JPH11242322A - Photosensitive material processing equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] To accurately detect emptying of a purifying agent. A film is conveyed to a washing tank (20) for washing the film to perform a washing process, and a purifying agent replenishing means (41) and a purifying agent empty detecting means to be added to washing water in the washing tank are provided. Provided. As the purifying agent empty detection means, a flow meter 44 is used in which the number of output pulses per unit flow differs by more than several times between a liquid and a gas, and the purifying agent is empty at the output of the flow meter. Detect that A flow meter having a larger unit flow rate than a micro flow meter is used as a flow meter. In this case, a prescribed number of output pulses cannot be obtained unless sufficient liquid passes. For this reason, when the air passes, even if the specified unit flow rate passes, only a much smaller number of output pulses than the specified number of output pulses can be obtained, so that the difference can accurately detect emptying of the purifying agent.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a photosensitive material processing apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus that can accurately detect the absence of replenishment processing liquid replenished to each processing tank such as an automatic film developing apparatus used for printing plates and the like. About being an agent.

[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

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a main part of an automatic film developing apparatus of this type, in which an exposure film 14 inserted through a film feed port 12a of an apparatus main body 12 has a developing tank 16 containing a developing solution. The film 1 is developed by passing through the inside, and then the film 1 in the fixing tank 18 containing the fixing solution.
The fixing process is performed by the passage of No. 4.

The fixed film 14 is further guided to a washing tank 20 containing fresh water, and the film 14 is washed with water. The film 14 is further conveyed to a drying chamber 22 and dried. 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]

By the way, in such a photosensitive material processing apparatus, the above-mentioned purifying agent is added to the washing water in order to prevent the generation of scale or the like generated during the photosensitive material washing process. I have to.

The purifying agent used is one contained in a replaceable container. When the purifying agent in the container becomes empty, this container is replaced with a new one and the purifying agent is replenished. There is a need to. Therefore, means for detecting that the purifying agent has run out is provided.

Although various configurations are conceivable as the empty detecting means, a means (for example, a float switch) for directly detecting the purifying agent in the container is generally provided. However, when this direct detection means is used, a float switch must be mounted each time the container is replaced, and the replacement operation is very troublesome.

It is also possible to use a flow meter for measuring the replenishing amount of the purifying agent provided in the replenishing means for replenishing the purifying agent into the washing tank, and perform the empty detection by using the output of the flow meter. Conceivable. When there is a purifying agent in the container, the purifying agent (liquid) is sucked, whereas when the purifying agent is empty, air, which is a gas, is sucked instead of the purifying agent. Utilization is used to detect emptying of the purifying agent.

Since a small amount of a purifying agent is added to this flow meter, a minute flow meter (for example, model ND0
5) is used. In this flow meter, the flowing fluid is 0.
One pulse is output every 46 ml.

However, it has been found that when such a micro flowmeter is used, there is not much difference in the number of output pulses between a case where the fluid is a liquid and a case where the fluid is a gas, that is, air. For example, when a liquid (purifying agent) is sent using a refilling pump (water absorption pump) of 100 ml / min, the number of output pulses is 3.6 pulses per second, whereas when air as a gas is sent. Is 2.7 pulses per second.

Therefore, when such a flow meter is used, the difference in the number of output pulses is small, so that it is difficult to accurately determine empty detection of a purifying agent based on the number of output pulses. The use of the micro flow meter in the purifying agent replenishment means
This is because the addition amount of the purifying agent to be replenished after washing one film can be small (about 2 ml).

When the addition amount of the purifying agent is very small, it may be difficult to control the addition amount accurately. For example, when the film processing signal of FIG. 10A is output every time the film cleaning of one large-sized sheet is completed, the purifying agent replenishment pump is operated using this film processing signal as a start timing ( FIG. As described above, in order to replenish a small amount of the purifying agent of about 2 ml, the operation time of the replenishing pump becomes very short accordingly.

