JPH03265855A - Drying device for photosensitive material - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the time for drying without generating unequal drying and the prevent the passing defects at the time of passage of the photosensitive material by blowing the hot wind which is discharged at a sharp angle in the discharge direction to the surface of a photosensitive material toward the parts respectively near the upstream side of the contact parts of the surface of the photosensitive material and rollers. CONSTITUTION:The film 14 is transported downward by the rollers 42 in a drying section body 34A and the hot wind discharged from the hot wind discharge ports 52 of hot wind discharge parts 50 is blown to the film 14 to dry the film. The hot wind discharged from the hot wind discharge ports 52 is discharged in an arrow A direction by the biased hot wind discharge ports 52 and arc shaped parts 50A. This hot wind is blown toward the parts where moisture is liable to stagnate in the drying section body 34A, i.e. near the upstream side of the contact parts of the film 14 and the rollers 42 in such a manner that the discharge direction forms the sharp angle with the surface of the film 14. The time for drying is shortened without generating the unequal drying in this way and the passability of the photosensitive material is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a photosensitive material drying apparatus, and more particularly to a photosensitive material drying apparatus for drying a photosensitive material by blowing warm air onto it.

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Conventionally, a photosensitive material drying apparatus for drying a photosensitive material such as a film by blowing hot air thereon is constructed as shown in FIG. Inside the photosensitive material drying device 70, a plurality of rollers 72 are arranged in a staggered manner.
are arranged, and a transport path for the film 74 extending in the vertical direction is formed by a plurality of rollers. A plurality of spray pipes 76 are disposed near the roller 72 with the film 74 conveying path in between. spray pipe 76
Hot air generated by a fan and a heater (not shown) is supplied to the unit. Two hot air discharge lowers 8 are provided on the film transport path side of each spray pipe 76 along the film transport direction. Warm air discharge lower 8 and film 7
4, the gap dimension d1 is approximately 10 to 20 mm.

The hot air supplied to the spray pipe 76 is blown through the hot air discharge lower 8 onto the portion of the film 74 between the two rollers in a direction perpendicular to the film surface (direction of arrow C in FIG. 6). This dries the film 74.

By the way, when shortening the drying time in a drying device that dries the film by blowing hot air onto it, increasing the temperature of the hot air may cause problems such as deterioration of the surface quality of the film (for example, uneven drying). It is common practice to increase the amount and shorten the drying time. However, in the conventional photosensitive material drying apparatus 70, when the gap size between the hot air discharge lower 8 and the film 74 is reduced to increase the amount of hot air blown, the temperature is increased in the direction perpendicular to the film 74. Because the wind is blowing, the roller 7 of the film 74
The drying efficiency in the vicinity of the contact area between each roller 72 and the film 74 deteriorates, and in particular, unevaporated moisture remains on the upstream side of the contact area between each roller 72 and the film 74 (area 80 in FIG. 6), resulting in uneven drying. was occurring.

To solve this problem, hot air is blown from two hot air outlets placed on the upstream and downstream sides of the film transport path with the roller in between, toward the area where the film and roller come into contact. A drying section with
(See Publication No. 36).

In this drying section, hot air is blown toward the contact area between the film and the roller to evaporate moisture accumulated near the contact area to prevent uneven drying. However, in this drying section, the hot air discharged from the hot air discharge ports disposed on the downstream side of the film conveyance path has a discharge direction that is substantially opposite to the film conveyance direction. In this case, there is a problem in that the discharged hot air acts as a resistance to the passage of the film through the drying section, resulting in poor passage or the like.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a photosensitive material drying apparatus that can shorten the drying time without causing drying unevenness and that does not cause poor passage of the photosensitive material.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, a photosensitive material drying apparatus according to the present invention provides hot air discharged from a hot air discharge unit to the surface of a photosensitive material moving on a conveyance path formed by arranging a plurality of rollers. A photosensitive material drying apparatus for drying a photosensitive material by spraying the photosensitive material, the hot air being ejected in an acute angle with respect to the surface of the photosensitive material, and the ejected hot air contacts a portion of the surface of the photosensitive material with a roller. It is characterized by seven sprayers that can be sprayed onto each area near the upstream side of the area.

[Effect]

In the present invention, since the hot air discharged from the hot air discharge section is blown to each area near the upstream side of the contact area of the photosensitive material with the roller, Good drying efficiency.

Therefore, moisture that has not been evaporated does not remain in the vicinity of the contact area between the roller and the photosensitive material, and uneven drying does not occur.

