JPH11344798A - Heat developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a heat developing device constituted so that a heat developable photosensitive material can be thermally developed without lowering productivity while coping with a short length heat developable photosensitive material. SOLUTION: The heat developing device 10 is provided with two heating parts 22 and 32. Then, the heat developable photosensitive material 30 is nipped and carried in a direction shown by an arrow A by carrying rollers 12. Then, the material 30 is heated by a heater 26 and thermally developed while being carried by carrying rollers 14 at the heating part 22. When the material 30 is ejected from a housing 24, it is interposed and carried by carrying rollers 16, heated by a heater 36 and thermally developed while being carried by carrying rollers 18 at the heating part 32. When the material 30 is ejected from a housing 34, it is interposed and carried by carrying rollers 20. Since the length of the heating part is made long by arranging two heating part and time required for carrying is shortened by increasing carrying speed, the heat developable photosensitive material can be heat-developed without lowering the productivity while coping with a short length heat developable photosensitive material.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a heat developing apparatus for developing a photosensitive material by heating it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, there has been proposed a developing apparatus capable of performing a developing process without performing complicated processes such as developing and fixing (wet process) when forming a printed image using a photosensitive material. . This developing apparatus uses two types of materials, a photothermographic material and a processing material containing a chemical for forming an image on the photothermographic material. And the processing material are overlapped and heated for a predetermined time, and then the photothermographic material and the processing material are separated and dried (a so-called dry process is performed), whereby the developing process of the photothermographic material is performed. .

In a developing apparatus having such a structure, a liquid containing a chemical such as a processing liquid is not used, so that there is no trouble in storing the liquid, replenishing the replenisher, cleaning the apparatus, and the like. Can be improved in maintainability.

As the above-mentioned developing apparatus, there is a developing apparatus in which a photothermographic material is thermally developed by being conveyed through an oven heated to a predetermined temperature. Considering the case where dry silver is used as the photothermographic material, it is necessary to heat the dry silver at a temperature of about 120 ° for about 20 seconds.

Therefore, assuming that the length of the oven is L and the developing time is T, the transport speed V of the photothermographic material is V = L / T. Transport time of the photothermographic material, and the length of the photothermographic material and L _p, since the L _p / V, from the tip of the photothermographic material enters the oven, the rear end of the photothermographic material Total processing time T until the product comes out of the oven
_total is: T _total = T + L _p / V

Here, in order to eliminate processing unevenness, it is necessary to prevent the photothermographic material from being confined in the oven as long as possible. It is desirable to shorten it. Therefore, when conveying a photothermographic material of A2 size (610 mm in width and 440 mm in length), the length L of the oven is, for example, 420 mm. Therefore, the transport speed V of the photothermographic material is as follows: V = 420 (mm) / 20 (sec) = 21 (mm / s)
ec). The total processing time T _A from when the front end of the photothermographic material enters the oven to when the rear end of the photothermographic material comes out of the oven is T _A = 20 (development time) +440/21 ( Transport time)
41 (sec). Here, after the front end of the photothermographic material of A1 size (width 610 mm, length 840 mm), which is almost twice as long as the A2 size, enters the oven, the rear end of the photothermographic material exits the oven. The total processing time T _B before coming is T _B = 20 (development time) +840/21 (transport time) =
60 (sec), which is a long processing time as a whole.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In consideration of the above facts, the present invention provides a heat developing apparatus which can be used for a photothermographic material having a short length and can perform heat development without reducing productivity. That is the purpose.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photothermographic apparatus for processing a plurality of types of photothermographic materials having different lengths. A first conveying unit that conveys the material, and a first heating unit that has a heating unit that is shorter than the shortest length of the photothermographic material, and heats the photothermographic material conveyed by the first conveying unit. A heating unit, a second conveying unit for conveying the photothermographic material heated by the first heating unit, and a heating unit shorter than the shortest length of the photothermographic material, A second heating unit that heats the photothermographic material conveyed by the second conveyance unit, and a third conveyance unit that conveys the photothermographic material heated by the second heating unit. It is characterized by having.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in a heat developing apparatus for processing a plurality of types of photothermographic materials having different lengths, the photothermographic material is conveyed by a first conveying means, and the photothermographic material is conveyed. Then, the photosensitive material is heated by a first heating means having a heating part slightly shorter than the length of the shortest photothermographic material. Then, the photothermographic material heated by the first heating means is transported by the second transport means. In this way, by making the length of the heating portion of the first heating means shorter than the shortest length of the photothermographic material, the first portion is heated while the photothermographic material is being heated by the first heating means. Is always conveyed to either one of the conveying means or the second conveying means, so that reliable conveyance can be performed.

