JPH11242319A - Automatic film processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] When film is being processed and when it is not,
Toggle error handling. When a purifying agent to be added to washing water in a washing tank becomes empty during film processing, at least an empty detection display and a warning sound are generated, and the cleaning agent is added to washing water during rewashing processing of the washing tank. When the purifier becomes empty, only the empty detection display is performed. Even when the cleaning agent becomes empty during the recleaning process, the recleaning process is continued until a series of processes is completed. No warning sound such as a buzzer sounds. This is because the re-cleaning process is automatically performed unattended at night. Thus, unnecessary processing can be omitted, and mistrust of an outsider can be eliminated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an automatic film developing apparatus. Specifically, when a washing tank for film washing provided in an automatic film developing apparatus used for a printing plate or the like is washed for cleaning (this is referred to as a rewashing treatment in this specification), a cleaning agent is used. Even if it is detected that the re-cleaning process has disappeared, only the error display is performed and the re-cleaning process is completed to the end, so that the night-time unattended re-cleaning process can be completed without delay.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As is well known, an automatic film developing apparatus used for a photosensitive material processing apparatus, for example, a printing plate, is a series of processing steps from developing and fixing an exposed film to forming a negative film or the like. This is a device for automatically performing

[0003] FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a main part of an automatic film developing apparatus of this type, in which an exposed film 1 inserted through a film feeding port 12a of a main body 12 of the apparatus.
4 is developed by passing through a developing tank 16 containing a developing solution, and then a fixing process is performed by passing the film 14 through a fixing tank 18 containing a fixing solution.

[0004] The fixed film 14 is further guided to a washing tank 20 containing treated water, and the film 14 is washed with water.
This is further transported to the drying chamber 22 and subjected to a drying process.
The dried film 14 is discharged from the discharge port 12b and accumulated in the storage box 24. Examples of the film 14 using such an apparatus include a large film of about 20 × 24 inches.

The film 14 passing through the above-described processing steps
Since the developing solution and the fixing solution adhere to the film surface, the adhered substances are removed by performing the water washing treatment in the above-described washing tank 20. As a result of the water washing treatment, silver components and the like are deposited and settled as sludge on the bottom of the water washing tank 20.

[0006] Further, by repeatedly washing the film 14 with water, the treated water in the washing tank 20 becomes dirty, and the water scale becomes floating in the washing tank 20.
Accumulate in When scales accumulate in the washing tank 20,
This scale also adheres to the surface of the film 14 being washed. Further, water scale adheres to a film transport roller provided in the washing tank 20. If scale is adhered to the transport roller, the film transport force is reduced, which may cause a transport failure. Alternatively, scale or sludge may adhere to the piping, causing clogging of the piping.

In order to prevent such an obstacle, a small amount of a purifying agent (such as H ₂ O ₂ ) is added to the washing tank 20 during the film processing to sterilize the washing water, thereby suppressing the generation of scale. Like that.

[0008]

Incidentally, in a washing tank used in such an automatic film developing apparatus, in order to change washing water or to clean the inside of the tank,
After the completion of the film processing operation, the water washing tank is cleaned. If this cleaning process is called a re-cleaning process, the re-cleaning process drains the used washing water in the washing tank, fills the tank with fresh washing water for re-washing, and adds a purifying agent to the washing. Stir the water. Predetermined time, for example, 60
The agitation process is continued for about a minute, and water scale attached to the inner wall of the tank and sludge deposited on the bottom of the tank are floated in the washing water, and then drained to complete a series of rewashing processing.

[0009] Such a re-cleaning process is performed for about one hour and 40 hours including the stirring process from the waste water of the used cleaning water.
It takes about a minute. For this reason, the re-cleaning process is usually performed during the night when the film developing apparatus is stopped. Therefore, it is natural that the re-cleaning process is an automatic process and an unmanned process.

On the other hand, in such an automatic film developing apparatus, when a purifying agent to be added becomes empty during the film developing process, a purifying agent kit (purifying agent container) is used.
An error message is displayed to urge the user to replace the battery, and an error sound (buzzer sound) is emitted to draw attention to the worker. The operator can immediately execute the work for avoiding the error while confirming the content of the error by the error sound.

