JPS6346463A - Supplying method for replenishing liquid to automatic developing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically supply a replenisher by calculating the whole quantity of the replenisher in accordance with the processing quantity of an unprocessed film, supplying the replenisher continuously from the start of processing, and when the quantity of the replenisher coincides with the calculated value, stopping the supply. CONSTITUTION:An unprocessed film is supplied from an insertion board 14 to a developing tank 20, a fixing tank 22, a washing tank 24, and a drying part 26 and a processed film is stored in a stocker 16. During the development of the film in the developing tank 20, the developer is circulated by a circulating device 30. The passage of the unprocessed film is detected by a detector 18 and its detecting signal is inputted to a control part 32 to calculate the whole quantity of the replenisher in accordance with the width and length of the film. The replenisher in a supplying device 28 is supplied to the developing tank 20 by a bellows pump 50 e.g. with a small discharging value from the start of processing of the unprocessed film. When the volume of the replenisher coincides with the calculated whole replenisher volume, the supply of the replenisher is stopped. Since the replenisher is supplied by using the pump with the small discharging value, an error can be reduced and production cost can be also reduced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method for replenishing a replenisher for an automatic developing machine, and is particularly applicable to an automatic developing machine that automatically performs development, fixing, cleaning, and drying. The present invention relates to a replenishment solution replenishment method for an automatic developing machine that automatically supplies replenishment solution to a processing tank in which a fixer and a fixer are stored.

[Conventional technology]

2. Description of the Related Art Automatic processors that automatically develop, fix, wash, and dry unprocessed films are equipped with a replenishment device that replenishes a developer, fixer, and the like with a replenisher.

This replenishment device is equipped with various types of pumps such as a bellows pump, a magnet pump, and a vibration pump for supplying replenishing liquid to the processing tank. A bellows type pump discharges replenisher from the pump by expanding and contracting the bellows, thereby supplying the replenisher to the processing tank. Conventionally, a processing tank is replenished with a predetermined amount of replenishing liquid by using a large-sized Heros type pump that can discharge a large amount per expansion and contraction of the Heroes and operating it intermittently. That is,
Large pumps have a large discharge volume per bellows expansion/contraction, so in order to prevent over-replenishment of replenisher, determine the replenishment amount according to the amount of film processed per certain period of time, and then use the amount equivalent to this replenishment amount. The replenisher was replenished by repeatedly pausing for a certain period of time after replenishing the replenisher (Figure 2). Alternatively, a relatively large drive motor is used to intermittently operate a replenishment pump with a sufficient amount of replenishment to replenish the replenisher.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, when using a large bellows-type pump to replenish the processing tank with the predetermined amount of replenishment liquid as described above, if the operation time of the large bellows-type pump is short, the bellows may be in the middle of the expansion and contraction movement. There was a problem in that it was impossible to replenish the processing tank with a predetermined amount of replenisher because the replenisher sometimes stopped. In addition, in order to quickly replenish the processing tank with a predetermined amount of replenisher, a large pump is used, or the amount of discharge per unit time of the pump must be given a margin, resulting in high costs.

Therefore, the present invention aims at obtaining a small pump (per unit time).

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a replenishment solution replenishment method for an automatic processor in which replenishment solution is refilled using a pump with a small discharge amount per unit time. In addition to determining the total replenishment amount, the replenisher is continuously replenished from the start of processing of the unprocessed film, and the replenishment of the replenisher is stopped when the replenished replenisher becomes equal to the total replenishment amount. It has become.

[For production]

According to the present invention, the replenishment amount is determined from the area of the unprocessed film, etc., and by adding this replenishment amount, the total replenishment amount of the replenisher corresponding to the throughput of the unprocessed film is determined. The replenisher is continuously replenished from the start of the process. Replenishment of the replenisher is stopped when the replenished replenisher becomes equal to the total replenishment amount (necessary replenishment amount). Since replenishment is performed continuously in this way, a small pump with a small discharge amount per unit time can be used.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an automatic developing machine 10 in which a replenisher replenishing device according to an embodiment of the present invention is installed.

