JPH0456854A - Foaming device for aeration - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To surely remove foam by providing the defoaming device with an auxiliary room whose lower part is connected to a leaching tank and a defoaming bank arranged on a position higher than a bleaching bank so as to overflow foam in the auxiliary room to a fixing tank. CONSTITUTION:The defoaming device is provided with the auxiliary room 54 constituted so that foam generated by an aeration device is sent and its lower part is connected to a bleaching room and the defoaming bank 16 arranged on the position higher than the bleaching bank 66 so as to overflow foam in the room 54 to the fixing tank 16. When filling fluid is injected into a bleaching solution, the bleaching solution is overflowed and allowed to flow into the fixing tank 16 or a waste solution tank, and on the other hand the foam generated by aeration is carried to the room 54, sent to the tank 16 over the bank 64 and is allowed to disappear by the difference of PH values. Thus, the foam generated by aeration can be effectively removed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an aeration defoaming device for extinguishing air bubbles generated in an aeration device that sends air into a processing solution when developing a photosensitive material.

[Conventional technology]

In developing machines for developing photosensitive materials, aeration is sometimes carried out, in which air is sent into the bleaching solution, especially in order to recover from fatigue of the bleaching solution. This aeration allows oxygen in the air to recover from the fatigue of the bleaching solution.

However, when this aeration is performed, a large number of bubbles are generated on the surface of the bleach solution tank, and these bubbles are brought into the developer tank, causing contamination of the developer tank.

For this reason, there have conventionally been proposals to provide an air separation column in an aeration device to separate air bubbles into air and a bleaching solution (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2-33145 and 233146). This air separation structure guides air bubbles generated by aeration into a separation column, and provides a baffle plate and activated carbon particles in this separation column to perform a defoaming effect.

However, precipitates adhere to the activated carbon particles, clogging the air vent piping, or air that is not defoamed by the baffle plate overflows from the separation column, pushing down the liquid level in the bleach tank, or air bubbles enter the developing tank, causing contamination. Cause.

[Problems solved by the invention]

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned facts, and an object of the present invention is to obtain an aeration defoaming device that can reliably eliminate bubbles generated in the aeration device.

[Means to solve problems]

The invention of claim (1) of the present invention is used in a developing machine that is equipped with an aeration device that sends hair air inside a bleach tank and is also provided with a bleach solution weir that overflows the bleach solution into a fixing tank. It has an auxiliary chamber into which the generated air bubbles are fed and whose lower part communicates with the bleaching tank, and a defoaming weir that is provided at a higher position than the bleaching solution weir and causes the air bubbles in the auxiliary chamber to overflow into the fixing tank. It is characterized by

The invention of claim (2) of the present application is used in a developing machine that is equipped with an aeration device that sends air into the bleach tank, and is also provided with a bleach solution weir that allows the bleach solution to half-flow into the waste tank. an auxiliary chamber into which the air bubbles generated are sent and whose lower part communicates with the bleach tank; and a defoaming weir that is provided at a higher position than the bleach solution weir and causes the air bubbles in the auxiliary chamber to overflow into the fixing tank. It is characterized by

In this invention, the bleaching solution is injected with a replenishing solution.
Overflowing into the fixer tank or into the waste tank. On the other hand, the foam generated by the aeration is brought into the auxiliary chamber, and from this auxiliary chamber it passes over the defoaming weir and reaches the fixing tank. When this bubble reaches the fixing tank, it disappears due to the difference in pH.

〔Example〕

FIG. 2 shows an example of an automatic developing machine 10 as a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention. This automatic developing machine 10
is a small developing machine called a minilab that automatically transports and processes negative film.

This automatic developing machine 10 includes a developing tank 12, a bleaching tank 14, a bleach-fixing tank 16, a fixing tank 18, a rinsing tank 22, 24, and a stabilizing tank 26, which are installed in series, and each has a developer, a bleach, a bleach-fix, and a fixer. A predetermined amount of processing liquids such as a liquid, a rinsing liquid, and a stabilizing liquid are filled, and the photosensitive material F is sequentially immersed and transported to these processing tanks by a transport system (not shown).

Further, a drying section 20 is arranged adjacent to these processing tanks. The photosensitive material F that has been processed in the most downstream stabilizing tank 26 is guided by the transport system to the drying section 20, wrapped around the roller 23, dried, and taken out to the film stocker 25. It becomes.

