JP2006178273A - Photographic printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photographic printing apparatus, capable of averting exertion of an excessive load on a photographic paper under carrying and simplifying the constitution of the part of the apparatus as a whole. <P>SOLUTION: In the photographic printing apparatus 10, the photographic paper P is carried and is subjected to exposure processing, while the paper is pulled out of a roll P0 wound with the long-sized photographic paper P. The photographic printer 10 is equipped with a loop-forming section 32 (dancer roller 32a, roller driving section 32b) for adjusting the length of a carrying path of the photographic paper P, a driving section 70 for directly rotatively driving the roll P0 of the photographic paper P, and a controller 72 for controlling the rotational speed of the roll P0 by the driving section 70. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a photographic printing apparatus that continuously prints a photographic print by pulling out the photographic paper while rotating a roll body of the photographic paper wound in a roll shape and transporting it to the downstream printing position.

In general, a photographic printing apparatus that performs photographic printing processing on photographic paper based on image data is provided with a transport mechanism that pulls out the photographic paper stored in a magazine while being wound in a roll shape.
This transport mechanism is composed of a plurality of roller pairs and the like, and transports the photographic paper to the printing processing position with the photographic paper sandwiched between the pair of rollers. The transport mechanism includes a roller (dancer roller) that can move in a direction that intersects the transport direction of the photographic paper. The dancer roller can adjust the length of the transport path of the transported photographic paper by moving within the movable range while contacting the photographic paper being transported. As a result, even if the balance between the conveyance speed of the conveyance mechanism and the supply speed of the photographic paper from the magazine is lost and slack occurs in the photographic paper being conveyed, the dancer roller is moved to loop the photographic paper being conveyed. By forming the portion and adjusting the length of the conveyance path, it is possible to absorb the sag of the photographic paper. In this way, by absorbing the slack of the photographic paper by the dancer roller, it is possible to absorb the slack of the photographic paper in the magazine to prevent damage to the photographic paper and to perform a stable printing process (Patent Document 1). , 2).
JP-A-6-347908 (published on December 22, 1994) JP 2004-189402 A (published July 8, 2004)

However, the conventional photographic printing apparatus has the following problems.
That is, in each of the photographic printing apparatuses disclosed in the above publications, the dancer roller is brought into contact with the photographic paper and moved in a direction intersecting the conveyance direction of the photographic paper to form a loop portion of the photographic paper. The occurrence of sagging of photographic paper during conveyance is prevented. However, it is necessary to increase the movable range of the dancer roller or increase the number of dancer rollers only by forming the loop portion of the photographic paper by moving the dancer roller, and the mechanism for adjusting the transport path length may be complicated. is there. In particular, if the roll diameter of the roll body around which the photographic paper is wound increases, it takes a long time to use up all of the roll body. Therefore, the amount of sag of the photographic paper to be absorbed by the dancer roller increases accordingly. Further, the mechanism for adjusting the length of the transport path is more complicated.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a photographic printing apparatus capable of avoiding applying an excessive load to the photographic paper being conveyed and simplifying the configuration of the entire apparatus.

  A photographic printing apparatus according to a first invention is a photographic printing apparatus that performs an image printing process on a photosensitive medium based on image data, and includes a roll body, a drive unit, a control unit, a conveyance mechanism, It has. The roll body is formed by winding a photosensitive medium in a roll shape. The driving unit supplies the photosensitive medium by rotating the roll body. The control unit controls the rotation speed of the roll body by the driving unit. The transport mechanism continuously transports the photosensitive medium drawn from the roll body to a position where the printing process is performed.

Here, in a photographic printing apparatus that continuously prints an image on a photosensitive medium that is conveyed while being drawn from a roll body formed by winding a long photosensitive medium, a driving unit directly touches the roll body. While rotating, the controller controls the rotation speed.
Normally, long photosensitive media that are pulled out from such a roll body and transported are being transported in order to prevent sagging during transport and image printing cannot be performed accurately. The slack of the photosensitive medium generated in the above is absorbed by adjusting the length of the transport path by a transport path length adjusting mechanism such as a dancer roller. However, with such a mechanism that absorbs the slack of the photosensitive medium during conveyance by adjusting the length of the conveyance path, the adjustment range of the conveyance path length becomes large and the configuration of the conveyance path length adjustment mechanism becomes complicated. There is. In particular, if the length of the photosensitive medium included in one roll body is increased, the adjustment range of the conveyance path length is increased. Therefore, measures such as increasing the number of conveyance path length adjustment mechanisms or increasing the adjustment range are included. Is required.