The automatic developer@10 according to this embodiment has a function of developing an unprocessed film as a photosensitive material, a function of fixing, a function of washing with water, and a function of drying.

The automatic developer [10] is equipped with a housing 12 provided with an openable/closable lid that blocks light from the outside as necessary, and an insertion table 14 for inserting unprocessed film into the upper front part of the housing 12. A film stocker 16 for storing processed films is provided on the rear upper side. A detector 18 for detecting passage of the film is attached near the insertion opening into which the unprocessed film is inserted in the housing 12 to which the insertion table 14 is attached. The detector 1B has a plurality of light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements arranged in the film width direction, facing each other near the film insertion opening, and each light-receiving element is turned off in accordance with the width of the inserted film. That is, when the film is inserted, the film blocks the light rays emitted from the light emitting elements, so that a number of light receiving elements corresponding to the width of the film are turned off. In addition, detector 1
Reference numeral 8 may be a type of detector that is turned on and off by a light receiving element receiving light from a light emitting element reflected by the film when the film is inserted. Inside the housing 12, there is a developer tank 20. Fixing tank 22. Washing tank 24. Drying sections 26 are sequentially arranged, and the automatic developing machine 10 also includes a replenishing device 28.
．． A circulation device 30° control section 32 is arranged.

A developing tank 2o and a fixing tank 2 are arranged in the order of film processing.
2, a washing tank 24, and a drying section 26 include a plurality of guide rollers 2OA, 22A, 24 for moving the unprocessed film.
A, 26A are arranged. , a plurality of guide rollers 2OA, 22A, 24A, and 26A form a transport path along which the film is transported, and the film is transported L9 by rotation of these rollers.

The circulation device 3o disposed inside the body 12 includes a circulation pump 34, a treatment liquid filter 36, and a heat exchanger 38, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3(A). The developer tank 20 and the circulation pump 34 are communicated with each other through a pipe 40.
The processing liquid filter 36 and the developing tank 20 are communicated with each other via a heat exchanger 38.

As shown in FIGS. 3(B) and 4, the replenishing device 28 includes a replenishing tank 42 storing replenishing fluid, a bellows pump 44, and a motor 46. The bellows pump 44 includes an expandable bellows 44A and a conduit 4.
8 and a replenisher suction section 50. One end of the bellows 44A is a connecting rod 51 that constitutes a crank mechanism.
The other end is connected to a replenisher suction part 50 in the replenisher filled in the replenisher 42 through a conduit 48 . One end of the connecting rod 51 is connected to the motor 46
It is rotatably supported by an eccentric shaft 52A fixed at a position eccentric from the center of a rotary plate 52 attached to an output shaft 46A.

This bellows type pump 44 is a small-capacity pump with a small discharge amount per unit time, and is a small pump whose discharge amount per unit time is lower than the minimum replenishment amount depending on the amount of film processed. Since the discharge rate of a normal pump is 500 to 800 cc/min, in this example, the discharge rate is 30 cc/min.
A pump with a discharge rate of 0 cc/min or less, preferably 200 cc/min or less is used.

As shown in FIG. 5, inside the replenisher suction part 50, which is disposed in the replenisher filled in the replenisher tank 42, there are:
Pole-shaped check valves 54 and 56 are housed. The check valve 54 is housed so as to open and close the suction port 58.
6 is housed so as to open and close a pipe line 62 that communicates the pipe line 48 with a pipe line 60 passing through the developer tank 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 32 includes a CPU 62,
Human power Portro 4, Output Portro 6, ROM68 and R
AM70. A detector 18 is connected to the input port 4.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

When the power of the automatic developer [10 is turned on and unprocessed film is inserted from the insertion table and passes under the detector 18,
Passage of the film is detected, and a signal is input to the input port 4 of the control section 32.

