JPH0396947A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make image density constant and improve reproducibility and to prevent the device from increasing in size by partitioning a tank with a flexible partition wall, supplying fresh liquid put in one chamber to a solvent coating part, and collecting waste liquid in the other chamber. CONSTITUTION:A photosensitive material 16 which is already exposed is carried onto the guide 80 of a water coating part 36 and coated with water supplied from the 1st storage part 82a in the tank 82 and then the material is carried to a heat-development transfer part to transfer an image to the image receiving material. Then, water which overflows from the guide 80 is collected in the 2nd storage part 82b in the tank 82 through a pipe 93b. Further, a valve 94 operates after the photosensitive material 16 is coated with water to open a pipe 92c and waste liquid on the guide 80 is collected in the storage part 82b through pipes 92a, 92c, and 92b. As the water in the storage part 82a decreases and the water in the storage part 82b increases, the flexible partition wall 96 deforms to collect all recovery water.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that applies an image forming solvent to a recording material and performs a thermal development transfer process.

[Conventional technology]

An image forming device that exposes a photosensitive material to reflected or transmitted light of light irradiated on an original, or light obtained by photoelectrically converting an electric signal, and transfers an image on the photosensitive material to an image-receiving material to obtain an image on the image-receiving material. It has been known.

As this type of photosensitive material, there is one in which an image formed on the photosensitive material is transferred onto an image-receiving material by heat development and transfer in the presence of an image-forming solvent.

To obtain an image on an image-receiving material, the image-wise exposed photosensitive material is superimposed on the image-receiving material, and the image is developed by heating and transferred.

Then, prior to heat development, by applying an image-forming solvent to at least one of the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material,
Photosensitive materials and image-receiving materials in which development is accelerated are known.

A method of applying an image-forming solvent to a photosensitive material or an image-receiving material (hereinafter referred to as a recording material) is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5
Roller coating or wire bar coating as described in JP-A No. 9-181353, method using a water-absorbing member as described in JP-A-59-181354, bead coating as described in JP-A-59-181346, JP-A-59-181348 There are other methods such as bead coating using a water-repellent roller as described in the above issue, and dip coating. The recording material coated with the image-forming solvent swells, and the image forming layer on the recording material has an appropriate moisture content, thereby facilitating the subsequent heat development process.

The image forming solvent coating device stores the image forming solvent in a sealed tank to prevent dust from entering the image forming solvent, and applies the solvent through a solvent flow pipe at the start of image forming processing. It is preferable to apply the solvent by supplying the solvent to the area using a pump or the like, and it is preferable to collect the solvent into the tank after the treatment is completed. In order to use the image-forming solvent efficiently, the image-forming solvent is circulated between a solvent supply section, such as the above-mentioned application section, and a solvent storage section.

Furthermore, since the image forming solvent can be supplied from the tank to the application section or the tank can be installed at any desired position, it is extremely easy to replenish and replace the image forming solvent.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when the image forming solvent is recycled and reused as described above, depending on the frequency of use, gelatin and other components may peel off or dissolve into the solvent from the recording material, causing mold and bacteria to grow and causing stains in the solvent. occurs. It has been confirmed that when a solvent with such stains is repeatedly used, images with different densities are formed in a plurality of image processes even though the processing conditions are the same.

This is thought to be because the fraction in the recording material eluted into the solvent inhibits the swelling of the recording material, and the amount of swelling differs depending on the recording material.

Therefore, in order to prevent unevenness in image density due to solvent contamination, it is necessary to always apply fresh solvent to the recording material. Each requires a storage tank, so
Image forming devices become larger.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to form an image on a recording material with good reproducibility even if the image forming solvent is circulated and reused over a long period of time, and the structure is large. The object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that does not change.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The above object of the present invention is to provide a plurality of flexible partition walls in an image forming system in which a recording material is coated with an image forming solvent and subjected to heat development transfer processing. a solvent storage tank having a storage section; a supply means for supplying the image forming solvent contained in one of the storage sections to the solvent application section; and a supply means for supplying the image forming solvent in the solvent application section to the other storage section This is achieved by an image forming apparatus equipped with a collection means for collecting the image.

