the liquid to a supply side of the processing liquid. 2. A photosensitive material processing apparatus comprising: a slot die comprising at least a slit and a manifold; and a processing liquid supply means comprising a piston and a cylinder.