JPH01118839A - Automatic developing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the lowering of image quality to be caused by drying and to fully dry a film even in case of processing in a short time by constituting a drying part so that heat energy per unit time is supplied to the film more on its entrance side than on its exit side. CONSTITUTION:The distance of each slit nozzle 11a to the path of the film of the drying part 9 is made same and the quantity of air blown from each nozzle 11a to the film F side is made more on the upstream side of the path of the film and made less on the downstream side thereof. The above-mentioned processing is executed by properly selecting a blowing fan 14, making the tapering shape of a rising duct 17 proper, properly altering the area of the aperture of a nozzle duct 11 to the rising duct 17, providing a wind guiding plate whose guiding angle and guiding area are properly altered on the connection part between the rising duct 17 and the nozzle duct 11, providing a damper there and altering the width of the slit of the nozzle 11a, etc. Thus, the lowering of the image quality caused by drying can be prevented and the film can be fully dried even in case of the processing in a short time.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is characterized in that a film fed through an inlet passes through a developing tank, a fixing tank, a rinsing tank, a pre-drying liquid removal section, and a drying section before being discharged from an exit. Regarding automatic developing machines.

[Background of the invention]

The above-mentioned automatic developing machine is also used for developing film taken on a boat, but it is especially widely used in hospitals and the like for developing X-ray film where it is necessary to know the photographic results quickly.

Due to the relationship with the film, many conventional automatic processors for X-ray film have a processing time of about 90 seconds from when the leading edge of the film is fed in through the inlet until it emerges from the exit.

However, there is a strong desire to obtain photographic results more quickly, and for this reason, films and automatic processors that require the above-mentioned processing time of about 45 seconds have come into use.

The biggest problem in reducing the processing time of an automatic processor to about 45 seconds or less is that the film tends to be insufficiently dried. In other words, for example, if you change the developing solution and fixing solution of an automatic processing machine, which takes about 90 seconds, to one that develops and fixes in a short time and increases the film feed speed, the developing and fixing will not be done sufficiently. However, the film that is discharged is insufficiently dried. Therefore,
Raising the drying temperature or blowing a large amount of heated air onto the film to ensure sufficient drying may result in glare on the film surface or warping due to the amount of moisture remaining in the film's emulsion layer. As the number of images increases, the image becomes uneven and the image quality deteriorates.

As a result of our research into solving this problem, the inventors of the present invention found that in conventional automatic processors, the drying section was drying at the same drying temperature and the same amount of air blowing from the inlet side to the outlet side. If the drying temperature is increased or the amount of air blowing is increased, the drying speed of the film surface becomes faster, and the migration of water in the emulsion layer is delayed. The cause of the problem is the formation of a hardened gelatin film on the surface, so by changing the drying conditions on the inlet and outlet sides of the drying section, the drying speed can be increased until there is no moisture on the film surface. It has been found that the problem can be solved by drying at a slower drying speed.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned knowledge, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic developing machine that can obtain a sufficiently dried developed film without deteriorating image quality due to drying even when processed in a short time. shall be.

[Structure of the invention]

The present invention provides an automatic developing machine in which a film fed from an inlet passes through a developing tank, a fixing tank, a washing tank, a pre-drying liquid removal section, and a drying section before being discharged from an exit. The automatic developing machine is characterized in that it is configured to supply more thermal energy per unit time to the film than to the exit side, and this configuration achieves the above object.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below using illustrated examples.

Fig. 1 is a schematic side view showing an example of the automatic developing machine of the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are a schematic plan view and front view mainly showing the drying section, and Figs. 4 and 5 are nozzles. A perspective view showing an example of a duct and a view taken along the line X-X in FIG. 3 is a graph showing a drying curve in a drying section of a developing machine.

In Figures 1 to 5, the photographed film F is
The film is inserted into the machine through the insertion slot 1, fed into the developer tank 3 by the feed roller 2, passed through the developer by a group of rollers in the developer tank 3, and sent to the crossing section 4. It is squeezed out and sent to the fixing tank 5, and passed through the fixing liquid by a group of rollers in the fixing tank 5 at a section 6.
The fixing solution is squeezed out by a group of rollers in the transition section 6 and sent to a washing tank 7, where it is passed through the washing water by a group of rollers in the washing tank 7, and the washing water is squeezed out by an exit roller to remove it before drying. The washing water is sent to the liquid section 8, where the cleaning water is further squeezed out or absorbed by the roller group of the pre-drying liquid removal section 8, and sent to the drying section 9.
Film F along its path while being fed by group 0
Each 2 of the nozzle ducts 11 provided in plurality on both sides of the
The film is dried by being blown with heated air from each slit nozzle lla, and is discharged as a developed film from a film discharge port 13 by a group of feed rollers 12 to the outside of the machine.

