JPH09258409A - Photographic processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to use in a short time without applying excess load to a heater for instance even when ambient temperature is low by effectively using waste heat from each pump provided at a liquid vessel. SOLUTION: This is a photographic processing device 1 constituted to dry photosensitive material at a dryer part 8 disposed on the downstream side of the liquid vessel after passing the respective kinds of treating liquid at the inside of the liquid vessel 3 plurally divided so as to process the photosensitive material, and possesses pumps 4 separately disposed at each liquid vessel so as to circulate or supply the treating liquid and an air sending duct 10 disposed so as to communicate an aperture part 6 with the dryer part 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photographic processing apparatus, and more particularly to a photographic processing apparatus that effectively utilizes exhaust heat of a plurality of pumps provided in a liquid tank.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A photographic processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on a photographic negative / positive film or photographic paper is a film or photographic paper after passing through a processing solution tank in which a desired processing solution is stored in a downstream drying section. It is dried and then discharged to the outside of the device. In the processing solution tank and the drying section of this photographic processing apparatus, a temperature adjusting device composed of a temperature sensor and a heater for respectively maintaining the processing solution at a predetermined temperature optimal for each processing such as development, fixing, washing, and the like, A temperature control device for maintaining the optimum temperature for the drying temperature is separately provided, and while maintaining the liquid tank at 37 to 40 ° C, the drying unit is in a predetermined temperature range (for example, 50 to 70 ° C). Is configured to maintain.

In the temperature control device thus constructed, each of the above heaters consumes more power than the other components, and the starting time, which is substantially determined by increasing the temperature to a predetermined temperature, is the performance of the heater. Often depends on.

Therefore, conventionally, there has been a proposal for increasing the temperature of each part of the photographic processing device on average until the temperature becomes appropriate, and reducing the power consumption of the heater to improve the temperature adjusting accuracy of the temperature adjusting device. Has been done. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
According to the "Temperature adjusting device for a photosensitive material processing machine" disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 272249, a first temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of the processing liquid tank, a first heater for heating, and a temperature of a drying section for drying the photosensitive material are provided. The second sensor to measure the temperature and the second to heat
Of the first heater or the second heater under the control of the control means by connecting each to the control means and giving priority to the one having a higher rate of unachieved temperature rise in the treatment liquid tank and the drying section. It has been proposed that the peak power consumption of the heater be reduced by increasing the temperature of each part on average by energizing the heater.

A conventional photographic processing apparatus is constructed as shown in the external perspective view of FIG. That is, in the figure, the photographic processing apparatus 101 is a rectangular main body 1 as shown.
02, and a liquid tank 103 shown by a broken line in which each processing liquid is stored is arranged therein.
03 is individually divided to store the desired treatment liquid so that the pump 10 can be stored in each individual liquid tank.
By providing 4 respectively, the processing liquid is circulated and supplied in each liquid tank. Further, since each pump is usually a cheap Kumadori motor that generates a large amount of heat, the pumps are arranged in a row in a region where the influence of heat is small.

The film is conveyed in a predetermined time while being meandered in the liquid tank 103 provided as described above, and the film is conveyed while ensuring a sufficient processing time for processing, and the finally washed film is stored in the liquid tank 103. It is sent to the drying section 108 on the downstream side. In addition, each liquid tank is equipped with a sensor such as a thermocouple that detects the temperature of the processing liquid, and a heater that can be embedded in the liquid. Is configured to. Furthermore, a cooling fan 105 is arranged below the liquid tank to prevent the heat of the pump 104 from adversely affecting the temperature control of each processing liquid.

On the other hand, the drying unit 108 is provided so as to extend in the vertical direction as shown in the drawing, and is capable of transporting the film so as to make a large U-turn downward and has a buffering function. During this conveyance, the outside air of the temperature Ta is introduced into the inside through the opening 102f of the main body 102 to generate hot air by the heat generated by the heater.
By making the circulation flow indicated by the broken line F, after performing drying, the moisture saturated air that has become wet due to deprivation of water is discharged to the outside by the exhaust fan 109, while moving forward. The film is configured to be discharged to the outside of the apparatus 101 from the outlet portion 102a provided in the. For this reason, a blower (not shown) for blowing the amount of heat generated by a rod-shaped or coil-shaped heater including a far-infrared heater is provided inside the drying unit 3.

