JP2002055430A - Drying device for sensitive material - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drying device for sensitive materials which obviates the occurrence of problems, such as excessive drying and insufficient drying of the sensitive materials by setting the drying temperature of a drying device by taking the temperature and humidity of the environment where a photographic processing device is installed into consideration. SOLUTION: The drying device 6 which dries the photographic paper P processed by the photographic processing device 1 in a drying chamber 16 while transporting the photographic paper comprises a temperature sensor 10 and humidity sensor 22 which measures the temperature and humidity of the environment disposed outside, a table in which the prescribed data containing the energization timing for on-off control of the heater in order to maintain the temperature and humidity of the drying chamber 16 within a prescribed range in accordance with the results of the measurement is previously stored and a control section 9 which controls the energization of the temperature sensor 40.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photosensitive material drying apparatus, and more particularly to a temperature control of a drying section of a photographic development processing apparatus for automatically developing photographic paper and photographic film as photosensitive materials.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art After a photographic paper of photosensitive material is cut into a predetermined size, it is sequentially conveyed to a processing tank storing a predetermined processing liquid.
Various photographic processing apparatuses configured to discharge to the outside after drying have been put to practical use.

The drying apparatus will be briefly described with reference to the sectional view of the drying apparatus shown in FIG. 6. A drying chamber 116 is provided with a temperature sensor 110 for measuring the internal temperature. A heater 112 and a fan motor 113 are provided to send air in the direction of the arrow. The heater and fan motor 113 are set to a predetermined temperature by using an operation panel of the photographic processing apparatus. Thus, the drying chamber 116 and the air temperature are kept constant.

[0004]

Since the conventional drying apparatus is configured as described above, the temperature is set to the temperature set using the operation panel regardless of the ambient temperature and humidity around the photographic processing apparatus. It was controlled to become.

[0005] For this reason, for example, when the environment around the photographic processing apparatus is low in temperature and humidity, setting the maximum setting temperature may cause excessive curling if the photosensitive material is photographic paper, because the photosensitive material is too dry. There is. For this,
There is a problem in that the photographic paper sorting apparatus that performs subsequent arranging of the photographic paper stacking unit according to the order is deteriorated in order.

On the other hand, if the set temperature is set to the minimum temperature when the surrounding environment is high humidity, the photographic paper cannot be sufficiently dried, so that the photograph has scratches and imprints, and the photographic paper cannot be dried. Sticking occurs, and in the worst case, there is a problem of peeling of the emulsion surface and jamming in the drying section.

As described above, if the drying temperature of the drying apparatus is set ignoring the surrounding environment temperature and humidity, problems such as excessive drying and insufficient drying are likely to occur. Although it is conceivable to change the set temperature, it is practically impossible for a busy operator to do this.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and by setting the drying temperature of a drying device in consideration of the environmental temperature and humidity, the photosensitive material can be over-dried or under-dried. It is an object of the present invention to provide a photosensitive material drying apparatus which does not cause the problem described above.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problems are solved,
In order to achieve the object, according to the present invention, a photosensitive material drying device that dries in a drying unit in which air heated by a heating unit is blown while conveying the photosensitive material processed by a photographic processing apparatus. An external environment measuring means for measuring the temperature and humidity of the environment, which is disposed outside the photographic processing apparatus, and the temperature and humidity of the drying unit are set within a predetermined range based on the measurement result. Storage means for storing in advance predetermined data including energization timing for on / off control of the heating means to maintain the heating means, a temperature measurement means provided in the drying unit, the storage means and the heating means And a control means connected to the means and the temperature measuring means for controlling the energization of the heating means based on the predetermined data.

[0010] Further, the present invention is a photosensitive material drying apparatus for drying a photosensitive material processed by a photographic processing apparatus in a drying section in which air heated by a heating means is blown by a blowing means while conveying the photosensitive material. Internal environment measuring means for measuring the temperature and humidity of the internal environment by being disposed inside the unit,
A storage unit that stores in advance predetermined data including an energization timing for ON / OFF control of the blowing unit and the heating unit in order to maintain the temperature and humidity of the drying unit within a predetermined range based on the measurement result. And a control unit connected to the storage unit, the blowing unit, and the heating unit, and for controlling energization of the blowing unit and the heating unit based on the predetermined data.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, FIG. 1 shows a housing 2 serving as a base in order to show the entire configuration of a photographic processing apparatus 1 (hereinafter also referred to as an apparatus 1).
FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state where a cover and the like which are provided detachably with respect to FIG. Although the case where photographic paper as a photosensitive material is processed is described with reference to FIG. 1, the drying unit can be used in common with a photographic processing apparatus that automatically develops a negative or positive photographic film. The configuration of the film processing apparatus is omitted.

