JP2002365781A - Equipment and method of drying photosensitive material - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To control the temperature and air blasting rate of drying air by detecting the amount of curling of a photosensitive material. SOLUTION: Since the expansion and contraction rate of a photosensitive emulsion layer 9b of photographic paper 9 and the expansion and contraction rate of a base 9a vary, the photographic paper 9 curls around the emulsion layer 9b on the inner side as the paper dries. A photointerruptor 43 consisting of an irradiating section 43a and a photodetecting section 43b is disposed near the air blasting duct of a drying section in order to detect the amount of curling of the photographic paper. The amount D of curling is detected by the photointerruptor 43 and when the amount D of curling exceeds a reference value A, the heating of drying air by a heater is turned off. When the amount D of curling is judged not to attain the reference value A even after lapse of the prescribed time, the photographic paper 9 is judged to be undried and the heating of the dry air by the heater or the air lasting rate of the dry air is so controlled as to increase. Since the drying of the photographic paper is controlled in accordance with the amount of curling, the drying control of the photographic paper 9 can be easily performed.

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 method used in an automatic developing machine such as a printer processor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic developing machine such as a printer processor used in a photographic developing laboratory, a photographic paper developing process is performed inside the automatic developing machine. For example, development processing is performed by transporting a photographic paper on which a frame image has been exposed through a plurality of processing tanks containing a processing solution such as color development, bleach-fixing, washing and stabilization, or water.

The photographic paper after development processing contains a large amount of water and is in a wet state. For this reason, the photographic paper after the development processing is transported to the drying chamber, where the drying processing is performed. The set room temperature of the drying chamber can be changed by an operator's judgment, and the temperature is controlled so that the set temperature is maintained. As described above, in the conventional printing paper drying, the drying condition is adjusted by changing the set temperature of the drying chamber.

The drying state of the photographic paper in the drying chamber is as follows.
It is constantly changing due to environmental conditions such as the location of the automatic developing machine and the temperature and humidity in the drying room. For example, actual fairness 2-3
In Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 542, an exhaust fan is used in the drying chamber to keep the humidity in the drying chamber constant. Also,
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-260445, drive control of a heating heater and a drying fan is performed so that the water content of a photosensitive material dried in a drying chamber and the water content in ambient air are balanced. ing. As a result, a change in a dry state due to a change in environmental conditions is reduced.

[0005]

However, because of the influence of the environment such as the installation location of the equipment, noise due to the influence of these environments is eliminated, and the dry state of the photosensitive material is determined by the output of a temperature sensor, humidity sensor, or the like. It is difficult to grasp by. Further, since the drying state varies depending on the type of the photosensitive emulsion layer of the photosensitive material, it is difficult to always dry the photosensitive material under appropriate conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a photosensitive material drying apparatus and method capable of drying accurately and under appropriate conditions even when the types and sizes of photosensitive emulsion layers are different. The purpose is to:

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a photosensitive material drying apparatus of the present invention blows dry air in a drying chamber against a photosensitive material after a development process to dry the photosensitive material. A detecting means for detecting the amount of curl generated in the photosensitive material, and a control means for controlling the temperature or amount of the drying air based on the detected amount of curl. When the curl amount does not reach the reference value, the control means controls the temperature or amount of the drying air in a direction to increase the drying capacity, and when the curl amount exceeds the reference value, the drying air in a direction to decrease the drying ability. To control the temperature or air volume of the air conditioner.

The drying chamber includes a drying air blowing means for blowing a drying air toward the photosensitive material, and a plurality of conveying roller pairs for conveying the photosensitive material having passed through the drying air blowing means. The detecting means is disposed at a position on the upstream side in the photosensitive material feeding direction with respect to the first conveying roller pair which first conveys the photosensitive material having passed through the drying air blowing means. It is preferable that a non-contact sensor is used as the detection means, and the non-contact sensor is disposed with the width direction of the photosensitive material set as an inspection direction.