That is, a new solution of the image forming solvent is stored in one storage part of a solvent storage tank that has a plurality of storage parts separated by flexible partitions, and waste liquid of the image forming solvent from the solvent application part is stored in another storage part. By collecting the liquid in the storage section and constantly supplying new solution to the solvent application section, the recording material is not coated with dirty image forming solvent in the solvent application section, and images with a constant density and good reproducibility can be produced. Obtainable. Furthermore, since a new image forming solvent and a waste liquid can be stored simultaneously in one solvent storage tank, the image forming apparatus does not become larger.

Since the plurality of storage sections of the solvent storage tank are separated by flexible partition walls, the storage capacity of each storage section can be increased or decreased, and the powder volume of each storage section is approximately equal to the volume of the solvent storage tank. Molten B II? The i5 tank is loaded into the image forming apparatus by storing a new solution of the image forming solvent in the two storage parts approximately equal to the volume of the solvent storage tank. As the image forming solvent is applied to the recording material during the image forming process, the amount of new liquid in the solvent storage tank decreases, the volume of the new liquid storage section decreases, and the volume of the waste liquid storage section can increase. Then, by collecting the waste liquid of the image-forming solvent from the solvent application part into another accommodating part of the solvent storage tank, the volume of the waste liquid accommodating part is increased. In the solvent storage tank, an amount of the image forming solvent smaller than the amount supplied to the solvent application section is recovered, and after all the new image forming solvent has been supplied, the waste liquid of the image forming solvent is stored in the solvent storage tank. can be accommodated without overflowing the solvent storage tank.

In order to supply a new solution of the image forming solvent from the solvent storage tank to the solvent application section, for example, a supply pipe may be arranged from the solvent storage tank to the solvent application section, and the image forming solvent may be pumped up and supplied using a pump or the like. Supplies by free fall by opening and closing valves, valves, plugs, etc.

In addition, in order to collect the image forming solvent waste liquid from the solvent application section to the solvent storage tank, for example, a collection pipe is placed from the solvent application section to the solvent storage tank, and a valve, cock, stopper, etc. is opened and closed to allow free fall. Either collect it or pump it up using a pump, etc. The image forming solvent supply means and recovery means are as follows:
Known fluid supply means and recovery means can be applied.

Moreover, the flexible partition wall in the present invention may be bag-shaped, and a plurality of flexible bags may be provided in the solvent storage tank to define a plurality of storage parts.

The flexible partition wall may be formed of a flexible material that does not allow liquid to pass through, such as polyethylene, vinylidene chloride, hydrochloric acid rubber, acetic acid fiber, vinyl chloride, cellophane, polyester, polycarbonate, nylon, polypropylene, vinylon, rubber, A single layer or a laminate of latex or the like can be used as the flexible partition wall.

The solvent storage tank may be made of a flexible material like the flexible partition, but it may also be made of a hard material such as metal, glass, or wood, or a semi-rigid material such as cardboard or cardboard. . Further, ABS resin, polystyrene, polyester, polypropylene, vinyl chloride, polycarbonate, etc. can be shaped by blow molding, injection molding, adhesion, etc., and the shape is not limited.

The recording material used in the present invention may be of any type for development, transfer, etc., as long as it undergoes thermal development and transfer treatment in the presence of an image-forming solvent. Examples of recording materials include photosensitive materials and image-receiving materials that are superimposed on photosensitive materials to form images.

Photosensitive materials and image-receiving materials are those that can obtain a visible image by developing, transferring, fixing, etc. a latent image obtained by imagewise exposure in the presence of an image-forming solvent. It can be anything.

