JPS62238559A - Replenisher supplying method for automatic developing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain the developing characteristic of a developer without exchanging the whole of the developer by supplying a new solution so that the sum of the quantity of a replenisher and the quantity of the new solution can be the prescribed quantity when the supplying quantity of the replenisher is not short of the prescribed quantity. CONSTITUTION:The replenisher of a quantity in accordance with the fatigue of a developer due to a photosensitive material processing is supplied to a processing tank 10. When the processing quantity of a photosensitive material is small and the quantity of the replenisher supplied to a processing tank 10 is short of the prescribed quantity, the new solution of the developer of the quantity equivalent to the short part is supplied to the processing tank 10. Here, the replenishing quantity of the developer is specified by the processing quantity of the photosensitive material, the fatigue and evaporation due to the air, the replenishing quantity in accordance with the processing quantity of the photosensitive material is replenished by the replenisher, and therefore, the replenishing quantity related to the fatigue and evaporation due to the air when the processing quantity of the photosensitive material is small is replenished by the new solution of the developer. Thus, the developing characteristic of the developer can be maintained without exchanging the whole of the developer.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] ,゛゛　The present invention relates to a method for supplying replenisher to an automatic processor.

In particular, the present invention relates to a method for supplying a replenisher to an automatic processor suitable for processing small amounts of photosensitive materials.

[Prior Art] Automatic developing machines that automatically develop, fix, and wash photosensitive materials such as film and photographic paper have been known. In this automatic developing machine, the developer becomes fatigued depending on the processing acid of the photosensitive material and the time the developer is exposed to air, so it is necessary to supply the developer with an amount of replenisher equivalent to the amount of fatigue. is necessary. Conventionally, the amount of replenisher supplied has been determined according to the throughput of the photosensitive material, that is, the area of the photosensitive material immersed in the developer, taking into account the amount of fatigue of the developer due to air and the amount of evaporation of the developer. for a specified period of time (e.g. 24 hours)
The amount of replenishment required within the tank was integrated, and an amount of replenisher corresponding to this integrated value was supplied to the processing tank. As a result, the old solution and the replenisher are exchanged and the developing action can be maintained constant.

On the other hand, in order to compensate for the performance of the developer, it is necessary to supply more than a predetermined amount of replenisher over a predetermined period of time (for example, 24 hours) to not only replenish the fatigue caused by processing but also to compensate for the fatigue and evaporation caused by air. Must be.

For example, it is necessary to operate the replenishment pump for more than two hours/day to replenish a predetermined amount or more of replenishment fluid. Therefore, when processing a large amount of photosensitive material, the above integrated value will exceed the predetermined amount, and more than the predetermined amount of replenisher will be supplied.
If the amount of photosensitive material to be processed is small, the added value of the replenisher will be less than the predetermined amount, and no more than the predetermined amount of replenisher will be supplied. In other words, when the supply amount of the replenisher is less than a predetermined amount, the replenishment amount due to the evaporation of the developer and the fatigue of the developer due to air decreases, and the performance of the developer decreases.

For this reason, conventionally, when processing a small amount of photosensitive material continues, it has been empirically determined that the developer is exhausted and the entire developer in the developer tank is replaced with fresh developer.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the conventional method of replacing the entire developer, it is time-consuming to replace the developer and there are problems in disposing of the exhausted developer.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a replenisher supply method for an automatic developing machine that can supply the evaporated amount of the developer and the amount of fatigue due to air without replacing the entire developer. The purpose is to

[Means for solving the problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following features! i5 In a replenisher supply method for an automatic processor that supplies an amount of replenisher to a processing tank in accordance with fatigue of the developer due to optical material processing, when the supply amount of the replenisher is less than a predetermined amount, the replenisher is The new solution is supplied so that the sum of the amount and the amount of new developer solution becomes the predetermined amount.

[Function] According to the present invention, a replenisher is replenished in an amount corresponding to the amount of fatigue of the developer when processing a photosensitive material.

When the amount of photosensitive material to be processed is small and the amount of replenisher supplied to the processing tank is less than a predetermined amount, an amount of new developer solution corresponding to the shortage is supplied to the processing tank. Here, the replenishment amount of the developer is determined by the processing amount of the photosensitive material, air fatigue, and evaporation, and the replenishment amount corresponding to the processing amount of the FA optical material is replenished by the replenisher, so the processing of the photosensitive material The replenishment associated with air fatigue and evaporation for small volumes will be replenished by fresh developer solution.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, even when the amount of photosensitive material processed is small, the insufficient amount is replenished with new developer solution, so that fatigue caused by air and evaporation are eliminated. Can be refilled,
It is possible to obtain the effect that the development characteristics of the developer can be maintained without changing the entire developer.

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the main parts of an automatic developing machine equipped with a replenisher supply device to which the present invention is applicable. The processing tank IO stores a developer for developing the photosensitive material. The bottom surface of the processing tank IO is communicated with the bottom surface of a new liquid tank 12 storing a new developer solution through a new liquid supply pipe line 16. This new liquid supply pipe! An auxiliary pump 20 is arranged in the middle of 816. Further, the bottom surface of the processing tank IO is communicated with the bottom surface of a replenisher tank 14, which stores a replenisher containing a large amount of fatigue components due to photosensitive material processing, through a replenisher supply pipe 18.

A replenishment pump 22 is disposed in the middle of this replenisher supply pipe 18.

