JP2003294363A - Dryer - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a running cost of a dryer. <P>SOLUTION: A nozzle 43 is arranged on a blowoff surface 34a of an air blowing duct 34 for blowing drying air toward a recording surface of a photosensitive material 10a. A heater 37 for heating the drying air to a prescribed temperature T1 is arranged on the blowoff surface 34a and an opposite side surface 34b. The temperature distribution of the drying air in the dryer 31 is low in the vicinity P0 of an air blower 36, becomes further low toward the nozzle 43, becomes highest by being heated up to the prescribed temperature T1 by the heater 37 in the vicinity P1 of the blowoff surface 34a, and becomes a temperature T2 required for drying the photosensitive material 10a in the recording surface P2 of the photosensitive material 10a. A difference between the temperature T1 and T2 is little caused, and thereby requiring no heightening of the temperature T1 heated by the heater 37, so that the photosensitive material 10a is efficiently dried. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for drying a recording medium while it is being conveyed in a conveying path.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an automatic processor such as a printer processor used in a photo lab, a photosensitive material such as photographic paper is cut into a cut sheet according to a print size, exposed,
After performing various printing processes such as back printing, it is conveyed to a developing device and sequentially subjected to various processes such as color development, bleach-fixing, washing with water and stabilization.

The photosensitive material after the development processing is conveyed to a drying device. As shown schematically in FIG. 7, a conventional drying device 1
01 is a drying chamber 103 for drying the outside air through the air duct 102.
And a heater 105 provided in the air duct 102 for heating the outside air to a predetermined temperature T3 (see FIG. 8), and the outside air warmed by the heater 105 as dry air on the photosensitive material 106. Blowing hole 1 to spray
A plate body 108 in which a plurality of 07 are formed, a conveying member 109 that conveys the photosensitive material 106, a circulation duct 110 that circulates the dry air in the drying chamber 103 to the blower 104, and a circulation duct 110 that is provided in the circulation duct 110. And an outside air inlet 111 for taking in fresh outside air.

As shown in FIG. 8, a conventional dryer 101 is used.
The temperature distribution of the dry air in the vicinity of the blower 104 is Q0.
Is the lowest, and at the outlet side Q1 of the heater 105, the heater 1
The temperature becomes the highest by being heated to a predetermined temperature T3 by 05, and gradually decreases from the temperature T3 due to heat radiation from the blower duct 102.
Thus, the temperature is slightly higher than the temperature T4 required for drying the photosensitive material 106. Then, the temperature becomes T4 on the recording surface Q3 of the photosensitive material 106, and then gradually decreases after that.

[0005]

Conventional drying apparatus 101
Then, the dry air heated to the temperature T3 by the heater 105 is
By the time it reaches the recording surface Q3 of the photosensitive material 106, the temperature will drop due to heat radiation from the blower duct 102 and the like. Therefore, it is necessary to increase the temperature T3 heated by the heater 105, and the difference between T3 and T4 is about 10 ° C to 15 ° C.
It is as high as ℃ and the thermal efficiency is poor. Therefore, the running cost of the device is increased.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a drying device that reduces the running cost of the device by efficiently transferring heat to the drying air.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention is an apparatus for drying a recording medium while conveying the recording medium in a conveying path. A dry air blowing member provided with a blowing hole for blowing dry air to the recording medium,
The drying air blowing member is provided in the vicinity of the blowing hole, and is provided with heating means for heating the drying air to a predetermined temperature.

The heating means includes a blowing surface of the dry air blowing member, a surface opposite to the blowing surface,
It is preferable to provide it inside the dry air blowing member. Further, a conveying unit that conveys the recording medium is provided at a position facing the dry air blowing member across the conveying path, and the recording medium is pressed against the conveying unit by the dry air from the blowing hole to convey the recording medium. Is preferred.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a schematic internal configuration of a printer processor 2 embodying the present invention. The printer processor 2 includes a printer unit 3 and a processor unit 4. The printer unit 3 includes a magazine 5, a cutter 6, a back printing unit 7, an exposure unit 8, and a sorting unit 9. The strip-shaped photosensitive material 10 set in the magazine 5 is cut by the cutter 6 according to the print size, and becomes a cut sheet-shaped photosensitive material 10a (see FIGS. 2 and 3).
The photosensitive material 10a has a conveying path 11 indicated by a two-dot chain line in the figure.
Is conveyed toward the exposure unit 8 along with, and the frame number and correction data are printed by the back printing unit 7 on the way. Then, an image based on the image data is exposed and recorded on the recording surface of the photosensitive material 10a by the exposure unit 8. Thereafter, the exposed photosensitive material 10a is sorted into a single row or multiple rows (for example, two rows) by the sorting unit 9 according to the print size and the print quantity, and is conveyed to the processor unit 4.

