JPH0443350A - Solvent applying device for image formation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To uniformalize the temperature distribution of a solvent for image formation in a coating part when a solvent for image formation is supplemented by diffusing the solvent for image formation which is supplemented to a solvent storage part and bringing it into contact with a heating means, and diffusing the solvent uniformly in the solvent storage part. CONSTITUTION:The heater 81 is fitted as a bottom plate part which constitutes a water coating part 36 and a diffusion member 102 whose transverse section is nearly in a U shape is provided above the heater 81. This diffusion member 102 is formed in long size in the width direction of a photosensitive material 16. Its ceiling plate part is closed, but plural opening parts 105 are formed in a couple of side plate parts at desired intervals. Therefore, water which is supplied strikes on the ceiling plate part as shown by the arrow A and is diffused laterally, i.e. toward the opening parts 105 and then the water while heated by the heater 81 is diffused toward the opening parts 105 and exits from the opening parts 105 to spread upward. Consequently, the temperature distribution of the water in the water coating part 36 is uniformalized, specially, in the width direction of the photosensitive material, so that uniform water coating is performed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to recording materials such as photosensitive materials and image-receiving materials that obtain images by performing processing such as development, transfer, and fixing in the presence of an image-forming solvent. The present invention relates to an image forming solvent coating device for applying an image forming solvent.

[Conventional technology]

An image forming device that exposes a photosensitive material to reflected or transmitted light of the light irradiated on the original, or light converted from image information, and transfers the image obtained on the photosensitive material to an image-receiving material to obtain an image on the image-receiving material. It has been known.

To obtain an image on an image-receiving material, the image-wise exposed photosensitive material is heated and developed, 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 applying part through a solvent flow pipe. It is preferable to supply the image-forming solvent by a pump or the like for coating, and it is preferable to collect the solvent into the tank after the operation is completed.

In order to keep the swelling amount of the recording material constant, the temperature of the image forming solvent applied to the recording material is set to, for example, around 35°C. For this purpose, the image forming solvent is supplied to the application section at the start of operation of the apparatus, and then heated to a predetermined temperature by a heating means to adjust the temperature.

Further, the heating means is operated intermittently to maintain the image forming solvent at a constant temperature even while the image forming apparatus is in operation.

In order to perform such image forming solvent supply and temperature control, conventionally, the bottom of the solvent storage section of the coating section is provided with a supply port for supplying and replenishing the image forming solvent, in other words, a replenishment port. was formed, and a heating means was provided near it.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Here, we will explain when replenishing the image forming solvent.
The required amount of image forming solvent replenished from the supply port is dispersed within the solvent storage part while moving away from the heating means. However, the image forming solvent that is being replenished is at a lower temperature than the image forming solvent that was in the solvent storage section, and although the image forming solvent that has come into contact with the heating means is heated and then comes into contact with the recording material, the temperature near the supply port is The solvent temperature comes into contact with the recording material before it is heated to the set temperature. In other words, in the conventional structure,
The refilled image forming solvent does not come into uniform contact with the heating means and spreads.

For this reason, the temperature of the central portion of the recording material in the width direction, in other words, the temperature of the central portion of the solvent accommodating portion was lower than the ambient temperature. If the temperature of the image forming solvent in the solvent storage section is thus non-uniform, the amount of swelling of the recording material will be non-uniform, and uniform thermal development transfer will not be performed. Furthermore, even if the image forming solvent supply port was not located at the center, the temperature of the image forming solvent near the supply port was lower.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and in particular, to provide an image-forming solvent coating device that can uniformize the temperature distribution of the image-forming solvent in the coating section when replenishing the image-forming solvent. .

[Means and effects for solving the problems] The above object of the present invention is to provide an image forming solvent storage section having a supply port through which an image forming solvent to be applied to a recording material is supplied, and an image forming solvent storage section in the storage section. In an image-forming solvent coating apparatus having a solvent heating means for heating an image-forming solvent, the image-forming solvent replenished into the solvent storage portion is diffused and brought into contact with the heating means, and the heated image is formed. This is achieved by an image forming solvent applicator equipped with a diffusion mechanism that uniformly diffuses the solvent into the solvent container.

That is, the image forming solvent replenished from the supply port is diffused by the diffusion mechanism so as to come into contact with the heating means over multiple areas, and the heated image forming solvent is uniformly diffused within the solvent storage section. Become. Therefore, when the image-forming solvent is initially supplied, heating to a desired temperature can be accelerated, and when replenishing, the temperature of the image-forming solvent in the solvent storage section becomes uniform.

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. 4.483914, No. 4,43
No. 0,415, No. 4゜503.137, JP-A-59
-154445, 59-180548, 51-
No. 165054, No. 61-88256, No. 60-12
No. 0356, No. 59-218443, No. 61-238
It is disclosed in No. 056 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 or one that gives a positive image when exposed to light. 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 provide 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.

Further, the image forming solvent may be a developing solution, a bleaching solution, a bleach-fixing solution, a fixing solution, or a stabilizer, and the present invention can also be applied to an automatic developing device.

[Embodiment]

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings. It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below, and that various modifications can be made based on the technical idea of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus 10. As shown in FIG.

A photosensitive material magazine 14 is disposed on the machine base 12 of the image forming apparatus 10, and a photosensitive material 16 is stored therein in a wound form. 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 16 pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 into a predetermined length.

The cut photosensitive material 16 is transported to the exposure section 2o.

An exposure section W22 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 a mounting plate 3o is further provided on the upper part of the machine stand 12 above these parts. Main exposure light source 24, first moving mirror 27A, second
The movable mirror 27B is movable along the HIi placement plate 3o, 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 changing the transport route of the photosensitive material 16 by entering one of the two branched transport routes for the photosensitive material 16 . It should be noted that the photosensitive material 16 immediately after being pulled out from the photosensitive material magazine 14 is guided to the upper conveyance 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 #24
While moving the first movable mirror 27A, the second movable mirror 27B is moved at a predetermined speed to irradiate the emitted light along the original 32, and the reflected image light is exposed using the lens unit 28. The photosensitive material 16 located in the section 20 is scanned and exposed. Note that the recording magnification on the photosensitive material 16 can be changed by changing the tracking speed of the second movable mirror 27B. In this embodiment, the same magnification is the second
The speed of the moving mirror 27B is 1/2 that of the main exposure light source 24.

The photosensitive material 16 that has been scanned and exposed in the exposure section 2o is conveyed in an inverted state, and is coated with 35.degree. C. 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. In addition, a halogen lamp 4 is installed inside the heating drum 4o.
4 is arranged, and the outer circumferential surface is heated to about 78°C.

The endless crimping 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.

20 A cutter 50 is also arranged near the receiving material magazine 46, and the image receiving material 4 pulled out from the receiving material magazine 46 is
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 overlaps 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 in the overlapping state. , the material is sandwiched 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 belt 42.
8 is placed.

The tip of the peeling claw 56 is normally in contact with the heating drum 4°, and when the photosensitive material 16 is conveyed, it engages with the tip of the photosensitive material 16 and separates 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 4o above the peeling pawl 56, and the image receiving material 4 is separated from the photosensitive 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. Although the present invention is applied to this water application section 36, the water application section 36 will be explained first with reference to FIG. 2, and then the third section will be explained.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

The water application section 36 includes a guide 80 that accommodates water and guides the photosensitive material, and a heater 8 that is watertightly fixed below the guide 80.
1, and 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 85 for detecting the temperature of water is provided on the upper surface of the heater 81 near the supply port, and the heater 81 and thermistor 85 are electrically connected to a control device (not shown). The control device then controls the operation of the heater 81 based on the water temperature detected by the thermistor 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 active return 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 valve 94 is connected to the bypass pipe 92c.
is provided.

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, water in the tank 82 is supplied onto the guide 80 by the pump 90 with the valve 94 blocking the flow path of the bypass pipe 92c. At this time, the water supplied onto the guide 80 is transferred to the strainer 86
and filtered by a filter 88 to remove dust.

After the pump 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 operation of the image forming apparatus is finished, the valve 94 is operated 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.

Next, diffusion of the image forming solvent, that is, water in this embodiment, in the water application section 36 will be explained with reference to FIG. 3 and subsequent figures.

The heater 81 is attached as a bottom plate part of the water application part 36. A diffusion member 102 having a substantially U-shaped cross section is provided above the heater 81.

As shown in FIG. 4, the diffusion member 102 is formed into a long shape in the direction along the radius W of the photosensitive material 16, and has a top plate portion 103.
is in a closed state, but the pair of side plate parts 104a and 104b
A plurality of openings 105 are formed at desired intervals.

The opening area of the opening 105 may increase toward both ends in the W direction.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, at the top of the heater 81,
Moreover, when the diffusion member 102 is positioned and fixed so as to cover the supply port 83, the supplied water hits the top plate part 103 as shown by arrow A and flows laterally, that is, through the opening 10.
It will spread in five directions.

Further, the guide 80 is formed to have an arcuate cross section as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, and reduces the contact area between the light-sensitive material 16 and the transmission holes 111 that allow water to pass through at regular intervals in the width direction. Ribs 112 are formed to facilitate transportation.

The guide 80, the diffusion member 102, and the heater 81 are positioned so as to be vertically stacked, as shown in FIG. Therefore, the heater 81 is positioned in a flat plate shape in the water diffusion direction, and the water is heated by the heater 81 and diffused in the direction of the opening 105.
It emerges from 5 and spreads upward.

Since the opening 105 and the transmission opening 111 are formed in the same direction, in other words, along the width W direction, the temperature distribution of the water in the water application section 36 is made uniform, especially in the width W direction of the photosensitive material. , uniform water application is achieved.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the diffusion member 102
Instead, as shown in FIG. 7, a heater 81 may be provided opposite the supply port 83. That is, the flat heater 81 is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom plate portion 101 via a support 121.

In this case, the water hits the heater 81 and is heated while flowing in the horizontal direction as shown by arrow A, and flows in the direction of the permeation port 111 from the gap formed by the struts 121. Therefore, the heater 81 and the support column 121 constitute a water diffusion mechanism, and the temperature of the water is made uniform.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, when supplying the image forming solvent, the diffusion mechanism diffuses the image forming solvent along the heater, which is the heating means, so that the temperature distribution of the image forming solvent is made uniform, and recording is possible. Uniform coating with a uniform swelling amount of the material can be performed, and good image formation can be ensured.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

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 an enlarged sectional view of the water application section, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the diffusion member, and Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of the water application section. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the guide, FIG. 6 is a plan view of the main parts showing the positional relationship of each member, and FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of the water application part showing a modification of the diffusion member. Code in the figure: 10-image forming device 14--sensitive material magazine 16-
- Photosensitive material 20--Exposure section 21-Sub-exposure light source 22--Exposure device 36--Water coating section
38-Thermal development transfer section 46-Receiving material magazine
4th day - Receiving paper 70 - Branch 80 - Guide 81 - Heater 82 - Tank 83
- Supply port 84--Water suction pipe 85-Thermistor 86--Strainer 88--Filter 90-Pump 92a -b-Flow pipe
92cm bypass pipe 94--valve 102--diffusion member 103-top plate section 105-opening 112--lip 111--permeation port Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] An image forming solvent coating device having an image forming solvent accommodating section having a supply port through which an image forming solvent for coating a recording material is supplied, and a solvent heating means for heating the image forming solvent in the accommodating section. , the image forming apparatus is provided with a diffusion mechanism that diffuses the image forming solvent replenished into the solvent accommodating part and brings it into contact with the heating means, and uniformly diffuses the heated image forming solvent within the solvent accommodating part. Solvent coating equipment