Therefore, in the photographic printing apparatus of the present invention, in order to prevent sagging of the photosensitive medium being conveyed, the supply amount of the photosensitive medium is adjusted by directly rotating the roll body and controlling the rotation speed.
As a result, even when sagging occurs in the photosensitive medium being conveyed, the supply amount of the photosensitive medium can be temporarily reduced by, for example, reducing the rotation speed of the roll body while keeping the conveyance speed of the photosensitive medium constant. Thus, the occurrence of sagging of the photosensitive medium can be prevented. As a result, since the slack of the photosensitive medium during conveyance can be prevented by adjusting the rotation speed of the roll body, the configuration of the photographic printing apparatus is simplified by eliminating the conveyance path length adjusting mechanism provided in the conventional photographic printing apparatus. Can be Furthermore, since the photosensitive medium can be automatically supplied by directly driving the rotation of the roll body, it is possible to prevent the photosensitive medium from being excessively pulled during conveyance and to avoid an increase in the load on the paper. .

A photographic printing apparatus according to the second invention is the photographic printing apparatus according to the first invention, and is provided in the conveyance mechanism, and changes the length of the conveyance path of the photosensitive medium drawn from the roll body. A transport path length adjusting mechanism is further provided.
Here, in a photographic printing apparatus that continuously prints an image on a photosensitive medium that is conveyed while being drawn out from a roll formed by winding a long photosensitive medium, sagging of the photosensitive medium during conveyance As a mechanism for absorbing the occurrence of this, a conveyance path length adjusting mechanism is provided in addition to the rotational speed control of the roll body.

  For this reason, when slack occurs in the photosensitive medium during conveyance, the rotation speed control of the roll body and the adjustment control of the conveyance path length by the conveyance path length adjustment mechanism can be combined. Specifically, when slack occurs in the photosensitive medium during transport, the slack is first absorbed by the transport path length adjusting mechanism, and the adjustment range (for example, the movable range of the dancer roller) by the transport path length adjusting mechanism is increased. When the limit is reached, the rotational speed of the roll body is decreased to temporarily reduce the supply amount of the photosensitive medium, and the dancer roller of the conveyance path length adjusting mechanism is returned to the initial position.

As a result, slack can be absorbed using the conveyance path length adjustment mechanism for the occurrence of fine sag during conveyance, and rotation by the control unit when the slack absorption by the conveyance path length adjustment mechanism becomes the limit. By performing the drive control, it is possible to reduce the frequency of performing the rotational drive control in the control unit and reduce the control burden on the control unit.
Even when the conveyance path length adjustment mechanism is provided in this way, the adjustment range of the conveyance path length adjustment mechanism can be greatly reduced, and only one conveyance path length adjustment mechanism is required. The configuration can be simplified as compared with the printing apparatus.

A photographic printing apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the photographic printing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, wherein the conveyance path length adjusting mechanism is a rotating roller that rotates while contacting the photosensitive medium to be conveyed, and a photosensitive medium. And a moving mechanism for moving the rotating roller in a direction crossing the conveying direction.
Here, as a mechanism for adjusting the transport path length of a long photosensitive medium being transported, a rotating roller that rotates in contact with the photosensitive medium, and the rotating roller moves in a direction intersecting the transport path of the photosensitive medium. And a moving mechanism.

Thereby, the slack of the photosensitive medium generated during conveyance can be absorbed by moving the rotating roller in a direction intersecting the photosensitive medium to form a loop portion on the photosensitive medium.
A photographic printing apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the photographic printing apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the control unit switches the rotation speed of the roll body according to the position of the rotating roller.
Here, the rotational speed of the roll body is adjusted in accordance with the position of the rotating roller of the transport path length adjusting mechanism, that is, the loop amount of the long photosensitive medium being transported generated by the movement of the rotating roller.