The photothermographic material conveyed by the second conveying means is heated by the second heating means having a heating section shorter than the shortest photothermographic material. The photothermographic material heated by the second heating means is transported by the third transport means. As described above, by making the length of the heating portion of the second heating means shorter than the shortest length of the photothermographic material, the second portion is kept while the photothermographic material is being heated by the second heating means. Is always transported to either one of the transporting means or the third transporting means, so that reliable transporting can be performed.

[0011] Further, by using two heating means to increase the length of the heating section and increasing the conveying speed to perform thermal development, the productivity can be improved while supporting a photothermographic material having a short length. Thermal development can be performed without lowering.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the heating temperature of the first heating means is lower than the heating temperature of the second heating means.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, by making the heating temperature of the first heating means lower than the heating temperature of the second heating means, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of processing unevenness.

[0014]

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

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a heat developing apparatus 1 according to the present invention.
0 is shown. As shown in FIGS.
The thermal developing device 10 includes a transport roller 1 as a first transport unit.
The photothermographic material 30 is conveyed in the direction of arrow A in FIG.

In this embodiment, the photothermographic material 30 is dry silver which is developed by heating at about 120 ° for about 20 seconds. The size of the photothermographic material 30 is, for example, A1 size (610 m in width).
m, length 840 mm) and A2 size (width 610 mm, length 440 mm) are used.

The transport roller 12 is a transport roller 1 described later.
Drive control is performed by a control unit (not shown) so that the photothermographic material 30 is transported at a transport speed V at a constant speed together with 4, 16, 18, and 20. The transport rollers 14, 1
The roller 8 may be a roller that simply rotates without performing drive control by the control device.

The photothermographic material 30 nipped and transported by the transport roller 12 is heated by a heating section 22 as a first heating means.
Into the housing 24. In the housing 24, the conveying rollers 14 (five in FIG. 1) are arranged in a conveying direction of the photothermographic material 30, that is, an arrow A in FIG.
They are arranged in series along the direction.

Above and below the transport roller 14, a heater 26 is disposed. The heater 26 heats the photothermographic material 30 at about 120 ° as an example.
It is controlled by a control device (not shown). The photothermographic material 30 is heated at about 120 ° by the heater 26 while being transported at the transport speed V by the transport roller 14 and is thermally developed.

When the transport further proceeds, the photothermographic material 30
Is discharged from the housing 24, is nipped and conveyed at a conveying speed V by the conveying roller 16 as a second conveying unit, and is guided into a housing 34 of a heating unit 32 as a second heating unit. As shown in FIG. 1, the distance L ₁ between the transport roller 12 and the transport roller 16 is longer than the shortest photothermographic material 30 among the photothermographic materials 30 thermally developed by the thermal developing device 10. Is also slightly shorter.

That is, in the present embodiment, A2
In order to reliably transport the photothermographic material 30 of the size,
The length is about 420 mm, which is slightly shorter than the length (440 mm) of the A2 size. In this way, while the photothermographic material 30 is being heated by the heating unit 22, the photothermographic material 30 is not
, And can be transported reliably.

In the housing 34 of the heating section 32, the transport rollers 18 (five in FIG. 1)
0, that is, arranged in series along the direction of arrow A in FIG.

A heater 36 is disposed above and below the transport roller 18. The heater 36 heats the photothermographic material 30 at about 120 ° as an example.
It is controlled by a control device (not shown). The photothermographic material 30 is heated at about 120 ° by the heater 36 while being transported at the transport speed V by the transport roller 18 and is thermally developed.