The blowing of heated air onto the film F from the nozzle lla in the drying section 9 is carried out by the blower fan 14 through the outside air intake port 15.
The outside air indicated by the arrow A and the circulating air indicated by the arrow B are sucked in from the circulation hole 9a provided in the chamber wall of the drying section 9 through the return duct 16, respectively, to the rising duct 17.
The air heated by the heater 18 provided midway enters the nozzle duct 11 extending into the drying section 9 from the rising duct 17, and passes through two slit nozzles lla provided in each nozzle duct 11 to the film F. This is done by blowing out onto the front side of the surface as shown by arrow C in FIGS. 2 and 5. The nozzle duct E 1 is provided with two slit nozzles lla so that the blowing directions of air from them are directed inward from each other rather than parallel to each other, and the air blown from the nozzles lla is placed between the film F and the 10 groups of feed rollers. In order to prevent the air from accumulating and increasing the back pressure at the outlet, an air release length is provided between the two nozzles lla where the air escapes on the opposite side of the film path as shown by the arrow in Figure 5. A hole 11b is also provided. In addition, in order to prevent the internal pressure of the drying section 9 from increasing due to the intake of outside air by the blower fan 14, etc., the amount of air in the drying section 9 is equal to the amount of outside air taken in and the amount of moisture evaporated from the film F. It is discharged outside the drying section 9 from the exhaust hole 9b provided on the side wall of the drying section 9 as shown by the arrow E in FIG. It is discharged outside.

In the first embodiment of the automatic processor of the present invention as described above, the distance of each slit nozzle lla from the film path is the same, and the amount of air blown from each nozzle lla to the film F side is increased on the upstream side of the film path. and reduce it downstream.

This is done by selecting the blower fan 14, making the tapered shape of the rising duct 17 appropriate, changing the opening area of the nozzle duct 11 to the rising duct 17, and guiding the connection between the rising duct 17 and the nozzle duct 11. This can be carried out by, for example, providing a baffle plate as shown by the reference numeral 20 in FIG. 3 with appropriately changed corners or guiding areas, providing a damper, or changing the slit width of the nozzle lla.

Therefore, in the arrangement example of the nozzles lla shown in FIG.
,3. ...15, and the left nozzle lla is set to Nα2, 4, . ...As 16, the slit width is 2 cylinders.

45° from each nozzle lla with a constant slit length of 430fflII+ and the same position relative to the film path.
The heated air of C was conveyed at a speed of 2 as shown in Table 1.
514 mm 7min, total processing process transit time 4
When the film F was sprayed for 5 seconds and the time for passing through the drying section was 8.1 seconds, a developed film with sufficient drying and no uneven image quality could be obtained. On the other hand, as a comparative example, when heated air under the same conditions was blown equally at a wind speed of 14 m/s from all nozzles 11a, the resulting developed film was coated with glare on the gelatin layer of the film, which had uneven water content. The image quality will be degraded, and the heated air under the same conditions will be heated to all nozzles.
When the air was blown at an equal speed of 12 m/s from a, the surface glare was eliminated and the image quality was improved, but the drying was insufficient.

In the example shown in Table 1, the blowing air velocity of the left and right nozzles 11a of the film path is gradually decreased from the upstream side, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the entire nozzle lla may be divided into two blocks, an upstream side and a downstream side. The same effect can be obtained even if the upstream nozzle lla has a constant high wind speed, and the downstream nozzle lla has a constant lower wind speed. Further, the same effect can be obtained by making the slit width of the nozzle lla wider on the upstream side and narrower on the downstream side to change the amount of air blown onto the film F. In short, if you try to dry film F sufficiently in the drying section,
When drying the film F, a constant rate drying stage and a decreasing rate/drying stage occur, so in order to shorten the drying time without degrading the image quality, the drying speed in the constant rate drying stage should be increased to increase the drying time. In the lapse rate drying stage, the drying rate may be limited to a speed at which migration of gelatin layer moisture occurs so as not to harden the surface of the gelatin layer. This point will be further explained using the graphs in FIGS. 6 and 7.

