JP2736434B2 - Dry air control method in automatic developing machine and automatic developing machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drying air control method and an automatic developing machine applied to an automatic developing machine for developing a silver halide photographic material. More specifically, the present invention relates to a drying air control method and an automatic developing machine which are most suitable for developing a color original film composed of three or four plates used for color printing.

[Prior art] Current color original silver halide photographic materials (hereinafter referred to as
Film) has the property of "chum" when the humidity is low and "stretches" when the humidity is high.

Apart from this, it has the property that the film dimensions before and after processing change. This is a phenomenon in which the dimensions of the film and the image on the film at the time of film exposure (equal to the original dimensions) are different from the dimensions of the image on the film and the film after development. Affected by temperature and humidity conditions. In the latter case, the size of the original and the size of the copy film are different from each other, and there are the following problems.

In particular, a film master for color printing is composed of three masters of cyan, magenta, and yellow or four masters including a sumi-plate, and therefore, a set of masters is required to have dimensional stability. Currently commercially available films for making color printing masters have the above-mentioned characteristics with respect to temperature and humidity. Therefore, the temperature and humidity at the time of exposure, the drying conditions (temperature and humidity) at the time of development, and the drying Conditions (temperature and humidity)
In many cases, the dimensional change before and after the process caused by the fluctuation of the size becomes a problem.

For example, when a film exposed and developed as a cyan plate is used as a document and the pattern of the magenta plate is aligned and exposed and developed, there occurs a problem that a deviation occurs between the formed magenta plate and the original cyan plate.

Even in the conventional automatic developing machine, changing the recycling rate of the drying air (the ratio of the amount of external air taken in as the drying air circulating in the drying section) in accordance with the external environmental humidity, and changing from the outlet of the drying section to the entrance. It is known to control the drying air by a method such as applying a temperature gradient, dehumidifying the air used for drying, and the like, but such control is intended to increase the efficiency of drying, save energy, and prevent the occurrence of uneven drying. No consideration was given to dimensional stability.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] For this reason, the present inventor detects the temperature and humidity of the outside air,
An automatic developing machine or a drying air control method capable of reducing the dimensional fluctuation of the processed film by controlling the temperature and / or humidity of the drying air in the drying section was previously proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 63-77662). Nos. 63-126592, 63-140
No. 254, Japanese Patent Application Nos. 1-37874 and 1-38775).

The present inventor further worked to improve such prior art, and when the absolute humidity of the outside air is 7 g / kg · air or less, the temperature becomes less than 35 ° C. when the temperature of the drying air is controlled in accordance with the humidity. It has been found that when the drying treatment is performed at this temperature, poor drying is likely to occur, such as insufficient drying or uneven drying. It has also been found that this poor drying affects the transportability of the film in the drying section, which in turn affects the dimensional stability of the film.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above, and has a drying air control in an automatic developing machine capable of reducing poor drying and transport of a film and stabilizing dimensional fluctuation of the film before and after a drying process. The main purpose is to clarify the method and the automatic processor, and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present inventors have conducted intensive studies to achieve the above object, and as a result, have reached the present invention.

That is, the drying air control method in the automatic developing machine according to the present invention is a method for controlling the drying air in an automatic developing machine that detects the outside air temperature and humidity and controls the temperature and / or humidity of the drying air according to the detection information. When the detected absolute humidity of the outside air is 7 g / kg air or less, the absolute humidity of the dry air is controlled to be 7 g / kg air or more than the outside air, and the temperature of the dry air is 35 ° C. or more. Is controlled.

Further, the automatic developing machine according to the present invention is an automatic developing machine having a drying unit that detects the outside air temperature and humidity, controls the temperature and / or humidity of the drying air according to the detection information, and performs a drying process on the film. Absolute humidity of detected outside air is 7g / kg
In the case of air or less, it is characterized by having control means for controlling humidification of the absolute humidity of the dry air to 7 g / kg air or more than the outside air and controlling the humidity of the dry air to 35 ° C. or more. .

Furthermore, the present invention is an invention that includes that the detected outside air temperature and / or humidity is the temperature and / or humidity at the time of exposure of the film.

Humidifying the drying air by at least 7 g / Kg · air from outside air and setting the temperature to 35 ° C. or more is an action to reduce the dimension before and after the treatment, and is particularly effective in a low humidity environment where the dimensional difference before and after the treatment is relatively easily increased. However, more humid, for example, 23 ° C 45% (about
If it is desired to further reduce the dimensional difference before and after processing even at 7.9 g / Kg · air), a drying condition of 7 g / Kg · air or more than outside air can be applied. This is particularly effective when, for example, it is necessary to reduce the dimensional difference before and after processing to a contraction side of ± 0 due to the necessity of the work content.