When the transport further proceeds, the photothermographic material 30
Is discharged from the housing 34 and is nipped and conveyed at a conveying speed V by the conveying roller 20 as a third conveying means to complete the thermal development. As shown in FIG. 1, the distance between the transport roller 16 and the transport roller 20 is the same as the distance L ₁ between the transport roller 12 and the transport roller 16, and
Among the photothermographic materials 30 that undergo thermal development at 0, the photothermographic material 30 having the shortest length is slightly shorter. For this reason, while the photothermographic material 30 is heated by the heating unit 32, the photothermographic material 30 is always nipped and conveyed by either the conveying roller 16 or the conveying roller 20, so that
It can be transported reliably.

Here, the transport speed V of the photothermographic material 30
And the overall processing time will be described. The transport speed V is
Assuming that the developing time is T, V = 2L ₁ / T, so that the transport speed V of the photothermographic material 30 is as follows.

V = 2 × 420 (mm) / 20 = 42 (mm / sec) If the length of the photothermographic material 30 is L _p , the transport time is L _p / V, and the photothermographic material 30 Is the _total processing time of T _total = T + L _p / V. As described above, the photothermographic material 30
Must be heated at 120 ° for 20 seconds, so that each of the heating units 22 and 32 is heated for 10 seconds.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

A2 exposed by an exposure device (not shown)
The size of the photothermographic material 30 is nipped and conveyed in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1 at a conveying speed V (42 mm / sec) by a conveying roller 12 that is rotated by a control device (not shown).

The photothermographic material 30 nipped and transported by the transport roller 12 is guided into the housing 24 of the heating unit 22. The photothermographic material 30 is transported at a transport speed V by the transport roller 14 while the
° and heat developed.

When the transport further proceeds, the photothermographic material 30
Is discharged from the housing 24 and is nipped and conveyed by the conveying roller 16 at a conveying speed V. At this point, the tip of the photothermographic material 30 has been thermally developed for about 10 seconds. The photothermographic material 30 nipped and transported by the transport roller 16 is
The heating unit 32 is guided into the housing 34.

The distance L ₁ between the transport roller 12 and the transport roller 16 is slightly shorter than the length of the photothermographic material 30. For this reason, while the photothermographic material 30 is being heated by the heating unit 22, the photothermographic material 30 is always nipped and conveyed by either the transport roller 12 or the transport roller 16, so that the photothermographic material 30 is Housing 34
You can lead inside.

The photothermographic material 30 guided into the housing 34 is heated at about 120 ° by the heater 36 while being transported at the transport speed V by the transport roller 18, and is thermally developed.

When the transport further proceeds, the photothermographic material 30
Is discharged from the housing 34 and conveyed by the conveying rollers 20 at a conveying speed V. At this point, the leading end of the photothermographic material 30 has about 10% of the remaining heat development time.
Second heat development is completed. In this way, when the rear end of the photothermographic material 30 is discharged from the housing 34, all the heat development is completed, and the photothermographic material 30 proceeds to the next step.

The distance L between the transport roller 16 and the transport roller 20 is slightly shorter than the length of the photothermographic material 30. For this reason, while the photothermographic material 30 is being heated by the heating unit 22, the photothermographic material 30 is
The photothermographic material 30 can be reliably guided into the housing 34 because the photothermographic material 30 is reliably conveyed by being pinched and conveyed by either the second roller 2 or the conveying roller 16.

Here, the total processing time T _A2 is T _A2 = 20 + 440/42 ≒ 30.5, which is about 9.5 seconds shorter than the above-described conventional case. In the case of A1 size, the entire processing time T _A1
Is T _A1 = 20 + 840/42 = 40, which is 18 seconds shorter than the above-described conventional case. In this way, the length of the heating unit is increased by using two heating units,
By performing the thermal development while increasing the transport speed and shortening the transport time, the thermal development can be performed without reducing the productivity while supporting a photothermographic material having a short length.

In the above example, two heating units are provided. However, by appropriately increasing the number of heating units, it is possible to obtain a heat developing apparatus capable of processing at higher speed.