  Here, the rotating roller adjusts the conveyance path length of the photosensitive medium so that no slack is produced in the long photosensitive medium being conveyed. For example, if the photosensitive medium supplied from the roll body has a larger conveyance amount than the conveyance speed of the conveyance mechanism and the photosensitive medium in the conveyance path is slack, the rotating roller moves so as to intersect the conveyance direction. Thus, a loop portion is formed on the photosensitive medium being conveyed. The loop portion absorbs the slack of the photosensitive medium, so that the printing process can be accurately performed on the photosensitive medium. However, in order to absorb the slack of the photosensitive medium during conveyance only by the movement of the rotation roller in the conveyance path length adjusting mechanism, it is necessary to increase the movable range of the rotation rotor or increase the number of movable rotation rollers. is there.

Therefore, in the photographic printing apparatus of the present invention, the rotational speed of the roll body that is directly driven to rotate is controlled while monitoring the position of the rotating roller.
As a result, when a small slack occurs, the rotation roller is moved to increase the loop amount to absorb the slack, and when the rotation roller reaches the limit position of the movable range, the rotation speed of the roll body is adjusted to adjust the rotation speed of the rotation roller. The slack of the photosensitive medium can be prevented while returning the position to the reference position. As a result, the number of rotating rollers can be reduced and the operating range of the rotating rollers can be reduced, so that the configuration of the transport path length adjusting mechanism can be simplified.

A photographic printing apparatus according to a fifth invention is the photographic printing apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth inventions, wherein the controller rotates the roll body in accordance with a change in the winding diameter of the roll body. Switch speed.
Here, the rotational speed control of the roll body according to the winding diameter of the roll body is defined. That is, since the roll body is formed by winding a long photosensitive medium, the roll diameter of the roll body decreases as the photosensitive medium is conveyed. For this reason, in order to keep the conveyance speed of the photosensitive medium constant, it is necessary to increase the rotation speed as the roll diameter of the roll body decreases.

Therefore, in the photographic printing apparatus of the present invention, the rotation speed of the roll body is controlled while monitoring the winding diameter of the roll body.
As a result, the photosensitive medium can always be supplied at a constant transport speed even when the roll diameter of the roll body is reduced.
A photographic printing apparatus according to a sixth aspect of the present invention is the photographic printing apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the controller switches the rotational speed of the roll body stepwise.

Here, the rotation speed of the roll body is switched stepwise in accordance with the change in the winding diameter of the roll body, the position of the rotating roller, and the like.
Thus, when the roll diameter of the roll body becomes a predetermined size or when the rotating roller has moved to a predetermined position, it is only necessary to switch the rotation speed step by step, so complicated control is unnecessary. Become.

According to the photographic printing apparatus of the first invention, the configuration of the photographic printing apparatus can be simplified, and an increase in the load on the paper can be avoided.
According to the photo printing apparatus of the second invention, the adjustment range of the conveyance path length by the conveyance path length adjustment mechanism can be reduced or the mechanism can be simplified, and the frequency of performing the rotational drive control in the control unit can be reduced. The control burden on the control unit can be reduced.

According to the photographic printing apparatus relating to the third invention, it is possible to absorb the slack of the photosensitive medium generated during the conveyance.
According to the photographic printing apparatus of the fourth invention, the number of rotating rollers can be reduced and the operating range of the rotating rollers can be reduced, so that the configuration of the transport path length adjusting mechanism can be simplified. it can.

According to the photographic printing apparatus according to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the photosensitive medium can always be supplied at a constant transport speed even when the roll diameter of the roll body is reduced.
With the photographic printing apparatus according to the sixth aspect of the invention, it is only necessary to switch the rotation speed in stages, so that complicated control becomes unnecessary.

