JP2007033913A - Photographic processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a photograph printing and developing machine (photographic processing apparatus) equipped with a drying part 12 which dries photographic paper having been processed with processing liquid by introducing a hot blast while conveying the photographic paper along a prescribed conveyance path, and in which the whole drying part 12 is held at proper temperature while an increase in cost is suppressed. <P>SOLUTION: A lengthwise portion of a heating part 32a of a hot-wire heater 32 is formed into a high-heating part 32b which has higher watt density than any other part and while a hot blast produced by heating of the high-heating part 32b is introduced in a conveyance-path upstream-side end of the drying part 12, a hot blast produced by heating of a part of the heating part 32a other than the high-heating part 32b is introduced in a portion of the drying part 12 other than the conveyance-path upstream-side end. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention belongs to a technical field related to a photographic processing apparatus provided with a drying section that dries photographic paper processed with a processing liquid by introducing hot air while transporting it along a predetermined transport path.

  In general, in a photographic developing machine, a long photographic paper wound in a roll is cut to a length corresponding to the print size, and then each cut photographic paper is sequentially placed at a predetermined interval. In the middle of the conveyance, baking, development and drying are performed, and the sheet is discharged to the outside. That is, the negative image of the negative film is exposed and printed on the emulsion surface of the photographic paper in the printing section, and then the photographic paper is sequentially conveyed to a processing tank provided in the developing section and containing various processing liquids. The photographic paper processed by these processing liquids is conveyed to the drying unit, and is dried by hot air sent to the drying unit while being conveyed by the drying unit.

  In such a drying method using hot air, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a blower that sends air to a drying unit, and a nichrome wire heater that generates hot air by heating the air sent to the drying unit by the blower (Heat wire heater) is often provided.

On the other hand, as shown in Patent Document 2, for example, photographic paper is also heated by a heat roller having a bar heater inside. And in this patent document 2, it is proposed that at least two heat rollers are provided so that the heat capacity of the heat roller arranged on the downstream side is larger than the heat roller arranged on the upstream side of the photographic paper transport path. Has been.
JP 10-83059 A (second page) Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-167776

  In the drying method using hot air, it is difficult to control the temperature of the drying section. In particular, at the upstream end of the transport path of the drying section, photographic paper at a low temperature (about 40 ° C.) is transported to the drying section. There is a problem that the temperature at the upstream end of the path is drastically lowered and the temperature at the upstream end of the transport path is difficult to be constant.

  Therefore, a temperature detection sensor that detects the temperature of the upstream end of the transport path is provided at the upstream end of the transport path of the drying unit, and the energization of the hot wire heater is performed based on the temperature detected by the temperature detection sensor. It is conceivable that a large amount of heat is supplied to the upstream end of the transport path so as to make the temperature of the upstream end of the transport path as constant as possible. However, if this is done, the temperature of the portion other than the end portion on the upstream side of the conveying path of the drying section will rise too much, causing problems such as curling of the photographic paper.

  In order to solve such a problem, using the idea of the above-mentioned Patent Document 2, a hot wire heater that generates hot air to be introduced into the transport path upstream end of the drying unit, and a transport path upstream end of the drying unit A hot wire heater that generates hot air to be introduced into other parts is provided separately, and a temperature detection sensor is provided at the upstream end of the transport path of the drying section and the other section, respectively, and an upstream end of the transport path of the drying section It is conceivable to perform temperature control separately on the part and other parts.

  However, in the method of separately controlling the temperature at the upstream end of the conveying path of the drying unit and the other parts as described above, an extra hot wire heater and a temperature detection sensor are required, resulting in an increase in cost. Further, even if a plurality of heat rollers are used as in Patent Document 2, similarly, a plurality of heaters and temperature detection sensors are required, resulting in an increase in cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of such points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a drying unit while suppressing an increase in cost in a photographic processing apparatus including a drying unit such as the photographic printing and developing machine. The purpose is to maintain the overall temperature at an appropriate temperature.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, in the heat generating part of the heat wire heater, a part in the length direction is set as a high heat generating part having a higher watt density than other parts, and the heat generation in the high heat generating part is performed. The hot air generated by heating is introduced into the upstream end portion of the transport path of the drying unit, while the hot air generated by heat generation in the heat generating portion other than the high heat generating portion is sent to the upstream end of the transport path of the drying unit. Introduced to other parts.