For example, when the standard purifying agent replenishment amount is 20 ml for each large-sized film and the discharge amount of the replenishing pump is 100 ml per minute, the pump operating time for replenishing the purifying agent at one time is as follows. Is 20/100 (minutes) = 12 seconds. On the other hand, for an automatic developing apparatus in which 2 ml of a purifying agent, which is 1/10 of the standard per large-sized film, can be replenished, 2/100 (minute) = 1.2 seconds It becomes the pump operating time.

However, even if the replenishing pump is operated for 1.2 seconds, it is not possible to replenish exactly the desired amount (2 ml). Because the replenishment pump has its own inertia such as delay in starting operation,
In order to refill exactly the desired amount, it is necessary to perform several test runs and determine the operating time of the refill pump based on empirical rules. This work is also very troublesome. Of course, this operation must be performed for each device.

When the purifying agent is exhausted, it is usually judged that this is an error, the film processing operation is temporarily suspended, and the error is usually canceled when the error processing, that is, the replacement of the purifying agent container is completed. .

However, this results in a decrease in film processing efficiency. Since the film is exposed by using a setter or a plotter such as a laser exposure apparatus recently, writing of information is very fast. Therefore, since the exposed film is continuously supplied to the automatic developing device, even if the purifying agent becomes empty, if the film processing is temporarily interrupted, the film processing efficiency deteriorates accordingly. . Even if the cleaning agent is not replenished temporarily, it has little effect on the film cleaning process. This is because the cleaning agent is normally added to the cleaning water at least before it becomes empty.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem and proposes a photosensitive material processing apparatus capable of accurately detecting emptying of a purifying agent. Although the above description has been made of the purifying agent as an example, the present invention is not limited to the detection of emptying of the purifying agent, but is also applied when replenishing a processing solution to each processing tank for performing a developing process of a photosensitive material processing apparatus. is there.

[0021]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention has a processing tank for developing, fixing and washing the photosensitive material. In a photosensitive material processing apparatus, a replenishing means for replenishing a processing tank with a replenishing processing solution, a replenishing processing solution storing section for storing the replenishing processing liquid, and detecting that the replenishing processing liquid in the replenishing processing liquid storing section has run out. Empty detection means, wherein the empty detection means is a flow meter having a different number of output pulses per unit flow depending on whether the passing fluid is a liquid or a gas, and the replenishment processing liquid disappears due to the detected number of output pulses. Is detected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a photosensitive material processing apparatus for transporting a photosensitive material through a developing tank, a fixing tank, and a washing tank and developing the photosensitive material. Replenishing means, a purifying agent container for containing the purifying agent, and empty detecting means for detecting that the purifying agent in the purifying agent container has been exhausted. The flow meter has a different number of output pulses per unit flow rate between a liquid and a gas, and detects the exhaustion of the purifying agent based on the detected number of output pulses.

In the present invention, empty detection of a purifying agent or the like is performed by a flow meter as in the prior art. Meter is used. Specifically, a flowmeter having a unit flow rate larger than that of the micro flowmeter is used. For example, when the unit flow rate that can be measured by the conventional micro flowmeter is 0.46 ml, the flow rate is several times or more, for example, 7.
What has a unit flow rate of 69 ml is used.

In this case, a prescribed number of output pulses cannot be obtained unless sufficient liquid passes through. Therefore, when the air passes, even if the specified unit flow rate passes, only a much smaller number of output pulses than the specified number of output pulses can be obtained.
Thus, by monitoring the number of output pulses when the passing fluid is a liquid and air, it is possible to accurately detect the passage of air, that is, the empty detection of a purifying agent or the like.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which a photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the present invention is applied to an automatic film developing apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
In the following, replenishment of the purifying agent into the washing tank and detection of emptying of the purifying agent container will be described. Needless to say.