A photographic printing apparatus (photographic printing apparatus) 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
[Configuration of Photo Printing Apparatus 10]
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the photographic printing apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention conveys the photographic paper P while pulling it out from the roll body P0 of the photographic paper (photosensitive medium) P wound in a roll shape. Then, it is a so-called roll-to-roll type photographic printing apparatus in which the exposure processing is performed and the photographic paper P is wound up again in a long length and stored as a roll body P2. The photographic printing apparatus 10 includes a magazine 12, an exposure processing unit 14, a magazine 16, a print control unit 18, a display unit 20, and an input unit (not shown).

The magazine 12 is arranged on the most upstream side in the conveyance path of the photographic paper P, and stores a roll body P0 on which the photographic paper P before being subjected to the exposure process is wound in a roll shape.
The exposure processing unit 14 is arranged on the downstream side of the magazine 12 and is transported while being pulled out from the magazine 12 based on image data acquired from a media reader, a film scanner, or the like (not shown) for performing photo printing. An exposure process (printing process) is performed on the photographic paper P to be printed.

  The magazine 16 is arranged on the most downstream side in the conveyance path of the photographic paper P, and stores the roll body P2 in which the photographic paper P subjected to the exposure processing is rolled again around the rotation shaft 16a. To do. A rotation drive unit (not shown) is also provided in the vicinity of the magazine 16, and this rotation drive unit rotates the rotation shaft 16 a in accordance with the conveyance speed of the photographic paper P, so that a long length subjected to exposure processing is provided. The photographic paper P is wound up.

  The print control unit 18 controls each operation for performing a printing process performed in the photographic printing apparatus 10. Specifically, the joint portion of the photographic paper P detected by receiving the detection result from the splice sensor 26, which controls the exposure processing, or stops the operation by receiving the detection result from the paper end sensor 24. The timing of exposure is controlled so that exposure processing is performed while avoiding the above.

The display unit 20 displays an image formed on the photographic paper P, data from an operator input from an input unit (not shown), instruction contents, and the like.
[Configuration near the magazine 12]
As shown in FIG. 2, a drive unit 70 and a control unit 72 for adjusting the supply amount of the photographic paper P are arranged near the magazine 12.

The drive unit 70 includes a motor 70a that rotationally drives a rotary shaft 12a that is a rotation center of the roll body P0 of the photographic paper P stored in the magazine 12, and the long photographic paper P is disposed downstream of the conveyance path. To supply.
The control unit 72 is connected to a drive unit 70 which will be described later, and responds to changes in the roll diameter (winding diameter) of the roll body P0 in order to keep the supply amount of the photographic paper P supplied from the magazine 12 constant. Thus, the rotational speed of the roll body P0 (rotating shaft 12a) is controlled. Furthermore, the control unit 72 is connected to a roller driving unit (moving mechanism) 32b that moves a dancer roller (rotating roller) 32a, which will be described later, within a movable range, and controls the position of the dancer roller 32a. The rotation speed control and the dancer roller 32a drive control by the control unit 72 will be described in detail later.

[Configuration of Exposure Processing Unit 14]
The exposure processing unit 14 includes a supply unit (conveying mechanism) 22, a paper end sensor 24, a splice sensor 26, a paper cutter 28, guide rollers 30, 38, a loop forming unit (conveying path length adjusting mechanism) 32, a punch unit 40, a mark. A sensor 46, a pair of transport rollers (transport mechanism) 52, 54, 60, a paper sensor 62, an exposure unit 64, and the like are included.

The supply unit 22 has a plurality of transport rollers 22a arranged on the downstream side of the magazine 12, and is on the downstream side where the photographic printing paper P is drawn from the roll body P0 stored in the magazine 12 and exposure processing is performed. Transport.
The paper end sensor 24 is arranged on the downstream side of the supply unit 22 along the conveyance path, and detects the rear end of the photographic paper P that is conveyed while being long and transmits the detected paper to the print control unit 18.

The splice sensor 26 is disposed at substantially the same position as the paper end sensor 24 on the conveyance path, detects the joint of the photographic paper P, and transmits the detection result to the print control unit 18.
The paper cutter 28 is disposed between the splice sensor 26 and the guide roller 30 and cuts the long photographic paper P halfway when the operation is interrupted.