Further, the hot air discharged from the hot air discharge section is blown so that the discharge direction forms an acute angle with respect to the surface of the photosensitive material to be dried. Therefore, the discharged hot air does not act as a resistance to the film passing through the drying section, and there is no problem in passing the photosensitive material through the drying section.

Further, since there is no problem in passing the photosensitive material through the drying section, it is possible to shorten the drying time of the photosensitive material by increasing the speed of blowing hot air onto the photosensitive material.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, an example in which a photosensitive material drying apparatus of the present invention is applied to an automatic processor 10, which is a photographic film processing machine, will be described.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of an automatic processor 10. As shown in FIG.

The film 14 (an X-ray photographic film having a photosensitive layer on both sides of the support) conveyed from the loading port 12 into the body 10A of the automatic processor 10 is guided by a guide roller 16 and transferred to a developing tank 18 and a fixing tank 20. , through the washing tank 22, and then to the drying section 34.
It is designed to lead to. A rack 28 constituted by a plurality of guide rollers 26 is housed in the developing tank 18, the fixing tank 20, and the washing tank 22, and the film 14 is immersed by this rack 28 from the liquid surface to the bottom of the eight tanks and is turned over. You will be guided to the liquid level again.

Also, between the developer tank 18 and the fixing tank 20, and between the fixing tank 20
A guide roller 30 is disposed between the rinsing tank 22 and the rinsing tank 22, and the film 14 is sequentially guided to the adjacent tank.
Processes such as development, fixing, and washing are performed. In addition, washing tank 2
A plurality of roller pairs 32 are also disposed between the drying section 2 and the drying section 34, and guide the washed film 14 into the drying section main body 34A of the drying section 34 through the conveyance port 36. Note that these roller pairs 32 also have the function of squeezing some of the moisture adhering to the film 14.

As shown in FIG. 3, twelve rollers 42 rotatably supported by the drying section main body 34A are arranged in a staggered manner inside the drying section main body 34A, thereby forming a transport path for the film 14. The roller 42 is rotated by the driving force of a drive means (not shown), and conveys the film 14 fed into the drying section main body 34A downward in FIG. 3. Two guide rollers 44 having the same diameter as the roller 42 and a guide roller 46 having a larger diameter than the roller 42 are arranged at the lower part of the drying section main body 34A. Each of the rollers 44 and 46 is rotatably supported by the drying section main body 34A, and the driving force of a driving means (not shown) is transmitted to the drying section main body 34A.
The film 14 guided to the lower part is reversed and conveyed through the conveyance port 38 to the film receiving box 40 attached to the outside of the body 10A (see FIG. 1).

Three spray pipes 48 are disposed near the rollers 42 inside the drying section main body 34A, with the film 14 conveyance path in between. As shown in FIG. 4, each spray pipe 48 is provided with an opening 48B at one end of the base 48A, through which warm air generated by a fan 60 and a heater, which will be described later, is supplied. . Further, the lengthwise dimension of the spray pipe 48 is made larger than the widthwise dimension of the film 14. spray pipe 4
Two hot air discharge portions 50 extending along the longitudinal direction of the base portion 48A are attached to the base portion 48A of No. 8.

The hot air discharge portion 50 is hollow inside and communicates with the base portion 48Δ. Further, each of the hot air discharge portions 50 has a widthwise dimension that gradually decreases from a portion attached to the base portion 48A to the other end, and a distal end portion of the other end has a shape along the longitudinal direction of the hot air discharge portion 50. A hot air outlet 52 is provided. Fifth
As shown in the figure, the hot air discharge port 52 is provided so as to be biased toward one end in the width direction of the hot air discharge portion 50, and the other end in the width direction is formed in an arc shape and forms an arc-shaped portion 50A. has been done. As a result, the warm air supplied into the spray pipe 48 is guided to the tip of the hot air discharge part 50, and is discharged in the direction of the arrow in FIG. be done.

Further, the width of the base 48A is gradually reduced from one end where the opening 48B of the base 48A is provided to the other end. As a result, the discharge speed of the hot air discharged from the hot air discharge port 52 is made uniform from one end to the other end in the longitudinal direction of the hot air discharge portion 50.

