JPH0652416B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention transfers a movable dye image formed on a photothermographic material to an image receiving material in the presence of an image forming solvent to form a dye on the image receiving material. The present invention relates to an apparatus that forms an image.

[Conventional technology]

As an image forming apparatus for obtaining a color image using a photothermographic material, as shown in JP-A-59-75247, the photothermographic material is exposed to an image and then sent to a photothermographic section, after which the photothermographic material is developed. There is known an apparatus in which an image receiving paper coated with an image forming solvent is brought into close contact with each other and a movable dye is transferred to the image receiving material to obtain a dye image. Furthermore, the actual application Sho 61-
Japanese Patent No. 116734 describes an apparatus in which a solvent for image formation is applied to an imagewise exposed photothermographic material, which is brought into close contact with an image receiving material and heated to simultaneously perform thermal development and transfer of a dye.

The above-mentioned light-sensitive material and / or image-receiving material is preliminarily provided with an image forming solvent such as water before the transfer step or before the heat development step in order to accelerate the transfer or development of the dye. .

This image-forming solvent is used for roller coating or wire bar coating described in JP-A-59-181353, JP-A-59-18953.
No. 181354, the method using the water-absorbing member, the bead coating described in JP-A-59-181346, and JP-A-5-181346.
It is supplied to the light-sensitive material and / or the image-receiving material by a method such as bead coating using a water repellent roller described in JP-A No. 9-181348, and other methods such as depth coating.

In order to efficiently use the image forming solvent, the image forming solvent is used by circulating it between a solvent supply unit such as the coating unit and a solvent storage unit.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, when the image forming solvent is circulated and reused as described above, the surfactant used at the time of production is eluted from the photosensitive material and / or the image receiving material depending on the frequency of use, and bubbles are easily generated in the circulating solvent. When the bubbles are generated in the solvent supply device, the light-sensitive material and / or the image-receiving material may be shaded by the bubbles such as vertical streaks or spot-like water loss. Occurs, and an uncoated portion is interposed between the light-sensitive material and the image-receiving material, which hinders development or transfer, resulting in a problem that image quality is significantly impaired.

The present invention is intended to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and even when the image forming solvent is circulated and reused over a long period of time, an image can be applied without generating bubbles in the circulating solvent. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus with excellent quality.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems]

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus which obtains a dye image on an image receiving material by transferring a movable dye image formed on the photothermographic material to the image receiving material. And / or the solvent is supplied to the image receiving material and the solvent storage part for storing the solvent, and the solvent is circulated, and an antifoaming agent is present in the circulation system. .

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention has found that a defoaming agent prevents bubbles from being generated by a surfactant eluted from a light-sensitive material and / or an image-receiving material, and in particular, that silicone oil having a foam-suppressing action is chemically stable and has an excellent effect. Based on.

In the present invention, the bubbles generated by the surfactant eluted in the image forming solvent are suppressed by the defoaming agent having a foam suppressing action. /
Alternatively, since it can be applied to the image receiving material, a dye image with good image quality can always be obtained even for long-term processing.

Examples of the defoaming agent used in the present invention include silicone oil (polymethylsiloxane), non-ionic activators such as Suban (trade name of Atlas US and Powder Co., Ltd.), Sorbon (trade name of Toho Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.), Sorgen. (Trade name of Dai-ichi Kogyo Agricultural Co., Ltd.) can be used, but silicone oil is most preferable because it is chemically stable and has an excellent effect.

The defoaming effect has a defoaming action and a defoaming action, but in the case of the present invention, a defoaming action is expected.

As a method of allowing the defoaming agent to exist in the circulation system of the present invention, a method of floating a sheet impregnated with defoaming agent oil on the solvent surface of the circulation tank of the solvent storage section or the tank wall in contact with the solvent or pasting How to put it is practical.

The antifoam oil should be present in the circulatory system at least 0.1 mg or more, and preferably 1 mg or more.

In the present invention, an ion exchange membrane is used together to remove ionic substances eluted from the light-sensitive material and / or the image-receiving material, or an adsorbent layer (activated carbon is used to remove inorganic substances, organic substances and colloidal particles. , Synthetic zeolite, etc.) can be used together. It is also possible to use a bacteriostatic and / or antibacterial agent in combination so as to prevent the formation of mold and fungi in water.