The processor section 4 comprises a development processing section 12, a squeeze section 13, a drying section 14, and a sorter section 15. The development processing section 12 is provided with a developing tank 16, a bleach-fixing tank 17, and first to fourth washing tanks 18 to 21 in this order from the upstream side (left side in the drawing) of the photosensitive material 10a in the conveying direction. A predetermined amount of developer is stored in the developing tank 16, a predetermined amount of bleach-fixing solution is stored in the bleach-fixing tank 17, and a predetermined amount of rinsing solution is stored in the first to fourth washing tanks 18 to 21, respectively. Inside the developing tank 16 and the bleach-fixing tank 17, a carrying rack 22 including a plurality of carrying rollers for carrying the photosensitive material 10a into a substantially U-shape inside the tank.
Is provided. Further, in the water washing tanks 18 to 21, a plurality of conveying roller pairs 23 for conveying the photosensitive material 10a are provided. The photosensitive material 10a is provided on the transport rack 22.
And the conveying roller pair 23 conveys the inside of each of the processing tanks 16 to 21, and the developing process is performed during the conveyance.

A submerged squeeze portion 2 is provided on the partition wall between the washing tanks.
4 are provided. In the water washing tanks 18 to 21, the photosensitive material 10a is conveyed in the liquid through the in-liquid squeeze portion 24. The submerged squeeze portion 24 includes a thin plate-shaped blade (not shown) that elastically deforms. This blade allows passage of the photosensitive material 10a and blocks outflow of the washing liquid. The developed photosensitive material 10 a has its water droplets adhering to the surface thereof removed by the squeeze portion 13 and is conveyed to the drying portion 14. Instead of the submerged squeeze unit 24, the photosensitive material 10a may be conveyed in the washing tanks 18 to 21 by the conveying rack 22 and the conveying roller pair 23 like the developing tank 16 and the bleach-fixing tank 17. Good.

The drying unit 14 is provided with a drying device 31. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, this drying device 3
1 includes a drying chamber 32, a transport member 33, a blower duct 34, a circulation duct 35, a blower 36, and a heater 37. On both side surfaces of the drying chamber 32, a carry-in inlet 38 through which the photosensitive material 10a is carried in from the squeeze portion 13 and a carry-out outlet 39 through which the photosensitive material 10a is carried out to the sorter portion 15 are provided.

The transport member 33 comprises a transport belt 40 and belt rollers 41 and 42. Conveyor belt 4
0 is a mesh belt such as a mesh belt and is wound between the belt rollers 41 and 42. The photosensitive material 10a is conveyed while being pressed against the conveyor belt 40 by the floating force of the dry air from the nozzle 43 described later. As described above, the recording surface of the photosensitive material 10a is the surface 34a of the air duct 34 that faces the photosensitive material 10a (hereinafter,
It is described as a balloon surface. ), The recording surface is not damaged by the contact between the photosensitive material 10a and the blowing surface 34a. The conveyor belt 4
An air shield plate may be provided on the side where the photosensitive material 10a of 0 is pressed, and the width for conveying the photosensitive material 10a by the conveyor belt 40 may be adjusted according to the width of the photosensitive material 10a in the direction orthogonal to the conveying direction.

As shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of circular nozzles 43 are provided in the width direction of the photosensitive material 10a on the blowing surface 34a of the air blowing duct 34 as a dry air blowing member, and are arranged at a predetermined pitch in the conveying direction. It is arranged. Dry air is blown from the nozzles 43 toward the recording surface of the photosensitive material 10a. The shape of the nozzle is not limited to the circular shape, and may be a slit shape or an elliptical shape. Further, the number of nozzles, the arrangement pitch, and the like can be appropriately changed according to various conditions such as the width of the photosensitive material 10a.