In this automatic film developing apparatus, FIG.
Therefore, the apparatus main body 12 is provided with a water rinsing tank 20 in addition to the developing tank 16 and the fixing tank 18 as described above, and the film subjected to the fixing process in the water rinsing tank 20 is provided. 14 is cleaned and the drying room 22
Sent inside.

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-like 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. The opening / closing valve 26 is manually or automatically opened / closed to control the absorption of washing water (fresh water). 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. The purifying agent adding means 41 will be described below. A purifying agent tank 40 is provided outside the washing tank 20, and the purifying agent in the tank is sucked by a replenishing pump 46 connected to a suction pipe 42. A flow meter 44 is arranged between the replenishing pump 46 and the suction pipe 42, and the emptying of the purifying agent is performed using the output of the flow meter 44. That is, the flow meter 44 functions as a purifying agent empty detecting unit.

The purifying agent sucked by the replenishing pump 46 is further added to the washing tank 20 through the water guide pipe 48 to replenish the purifying agent. Therefore, the distal end portion 48 of the water pipe 48
a is bent in a U-shape, and is attached so that the front end portion 48 a faces the inside of the washing tank 20.

In the present invention, empty detection of the purifying agent is performed by a flow meter as in the prior art, and the flow meter is different from the flow meter in that the number of output pulses per unit flow is several times or more depending on whether the passing fluid is liquid or gas. 44 are used. Specifically, a flowmeter having a unit flow rate larger than that of the micro flowmeter is used. For example, when the unit flow rate that can be measured by a conventional micro flow meter (model ND05) is 0.46 ml, a flow meter that can measure at a flow rate several times or more than that is used. Flow meter 44
For example, in the case where a model manufactured by Aichi Watch and whose model is ND10 is used, the unit flow rate at which one output pulse is obtained is 7.
69 ml, which is considerably larger in unit flow rate than the micro flowmeter.

When such a flow meter 44 is used, a prescribed number of output pulses cannot be obtained unless sufficient liquid passes through. Therefore, when the air passes, even if the specified unit flow rate passes, only a much smaller number of output pulses than the specified number of output pulses can be obtained. According to the experiment, 10 pulses were obtained per unit flow rate when the liquid was flowing, whereas only 2 pulses were obtained per unit flow rate when the air was flowing.

Therefore, if this flow meter 44 is used,
Only by monitoring the number of output pulses, it is possible to accurately determine whether the fluid passing through the flow meter 44 is a liquid (purifying agent) or air. Emptying of the purifying agent can be realized without mounting a float switch or the like in the purifying agent container 40, so that the container replacement operation is also simplified.

The actual amount of the purifying agent flowing through the flow meter 44 is determined by the operation time applied to the refill pump 46. In this case, if the operation time is short, the influence of the mechanical inertia of the replenishing pump 46 is strongly exhibited as described above. Therefore, in this example, the replenishing process is not performed for each film, but is performed for a certain number of sheets ( = N), the control is performed such that the purifying agent is replenished for the number of films processed at once.

For example, in the case of replenishing 2 ml of the purifying agent per one large film, the replenishing pump 4 at that time is used.
6 is very short, such as 1.2 seconds,
For example, five times are collected. Accordingly, the purifying agent replenishing amount and the pump operating time at this time are respectively 2 ml × 5 = 10 ml 1.2 seconds × 5 = 6 seconds. When the operation time of the replenishing pump 46 is prolonged in this manner, a specified amount (10 ml) of the purifying agent can be correctly replenished even if the inertia of the replenishing pump 46 exists. The purifying agent replenishment timing and the like will be described later.

When the purifying agent becomes empty,
It is necessary to perform processing for displaying an error, sounding an alarm by a buzzer, and extracting air accumulated in the suction pipe 42 after the container is replaced, which will be described later.