Since this error processing is performed even during the above-described re-cleaning processing, during a series of re-cleaning processing, for example, the purifying agent in the purifying agent container becomes empty as described above, and an error due to this empty detection is detected. If it occurs, it is wasteful to sound the error sound because no worker is present at the place, and outsiders should hear this error sound and mistake it for another warning sound. Is also conceivable.

As described above, when an error occurs during the film development processing, it is preferable to interrupt the automatic development processing until the cause of the error is determined. Is not necessary. This is because it is unlikely that the shortage of the purifying agent will affect the cleaning of the inside of the tank as much as the difference. That is, in the case of an error during the re-cleaning process, it is preferable to perform a process different from the error process during the film processing.

In view of the above, the present invention has solved such a conventional problem, and is capable of switching post-processing for an error in accordance with the operation state of an automatic developing apparatus.

[0014]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an automatic film developing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention automatically develops a film having a washing tank for washing the developed film with water. The apparatus has a purifying agent adding means for adding the purifying agent to the washing water of the washing tank during the film processing, and a purifying agent accommodating container for accommodating the purifying agent, and the purifying agent to be added disappears in the purifying agent accommodating container. Sometimes, at least an empty detection display and a warning sound are generated, and when the purifying agent to be added to the cleaning water becomes empty during the re-washing process of the washing tank, only the empty detection display is performed. I do.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic film developing apparatus having a washing tank for washing a developed film with water, wherein the washing water in the washing tank is supplied during the film processing. It has a purifying agent adding means for adding a purifying agent, a purifying agent container for storing a purifying agent, and a control means for switching an error process that occurs when the purifying agent runs out according to a film processing state. And

In the present invention, the error processing is switched between when the purifying agent becomes empty during the film processing and when the purifying agent becomes empty during the film processing and the re-cleaning processing. For example, when the purifying agent becomes empty during the film processing, the film processing is interrupted, and control is performed so that the film processing is restarted by replenishment of the purifying agent.

On the other hand, even when the purifying agent becomes empty during the recleaning process, the recleaning process is continued until a series of processes is completed. Then, an empty display is performed as an error display. However, no warning sound (error sound) such as a buzzer sounds. This is because the re-cleaning process is automatically performed unattended at night. If an alarm sounds during this automatic process,
On the contrary, outsiders may be surprised and upset.

[0018]

Next, an embodiment of an automatic film developing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. This automatic film developing apparatus also employs the structure shown in FIG.
The washing tank 20 is provided in the washing tank 20 in addition to the developing tank 16 and the fixing tank 18 as described above. The film 14 subjected to the fixing process in the washing tank 20 is washed and fed into the drying chamber 22. You.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment showing the structure of the washing tank 20 and its surroundings. The washing tank 20 itself has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, and is a box-shaped body having an open top. The inside is filled with a required amount of washing water 21. Therefore, a water absorption pipe 25 is provided, and an opening / closing valve 26 is attached to a part of the water absorption pipe 25, and the supply of cleaning water (fresh water) is controlled by manually or automatically opening / closing the valve. The washing water is guided to the water distribution pipe 30 via the flow meter 28,
The distal end portion 30 a of the water distribution pipe 30 is bent in a U-shape so as to face the inside from the upper end surface side of the washing tank 20. The water supply pipe 30 replenishes the wash water.

When the supplied washing water rises above the reference water level, the washing water is drained to the outside through a port 32a of an overflow pipe 32 provided at a corner of the washing tank 20. In order to drain the washing water in the washing tank 20, a drain port 33 is provided at a predetermined position on the bottom of the washing tank 20, and a drain pipe, in this example, a branch pipe 34 is attached thereto. As will be described later, in the branch pipe 34, one branch pipe 36a is used as a solenoid valve drain pipe in this example, and the other branch pipe 36b is used as a drain pipe for a manual valve 38. In a normal case, the electromagnetic valve is operated to drain the washing water. In some cases, the manual valve 38 is opened to drain the washing water.

A purifying agent is added to the washing water as described above. Next, the purifying agent adding means 41 will be described. A purifying agent tank 40 is provided outside the washing tank 20, and the purifying agent in the tank is sucked by a pump 46 connected to a suction pipe 42. A flow meter 44 is provided between the pump 46 and the suction pipe 42.
Is arranged so that the amount of the suctioned purifying agent can be measured. The purifying agent sucked by the pump 46 is further added to the washing tank 20 through the water pipe 48. Therefore, the distal end portion 48 a of the water guide pipe 48 is bent in a U-shape, and is attached so that the distal end portion 48 a faces the inside of the washing tank 20.