In each spray pipe 48, the longitudinal direction of the hot air discharge port 52 and the width direction of the film 14 coincide with each other, and the hot air discharge section 50 is configured to spray the film 14 from the upstream side in the conveying direction in correspondence with each roller 42.
(see Fig. 3), and the hot air discharge section 50
They are arranged so that the direction of the hot air discharged from the container is on the downstream side in the conveyance direction (see FIG. 5). As a result, hot air discharge portions 50 correspond to the upstream sides of the rollers 46 in the conveyance direction, and hot air discharge ports 52 are provided in the vicinity of the upstream side of the contact portion between each roller 42 and the film 14 in the conveyance direction. Hot air is blown at an acute angle to the surface of the film 14 from the upstream side.

The inventor has confirmed through experiments that it is preferable to set the gap between the hot air discharge part and the photosensitive material in the present invention to about 2 to 5 mm. If the gap size is made smaller than 2 mm, the photosensitive material may be locally dried and uneven drying may occur, as in the past.
If it is about 2 mm or more, uneven drying will not occur.
Since the gap size can be made smaller than in the past, hot air can be blown onto the photosensitive material at a faster speed and the drying time can be shortened. In this embodiment, the gap d between the hot air discharge section 50 and the top film 14 at the tip B is approximately 2 mm.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a discharge groove 54 is provided between the two hot air discharge parts 50 in the base 48A, and extends from the surface on which the hot air discharge parts 50 are attached to the opposite surface. This discharge groove 54 is formed to extend along the longitudinal direction of the base portion 48A. As shown in FIG. 5, a portion of the hot air blown from the hot air outlet 50 to the vicinity of the contact area between the film 14 and the roller 42 is directed to the opposite side of the transport path of the film 14 via the discharge groove 54. direction (direction of arrow B in FIG. 5).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, an exhaust port 56 is provided at the bottom of the drying section main body 34A.
One end of a return duct 58 is attached to the lower part of the exhaust port 58 in correspondence with the exhaust port 56 (see also FIG. 2). The other end of the return duct 58 is connected to the intake side of the fan 60. Further, an intake duct 62 that communicates with the aircraft body 10A is connected to an intermediate portion of the return duct 58 (see FIG. 2). Further, the drying section main body 34A is provided with an exhaust duct 61 for discharging high-humidity air within the drying section main body 34A. The hot air blown onto the film 14 through the hot air discharge port 52, including the hot air exhausted through the exhaust port 56, becomes an air flow directed toward the downstream side in the transport direction of the film 14. The airflow that has reached the lower end of the drying section main body 34Δ is discharged through the exhaust port 56.
and into the return duct 58. The air that has flowed into the return duct 58 is guided to the intake side of the fan 60 together with the air outside the fuselage 10A taken in through the intake duct 62. Here, the air guided to the intake side of the fan 60 is guided to the drying section main body 30 depending on the ratio of the flow passage cross-sectional area of the return duct 58 and the flow passage cross-sectional area of the intake duct 62.
The proportion of air flowing in from A is about 80%, and the proportion of air flowing in from outside the fuselage 10A is about 20%. Note that the high humidity air after the film 14 has been dried is exhausted to the outside of the aircraft body 10A via the exhaust duct 61.

One end of a heater box 64 is attached to the exhaust side of the fan 60. The heater box 64 is bent at a right angle at the center. Furthermore, a heater (not shown) is disposed inside the heater box 64. The air guided to the intake side of the fan 60 is sent out as an air stream from the exhaust side by the fan 60, heated by the heater in the heater box 64, and sent out from the heater box 64 as warm air.

A duct 66 is attached to the other end of the heater box 64. The side surface of the duct 66 is attached to the side surface of the drying section main body 34Δ, and openings (not shown) are provided corresponding to the respective openings 48A of the spray pipes 48 arranged as shown in FIG. Thereby, the duct 66 and each spray pipe 48 are communicated with each other, and the warm air sent out from the heater box 64 is supplied to each spray pipe 48. Further, the flow passage cross-sectional area of the duct 66 is gradually reduced along the longitudinal direction of the duct 66.

Thereby, the flow rate of hot air supplied to each spray pipe 48 per unit time is substantially uniform.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The film 14, which has been exposed to light and inserted into the automatic processor 10 through the loading port 12, is developed, fixed, and washed with water, and then squeezed by a pair of rollers 32 and transferred from the transport port 36 to the drying section main body 34A of the drying section 34. sent inside.