The guide roller 30 is disposed at the upper end of the transport path in the exposure processing unit 14 and switches the transport direction of the long photographic paper P from vertically upward to horizontal.
The loop forming unit 32 is disposed between the guide roller 30 and the paper sensor 36, and forms a loop portion of the photographic paper P in order to adjust the length of the conveyance path of the photographic paper P being conveyed. Moreover, the loop formation part 32 has the dancer roller 32a, the roller drive part 32b, and the sensor 32c, as shown in FIG. The roller drive unit 32 b includes a support unit 32 ba that supports the dancer roller 32 a and a support column 32 bb that defines the moving direction of the support unit 32 ba, and is controlled by the control unit 72. The roller driving section 32b loops the support section 32ba up and down in the vertical direction along the support section 32bb at the position where the dancer roller 32a contacts the photographic paper P being conveyed, and loops on the long photographic paper P being conveyed. Forming part. Thus, by adjusting the length of the transport path of the photographic paper P, it is possible to absorb the slack generated on the photographic paper P being transported and perform stable exposure processing. The sensor 32c is a detecting means for detecting the height position of the dancer roller 32a (support portion 32ba), and is a current position of the dancer roller 32a (for example, an upper limit position indicated by a dotted line or a lower limit position indicated by a solid line in FIG. 3). The detection result is transmitted to the control unit 72. In addition, the dancer roller 32a exists in the upper limit position which is an initial position at the beginning of operation.

The paper sensors 34 and 36 are arranged on the upstream side and the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the loop forming unit 32, and detect the presence or absence of a paper jam on the conveyance path, the positions of the leading and trailing edges of the photographic paper P, and the like. To do.
The guide roller 38 is located at the same height as the guide roller 30 and is disposed at the upper end of the conveyance path in the exposure processing unit 14, and the conveyance direction of the long photographic paper P is downward from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction. Switch.

The punch unit 40 is disposed immediately downstream of the guide roller 38, and forms a punch hole as a mark when performing exposure processing on the photographic paper P being conveyed.
The mark sensor 46 is disposed immediately upstream of the position of the exposure unit 64 that performs the exposure process, and a cut mark formed for each image printed by the punch unit 40, an order mark formed for each order, and the like. Are detected and transmitted to the print control unit 18. Accordingly, the print control unit 18 controls the timing for performing the exposure process on the photographic paper P.

The conveyance roller pairs 52 and 54 are disposed so as to sandwich the exposure processing position by the exposure unit 64 on the conveyance path, and convey the photographic paper P between the two rollers.
The exposure unit 64 is disposed in the vicinity of the transport roller pair 52 and 54, and performs exposure processing of a photographed image to be printed on the surface of the photographic paper P transported between the transport roller pair 52 and 54. Further, the exposure unit 64 has a line exposure head (not shown) that irradiates the photographic paper P conveyed in the sub-scanning direction with laser beams of three colors of RGB along the main scanning direction.

[Conveyance and supply control of photographic paper P by photographic printing apparatus 10]
In the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the roll body P0 of the long photographic paper P stored in the magazine 12 is directly rotated by the drive unit 70, and the rotation number is controlled by the control unit 72. .
That is, in the photographic printing apparatus 10, the photographic paper P is not drawn out from the roll body P0 by the conveyance force of the conveyance mechanism (supply unit 22, conveyance roller pair 52, 54, 60) that conveys the photographic paper P, but the roll body P0. Is directly rotated to supply the photographic paper P to the transport path. For this reason, compared with the conventional photographic printing apparatus which pulls out the photographic paper P from the roll body P0 only by the conveyance force by the conveyance mechanism, the load applied to the photographic paper P being conveyed can be reduced.

  Since the roll body P0 is formed by winding a long photographic paper P, the roll diameter of the roll body P0 becomes smaller as the photographic paper P is conveyed. At this time, if the rotary shaft 12a is rotationally driven at a constant speed even though the roll diameter is small, the supply amount of the photographic paper P to the transport path decreases as the roll diameter decreases. For this reason, in the photographic printing apparatus 10, the control unit 72 predicts the roll diameter of the remaining roll body P0 from the transport amount of the photographic paper P, and as the predicted roll diameter decreases, as shown in FIG. In order to increase the rotation speed step by step.

