JPH0268558A - Photosensitive material processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the temperature of outside air which is taken in, to save heating energy, and to suppress a rise in the temperature in a chamber by carrying out heat exchange between inside air used for drying and the outside air which is admitted to the drying part. CONSTITUTION:This processor is equipped with a processing part 16 which processes a photosensitive material after exposure and a drying part 18 which dries the processed photosensitive material. The drying part 18 is provided with a heat exchanger 66 and the heat exchange is performed between the high-temperature inside air used for the drying and the low-temperature outside air admitted to the drying part 18. Therefore, the temperature of the admitted outside air is raised and the temperature of the inside air to be discharged out is lowered to save the energy at the time of heating the outside air by a heater.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus used in, for example, silver salt photocopiers, automatic processors, and the like.

<Prior Art> Copying devices that perform wet processing, such as silver halide photocopying machines, copy original images onto photosensitive materials, and produce higher quality copies than electrophotographic copying devices. There is an advantage that it can be done.

Generally, this wet-type copying machine sends the photosensitive material taken out from the magazine of the photosensitive material supply section to the exposure section to expose the original image, and sends the exposed photosensitive material to the processing section where it is developed. The photosensitive material is dried in a drying section to obtain a copy of the original image.

In the processing section, a developing tank, a bleaching/fixing tank, and a rinsing tank are arranged in sequence, and processing is performed by sequentially immersing the photosensitive material in the processing solution in these tanks.

Further, in the drying section, hot air (drying air) at about 60 to 100 DEG C. is blown onto the wet photosensitive material conveyed from the processing section to dry it.

By the way, in such a drying section, all the inside air that is circulated inside the drying section (hereinafter referred to as "circulated inside air") is used as drying air. Approximately 70 to 80% is reused, and the remaining 20 to 30% is exhausted to the outside, and instead, outside air is taken in and mixed to form the next drying air.
The reason for this is that since the circulating inside air has a high temperature, by introducing relatively low-humidity outside air, an increase in humidity within the drying section is suppressed and a reduction in drying efficiency is prevented.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, in the above configuration, a portion of the high temperature circulating inside air is exhausted to the outside and mixed with low temperature outside air taken in from the outside to form dry air. Therefore, in order to heat to the appropriate temperature, the capacity of the heater must be increased.
Furthermore, energy consumption also increases.

On the other hand, if the amount of exhaust air to the outside is set to 20% or less in order to suppress the energy consumption by the heater, the drying air will have a high temperature, resulting in a disadvantage that the drying efficiency will decrease.

Furthermore, the drying air being exhausted to the outside may have an adverse effect on the indoor environment in which the copying machine is installed.

That is, the indoor temperature and humidity increase due to the exhaust of high-temperature, high-humidity dry air, and the odors of various components (e.g., ammonia) contained in the dry air are dissipated into the room, causing discomfort. be.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a photosensitive material processing apparatus which eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, allows efficient drying with less energy consumption, and causes less change in the external environment.

Means to solve problems〉 Such objects are achieved by the present invention as described below.

That is, the present invention provides a photosensitive material apparatus having a processing section for processing a photosensitive material after exposure, and a drying section for drying the photosensitive material processed in the processing section, the drying section including a heat exchanger. This photosensitive material processing apparatus is characterized in that it is configured such that the heat exchanger performs heat exchange between the inside air used for drying and the outside air introduced into the drying section.

Moreover, it is preferable that the heat exchanger uses an electronic cooling element.

Effect> The effect of the present invention with the above configuration is that a heat exchanger provided in the drying section exchanges heat between the high temperature inside air used for drying and the low temperature outside air introduced into the drying section, It increases the temperature of the outside air that is introduced, while lowering the temperature of the inside air that is exhausted to the outside. This saves energy when heating the outside air with the heater, reduces the amount of heat exhausted to the outside, and reduces changes to the outside environment (temperature increase, humidity increase, odor emission, etc.).