  Specifically, the invention of claim 1 is directed to a photographic processing apparatus provided with a drying section that dries photographic paper processed with a processing liquid by introducing hot air while transporting it along a predetermined transport path. To do.

  And it has the ventilation means which sends air to the said drying part, and the heat generating part of the predetermined length which generate | occur | produces heat by electricity supply, The air sent to the said drying part by the said ventilation means is heated with the heat_generation | fever in this heating part. A hot wire heater that generates the hot air, and in the heat generating portion of the heat wire heater, a part of the length direction is a high heat generating portion having a higher watt density than other portions, and the heat generating portion of the heat generating portion is a high heat generating portion. The hot air generated by the heat generation at the heating section is introduced into the upstream end of the conveying path of the drying section, while the hot air generated by the heat generation at the heat generation section other than the high heat generation section is the drying section. It shall be comprised so that it may introduce into parts other than the conveyance path upstream edge part of a part.

  With the above configuration, the hot air generated by the heat generated in the high heat generation section of the heat wire heater is introduced into the upstream end of the transport path of the drying section, so that the low-temperature photographic paper is transported to the drying section. Even if the temperature of the upstream end of the transport path of the drying unit decreases, the temperature of the upstream end of the transport path immediately rises to the original temperature. On the other hand, the hot air generated by the heat generated in the heat generating portion other than the high heat generating portion is introduced into the portion other than the upstream end of the conveying path of the drying portion where the temperature does not decrease so much. It is difficult to raise the temperature compared to the flow side end, and the temperature does not rise too much. As a result, the temperature of the entire drying section can be maintained at an appropriate temperature by adjusting the amount of heat generated in the high heat generating section and other sections in one hot wire heater. Therefore, only one heat wire heater is required, and the temperature of the entire drying unit can be maintained at an appropriate temperature only by installing one temperature detection sensor at the upstream end of the conveying path of the drying unit. become.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the heat generating portion of the heat wire heater is formed by winding a heat wire in a coil shape, and the heat wire in the high heat generating portion of the heat generating portion is denser than other portions. It shall be wound.

  Thereby, the watt density of the high heat generating portion of the heat generating portion can be easily increased as compared with other portions.

  In the invention of claim 3, in the invention of claim 1 or 2, temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the upstream end of the transport path is provided at the upstream end of the transport path of the drying unit. It is assumed that ON and OFF of energization to the heat generating part of the hot wire heater is controlled based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means.

  By doing so, it becomes possible to more reliably maintain the temperature of the upstream end portion of the conveyance path where the temperature is drastically reduced in the drying section at an appropriate temperature.

  As described above, according to the photographic processing apparatus of the present invention, in the heat generating part of the heat ray heater, a part in the length direction is set as a high heat generating part having a higher watt density than other parts, and The hot air generated by the heat generation is introduced into the upstream end of the transport path of the drying unit, while the hot air generated by the heat generation in the heat generating portion other than the high heat generation portion is upstream of the transport path of the drying unit. By introducing it to the part other than the side end part, it is possible to maintain the temperature of the entire drying part at an appropriate temperature while suppressing an increase in cost, and therefore, it is possible to shorten the drying time of the photographic paper. In addition, power consumption can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a photographic printing developer as a photographic processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The photographic developing machine has a main body case 1, and on the upper side of the main body case 1, a long photographic paper 4 (hereinafter, the photographic paper is simply referred to as paper) has an emulsion surface outside (that is, an emulsion surface). A paper magazine 2 is provided which is housed in a rolled state (with the base surface on the opposite side inside). In the main body case 1, a printing unit 10, a developing unit 11, and a drying unit 12 that perform printing, developing, and drying processes on the paper 4 are provided.

  The long paper 4 drawn out from the paper magazine 2 into the main body case 1 is cut into a length corresponding to the print size by the cutter device 5. The cut paper 4 (hereinafter, the cut paper 4 is referred to as paper 4a) is transported to the exposure position of the exposure table 6 provided in the printing unit 10 and held there.

  A light source device 7 having a light source 7 a inside is provided at a corner between the upper surface of the main body case 1 and the left side surface in FIG. 1, and the light from the light source 7 a of the light source device 7 passes through the reflector 8 The negative film F held on the negative mask 9 is irradiated, and the negative image is printed on the emulsion surface of the paper 4a held at the exposure position.