Examples of the photosensitive material used in the present invention include a heat-developable photosensitive material in which thermal development and transfer are performed simultaneously. As the heat-developable photosensitive material used in the present invention, US Pat. No. 4.463.
No. 079, No. 4,474,867, No. 4,478
, No. 927, No. 4,507,380, No. 4,50
No. 0,626, No. 4.483.914, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1983
-149046, 58-149047, 59-
I52440, I59-154445, I59-1
No. 65054, No. 59-180548, No. 5! J-1
No. 68439, No. 59-174832, No. 59-17
No. 4833, No. 59-174834, No. 591748
No. 35, No. 61-232451, No. 6 2-6 5
0 3 No. 8, 6 2-2 5 3159, 64
-13546, European Patent Publication No. 210,660A2,
It is disclosed in No. 220.746A2 and the like.

The above-mentioned heat-developable photosensitive material basically consists of photosensitive silver halide, a binder, a dye-providing compound, a reducing agent (
In some cases, the dye-donating substance also serves as a reducing agent), and if necessary, organic silver salts and other additives can be contained.

The heat-developable photosensitive material may be one that gives a negative image or one that gives a positive image when exposed to light. To provide a positive image, either a direct positive emulsion (using a nucleating agent) as a silver halide emulsion or a method using a dye-donating compound that emits a positively diffusible dye image can be adopted.

There are various methods for transferring diffusible dyes, such as transferring to a dye fixing layer using an image forming solvent such as water, transferring to a dye fixing layer using a high boiling point organic solvent, and transferring to a dye fixing layer using a hydrophilic thermal solvent. A method of transferring the dye to a dye fixing layer having a dye-receiving polymer using the thermal diffusivity or sublimation of a diffusible dye has been proposed.
It can be any of them.

In addition, as the image-forming solvent used for the above diffusion transfer,
For example, there is water, and this water includes not only so-called pure water but also water in the widely customary sense. Alternatively, a mixed solvent of pure water and a low boiling point solvent such as methanol, DMF, acetone, or diisobutyl ketone may be used. Furthermore, a solution containing an image forming enhancer, an antifoggant, a development stopper, a hydrophilic heat solvent, etc. may be used.

[Embodiment]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the description of the embodiments, in order to facilitate understanding of the invention, the structure and operation of the entire image forming apparatus will be explained, and then the main parts will be explained.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an image type control device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

A photosensitive material magazine 14 is arranged on the machine stand 12 of the image forming apparatus 10, and a photosensitive material 16 is wound up into a roll and stored therein. The photosensitive material 16 has a photosensitive silver halide, a binder, a dye-providing substance, and a reducing agent on a support.

A cutter 18 is arranged near the photosensitive material magazine 14, and is adapted to cut the photosensitive material 16 pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 into a predetermined length. The cut photosensitive material 16 is conveyed to an exposure section 20.

An exposure device 22 is provided directly above the exposure section 20, and this exposure device 22 includes a main exposure light source 24, a plurality of fixed mirrors 26,
a first moving mirror 27Δ that moves together with the main exposure light source 24;
A second movable mirror 27B whose relative position is variable with respect to the first movable mirror 27A and a lens unit 28 are arranged, and a mounting plate 3 is placed above the machine base 12 above these parts.
0 is set.

The main exposure light source 24, the first moving mirror 27A, and the second moving mirror 27B are movable along the mounting plate 30,
Light emitted from the main exposure light source 24 is designed to directly irradiate the original 32.

A branching section 70 and a loop-shaped reversing section 72 are arranged on the opposite side of the photosensitive material magazine 14 with respect to the exposure section 20 .

A flapper 74 is rotatably arranged at the branching portion 70 . This flapper 74 is a bifurcated photosensitive material 16.
It has the role of entering into one of the transport routes and changing the transport route of the photosensitive material 16.

Immediately after being pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14, the photosensitive material 16 enters the loop of the reversing section 72 from a conveying path close to the mounting plate 30 connected to the loop of the reversing section 72, so that the photosensitive surface becomes a mirror. The sheet is inverted so as to face in the 26 direction and transported to the exposure section 20.