<Embodiments> Hereinafter, the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional front view of a silver salt photographic color copying machine equipped with a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, in a copying machine 10, a main body 11 includes a photosensitive material supply section 12 on the right side of the figure, and an exposure section 1 on the upper side.
4. A processing section 16 is provided below, a drying section 18 is provided to the left of the processing section via an air chamber 17, and a processing liquid storage section 19 is provided below the processing section.

Photosensitive material supply section 12 of this silver halide photographic color copying machine 10
is covered with a detachable casing 120, into which a pair of upper and lower magazines 20, 22 can be loaded. Inside these magazines 20.22, photosensitive materials 24.26 of the same type or different types are stored in a rolled state, respectively, and are taken out from the tip to the conveyance path 121 of the photosensitive material supply section 12. ing. - For example, 24 is a photosensitive material most suitable for copying color photographic originals, and 26 is a photosensitive material most suitable for copying color printed originals.

The photosensitive material 24 or 26 (hereinafter referred to as 24) pulled out from the magazine 20 , 22 is sent to the exposure window 41 of the exposure section 14 through the conveyance path 121 of the photosensitive material supply section 12 , and is sent to the exposure window 41 of the exposure section 14 . Transparent document table 3 installed in
The image of the color original 32 on the top is exposed. This color original 32 is held on the original platen 3 by the original presser 34.
The image of the color original 32, which is pressed to the surface of the photosensitive material 32 and illuminated by the light source 38 in the light source unit 36 and reflected by the plurality of mirrors 40, passes through the optical means 42 and is exposed to the photosensitive material 24 in the exposure window 41 by opening the shutter 44. It is designed to be exposed to light.

Note that when the shutter 44 is in the closed state, the original image is reflected by the inner mirror of the shutter 44 and input to the image sensor 45 to determine the exposure correction conditions (
prescan).

A switching guide 43 is provided in the middle of the conveyance path 121 of the photosensitive material 24 (downstream of the exposure window 41), and the rotation of this switching guide 43 switches the photosensitive material 24 sent vertically downward to the processing section 16 side when necessary. It is now being introduced to

In the processing section 16, a developing tank 46, a bleaching/fixing tank 48, and a washing tank 50. , development, bleaching/fixing and washing are performed.

A processing liquid storage section 19 below the processing section 16 includes bottles 19 each storing a developing solution, a bleaching/fixing solution, and washing water.
1.192 and 193 are stored.

These bottles 191, 192 and 193 are connected to the bottom supply ports 46a, 48a and 50a, 52a of the corresponding processing tanks 46, 48 and 50, 52 through predetermined piping (not shown). A liquid pump (not shown) provided in the middle of this piping supplies fresh processing liquid from each bottle to the corresponding processing tank.

An air chamber 17 is provided between the processing section 16 and the drying section 18, and the photosensitive material 24 washed with water in the processing section 16 is
After passing through the air chamber 17, it is sent to the drying section 18.

By installing the air chamber 17, heat in the drying section 18, which will be described later, is transmitted to the processing section 16, thereby preventing the temperature of the processing liquid from rising above an appropriate temperature.

An exhaust fan 171 is installed in the upper part of this air chamber 17, and exhausts the warm air that has entered from the drying section 18 to the outside.

Note that the exhaust fan 171 is controlled to be stopped until the inside of the drying section 18 is heated up to a predetermined temperature at the start of copying, thereby shortening the heat-up time and saving energy consumption.

An appropriate number of transport roller pairs 60, one or both of which are driven to rotate, are installed in the drying section 18, and these transport roller pairs 60 transport the photosensitive material 24 through the drying section 18 in a substantially straight path. It has become.

Further, a duct 61 through which drying air passes is installed so as to surround the transport path of the photosensitive material 24.

A blower fan 62 equipped with a rotor having radially formed blades is installed in the upper part of the drying section 18 , and an exhaust port of the blower fan 62 is connected to one end of a duct 64 . The other end of the duct 64 is connected to the upstream side of the duct 61 on the surface (emulsion surface) 24A side of the photosensitive material 24. Note that in the duct 64, there is a heater 6 that can heat the air from the blower fan 62 to, for example, about 60 to 150°C.
5 is installed.