When the unprocessed film passes under the detector 18, it is guided to the bottom of the developer tank 20 through a film transport path formed by a plurality of guide rollers 20A arranged in the developer tank 20.

The guided film is guided by guide roller 2 located at the bottom.
The conveying direction is reversed by 0A, and the toner is conveyed to the upper part of the developer tank. This causes the unprocessed film to pass through the developer solution. The unprocessed film is developed by passing through the developer tank 20. The developed film is further guided to the fixing tank 22 through a film transport path formed by a plurality of guide rollers 22A arranged in the fixing tank 20, and is fixed thereon. The film fixed in the fixing tank 20 is transferred to the washing tank 2.
The film is guided to a washing tank through a film transport path formed by a plurality of guide rollers 24A arranged in the film 2, and is washed with water. The washed film is transferred to a plurality of guide rollers 26
A, the film passes through the drying section 26, is dried, and is accumulated in the film stocker 16.

Further, the developer stored in the developer tank 20 is circulated through the 0W1 ring by a circulation pump 34, where the developer is purified by a processing solution filter, the temperature of the developer is adjusted by a heat exchanger, and then circulated to the developer tank 2o. be done.

The operation of the bellows type pump and the motor 46, which constitute the replenishing device 28, will be explained using FIGS. 4 and 5.

As the output shaft 46A of the motor 46 rotates, the end of the connecting rod 51 that forms the crank mechanism, which is connected to the bellows 44A, moves linearly in the vertical direction, causing the bellows 44A to expand and contract. When the bellows 44A is contracted,
The refill fluid accumulated inside the pump 44 and the pipe line 48 acts on the check valve 54 to block the suction port 58, and acts on the replenisher liquid accumulated in the pipe line 62 to move the check valve 56 vertically upward. The bellows 4 is pushed up to discharge the replenisher from the conduit 60.
When the valve 4A is extended, the check valve 54 is sucked vertically upward and moved, and the replenisher fluid flows into the pipe line 68 from the suction port 58. The replenisher discharged by the above-mentioned repeated expansion and contraction passes through the pipe 60 and is supplied to the developing device 20.

The control unit 32 calculates the processing area from the number and size of films based on the signal input from the detector 1, calculates the required replenishment IQ, and calculates the pump operating time T0.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the software of the CPU 62. When the power is turned on, the CPU executes step 72.
Perform initialization with . The pump's discharge IQ per unit time is input in advance into the RAM 70 in step 74. is taken in. whether the sensor was turned off in step 76;
In other words, it is determined whether or not film development has started.
If the sensor is off, the area of the film is calculated from the number of off sensors (corresponding to the film width) and off time (corresponding to the film length) in step 78. The required replenishment amount Q8 of the replenisher is calculated according to the area. In step 80, the required replenishment IQi
are added one after another.

In step 82, the time T0 for operating the pump is calculated from the pump discharge ftQ' per unit time taken in step 74 and the required replenishment IQ obtained in step 78. In step 84, the operating time T0 is the count value K.
replaced by In step 86, a count value C for counting the time during which the motor is turned on is compared with a count value corresponding to the operating time T0 of the motor;
If the count value C is equal to the count value, the motor is turned off in step 88 and replenishment is stopped.

Then, in step 94, the count values C and K are cleared and the process returns to before step 76. If the count values C and K are not equal, the motor is turned on in step 90 and the replenisher is replenished. In step 92, a count value for counting the time during which the motor is turned on is incremented, and the process returns to before step 76, and the flow from step 76 onward is repeated. In other words, the area of the film is calculated, the amount of replenishment is calculated, the amount of replenishment is sequentially added, and when the amount of replenisher discharged from the pump reaches the added value, the pump is stopped and replenishment of replenisher is stopped. be done. The relationship between the replenishment time and replenishment amount due to the above operation is as shown in Figure 2. In the case of a large pump, replenishment is performed intermittently, whereas in the case of a small pump, replenishment is performed continuously. Although replenishment is performed below the required replenishment amount, the pump continues to operate even after film processing is completed, and when the required replenishment amount is reached, the pump stops operating. In the embodiments described above, an example of replenishing the developer was explained, but the present invention can also be applied to the case of replenishing the fixer or the like.