[Specific Configuration of the Invention] Hereinafter, details of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of an automatic developing machine of the present invention. A film F to be processed is prepared, for example, on a side surface of an apparatus frame 2 in a state of being stored in a magazine 1 or the like. Is set in the insertion section 3.

When the start button is turned ON after the magazine 1 is set, the presence of the film to be processed is confirmed by the film detecting means, and the film end is engaged with the take-in roller 4 by the rotation of the film draw-out roller, and thereafter, the film is sequentially conveyed. In accordance with the rotation of the group of rollers 5, the developer is guided to the developing tank 6, the fixing tank 7, and the washing tank 8 for processing.

The washed film is guided to a squeeze section to be drained, then guided to a drying section 10 to be dried, and discharged out of the apparatus through a film discharge port as indicated by an arrow.

11 is a drying fan, 12 is a heater, 13 is a drying rack, 14 is a drying duct, and 15 is an exhaust fan.

Numeral 16 is a humidity sensor for the drying air, and numeral 17 is a temperature sensor similarly. Both sensors are preferably provided near the outlet of the drying fan 11 in the automatic developing machine, but may be provided in another circulation path of the drying air.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a humidifier, which is provided at the outlet or the inlet of the drying fan 11, but another circulation path of the drying air may be provided near the external air intake. The humidifier 18 is preferably an ultrasonic humidifier that has a quick response and is easy to control. However, it is a matter of course that a general humidifier of a type in which water is heated and evaporated by a heater may be used.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a dehumidifier, which is connected to the drying duct 14 by a pair of pipes, and dehumidifies the dry air.

21 is a humidity sensor for outside air, and 22 is a temperature sensor for outside air.

In this specification, the outside air humidity and temperature refer to the environmental humidity and temperature at the time of film exposure.
Since the exposure machine and the automatic developing machine are installed in the same environment, that is, in the same room, the humidity sensor 21 for outside air and the temperature sensor 22 are provided on the automatic developing machine side. When the humidity sensor for outside air 21 and the temperature sensor 22 are provided on the side of the automatic developing machine, it is preferable to install them at least 5 cm away from the main body of the automatic developing machine so as not to be affected by the heater 12 of the developing machine.

Therefore, when the humidity and temperature of the exposure machine and the automatic developing machine are different, or when the film is immersed in water and dried again for work such as reduction, etc., the outside air humidity sensor 21 and The temperature sensor 22 is provided near the exposure device,
The detected humidity and temperature are the humidity and temperature at the time of film exposure. In these cases, the outside air humidity sensor 21 and the temperature sensor 22 need not be provided near the exposure apparatus and on the automatic current apparatus side.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a control unit that controls the humidity and / or temperature in the drying unit 10 from the outside air humidity and temperature detected by the outside air humidity sensor 21 and the temperature sensor 22 to control the dimensional variation of the film. Perform a drying process. At this time, when the absolute humidity of the outside air detected by the outside air humidity sensor 21 is 7 g / kg · air or less, the control unit 20 prevents the film from causing poor drying, that is, the dry air The humidity and temperature of the drying air are controlled so that the absolute humidity is a value humidified by 7 g / kg · air or more than the outside air.

If the detected absolute humidity of the outside air exceeds 7 g / kg · air, the drying process is performed by the same control as the above-mentioned prior art.

In addition, the control by the control unit 20 may be a manual mode in which control is performed based on individual values such as the humidity and temperature of the drying air input by a user, or an automatic mode in which individual values are controlled by a computer, Alternatively, a semi-auto mode of a mixed type of both may be used. In the case of the automatic mode, the control accuracy can be improved by feeding back the humidity and temperature of the drying air to the computer, which is preferable.

[Example] Hereinafter, dry air control of the present invention, which is performed using the above-described apparatus, will be described together with experimental data.

The experimental data shown in this example was obtained by processing the following samples and processing agents using the automatic developing machine shown in FIG.

A silver nitrate solution and an aqueous solution of sodium chloride and potassium bromide were simultaneously added to a gelatin solution to prepare a silver halide emulsion. This emulsion was subjected to sulfur sensitization by a conventional method, and the following compound [I] was added thereto to give a latex-subtracted thickness.
It is applied onto a 100 μm PET base (polyethylene terephthalate film) so that the amount of gelatin is 2 g / m ² . At this time, an emulsion protective layer was simultaneously coated on the outside of the emulsion layer so as to have a gelatin amount of 1 g / m ² . This sample was dried to prepare a sample. At this time, the applied silver amount is 3.5 g / m
^{Was 2} .