  The printed paper 4a is sent to the developing unit 11, while the paper 4a cut by the cutter device 5 is transported to the exposure position of the exposure table 6 and stopped and held on the new paper 4a. The paper 4a subjected to the baking process in this manner is sequentially sent to the developing unit 11 with a predetermined interval between the paper 4a and the paper 4a before and after the paper 4a. In FIG. 1, a conveyance path of the paper 4 a from the printing unit 10 to a paper outlet 18 described later is indicated by a two-dot chain line.

  The developing unit 11 is provided with a plurality of processing tanks 16 each containing various processing liquids (including water), and the paper 4 a sent from the printing unit 10 is processed in these processing tanks 16. The film is sequentially immersed in the solution for development processing. Of the plurality of treatment tanks 16, the treatment tank 16 located on the most downstream side of the transport path contains water for washing away the treatment liquid adhering on the upstream side.

  After passing through the squeeze rack 13, the developed paper 4a is fed into a drying rack 17 (drying chamber) provided in the drying unit 12 and surrounded by a plate material or the like. The squeeze rack 13 is provided with two sets of squeeze rollers 14 (see FIG. 2) including a driving roller 14a and a driven roller 14b. The paper 4a is sandwiched between the squeeze rollers 14 to drain the paper 4a. To do. The drying rack 17 of the drying unit 12 introduces hot air while transporting the paper 4a that has been processed by the processing liquid and has passed through the squeeze rack 13 to one side of the transport path along a predetermined transport path. To be dried.

  An upstream winding roller 21 is provided at the upstream end (lower end) of the transport path in the drying rack 17 of the drying unit 12. The upstream winding roller 21 is disposed so as to extend in a substantially horizontal direction (paper width direction) on the base surface side (upper side) of the paper 4a fed into the drying rack 17 in a substantially horizontal state from the squeeze rack 13. The driving roller is driven by a motor (not shown). Below the upstream winding roller 21 or on the downstream side, five driven rollers 22 pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the upstream winding roller 21 by a spring (not shown) are connected to the upstream winding roller 21. The upstream winding roller 21 and the driven roller 22 are provided so as to extend substantially in parallel, and constitute a pressure-bonding type conveyance roller. By the upstream winding roller 21 and the driven roller 22, the paper 4a is sent out substantially upward (in a direction slightly inclined to the base surface side (left side in FIGS. 1 and 2) with respect to the upward direction).

  A downstream winding roller 23 (drive) having the same configuration as the upstream winding roller 21 and the driven roller 22 is provided at the downstream end (upper end) of the transport path in the drying rack 17 of the drying unit 12. And a driven roller 24 are provided so as to extend substantially parallel to the upstream winding roller 21, and the paper 4 a that has been transported substantially upward has a base surface downstream of the winding roller 23. It is sent out to the downstream side in a state of being wound so as to be in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the sheet. Thereby, the paper 4a is sent out from the drying rack 17 (drying unit 12) in a substantially horizontal state, and the paper 4a after the drying process sent out from the drying rack 17 is sent to the outside from the paper outlet 18 provided in the main body case 1. Discharged.

  At the intermediate portion in the vertical direction in the drying rack 17 of the drying unit 12, a plurality of sets (five sets in FIG. 1) of pressure-bonding dies including a driving roller 25 a and a driven roller 25 b extending substantially parallel to the upstream winding roller 21. The conveyance roller 25 is provided so as to have a predetermined interval in the conveyance direction of the paper 4. The driving roller 25a of the plurality of sets of conveying rollers 25 is disposed so as to contact the base surface of the paper 4a, and the driven roller 25b is disposed so as to contact the emulsion surface of the paper 4a. The driven roller 25b is arranged so as to be shifted to the front side in the paper feeding direction with respect to the same set of driving rollers 25a, so that the paper 4a is slightly inclined to the base surface side (left side) with respect to the upward direction. It is sent out in the direction.

  Between the driving rollers 25a of the plurality of sets of conveying rollers 25, between the driving roller 25a positioned most upstream in the conveying path and the upstream winding roller 21, and driving roller 25a positioned most downstream in the conveying path Guide plates 28 are respectively disposed between the downstream winding rollers 23. Each guide plate 28 has a fixed width and is the length of a driving roller 25a (or upstream or downstream winding rollers 21, 23) located on both sides of the guide plate 28 in the direction along the conveyance path. It extends in the direction (has substantially the same length as the width of the paper 4a). The surface of each guide plate 28 on the conveyance path side is inclined so as to approach the conveyance path toward the downstream side of the conveyance path, and is inclined toward the base surface side with respect to upward by the conveyance roller 25 as described above. The paper 4a sent to the transport roller 25 is guided to the transport roller 25 adjacent to the downstream side of the transport roller 25.