In FIG. 3, the blower 36 is provided at the inlet 44 of the blower duct 34 and blows the outside air from the outside air inlet 45 provided on the circulation duct 35 toward the nozzle 43. The heater 37 is composed of a long plate-shaped ceramic heater or the like, and has an inner surface 34 opposite to the blowing surface 34a.
A plurality of nozzles 43 are provided for each arrangement pitch of the nozzles 43. The heater 37 heats the outside air blown from the blower 36 to a predetermined temperature T1 (see FIG. 5). The blower 36 and the heater 37 are controlled by the main controller of the printer processor 2 so that the temperature of the dry air is optimized according to various conditions such as the type of the photosensitive material 10a, the conveying speed, the environment (temperature and humidity) of the outside air. Controlled.

The outside air heated by the heater 37 is blown toward the photosensitive material 10a from the blowing surface 34a of the blower duct 34. As a result, the photosensitive material 10a is pressed against the conveyor belt 40, and the photosensitive material 10a is transferred to the conveyor belt 4.
0 is transported and dried. The dry air blown on the photosensitive material 10 a circulates in the drying chamber 32 via the circulation duct 35.

As shown in FIG. 5, the temperature distribution of the dry air in the drying device 31 is low in the vicinity P0 of the blower 36,
The temperature is further lowered toward the nozzle 43, and in the vicinity P1 near the blowing surface 34a, a predetermined temperature T is set by the heater 37.
It becomes the highest when heated to 1. Then, the photosensitive material 10
On the recording surface P2 of a, the temperature becomes T2 necessary for drying the photosensitive material 10a. As described above, since there is no influence of heat radiation from the blower duct 34 and there is almost no difference between the temperatures T1 and T2, it is not necessary to raise the temperature T1 heated by the heater 37, and the photosensitive material 10a is efficiently dried. Can be made.

The photosensitive material 10a conveyed from the squeeze portion 13 through the carry-in port 38 is blown by the blower 36 and dried by the drying air heated to the temperature T1 by the heater 37. Then, it is sent to the sorter unit 15 through the carry-out port 39, and is sorted by the sorter unit 15 for each order.

As shown in FIG. 6, the heater 52 may be attached to the inner peripheral surface of the nozzle 51 or the inside of the air duct 53. Even in this case, the same effect as that of the above embodiment can be obtained. Further, the heater 52 may be provided on the blowing surface 53a of the blower duct 53. In this case, the heater is arranged smoothly so as not to hinder the conveyance of the photosensitive material 10a. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the air duct 34 is used as the dry air blowing member, but these may be provided separately. Furthermore, the heater 37 does not have to be in the shape of a long plate, and may be provided separately for each predetermined number of nozzles 43, for example.

The present invention can be applied not only to the printer processor of the above embodiment, but also to a drying device of an ink jet printer for forming an image on a recording medium by ejecting ink droplets from an ink jet head.

[0021]

As described above, according to the drying device of the present invention, the drying device is provided on the side facing the recording medium along the conveying path,
The recording medium is provided with a drying air blowing member having a blowing hole for blowing the drying air, and a heating means provided near the blowing hole of the drying air blowing member for heating the drying air to a predetermined temperature. The heat from the means can be efficiently transferred to the dry air. Therefore, the running cost of the device can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printer processor embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a drying device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a drying device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an overview of a blower duct.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a temperature distribution of dry air.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing a conventional drying device.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a temperature distribution of drying air in a conventional drying device.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Printer processor 10, 10a Photosensitive material (recording medium) 11 Transport path 14 Drying section 31 Dryer 33 Transport member 34 Blower duct (dry air blowing member) 34a Speech surface 36 blower 37 Heater (heating means) 43 nozzles (blowing holes)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for drying a recording medium while conveying the recording medium in a conveying path, wherein a blow hole is provided on the side facing the recording medium along the conveying path to blow dry air on the recording medium. A drying device comprising: a dry air blowing member; and a heating unit which is provided in the vicinity of the air blowing hole of the dry air blowing member and which heats the dry air to a predetermined temperature. 2. The heating means is provided on any one of a blowing surface of the dry air blowing member, a surface opposite to the blowing surface, and an inside of the dry air blowing member. The drying device described. 3. A transporting means for transporting the recording medium is provided at a position facing the dry air blowing member across the transport path, and the dry air from the blowing hole presses the recording medium against the transporting means. The drying device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the drying device is conveyed.