JPH01315743A - Automatic drying air controlling developing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce variation in the dimensions of a photosensitive material caused by a developing process by detecting the atmospheric temperature and humidity and controlling the temperature or/and humidity of drying air in accordance with the detecting information. CONSTITUTION:A film F, such as an original negative film for color printing is dried at a drying section 10 after the film F is successively passed through a developing tank 6, fixing tank 7, and water washing tank 8. The temperature and humidity of the drying air of the section 10 are decided in accordance with the information of the atmospheric humidity and temperature sensors 21 and 22 provided on the control section 20 of this developing machine and automatically detected and controlled by humidity and temperature sensors 16 and 17 provided on the drying section 10. It is desirable to measure the above-mentioned atmospheric temperature and humidity at the time of exposure of the film F by means of the sensors 22 and 21. The sensors 22 and 21 can be provided in the vicinity of an exposing machine and can also be eliminated when a user inputs the temperature and humidity conditions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an automatic developing machine for developing silver halide photographic materials, and more particularly to an automatic developing machine that controls drying air. More specifically, the present invention relates to an automatic developing machine that performs drying air control that is optimal for developing a color original film composed of 3 or 4 plates used in color printing.

``Prior Art'' Current color original silver halide photographic materials (hereinafter referred to as films) have the property of ``shrinking'' when the humidity is low and ``stretching'' when the humidity is high.

Apart from this, it also has the characteristic that the dimensions of the film before and after processing change. This is a phenomenon in which the film and image dimensions on the film at the time of film exposure (equal to the original size) and the film and image dimensions on the film after processing are different, and the temperature and humidity conditions at the time of exposure and the dryness during processing are different. Department/
Affected by humidity conditions. The latter results in different dimensions of the original and copy film, which may occur for a while.

In particular, a film original plate for color printing is composed of three original plates of cyan, magenta, and yellow, or four original plates including a blackout plate, so that it is required to have dimensional stability as a set of original plates. Films that are used to create original plates for color printing currently on the market have the above-mentioned characteristics regarding temperature and humidity. Dimensional changes before and after processing caused by fluctuations in conditions (temperature, humidity) are often a problem.

For example, if a film that has been exposed and developed as a cyan version is used as an original, and the pattern of a magenta version is aligned and then exposed and developed, a problem arises in that a misalignment occurs between the resulting magenta version and the original cyan version.

Even in conventional automatic processing machines, it is necessary to change the recycling rate of drying air (the ratio of the amount of outside air taken in as dry air circulated within the drying section) in response to the external environmental humidity, and to change the recycling rate of the drying air from the outlet to the entrance of the drying section. It is well known to control the drying air by creating a temperature gradient, dehumidifying the air used for drying, etc., but such control aims to improve drying efficiency, save energy, and prevent uneven drying. No consideration was given to one-dimensional stability.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The conventional drying air control described above is not a measure to improve dimensional stability, and has the following problems.

That is, A. The method of changing the recycling rate of drying air according to the external environmental humidity makes it difficult to equalize the humidity inside the drying section regardless of the external environmental humidity, and it is difficult to control the dimensional stability before and after processing. Can not do it.

B. The method of providing a temperature gradient is effective for increasing the efficiency of drying, but the temperature and humidity fluctuate greatly, resulting in poor dimensional stability.

Furthermore, in the conventional method, there is a problem in that the dimensional stability of the first and last films changes when continuous processing is performed due to changes in drying and humidity conditions due to water evaporation from the film.

[) Purpose of A Ming The present invention was created in view of the above, and is based on the relationship between the external environmental humidity (environmental humidity at the time of film exposure) and the dimensional change characteristics of the film to be processed. The main purpose of this invention is to clarify an automatic developing machine that sets drying conditions and performs drying air control that can stabilize film dimensional fluctuations before and after processing.Other objects and benefits of the present invention are as follows. This becomes clear from the description of .

[Means for Solving the Problems] A drying air controlled automatic developing machine that achieves the above objects of the present invention has the following features:
It is characterized by having any of the following configurations (1) to (3).