Note that a blower fan (not shown) similar to that described above is provided, which is connected to the upstream side of the duct 61 (drying start section 610) on the side of the back surface 24B of the photosensitive material, and the blower fan blows air inside the duct 61 and the space 18b below the drying section 18. A circulation path for drying air may be formed.

Above the downstream side of the duct 61, a heat exchanger 66, which will be described later, protrudes outward from the main body 11, and a duct 67, which communicates the lower part of the heat exchanger 66 with the downstream end of the duct 61, is installed. .

Further, a rotatable shielding plate 69 is attached to the inner wall of the drying section 18. This shielding plate 69 adjusts the degree of opening of the opening 61a at the upper part of the downstream end of the duct 61 by its rotation angle.

The air sucked in from the intake port of the blower fan 62 is discharged from its exhaust port, and when passing through the duct 64, it is heated by the heater 6.
5, the air is turned into hot air of, for example, about 50 to 100° C., and is supplied to the drying start section 610, which is upstream of the duct 61.

The hot air supplied to this drying start section 610 is used to dry the photosensitive material 24.
The water flows through the duct 61 along the transport path of the photosensitive material 24, and water is removed from the front surface 24A and the back surface 24B of the photosensitive material 24 during that time.

After drying the photosensitive material 24 in the duct 61, the inside air (hereinafter referred to as "drying air") is transferred to the drying end section 615 on the downstream side of the duct 61, where a part of it is transferred to the opening 61a.
is returned to the space 18a, and a part of the material passes through the sensitive material passage gate 55.
is introduced into the upper duct 67.

In this case, the amount of drying air returned to the space 18a through the opening 61a is determined by the rotation angle of the shielding plate 69, that is, the degree of opening/closing, and usually 0 to 30% of the drying air after drying is completed.
Preferably, the degree is directly returned to the space 18a.

Note that the degree of opening and closing of the shielding plate 69 is appropriately determined in consideration of the temperature, humidity, air volume of the drying air, temperature and humidity of the outside air, and the like.

For example, the opening 61a may be almost completely shielded by the shielding plate 69 so that no high-humidity dry air is returned to the space 18a.

Further, the dry air introduced into the duct 67 is transferred to the heat exchanger 6
The outside air passes through the heat exchanger 66 and is introduced into the space 18a of the drying section 18. In the heat exchanger 66, heat exchange is performed between the dry air (high temperature) introduced through the duct 67 and the outside air (low temperature) introduced from the outside.

In this way, in the space 18a, the dry air (circulated inside air) that has passed through the opening 61a and the outside air that has been heated in the heat exchanger 66 are mixed, and this is sucked into the intake port of the blower fan 62 again, and the Serves as drying air.

Note that outside air usually has lower humidity than the drying air passing through the opening 61a, so the higher the introduction rate of outside air into the space 18a, the higher the humidity inside the space 18a, that is, the drying air supplied to the drying start section 610. The humidity will be lower and the drying efficiency will be improved. However, on the other hand, although the outside air introduced into the space 18a is heated by the heat exchanger 66, its temperature is lower than the temperature of the drying air passing through the opening 61a, so the introduction rate of outside air is large. The lower the temperature within the space 18a, the lower the temperature within the space 18a. Therefore, in the present invention, the space 18
It is preferable to appropriately determine the outside air introduction rate in consideration of the balance between the temperature and humidity inside a.

For example, to give a preferable example regarding the humidity in the drying section 18, the humidity of the drying air in the drying end section 615 is 30 to 9.
In contrast, the humidity of the drying air in the drying start section 610 is preferably set to a value lower than that, for example, about 20 to 70%.

The photosensitive material 24 dried in such a drying section 18
passes through the photosensitive material passing gate 55 and is delivered onto the take-out tray 54.

Note that in the copying machine 10, it is also possible to provide a heat insulating material (not shown) to surround the drying section 18 to prevent heat dissipation from the drying section 18, thereby further saving energy consumption. .

Next, a specific configuration of the heat exchanger 66 shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.

FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are a partially sectional plan view and a partially sectional front view, respectively, showing a configuration example of a heat exchanger.

As shown in these figures, the heat exchanger 66a has a main body 70, and in a space 71 inside the main body, a large number of tube bodies 72 extending in the vertical direction in FIG. 3 are installed in a substantially uniform arrangement. has been done.

Each of these tubes 72 passes through the main body 70 from the top to the bottom, and the above-mentioned duct 67 is installed in the lower part of the main body 70 so as to communicate with the lower end opening (high temperature fluid inlet side) of each tube 72. , - At the upper part of the old main body 70, there is an exhaust duct 74.
is installed so as to communicate with the upper end opening (high temperature fluid outlet side) of each tube body 72.

A cation exchange resin filter 76 and an aroma filter 77 are installed as deodorizing means near the exhaust lower 5 at the upper part of the duct 74, and furthermore, at the end of the exhaust lower 5, as a means for exhausting dry air to the outside. For example, a propeller type fan 78 is installed.

The cation exchange resin filter 76 has the function of removing ammonia contained in the drying air, and for example, a commercially available product such as TIN-100 (sulfonic acid type) manufactured by Toshiku Co., Ltd. can be used.

The aroma filter 77 is made by impregnating a porous material such as a sponge, woven fabric, or non-woven fabric with an aromatic agent, and prevents the odor of dry air from entering the outside, that is, the room where the copying machine 10 is installed (hereinafter referred to as
(simply referred to as "indoors").

It goes without saying that other types of filters (for example, deodorizing filters using activated carbon) may be installed in place of or in addition to these filters 76 and 77.

For example, a propeller-type fan 73 is installed as a means for introducing outside air into the open lower 0a (low-temperature fluid inlet side) at the left end of the main body 70 in the figure. 0b (low temperature fluid outlet side) is installed so as to communicate with the space 18a of the drying section 18.

The tube 72 is preferably made of a metal with high thermal conductivity, such as copper, aluminum, or stainless steel, and the inside and outer surface of the tube 72 may be plated or other surface treated to provide corrosion resistance. It is also possible to increase the

Furthermore, fins (not shown) can be provided on the outer periphery of the tube body 72 to increase the efficiency of heat exchange.

In the illustrated example, the tubular body 72 is a straight pipe, but the tubular body may be bent, for example, in a "U" shape or in a spiral shape to increase the length through which the drying air passes.

In such a heat exchanger 66a, as shown by the arrow H in the figure, high-temperature drying air is introduced into the duct 67 from the drying end part 615 by the action of the fan 78, and then flows through each pipe body 7.
2 and collected in the duct 74, and then passes through the cation exchange resin filter 7G and the aroma filter and is exhausted to the outside (indoors) from the exhaust lower 5 of the duct.

On the other hand, as shown by arrow C in the figure, low-temperature outside air is introduced into the space 71 of the main body 70 from the open lower door 0a by the action of the fan 73, and after passing through the space 71, the low-temperature outside air is introduced into the drying section 18 from the open lower door 0b. It is introduced into the space 18a.

When the outside air passes through the space 71, it receives heat from the high temperature dry wind passing through each tube 72 through the tubes 72, and its temperature increases.

On the other hand, when the drying air passes through the tube body 72, it imparts heat to the outside air and its temperature decreases.

This reduces the energy required for heating with the heater 65 and reduces the amount of heat exhausted to the outside compared to the conventional method of directly taking in low-temperature outside air into the drying section 18 and exhausting high-temperature drying air to the outside. This makes it possible to suppress the rise caused by dry air exhaust.

Further, when the dry air passes through the cation exchange resin filter 76, the ammonia component is removed, and the aromatic filter 77
Since the air freshener imparts a pleasant scent to the air when the air passes through the air, it is possible to prevent bad odors, especially ammonia odor, from being emitted into the room.

FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are a partially sectional plan view and a partially sectional front view showing other configuration examples of the heat exchanger, respectively.