FIG. 3 shows an aeration device 30 located adjacent to the bleach tank 14. This aeration device 30 has a main body 32 in the shape of a vertically long cylinder, and a lower end of which is connected to a pipe 34.
It is communicated with the bleach tank 14 by. An air blowing pipe 36 passes through the main body 32 through its axial center. The upper end of the air blowing pipe 36 communicates with the air pump 38, and the lower end opens near the communication portion between the main body 32 and the piping 34 to form an air blowing outlet 42. For this purpose, air is supplied from the air outlet 42 into the bleaching solution within the main body 32 to perform aeration work.

A pipe 44 is connected to the main body 32 from above the liquid level to the bottom of the bleaching tank 14, and serves as a return pipe.

A separation plate 46 is attached to the main body 32 above the liquid level, and an opening for passing the pipe 36 through the separation plate 46 is formed in the separation plate 46. A bubble separation column 48 is located between the separation plate 46 and the top of the main body 32, and has the role of eliminating generated bubbles.

The top of the bubble separation column 48 is communicated by a pipe 52 to an auxiliary chamber 54 provided in a part of the bleach tank 14 .

As shown in FIG. 1, this auxiliary chamber 54 is provided in a part of the bleaching tank 14 by a partition plate 56 having an abbreviated shape in plan view. This auxiliary chamber 54 is in communication with the bleaching tank 14, and the bleaching solution enters at the same level as the bleaching tank 14. A notch 64 is provided in the partition wall 62 between the auxiliary chamber 54 and the bleaching/fixing tank 16 to serve as a defoaming dam. The partition wall 62 also has a notch 66 for overflowing the bleach solution from the bleach tank 14 to the bleach/fix tank 16.
is provided. The notch 64 is arranged at a position higher than the notch 66 by a height H.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The photosensitive material F is supplied to the developer tank 12 of the automatic processor 10,
After being removed from the developer tank 12, the images are sequentially sent to a bleach tank 14, a bleach/fix tank 16, etc., and are subjected to development processing.

In the bleaching tank 14, some of the bleaching solution is transferred to the aeration device 30.
The bleaching solution is sent to the main body 32 of the bleaching device 30 and subjected to an aeration operation by the air blowing pipe 36, thereby circulating the bleaching solution between the aeration device 30 and the bleaching tank 14. As a result, the divalent Fe of the bleaching solution becomes trivalent, and the fatigue of the bleaching solution is recovered.

However, a large amount of bubbles are generated by the aeration, and these bubbles are not eliminated by the bubble separation column 48 and are removed from the pipe 5.
2 to reach the auxiliary room 54.

The amount of bubbles generated increases as the surfactant on the photosensitive material dissolves when the bleaching solution is exhausted.

The air bubbles sent to the auxiliary chamber 54 through the pipe 52 enter the notch 6
4 to the bleach/fix tank 16. As a result, air bubbles are effectively extinguished due to the difference in pH. Therefore, these air bubbles may push down the liquid level in the bleach tank 14 or
No contamination can be caused by entering the inside of 2.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the bleaching tank 14 of the automatic processor 11 is not provided with a cascade cutout as in the previous embodiment.
Excess bleaching solution is taken out from the upper end of the overflow vibro 8 and disposed of.

In this embodiment, the notch 64 is located at a higher position than the upper end of the overflow vibro 8.

The other configurations are the same as those of the previous embodiments.

Therefore, in this embodiment as well, the air bubbles supplied to the auxiliary chamber 54 flow out from the notch 64 and enter the bleaching/fixing tank 16, where they are effectively defoamed.

Next, FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a constricted part 72 whose cross-sectional area is reduced to about 1/2 is provided in the middle part of the pipe 52. Further, one end of a pipe 74 is connected to the constriction portion 72 in a V-shape, and the other end of the pipe 74 is connected to the air pump 38 so that air is supplied together with the air blow-off pipe 36 so that the pipe 74 has a V-shape as a whole. It has become. The air supplied from the scoop pipe 74 is configured to send the bubbles in the constricted portion 72 to the downstream side, that is, to the auxiliary chamber 34 side.

Therefore, the air bubbles sent into the pipe 52 suddenly pass through a narrow passage at the constriction part 72, so that the flow rate increases and a defoaming effect is produced. In addition, since the air from the near pump 38 is supplied to this constriction section 72, this also causes a defoaming effect, and the bubbles that have passed through the constriction section 72 are completely eliminated, or become very fine bubbles and are turned into auxiliary chambers. 54, and the air supplied from the air blowing section 38 is returned to the atmosphere. Therefore, the air bubbles generated in the aeration main body 30 directly reach the auxiliary chamber 54, and there is no problem of pushing down the liquid level of the bleaching tank 14 or reaching the developing tank 12. Further, the foam accumulated in the auxiliary chamber 54 also passes through the defoaming weir 64 similar to those in the previous embodiments and reaches the bleaching/fixing tank 16, so that the foam is surely defoamed.

Reducing the cross-sectional area by the aperture 812 and introducing air have an antifoaming effect independently, regardless of which of these means is employed. Therefore, the piping 52 with which the piping 74 communicates is not necessarily connected to the throttle 872 portion, but even if the piping 74 is connected to a portion having the same inner diameter as the communicating portion to the aeration main body 32, the defoaming effect can be produced.

Also, the inner diameter of the pipe 74 is the same as the inner diameter of the constricted part 72 and between the passages, etc., but the three figure 7 pipes in the part where the pipe 74 is connected should all have the same inner diameter as the constricted part 72. This improves the defoaming effect.

The amount of air supplied from the air pump 38 according to this embodiment is 0.
2-4. Oj'/min, preferably 1.0~
3. Of/min. This air supply amount is not limited to this range, and may be any supply amount. Further, in this embodiment, the constricted portion 72 has an inner diameter of 3 mm, and the flow rate of the bubbles is 1. 7j! /min. This flow velocity M is 28,
3 cc/sec, and the cross-sectional area S of the aperture part 72 is (
0.15X0. 15Xπ) cIIl=o.

07065cnf. Therefore, the linear velocity V is V=M/5
=28.310.07065-=, 400cm/sec
...(1) That is, V is approximately 4 m/sec. In this case, air is further supplied to increase the line speed and improve the defoaming effect. On the other hand, if the inner diameter of the throttle part 72 is 6M and no air is supplied, the cross-sectional area is 0.2826cm! Therefore, the linear velocity is 28.310.2826ζ100cm/sec
Therefore, it is 1 m/sec. When the inner diameter was made larger than this, defoaming became difficult.

Therefore, until the linear velocity reaches 1 m/sec or more, the aperture section 7
Either reduce the diameter of 2 or supply air separately to increase the linear speed to 1.
It is necessary to make it more than m/sec. In the second embodiment, the linear velocity is set to 1 m/sec or more and air is supplied, which is more effective.

FIG. 6 shows a modification of the intersection of pipes 66, 70. In FIG. 6A, a pipe 74 having a smaller diameter than the pipe 52 penetrates the pipe wall of the pipe 52 and enters the pipe 52, and its tip is coaxial with the pipe 52.

Further, in FIG. 6(B), the pipe 74 similarly enters into the pipe 52, but its tip end is disposed near the bend of the pipe 52.

Furthermore, in these cases, bubbles and air currents may be applied to the pipes 52 and 74 interchangeably. That is, a small diameter air bubble pipe may be inserted into a large diameter air flow pipe.

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention has the above structure, it has an excellent effect of effectively eliminating bubbles generated by aeration.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the upper part of the bleaching tank of an automatic developing machine to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing the automatic developing machine to which the present invention is applied, and Fig. 3 shows the aeration section. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■, FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the second embodiment, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the aeration device showing the third embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing other bubbles and airflow. FIG. F... Photosensitive material, 11... Automatic developing machine, 12... Developer tank, 14... Bleaching tank, 30... Aeration device, 52... Piping, 54... Auxiliary room, 56 ...Partition plate, 64.66...Notch. F: eΣ Hikari Ooken 12: Koumi House 14: Bleach tank 3o, aeration equipment! Diagram

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) Used in a developing machine that is equipped with an aeration device that sends air into the bleach tank and a bleach solution weir that allows the bleach solution to overflow into the fixing tank. A defoaming device for aeration, characterized by having an auxiliary chamber communicating with a bleaching tank, and a defoaming weir provided at a higher position than the weir for the bleach solution and causing air bubbles in the auxiliary chamber to overflow into the fixing tank. Device. (2) Used in a developing machine that is equipped with an aeration device that sends air into the bleach tank and a bleach weir that allows the bleach solution to overflow into the waste tank.The air bubbles generated by the aeration device are sent in and the lower part is bleached. A defoaming device for aeration, comprising: an auxiliary chamber communicating with the tank; and a defoaming weir, which is provided at a higher position than the bleaching solution weir and causes air bubbles in the auxiliary chamber to overflow into the fixing tank. .