(1) A configuration that detects outside air temperature and humidity and automatically controls the temperature of the drying air according to the detected information. (2) A configuration that detects the outside air temperature and humidity and automatically controls the humidity of the drying air according to the detected information. ) A mechanism that detects outside air temperature and humidity and automatically controls dry air humidity and temperature according to the detected information. (1) omitting a means for detecting the temperature and/or humidity of the outside air; (2) information on one of the temperature and humidity of the drying air is entered by the user, while the other is inputted by the user; has a configuration for automatic control, ■ Obtains humidity information of outside air using humidity information of drying air, ■ Information on outside air temperature and/or humidity is inputted by the user, ■ Conditions of temperature and humidity of drying air. This invention involves inputting both of these values by the user and controlling the drying air according to the set values.

[Specific structure of the invention] The present invention will be explained in detail below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an automatic processor of the present invention, in which a film F to be processed is stored in a magazine or the like and prepared on the side surface of the device frame 2. It is set in the insertion section 3 where it is located.

After setting the magazine L, when the start button is turned on, the film detecting means confirms whether there is a film to be processed, and the end of the film is engaged with the take-in roller 4 by the rotation of the film pull-out roller, and the film is then transported sequentially. The developing tank 6 and fixing tank 7 follow the rotation of the 5 groups of rollers.
, and are guided to the washing tank 8 and processed.

The film that has been washed with water is guided to the squeeze section and drained, then guided to the drying section 0, where it is dried and discharged out of the apparatus through the film discharge port as shown by the arrow.

11 is a drying fan, 12 is a heater, 13 is a drying rack,
14 is a drying tact, and 15 is an exhaust fan.

16 is a drying air humidity sensor, 17 is a temperature sensor, and both sensors are connected to the drying fan 11 in the automatic developing machine.
Although it is preferable to provide the drying air near the outlet of the drying air, it may be provided in other circulation paths of the drying air.

A humidifier 18 is provided at the outlet or inlet of the drying fan 11, but it may also be provided in another circulation path for drying air or near the external air intake.

19 is a dehumidifying device, and a pair of pipes connects the drying duct 14.
It dehumidifies the dry air.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a control section, which has an outside air humidity sensor 21 and an outside air temperature sensor 22.

In this example, the outside air temperature/humidity sensor was installed in the automatic processing machine, but the outside air temperature/humidity sensor was installed in the exposure machine so that the exposure machine and the automatic processing machine may be in different environments in terms of temperature and humidity. It is also preferable to install it near the machine.

In this case, the temperature and humidity conditions of the drying air are determined based on information from a temperature and humidity sensor near the exposure machine. The outside air temperature and humidity sensor attached to the automatic processor is used to obtain information on the temperature and humidity of the air taken in as drying air when controlling the temperature and humidity of the drying air. There is no need for an external temperature/humidity sensor to be attached to the outside air temperature/humidity sensor.

Hereinafter, the embodiments (1) to (4) of the present invention will be described.

Regarding the embodiment of q).

a. When controlling the drying air temperature and humidity, the drying air temperature and humidity are detected and the detected information is fed back to the control computer. This makes it possible to improve control accuracy.

Regarding the implementation of (disgrace), ■ and ■.

a When the drying air temperature and humidity are not controlled (the film is not being processed), the absolute humidity of the drying air and the absolute humidity of the outside air are equal.

Drying air is partially composed of internally circulating air and air taken in from outside air, so it is in a steady state (humidifying, dehumidifying,
If film processing is not performed), the above is 1.
I can do it.

Therefore, the relative humidity of the outside air can be calculated from the information on the dry air humidity and temperature in the steady state and the outside air temperature using a known formula.

This eliminates the need for an outside air humidity sensor, reducing costs.

b Steady state conditions (how long after film processing fH
(see 1) The time from when the film is discharged from the dryer and temperature/humidity control is stopped until the drying air reaches a steady state (absolute humidity is equal to outside air) is the time taken per unit time taken in from outside. It changes depending on the amount of air, the volume of the area through which drying air circulates, and the difference between the absolute humidity of drying air and the absolute humidity of outside air.