When exposing the photosensitive material 16, the second movable mirror 27B is moved at a predetermined speed while the main exposure light source 24 and the first movable mirror 27A are moved, and the emitted light is irradiated along the original 32. , the reflected light is sent to the lens unit 28
is used to scan and expose the photosensitive material 16 located in the exposure section 20. And the second moving mirror 27B
The recording magnification on the photosensitive material 16 can be changed depending on the following speed. For example, in the case of the same magnification, the tracking speed of the second moving mirror 27B is 1/1/1 of the moving speed of the main exposure light source 24.
It is 2.

A sub-exposure light source 21 is arranged directly above the photosensitive material transport path between the exposure section 20 and the branch section 70, and has an aperture slit 23 and an ND filter 25.

The sub-exposure light source 2l is a halogen lamp that emits white light, and this white light is passed through the aperture slit 23 and the ND filter 2.
5, the illuminance reached by the main exposure light source 24 is 1/
10 to 1/100 (preferably 1/20 to 1/50)
The illumination intensity is limited and the photosensitive material 16 is irradiated. Therefore,
The entire surface of the photosensitive material 16 is exposed to a predetermined amount of light by a sub-exposure light source 21, and then imagewise exposed in an exposure section 20.

The photosensitive material 16 exposed in the exposure section 20 is conveyed to the water coating section 36, and water as an image forming solvent is coated thereon.

A squeeze roller 37 is disposed in the water application section 36 to scrape off excess moisture from the photosensitive material 16 after being immersed in water.

A thermal development transfer section 38 is arranged on the side of the squeeze roller 37. It is constituted by a heating drum 40 and an endless crimping bell 42 which is wound around the outer circumference of about 2/3 of the heating drum 40 by four support rollers.

The surface of the heating drum 40 is coated with Teflon. Furthermore, a halogen lamp 4 is provided inside the heating drum 40.
4 is arranged, and thereby the outer peripheral surface of the heating drum 40 is heated to about 90°C.

The endless crimping belt 42 has a structure in which a heat-resistant material such as aromatic polyamide fiber (for example, Kevlar or Nomex, both registered trademarks of DuPont) is coated with carbon-containing silicone rubber, and is electrically conductive. have.

On the other hand, an image-receiving material magazine 4 is located below the photosensitive material magazine 14.
6 are arranged, and the image receiving material 48 is wound up into a roll and stored. The image forming surface of the image receiving material 48 is coated with a dye fixing material having a mordant.

A cutter 50 is also arranged near the image-receiving material magazine 46, and cuts the image-receiving material 48 pulled out from the image-receiving material magazine 46 into a predetermined length. This image receiving abrasive material 48 is conveyed toward the thermal development transfer section 38 .

A bonding roller 52 is arranged near the contact portion between the endless pressure belt 42 and the heating drum 40 on the feeding side of the photosensitive material 16 . The bonding roller 52 overlaps the exposed surface of the photosensitive material 16 and the image receiving surface of the image-receiving material 48 and presses them to the outer periphery of the heating drum 40, and these materials are transferred to the heating drum 40 while remaining in the overlapping state. It is guided between the endless pressure belt 42 and approximately 2/3 of the heating drum 40.
Thermal development transfer is carried out by being supported and conveyed around the circumference. As a result, the photosensitive material 16 releases mobile dye, and at the same time, this dye is transferred to the dye fixed layer of the image-receiving material 48 to obtain an image.

A peeling claw 56 is disposed on the photosensitive material 16 delivery side of the contact portion between the endless pressure belt 42 and the heating drum 40.
A peeling roller 58 is disposed between the support roller of the endless pressure belt 42 and the support roller of the endless pressure belt 42 .

The peeling claw 56 engages only the tip of the photosensitive material 16, and the peeling roller 58 wraps around the photosensitive material 16 and separates it from the image-receiving material 48. The separated photosensitive material l6 is transferred to a heating drum 40.
The photosensitive material is sent to a waste photosensitive material storage box 60 provided below.