  For example, when the roll diameter of the roll body P0 of the photographic paper P is 873.63 mm, the rotation speed is controlled to be 1.5 rpm, which is the transport speed of the photographic paper P, which is 2.7 inch / The photographic paper P can be supplied from the roll body P0 in the magazine 12 in a state where an appropriate tension is applied while keeping a balance with sec. And when a roll diameter becomes small to 655.22 mm, the rotation speed of the roll body P0 will be raised to 2.0 rpm (change rate 1.33%). As a result, a substantially constant amount of photographic paper P can be stably supplied from the roll body P0 stored in the magazine 12.

Note that when the rotational speed is switched, the supply speed from the roll body P0 is larger than the conveyance speed of the photographic paper P in the supply section 22 and the like, so that sag is likely to occur in the photographic paper P being conveyed. For this reason, when a sag occurs when the rotational speed is switched, the sag is absorbed by moving the dancer roller 32a vertically downward.
Here, the conveyance supply control of the photographic paper P for absorbing the slack generated on the photographic paper P in the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment will be described as follows according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  When the conveyance of the photographic paper P is started in step S1, the control unit 72 of the photographic printing apparatus 10 constantly monitors whether sag is generated in the photographic paper P generated during conveyance in step S2. Whether the photographic paper P is slack or not may be determined as the occurrence of sag when the tension of the photographic paper P being conveyed is measured and the measurement result falls below a predetermined value. May be determined in the transport path. When the occurrence of slack is detected in step S2, in step S3, the dancer roller 32a of the loop forming unit 32 is moved vertically downward within the movable range to form the loop portion of the photographic paper P, or the loop portion is Absorb by increasing. In step S4, the sensor 32c detects the position of the dancer roller 32a within the movable range. Here, when it is detected in step S5 that the position of the dancer roller 32a is at the lower limit position, the control unit 72 reduces the rotational speed slightly in step S6 to slightly reduce the supply amount of the photographic paper P in step S7. The dancer roller 32a is gradually moved to the upper limit position, which is the initial position.

Thereby, even when the dancer roller 32a moves to the lower limit position within the movable range, the dancer roller 32a is moved to the upper limit position, which is the initial position, while the control unit 72 performs control so as to decrease the rotation speed. Thus, the dancer roller 32a can return to a state in which a loop portion can be formed on the photographic paper P again.
As described above, in the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the slack of the photographic paper P generated during conveyance is absorbed by moving the dancer roller 32a to form a loop portion, and the dancer roller 32a is at the lower limit. When the movement to the position is detected, the control unit 72 moves the dancer roller 32a vertically upward, which is the initial position, while gradually decreasing the rotational speed of the roll body P0. As a result, even when there is one loop forming portion 32 (dancer roller 32a) and the movable range of the dancer roller 32a is small, the dancer roller 32a moves to the lower limit position of the movable range and the absorption of slack is limited. It is possible to avoid the occurrence of sagging in the photographic paper P during conveyance.

[Features of photo printing apparatus 10]
(1)
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment is a photographic printing apparatus that performs exposure processing by transporting a photographic paper P while pulling it out from a roll body P0 around which a long photographic paper P is wound. Furthermore, a loop forming unit 32 (dancer roller 32a, roller driving unit 32b) for adjusting the length of the conveyance path of the photographic paper P, a driving unit 70 for directly rotating and driving the roll body P0 of the photographic paper P, and a driving unit 70 And a controller 72 for controlling the rotational speed of the roll body P0.