The washing tank 20 further includes a circulating means 4 for washing water.
9 are provided. Therefore, in this example, a water suction port 50 is provided on a part of the bottom portion 20b of the washing tank 20 in this example, on the right side surface 20c side, and a water suction pipe 52 is connected to the water suction port 50. It is connected to the suction side. A discharge pipe 56 is connected to the discharge side of the circulating pump 54, and the distal end thereof is connected to a discharge port 56 a provided on the left side surface 20 d of the washing tank 20. The discharge port 56a is at the bottom 20
It is provided at a position separated by a predetermined length from b.

A rod-shaped nozzle 60 is attached to the discharge port 56a, and the circulating washing water is jetted out of a large number of jet ports (described later) provided in the nozzle 60 into the tank. The nozzle 60 can be attached and detached by attaching and detaching means 62 provided at both ends.

The film 14 is guided into the washing tank 20 from the long side surface 20a of the washing tank 20, as shown in FIG.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the circulating water suction port 50 of the circulating pump 54 is positioned higher than the drainage pipe port 33. To do this, in this example FIG.
The main body 1 of the apparatus is tilted by θ as shown in FIG.
2 and fixed. In the illustrated example, since the water inlet 50 is on the right side surface 20c side, the left side surface 20d is attached and fixed so as to lower by θ. The inclination angle θ is selected to be about 1 to 10 °, preferably about 1 to 5 °. This is sludge 7
0 is deposited on the pipe port 33 as much as possible.
By depositing the sludge 70 on the pipe opening 33 side, it is possible to clean the inside of the washing tank 20 without leaving the sludge 70 deposited on the bottom 20b side. The circulating water suction port 50 and the drainage pipe port 33 are designed to be located as far apart as possible.

The reason why the water suction port 50 is raised or the water suction port 50 is separated from the pipe port 33 is that the sludge 70 deposited on the bottom of the washing tank 20 is sucked by the circulation pump 54. , Circulating water is the sludge 70
This is to prevent cloudiness.

The tip 48 of the water pipe 48 to which the purifying agent is added
a is arranged near the water inlet 50 of the circulating water. When the water inlet 50 is provided on the right side surface 20c side of the washing tank 20 as shown in FIG. 1, the purifying agent is dropped from the upper end side. This is when circulating wash water,
This is because, when the purifying agent is circulated together and is ejected from the nozzle 60, the purifying agent can be uniformly dispersed in the tank, so that the scale can be efficiently sterilized and the cleaning water can be purified.

In order to uniformly disperse the washing water, in this example, as shown in FIG. 4, all of the plurality of jet ports 62 formed in the nozzle 60 face the upper surface side of the washing tank 20. The jet ports 62 (62a to 62c) are formed so as to be radial over a certain angular range.

The reason why all of the jet ports 62 face the tank upper surface side is to prevent the sludge 70 deposited on the bottom portion 20b from being stirred as much as possible. This is because if the washing water is jetted downward, the sludge 70 may be agitated and float in the tank. Also. Sludge 7
In this example, in addition to determining the drilling position of the jet port 62, in order to set the jetting port 62 at the bottom 20b without stirring as much as possible,
The nozzle 60 is mounted at a predetermined distance L from the bottom 20b. This also reduces the probability that the deposited sludge 70 will be stirred.

As shown in FIG. 5, in this example, the nozzle 60
Is open at the end, which is closed with a plug 64. By removing the plug 64 when cleaning the nozzle 60, the inside thereof can be cleaned cleanly.

FIG. 6 is a system diagram showing an example of a control system in an automatic film developing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, which has a main controller 80 equipped with a CPU, The ROM 82 stores various control programs necessary for film processing.
The RAM 84 operates as a working memory when necessary in the processing.

The controller 80 further includes a flow meter 28 for cleaning water and a flow meter 44 for purifying agent described with reference to FIG.
And a water level sensor provided in the washing tank 20, in this example, a detection output of the float switch SWw.

An operation panel 86 is connected to the controller 80, and an instruction signal from the operation panel 86 is given to the controller 80, and a processing result signal from the controller 80 is supplied thereto.
Error information such as empty purifying agent is displayed.