Next, another example of the heat developing apparatus according to the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 shows a heat developing device 50 showing another example of the heat developing device according to the present invention. Note that the same parts as those of the above-described thermal developing device 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the heat developing device 50, an endless belt 38 is installed in the heating section 22 so as to be wound around the transport roller 14. By the rotation of the transport roller 14, the endless belt 38 is moved in the direction of arrow A in FIG. To transport the photothermographic material 30.

In the heating section 32, an endless belt 40 is provided.
The endless belt 40 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3 by the rotation of the conveying roller 18 so that the photothermographic material 30 is rotated.
Is transported.

FIG. 4 shows a heat developing device 60 showing another example of the heat developing device according to the present invention. Note that the same parts as those of the above-described thermal developing device 10 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The heating section 72 of the heat developing device 60 includes the drum 6
The transport roller 62 is disposed above the drum 66. The drum 66 is heated to about 120 ° by a heater (not shown) and rotates in the direction of arrow B in FIG. Photothermographic material 30
Is transported by the transport rollers 62 and guided to the outer peripheral surface of the drum 66.

A transport roller 64 is disposed at a position along the outer peripheral surface of the drum 66 (six in FIG. 4), and the photothermographic material 30 is rotated by the rotation of the drum 66 and the transport roller 64. Thermal development is carried out while being conveyed in a state of being in contact with 66. When the conveyance further proceeds, the photothermographic material 30 is nipped and conveyed by the conveyance roller 68 to be heated by the heating unit 74.
Of the drum 70.

The drum 70 is heated to about 120 ° by a heater (not shown), and rotates in the direction of arrow C in FIG. A transport roller 76 is disposed at a position along the outer peripheral surface of the drum 70, and the photothermographic material 30 contacts the drum 70 by the rotation of the drum 70 and the transport roller 76. While being conveyed in a state, it is thermally developed. As the transport further proceeds, the photothermographic material 30 is nipped and transported by the transport roller 78 and proceeds to the next step. The length of the path from the transport roller 62 to the transport roller 68 and the length of the path from the transport roller 68 to the transport roller 78 are the same. Therefore, the photothermographic material 30 is heated by about 1
Thermal development is performed every 0 seconds.

In this embodiment, the heating units 22, 3
In both cases, the heating temperature is set to 120 °, but the heating temperature of each heating unit may be provided with a temperature difference.
For example, 100 ° in the heating section 22 and 14 ° in the heating section 32.
The heating temperature of the heating unit 22 is set to be slightly lower than the heating temperature of the heating unit 32 by setting to 0 °. In this way, by setting the heating temperature of the heating unit 22 to be lower, deformation due to rapid heating of the photothermographic material 30 at startup and uneven development due to the deformation are less likely to occur. In addition, a decrease in the amount of heat due to a decrease in the heating temperature in the heating unit 22 can be compensated for by setting the heating temperature of the heating unit 32 to be higher.

In this embodiment, the case where dry silver is used as the photothermographic material has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to other photothermographic materials. It is possible.

[0048]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The length of the heating part is increased by making the heating part of the photothermographic material two, the conveying speed is increased, the conveying time is shortened, and the photothermographic material is developed. And has an excellent effect that heat development can be performed without lowering productivity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the inside of a heat developing device according to the exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view when FIG. 1 is viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the inside of a heat developing device of another example.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing another example of a thermal developing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Thermal developing device 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 Conveying roller 22, 32 Heating part 24, 34 Housing 26, 36 Heater 30 Thermal developing photosensitive material

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A thermal developing apparatus for processing a plurality of types of photothermographic materials having different lengths, a first transport unit for transporting the photothermographic material, and a shortest length of the photothermographic material. A first heating unit for heating the photothermographic material conveyed by the first conveying unit, the heating unit having a shorter heating unit, and the photothermographic material heated by the first heating unit And a heating section shorter than the shortest length of the photothermographic material, and heating the photothermographic material conveyed by the second conveyor. A heat developing device comprising: a heating unit; and a third conveying unit that conveys the photothermographic material heated by the second heating unit. 2. The heating temperature of the first heating means is:
2. The thermal developing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the heating temperature is lower than a heating temperature of the second heating unit.