The image forming apparatus applied to the present invention transfers the image to the image receiving material by superimposing the heat developing portion for thermally developing the exposed photothermographic material and the heat developed photosensitive material and the image receiving material. The transfer section may be provided separately, and the heat developing section and the transfer section are provided at the same place, that is, the exposed heat developable photosensitive material and the image receiving material are superposed on each other. It may be one provided with a heat development transfer section for heating and performing heat development and heat transfer at the same time.

In the image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, for example,
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,430,415 and 4,483,914;
No. 4,500,626, No. 4,503,137, JP-A-59-154445, JP-A-59-165054,
JP-A-59-180548, JP-A-59-21844
3, JP-A-60-120356, Japanese Patent Application No. 59-20.
No. 9563, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-79709, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-
The heat-developable light-sensitive material (heat-developable light-sensitive element) and the image-receiving material (dye fixing element) described in Japanese Patent Application No. 169585, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-244873 and the like can be used.

In the present invention, the image forming solvent is a solvent required for image formation, for example, water, a low boiling point organic solvent (alcohol, ketones, amides, etc.) or a surfactant in these solvents, Those including various additives such as a development accelerator and a development terminator are included.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

First, an image forming apparatus applied to the present invention will be described by taking as an example a case where heat development and heat transfer are simultaneously performed.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the image forming apparatus 10 of the present invention.

In this image forming apparatus 10, a magazine 14 is mounted on a machine base 12 and contains a photothermographic material 16. The photosensitive material 16 in the magazine 14 is pulled out from the outer circumference thereof, cut into a predetermined length by a cutter 18, and then wound around the outer circumference of the exposure drum 20 (direction of arrow A in FIG. 2). An exposure head 22 corresponds to the outer periphery of the exposure drum 20, the exposure drum 20 is reversed after exposure, the photosensitive material 16 is peeled off by a scraper 24, and the heat development transfer unit 2 is passed through a water application unit 34.
It is going to be sent to 8.

On the other hand, the image receiving paper 32 accommodated in the toilet 30 is sent to the heat developing and transferring section 28 to be superposed on the photosensitive material 16 and then heated by the heater in the heat developing and transferring section 28. As a result, the photosensitive material 16 is developed and the developed image is transferred to the image receiving paper 32.

After the transfer is completed, the photosensitive material 16 is accommodated in the waste tray 38 via the peeling section 36, and the image receiving paper 32 is sent out to the take-out tray 42 via the drying section 40.

The supply of the image forming solvent of this image forming apparatus will be described. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a circulation system of the image forming solvent according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. Is provided with a pair of transport rollers 44 and 46 for sandwiching the photosensitive material 16 to be transported.
A pair of conveying rollers 48, 50 are arranged downstream of 4, 46 so as to sandwich and convey the photosensitive material 16.

These rollers are configured so as to receive the driving force of a motor (not shown) and send the photosensitive material 16 to the heat development transfer section 28 in the direction of arrow B. Further, guide plates 51A and 51B are provided between these conveying rollers so as to correspond to both ends of the conveyed photosensitive material 16, and the photosensitive material 16 is moved from between the conveying rollers 44 and 46 to between the conveying rollers 48 and 50. I am going to guide you.

The photosensitive material 1 is provided between the carrying roller 46 and the carrying roller 50.
Solvent supply section 51 corresponding to the center of the back surface (both sides of exposure) of 6
Is provided. The solvent supply unit 51 is used for the main tank 7
2 and a coating roller 52 as a coating member. A rotation shaft 54 of the coating roller 52 is pivotally supported on the machine base 12. A motor (both not shown) is connected to the rotary shaft 54 via a gear, and the coating roller 52
Is driven in the direction of arrow C by the driving force of this motor.

A part of the coating roller 52 is immersed in a main tank 72 filled with water 70 which is an image forming solvent, and the water 70 is taken out on the peripheral surface when the coating roller 52 rotates.

The water 70 taken out by the coating roller 52 is the photosensitive material 16
The bead 70A is formed between the
In this state, when the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed, the photosensitive material 16
The coating water is formed on the back surface of the.