The controller 80 also controls an electromagnetic valve and a pump. Therefore, the output of the controller 80 is supplied to the control target via the driver (driver group) 80. In the figure, the solenoid valve 26, which is an on-off valve for washing water, the purifying agent replenishment pump 46, and the circulation pump 54 are driven and controlled by the output of the driver 80.

According to the present invention, in addition to these components, when various errors are detected by the controller 80, the detected output drives the buzzer 96 to generate an alarm sound. The content of the error at that time is displayed on the display section 87 described above.

Next, error processing during film processing and during re-cleaning processing will be described with reference to FIG.
The control program is stored in the ROM 82 described above.

In FIG. 7, this processing program is started when the power of the automatic developing device is turned on.
When the power is turned on, the display unit 87 becomes an initial display, notifies that it is in a ready state, and displays an operation stop state (steps 101 and 102). When the operation key (switch) is pressed by turning on the power, the temperature adjustment processing system such as the developer is operated (steps 103, 104, 10).
6). When the standby timer is set, the temperature adjustment is started when the set time comes (steps 103, 105, and 106).

When the temperature of the developing solution or the like reaches an appropriate temperature, the temperature adjustment is completed, and if an error occurs during the idling period, the display returns to the display state of preparing (step 108,
106), if there is no error, the process proceeds to the next processing step shown in FIG. 8 (steps 107 and 108).

Therefore, it is displayed that the apparatus is in a state capable of executing the processing, and the film can be fed (step 110 in FIG. 8). As a result, a series of processing operations such as a developing process, a fixing process, a rinsing process, a drying process, and a storage process of the film sent to the apparatus are sequentially executed. Therefore, the film conveyed in the apparatus is detected (step 111), and when the film is normally conveyed, it is displayed that normal processing is in progress (step 11).
2).

Next, the presence or absence of a purifying agent added during the film processing is detected (step 113). When the purifier empty detection is not performed, that is, when the purifier is present, the normal film processing is performed. When the purifier is exhausted and replenishment is required, the process proceeds to the following processing. Step 113
When the empty state of the purifying agent is detected in step (3), the loading of the next film into the apparatus is interrupted, and the empty state (error state) is displayed on the display unit 87 and the buzzer is driven to interrupt the film processing. , A warning sound is issued (step 11)
5, 116, 117). When the purifying agent kit is replaced and the purifying agent is replenished, the error processing is completed (step 118). In this case, the next film processing can be performed, and the film carrying into the apparatus and the film processing are restarted. (Step 119).

Such a purifying agent detection process is performed only during the film processing (step 114). Since this film processing is normally performed continuously, when the film processing is completed or when the feeding of the film is not detected (steps 114 and 111), the automatic developing device enters a film standby state. The processing makes a transition to the processing step shown in FIG.

In the processing steps of FIG. 9, first, it is checked whether or not the operation switch of the apparatus has been turned off (step 1).
21) If the operation switch is still held in the on state, or if the stop timer has elapsed since the operation switch was turned off (step 122), it is determined whether the apparatus has the re-cleaning mode (step 122). 12
3).

Here, the automatic developing apparatus without the re-washing process does not have a water saving function because the washing water to the washing tank 20 is always supplied and overflows. On the other hand, an automatic developing device having a re-cleaning process can be said to be a device having a water saving function because the cleaning water is supplied only when it is required intermittently.

Therefore, if the apparatus does not have the re-cleaning mode in step 123,
Zero drainage processing is executed (step 124). On the other hand, if the apparatus has the re-cleaning mode, the process proceeds to the re-cleaning process (step 130).

An example of the re-cleaning process will be described with reference to FIG. 10. First, a drainage process of the cleaning water in the rinsing tank 20 is performed (step 131). When the washing tank 20 becomes empty, the washing water is injected until the water level sensor SWw is turned on (steps 132 and 133). When a specified amount of cleaning water is injected, the presence or absence of a purifying agent is detected (step 134). This is because the washing tank 20 can be effectively and neatly cleaned by adding the purifying agent even in the re-cleaning process.

When a purifying agent is present, a predetermined amount of the purifying agent is added and then the stirring process is performed (steps 135 and 13).
6). This is for removing scales and the like attached to the inner wall of the washing tank. This stirring is performed for a predetermined time. In this example, the washing water is stirred for 60 minutes (step 137). The stirring process can be performed using the circulation pump 54 shown in FIG. When the specified stirring time is reached, the stirred washing water is drained, and the rewashing process ends (step 138).