In FIG. 1, the washing tank 20 is further provided with a circulating means 49 for washing water. Therefore, the washing tank 20
In this example, a water suction port 50 is provided on the right side surface 20c side, a water suction pipe 52 is connected to the water suction port 50, and the other end of the water suction pipe 52 is connected to a suction side of the circulation pump 54. ing. A discharge pipe 56 is provided on the discharge side of the circulation pump 54.
Is connected to a discharge port 56a provided on the left side surface 20d of the washing tank 20. The discharge port 56a is provided at a position separated by a predetermined length from the bottom 20b.

A rod-shaped nozzle 60 is attached to the discharge port 56a, and the circulating washing water is jetted into the tank from a number of jet ports (described later) provided in the nozzle 60. 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 of FIG. 1, the circulating water suction port 50 of the circulating pump 54 is located at a position higher than the drainage piping 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. In addition to inclining the washing tank itself by θ, the bottom surface of the washing tank may be inclined by θ. Then, the water suction port 50 is disposed on the high side of the bottom surface, and the drainage pipe port 33 is disposed on the low side.

The reason why the water suction port 50 is made higher 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, some of the plurality of jet ports 62 formed in the nozzle 60 face the upper surface of the washing tank 20 as shown in FIG. Spout 62 to be radial over the angular range
(62a to 62c) are drilled.

The reason why all the ejection ports 62 face the tank upper surface side is to prevent the sludge 70 deposited on the bottom 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. In order to settle the sludge 70 on the bottom portion 20b without stirring as much as possible, in this example, the drilling position of the ejection port 62 is determined, and the nozzle 60 is attached at a predetermined distance L from the bottom portion 20b. By doing this,
The probability that the deposited sludge 70 is stirred is reduced.

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 is supplied with outputs from the flow meter 28 for washing water described in FIG. 1 and the flow meter 44 for detecting emptying of the purifying agent, and is provided in the washing tank 20. Water level sensor In this example, the detection output of the float switch SWw is supplied.

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, a pump, and the like. Therefore, the output of the controller 80 is supplied to the control target via the driver (driver group) 86. 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 86.

In addition to these configurations, when various errors are detected by the controller 80, the buzzer 96 is driven by the detected output, and an alarm sound is generated. The content of the error at that time is displayed on the display section 87 described above.

Next, the purifying agent empty detecting process according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. It is assumed that the sky detection and various control programs related to the sky detection are stored in the ROM 82 of FIG.

In FIG. 7, when the film is being processed, this control program is started, and empty detection of the purifying agent is started (step 90). The empty detection of the purifying agent is realized by monitoring the output pulse of the flow meter 44 described above. When it is detected based on the output pulse number difference that the purifier has run out, a purifier empty detection display is displayed, and
The buzzer 89 is driven (steps 92 and 93). Thus, the occurrence of the error can be reliably notified to the operator.

Since the processing of the film is continued even when the purifying agent is exhausted, the film being washed is subjected to the washing processing as it is and sent to the next drying chamber 22. That is, the film processing is not interrupted. When the purifying agent becomes empty, it is usually determined that this is an error, the film processing operation is temporarily suspended, and the error is usually released when the error processing, that is, the replacement of the purifying agent container is completed.

However, in this case, the film processing efficiency is deteriorated. Since the film is exposed by using a setter or a plotter such as a laser exposure apparatus recently, writing of information is very fast. Therefore, there is a high possibility that unexposed film will be loaded into this automatic developing device without interruption, and if film processing is temporarily stopped just because the cleaning agent is empty, unprocessed film will accumulate. This is because the film processing efficiency deteriorates accordingly. Even if the cleaning treatment is performed in a state where the purifying agent is not temporarily replenished, the cleaning effect is hardly affected. This is because the purifying agent is normally added to the washing tank 20 at least before the purifying agent is empty.

If the processing operation of the film being processed is temporarily interrupted, the film stops in the processing tank, and the film itself becomes useless. Therefore, the operation is not interrupted until a series of film processing operations is completed.

