JP2007041053A - Developing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a developing apparatus that can achieve rapid development without changing a conventional apparatus structure as much as possible. <P>SOLUTION: The developing apparatus includes a color developing tank which reserves a color developing liquid to develop colors of an exposed photosensitive material P, a bleach-fixing tank 52 which reserves a bleach-fixing liquid to bleach-fix the photosensitive material P, and a stabilizing tank 53 which reserves a stabilizing liquid to stabilize the photosensitive material P, wherein a UV ray irradiating means 9 is disposed along the passage at least before the photosensitive material P is sent to the stabilizing tank 53, and the UV irradiating means 9 irradiates the emulsion surface P1 of the photosensitive material with UV rays. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention provides a color developing tank storing a color developer for color developing a light-sensitive material subjected to exposure processing, a bleach-fixing tank storing a bleach-fixing solution for bleach-fixing the photosensitive material, and stabilizing the photosensitive material. The present invention relates to a development processing apparatus including a stabilization processing tank that stores a stabilization processing liquid to be processed.

  The development processing section of most conventional development processing apparatuses is configured as described above. More specifically, a color development tank, a bleach-fixing tank, and a stabilization processing tank are arranged adjacent to each other in this order, A turn conveyance unit for feeding the photosensitive material while inverting it to the adjacent tank is disposed between the upper positions of the respective tanks.

  At present, in the photographic printing industry, not only photographic film but also a memory card mounted on a digital camera that directly generates photographed image data is handled as a print source. When making photographic prints from memory cards, there is no development processing of photographic film unlike photographic film, and because it competes with color printers that have become popular in the home, etc., without waiting for customers quickly There is a strong demand for print output. In order to enable such a rapid print output, it is necessary to rapidly develop the photosensitive material exposed to the photographed image.

  In order to perform high-speed development processing, a first color developing tank containing a standard developing solution for standard processing and a low replenishing rapid developing solution with a smaller replenishment amount and a shorter processing time than the standard developing solution are accommodated. A second color developing tank; a bleaching tank containing a bleaching solution; a fixing tank containing a fixing solution; first and second washing tanks containing washing water; and a stabilizer. There is known a development processing apparatus composed of a stabilizing tank. The development processing apparatus is further provided with an introduction path for introducing the photosensitive material to the first color developing tank and an introduction path for introducing the photosensitive material to the second color developing tank, and the first color developing tank or the second color developing tank. A guide path for guiding the photosensitive material from the color developing tank to the bleaching tank is also provided separately (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-6-51480 (paragraph numbers [0075] to [0077], FIG. 1)

  However, as in Patent Document 1, in order to realize two processing modes of standard development processing and rapid development processing, a first color development tank and a second color development tank are provided, and these color developments are performed. Providing the introduction path to the tank and the guide path to the bleaching tank individually increases the size of the apparatus and the complexity of the control, leading to an unacceptable high cost.

  The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a development processing apparatus capable of performing rapid development processing without changing the conventional apparatus structure as much as possible. It is in.

In order to achieve the above object, the first feature of the development processing apparatus according to the present invention is that a color developing tank storing a color developing solution for color developing an exposed photosensitive material, and a bleach-fixing process for the photosensitive material. In a development processing apparatus comprising a bleach-fixing tank storing a bleach-fixing solution and a stabilization processing tank storing a stable processing solution for stabilizing the photosensitive material,
Ultraviolet irradiation means is provided at least before the photosensitive material is fed into the stabilization processing tank, and ultraviolet rays are irradiated toward the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material by the ultraviolet irradiation means.

  The present invention is based on the inventor's knowledge that when the emulsion surface of an exposed light-sensitive material is irradiated with ultraviolet light, the hydrophilicity of the emulsion surface is improved. By providing ultraviolet irradiation means before being sent to the tank, and by irradiating ultraviolet rays toward the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material by this ultraviolet irradiation means, the hydrophilicity of the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material conveyed to the stable processing tank is improved. Can be improved. When the hydrophilicity is improved, the bleach-fixing solution and the like attached in the bleach-fixing tank can be easily removed by the stabilization process in the stabilization processing tank. As a result, the time required for the stabilization processing can be shortened, and rapid development processing can be realized by reducing the number of stabilization processing tanks and increasing the conveyance speed in the stabilization processing tank. In addition, since ultraviolet irradiation means may be arranged with respect to the conventional apparatus, the development processing can be speeded up with a simple configuration.