  Usually, in a photographic printing apparatus in which exposure processing is performed by conveying such photographic paper while being drawn out from the roll body, the photographic paper is removed from the roll body by a conveyance mechanism arranged on the downstream side of the magazine containing the photographic paper roll body. It is transported while being pulled out. For this reason, in such a conventional photographic printing apparatus, a load is easily applied to the photographic paper being conveyed, and there is a risk of deteriorating the quality of the exposed image. Furthermore, in such a conventional photographic printing apparatus, when slack occurs in the photographic paper P being conveyed, the dancer roller moves within the movable range so that the photographic paper is conveyed with a certain tension. It is adjusted. For this reason, especially as the roll diameter of the photographic paper roll increases, the amount of slack that must be absorbed by the dancer roller also increases significantly, increasing the range of movement of the dancer roller and increasing the number of dancer rollers. It is necessary to take measures such as

Therefore, in the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, a loop forming unit 32 (dancer roller 32a, roller driving unit 32b) that absorbs slack generated on the photographic paper P being conveyed, and a drive that directly rotates the roll body P0. Part 70 and a control part 72 for controlling the rotational speed thereof.
As a result, the slack of the photographic paper P generated during conveyance is absorbed by the dancer roller 32a, and when the dancer roller 32a moves to the lower limit position, the controller 72 reduces the rotational speed by the roller drive unit 32b. The dancer roller 32a can be moved vertically upward. As a result, the configuration of the loop forming portion 32 can be simplified by reducing the number of dancer rollers 32a to one or reducing the movable range as compared with a conventional photographic printing apparatus.

Furthermore, since the roll body P0 is directly driven to rotate, compared to a conventional photographic printing apparatus that pulls out the photographic paper P by the conveying force of the conveying mechanism, the load on the photographic paper P is reduced and a favorable printing process is performed. be able to.
(2)
In the photographic printing apparatus 10 of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, a loop forming unit 32 having a dancer roller 32a and a roller driving unit 32b as a mechanism for adjusting the length of the conveyance path of the photographic paper P being conveyed. It has.

As a result, the roller driving unit 32b moves the photographic paper P while being conveyed by moving the dancer roller 32a so as to intersect the conveyance direction of the photographic paper P while being in contact with a part of the photographic paper P being conveyed. Can absorb sagging.
(3)
In the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the control unit 72 controls the rotation speed of the roll body P0 based on the detection result regarding the position of the dancer roller 32a in the sensor 32c.

Usually, when the dancer roller 32a is moved to the lower limit position, it is not possible to absorb the generated slack.
Therefore, in the photo printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, when it is detected that the dancer roller 32a has moved to the lower limit position, the dancer gradually decreases the rotational speed of the roll body P0. Control is performed so as to gradually raise the position of the roller 32a.

  As a result, even when the absorption of the slack by the dancer roller 32a reaches the limit, the upper limit position, which is the initial position, of the dancer roller 32a is controlled by controlling the rotation speed of the roll body P0 to control the supply amount of the photographic paper P. Can be moved to. As a result, it is possible to simplify the configuration of the loop forming unit 32, such as reducing the movable range of the dancer roller 32a or reducing the number of dancer rollers 32a to one as in the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. it can.

(4)
In the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the control unit 72 switches the rotation speed of the roll body P0 according to the change in the roll diameter of the roll body P0.
As a result, even in the case of the photographic printing apparatus 10 that directly rotates the roll body P0 as in the present embodiment, the roll diameter can be changed by controlling the roll diameter to be an appropriate number of rotations as the roll diameter decreases. Regardless, the photographic paper P can be supplied to the transport mechanism (supply unit 22, transport roller pair 52, 54, 60) in a substantially constant amount.

(5)
In the photographic printing apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the rotational speed of the roll body P0 is switched stepwise in accordance with the roll diameter of the roll body P0.
Thereby, it is possible to maintain a substantially constant supply amount according to the change in the roll diameter of the roll body P0, and it is possible to simplify the rotational speed switching control by switching in stages.

[Other Embodiments]
As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible in the range which does not deviate from the summary of invention.
(A)
In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the supply amount of the photographic paper P from the magazine 12 (the rotational speed of the roll body P0) is switched and controlled in stages according to the change in the roll diameter of the roll body P0 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this.

  For example, instead of switching the rotation speed stepwise, a configuration in which the rotation speed of the roll body P0 is flexibly controlled according to a change in the roll diameter of the roll body P0 may be employed. In this case, it is possible to minimize the occurrence of sagging of the photographic paper P at the time of switching the rotation speed described in the above embodiment, so that the movable range of the dancer roller 32a in the loop forming unit 32 can be reduced, The configuration of the photographic printing apparatus 10 itself can be simplified by eliminating the loop forming section 32 itself.