As a method for drying the photosensitive material, a curling amount of the photosensitive material is detected when drying the photosensitive material by blowing dry air on the photosensitive material after the development processing in a drying chamber. The temperature or the amount of the drying air is controlled based on the curl amount.

[0010]

FIG. 1 schematically shows the internal configuration of a printer processor 2 embodying the present invention. The film processor 2 includes a printer unit 3 and a processor unit 4. The printer unit 3 includes a paper feed magazine 6, an exposure unit 7, and a back printing unit 8. The photographic paper 9 set in the paper feed magazine 6 is pulled out toward the exposure unit 7, and an image based on the image data is exposed and recorded on the light receiving surface of the photographic paper 9. Then, the exposed photographic paper 9
Is printed on the back print unit 8, for example, a frame number and correction data, and is conveyed to the processor unit 4.

The processor section 4 comprises a developing section 12, a drying section 13, a cutter section 14, and a sorter section 15. As is well known, the development processing unit 12 includes a color developing tank 16, a bleach-fixing tank 17, and washing tanks 18 to 21 which are sequentially arranged adjacent to each other.
Each of them is filled with a processing solution and cleaning water. Photographic paper 9
Is transported in each of the tanks 16 to 21 under the driving force of the transport rack, and the developing process is performed.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
Is for drying the photographic paper 9 after the water washing process, and includes a drying chamber 24, a photographic paper transport rack 25 disposed in the drying chamber 24, and a wall on the photographic paper entrance side of the drying chamber 24. It comprises a ventilation duct 26, a heater 27 and a drying fan 28 to be arranged.

The photographic paper transport rack 25 is removably mounted in the drying chamber 24 and forms a U-shaped photographic paper transport path. For this reason, the photographic paper transport path is sequentially arranged from the feed direction of the photographic paper 9 to the feed roller pairs 31 and 32,
To 35, and first to sixth transport roller pairs 36 to 41 are provided. These roller pairs and guide rollers are attached to a rack body (not shown). Feeding roller pair 3
The reference numerals 1 and 32 pinch and convey the photographic paper 9 sent from the washing layer 21 and send it out to the guide roller 33 side. It should be noted that the printing paper 9 immediately after coming out of the washing layer 21 does not have the problem of adhesiveness due to the gelatinous nature of the protective layer due to adhesion of water droplets during drying, etc. There is no occurrence of winding of the paper 9 or the like.

The guide rollers 33 to 35 are connected to the air duct 2
The printing paper 9 supported by the drying air blown from the supporting paper 6 is supported and guided toward the lower first conveying roller pair 36. The first to sixth transport roller pairs 36 to 41 transport the photographic paper 9 dried by blowing the drying air from the air duct 26 toward the cutter unit 14. In addition, each guide roller 33-3
A guide plate (not shown) is provided between the guide plates 5 to guide the printing paper 9.

The heater 27 and the drying fan 28 are controlled by a control circuit 44, which controls the temperature inside the drying unit 13. The blower duct 26 is provided in parallel with the conveyance path, and has a plurality of slits 26 a facing the photosensitive emulsion side of the photographic paper 9. The drying air heated by the heater 27 is blown out from the slit 26a toward the photosensitive emulsion surface of the photographic paper 9, so that the photographic paper 9 can be dried while being conveyed. The drying air blown out from the slit 26a and blown to the photosensitive emulsion surface of the photographic paper 9 is:
It is returned to the drying fan 28 by a duct (not shown). Thereafter, the heat treatment is performed by the heater 27, and the heat is sent out again into the air duct 26 and circulated.