In a device showing one embodiment of the present invention.

Outside air intake m2. Om'/lll1n circulation part body end 0.1Srn".

It took about 15 seconds to reach a steady state after the previous treatment with a difference in absolute humidity between outside air and drying air of 20 g/Kg. A preferred method is to calculate the outside air humidity from the absolute humidity of the drying section after a certain period of time (15 seconds or more in this apparatus) has passed after the film processing is completed.

Regarding the embodiment of ■.

It is desirable that the film is in a good dry state when it is discharged from the drying device.

Drying temperature and humidity control is performed based on the dimensional variation characteristics of the film before and after processing, but in order to obtain a good drying condition,
It is desirable to control the drying air temperature and humidity within a range that allows the film to be dried within the drying capacity of the device relative to the amount of water absorbed by the film. The same can be said of the embodiments (1), (2), (2) and (φ) above.

Even if the water absorption amount of the film is input into a computer in advance, the amount of water absorption of the film may vary depending on the manufacturing loft, the fatigue state of the liquid during development, fixing, washing, etc. even if the film type is the same. Subject to change. Along with this variation (particularly in the case of drying at low temperature and high humidity), drying defects may occur.

In such a case, the user can check the drying state of the film and, if the drying condition is poor, change the drying temperature or humidity settings to improve the drying defect.

In this method, it is preferable that the computer changes the other side according to the dimensional variation characteristics of the film in response to the user's setting changes, thereby suppressing dimensional changes due to changes in conditions.

b. If there is a difference between the temperature/humidity conditions during film exposure and the outside temperature/humidity conditions detected by one device. If there is a time difference between film exposure and processing, the gg light and processing may be different. If the test is held in a location, the conditions may change due to wind flow, etc. even indoors.

・If there is a difference in the characteristics of the film compared to the preset dimensional variation data, this may be due to variations depending on the film lot, changes in the use of the film, etc.

- If the user wants to change the dimensions before and after processing for a special purpose, or if the dimensions of the manuscript are different between the four versions, etc., the dimensions can be fine-tuned in the above cases.

In this method, it is desirable that if the user changes one setting, the other condition remains unchanged.

Regarding the embodiment of ■.

The user determines the ambient temperature and humidity of the automatic developing machine (preferably the temperature and humidity during exposure).

The user sets the temperature and humidity conditions of the drying air according to the dimensional fluctuation characteristics of the film being used.

The values of ambient temperature/humidity and drying air temperature/humidity may be automatically converted and displayed by an automatic processor, or may be performed by the user using a data list of film dimensional variation characteristics.

[Example] Hereinafter, dry air control of the present invention performed using the above-mentioned device will be explained along with experimental data.

The experimental data shown in Tables 1 to 7 was obtained by processing the samples and processing agents shown below using the automatic developing machine shown in FIG.

Example 1 A silver halide emulsion was prepared by simultaneously adding a silver nitrate solution and an aqueous solution of sodium chloride and potassium bromide to a gelatin solution. This emulsion is sulfur sensitized in the usual manner and then coated at 12 g/ln' of gelatin on a latex subbed PET base (polyethylene terephthalate film) 100 g Il thick. Also, at this time, an emulsion protective layer was simultaneously coated on the outside of the emulsion layer with respect to the base so that gelatin i l g/rn' was applied. This sample was dried to prepare a sample. At this time, the applied IR amount is 3
．． It was 5g/rn'.

Cut this sample into 30cm x 60cm pieces P-
Using a 627FM light room printer (manufactured by Dainippon Screen Co., Ltd.), two thin lines were imagewise exposed at a spacing of 56 cm and developed to form a manuscript.

After thoroughly controlling the humidity of this A manuscript, an unexposed sample (same size as the original), a printer, and an automatic processor at 25°C under each humidity condition, the unexposed sample was closely exposed to the original, and the automatic processor was It was developed and processed. The developed sample was superimposed on the original original, and the degree to which the spacing between the thin lines had changed compared to the original was measured using a calibrated Roubaix.

The optimum drying conditions in terms of dimensional stability before and after treatment under each outside air condition should be determined independently for each film, and are not limited to the drying conditions shown in this example.

The measurement was performed with n=6, and the average value was taken. The measurement error is the average value ±llJpm.

The processing conditions of the automatic processor (hereinafter sometimes referred to as automatic processor) and the composition of the processing agent are as follows.

Processing conditions Development 20 seconds 38℃ fixation
Wash with water at 38℃ for 20 seconds 14
．． Dry for 5 seconds Stop for 23 seconds [Composition A] Pure water (ion-exchanged water) 150+A ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt 2g Diethylene glycol 50g Potassium sulfite (55% w/v aqueous solution) 100M Potassium carbonate 50g hydroquinone
15g 1-phenyl-5-mercaptotetrazole 30mg potassium hydroxide Amount to make pi after use 10.9 Potassium bromide 4.5g [
Composition] Pure water (ion exchange water): 1 mg diethylene glycol 50 g ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt 25 g acetic acid (9
0% aqueous solution) 0. 00 mg of phenyl-5-mercaptotetrazole Sodium 2-mercapto-benzimidazole-5-sulfonate When using a 50 o+g developer, the above compositions were dissolved in the order of A1 in 500 m of water and used after finishing to 11.

2 Interchange 1] [Composition A Ammonium cothiosulfate (72.5% w/v aqueous solution) 230
mJL Sodium Sulfite 9.
5g Sodium acetate trihydrate 15.9
g Borobutyro 6.7g Sodium citrate dihydrate 2g Acetic acid (90% w/w aqueous solution) 8.1a
+fL [11 components] Pure water (ion exchange water) 17m2f
t-drink (50% w/w aqueous solution) 5.8
g Aluminum sulfate (text A, 03 conversion content is 8.1% w
/w aqueous solution) When using 26.5 g of fixer, the above compositions were dissolved in 500 ml of water in the order of composition A1 and finished to IJI.

The pH of this fixer was 4.3.

The first aspect of drying air control is to change the drying air temperature in response to outside air humidity, that is, environmental humidity. According to this method, as shown in Table 1, when the environmental humidity is low, "spreading" in one dimension can be suppressed by drying with a low drying air temperature (high relative humidity).

In addition, if the environmental humidity is high, drying with a high drying air temperature (low relative humidity) will reduce the shrinkage of the dimensions.
I can control it.

Table 1 Looking at A in Table 1, when drying is carried out at a constant drying air temperature of 40°C, if outside air (25°C) is directly taken in and heated to form drying air, then the absolute humidity of the drying air is is equal to the absolute humidity of the outside air, and as a result, it can be seen that the sample undergoes a significant dimensional change before and after treatment.

Generally, the accuracy error of color printing film is ±2.0p.
It is required that it be within about m, as shown in Table 1.
25~+6511. A dimensional change in m is unfavorable.

Therefore, data according to the present invention (first aspect) (Bl in Table 1
) shows that even if outside air is taken in as is, the dimensional change is in the range of 1 to 7 ILm by adjusting the temperature of the drying air, and extremely effective processing performance can be obtained.

Note that, as is the same in the table below, the dimensional change data was measured when the sample was cooled to the outside temperature (25° C.).

Example 2 A second aspect of drying air control is to change the drying air humidity in response to environmental humidity. According to this method, Table 2
As shown in Figure 2, when the environmental humidity is low, by humidifying the drying air and drying at a high relative humidity, it is possible to suppress the "stretching" of the dimensions. Furthermore, when the environmental humidity is high, it is possible to suppress the "shrinkage" in one dimension by dehumidifying the drying air and drying at a low relative humidity.

Margin Table 2 Below: As is clear from comparing the AI and A2 data in Table 2, simply increasing the drying air temperature will not increase the overall environmental temperature.
Under humidity conditions, it is not possible to bring the dimensional change within the permissible range, but as is clear from the data for B and B2, by adjusting the absolute humidity of the drying air, the dimensional change can be suppressed to a significantly low level.

