JP2002268196A - Drying device for photosensitive material - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drying device for a photosensitive material, which can actualize energy saving wherein drying temperature is unnecessarily raised by taking the outside air in according to printing paper size, obtain the heat- resistance margin of components in the drying device, and secure heat resistance, durability and safety. SOLUTION: This device is equipped with a temperature sensor which measures the temperature of a duct member 16, a decision means which decides the sizes of sheets P1 and P2 of printing paper having different sizes, and a shutter mechanism which takes the outside air in according to the size decision result.

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 photosensitive material drying apparatus which handles photographic paper of different sizes as photosensitive material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of photosensitive material processing apparatuses have been put into practical use in which photographic paper is cut into a predetermined size, then sequentially conveyed to a processing tank storing a predetermined processing liquid, and discharged after drying. .

According to such a drying apparatus, while a temperature sensor for measuring the internal temperature is provided in the drying chamber,
A blower for sending air heated by a heater is provided in the drying chamber, and when the temperature is set to a predetermined temperature using the operation panel of the photosensitive material processing apparatus, energization of the heater and the blower is controlled by on / off control or the like. The drying and drying are performed by blowing warm air while conveying the photographic paper so that the temperature and humidity of the drying chamber are kept constant.

However, the conventional drying apparatus has a structure in which outside air is not introduced when circulating warm air, so that the amount of hot air leaking from the drying apparatus to the outside is reduced, and energy efficiency is improved. In the route, the air volume tends to be lost, and the drying capacity may be reduced due to insufficient air volume in some cases.

Further, in order to sufficiently dry a photographic paper larger than a standard size, more energy is required than when a normal size photographic paper is dried. Therefore, the temperature setting is appropriately changed depending on the size difference. The method is generally performed.

[0006] JP-A-11-65079, JP-A-11-65079
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-72900 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-133852 disclose apparatuses for drying photographic paper sequentially conveyed from a processing tank storing such a predetermined processing liquid.

[0007]

By the way, it is known that circulation of warm air at a high speed is also an important factor for drying in terms of drying efficiency. That is, without changing the drying temperature setting, for example, when drying a photographic paper having a size larger than the standard size and a large area, by introducing outside air into the drying chamber, the wind speed is increased, the air volume is increased, and the air circulation amount is increased. It is conceivable to improve the drying ability.

On the other hand, if the outside air is simply taken into the drying chamber, the air volume can be increased and the drying temperature can be lowered. However, always taking in the outside air causes the hot air to leak to the outside. The temperature of the room where the material processing equipment is installed is also increased.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and does not take in outside air into a drying chamber during normal operation, but increases the air volume when drying photographic paper larger than a standard size, for example. By taking in outside air, it is possible to realize energy saving without unnecessarily raising the drying temperature, and to secure a heat resistance margin of parts in the drying apparatus, thereby ensuring heat resistance and durability or safety. It is intended to provide an apparatus for drying photosensitive materials.

[0010]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problems are solved,
In order to achieve the object, according to the present invention, a drying device for a photosensitive material that blows air heated by a heating unit to a drying chamber by a blowing unit and conveys and processes the processed photosensitive material, Temperature measuring means for measuring the temperature of the drying chamber; and energizing control of the blowing means and the heating means in accordance with the result of the temperature measurement in order to maintain the temperature and humidity of the drying chamber within a predetermined range. Storage means for storing energization data for performing the determination; determination means for determining the size of the photosensitive material; and external air for introducing outside air into the drying chamber when the determination means determines that the size is equal to or larger than a predetermined size. Introducing means, connected to the temperature measuring means, the storing means, the heating means, and the outside air introducing means, and comprising control means for performing the current supply control and controlling the outside air introduction by the outside air introducing means. You It is characterized in that.

The drying chamber is provided with a circulating air blowing path by the air blowing means, and an opening for introducing the outside air is provided upstream of the air blowing means, and is provided downstream of the air blowing means. It is characterized in that the heating means is provided.

[0012]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a photosensitive material processing apparatus 1 (hereinafter referred to as apparatus 1).
FIG. 1 is a front view of a housing 2 serving as a base, in which a cover and the like are detachably provided in order to show an entire configuration.

In FIG. 1, an apparatus 1 comprises a printer unit 3 for performing exposure from the right side in a front view, a processor unit 5 for performing photosensitive material processing, and a drying unit 6. It is installed so as 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 is designed to allow easy access to the main parts from the front side, and when performing various tasks that should be performed daily, Easy to use.