Above the first transport roller 36, a non-contact sensor, for example, a transmission type photo interrupter 43 is disposed so that the width direction of the printing paper 9 is the inspection direction. The photo-interrupter 43 includes an irradiating unit 43a and a light-receiving unit 43b with the photographic paper 9 interposed therebetween. The inspection position by the irradiation unit 43a and the light receiving unit 43b is between the air duct 26 and the printing paper 9. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the printing paper 9 is formed of a support 9a and a photosensitive emulsion layer 9b. When a developing process and a drying process are performed, a gutter-shaped curl occurs due to a difference in expansion and contraction rate of each layer. Occurs. As shown in FIG. 5, it is detected whether or not the curl amount D of the curl exceeds the reference value A, and the temperature of the drying unit 13 is adjusted. The reference value A is obtained in advance by an experiment.

The control circuit 44 includes a photo interrupter 43
The temperature of the drying air and the amount of the blown air are adjusted based on the detection signal of (1). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when the photographic paper 9 is not curled or the curl amount D is small, the inspection light emitted from the irradiation unit 43a of the photo interrupter 43 is directly incident on the light receiving unit 43b. Therefore, a curl-free signal is always output from the photo interrupter 43 to the control circuit 44. In this case, the control circuit 44 measures the time. If no curl is detected after a predetermined time has elapsed, the control circuit 44 determines that the photographic paper 9 is not sufficiently dried, and turns on the heater 27 to turn on the heater 27. The drying capacity is increased by heating the drying air or increasing the amount of air blown by the drying fan 28.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, when the curl amount D of the photographic paper 9 is larger than the reference value A, the inspection light from the irradiation unit 43a of the photo interrupter 43 is blocked by the photographic paper 9. In the light receiving section 43b, the inspection light cannot be obtained. For this reason, the control circuit 44 determines that the drying capacity is high, and turns off the heater 27 or controls the driving of the drying fan 28 to control the amount of the drying air to be reduced. Hereinafter, the above control is repeated based on the position of the curl amount D.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the main power of the printer processor 2 is turned on, the control circuit 44 drives the heater 27 and the drying fan 28 based on the initial settings,
The room temperature of the drying chamber 24 is preheated to a predetermined temperature. When the room temperature in the drying chamber is set by an external input, preheating is performed until the set temperature is reached. Then, when the inside of the drying chamber 24 reaches the set temperature, the developing process is started.

As shown in FIG. 1, the photographic paper 9 pulled out of the paper feed magazine 6 is subjected to exposure by an exposure unit 7 and printing processing on the back side by a back printing unit 8. Then, the developer is conveyed from the print unit 3 to the processor unit 4, and is conveyed through the inside of the color developing tank 16, the bleaching / fixing tank 17, and the washing tanks 18 to 21 of the developing processing unit 12 to perform the developing process. The photographic paper 9 on which the developing process has been performed is transferred to the squeeze roller 46.
The water adhering to the photographic paper 9 is returned to the washing tank 21. Further, the photographic paper 9 is detected by the sheet detection sensor 47.
Is detected. The photographic paper 9 conveyed to the drying unit 13 is changed in the feeding direction upward by each of the conveying roller pairs 36 to 38, and is sent to the cutter unit 14. In the cutter unit 14, the printing paper 9 is cut for each image, and sorted by the sorter unit 15 for each order.

The photographic paper 9 passing through the drying unit 13 is dried by the drying air blown out from the slit 26a of the air duct 26 during the downward conveyance from the feed rollers 31 and 32 to the first conveyance roller 36. . At this time, the photo-interrupter 43 detects the curl. As shown in FIG. 4, for example, when the curl amount D does not reach the reference value A, it is determined that the drying ability at the time of the drying process is appropriate, and the current drying control conditions are maintained. Then, the control circuit 44 controls to increase the drying capacity by increasing the amount of heating by the heater 27 or increasing the speed of the drying fan 28 to increase the amount of air blown by the drying air.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, when the photographic printing paper 9 is curled and the photo-interrupter 43 detects a curling amount D equal to or larger than the reference value A, the drying state of the photographic printing paper 9 is excessive. Since the drying is performed, the heater 27 is turned off or the amount of heating is reduced, and further, the amount of drying air blown by the drying fan 28 is controlled to be reduced. As described above, by controlling the temperature of the drying air or controlling the amount of the blown air according to the magnitude of the curl amount, an ideal drying process can be performed.