By the way, in the above embodiment, the presence of the photosensitive material is detected by irradiating light onto the film (photosensitive material) and detecting the reflected light from the photosensitive material or the transmitted light that has passed through the photosensitive material. I decided to use a container. The light-sensitive materials include infrared light-sensitive materials that are sensitive to infrared light, panchromatic light-sensitive materials, orthophotosensitive materials that are sensitive to visible light, and the like. The light-emitting elements of the detectors used to detect these width or length dimensions include those that emit infrared light and those that emit visible light.

Generally, when detecting photosensitive materials, unless a light emitting element having an emission spectrum outside the main photosensitive wavelength range of the photosensitive material is used, the photosensitive material will be exposed and fog will occur. It is preferable to use an infrared light emitting element for detection of a photosensitive material whose main photosensitive wavelength range is mainly in the visible light wavelength range, such as the following.

However, when the long wavelength side photosensitive area of a photosensitive material whose main photosensitive wavelength range is in the visible range overlaps with the short wavelength side emitting area of an infrared light emitting element, especially when the amount of light increases, these photosensitive materials There is a problem in that exposure to light causes fogging. Furthermore, when the main photosensitive wavelength range is in the infrared region, it is preferable to use a visible light emitting element, but in this case as well, the photosensitive area on the short wavelength side of the photosensitive wavelength range and the light emitting area on the long wavelength side of the light emitting element are different. If they overlap, especially when the amount of light increases,
There is a problem in that fogging occurs when the infrared-sensitive material is exposed to light. Furthermore, there are limitations on the emission spectrum characteristics of available light emitting elements, and it may not be possible to use a light emitting element having desired emission spectrum characteristics. In such a case, for example, the infrared light-emitting material will be detected by an infrared light emitting element, and especially if the amount of light emitted by the light emitting element is large, fogging will occur. Furthermore, when a photosensitive material having a main spectral sensitivity in the visible light region, such as a panchromatic photosensitive material, is detected using a visible light emitting element, fogging will occur, especially if the light emission scene of the light emitting element is large. Therefore, no matter which type of light-emitting element is used, fogging may occur depending on the scene, so that it may not be possible to use it widely for light-sensitive materials having any spectral sensitivity characteristics.

Therefore, an embodiment of a detector that reduces the total amount of light from a light emitting element irradiated onto a photosensitive material, eliminates fog, and can be widely used for photosensitive materials having any spectral sensitivity characteristics will be described below.

FIG. 7 shows a first embodiment of the photosensitive material detector. On the photosensitive material entrance side of the photosensitive material detector 110, there is an insertion stand]
4 is placed. At the end of the insertion table 14, a plurality of light emitting elements 114 as irradiation means and light receiving elements 116 as light receiving means are arranged in parallel along the width direction of the photosensitive material 118 (arrow X direction). .

The light emitting elements 114 are attached to the support body 120 and arranged in correspondence with the respective light receiving elements 116. The light emitting element 114 is capable of emitting light in a direction in which the light emitted from the light emitting element is reflected on the photosensitive material and enters the light receiving element 116 .

The light receiving element 116 is attached to a support 120 to which the light emitting element 114 is attached, and is capable of receiving reflected light from the photosensitive material 118.

The photosensitive material 118 has upper and lower guide plates 122.1
24, it is sent to a feed roller 126, passes through the gap formed between the support 120 and the insertion table 14, and is inserted into the main body of the automatic developing machine shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 8, the anode of the light emitting element 114 is connected to the voltage fiVcc via a resistor 128. The cathode of the light emitting element 114 is connected to the collector of the transistor 130. The emitter of transistor 130 is grounded, and the base is connected to output port 134 of microcomputer 146 via resistor 136.