The photographic paper is provided as a wide roll paper RP1 and a narrow roll paper RP2 in light-shielded cartridges which are individually and detachably provided at the illustrated positions. After cutting to a predetermined size, the image is first sent to the printer unit 3, and the image captured on the film via the lens 4 is exposed, and then the exposed photographic paper P is moved in the direction of the arrow in the transport unit 8. After being conveyed and turned in the direction of the arrow, it is sequentially conveyed in the developing processing tank 11, the bleach-fixing processing tank 12, and the stabilizing processing tank 13 of the processor unit 5 by the rack units 14 provided in each processing tank.

Then, it is sent to the drying chamber 10 of the drying device 6 via the stabilizing treatment tank 13, and after being dried, it is introduced into a direction change device (not shown) and sorted for each photographic paper size. Then, it is configured to be sent to a large-size tray or a normal-size belt conveyor and finally sent out of the apparatus 1. Drying room 1 of this drying device 6
At 0, a temperature sensor 40 for measuring the internal temperature is provided.

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 (not shown) are provided below the above-mentioned processing tanks. A power supply unit is provided in a housing occupying a space below the drying chamber 10, and various controls related to the above-described processing tanks and temperature control of the drying device 6 described later are provided on the power supply unit. For this purpose, a control unit 9 connected to the temperature sensor 40 is provided, and is configured to perform control of the entire apparatus and temperature control management described later.

The drying chamber 10 has a built-in duct member 16 provided with a plurality of open ducts 16a, and further has a drying chamber for transporting the photographic paper around the duct member 16 as shown in the figure. Direction change roller 29 for changing the direction of photographic paper toward 10 and conveying the photographic paper, and a plurality of conveying rollers 30
And a direction changing roller 31 for changing the direction from the lower side to the upper side, and drying is performed during the conveyance of the photographic paper by blowing warm air onto the photographic paper from the opening duct 16a of the duct member 16 described above. Is configured. And
An air circulation path is formed in which the air that has become wet due to a decrease in temperature after spraying is recovered from the opening 10 b provided in the drying chamber 10, heated, and then sent back into the duct member 16.

On the other hand, the printer section 3 is provided in a dark room.
An operation panel 2 for performing the above operation is provided. The operator is to expose a normal size photographic paper,
It is determined whether the exposure is for a large-size photographic paper and the operation panel 2 is operated to perform the exposure. At this time, information as to whether the normal size or the large format size is selected is sent to the control unit described later.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG. In this drawing, the same reference numerals are given to the components already described, and the description thereof will be omitted.
A temperature sensor 40 is provided inside 6, and sends a temperature measurement result to the control unit 9. The control unit 9 includes a storage unit 9a and a control unit 9b. The control unit 9b controls energization such as on / off control of a heater 20 formed of a nichrome wire and energizes the blower 21. And a driver 19 for energizing an electromagnetic solenoid 54 described later. Further, the control unit 9 is configured to determine whether the photographic paper size entering the drying device is a photographic paper larger than the normal (standard) size based on the information sent from the printer unit. Have been.

The air blown by the blower 21 becomes heated air heated by the heater 20, passes through the downstream duct 26, is introduced into the duct member 16, and is blown out from the opening duct 16a.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the drying device 6 based on FIG. 1 and FIG. In this drawing, the same reference numerals are given to the components already described and the description is omitted.
The photographic paper P1 of a normal size having a width W1 and the photographic paper P2 of a large size having a width W2 are printed in order by the chain line based on the exposure information of the printer unit. It is conveyed toward 29, conveyed downward, and then conveyed upward by the direction change roller 31 as shown. On the way, the heated air from the duct member 16 is blown in the direction of arrow F2 to perform drying. Thereafter, the air which has taken the moisture of the photographic paper by spraying and lowered the temperature to be in a wet state is dried in the drying chamber 1.
0 through the upstream duct 27 in the direction of the arrow F3 from the opening hole 10b provided at the opening 25c of the blower case 25.
From the blower 21 in the direction of arrow F4. The air sent out by the blower 21 passes through the opening 25b in the direction of arrow F5 and travels toward the heater 20. After being heated by the heater 20, the superheated air is sent into the duct member 16 through the opening 10 a passing through the downstream duct 26 and leading to the duct member 16. As described above, the air circulation path for feeding into the duct member 16 is formed.

An opening 25a for introducing outside air is provided in the side surface of the blower case body 25 in the direction of the arrow shown by a broken line, and the opening and closing of the opening 25a is performed by a shutter mechanism shown in FIG. I have to.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the shutter mechanism.
In the figure, the same reference numerals are given to the components already described, and the description is omitted. A stud 51 is implanted on the wall surface of the blower case 25, and a lever 52 having the stud 51 as a rotation fulcrum is provided. The shutter plate 50 fixed to the lever 52 closes the opening 25a.
It is configured to be in a closed state as shown in (a) and an open state as shown in (b). A tension spring 53 and an electromagnetic solenoid 54 are provided at the other end of the lever 52.
Are connected as shown in the figure, and when the electromagnetic solenoid 54 is not energized, the state shown in FIG. 4A is maintained, and the energization causes the action of the attraction force of the plunger as shown in FIG. 4B. The lever 52 pivots around the stud 51, and the shutter plate 50 moves upward from the opening 25a to enable the introduction of outside air.

FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of the drying apparatus described above.

In this figure, when the power of the apparatus 1 is turned on in step S1, the temperature is measured by the temperature sensor 40, and based on the measurement result, the drying temperature is selected from a table stored in the storage means 9a. I do. In other words, the table stores a preset table indicating how many times the drying chamber 16 can be set to the optimum temperature based on both the temperature and the humidity. The drying temperature is selected.

Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S2, in which the heater 20 and the blower 21 are activated to wait for the processed photographic paper to be sent, and the shutter plate 50 is moved to the position shown in FIG. Make sure that

In step S3, in order to raise the temperature in the drying chamber 16 selected in step S1, a waveform for energization control such as on / off control of the blower 21 and the heater 20 is input, and the temperature is raised. I do. That is, the heater is continuously energized until the heater temperature reaches the set temperature, is turned off when the temperature reaches a predetermined temperature, is energized when the temperature is lowered by blowing, and waits for the temperature to rise to the predetermined temperature.

In the next step S4, the photographic paper size is determined based on the information sent from the printer unit 3, and if the photographic paper P1 is of a small size, the process returns to step S3. In this step S4, the printing paper P
If it is determined that the shutter plate 5 is set to 2, the power supply to the electromagnetic solenoid 54 is performed and the shutter plate 5 is turned on.
Outside air is introduced by moving 0 upward. Then, the process returns in step S6 and ends.

As described above, the outside air is simply constantly dried in the drying chamber 1.
0, the outside air is not taken into the drying room in the normal operation, and the printing paper P2 larger than the standard size is not taken in.
In order to increase the air volume only when performing drying, the shutter mechanism operates to take in the outside air, thereby increasing the air speed and increasing the air volume, improving the drying efficiency, and saving energy without raising the drying temperature unnecessarily. realizable.

Thus, for example, when the drying temperature is 70 ° C.
, And a heat resistance margin of parts in the drying apparatus can be secured, so that heat resistance, durability and safety can be secured. Conventionally, the drying device is often set to an unnecessarily high temperature because of fear of poor drying.However, as described above, the unnecessarily high temperature can be set by controlling the shutter mechanism as necessary. No,
Since the release of heated air to the outside of the drying room is also minimized, the room temperature can be kept comfortable.

As described above, the outside air was taken in according to the print size, and the amount of air blown into the drying chamber was increased. As a result, large-size photographic paper could be dried at a low temperature of about 5 ° C. in terms of temperature. .

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Depending on the size of the photographic paper, it is possible to realize energy saving by unnecessarily raising the drying temperature by taking in the outside air, and to make it possible to take the heat resistance margin of the components in the drying device, and to improve the heat resistance and durability. It is possible to provide a photosensitive material drying apparatus capable of ensuring safety.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an overall configuration of a photosensitive material processing apparatus 1. FIG.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of the drying device based on FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a front view of a shutter mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a control flowchart of the drying apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 photosensitive material processing apparatus 6 drying apparatus 9 control section 10 drying chamber 11, 12, 13 processing tank (each processing tank) 14 rack unit (transporting means) 16 duct member 19 driver 20 heater (heating means) 21 blower (blowing means) 25 blower case 25a opening 50 shutter plate (outside air introduction means) 54 electromagnetic solenoid

Claims (2)

[Claims] An apparatus for drying a photosensitive material, wherein air heated by a heating means is blown into a drying chamber by a blowing means, and the processed photosensitive material is dried while being conveyed, wherein the temperature of the drying chamber is measured. In order to maintain the temperature and humidity of the drying chamber within a predetermined range, temperature measurement means, and energization data for performing energization control of the blowing means and the heating means corresponding to the result of the temperature measurement are stored. A storage unit; a determination unit that determines a size of the photosensitive material; an outside air introduction unit that introduces outside air into the drying chamber when the determination unit determines that the size is equal to or larger than a predetermined size; And a control unit connected to the storage unit, the heating unit, and the outside air introduction unit, and configured to control the energization and control the outside air introduction by the outside air introduction unit. Drying equipment for optical materials. 2. The drying chamber is provided with a circulating air passage by the air blowing means, and an opening for introducing the outside air is provided upstream of the air blowing means, and is provided downstream of the air blowing means. 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said heating means is provided.