  According to a second characteristic configuration of the development processing apparatus according to the present invention, the development processing apparatus includes a turn transport unit that pulls the photosensitive material from the bleach-fixing tank and reverses and feeds the photosensitive material to the stable processing tank. It exists in the point arrange | positioned in the vicinity of a turn conveyance part.

  As in this configuration, by arranging the ultraviolet irradiation means in the vicinity of the turn conveyance unit, the photosensitive material can be irradiated with ultraviolet rays immediately before being sent to the stabilization processing tank, so that the hydrophilicity can be further improved. .

  The third feature of the development processing apparatus according to the present invention is that the ultraviolet irradiation starts when the photosensitive material is carried into the irradiation range of the ultraviolet irradiation means, and the ultraviolet irradiation is stopped when the photosensitive material is carried out of the irradiation range. Thus, there is an irradiation control means for controlling the ultraviolet irradiation means.

  With this configuration, ultraviolet irradiation is performed according to the presence or absence of the photosensitive material in the irradiation range of the ultraviolet irradiation means, so that efficient ultraviolet irradiation can be performed, and power consumption for ultraviolet irradiation can be reduced. .

  A fourth characteristic configuration of the development processing apparatus according to the present invention is that the irradiation intensity of ultraviolet rays irradiated by the ultraviolet irradiation means can be changed.

With this configuration, it is possible to set an optimum ultraviolet irradiation intensity according to the material of the photosensitive material and the conveyance speed. Therefore, by setting the irradiation intensity at which the hydrophilicity of the photosensitive material becomes the highest, it becomes easier to remove the bleach-fixing solution adhering to the surface of the photosensitive material in the stable processing tank. As a result, the time required for the stabilization process can be shortened, and a more rapid development process can be realized.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments using the drawings.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the development processing apparatus 1 includes a photographic paper magazine 2 for storing a roll-shaped photographic paper P as a photosensitive material, and a rectangular photographic paper drawn from the photographic paper magazine 2 and cut by a cutter 3. An exposure unit 4 that exposes an image to P using a laser engine 4a, a development processing unit 5 that includes a plurality of processing tanks for developing the exposed photographic paper P, and a developed photographic paper P And a drying processing unit for drying.

  The development processing unit 5 stably processes the photographic paper P with a color developing solution (CD), a color developing tank 51 for processing the photographic paper P with a bleach-fixing solution (BF), and a stable processing of the photographic paper P. Each of the tanks is provided with a transport rack 10 that transports the photographic paper P by a transport roller in each processing liquid. Further, the drying processing unit includes a drying rack 6 having a plurality of transport rollers 7 for transporting the photographic paper P toward the upper outlet, a blower 8 for sending warm air to the drying rack 6, and the like.

  The detailed configuration of the development processing unit 5 will be described. One color development processing tank 51 that stores a color developer from one upstream side to the downstream side in the conveyance direction of the photographic paper P, and one that stores a bleach-fixing solution. A bleach-fixing processing tank 52 and four stable processing tanks 53a, 53b, 53c, 53d storing a stable processing liquid are provided in this order. The submerged rack 10A constituting the lower part of the transport rack 10 is substantially immersed in the processing liquid, while the overhead rack 10B constituting the upper part of the transport rack 10 is a horizontal liquid for each processing liquid. The printing paper P is handed to the submerged rack 10 </ b> A on the downstream side. The turn transport unit 10T that pulls the photographic paper P from the bleach-fixing tank 52 and sends it to the stabilization processing tank 53 is configured as a part of the overhead rack 10B.

  FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of the bleach-fixing tank 52 and the upper part of the stabilization processing tank 53a located on the most upstream side when viewed from the conveyance direction of the photosensitive material. A UV (ultraviolet) irradiator 9 is disposed as an ultraviolet irradiating means below the turn transport unit 10T that pulls the photographic paper P from the bleach-fixing tank 52 and inverts and feeds it to the stabilization processing tank 53c. The irradiation direction of the UV irradiator 9 is set toward the turn conveyance unit 10T, and the irradiation range is a fan shape in a cross section including the UV irradiator 9 as shown by a dotted line in FIG. . The UV irradiator 9 irradiates the entire emulsion surface P1 of the photographic paper P pulled up from the bleach-fixing tank 52 and reversed and sent to the stable processing tank 53a with ultraviolet rays. The UV irradiation intensity of the UV irradiator 9 is set to an optimum irradiation intensity for the photographic paper P to be conveyed.