Inside the drying section main body 34A, the film 14 is conveyed downward by the roller 42, and the hot air discharge section 5
The film 14 is dried by blowing hot air discharged from the warm air discharge port 52 of 0 onto the film 14. At this time, the warm air discharged from the hot air discharge port 52 is discharged in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The warm air is blown to a portion where the hot air tends to stagnate, that is, near the upstream side of the contact portion between the film 14 and the roller 42 . Therefore, the drying efficiency in the vicinity of the upstream side of the contact portion of the film 14 with each roller 42 is good, and unevaporated water does not stay in the contact portion of the film 14 with each roller 42, so that the film 14 No uneven drying occurs. Further, the hot air discharged from the hot air discharge port 52 is blown so that the discharge direction forms an acute angle with respect to the surface of the film 14. Therefore, the discharged warm air does not become a resistance to the passage of the film 14, and the film 14 is guided by the warm air and passes through the drying section main body 34A. 4 Words that cause problems when passing.

The film 14 dried in the dry book main body 34A is reversed by guide rollers 44 and 46, and then transferred to the film receiving box 4.
Exported to 0.

As described above, in this embodiment, warm air is blown near the upstream side of the contact area between the roller 42 and the film 14 by the biased hot air outlet 52 and the arcuate portion 50A of the hot air outlet 50. Therefore, moisture does not remain in the contact area between the roller 42 and the film 14, and uneven drying of the film 14 does not occur.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the hot air discharge direction from the hot air discharge port 52 forms an acute angle with respect to the surface of the film 14, there is no hindrance when the film 14 passes through the dry book main body 34A. It will never occur.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the gap size d between the hot air discharge section 50 and the film 14 is approximately 2 mm.

Since this gap size is smaller than the conventional one, when hot air is supplied to the spray pipe 48 using the same fan 60 as the conventional one, the speed at which the hot air is blown onto the film I4 becomes faster.
The drying time of the film 14 can be shortened.

In this embodiment, the warm air is guided by the biased hot air outlet 52 and the arcuate portion 50A of the hot air outlet 50, but the hot air is guided by the contact area between the roller 42 and the film 14. It is sufficient if the hot air can be blown near the upstream side, for example, the hot air discharge section can be connected to an unbiased hot air outlet, and the hot air discharged from the hot air outlet can be blown near the upstream side of the contact area between the roller and the film. It may also be configured with a rectifier plate that guides the user.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, an example in which six spray pipes 48 are disposed inside the dry book main body 34A has been described, but in the present invention, the hot air discharge direction forms an acute angle with respect to the surface of the film, and the discharge direction There are no restrictions on the number or shape of the spray pipes, as long as the heated air can be blown to each area near the upstream side of the contact portion of the film with the roller.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, an example was explained in which the surface of the film 14 and the direction of discharge of the slit-shaped hot air were at an acute angle.
Drying may be performed by discharging a large number of hot air lines. In this case, the discharge direction only needs to be at an acute angle to the film surface, and the discharge direction projected onto the film surface of the hot air may or may not be orthogonal to the axis of the roller.

Further, in this embodiment, an example was shown in which the present invention was applied to an automatic developing device 10 that performs development, fixing, water washing, and drying processing on an X-ray photographic film 14 having photosensitive layers on both sides of the support. The present invention is not particularly limited thereto, and may be applied to, for example, medical films, graphic arts films, color papers, etc. that have a photosensitive layer on one side of the support.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, the direction in which the hot air is discharged forms an acute angle with respect to the surface of the photosensitive material, and the discharged hot air is directed to each of the areas on the upstream side of the contact portion of the surface of the photosensitive material with the roller. Since it is sprayed, it is possible to shorten the drying time without causing uneven drying, and it is possible to obtain excellent effects such as good permeability of the photosensitive material.

7

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of the automatic developing device according to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the drying section, FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the main body of the drying section, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the spray pipe. , FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the vicinity of the hot air discharge section, and FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional photosensitive material drying apparatus. 10.. 14.. 42.. 48.. 50.. 50A. 52.. ・Automatic developing machine, 1 film, ・Roller, ・Spray pipe, ・Hot air discharge part, ・Circular part, ・Hot air Outlet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A photosensitive material drying device that blows warm air discharged from a hot air discharge unit onto the surface of a photosensitive material moving on a conveyance path formed by arranging a plurality of rollers to dry it, The direction in which the hot air is discharged forms an acute angle with respect to the surface of the photosensitive material, and the discharged hot air is blown to each area on the upstream side of the contact portion of the surface of the photosensitive material with the roller. A photosensitive material drying device characterized by: