JPH03216651A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily wash component melted in solvent for forming an image by allowing the solvent for forming the image which is heated at a higher temperature than that at the time of applying it to circulate in a storing tank and an application part through a pipeline when a washing mode is set. CONSTITUTION:This device is provided with a heating means 81 for heating the solvent for forming the image at the higher temperature than that at the time of applying it when a passage washing mode is set, and a circulating means 90 for allowing the heated solvent for forming the image to circulate in the storing tank 82 and the application part 36 through the pipelines 92 and 92b. Therefore, even when material powder mixed in the solvent for forming the image or the component of a recording material melted in the solvent for forming the image adheres to a passage, the adhering component is melted in the high temperature solvent for forming the image. Thus, the passage is easily washed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention is a method for forming images on recording materials such as photosensitive materials and image-receiving materials by performing processing such as development, transfer, and fixation in the presence of an image-forming solvent. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms images.

[Conventional technology]

Image formation in which a photosensitive material is exposed to reflected or transmitted light of the light irradiated on the original, or light modulated by image information, and the image obtained on the photosensitive material is transferred to an image-receiving material to form an image on the image-receiving material. The device is known.

To obtain an image on an image-receiving material, the imagewise exposed photosensitive material is thermally developed for 70 minutes, and the photosensitive material is superimposed on the image-receiving material for transfer. Photosensitive materials and image-receiving materials are known in which development is accelerated by applying an image-forming solvent to at least one of the photosensitive material and the image-receiving material prior to heat development.

Structures for applying an image forming solvent to a photosensitive material or an image receiving material (hereinafter referred to as recording materials) include a structure in which a coating roller impregnated with an image forming solvent contacts the image forming surface of the recording material, and a structure in which a coating roller impregnated with an image forming solvent contacts the image forming surface of the recording material. There is a configuration in which the recording material is immersed in a solvent. The recording material coated with the image-forming solvent swells, and the image-forming layer on the recording material has an appropriate moisture content, thereby facilitating the subsequent heat development process.

The image forming solvent applicator stores the image forming solvent in a sealed tank to prevent dust from getting into the image forming solvent, and when the image forming apparatus starts operating, the image forming solvent is transferred to the solvent applicator via piping. It is preferable to perform the coating by supplying the image forming solvent using a pump or the like, and it is preferable to collect the solvent into a tank after the operation is completed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

When an image forming solvent is repeatedly used for coating over a long period of time, the components applied to the recording material gradually dissolve into the image forming solvent. For example, when an image-forming solvent is repeatedly applied to a light-sensitive material, gelatin contained in the emulsion surface of the light-sensitive material dissolves into the image-forming solvent.

As coating is repeated, the concentration of components such as gelatin dissolved into the image forming solvent increases.

In addition, since material powder is mixed into the image forming solvent during coating, when the concentration of high viscosity components such as gelatin increases, material powder and components may adhere to flow control means such as valves and pumps, piping, etc. This obstructs the flow of the image-forming solvent, and furthermore, the flow control means and the flow path of the piping are blocked, making it impossible to flow the image-forming solvent.

In order to solve such problems, for example, it is possible to install a filter in the piping, but if a large amount of material powder and components adhere to the filter after long-term use, it is necessary to replace the filter along with the piping. I have no choice but to ask the service personnel.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems, and includes a valve,
Even if recording material powder and components dissolved into the image forming solvent from the recording material adhere to the flow control means such as a pump or the image forming solvent flow path such as piping, this can be easily cleaned. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] The above object of the present invention is to supply the image forming solvent in the storage tank to the recording material on which an image is formed in the presence of the image forming solvent via piping. In an image forming apparatus that supplies a solvent to a coating section for coating, a means for setting a channel cleaning mode, a heating means for heating the image forming solvent to a temperature higher than the temperature during coating when the cleaning mode is set, and a heating means for heating the image forming solvent to a temperature higher than the temperature at the time of coating when the cleaning mode is set. This is achieved by an image forming apparatus having a circulation means for circulating the image forming solvent into the storage tank and the coating section via piping.

In other words, when the channel cleaning mode is set, the image forming solvent is heated to a higher temperature than during coating and circulated through the channel, thereby removing material powder mixed into the image forming solvent and the image forming solvent. Even if components of the recording material that have been dissolved in the water adhere to the flow path, the adhered components will dissolve in the high-temperature image forming solvent, so the material powder and components that have adhered to the flow path will be removed, making it easy to clean the flow path. can do.

When the imaging solvent is applied to the recording material, the imaging solvent temperature is preferably maintained constant so that the amount of swelling of the recording material is constant. If set higher than the coating temperature,
The precipitated components adhering to the flow path at room temperature or coating temperature begin to dissolve into the image forming solvent. By collecting the image forming solvent in which the adhering components have been dissolved from the apparatus in a high temperature state, the components will not adhere to the flow path again.

The cleaning mode may be set arbitrarily by an operator using a switch or the like, or the cleaning mode may be automatically set after a predetermined number of applications. Furthermore, the cleaning mode may be automatically set after the operation termination switch of the image forming apparatus is turned off. Furthermore, the cleaning mode may be automatically set when replacing the image forming solvent.

The recording material used in the present invention includes a photosensitive material and an image-receiving material that forms an image by overlapping the photosensitive material.

Such light-sensitive materials and image-receiving materials are those in which a latent image obtained by imagewise exposure is subjected to processing such as development, transfer, and fixation in the presence of an image-forming solvent to obtain a visible image. It can be anything.

For example, the photosensitive material includes a heat-developable photosensitive material. Regarding the heat-developable photosensitive material, US Pat. No. 4,50
No. 0,626, No. 4,483.914, No. 4,4
No. 30,415, No. 4,503,137, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1973
No. 9-154445, No. 59-180548, No. 59
-165054, 61-88256, 60-1
No. 20356, No. 59-218443, No. 61-23
It is disclosed in No. 8056 and the like.

The above-mentioned heat-developable photosensitive material basically consists of photosensitive silver halide, a binder, a dye-providing compound, a reducing agent (
In some cases, the dye-donating substance also serves as a reducing agent), and if necessary, organic silver salts and other additives can be contained.

The heat-developable photosensitive material may be one that gives a negative image upon exposure to light, or one that gives a positive image. Direct positive emulsion as a silver halide emulsion (there are two types: a method that uses a nucleating agent and a method that uses light fogging) to produce a positive image.
Either a method using a dye-donating compound or a method using a dye-donating compound that emits a positively diffusible dye image can be adopted.

Furthermore, the image forming solvent used in diffusion transfer includes, for example, water, and this water is not limited to so-called pure water, but includes water in the widely customary sense.

Alternatively, a mixed solvent of pure water and a low boiling point solvent such as methanol, DMF, acetone, or diisobutyl ketone may be used. Furthermore, a solution containing an image formation accelerator, an antifoggant, a development stopper, a hydrophilic heat solvent, etc. may also be used.

[Embodiment]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus IO equipped with an embodiment of the present invention.

A photosensitive material magazine l4 is disposed on the machine base 12 of the image forming apparatus 10, and a photosensitive material l6 is stored in a wound roll. The photosensitive material 16 has a photosensitive silver halide, a binder, a dye-donating substance, and a reducing agent on a support.

A cutter 18 is arranged near the photosensitive material magazine 14, and is adapted to cut the photosensitive material l6 pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 into a predetermined length.

The cut photosensitive material 16 is conveyed to an exposure section 20.

An exposure device 22 is provided directly above the exposure section 20.

The exposure device 22 includes a main exposure light source 24 as a main exposure means.
, a plurality of fixed mirrors 26, a first movable mirror 27A that moves together with the main exposure light source 24, and the first movable mirror 2.
A second movable mirror 27B and a lens unit 28 whose relative position relative to the mirror 7A is variable are arranged, and furthermore, a document mounting plate 30 is provided on the upper part of the machine stand 12 above these parts. Main exposure light source 24, first moving mirror 27A,
The second movable mirror 27B is movable along the mounting plate 30, so that the light emitted from the main exposure light source 24 is directly irradiated onto the original 32.

A branching section 70 and a reversing section 72 are arranged downstream of the exposure section 20 (on the left side in FIG. 1).

A flapper 74 is rotatably arranged at the branching portion 70 . This flapper 74 has the role of entering into one of the bifurcated transport paths for the photosensitive material 16 and changing the transport path for the photosensitive material 16. The photosensitive material 16 immediately after being pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 is guided to the upper transport path in FIG.

The guided photosensitive material 16 is reversed at a reversing section 72 and conveyed to the exposure section 20 again. This causes the photosensitive surface of the photosensitive material to face upward in FIG.

Here, when exposing the photosensitive material 16, the main exposure light source 24
While moving the first movable mirror 27A, the second movable mirror 27B is moved to follow at 1/2 the moving speed of the mirror 27A, and the emitted light is irradiated along the original 32,
The reflected image light is transmitted to the exposure section 20 using the lens unit 28.
The photosensitive material 16 located at 1 is scanned and exposed. Note that the recording magnification on the photosensitive material 16 can be changed by changing the moving speed of the first moving mirror 27A and the second moving mirror 27B and changing the position of the lens unit. In the case of this device, the same magnification is achieved by the second movable mirror 27.
B is 1/2 the speed of the main exposure light source 24.

The luminescent material 16 scanned and exposed by the exposure section 20 is conveyed in an inverted state, and is coated with water as an image forming solvent by a water coating section 36 .

A squeeze roller 37 is arranged in the water application section 36 to remove excess water applied to the photosensitive material 16.

A thermal development transfer section 38 is arranged on the side of the squeeze roller 37. The thermal development transfer section 38 is composed of a heating drum 40 and an endless pressure belt 42.

The surface of the heating drum 40 is coated with Teflon. Furthermore, a halogen lamp 4 is provided inside the heating drum 40.
4 is placed, which makes the outer circumferential surface temperature approximately 90°C.
is heated to.

The endless pressure welding belt 42 has a structure in which a heat-resistant material such as aromatic polyamide fiber (for example, Kevlar or Nomex, both registered trademarks of DuPont) is coated with carbon-containing silicone rubber, and has electrical conductivity. have.

On the other hand, a receiving material magazine 46 is arranged below the photosensitive material magazine 14, and contains an image receiving material 48 wound in a roll. The image forming surface of the image receiving material 48 is coated with a dye fixing material having a mordant.

A cutter 50 is also arranged near this receiving material magazine 46, and the image receiving material 4 pulled out from the receiving material magazine 46 is cutter 50.
8 to a predetermined length. The cut image receiving material 48 is conveyed to the thermal development transfer section 38.

A bonding roller 52 is arranged near the heating drum 40 on the upstream side of the endless pressure belt 42 in the material supply direction. The laminating roller 52 overlays the transported photosensitive material 16 and image receiving material 48 and presses them to the outer periphery of the heating drum 40, and guides them between the heating drum 40 and the endless pressure belt 42 while keeping the overlapping state. , and is supported and conveyed over approximately 2/3 of the circumference of the heating drum 40 to be thermally developed. Thereby, the photosensitive material 16 emits a mobile dye, and at the same time, this dye is transferred to the dye fixing layer of the image receiving material 48 to obtain an image.

A peeling claw 56 is arranged below the heating drum 40 on the downstream side of the endless pressure belt 42 in the material supply direction. Further, a peeling roller 5 is provided between the peeling claw 56 and the endless pressure contact helt 42.
8 is placed.

The tip of the peeling claw 56 is normally in contact with the heating drum 40, and when the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed, it engages with the tip of the photosensitive material 16 and removes the photosensitive material 16 from the image receiving material 48.
Further, the peeling roller 58 presses the photosensitive material 16 onto the heating drum 40, and the peeling claw 56 wraps the peeled photosensitive material 16 around it and bends it downward. It looks like this. The separated photosensitive material 16 is sent to a waste photosensitive material storage box 60 provided below the heating drum 40.

On the other hand, a peeling roller 62 and a peeling pawl 64 are arranged near the heating drum 40 above the peeling pawl 56, and the image receiving material 4 separates from the light-absorbing material 16 and moves together with the heating drum.
8 from the outer periphery of the heating drum 40. The image receiving material 48 peeled off from the outer periphery of the heating drum 4o is collected on a tray 66.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the water application section 36. As shown in FIG.

The water applicator 36 includes a guide 80 that accommodates water and guides the luminescent material, and a heater 8 that is watertightly fixed below the guide 80.
Water contained in a tank 82 is appropriately supplied onto the guide 80 from a supply port 83 provided in the heater 81. A thermistor 95 is provided underwater on the guide 80, a thermistor 85 for detecting the temperature of the heater 81 is provided on the lower surface of the heater 8l, and the heater 8l and thermistor 95.85 are electrically connected to the control device 87. There is. The control device 87 controls the operation of the heater 81 based on the water temperature and heater temperature detected by the thermistors 95 and 85.

The tank 82 includes a water suction pipe 84 whose lower end is submerged in water, a strainer 86 that removes coarse dust from the water, an activated carbon filter 88 that removes minute dust from the water, and sucks up the water in the tank 82 and supplies it to the guide 80. The first flow pipe 92a is connected to the heater 81 via a pump 90.

The tank 82 also includes a second tank 82 for collecting overflow water from the water storage portion 80a of the guide 80 into the tank 82.
It is connected to the guide 80 by a flow pipe 92b. The first flow pipe 92a and the second flow pipe 92b are connected by a bypass pipe 92c, and a solenoid valve 94 is provided in the bypass pipe 92c.

The tank 82 contains more water than the amount of water that can be accommodated on the guide 80, and the amount of water that can be supplied from the tank 82 onto the guide 80 by the pump 90 is limited by the amount of water that can be supplied from the water surface to the water suction pipe 8.
4, that is, the amount up to the water level shown by the dotted line in the figure. The amount of water from the water surface in the tank 82 to the lower end of the water suction pipe 84 is greater than the amount of water accommodated on the guide 80, and when the water on the guide 80 decreases due to application, evaporation, etc., water flows from the tank 82 onto the guide 80. Water is provided.

Here, since the lower end of the water suction pipe 84 is located apart from the bottom surface of the tank 82, even if dust settles in the tank 82, the dust will not be sucked up.

When the image forming apparatus 10 is powered on, the pump 90 is turned on with the solenoid valve 94 blocking the flow path of the bypass pipe 92c.
The water in the tank 82 is supplied onto the guide 80 by this.

At this time, the water supplied onto the guide 80 is filtered by a strainer 86 and a filter 88 to remove dust.

After the bomb 90 operates a predetermined number of times to supply water onto the guide 80 and stops, the image forming process is started. Water that overflows from above the guide 80 during water supply falls into the tank 82 through the second supply pipe 92b and is collected.

When the image forming apparatus finishes operating, the solenoid valve 94 operates to open the flow path of the bypass pipe 92c, and the water contained on the guide 80 passes through the first flow pipe 92a, the bypass pipe 92C, and the second flow pipe 92b. and collected in the tank 82.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a device for controlling the cleaning operation, FIG. 4 is a control flowchart, and FIG. 5 is a control timing chart.

As shown in FIG. 3, the cleaning mode is started by supplying a cleaning signal from a setting switch 100 to a control device 87 such as a CPU. The control device 87 includes thermistors 95, 8
5, heater 81 solenoid valve 94, pump 90, timer 102
, and the setting switch 100, and the cleaning operation is controlled by a control device 87 controlling these operations.

Control of the cleaning operation will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, in step S2, it is determined whether the cleaning mode has been set. That is, it is determined whether a cleaning signal is being supplied to the control device 87 from the setting switch 100. The cleaning signal may be supplied by the setting switch 100 by an operator from an operation panel or the like, or the cleaning signal may be automatically supplied after a predetermined number of coatings have been applied. Furthermore, the cleaning signal may be automatically supplied after turning off the end-of-operation switch of the image forming apparatus. Additionally, a wash signal may be automatically provided when changing the imaging solvent.

When it is determined in step S2 that the cleaning mode is set, in step S4 the control device 87 sets the water temperature to a temperature higher than the temperature at the time of coating, for example 50''.
Set to C.

Furthermore, when it is determined in step S2 that the cleaning mode is not set, it is determined in step S24 whether the recording mode is set. If it is determined that the recording mode is in step S24, the process shifts to recording operation control in step S26, and if it is determined that the recording mode is not present, the process shifts to stop mode in step 32B.
When the water temperature is set in step S4, step S
At 6, the solenoid valve 94 is closed, and a flow path is established so that water can be supplied onto the guide 80.

Next, in step S8, the pump 90 is driven,
Water in the tank 82 begins to be supplied onto the guide 80.