On the other hand, a peeling roller 62 and a peeling pawl 64 are arranged behind the peeling pawl 56 in the rotating direction of the heating drum 40, and separate the image receiving material 48 from the photosensitive material l6 and moving together with the heating drum 4o from the photosensitive material l6. It is peeled off from the processing drum 40 in the same way as in the case of . The peeled image receiving material 48 is then mainly accumulated on the tray 66.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a path for supplying water to the water application section.

The water applicator 36 has a guide 80 that accommodates water and guides the photosensitive material, and water as an image forming solvent contained in a tank 82 is appropriately supplied into the guide 80 . tank 8
2 has two accommodating parts 82a by a flexible partition wall 96.
, 82b is featured.

- The tank 82 includes a strainer 86 that removes coarse dust from the water, an active filter 88 that removes fine dust from the water, and a guide 80 that sucks up the water in the first storage part 82a.
It is connected to the guide 80 by a first flow pipe 92a via a pump 90 that supplies water to the guide 80. Further, the tank 82 is connected to the guide 80 by a second flow pipe 92b for collecting overflow water from the water storage section 80a of the guide 80 into a second storage section 82b of the tank 82. and,
First flow pipe 92. a and the second flow pipe 92b are connected by a bypass pipe 92C, and a valve 94 is provided in the bypass pipe 92C.

The first flow pipe 92a and the second flow pipe 92b are fixed to an opening 100 of the tank 82 to a removable lid 102.

Further, the opening 100 of the tank 82 is sealed by a sealing member 104, and the sealing member 104 has a water suction pipe 10.
6 and a recovery tube 108 are fixed. And lid 10
2 is attached to the opening l00, the first flow pipe 92a
and the second flow pipe 92b are connected to the water suction pipe 106 and the recovery pipe 108, respectively.

The partition wall 96 is liquid-tightly fixed to the inner wall of the seal 82 and the seal member 104 between the water suction pipe 106 and the recovery pipe 108, and defines a first accommodating part 82a and a second accommodating part 82b. The suction tube 106 and the recovery tube 108 are located on different sides of the partition wall 96, with the lower end of the suction tube 106 being located near the bottom of the tank 82. The partition wall 96 has flexibility and can be deformed so that the first accommodating part 82a and the second accommodating part 82b each have approximately the same volume as the tank 82. Water (new liquid) to be supplied to the guide 80'2 is stored in the first storage part 82a defined by the partition wall 96, and filtrate (waste liquid) collected from above the guide 80 is stored in the second storage part 82b. is accommodated.

Prior to the image forming process, water in the first accommodating portion 82a in the tank 82 is supplied onto the guide 80 by the pump 90 with the valve 94 blocking the flow path of the bypass pipe 92C.

At this time, the water supplied onto the guide 80 is filtered by a strainer 86 and a filter 88 to remove dust.

After the pump 90 operates a predetermined number of times to supply water onto the guide 80 and stops, the image forming process is started. Water that overflows from above the guide 80 during water supply passes through the second supply pipe 92b, falls into the second accommodating portion 82b in the tank 82, and is collected.

When the photosensitive material 16 moves on the guide 80 and a predetermined amount of water is applied to the photosensitive material 16, the valve 94 is activated to open the flow path of the bypass pipe 92c, and the water stored on the guide 80 ( The waste liquid) passes through the first distribution pipe 92a, the high-pass pipe 92c, and the second distribution pipe 92b to the second storage part 82 in the tank 82.
b. That is, 1 is applied to the photosensitive material 16.
The water used once is recovered without being used again. Since new liquid is always supplied onto the guide 80, the amount of swelling of the photosensitive material 16 does not change due to water stains or the like.