  A duct 30 through which hot air flows is provided on the side of the drying rack 17 (on the right side in FIGS. 1 and 2). The duct 30 extends in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1, and hot air flows in that direction substantially uniformly over the entire vertical direction. The vertical length of the duct 30 is substantially the same as the vertical length of the drying rack 17.

  In the portion of the duct 30 facing the drying rack 17, a plurality of blowing portions 30 a that blow the hot air into the drying rack 17 are formed to protrude, and the plurality of blowing portions 30 a have a predetermined interval in the vertical direction. It is arranged so as to pierce. Hot air blown out from the first and second two blowout portions 30a from the bottom of the plurality of blowout portions 30a is introduced to the upstream end portion (lower end portion) of the transport path in the drying rack 17, and others. The hot air blown out from the blowout portion 30a is introduced into a portion other than the end portion on the upstream side of the conveyance path in the drying rack 17.

  As schematically shown in FIG. 2, on the upstream side of the duct 3, a cross flow fan 31 is provided as a blowing unit that sends air into the drying rack 17 of the drying unit 12. The cross flow fan 31 is capable of flowing air substantially uniformly over the entire vertical direction in the duct 30. A heat generating part 32a of a heat wire heater 32 is provided in the duct 3 in the vicinity of the blowout part 30a. Air generated by the heat generating part 32a is sent to the drying rack 17 by the cross flow fan 31. Is heated to generate the hot air.

  The heat generating portion 32 a of the heat wire heater 32 generates heat when energized, has the same length as the length of the duct 30 in the vertical direction, and is provided over the entire vertical direction of the duct 30. In the heat generating portion 32a, a part (lower end) in the length direction is a high heat generating portion 32b having a higher watt density than the other portions. In other words, the heat generating portion 32a is formed by winding the heat wire in a coil shape, but the heat wire in the high heat generating portion 32b is wound more densely than the other portions. The watt density is higher than other parts. The amount of heat generated in the high heat generating portion 32b and other portions is set so that the temperature inside the drying rack 17 is maintained at an appropriate temperature (for example, about 80 ° C.) as will be described later.

  The hot air generated by the heat generated in the high heat generating portion 32b of the heat generating portion 32a is blown into the drying rack 17 from the first and second two blowing portions 30a from below, while the heat generating portion 32a. The hot air generated by heat generation in the portion other than the high heat generating portion 32b is blown into the drying rack 17 from the other blowing portions 30a. As a result, hot air having a higher temperature than that of other portions is introduced into the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17.

  A temperature detection sensor 35 as temperature detecting means for detecting the temperature of the upstream end of the transport path is disposed at the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17. The output value of the temperature detection sensor 35 is input to a controller (not shown), and the controller generates the heat generating part 32a of the hot wire heater 32 based on the output value (temperature detected by the temperature detection sensor 35). It is configured to control ON and OFF of energization of the power. That is, when the temperature detected by the temperature detection sensor 35 is lower than a predetermined temperature (for example, about 80 ° C.), the energization to the heat generating portion 32a is turned on, and when the temperature is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, the energization to the heat generating portion 32a is performed. Turn off.

  Therefore, in the above-described embodiment, a part of the heat generating part 32a of the heat ray heater 32 in the length direction is set as the high heat generating part 32b having a higher watt density than the other part, and heat is generated by the heat generation in the high heat generating part 32b. The hot air generated is introduced into the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17 in the drying unit 12, while the hot air generated by the heat generation in the heat generating portion 32 a other than the high heat generating portion 32 b is used as the drying rack. By introducing it into a portion other than the end portion on the upstream side of the conveyance path in 17, the temperature inside the drying rack 17 can be maintained at an appropriate temperature (for example, about 80 ° C.). That is, at the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17, the temperature 4 tends to decrease sharply because the low temperature (about 40 ° C.) paper 4a is transported. However, since energization to the heat generating part 32a is turned on and hot air having a temperature higher than that of other parts is introduced, the temperature at the upstream end of the transport path immediately rises to the original temperature, The time until the temperature of the paper 4a containing a large amount of water rises quickly and constant temperature drying starts can be shortened. On the other hand, since hot air having a temperature lower than that of the upstream end of the transport path is introduced into the portion other than the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17 where the temperature does not decrease so much, the upstream end of the transport path It is harder to raise the temperature compared to, and the temperature does not rise too much. As a result, the temperature in the entire drying rack 17 is maintained at an appropriate temperature, so that the drying time of the photographic paper can be shortened and power consumption can be reduced.