[0008]

However, according to the above-mentioned proposal, there is an advantage that the temperature can be raised evenly in order to give priority to the one with a higher unachieved rate of temperature rise. When the environmental temperature is low during the period, it takes a long time to heat up (50 to 70 ° C.), and the heater tends to be overloaded.

On the other hand, according to the photographic processing apparatus having the conventional structure shown in FIG. 4, the outside air is introduced in the drying section, and the exhaust heat from each pump is not effectively used, and the photographic processing apparatus is exclusively used. It was dedicated to shutting off the liquid bath from pump exhaust heat.

Therefore, when a long time elapses after the photographic processing apparatus is shut down, as described above, most of the space is occupied by the space and the temperature of the drying section having a low specific heat becomes considerably lower than the set temperature. When starting from this state, there is a problem that it takes time to become usable and the power consumption of the heater increases.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and by effectively utilizing the exhaust heat from each pump provided in the liquid tank, even when the environmental temperature is low, Excessive load on the heater,
An object of the present invention is to provide a photographic processing device that can be used within a short time and that can reduce the power consumption of the entire device.

[0012]

Means for Solving the Problems The above-mentioned problems are solved,
In order to achieve the object, according to the present invention, after passing through each processing solution in a plurality of divided liquid tanks for processing a photosensitive material, the photosensitive material is disposed on the downstream side of the liquid tank. A photographic processing apparatus configured to dry the light-sensitive material in a drying section, the pump being individually arranged for each of the liquid tanks for circulating or supplying the processing liquid, and the pump. Of at least the heat generating part, and an air supply duct arranged so that one first opening communicates with the outside air and the other second opening communicates with the drying part. It has a feature.

[0013]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing the main part of the overall construction of the photographic processing apparatus 1, showing the case of developing a photographic negative or positive film, although not shown. Even in an apparatus that performs a fixing process and the like for printing paper, the liquid tank 3 and the drying unit 8 are arranged in substantially the same manner, so that it is possible to effectively use the exhaust heat of the pump, which will be described later. The apparatus used for the negative film will be described as a representative.

In FIG. 1, a liquid tank 3 for storing respective processing liquids, which is shown by a broken line in FIG. 1, is arranged in a divided manner. By dividing this liquid tank 3 individually. A desired processing liquid is separately stored, and a pump 4 is provided in each individual liquid tank to circulate and supply the processing liquid in each liquid tank. In the liquid tank provided in this way, the negative film is meandered to be continuously conveyed to the downstream side so as to secure the processing time necessary for processing, and the negative film washed with water at the end is stored in the liquid tank. 3 is configured to be sent to the drying unit 8 arranged on the downstream side.

Further, in each of the liquid tanks 3, a sensor such as a thermocouple for individually detecting the temperature of the processing liquid and a heater that can be embedded in the liquid are provided, so that the temperature of the processing liquid is constant. It is configured to maintain the desired temperature of.

On the other hand, a drying section 8 disposed downstream of the liquid tank 3
Is provided so as to extend in the vertical direction as shown in the drawing, and the negative film can be conveyed so as to make a large U-turn downward, and a buffering function is provided. After being dried by hot air, it is configured to be discharged to the outside of the device 1 through an outlet 2a arranged so as to face forward.

A blower 7 for blowing the amount of heat generated by a rod-shaped or coil-shaped heater 20 including a far-infrared heater is disposed inside the drying section 8 at the lower position shown in the figure, and each pump 4 is provided. When the temperature rises due to the exhaust heat generated in step 1, the introduced air that has reached the temperature Ta is introduced into the blower 7 from the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and the dried air is blown into the drying part 8 through the discharging part 7a. The air is blown to the film, and the saturated air which has become wet after drying is exhausted to the outside through the exhaust fan 9 on the upper side.

The drying unit 8 thus constructed has a built-in sensor such as a thermocouple in order to accurately detect the temperature of the drying unit 3 heated by the heater 20. 50 to 70 ℃ by temperature control by parts
To maintain.