This microcomputer 146 controls the light emitting elements so that the light emitting elements emit light intermittently. That is, a pulse signal of a predetermined width (for example, 1 m5ec) stored in advance in the ROM 133 is transmitted to the transistor 1300.
The light emitting element 114 is intermittently driven by supplying the light to the heat source.

The emitter of the light receiving element 116 is grounded, and the collector is connected to the power supply Vcc via a resistor 138. Further, an A/D converter 140 is connected to the collector. This A/D converter 140 converts the analog signal output from the light receiving element 116 into a digital signal, and outputs the signal to the CPU 132 via the input port 142.

Figure 9(A) shows the operation of the detector configured as above.
This will be explained according to the flowchart shown in .

When the automatic developing machine is powered on, the light emitting element 114 starts emitting light in step 14B. That is, the light emitting element 114
is turned on. In step 150, the output value from the A/D converter 140 is acquired. A at step 152
It is determined whether the /D output value is greater than or equal to a predetermined value L+. If the photosensitive material 118 is not inserted, that is, if the A/D output value is less than a predetermined value, the flag r is reset in step 153, and the emitting time (
In other words, it is determined whether the on-state time) is lm5ec.

If 1 + m5ec has not elapsed in step 154, the process returns to step 148 and the light emitting element 114 continues to emit light. When III seconds have elapsed, the light emitting element is turned off in step 156 and light emission is stopped. Step 15B
The time during which the light emitting element 114 is in the off state is 1 m.
It is determined whether 5 ec has elapsed or not, and if it has not elapsed, the process returns to step 156 and the light emitting element 114 continues to be off. When I m5ec has elapsed, the process returns to step 148 and the light emitting element turns on again and starts emitting light. If the photosensitive material 11B is not inserted, the reflected light from the light emitting element 114 will not enter the light receiving element 116, so the A/D output value will be a predetermined value and will not exceed 3. Therefore, each of the above steps is repeated. In return, the light emitting element 114 is l I+
Repeats on and off every 15ec.

When the photosensitive material 118 is inserted and the reflected light from the photosensitive material 118 enters the light receiving element 116, the A/D output value reaches a predetermined value and becomes 1 or more, and the flag f is set in step 151 and the flag f is set in step 160. 0.5m5e (it is determined whether it has elapsed or not.

If 0, 5 vasec has not elapsed, light emitting element 1
14 continues to emit light, and after 0.5 m5 ec has elapsed, the light emitting element 114 is turned off in step 162. Step 1
The time in the off state where light emission is stopped at 64 is 0, 5
It is determined whether m5ec has elapsed or not, and if it has not elapsed, the light emitting element 114 continues to be in the off state. G.
When 5+asec has elapsed, the number of times C has been turned on is incremented in step 170. Photosensitive material 118
The above control routine is repeated while the is being inserted.

Then, the number of times C and the on-state time of the light emitting element (0.5 m
5ec) and the time the light emitting element is in the off state (0.5m5e
The length of the photosensitive material 118 is determined by c). FIG. 9(B) shows an interrupt routine for determining the length of the photosensitive material 118. This interrupt routine is executed when the flag f changes from 1 to O, and step 17
The number of times C is read in step 4, and the length is calculated in step 176.

After the length has been calculated, the number of times C is cleared in step 178. Then, the processing area is calculated from this length and the width of the photosensitive material, and the necessary replenishment amount is calculated.

Next, a second embodiment of the detector will be described.

The configuration of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, but the second embodiment differs in a part of the control method of the microcomputer 146 when disturbance light enters the light receiving element 116 shown in the first embodiment. .

In the flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment shown in FIG. 1O, parts corresponding to the first embodiment (steps 148 to 15B in FIG. 9(A)) are given the same reference numerals in FIG. The explanation will be omitted.

The operation of the second embodiment will be explained using FIG. 1O and FIG. 11.

In step 152, the A/D output value reaches a predetermined value.