In FIG. 1, the apparatus 1 includes a printer unit 3 for performing exposure, a processor unit 5 for processing photosensitive material, and a drying unit 6 when viewed from the front. It is configured to be flat in the direction of the front and back of the paper. With this configuration, while taking up the occupied area as much as possible, it has been considered that the main parts can be easily accessed from the front side,
It is easy to use for various tasks that must be performed daily.

The photographic paper P is supplied as roll paper RP,
After being cut to a predetermined size by the cutter 7, the photographic paper P sent to the printer unit 3 and exposed with the image captured through the lens 4 is distributed downstream of the printer unit 3 via the transport unit 8. It is sent to the developing processing tank 11 of the processor unit 5 provided, and the direction is changed in the direction of the arrow.
It is configured to be transported by a rack unit 14 provided in each processing tank so as to head toward the stable processing tank 13.

Then, it is sent to the drying chamber 16 of the drying device 6 via the stabilizing treatment tank 13, and after drying, is introduced into a direction changing device (not shown), sorted by size, and is sorted into a large-size tray or , And sent to a normal-size belt conveyor, and finally discharged to the outside of the apparatus 1. The drying chamber 16 of the drying device 6 is provided with a temperature sensor 40 for measuring the internal temperature.

On the other hand, a replenishment tank for a developer, a replenishment tank for a bleach-fix solution, and a replenishment tank for a stabilizing solution for replenishing a processing solution are provided on a lower side.

A power supply section is provided in a housing occupying a space below the drying chamber 16, and various controls relating to the above-described processing tanks and a temperature of a drying apparatus described later are provided on the power supply section. A control unit 9 for performing control is provided, and is configured to perform control of the entire apparatus and temperature control management described later.

On the other hand, the developing tank 11 of the processor section 5,
The bleach-fix processing tank 12 and the four stabilization processing tanks 13 are individually provided with a rack unit 14 as a photosensitive material transporting device for transporting photographic paper. Is set at a predetermined position shown in the drawing through an opening formed above the rack unit 14 and the rack unit 14 is pulled up, so that periodic inspection and cleaning of a large number of transport rollers provided in the rack unit 14 can be easily performed. It is configured to be able to.

Each of these rack units 14 obtains power using a drive chain driven by meshing with a gear sprocket fixed to an output shaft of a large motor (not shown) as a common power source. Are transported at the same speed over the entire transport path, and the drive chains provide power to other transport portions to synchronize the speed of the entire transport system.

The printer unit 3 is provided as a dark room, and an operation panel 2 for operating the photographic processing apparatus 1 is provided above and behind the dark room.

In the vicinity of the operation panel 2, a temperature sensor 10 for measuring an environmental temperature and a humidity sensor 22 for measuring an environmental humidity are provided.

Next, in FIG. 2A, which is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XX in FIG.
0 is provided to transmit the temperature measurement result to the control unit 9 described above. The control unit 9 includes a storage unit 9a and a control unit 9b. The control unit 9b is connected to a driver 19 that controls energization of the nichrome wire heater 42 and energizes the fan motor 43.

FIG. 3 is a control flowchart of the drying device 6 of the first embodiment configured as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 (a).

In FIG. 3, when the power of the apparatus 1 is turned on in step S1, the environmental temperature and humidity are measured by the temperature sensor 10 and the humidity sensor 22 in step S2.
In the next step S3, a drying temperature is selected from a table stored in the storage means 9a based on the measurement result. That is, the table stores in advance a table that determines how many times the drying chamber 16 can be set to an optimum temperature based on both the temperature and the humidity. The drying temperature is selected from the table according to the measurement results.

Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S4, in which the heater 42 and the fan motor 43 are activated, and waits for the processed photograph to be sent. Subsequently, in step S5, a waveform for ON / OFF control of the heater 42 is input to increase the temperature in the drying chamber 16 selected in step S3, and preparation for heater energization is made.

That is, in FIG. 4, the heater is continuously energized until the heater temperature reaches the set temperature, turned off when the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature, and energized when the temperature is lowered by blowing air, as shown in FIG.
The operation of waiting for the temperature to rise to the predetermined temperature is repeated (step S6).

In the next step S7, the result of the temperature measurement by the temperature sensor 40 in the drying chamber 16 is sent to the control means 9b to determine whether or not the temperature has risen to the drying temperature. . If the temperature has not risen to the drying temperature, the process returns to step S6, and the power supply is controlled to continue until the temperature rises to the drying temperature. Step S7
If it is determined that the temperature has risen to the drying temperature in step S8,
Then, the above-described series of energization control is stopped, and the process proceeds to step S9.