The heat exchanger 66b shown in these figures performs heat exchange by the heat absorption and heat radiation effects of a Vertier element (electronic cooling element) utilizing the Peltier effect.

As shown in FIG. 5, the heat exchanger 66b has a main body 80, is partitioned by a partition wall 81 into a first space 82 on the upper side in the figure, and a second space 83 on the lower side, and is connected to an arbitrary DC power source (see FIG. (not shown)
A plurality of Bertier elements 84 operated by the above are arranged such that the heat absorption part 86 of the Bertier element 84 is on the second space 83 side, and the heat radiation part 85 is on the first space 82 side.

The heat absorbing section 86 and the heat dissipating section 85 are provided with aluminum fins 88 and 87, respectively, to increase the efficiency of heat absorption and heat dissipation.
is installed.

An opening 89 is formed in the lower part of the main body 80, and the duct 67 described above is installed to communicate with the inside of the second space 83 through the opening 89.

In addition, on both lower sides of the main body 80 (front and rear sides in FIG. 5), as a means for exhausting the dry air that has passed through the duct 67 and the second space 83 to the outside (indoor), there are installed similar devices as described above. A fan 90 is installed. Note that various filters as described above may be provided before and after each fan 90.

Below the aluminum fins 88 of each heat absorbing part 86, the heat absorbing part 8
6, a tray 91 is installed as a receiver for draining water droplets generated by condensation, and a drain port of the tray 91 is connected to a drain pipe 92 installed at the bottom of the main body. Further, this drain pipe 92 is connected to a coagulated water recovery tank (not shown) installed inside or outside the device main body 11.

A fan 93 similar to that described above is installed in the opening 80a of the first space 82 at the left end in the figure as a means for introducing outside air.

Further, an opening 80b at the right end in the figure of the first space 82 is installed so as to communicate with the space 18a of the drying section 18.

In such a heat exchanger 66b, as shown by arrow H in the figure, high-temperature, high-humidity drying air is introduced into the duct 67 from the drying end part 615 by the action of the fan 90, and then is introduced into the second space through each opening 89. Enter 83. The drying air introduced into the second space 83 is cooled as it passes between the aluminum fins of each heat absorbing section 86 and forms dew condensation on the surface of the aluminum fins 88.

Water droplets generated by this condensation flow down due to their own weight, and are stored in a coagulated water collection tank via a tray 91 and a drain pipe 92.

The air cooled and dehumidified in the heat absorbing section 86 passes through the sides of the aluminum fins 88 and is exhausted to the outside (indoors) from the installation opening of the fan 90 on the lower side of the main body 80 .

Note that the water stored in the coagulated water recovery tank is transferred to the washing tank 50.
．． 52 and return it to the bottle 193 for supplying washing water to the bottle 52;
It is also possible to offer it for reuse.

On the other hand, as shown by C in the figure, the low temperature outside air is transferred to the fan 93.
is introduced into the first space 82 from the opening 80a by the action of
It is heated when passing between the aluminum fins 87 of each heat radiating section 85, and then the space 18 of the drying section 18 is opened from the opening 80b.
introduced into a.

In this way, heated outside air is taken into the drying section 18, and cooled and dehumidified dry air is exhausted into the room. Compared to the conventional method of directly exhausting the water to the outside, the heater 65
In addition to reducing the amount of energy required for heating, the amount of heat and water vapor discharged to the outside is also reduced, making it possible to suppress increases in indoor temperature and humidity due to exhaust of dry air.

In the heat exchanger 66b, in order to increase the cooling and heating efficiency, a larger number of Peltier elements may be closely arranged in parallel to increase the cooling and heating area, or a plurality of Peltier elements may be cascaded to increase the cooling and heating efficiency. It is possible to take appropriate measures to increase processing capacity, such as increasing the temperature difference between heating and heating.

The preferred temperatures of the exhaust dry air and introduced outside air from the heat exchanger described above will be explained.