In addition, when coating a plurality of photosensitive materials 16 in succession, water is stored on the guide 80 until all of the photosensitive materials 16 have a water coating force <g, and water is stored on the guide 80 as necessary. Refill water. After applying water to all the consecutive photosensitive materials 16, the valve 94 is operated to open the flow path of the high-pass pipe 92c, and the water (waste liquid) stored on the guide 80 is transferred to the first flow pipe 92a, High pass tube 92
C, is collected into the second storage section 82b inside the tank 82 through the second distribution pipe 92b.

For each water coating process during the image forming process, the above-mentioned new liquid supply and waste liquid recovery are performed, and as the coating process is repeated, the water in the first accommodating part 82a decreases, and the water in the second accommodating part 82a decreases.
The water in 2b increases. As the water in the first accommodating part 82a decreases, the water in the second accommodating part 82b increases, but the partition wall 96 deforms as the water in the second accommodating part 82b increases, so the second accommodating part 82b The volume also increases. When all the water in the first storage part B82a is used for the coating process and recovered, almost the entire volume of the tank 82 is transferred to the second storage part 82a.
2b is occupied. Therefore, one tank 82 can store water supplied onto the guide 80 and collect water from the guide 80. Therefore, since there is no need to separately provide a tank for collecting waste liquid, new liquid and waste liquid can be stored without increasing the size of the image forming apparatus.

Note that in the above embodiment, the tank 8 is separated by the flexible partition wall 96.
Although a plurality of accommodating portions 82a and 82b are provided in the structure of FIG. 2, the partition wall 96 may be shaped like a bag.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the tank 82.

The tank 82 includes one flexible bag 98.
There are two housing parts 82a. WI that defined 82b
It's 戊. The bag 98 is flexible and can be deformed to have approximately the same volume as the tank 82. The bag 98 may contain new liquid or waste liquid. Since the container 82 (not shown in FIG. 3) is a WJ container that stores the new liquid in a bag 98, the upper opening of the bag 98 is fixed to the water suction pipe 106. When storing waste liquid in the bag 98, the collection pipe 10
8 to secure the upper opening of the bag 98.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the tank 82.

The tank 82 includes two flexible bags 98, and each bag 98 defines a storage portion 82a, 82b. Each bag 98 has flexibility and can be deformed so that the volume thereof is approximately equal to the volume of the bag 82 . The upper opening of each bag 98 is fixed to a water suction pipe 106 and a recovery pipe 108, respectively, and new liquid and waste liquid are stored separately in the bag 98.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, a new solution of an image forming solvent is stored in one storage part of a solvent storage tank in which a plurality of storage parts are defined by flexible partition walls, and a new solution of an image forming solvent is stored in a solvent application part. By collecting the waste liquid in another storage section and constantly supplying new solution to the solvent application section, the recording material is not coated with dirty image forming solvent in the solvent application section, and reproducibility is maintained at a constant concentration. You can get good images. Furthermore, since a new image forming solvent and a waste liquid can be stored simultaneously in one solvent storage tank, the image forming apparatus does not become larger.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the image forming apparatus, FIG. 2 is a diagram of the structure of the water supply system, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views of modified examples of the tank. Codes in the figure: 10 Image forming device l4 Photosensitive material magazine 16 Photosensitive material 20 Exposure section 21 Sub-exposure light source
22 Exposure device 36 Water application section 38 Thermal development transfer section 46 Receiving magazine 70 Branch section 80 Guide 84 - water absorption pipe 88 Filters 92a-b Distribution pipe 92c Bypass pipe 96 - partition 100 Opening 104 Seal member 108 Collection pipe 48 Image receiving material 82 Kunku 86 Strainer 90 Pump 94 Valve 98 Bag 102 Lid 106 Water suction pipe 23 24

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an image forming apparatus that performs thermal development transfer processing by applying an image forming solvent to a recording material, a solvent storage tank is provided with a plurality of storage sections defined by flexible partition walls, and an image is stored in one of the storage sections. An image forming apparatus comprising a supply means for supplying a forming solvent to a solvent application section, and a recovery means for recovering the image forming solvent from the solvent application section to another storage section of the tank.