The auxiliary pump 20 is connected to a control circuit 2 made up of a microcomputer via a drive circuit 26, and the replenishment pump 22 is connected to a control circuit 28 via a drive circuit 24.

Further, a detector 30 is connected to the control circuit 28 .

detection! a30 is composed of a plurality of mechanical detection elements (for example, microswitches) arranged in the width direction of the photosensitive material. According to this detector 30, the radius or number of rows of the photosensitive material can be detected from the number of detection elements activated by the photosensitive material, and the length of the photosensitive material can also be detected from the time the detection elements are activated. You can. Moreover, the above control circuit 28 is a central processing bag 2t (CPU).
, random access memory (RAM), sort-only memory (ROM), etc., and this ROM
The control routine program described below is stored in advance.

Next, the control routine of this embodiment will be explained with reference to FIG. This routine is executed at predetermined intervals.
In step 100, the area of the photosensitive material is calculated by taking in the detector output and multiplying the width and length of the photosensitive material obtained from this detector output in step 102. In step 104, the area of the photosensitive material is calculated. The replenishment amount Q of the replenishment fluid is calculated from , and in the next step 106, a new settlement value Q is calculated by adding the replenishment IQL to the settlement value Q of the replenishment amount. And step lO
At step 8, it is determined whether or not it is replenishment timing (for example, replenishment timing is set every 24 hours), and if it is not replenishment timing, the next routine is executed. The routine shown in FIG. 2 is executed at predetermined time intervals, so when it is not the replenishment timing, an integrated value Q of the replenisher according to the processing amount of the photosensitive material is calculated in steps 100 to 106.

When it is determined in step 10B that it is time to replenish the replenishing fluid, in step 110, the replenishment time t (count value) is determined from the integrated value Q of the replenishing fluid, that is, the replenishment pump 22. In the next step 112, the drive circuit 24 is driven to operate the replenishment pump 22 and supply the replenisher from the replenisher tank 14 to the processing tank 10 via the replenisher supply pipe 18. do. Then, in step 114, the count value C is incremented to count the time during which the replenishment pump is operating.

In the next step 116, it is determined whether the replenishment time t calculated in step 110 is equal to the replenishment pump operating time (count value C) counted in step 114, and the replenishment time t and count value C are determined to be equal. If they are equal, the operation of the replenishment pump is stopped in step 118, and in step 120, the count value C and the minimum operation time T of the replenishment pump stored in advance in the ROM (minimum required to compensate for the performance of the developer) are determined. (operating time of refill pump). Then, if the count ffiC is smaller than the minimum time T, the drive circuit 26 is driven in step 122. In the zero-order step 124 for supplying new liquid, the operating time of the auxiliary pump 20 is counted by incrementing the count value k.In the zero-order step 126, the minimum time T (count value) is added to the count value. From count value C
is compared with the difference obtained by subtracting the count value, and if the above difference is equal to the count value, the supply of new developer is stopped by stopping the auxiliary pump 20 in step 12B.

As a result of the above, when the amount of photosensitive material processed is large, the amount of replenisher is supplied according to the amount of processed photosensitive material, and when the amount of processed photosensitive material is small, after the replenisher is supplied, a new solution of developer is supplied. is supplied so that the sum of the amount of replenisher and the amount of new solution is the minimum value necessary to maintain the developing performance of the developer.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 3. In this embodiment, a replenisher solution and a start solution (a solution that generates a new solution when mixed with the replenisher solution) are mixed. As a result, a new developer solution is generated and supplied to the processing tank. Therefore, in FIG. 3, the same reference numerals are given to the parts corresponding to those in FIG. There is. In addition, new liquid supply pipe 1
6 and the other end of the replenisher supply pipe 18 are inserted into the opening of the mixing tank 32, and the bottom of the mixing tank 32 is communicated with the processing tank 10 by the pipe. The control routine of this embodiment will now be explained. In this embodiment, in step 122, the drive circuit 24 and the drive circuit 26 are driven to operate the auxiliary pump 20 and the replenishment pump 22 to mix the starting fluid and the replenishment fluid. The water is supplied to a tank 32. Start liquid and refill liquid are mixed 4e3
2 and used as a new developer solution. This new liquid is then supplied to the processing tank 10. Furthermore, in step 12B, the auxiliary pump 20 and the replenishment pump 22 are stopped to stop the supply of the start liquid and the replenisher to the mixing tank 32, thereby stopping the supply of the new developer solution.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the main parts of an automatic developing machine equipped with a replenisher supply device to which the present invention can be applied, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing a control routine of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the main parts of an automatic developing machine equipped with another replenisher supply device that is clearly applicable. 1O...processing tank, 12...new liquid tank. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14... Replenishment liquid tank, 16... New liquid supply pipe line, 18... Replenishment liquid supply pipe line, 20... Auxiliary pump, 22... Replenishment pump. 24... Drive circuit, 26... Drive circuit, 28... Control circuit, 30... Detector, 32... Mixing tank, 34... Start liquid tank.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a replenisher supply method for an automatic processor, in which an amount of replenisher is supplied to a processing tank in accordance with the exhaustion of the developer due to photosensitive material processing, when the supply amount of the replenisher is less than a predetermined amount, the replenisher is refilled. A method for supplying a replenisher to an automatic developing machine, characterized in that the new solution is supplied so that the sum of the amount of the solution and the amount of the new developer becomes the predetermined amount.