In step S9, it is simultaneously determined whether or not the temperature in the drying chamber has dropped after a predetermined time has elapsed, and the process returns to the end.

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the drying device 6 according to the second embodiment. Components already described in this drawing are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted. Then, the humidity sensor 22 provided near the operation panel 2 is provided downstream of the heater 42.

FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of the drying device 6 of the second embodiment configured as shown in FIG. 2B.

In FIG. 5, when the power of the apparatus 1 is turned on in step S10, the heater 42 is detected by the humidity sensor 22.
The measurement of the humidity downstream of is performed. Before or after this, the temperature of the drying chamber is measured by the temperature sensor 40 in step S14.

In step S12 subsequent to step S11, it is determined whether the humidity measurement result is a normal value. If not, the flow advances to step S13 to set an error flag and display an error on the operation panel 2. Prompt the operator to perform processing such as inspection.

On the other hand, step S1 following step S14
In step 5, it is determined whether or not the temperature measurement result is a normal value equal to or lower than the normal value. If not, the process proceeds to step S16, where an error flag is set and an error is displayed on the operation panel 2 to check with the operator. Prompt for such processing.

When both of the conditions in steps S12 and S15 are satisfied, the process proceeds to step S17, and the on / off control of the heater 12 is performed in substantially the same manner as steps S3 to S7 in FIG. Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the humidity sensor 11 indicates a predetermined value in step S18, and the operation in step S17 is repeated until the humidity sensor 11 reaches the predetermined value.

As described above, while avoiding heat generation of the apparatus 1 itself, the environmental temperature and humidity are measured by the temperature and humidity sensor, the data is converted from the output value, and the above program is used to obtain the appropriate drying temperature corresponding to the data. By changing the interval between ON and OFF of the heater to control the inside of the drying chamber 16 to a constant appropriate temperature, the drying condition of the printing paper is affected by the temperature and humidity around the machine. Disappears. That is, by feeding back the ambient temperature and humidity, drying can always be performed at a stable drying temperature, and overdrying and poor drying can be eliminated.

Conventionally, the drying apparatus is often set at an unnecessarily high temperature because of fear of poor drying. However, by controlling the drying temperature as needed as described above, the power consumption of the heater can be reduced. To save energy.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By setting the drying temperature of the drying device in consideration of the temperature and humidity of the environment in which the photographic processing device is installed, a drying device for the photosensitive material that does not cause problems such as excessive drying and insufficient drying of the photosensitive material can be provided. Can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire configuration of a photographic processing apparatus 1. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. 1, wherein (a) is a cross-sectional view of a drying device 6 according to the first embodiment;
(B) is a sectional view of a drying device 6 according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a control flowchart of the drying apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram of a heater on / off control.

FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of a drying apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional drying device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 photo processing device 6 drying device 9 control unit 9a storage unit 9b control unit 10 temperature sensor 11, 12, 13 processing tank (each processing tank) 14 rack unit 16 drying room (drying unit) 19 driver 22 humidity sensor 40 temperature sensor 42 Heater 43 Fan motor

Claims (2)

[Claims] An apparatus for drying a photosensitive material that dries in a drying section in which air heated by a heating unit is blown while transporting the photosensitive material processed by the photographic processing apparatus. Being provided outside, the external environment measuring means for measuring the temperature and humidity of the environment, and based on the measurement result, the heating for maintaining the temperature and humidity of the drying unit within a predetermined range. A storage unit in which predetermined data including an energization timing for on / off control of the unit is stored in advance, a temperature measurement unit provided in the drying unit, the storage unit, the heating unit, and the temperature measurement unit. And a control means for controlling the energization of the heating means based on the predetermined data. 2. A drying apparatus for a photosensitive material, wherein the drying of a photosensitive material processed by a photographic processing apparatus is carried out in a drying section in which air heated by a heating means is blown by a blowing means while conveying the photosensitive material. By being disposed inside the unit, an internal environment measuring means for measuring the temperature and humidity of the internal environment, based on the measurement result, to maintain the temperature and humidity of the drying unit within a predetermined range A storage unit in which predetermined data including an energization timing for ON / OFF control of the blowing unit and the heating unit is stored in advance; and the storage unit, the blowing unit, and the heating unit are connected to each other based on the predetermined data. An apparatus for drying a photosensitive material, comprising: a control unit for controlling power supply to the blowing unit and the heating unit.