In this embodiment, the photo-interrupter is fixed and the curl is detected. However, the curl amount is orthogonal to the photographic paper surface so that the position of the detected curl amount can be changed according to the paper width and type of the photographic paper. The mounting position may be freely changed depending on the direction. Alternatively, a plurality of photo interrupters may be arranged at a predetermined pitch in the photographic paper feeding direction, and the drying control may be performed according to the curl amount by the plurality of photo interrupters. For example, when the photo interrupters are arranged at a predetermined pitch in the photographic paper feeding direction, the position where the curl equal to or more than the reference value is detected, and the difference between the set temperature and the actual drying room temperature are stored in advance as data. Thereby, the temperature of the drying air or the amount of the blown air can be adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 7, when a plurality of photointerrupters 55 and 56 are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the printing paper 57, the temperature of the dry air or the amount of air blown in accordance with the detected curl amount. Can be controlled. For example,
As shown in FIG. 7A, when curl is detected by the photo interrupter 55, it is determined that the drying conditions at the time of the drying process are appropriate, and the current drying control conditions are maintained. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
When the curl is detected in steps 5 and 56, the heating of the drying air by the heater is stopped, and the amount of air blown by the drying fan is reduced. Reference numeral 58 denotes an air duct, and reference numeral 58a denotes a slit. Note that a line sensor may be used as a light receiving unit instead of a plurality of phototransistors.

[0025]

As described above, according to the drying apparatus of the present invention, the detecting means for detecting whether or not the amount of curl generated in the photosensitive material has reached the reference value, and based on the detection result by the detecting means. A control means for detecting the temperature or air volume of the drying air is provided, so that it is possible to prevent overdrying during the drying process and to perform the drying process under appropriate conditions even if the type of photosensitive material is different. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a printer processor embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a drying unit.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration of a drying unit.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the photographic paper does not curl during a drying process.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state in which the photographic printing paper is curled during a drying process and the curl amount is equal to or more than a reference value.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a drying process.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view when a plurality of phototransistors are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the printing paper surface.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 2 printer processor 3 print unit 4 processor unit 9 photographic paper 12 development processing unit 13 drying unit 26 ventilation duct 27 heater 28 drying fan 43 photo interrupter 44 control circuit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A photosensitive material drying apparatus for drying a photosensitive material by blowing dry air in a drying chamber on the photosensitive material after the development processing, wherein a detecting means for detecting a curl amount generated in the photosensitive material. And a control unit for controlling the temperature or amount of the drying air based on the detected curl amount. 2. The control means controls the temperature or air volume of the drying air in a direction to increase the drying capacity when the curl amount does not reach the reference value, and decreases the drying capacity when the curl amount exceeds the reference value. 2. The photosensitive material drying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature or amount of the drying air is controlled. 3. The drying chamber includes a drying air blowing means for blowing a drying air toward the photosensitive material, and a plurality of conveying roller pairs for conveying the photosensitive material passing through the drying air blowing means. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit is disposed at a position on an upstream side in a photosensitive material feeding direction with respect to a first conveying roller pair that first conveys the photosensitive material that has passed through the drying air blowing unit. Or the photosensitive material drying apparatus according to 2. 4. The non-contact type sensor according to claim 1, wherein a non-contact type sensor is used as the detection unit, and the width direction of the photosensitive material is set as an inspection direction, and the non-contact type sensor is arranged. Photosensitive material drying equipment. 5. A photosensitive material drying method for drying a photosensitive material by blowing dry air in a drying chamber against the photosensitive material after the development processing, wherein a curl amount of the photosensitive material is detected, and the curl amount is determined. A method for drying a photosensitive material, comprising controlling the temperature or the amount of drying air based on the drying temperature.