Next, in step SlO, the timer 102 starts operating and measures the operating time. The measurement start time by the timer 102 in step SIO is TI, T3, which will be described later.
It is retained because it serves as a standard.

Next, in step 312, the heater 8l is activated to heat the water supplied onto the guide 80.

Next, in step S14, it is determined whether the time measured by the timer 102 has reached T1. If the measured time has not reached Tl, the bomb 90 and the heater 8l continue to operate, so that the water is heated to a higher temperature than during application and overflows from the guide 80, causing the tank 82, the first flow pipe 92a, the guide 80, The first one consisting of the second flow pipe 92b
circulates through the flow path.

As the high-temperature water circulates through this first flow path for a period of T1, gelatin, material powder, etc. adhering to the inside of the first flow path are eluted or mixed into the high-temperature water, and the flow path is cleaned.

Next, in step S14, when it is determined that the time T1 has elapsed, the timer l00 starts a new measurement in step S16. Timer 1 in step S16
The measurement start time of 02 is retained because it becomes the reference for T2, which will be described later.

Next, in step 31B, the solenoid valve 94 is opened, and the tank 82, the first flow pipe 92a, the second bypass pipe 92c1
A second flow path is constituted by a flow pipe 92b. As the high-temperature water circulates through the second channel, gelatin, material powder, etc. that have adhered to the second channel are similarly eluted or mixed into the high-temperature water, thereby cleaning the channel.

Next, in step S20, it is determined whether the measured time has reached T2. Then, until time T2 has elapsed, the solenoid valve 94 continues to be opened to continue cleaning the second flow path.

If it is determined in step S20 that time T2 has elapsed, then in step S22 it is determined whether time T3 has elapsed. If time T3 has not elapsed, the process returns to step S6, closes the electromagnetic valve 94, configures the first flow path again, and cleans the first flow path again.

When it is determined in step S22 that the time T3 has elapsed, the operation of the pump 90 and heater 81 is stopped in step S23. Next, in step S24, the same control as described above is performed.

Here, the times TI, T2, and T3 are the cleaning time of the first channel, the cleaning time of the second channel, and the total time of the cleaning mode, respectively, and depend on the length of the channel, the degree of contamination of the channel, etc. is set. In this embodiment, TI=50 seconds, T2=4
When cleaning was performed by setting T3 to 60 seconds, contaminants could be successfully removed from all channels.

It is preferable to immediately collect and replace the water after washing while it is still at a high temperature, but if washing is performed immediately after changing the water, the water after washing has a low degree of contamination and can be used as is for coating. You can also do that.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, when the flow path cleaning mode is set, the image forming solvent is heated to a higher temperature than during coating and circulated through the flow path, thereby removing material powder mixed into the image forming solvent and removing the image. Even if components of the recording material that have dissolved into the forming solvent adhere to the flow path, the adhered components will dissolve in the high temperature image forming solvent, so the material powder and components that have adhered to the flow path will be removed and the flow path will be removed. can be easily cleaned.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the image forming apparatus, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the water application section, Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the device that controls the cleaning operation, Fig. 4 is a control flowchart, and Fig. 5 is a control timing chart. Code in the figure: 10-1 Image forming device 14-1 material magazine I6・
- Photosensitive material 20 - Exposure section 2l/1 sub-exposure light source 22 - Exposure device 36 - Water coating section 38
・・1 thermal development transfer section 46 70 8 l・ 83 85 87 90 92c 1 0 0 Receiving material magazine branch section heater supply port・thermistor control device・pump・bypass pipe setting switch 48−・・image receiving material 80・・−guide 82・1 Tank 84−・1 Water suction pipe 86− Strainer 88− Filter 9 2 a − B− 11 Flow pipe 94 − Solenoid valve lO2−・Timer 2nd Pop/P 3 Figure M5 Calculation 4 Figure

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an image forming apparatus that has a step of supplying an image forming solvent in a storage tank to a solvent application section via piping and applying it to a recording material on which an image is formed in the presence of an image forming solvent, flow path cleaning is performed. a means for setting the mode; a heating means for heating the image forming solvent to a temperature higher than the temperature at the time of coating when the cleaning mode is set; an image forming apparatus having a circulation means for circulating the image to the image forming apparatus;