A supply pipe 74 for supplying the water 70 and an overflow pipe 78 for discharging an excess of the water 70 are attached to a main tank 72 filled with the water 70, and a pump 81 and a backflow prevention are provided in an intermediate portion of the supply pipe 74. A valve 82 is attached. The opening 78 of the overflow pipe 78
A is arranged at a predetermined height from the bottom surface 72A of the main tank 72, and when the water 70 supplied from the supply pipe 74 reaches above the opening 78A, the water 70 is discharged to the outside of the main tank 72. By discharging the water, the amount of water in the main tank 72 (water level) can be kept constant.

The water level in the main tank 72 is about 1/100 of the coating roller 52.
It is preferable that the height is about 3 to be crushed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the coating roller 52 has a gap dimension (L dimension in FIG. 1) between the outer periphery of the coating roller 52 and the right side wall 72B of the main tank 72, and the outer periphery of the coating roller 52 and the main tank 72. Is arranged so as to be smaller than the size of the gap with the left side wall 72C (size of M in FIG. 1).

This prevents the water level of the application roller 52 from rising when the application roller 52 is rotated, so that a level difference does not occur in the left and right water surface heights of the application roller 52. The M dimension is not particularly limited and can be set as appropriate to the conditions such as the rotation speed of the coating roller 52 and the viscosity of the water 70, but in the normal case, it is necessary to set it to 2 mm or more, and particularly about It is preferably 3 mm.

On the other hand, the above-mentioned supply pipe 74 and overflow pipe 78
Each of the ends is attached to a circulation tank 94 as a solvent storage so that the water 70 can be circulated and reused.

The circulation tank 94 is divided into two chambers, a supply-side water tank 94B and a return-side water tank 94A, by a partition wall 95 at substantially the center thereof. The partition wall 95 has an opening 97.
A filter 99 is attached so as to cover the whole of the. Further, in the water tank 94A, an adsorbent layer, an ion exchange resin, and a purification agent layer 110 containing an antibacterial agent, an antibacterial agent, etc. are provided surrounded by a mesh. An oil absorbing sheet 120 impregnated with an antifoaming agent is floating on the surface of the solvent in the water tank 94A. This defoaming agent is a silicon-based defoaming agent as described above, and its solubility in water at 20 ° C. is 0.1 g / 100 g or less, and the defoaming effect can be maintained for a long period of time. ing.

Here, the end of the overflow pipe 78 is the return side water tank 9
It is installed so that its end is located above the water surface of 4A, the end of the supply pipe 74 is installed near the underwater bottom of the supply side water tank 94B, and the used water 70 contains pollutants. It is also configured to prevent bubbles from being supplied to the main tank 72.

The operation of this device will be described below.

The photosensitive material 16 accommodated in the cassette 14 is cut into a predetermined length, wound on the exposure drum 20, exposed by the exposure head 22, and then sent to the water coating section 34.

The coating roller 52 rotates in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 1 and adheres the water 70 in the main tank 72 to its surface to take it out to form a bead 70A between the water 70 and the back surface (emulsion surface) of the photosensitive material 16. It is applied to the back surface of the photosensitive material 16.

However, when this coating is performed, the photosensitive material 16 is brought into contact with the beads 70A and a part of the solvent is adhered and taken out,
A part of the components contained in the photosensitive material 16, that is, an inorganic substance, an organic substance, colloidal particles and a surfactant which is a problem in the present invention are eluted into the bead 70A which is in contact therewith.

These pollute the circulating solvent and generate bubbles, and the concentration of the pollutant in the circulating solvent increases with the long-term operation.

Here, in the image forming apparatus 10 applied to the present invention, water is supplied between the main tank 72 and the circulation tank 94 by the supply pipe 7
4. An oil absorbing sheet 120 in which the solvent surface of the circulating water tank 94A of the circulating tank is impregnated with a defoaming agent is provided, and a purifying agent layer 110 is provided in addition to the above, so that the circulating water is recycled through the overflow pipe 78. , Further filter 99
By providing the above, it removes inorganic substances, organic substances, colloidal particles, and surfactants including impurities such as binder, dust, and dust that are carried by overflow water, and provides a comprehensive defoaming effect. I am trying.