  Also, a hot wire heater that generates hot air to be introduced into the upstream end of the conveyance path in the drying rack 17 and a hot wire heater that generates hot air to be introduced into the portion other than the upstream end of the conveyance path in the drying rack 17 are separately provided. In addition, temperature detection sensors are provided at the upstream end portion of the transport path in the drying rack 17 and other portions, and temperature control of the upstream end portion of the transport path in the drying rack 17 and other portions is separately performed. It is not necessary to perform the operation at the same time, and the temperature of the entire drying rack 17 can be maintained at an appropriate temperature by one hot wire heater 32 and one temperature detection sensor 35, thereby suppressing an increase in cost. Can do.

  In the above embodiment, the heat generating part 32 a of the heat ray heater 32 is provided in the vicinity of the blowout part 30 a in the duct 30, but it may be provided in the vicinity of the cross flow fan 31 in the duct 30. In this case, in order to ensure that the hot air generated by the heat generated in the high heat generating portion 32 b is introduced to the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17, the hot air is more than the heat ray heater 32 in the duct 30. A partition wall for partitioning a flow path between the hot air generated by heat generation by the high heat generation portion 32b and the hot air generated by heat generation at a portion other than the high heat generation portion 32b is provided in the downstream portion, or a duct 30 should be branched. In view of this point, if the heat generating portion 32a is provided in the vicinity of the blowout portion 30a in the duct 30 as in the above embodiment, heat generation is generated by heat generation in the high heat generating portion 32b while suppressing an increase in the cost of the duct 30. The hot air thus made can be reliably introduced to the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the heat ray heater 32 is one, when the emitted-heat amount in the heat_generation | fever part 32a is small, multiple heat-wire heaters with the same structure of the heat ray heater 32 and the heat generating part of the said embodiment are provided. Even so, the present invention can be applied.

  Further, in the above embodiment, the temperature detection sensor 35 is provided at the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17, but may be provided at a portion other than the upstream end of the transport path in the drying rack 17. However, it is preferable to provide it at the upstream end of the transport path as in the above embodiment because the temperature at the upstream end of the transport path, where the temperature is drastically reduced, can be more reliably maintained at an appropriate temperature.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is useful for a photographic processing apparatus provided with a drying section that dries photographic paper processed with a processing liquid by introducing hot air while transporting it along a predetermined transport path, such as a photographic printer. is there.

1 is a schematic view showing a photographic developing machine as a photographic processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows typically the structure for introduce | transducing a hot air into a drying rack.

Explanation of symbols

4 Paper (photographic paper)
12 Drying unit 17 Drying rack 31 Cross flow fan (air blowing means)
32 Heat wire heater 32a Heat generation part 32b High heat generation part 35 Temperature detection sensor (temperature detection means)

Claims (3)

A photographic processing apparatus provided with a drying unit that dries by introducing hot air while conveying a photographic paper processed with a processing liquid along a predetermined conveyance path,
A blowing means for sending air to the drying section;
A heat generating part having a predetermined length that generates heat when energized, and a heat ray heater that generates the hot air by heating the air sent to the drying part by the blowing means by the heat generated by the heat generating part,
In the heat generating part of the heat ray heater, a part in the length direction is a high heat generating part having a higher watt density than other parts,
The hot air generated by the heat generated in the high heat generating portion of the heat generating portion is introduced to the upstream end of the transporting path of the drying portion, while the heat generated by heat generated in the heat generating portion other than the high heat generating portion. The photographic processing apparatus is configured such that the heated hot air is introduced into a portion of the drying unit other than the upstream end portion of the conveyance path. The photographic processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The heat generating part of the heat wire heater is a heat wire wound in a coil shape,
The photographic processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat rays in the high heat generating portion of the heat generating portion are wound more densely than other portions. The photographic processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
Temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the upstream end of the transport path is provided at the upstream end of the transport path of the drying unit,
A photographic processing apparatus configured to control ON and OFF of energization to the heat generating portion of the heat ray heater based on the temperature detected by the temperature detecting means.

Images