During the recleaning process, the output of the flow meter 44 changes when the purifying agent becomes empty, that is, between the time when gas is supplied and the time when liquid is supplied (step 134). When the difference is detected and the gas is supplied, an error display (empty detection of the purifying agent) is performed on the display unit 87 (step 139). If the timing at which it is detected that the purifying agent is empty is still under agitation processing, the agitation processing is continued, and drainage processing is performed (step 139,
137, 134, 138). In addition to the above-described example, the empty detection of the purifying agent can also be performed by providing a solution detecting switch in a purifying agent kit, for example.

The reason why the re-cleaning process is continued even when the purifying agent runs out during the re-cleaning process is that the cleaning effect is greatly changed even if the amount of the purifying agent is slightly small because the re-cleaning process is performed. Because there is no.

During the re-cleaning process, an error is displayed but no warning sound is emitted. This is because, as described above, since the re-cleaning process is automatically performed at night and in an unattended state, if a warning sound is issued, the outsider may be surprised and upset.

In the above description, the present invention is applied to an automatic developing device for a film used as a printing plate, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to other automatic developing devices for a film.

[0051]

As described above, according to the present invention, error treatment is performed between when the purifying agent becomes empty during the film processing and when the purifying agent becomes empty during the re-cleaning process after the film processing is completed. Is switched.

When the purifying agent becomes empty during the film processing, the film processing is interrupted, and the film processing is resumed by replenishing the purifying agent. On the other hand, when the cleaning agent becomes empty during the recleaning process, the recleaning process is continued until a series of processes is completed. Then, an empty display is performed as an error display. However, a warning sound (error sound) such as a buzzer is not sounded. Thus, unnecessary processing can be omitted, and mistrust of an outsider can be eliminated. In addition, a purifying agent is added to the washing tank so that the washing water can be used repeatedly, which leads to significant saving of the used washing water.

Therefore, the present invention is very suitable when applied to an automatic developing device for a film used as a printing plate described above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a main part showing an embodiment of a configuration of a washing tank used in an automatic film developing apparatus according to the present invention and peripheral parts thereof.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a washing tank.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a film transport state.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a nozzle.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a nozzle.

FIG. 6 is a system diagram showing an embodiment of a control circuit applicable to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart (part 1) illustrating an embodiment for error processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating an embodiment for error processing.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart (part 3) illustrating an embodiment for error processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart (part 4) illustrating an embodiment for error processing.

FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram illustrating an outline of an automatic film developing apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Automatic film developing apparatus 12 Main body 16 Developing tank 18 Fixing tank 20 Rinse tank 20b Bottom part 21 Cleaning water 22 Drying chamber 33 Piping port 34 Branch pipe 41 Purifier addition means 49 Cleaning water circulation means 50 Circulating water suction port 54 Circulating pump 60 nozzle 70 Sludge

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An automatic film developing apparatus having a washing tank for washing a developed film with water, comprising: a purifying agent adding means for adding to the washing water in the washing tank during film processing; When the purifying agent to be added is no longer in the purifying agent container, at least an empty detection display and a warning sound are generated, and the cleaning agent is added to the washing water during the rewashing process of the washing tank. An automatic film developing apparatus characterized in that only an empty detection display is performed when the purifying agent becomes empty. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the recleaning process is controlled so as to be continued until a series of processes is completed even when the purifying agent runs out during the recleaning process. Automatic film processing equipment. 3. When the purifying agent is used up during the film processing, control is carried out so that loading of the film to be processed next into the automatic film developing apparatus is interrupted and film processing is resumed by replenishment of the purifying agent. 2. The automatic film developing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing is performed. 4. The automatic film developing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the empty detection of the cleaning agent is performed by detecting a flow rate of the cleaning agent. 5. An automatic film developing apparatus having a washing tank for washing a developed film with water, comprising: a purifying agent adding means for adding a purifying agent to washing water in the washing tank during film processing; An automatic film developing apparatus, comprising: a purifying agent storage container that performs a cleaning process; and a control unit that switches error processing that occurs when the purifying agent runs out according to a film processing state.