The filter 99 is not particularly limited, but when the permeation rate of a solvent such as water 70 has a pressure difference of 1 atm.
More than 0.1 / m ² · hour and average length 120 μm
Those that do not pass the above substances are preferable. An example of such a filter 99 is R.Kesting (R.Kesing).
ting), Synthetic Polymer Membrane (Synt
netic Polymer Membran), McGraw Hil
company) and those described in Kodansha, "Separation method by membrane" edited by Bunji Hagiwara and Koichi Hashimoto. More specifically, nylon mesh, microporous membrane such as non-woven fabric, cellophane membrane, collodion membrane, denitration collodion membrane, gel cellophane membrane, birchment paper, polyvinyl alcohol membrane, bacterial cellulose membrane, fat membrane, biological membrane, etc. A semi-permeable membrane is mentioned. If necessary, it is also effective to add an antifoaming material to the filter material.

With the above filter, impurities in water, seratin and photographic additives, dust, dust, etc. brought from the air through the light-sensitive material and / or the image-receiving material are finally removed, and then circulated and supplied to the main tank. Water is always clean.
The filter 99 also plays a role of preventing the fine powder of the septic tank layer 110 from being sucked up by the pump 81.

Further, in FIG. 1, the main tank 7 is attached to the bottom of the main tank 72.
A drain pipe 76 for draining the water in 2 is attached, and the valve 80 is opened periodically to drain all the water in the main tank 72. The discharge pipe 76
The other end is joined with the overflow pipe 78. By doing so, the impurities that have settled in the main tank 72 and are unlikely to overflow are removed.

In the description of the embodiment of FIG. 1 above, the oil absorbing sheet 120 impregnated with the defoaming agent floats on the surface of the return side water tank 94A, the purifying agent layer is provided at the bottom portion, and the filter 99 is provided with the partition wall 95 in the circulation tank 94. Provided and attached to the opening 97,
The position of the oil absorbing sheet 120 impregnated with the defoaming agent according to the present invention is not limited to the position and the shape, and any position and shape can be provided as long as the defoaming effect is provided. Good.

The apparatus for allowing the image forming solvent to circulate between the solvent supply section and the solvent storage section in the present invention and for allowing the defoaming agent to be present in this circulation system is impregnated with an antifoaming agent. The oil sheet is included not only in the return side water tank 94A but also in the supply side water tank. That is, the other third
As shown in the figure, the return side water tank 94A of the circulation tank 94 is divided into, for example, three chambers, the supply side water tank 94B is divided into two chambers, and the first chamber (C) for returning the liquid from the overflow 78 to the tank falls into the water tank. The oil absorbing sheet 120 (C) impregnated with the first defoaming agent that is brought into contact with the defoaming agent in order to prevent the return liquid solvent from foaming is installed. The bubbles that have already formed in the two chambers (D) are gathered by rising from the bottom to the liquid surface, aggregate and become larger, and are broken at the liquid surface. Then, the oil absorbing sheet 120 (d) impregnated with the defoaming agent is brought into contact therewith, and the generation of other bubbles is suppressed. This liquid overflows and enters the third chamber (E)
Ion exchange resin, adsorbent sandwiched between the filters,
By passing through a layer of purification agent containing antibacterial and antifungal agents,
Inorganic substances, organic substances, colloidal particles and other impurities are adsorbed and removed to be cleaned and enter the supply side water tank 94B.

The solvent contained in the water tank on the supply side enters the fourth chamber (F) and rises,
It becomes a quiet flow, flows into the next fifth chamber (G), is sucked into the supply pipe 74 from the bottom of the tank, and is sent to the main tank 70. At this time, bubbles in the solvent have disappeared. . However, when it is necessary to prevent the generation of bubbles after the cleaning agent tank, the oil absorbing sheet 120f impregnated with the defoaming agent is provided on the liquid surface of the solvent in the fourth chamber (F) to completely suppress the foaming. You can do that.

As described above, the purpose can be achieved by impregnating the oil absorbing sheet with the defoaming agent and providing it in the solvent circulation system. Further, the oil absorbing sheet is excellent in maintainability in a set or a reset.