When the empty state of the purifying agent is detected, the operator replaces the purifying agent container (purifying agent kit) 40 (step 94). Immediately after the replacement work, the purifying agent is not replenished. That is, when the purifying agent becomes empty, the replenishment pump 46 sucks air for a while, so that at least the sucked air remains inside the suction pipe 42. Even if the purifying agent replenishment process is immediately performed in a state where air remains, the output pulse from the flow meter 44 is output only in the number of output pulses when the fluid is air. State).

In order to prevent such a situation, the air is removed from the suction pipe 42 at the next stage after the replacement of the container 40 is completed (step 96). In this case, the number of air-related output pulses is ignored until a normal number of output pulses (an output signal corresponding to the cleaning agent) is obtained from the air release mode. Then, the time when the normal number of output pulses is obtained is determined as the end timing of the air release processing.

Thereafter, the process proceeds to the purifying agent replenishing process, and the empty detection display is erased (steps 98 and 100).
In the purifying agent replenishing process, as described above, when the purifying agent is detected as empty, the replenishing pump 46 is immediately driven to replenish the predetermined amount. In the steady state, the following replenishment processing is performed.

First, the replenishing amount of the purifying agent will be described. In recent years, the replenishing amount (adding amount) of the purifying agent has been required recently depending on the improvement of the purifying agent itself, the type of the film and the quality of the washing water to be used. It has become possible to obtain a sufficient purification effect only by adding a much smaller amount to the washing water. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
An automatic developing apparatus has been developed in which the replenishing amount of the cleaning agent per sheet is about 1/10 of the conventional amount.

As described above, when the replenishment amount of the purifying agent is very small, it may be difficult to accurately control the addition amount by the replenishment pump 46. For example, as described above, in order to replenish a small amount of a purifying agent of about 2 ml for each film, the operation time of the replenishing pump 46 becomes very short accordingly.

For example, the standard replenishing agent replenishment amount is 20 ml for each large-sized film, and the replenishing pump 46
Is 100 ml / min, the pump operation time for replenishing the purifying agent once is 20/100 (minutes) = 12 seconds. On the other hand, when it is only necessary to replenish the purifying agent by 2 ml, which is 1/10 of the standard for each large-sized film, 2/100 (minute) = 1.2 seconds is the pump operating time.

However, as described above, the replenishment pump 46 is connected to the 1.
Even if it is operated for 2 seconds, it is not possible to refill exactly the desired amount (2 ml). Since the replenishment pump 46 has an inertia peculiar to the equipment, such as a delay in the start of operation, in order to accurately replenish the desired amount, it is necessary to perform several test operations and determine the operation time of the replenishment pump from empirical rules. Must. This work is also very troublesome. Of course, this operation must be performed for each device.

Therefore, in this example, the replenishment process is not performed for each film, but when a certain number of films (= n) are processed, control is performed such that the purifying agent is replenished for the number of films. .

For example, in the case of replenishing 2 ml of the purifying agent per one large film, the replenishing pump 4
6 is very short, such as 1.2 seconds,
For example, as shown in FIGS. 8B and 8D, five films are collectively processed at once. Therefore, in this example, the film processing signal (FIG. 8B) obtained in connection with the film passing through the washing tank 20 is used. Each time the film processing signal is obtained five times, the replenishment pump 46 operates for a predetermined time (FIG. D). At this time, the purifying agent replenishment amount and the pump operation time are respectively 2 ml × 5 = 10 ml 1.2 seconds × 5 = 6 seconds. When the operation time of the replenishing pump 46 is prolonged in this manner, a specified amount (10 ml) of the purifying agent can be correctly replenished even if the inertia of the replenishing pump 46 exists. The number of times of grouping is not limited to five, but can be grouped in a range of about 3 to 7 times.

In FIG. 8, when the power of the apparatus is turned on and the initialization processing is completed, the operation signal shown in FIG. Along with this, the electromagnetic valve 26 shown in FIG. 1 is opened, and the washing water is supplied to the washing tank 20 (E in FIG. 1). When the water level sensor is turned on and the supply of the cleaning water is completed (FIGS. C and E), the circulation pump 54 is operated to circulate the cleaning water to enhance the film cleaning effect.