This sample was cut into a size of 30 cm × 60 cm, and a space of about 56 was obtained using a p-627FM light room printer (manufactured by Dainippon Screen).
A document was obtained by subjecting two fine lines to image exposure in cm and developing.

After the original, unexposed sample (same size as original), printer and automatic developing machine are fully conditioned at 25 ° C under each humidity condition, the original is exposed to the unexposed sample in close contact and developed by automatic developing machine. Processed. Overlay the processed sample on the original document,
The extent to which the distance between the thin lines changed from that of the original document was measured using a graduated loupe.

The optimum drying conditions from the viewpoint of dimensional stability before and after the treatment under each open air condition should be determined independently for each film, and are not limited to the drying conditions shown in the present embodiment.

The measurement was performed at n = 6, and the average was taken. The measurement error is an average value ± 10 μm.

Automatic developing machine (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as self-developing machine)
The processing conditions and the composition of the processing agent are as follows.

Processing conditions Current 28 ° C 30 seconds Fixed 28 ° C 20 seconds Water washing Room temperature 14 seconds Drying 27 seconds Developer composition [Composition A] Pure water (ion exchange water) 150 ml Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt 2 g Diethylene glycol 50 g Potassium sulfite ( 55% w / v aqueous solution) 100 ml Potassium carbonate 50 g Hydroquinone 15 g 5-Methylbenzotriazole 200 mg 1-Phenyl-5-mercaptotetrazole 30 mg Potassium hydroxide Amount to make pH after use 10.9 Potassium bromide 4.5 g [Composition B] Pure Water (ion-exchanged water) 3 mg Diethylene glycol 50 g Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt 25 mg Acetic acid (90% aqueous solution) 0.3 ml 5-Nitroindazole 110 mg 1-phenyl-3-pyrazolidone 500 mg Use of developer and then the above composition A in 500 ml of water , Composition B in that order and finished to 1 before use.

Fixer formulation [Composition A] Ammonium thiosulfate (72.5% w / v aqueous solution) 230ml Sodium sulfite 9.5g Sodium acetate trihydrate 15.9g Boric acid 6.7g Sodium citrate dihydrate 2g Acetic acid (90% w / w aqueous solution) 8.1 ml [Composition B] Pure water (ion-exchanged water) 17 ml Sulfuric acid (50% w / w aqueous solution) 5.8 g Aluminum sulfate (aqueous solution whose content in terms of Al ₂ O ₃ is 8.1% w / w) 26.5 g When using fixer The above composition A and composition B were dissolved in 500 ml of water in this order, and finished to 1 for use.

 The pH of the fixing solution was 4.3.

Experimental example 1 The absolute humidity of the outside air is 7g / kg · air or less (3.5g / kg · air and 7g
/ kg ・ air), when the absolute humidity of the dry air is 7g / kg ・ air more than the absolute humidity of the outside air when the dry air temperature is above 35 ℃ and below 35 ℃ (7g
60 above for two types of / air and 10g / kg · air) and less than 7g / kg · air (two types of non-humidified and 5g / kg · air)
Twelve sheets of a cm × 30 cm sample were continuously processed with the longitudinal direction as a transport direction, and the dimensional variation of each of the twelve sheets (difference between the minimum and maximum of the twelve sheets) and the degree of drying were measured.

Also, as a reference example, when the absolute humidity of the outside air is a value exceeding 7 g / kg · air, the same treatment as described above was performed for the case where the dry air was not humidified and the case where the humidity was 7 g / kg · air.

 The results are summarized in Table 1.

The temperature of the outside air, that is, the temperature at the time of film exposure was 23 ° C.

In addition, it is generally required in practice that the accuracy error of a film for color printing is within about ± 20 μm.

As shown in Table 1, when the absolute humidity of the outside air is 7 g / kg · air or less, the absolute humidity of the dry air is humidified by 7 g / kg · air or more than the outside air as shown in Nos. It is understood that satisfactory results can be obtained in any of the dimensional stability and the drying property by setting the temperature to 35 ° C. or more.

In Nos. 13 to 16, there was no problem in the transportability in the drying unit 10.

On the other hand, if the temperature of the drying air is not 35 ° C or higher (N
In o.1 to 8), not only the drying property was poor irrespective of the humidification value, but also there was dimensional fluctuation due to natural drying after the treatment due to insufficient drying. In addition, in the drying unit 10, a transport failure that is considered to be caused by poor drying may occur.