In the above embodiment, the oil absorbing sheet or the like is impregnated with the defoaming agent, but the present invention is not limited to such an aspect, and the defoaming agent is attached to the inner wall surface of the circulation system. It may be a thing. In this case, it goes without saying that the position where the defoaming agent is attached is the wall surface which is in contact with the solvent, and it is particularly effective that the position located above and below the water surface in the main tank 72 and the circulation tank 94 is effective. It can be easily provided at any location according to the requirements. In addition,
The method for attaching the defoaming agent is not particularly limited, and for example, the defoaming agent is directly applied to the wall surface, or the gel-like synthetic resin is impregnated with the defoaming agent and adhered to the wall surface. And so on.

〔Example〕

A light-sensitive material and a dye-fixing material (image-receiving material) A described in Example 1 of Japanese Patent Application No. 61-17761 were prepared. Both materials were set in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.
The circulation system water coating of the image forming solvent of this image forming apparatus is constructed as shown in FIG. Here, the water application roller 52
Has a diameter of 50 mm and the rotation speed is 400 rpm. The drive of the supply pump 81 and the inlet 78 of the overflow pipe so that 20 to 30 cc of water always exists in the main tank 72.
The height of A is adjusted and set. This water application roller 3
About 0.6 to 1.5 g of water is applied to the application surface of the light-sensitive material, which is cut into a size of 30 cm × 30 cm by the method of No. 4.

The circulation tank 94 is a supply side water tank 94B as shown in FIG.
A return side water tank 94A was provided so that 2 water could enter each. The partition between the supply side water tank 94B and the return side water tank 94A (which also serves as the partition between the third chamber (E) and the fourth chamber (F)) has an opening of 30 mm × 30 mm, and 1
Attach a purifying agent tank (adsorbent + ion exchanger + antibacterial and antifungal agent) with a nylon mesh filter of 00 μm in front and back, and further divide the width of the water tank as shown in Fig. 3 to defoam. Oil absorption sheet impregnated with agent, 120c,
120d and 120f were arranged and circulating water was flowed.

In such a configuration, when the defoaming agent absorption sheet is not used, and as a defoaming agent, a silicone oil SAG made by Nippon Yunka is used.
Oil absorbing sheet impregnated with 47, 120c, 12
0d and 120F and room temperature 25 ℃ ~
Photosensitive material (30 cm x 30 cm) 5 days a day at 30 ° C
The experiment of processing 0 sheets was continued for 60 days. As a result, in the former case, the generation of bubbles increased with the passage of time, and the treatment yield was remarkably reduced. In the latter case, the water was clean for 60 days,
No bubbles were generated, coating unevenness was not seen, and the processing yield was good.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the image forming solvent is circulated between the solvent supply unit and the solvent storage unit, and the defoaming agent is present in the circulation system. As a result, even if the image forming solvent is circulated and reused over a long period of time, good coating is possible without generating bubbles.
It has become possible to process products with excellent image quality and good yield by continuously operating for a long time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a circulation system of an image forming solvent according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a solvent reservoir in which an antifoaming agent is present in the circulation system. 10 ... Image forming apparatus, 16 ... Photosensitive material, 32 ... Image receiving paper, 34 ... Water application section, 52 ... Application roller (solvent supply section), 70 ... Water (solvent supply section), 72 ... Main tank (solvent supply section), 94 ... Circulation tank (solvent storage section),
99 ... Filter, 110 ... Purifying agent layer, 120, 12
0c, 120d, 120f ... Oil absorbing sheet impregnated with defoaming agent

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for obtaining a dye image on an image receiving material by transferring a movable dye image formed on the photothermographic material to the image receiving material, wherein a solvent for image formation is used as the heat developing photosensitive material and / or the image receiving material. An image forming apparatus characterized in that the solvent is circulated between a solvent supply unit for supplying the material and a solvent storage unit for storing the solvent, and an antifoaming agent is present in the circulation system. 2. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the antifoaming agent is impregnated in an oil absorbing sheet, and the sheet is provided at a position where it can come into contact with the image forming solvent. apparatus. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the defoaming agent is provided by being attached to an inner wall surface of a constituent member of the circulation system.