On the other hand, in order to house all of the pumps 4 in the air supply duct 10 communicating with the filter 5 provided in the opening 2f formed in the side wall portion in the longitudinal direction of the main body 2, The duct 10 is configured so as to be surrounded by the side wall portion of the liquid tank 3, the upper plate 10a, the lower plate 10b, and the inner surface portion of the side wall cover of the main body 2, so that the opening portion 6 of the air supply duct 10 communicates with the drying portion 8. Is configured.

With the configuration described above, the ambient temperature is 15
When the conventional machine and this machine were compared and evaluated at a temperature of ℃, the temperature Ta of the outside air introduced into the drying section was 15 ℃ in the conventional machine, so it took about 7 minutes to reach 70 ℃. Since the temperature Ta of the introduced outside air was 26 ° C. due to the exhaust heat of the pump, it took about 6 minutes to reach 70 ° C. Therefore,
The drying unit can be used within a shorter time, and the power consumption of the entire device can be reduced. In addition, the time required to reach the predetermined temperature in a short time can be shortened, the actual work can be started quickly, and the heat can be efficiently used even during the work, so that the power consumption of the entire device can be reduced. Become.

Next, FIG. 2 is a front view of a concrete configuration example of the drying section, and FIG. 3 is a left side view of FIG. 2 in which a main part is cut away. First, in FIG.
The photosensitive material H such as a negative film is continuously conveyed downstream by the rack device 50 with the emulsion surface facing outward.
The rack device 50 is arranged between two air chambers 31 and 32 which are branched as illustrated.

The upper ends of the air chambers 31 and 32 are completely sealed by the lid members 31a and 32a, while the air nozzles 33 which are tapered and have openings as shown in the drawing are arranged in two rows in the vertical direction. In this way, a total of 24 pieces are arranged so that hot air can be jetted onto the emulsion surface of the light-sensitive material H. Also, these air chambers 3
The lower parts of 1, 32 become one as shown, and are connected to the air discharge part of the blower 7.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, a heater 20 communicating with the opening 6 is provided at the air introduction portion of the blower 7. A circulating air introducing portion 21 for introducing circulating air is provided above the heater 20 so that the circulating air at the temperature T is introduced. With the above-described configuration, the photosensitive material continuously conveyed is dried by jetting hot air from the plurality of air nozzles 33 arranged on the facing surface side of the air chambers 31, 32.

According to the photographic processing apparatus described above,
Although it is limited to the case where the pumps are arranged in a line, the present invention is not limited to this and may be any configuration as long as the pump exhaust heat can be effectively used in the drying unit, and various configurations can be considered.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By positively and effectively utilizing the exhaust heat from each pump installed in the liquid tank, even when the environmental temperature is low, the heater is not overloaded and can be used within a short time. It is possible to provide a photographic processing device that is capable of reducing the power consumption of the entire device.

[0027]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a main configuration of a photographic processing apparatus 1.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a drying unit.

FIG. 3 is a left side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an external perspective view showing a main configuration of a photographic processing apparatus 101 having a conventional configuration.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Photo Processing Device 2 Main Body 3 Liquid Tank 4 Pump 5 Filter 6 Opening 7 Blower 8 Drying Section 9 Exhaust Fan 20 Heater

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. The photosensitive material is dried in a drying section disposed downstream of the liquid tank after passing through each processing liquid in a liquid tank divided into a plurality of parts for processing the photosensitive material. A photographic processing apparatus configured to perform, wherein a pump is provided individually for each of the liquid tanks to circulate or supply the processing liquid, and at least a heat generating portion of the pump is surrounded, A photographic processing apparatus, comprising: an air supply duct arranged so that one first opening communicates with the outside air and the other second opening communicates with the drying unit. 2. The main body of the photographic processing apparatus is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, the liquid tanks and the drying section are arranged side by side along the longitudinal direction of the main body, and side wall portions in the longitudinal direction of the main body. The photographic processing device according to claim 1, wherein the first opening of the air supply duct is formed in the air supply duct. 3. The drying section has a circulating air introducing section communicating with the second opening section and introducing a circulating air circulating in the drying section and a heater, and the heater is provided in an air introducing section of a blower, The air blower comprises two air chambers that communicate with the air discharge portion of the blower and are branched so as to face each other, and a plurality of air nozzles that are disposed on the facing surface side of the air chambers, and are sandwiched between the facing surfaces. 3. The photographic processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive material is conveyed in a space provided therein. 4. The photographic processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive material is a film or a printing paper.