(B)
In the above embodiment, in order to keep the conveyance speed of the photographic paper P supplied from the roll body P0 constant, an example of controlling the rotational drive by the drive unit 70 by predicting the change in the winding diameter of the roll body P0 based on the conveyance amount. And explained. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, a detection means such as a sensor may be provided in the vicinity of the roll body so that a method for detecting the winding diameter of the roll body may be employed.

(C)
In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which when the dancer roller 32a moves to the lower limit position, the rotational speed control of the roll body P0 is performed to return the dancer roller 32a to the initial position. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, when the dancer roller 32a moves to the upper limit position while reducing the tension applied to the photographic paper P being conveyed, the position of the dancer roller 32a is gradually lowered while increasing the rotational speed of the roll body P0. You may control to. Further, not only when the dancer roller 32a is moved to the upper and lower limit positions but also when the dancer roller 32a is not at the limit position, the tension applied to the subsequent photographic paper P is predicted and the dancer roller 32a is moved in any direction in the vertical direction. You may control to move.

(D)
In the above embodiment, the initial position of the dancer roller 32a is described as being the upper limit position, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, the center portion in the movable range of the dancer roller 32a may be set as the initial position to start driving. In this case, even when the tension applied to the photographic paper P being transported immediately after the start of operation is too large, the dancer roller 32a is moved vertically upward so that the photographic paper P is transported under an appropriate tension. Can do. The case where the tension applied to the photographic paper P is too low is as described above.

  The photographic printing apparatus of the present invention has the effect of reducing the load on the photographic paper being transported and simplifying the configuration of the mechanism for adjusting the length of the transport path of the long photographic paper being transported, The present invention can be widely applied to various apparatuses having a conveyance path length adjusting mechanism such as a dancer roller.

1 is an external view showing a photographic printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal configuration of the photo printing apparatus of FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a configuration around a loop forming unit in the photographic printing apparatus 10 of FIG. 1. The figure which shows the relationship between the rotational speed of a roll body, and the change of a roll diameter. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of photographic paper supply control by the photographic printing apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

10 Photo printing device (Photo printing device)
12 Magazine 12a Rotating shaft 14 Exposure processing unit 16 Magazine 16a Rotating shaft 18 Print control unit 20 Display unit 22 Supply unit (conveyance mechanism)
24 Paper end sensor 26 Splice sensor 28 Paper cutter 30, 38 Guide roller 32 Loop forming part (Conveyance path length adjusting mechanism)
32a Dancer roller (rotating roller)
32b Roller drive mechanism (moving mechanism)
32ba Support section 32bb Support section 32c Sensor 40 Punch unit 46 Mark sensors 52, 54, 60 Pair of transport rollers (transport mechanism)
62 Paper sensor 64 Exposure unit 70 Drive unit 72 Control unit P Printing paper P0 Roll body P1 Roll body

Claims (6)

A photographic printing apparatus that performs image printing on a photosensitive medium based on image data,
A roll body in which the photosensitive medium is wound into a roll, and
A drive unit that rotationally drives the roll body;
A control unit for controlling the rotation speed of the roll body by the driving unit;
A transport mechanism for transporting the photosensitive medium drawn out from the roll body continuously to a position where the printing process is performed;
A photographic printing apparatus. A transport path length adjusting mechanism that is provided in the transport mechanism and changes the length of the transport path of the photosensitive medium drawn from the roll body;
The photographic printing apparatus according to claim 1. The transport path length adjusting mechanism includes: a rotating roller that rotates while contacting the photosensitive medium to be transported; and a moving mechanism that moves the position of the rotating roller in a direction intersecting the transport direction of the photosensitive medium. Have
The photographic printing apparatus according to claim 2. The controller switches the rotation speed of the roll body according to the position of the rotating roller;
The photographic printing apparatus according to claim 3. The control unit switches the rotation speed of the roll body according to a change in the winding diameter of the roll body,
The photographic printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The control unit switches the rotation speed of the roll body in stages.
The photographic printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

Images