  A bleach-fixing solution adheres to the surface of the photographic paper P pulled up from the bleach-fixing tank 52, and the hydrophilicity is improved by irradiating the emulsion surface P1 with ultraviolet rays by the UV irradiator 9. The bleaching stabilizer adhering to the surface of the photographic paper P can be easily removed. As a result, the time required for the stabilization process can be shortened, and the development process can be speeded up by increasing the conveyance speed.

Further, immediately before and immediately after the irradiation direction of the irradiation range of the UV irradiator 9, optical sensor pairs S1 and S2 for detecting the presence or absence of the photographic paper P are respectively installed. When the leading edge of the conveyed photographic paper P is detected by the optical sensor pair S1, the irradiation of ultraviolet rays is started, and when the trailing edge of the photographic paper P is detected by the optical sensor pair S2 (the photographic paper P is detected). A control device 11 is provided for controlling the UV irradiator 9 so as to stop the irradiation of the ultraviolet rays (when it is no longer possible). By the irradiation control means composed of the optical sensor pair S1, S2 and the control device, ultraviolet irradiation is performed only when the photographic paper P is within the irradiation range of the UV irradiator 9, and efficient ultraviolet irradiation can be performed. It is possible to reduce the power consumption of the ultraviolet irradiation.
The passage time for passing through the ultraviolet irradiation range is calculated from the length in the conveyance direction of the photographic paper P and the conveyance speed, and the front end of the photographic paper P is detected by the optical sensor pair S1. Can be omitted.

  In the above-described embodiment, the ultraviolet irradiation means is disposed below the turn conveyance unit, but of course, the invention is not limited to this, and at least the ultraviolet light irradiation means until the exposed photosensitive material is sent to the stable processing tank. The ultraviolet ray may be irradiated toward the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material by this ultraviolet irradiation means. A plurality of ultraviolet irradiation means may be provided.

  In the embodiment described above, the irradiation intensity of the irradiated ultraviolet light is constant, but this may be configured to be changeable. For example, an ultraviolet irradiation means whose irradiation intensity can be changed may be used, or the irradiation intensity can be changed by making the ultraviolet irradiation means movable. The irradiation intensity at which the hydrophilicity of the conveyed photosensitive material becomes the highest can be set by changing the irradiation intensity of ultraviolet rays depending on the properties of the photosensitive material. As a result, it becomes easier to remove bleach-fixing solution and the like adhering to the surface of the photosensitive material in the stabilization processing tank, the time required for the stabilization processing can be shortened, and more rapid development processing can be realized.

  Further, as an application example of the development processing apparatus according to the present invention, in order to cope with a quick photographic print output that is strongly desired by a customer who produces a photographic print from a memory card, a development process for developing a photographic paper P on which a photographed image is exposed. The processing apparatus is optimal, but of course the features of the present invention may also be applied to a development processing apparatus for developing a photosensitive material other than the photographic paper P, such as a photographic film.

Schematic cross-sectional view of a development processing apparatus according to the present invention 1 is an enlarged schematic cross-sectional view of the upper part of the bleach-fixing tank and the stabilization processing tank in the development processing apparatus of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

P: Photographic paper (photosensitive material)
9: UV irradiator (ultraviolet irradiation means)
S1, S2: Optical sensor pair (irradiation control means)
10T: Turn conveyance unit 11: Control device (irradiation control means)
52: Bleach fixing bath 53: Stabilization bath

Claims (4)

A color developing tank storing a color developer for color developing the exposed photosensitive material, a bleach-fixing tank storing a bleach-fixing solution for bleach-fixing the photosensitive material, and a stabilizing process for stabilizing the photosensitive material In a development processing apparatus provided with a stable processing tank storing processing liquid,
While providing at least an ultraviolet irradiation means until the photosensitive material is sent to the stabilization processing tank,
A development processing apparatus in which ultraviolet rays are irradiated toward the emulsion surface of the photosensitive material by the ultraviolet irradiation means. The development processing apparatus includes a turn transport unit that pulls up the photosensitive material from the bleach-fixing tank and reverses and feeds the photosensitive material to the stable processing tank.
The development processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ultraviolet irradiation unit is disposed in the vicinity of the turn conveyance unit.   An irradiation control means for controlling the ultraviolet irradiation means to start the ultraviolet irradiation when the photosensitive material is carried into the irradiation range of the ultraviolet irradiation means and to stop the ultraviolet irradiation when being carried out of the irradiation range; The development processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 provided. The development processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an irradiation intensity of the ultraviolet rays irradiated by the ultraviolet irradiation unit can be changed.

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