Further, even when the temperature of the drying air is set to 35 ° C. or more, when the humidification value of the drying air is less than 7 g / kg · air (Nos. 9 to 12), it is found that there is a problem in dimensional stability.

If the absolute humidity of the outside air exceeds 7 g / kg · air (N
In o.17 and 18), there is no problem in any of the dimensional stability and the drying property even if the drying air is humidified at 7 g / kg · air or more, and there is no need to apply the present invention. I understand.

Experimental example 2 The absolute humidity of the outside air was 3.5 g / kg · air and 7 g / kg · air.
In each case, 12 samples of 60 cm × 30 cm were continuously processed with the longitudinal direction as a transport direction in an automatic mode in which individual values were controlled by a computer.

As a result, when the absolute humidity of the outside air was 3.5 g / kg · air, the humidification value and the drying air temperature were controlled to values close to No. 14 of Experimental Example 1, and better dimensional stability and drying property were obtained. Obtained. In the case of 7 g / kg · air, the humidification value and the drying air temperature are controlled to values close to No. 15 of Experimental Example 1,
Better dimensional stability and drying properties were obtained.

EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE 3 Assuming a case where the film is immersed in water and then dried again for work such as reduction of power, the films treated in Experimental Examples 1 and 2 are guided to the washing tank 8, respectively, and the washing and drying treatment is performed again. As a result, the results agreed with the results shown in Table 1.

Experimental Example 4 Experimental Example 1 except that the following compounds [II] and [III] were added without chemically sensitizing an emulsion prepared by simultaneously adding a silver nitrate solution and an aqueous sodium chloride solution to a gelatin solution.
Thickness 10 with latex subbing similar to the sample used for
Apply on 0 μm PET base.

Using this sample, an experiment was conducted in the same manner as in Experimental Example 1 except that the processing conditions and the composition of the developing solution were changed as described below. As a result, the same results as in Table 1 were obtained. To change the developing solution, the developing rack in the processing tank is replaced.

Processing conditions Current 38 ° C 20 seconds Fixed 34 ° C 15 seconds Rinse at room temperature 14 seconds Drying 27 seconds Developer composition Hydroquinone 45.0 g N-methyl p-aminophenol 1/2 sulfate 0.8 g Sodium hydroxide 15.0 g Hydroxide Potassium 55.0 g 5.Sulfosalicylic acid 45.0 g Boric acid 35.0 g Potassium sulfite 110.0 g Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt 1.0 g Potassium bromide 6.0 g 5-methylbenzotriazole 0.6 g n-butyl-diethanolamine 15.0 g (PH = 11.6).

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, in a dry season such as winter, when the absolute humidity of the outside air is 7 g / kg · air or less, the absolute humidity of the dry air is set to 7 g / kg · air or more than the outside air. By controlling the humidification and controlling the temperature of the drying air to 35 ° C. or higher, it is possible to simultaneously reduce the poor drying and transporting of the film and stabilize the dimensional variation of the film before and after the drying process. It is possible. Further, the same effect can be obtained even when the film is immersed in water and dried again for work such as a reduction in force.

Therefore, it is extremely effective when preparing a film original for color printing in which one set includes three or four plates.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an example of the automatic developing machine of the present invention. In the figure, each symbol indicates the following. 10: Drying unit 11: Drying fan 12: Heater 13: Drying rack 14: Drying duct 15: Exhaust fan 16: Dry air humidity sensor 17: Dry air temperature sensor 18: Humidifier 19: Dehumidifier 20: Control unit 21 : Humidity sensor for outside air 22: Temperature sensor for outside air F: Film

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for controlling the temperature and / or humidity of dry air in accordance with information detected by detecting the temperature and / or humidity of outside air, wherein the absolute humidity of the detected outside air is 7 g / kg / air or less, an automatic developing machine characterized by controlling the humidification of the absolute humidity of the drying air to 7 g / kg · air or more than the outside air and controlling the temperature of the drying air to 35 ° C. or more. Dry air control method in 2. The automatic developing machine according to claim 1, wherein the detected outside air temperature and / or humidity is the temperature and / or humidity at the time of exposure of the film. 3. An automatic developing machine having a drying unit for detecting a temperature and / or humidity of an outside air, controlling a temperature and / or humidity of a drying air in accordance with the detected information and drying the film, wherein the absolute humidity of the detected outside air is provided. If is less than 7 g / kgair, control means to control the humidification of the absolute humidity of the dry air to 7 g / kgair or more than the outside air and to control the humidity of the dry air to 35 ° C or more An automatic developing machine characterized by the following.