Then, at the time of replenishment of the purifying agent, a predetermined amount of the purifying agent is replenished (D in the figure). After the replenishment of the purifying agent, the electromagnetic valve 26 is controlled to the open state, and a predetermined amount, for example, 5 liters of washing water is replenished (E in the same drawing). Drain port 3 in FIG.
The drain valve connected to 3 keeps the closed state until the cleaning timing of the washing tank 20 (G in the same figure).

As described above, even if the purifying agent is used up, the film processing is not interrupted, so that the film processing efficiency is improved. Since air is purged when a new purifying agent is replenished, it is possible to avoid an accident such that the error state is not cleared. Since the replenishing timing of the purifying agent is set to be once per several films, the replenishing amount of the purifying agent can be accurately controlled.

In the above description, the present invention has been applied to an automatic developing apparatus for a film used as a printing plate, but it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to other automatic developing apparatuses for photosensitive materials.

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention, the replenishment processing liquid to be replenished into the processing tank can be accurately determined to be no longer in the replenishing processing liquid storage section. Therefore, it is possible to accurately detect the exhaustion of the purifying agent in the purifying agent container for the purifying agent added in a small amount to the washing tank.

According to this, it is possible to accurately determine whether the fluid is a purifying agent container (replenishment processing liquid) or just air, so that it is possible to accurately detect emptying in the container. Therefore, the present invention is extremely suitable for application to the above-described automatic developing device for a film used as a printing plate.

[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 illustrating an embodiment of a purifying agent empty detection process.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing an embodiment for a purifying agent replenishing process.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram illustrating an outline of an automatic film developing apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a timing chart showing an example of a purifying agent replenishing process.

[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 46 Replenishment pump 49 Cleaning water circulation means 50 Circulating water suction port 54 Circulation Pump 60 Nozzle 70 Sludge

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A replenishing means for replenishing a processing tank with a replenishing processing solution, and a replenishing process for storing the replenishing processing solution in a photosensitive material processing apparatus having a processing tank for each step of developing, fixing and washing the photosensitive material. A liquid storage section, and empty detection means for detecting that the replenishment processing liquid in the replenishment processing liquid storage section has run out, wherein the empty detection means outputs an output per unit flow when the passing fluid is liquid and gas. A photosensitive material processing apparatus, comprising flow meters having different numbers of pulses, wherein the number of output pulses detected is used to detect that the replenisher has run out. 2. A photosensitive material processing apparatus for transporting and developing a photosensitive material in a developing tank, a fixing tank, and a washing tank, wherein a replenishing unit for adding a purifying agent to the washing tank, and a purifying unit containing the purifying agent. And an empty detecting means for detecting that the purifying agent in the purifying agent container has run out, the empty detecting means comprising an output pulse per unit flow rate when the passing fluid is liquid and gas. 2. A photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flowmeters have different numbers, and the number of the output pulses is used to detect the exhaustion of the purifying agent. 3. When the empty detecting means detects that the purifying agent has been used up, the purifying agent container containing the purifying agent can be replaced without interrupting the processing of the photosensitive material during the developing process. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein: 4. Detecting that the purifying agent has run out,
4. A replacement process for adding a purifying agent to the washing tank after performing an air bleeding process in the empty detecting means when the purifying agent container is replaced. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to the above. 5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the timing of the replenishing process of the purifying agent during the developing process of the photosensitive material is controlled every time n photosensitive sheets are developed. Photosensitive material processing equipment. 6. An output means for outputting a replenishment signal for replenishing the purifying agent, wherein the purifying agent replenishment processing timing during the development processing of the photosensitive material is performed when the signal of the output means is detected n times. 5. The photosensitive material processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein control is performed to perform a purifying agent replenishing process.