Figure 6 shows the drying curve for the example in Table 1, and Figure 7 shows the blowing wind speed of each nozzle lla, the average wind speed of 14m/
The drying curve of a comparative example in which s was kept constant is shown, the solid line is a change curve of film moisture content, and the dotted line is a change curve of film surface temperature. In the example in Table 1, as shown in Figure 7, the film surface temperature passes through the constant rate drying stage where the film surface temperature is maintained at a constant temperature lower than the air blowing temperature due to evaporation of water on the film surface, and then reaches the lapse rate drying stage. Once inside the film, the rate of evaporation of water from the film surface is almost equal to the rate at which the water in the gelatin layer moves parallel to the surface, and the film surface temperature gradually rises until almost all the water in the gelatin layer disappears. The temperature becomes equal to the blowing temperature, and at that time the film F reaches the position where it is sent out to the film discharge port 13 by the sending roller group 12, so uneven drying due to residual moisture in the gelatin layer and glare on the surface due to hardening of the gelatin layer are avoided. It never occurs. On the other hand, in the comparative example where the average wind speed of 14 m/s in Table 1 was used as the blowing speed of each nozzle lla, as shown in Fig. 7, when the constant rate drying stage ends and the decreasing rate drying stage begins, , because the parallel migration of moisture in the gelatin layer to the surface side is not in time, the surface of the film dries and the surface temperature rises rapidly, and there is still a lot of moisture in the gelatin layer, and the film F reaches the position of the feed roller group 12. Regardless of the distance, the film surface temperature reaches the air blowing temperature, which causes glare due to hardening of the gelatin layer surface and uneven drying due to residual moisture in the gelatin layer. That is, in order to shorten the passage time through the drying section and perform sufficient drying, the amount of air blown from the upstream nozzle lla that performs drying in the constant rate drying stage is increased to shorten the drying time and reduce the rate of decline. The amount of air blown from the downstream nozzle lla that performs drying in the drying stage may be reduced so that the film surface temperature reaches the air blowing temperature at the spraying position of the most downstream nozzle lla. This also applies to the case where the nozzle lla is divided into upstream and downstream blocks, or when the slit width of the nozzle lla is changed.

In the second embodiment, the amount of heated air blown from each nozzle lla is the same, and the distance between the nozzles lla and the film path is made closer on the upstream side and farther away on the downstream side. be. This also makes it possible to obtain a drying curve as shown in FIG.
A sufficiently dried developed film can be obtained in a short drying time without deteriorating image quality.

The third embodiment has a riser duct 1 as shown in FIG.
The temperature of the heated air blown from the upstream nozzle lla is made higher than the temperature of the heated air blown from the downstream nozzle lla by, for example, providing a heater 21 in the middle of the nozzle 7. This also makes it possible to obtain a drying curve as shown in FIG. Second
A dry developed film can be obtained in the same manner as in the example. It goes without saying that if the heater 21 is provided inside the nozzle duct 11, the temperature of the heated air can be changed for each nozzle duct 11.

The present invention is not limited to the above examples, but can also be used in appropriate combinations of the above examples. Also, the upstream nozzle duct 1
1 and the downstream nozzle duct 11, the air blowing systems from the return duct 16 to the rising duct 17 are separated, and the upstream nozzle duct 11 has a higher amount of outside air than the downstream nozzle duct 11 for the amount of circulating air. Even if heated air with a high degree of moisture unsaturation is sent in a larger proportion, a drying curve as shown in FIG. 6 can be obtained, and the object of the present invention can be achieved. Of course, it is possible to combine this with the above-mentioned example, and in that case, by having separate air blowing systems, the blowing speed of the heated air from the nozzle lla on the upstream side and the downstream side can be adjusted. The air volume or temperature can be easily changed by changing the rotational speed of the blower fan 14 or the amount of heat generated by the heater 18.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the automatic developing machine of the present invention, even if the passing time through the drying section is shortened, a sufficiently dried developed film can be obtained without deteriorating the image quality due to drying.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a schematic side view showing an example of the automatic developing machine of the present invention, Figs. 2 and 3 are a schematic plan view and front view mainly showing the drying section, and Figs. 4 and 5 are nozzles. A perspective view showing an example of a duct and a view taken along the line X-X in FIG. 3 is a graph showing a drying curve in a drying section of a developing machine. F...Film, Process...Film insertion slot, 2...Feed roller, 3...Developer tank, 4.6
... Transition section, 5. Fixing tank, 7. Washing tank, 8. Pre-drying liquid removal section, 9. Drying section,
9a...Circulation hole, 9b...Exhaust hole,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Feed roller, 11... Nozzle duct, lla... Slit nozzle, 11b... Air release elongated hole, 12... Feed out roller group, 13 Film discharge port, 14... Ventilation fan, 15...Outside air intake, 16...Return duct, 17...
Rising duct, 18.21... Heater, 19.
...Exhaust fan, 20...Air guide plate. Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5''

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In an automatic developing machine where the film is sent in from the inlet, passes through the developing tank, fixing tank, washing tank, pre-drying liquid removal section, drying section, and is discharged from the exit, the entrance side of the drying section is the exit. An automatic developing machine characterized by being configured to supply more heat energy per unit time to the film than to the side. (2) The automatic developing device according to claim 1, wherein the drying section has a plurality of heated air blowing nozzles arranged along the film path, and the blowing amount of the nozzle on the inlet side is larger than that of the nozzle on the outlet side. Machine. (3) Claims in which the drying section has a plurality of heated air blowing nozzles arranged along the film path, and the distance between the film path and the nozzles is closer to the nozzle on the inlet side than the nozzle on the outlet side. The automatic developing machine according to item 1. (4) The drying section has a plurality of heated air blowing nozzles arranged along the film path, and the temperature of the heated air blown from the nozzle on the inlet side is higher than that of the nozzle on the outlet side. Developing machine.