Table 1 below shows the heat exchanger 66a (FIGS. 2 and 3) and the heat exchanger 66b (FIGS. 4 and 5),
Dry air inlet (inside duct 67) and outlet (fan 78.9)
temperature near 0), and the outside air inlet side (open lower 0a, 80
It shows a row of temperatures at a) and the outlet side (open lower 0b, 80b).

Table 1 As shown in Table 1, the heat exchanger 66b using a Peltier element has a larger temperature difference between the dry air inlet and outlet sides and a larger temperature difference between the outside air inlet and outlet sides than the heat exchanger 66a. It can be seen that the heat exchange efficiency is good.

Furthermore, in the heat exchanger 66b, the humidity on the outlet side of the drying air was significantly reduced, and no unpleasant feeling of heat or stifle was felt around the processing apparatus.

Furthermore, when photosensitive materials were continuously processed using these processing devices, it was found that the device equipped with the heat exchanger 66a continuously processed 13
Approximately 0 sheets, continuous 200 sheets for equipment equipped with heat exchanger 66b
It was possible to completely dry more than one sheet of photosensitive material.

Above, we have explained two configuration examples of the heat exchanger.
The heat exchanger in the present invention is not limited to these, and any other heat exchanger may be used as long as it cools the dry air to be exhausted and warms the outside air to be introduced, such as one using a refrigerant.

The photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned copying machine, but can also be applied to, for example, automatic developing machines, color printer processors, video printer processors, and the like.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention,
By exchanging heat between the inside air used for drying and the outside air introduced into the drying section by the heat exchanger installed in the drying section, the temperature of the outside air introduced into the drying section increases, making the drying section suitable. Energy required for heating to a certain temperature is saved, and adverse effects such as an increase in temperature and humidity on the environment in the room where the device is installed are suppressed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional front view of a copying machine equipped with a photosensitive material processing apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are a partially sectional plan view and a partially sectional front view, respectively, showing a configuration example of a heat exchanger. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are a partially sectional plan view and a partially sectional front view showing other configuration examples of the heat exchanger, respectively. Description of symbols 10... Copying machine, 11... Apparatus main body, 12... Photosensitive material supply section, 120... Casing, 121... Conveyance path, 14... Exposure section, 16... Processing section, 17...Air chamber, 171...Exhaust fan, 18...Drying section, 18a, 18b--Space, 19...Processing liquid storage section, 191.192.193... Bottle, 20.22...
・Magazine, 24.26...Photosensitive material, 24A...Front surface, 24B...Back surface, 30...Document stand, 32...Color document, 615...Drying end section, 62... Blowing fan, 64... Duct, 65... Heater, 66.66a1 67... Duct, 69... Shielding plate, 70... Main body, 70a, 'lOb... Opening, 71... Space, 72... Pipe body, 73.78... Fan, 74... Duct, 75... Exhaust port, 76... Cation exchange resin filter 77... Aroma filter, 80... Main body , 80a, 80b...opening, 81...partition wall, 82...first space, 66b...heat exchanger, 34...document holder, 36...light source unit, 38...light source , 40... Mirror 41... Exposure window, 42... Optical means, 43... Switching guide, 44... Shutter, 45... Image sensor, 46... Developer tank, 48...・Bleaching/fixing tank, 50.52...Washing tank, 46a, 48a, 50a, 52a...Bottom supply port, 54...Take-out tray, 55...Sensitive material passage gate, 60...Transportation Roller pair, 61... Duct, 61a... Opening, 61O... Drying start part, 83... Second space, 84... Vertier element, 85... Heat radiation part, 86... Heat absorption Part, 87.88... Aluminum fin, 89... Opening, 90.93... Fan, 91... Receiver is plate, 92... Drain pipe, H... Dry air, C...・Outside air FIG FIG, 3 FIG

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A photosensitive material apparatus comprising a processing section for processing a photosensitive material after exposure, and a drying section for drying the photosensitive material processed in the processing section, wherein a heat exchanger is provided in the drying section, A photosensitive material processing apparatus characterized in that the heat exchanger is configured to exchange heat between the inside air used for drying and the outside air introduced into the drying section. (2) The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heat exchanger uses an electronic cooling element.