Determine whether or not the above is true. If it is less than the predetermined 4M L 1, the routine from step 153 onwards is repeated. If the predetermined value is 1 or more, the routine from step 194 onwards is executed. In step 194, a flag f is set;
In step 196, the time during which the light emitting element emits light is 0,
It is determined whether 55 seconds have elapsed. If the elapsed time has not elapsed, the light emitting element 114 continues to emit light a0. 5m5
When ec has elapsed, the light emitting element 114 is turned off in step 198. In step 200, the A/D output value is taken into the microcomputer 146 again, step 198
In step 202, it is determined whether the elapsed time since the light emitting element 114 was turned off is 0,5 m5ec.
will be judged. If the elapsed time has not elapsed, the light emitting element 114 continues to be off, and when Q,5m5ec has elapsed, the process proceeds to step 20.
In step 4, it is determined whether the A/D output value taken in in step 200 is a predetermined value or not.

Based on this determination, it is determined whether it is disturbance light or the photosensitive material 118. This determination will be explained using FIG. 11. Waveform 20 in FIG. 11 shows the output waveform of the light emitting element 114, and waveform 210 shows the output waveform of the A/D output value. Further, a waveform 212 is a waveform indicating the amount of incident light on the light emitting element, and a waveform 214 is a waveform indicating the amount of incident light reflected from the photosensitive material and incident on the light receiving element 116.

A waveform 216 is a waveform indicating that a photosensitive material is present, and if a photosensitive material is present, it is expressed at a high level, and when a photosensitive material is not present, it is expressed at a low level.

When the disturbance light enters the light receiving element 116 at the 8th position, the A/D output value becomes a predetermined value and becomes 1 or more. This decision is made in step 1
The A/D output value is fetched in step 50, and the value is zeroed in step 152.Then, the light emitting element is turned off in step 198, and the A/D output value is fetched in step 200, and the value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. It is determined whether or not. If the A/D output value is a predetermined value of 6 or more even though the light emitting element is off, it can be determined that light rays other than the light emitted from the light emitting element are incident on the light receiving element, so step 204
It is determined that the light is ambient light.

When the light reflected from the light-emitting element 1140 from the photosensitive material 118, that is, the incident light that enters the light-receiving element 116, enters the light-receiving element 116 at position C, the A/D output value becomes a predetermined value, which is 1 or more. This determination is made in step 152 by taking in the A/D output value in step 150. Next step 2
00, the A/D output value is taken in again, but if the value is less than the predetermined value 1, then in step 204, the photosensitive material 1
It is determined that it is 18. That is, in the case of the photosensitive material 11B, the light emitting element 14 is in an off state at the D position, so there is no light reflected from the photosensitive material and entering the light receiving element 116, and the A/D output value does not exceed the predetermined value L1. From this, it can be determined whether the reflected light from the photosensitive material is disturbance light.

If it is determined that the material is the photosensitive material 118, the light emitting element goes into the Q, 5 m5ec off state in step 206, and the light emitting element becomes 0.
, 5 Increment the number of times C that tasec has been turned on. The interrupt routine for reading this number of times C and calculating the length is the same as the routine shown in the first embodiment, so the explanation will be omitted.

Next, a third embodiment of the detector will be described. The configuration of the third embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment, but as shown in FIG. 12, a filter 180 is attached between the light emitting element 114 and the photosensitive material 11B. different from. Therefore, in FIG. 12, parts corresponding to those in FIG.
0 blocks some wavelengths of light emitted from the light emitting element 114.

The function of the filter 180 will be explained using FIG. 14. As shown in FIG. 14, for example, the S optical material 118 has a spectral sensitivity characteristic shown by a curve 118A for wavelengths between A and 8, and the light receiving element 116 has a spectral sensitivity characteristic for wavelengths between C and D. It is assumed that the light emitting element 114 has a spectral sensitivity characteristic shown by a curve 116A, and that the light emitting element 114 has a spectral output characteristic shown by a curve 114A for light having a wavelength between E and F. The light receiving element 116 receives light having a wavelength between E and D of the spectral output of the light emitting element 114 (region G in the figure).