In the first aspect described above, if the environmental humidity is low, sufficient drying ability may not be obtained by low-temperature drying. Also the second
In this case, if the environmental humidity is high, the dry humidity may not be able to be lowered sufficiently within a short period of time due to the dehumidifier's capacity limit, and the "shrinking" of the dimensions cannot be suppressed. be.

Further, in both the first and second embodiments, it is possible to automatically set optimal drying conditions in terms of dimensional stability each time in response to minute changes in environmental humidity. but,
Since these two methods only control either the temperature or the humidity, there are cases where it is not possible to suppress the "stretching" or "shrinking" of the dimensions, or the drying is insufficient.

Example 3 Accordingly, in a third aspect of the present invention, the drying temperature and humidity are changed in accordance with the environmental humidity.

The first method of the third aspect is to set a reference temperature in advance as shown in the data in Table 3, and when the environmental humidity is low, by humidifying and drying at a high relative humidity, the dimensions can be adjusted. This method suppresses the shrinkage of dimensions by stopping humidification when the environmental humidity is high, increasing the drying temperature, and drying at low relative humidity.゛If you try to set the drying air absolute humidity while keeping the standard temperature, if the humidity becomes lower than the outside air humidity and the device does not have a dehumidification function, the drying temperature will be automatically set using the outside air absolute humidity as the drying air absolute humidity. Is it preferable to do so?

Table 3 Example 4 The second method of the third aspect is to set the reference humidity in advance as shown in the data in Table 4, and when the environmental humidity is low, the drying air temperature is lowered to increase the relative humidity. Dry at a high humidity, and if the environmental humidity is high, increase the drying air temperature and dry at a low relative humidity. When the set drying air temperature exceeds the controllable range of the automatic processor (the temperature range that does not adversely affect the photographic performance of the film or the drying range), the drying air humidity is changed and the temperature is within the controllable range of the automatic processor. It is preferable to control the temperature to the optimum condition.

Also, if you set the drying air temperature with the standard humidity unchanged, it will be 60°.
If it exceeds C, it is preferable to automatically turn off the humidifier and set the drying air temperature using the outside air absolute humidity as the drying air absolute humidity.

Table 4 In the explanation of the above examples, the outside air humidity is assumed to be the outside air humidity at the time of development processing, but this is effective when the time of film exposure and the time of development processing are close to each other. If there is a time gap and the humidity conditions at the time of film exposure are significantly different from the environmental conditions of the automatic processing machine, the humidity conditions at the time of exposure may be detected by the user (work name) instead of detecting the environmental conditions at the time of development. ) is preferably input as the optimum drying condition. Next, such an example will be given.

Example 5 In Example 3, the outside air condition was 25°C, 18% (or 3.
Upon detection of 51B/g), the CPU of the device adjusts the drying air conditions to 25°C and 3.5g/g to match the film dimension fluctuation characteristics.
I chose Kg.

When drying under these conditions, the user determined that the discharged film was poorly dried.

When the user processes a sheet of film with the set temperature set to 40℃, the CPU of the device adjusts the drying air humidity to 14g/g.
Automatically set to dry the film. It was confirmed that the dimensional variation of the treated film did not worsen and the drying state of the film became good (see Table 5).

wB: Wet bulb temperature ('C) In the case of hot air drying, it is known that when the drying air temperature and humidity are changed in the same drying device, the drying capacity follows the above formula.

The operator may change the temperature setting or the humidity setting.

◎Setting method example a Temperature setting Humidity setting C Temperature or humidity selection method → Set either one ◎ Error display example C If the set value exceeds the control range of the device...Depending on the device capacity It's decided.

b When the set value exceeds the film dimension control range.

C If it is clear that processing at a humidity corresponding to the set value (temperature) will result in poor drying.

Same as dc, but when humidity is set.

*For c and d, if the equipment drying system has a drying capacity of 12g/go when the DB-WB value is 10℃, the film moisture content is 1
2g/m'', DB-WB (setting below 10°C will result in poor drying.