In addition, as shown in FIG. 14, the photosensitive material 118 is sensitive to wavelengths between 8 and 8 of the ejection vector of the light emitting element 114 (region H in the figure).

Among the light from the light emitting element 114 to which this photosensitive material 118 is sensitive, light having a wavelength between E-8 is blocked by a filter 180 having a characteristic of a curve 180A. As a result, the light emitting element 1
The light-sensitive material 11 is
The amount of light incident on 8 is reduced. As explained above, the filter 180 allows, for example, an infrared-sensitive material to be connected to a light-emitting element (for example, a light-emitting diode, a semiconductor laser, etc.).
Detection can be performed using a photosensor (for example, a photomultiplier, a phototransistor, a photodiode, etc.).

Note that in this embodiment, since the filter attenuates the light to which the photosensitive material is exposed, the light beam emitted from the light emitting element may be continuous light.

As shown in FIG. 13, the fourth embodiment of the detector combines the light amount reducing means in the first embodiment and the light amount reducing means in the third embodiment, and further directs the light beam transmitted through the photosensitive material 118 to a light receiving element. 116 for detection. By providing the filter 180, the light emitting element 114
The structure is such that the photosensitive material is irradiated with light by blocking some of the wavelengths of light emitted intermittently from the light source.

Further, depending on the photosensitive material used, it is also possible to provide a changeover switch or the like so that the scene reduction means in the first embodiment or the light amount reduction means in the third embodiment can be used.

In the first to fourth embodiments, as shown in FIG.
8 passes through and the light from the light emitting element 114 is blocked by a photosensitive material.

As explained above, in the above embodiment, fogging of the photosensitive material is prevented by providing a light amount reducing means for reducing the amount of light incident on the photosensitive material, and the spectral sensitivity region ranges from the visible region to the infrared region. It has an excellent effect that it can be widely used in photosensitive materials.

In addition, although the example in which the photosensitive material is detected using a plurality of light emitting elements and light receiving elements has been described above, it is also possible to detect the length of the photosensitive material using one light emitting element and one light receiving element. In this case, the information on the width of the photosensitive material is entered manually using a numeric keypad or the like or is set in advance (in the case of a dedicated machine that processes only photosensitive materials of a predetermined width).

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, since a small pump with a small discharge amount per unit time is used, errors are reduced and production costs are reduced, which is an excellent effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an outline of an automatic developing machine according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a graph showing the relationship between pump refill amount and time.
Figures 3 (A) and (B) are piping diagrams showing the piping of the automatic processor, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the bellows pump, Figure 5 is a sectional view showing the replenishment a suction part, and Figure 6 is the replenishment. A flowchart showing the liquid replenishment routine, Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of the light emitting element and light receiving element of the detector, and Fig. 8 shows the arrangement of the light emitting element, the light receiving element, and C.
Circuit diagrams showing the input/output relationship of the PU, Figures 9 (A) and (B
) is a flowchart showing the operation of the first embodiment of the detector;
Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment of the detector, Fig. 11 is a timing chart showing the relationship between the light emitting element and the A/D output value, and Fig. 12 is the configuration of the third embodiment of the detector. FIG. 13 is a circuit diagram showing the configuration of the fourth embodiment of the detector, and FIG. 14 is a characteristic diagram showing the sensitivity of the photosensitive material, light emitting element, and light receiving element to each wavelength. 2nd day... Replenishment device 32... Control section

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a replenishment solution replenishment method for an automatic developing machine that uses a pump with a small discharge amount per unit time to replenish the replenishment solution,
The total replenishment amount of the replenisher according to the processing amount of the unprocessed film is determined, and the replenisher is continuously replenished from the start of processing of the unprocessed film, and the replenished replenisher is equal to the total replenishment amount. A replenishing solution replenishing method for an automatic developing machine, characterized in that replenishment of the replenisher is sometimes stopped.