◎Example of device display a: A method in which the self-excited developing machine displays in advance the range in which the above error will not occur.

b The current drying conditions (temperature and humidity) may be displayed simultaneously or separately.

Table 5 Example 6 In Example 2, the dimensions deteriorated due to the difference in the environment during exposure and the surrounding conditions of the device. Since the surrounding conditions of the device are detected, appropriate dimensions can be obtained by inputting the exposure temperature and humidity conditions. Exposure condition: 25°C, 50%, device ambient condition: 25
Table 6 shows the results when the temperature was 20%.

Instead of inputting the temperature and humidity parameters at the time of exposure, a method of detecting the temperature and humidity at the exposure location may be used.

Table 6 Example 7 In Example 2, the dimensions deteriorated due to differences in the environment during exposure and the surrounding conditions of the device. Therefore, the drying air temperature of the automatic processing machine is fixed, and the drying air humidity is changed by the user (
We experimented with the method B) in the table, or the method in which the drying air humidity of the automatic developing machine is fixed and the drying air temperature is changed by the user (C in the table).

Table 7 shows the results when the exposure temperature and humidity conditions were 25°C and 50%.

Table 7 In Table 7, under drying conditions A, the dimensional change before and after treatment is -IJLII, but when the temperature is fixed and the humidity is changed (
It can be seen that the amount of dimensional change before and after treatment can be controlled by (B) or by fixing the humidity and changing the temperature (C).

This allows fine adjustment of dimensions by changing one of the temperature and humidity layer conditions automatically set by the CPU.

At this time, the other set value is not changed.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the drying air controlled automatic developing machine of the present invention, as shown in the experimental data in Tables 1 to 7, it is possible to perform processing with good one-dimensional stability regardless of the external environmental humidity conditions. It is extremely effective, especially when creating film master plates for color printing.

In addition, with conventional technology, when continuous processing is performed, the drying air is circulated within the drying section, so the humidity of the drying air changes (increases), and the rate of change in finished dimensions changes between the first and last processing. Although they are different from each other, the present invention has the advantage that even when continuous processing is performed, processing can be performed with stable finished dimensions. The effects of the present invention are also exhibited when the present invention is applied to a drying device for drying a film after processing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a drying air controlled automatic developing machine of the present invention. In the figure, each symbol indicates the following. 10: Drying section 11: Drying fan 12: Heater 13: Drying rack 14: Drying duct 15: Exhaust fan 16: Dry air humidity sensor 17: Dry air temperature sensor 18: Humidifier 19: Dehumidifier 20: Control unit 21 : Outside air humidity sensor 22: Outside air temperature sensor F: Film

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A drying air controlled automatic developing machine having any of the following configurations (1) to (3). (1) A configuration that detects outside air temperature and humidity and automatically controls the temperature of the drying air according to the detected information. (2) A configuration that detects the outside air temperature and humidity and automatically controls the humidity of the drying air according to the detected information. ) Mechanism 2 for detecting outside air temperature and humidity and automatically controlling dry air humidity and temperature according to the detected information, characterized in that the outside air temperature and/or humidity to be detected is the temperature and/or humidity at the time of film exposure. A drying air controlled automatic developing machine according to claim 1. 3. The drying air controlled automatic developing machine according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising means for detecting the temperature and humidity of the drying air. 4. The drying air controlled automatic developing machine according to claim 3, wherein means for detecting outside air temperature and/or humidity is omitted. 5. The drying air controlled automatic developing machine according to claim 1 or 2, wherein information on one of the temperature and humidity of the drying air is inputted by a user, and the other information is automatically controlled. 6. The drying air controlled automatic developing machine according to claim 4, wherein the humidity information of the outside air is obtained from the humidity information of the drying air. 7. The drying air controlled automatic developing machine according to claim 4, wherein the information on the temperature and/or humidity of the outside air is input by a user. 8. A drying air control automatic developing machine characterized in that the user inputs both the temperature and humidity conditions of the drying air, and the drying air is controlled according to the set values.