JPH0769598B2 - Water supply method to the processing liquid tank - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for supplying water to a processing liquid tank, and more particularly to a method for supplying the processing liquid by automatically replenishing a reduced amount of water due to natural evaporation of the processing liquid tank. The present invention relates to a method of supplying water to a treatment liquid tank so as to prevent concentration.

[Conventional technology]

Photographic printing apparatus, for example, as shown in FIG.
Broadly speaking, the color paper 1 is pulled out from the magazine 2 in which the color paper 1 is stored in a roll form, and the printing unit 3 for printing the image recorded on the developed negative film and the like, and the printed color paper 1 are developed. A processing unit 4 for processing, a drying unit 5 for drying the developed paper 1, and a cutting unit 6 for cutting the dried paper 1 into predetermined dimensions for each frame.

The process section 4 includes a plurality of processing solution tanks for development processing such as a color developing tank 7a, a bleach-fixing tank 7b, and three water washing tanks 7c to 7e connected in cascade.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

By the way, the processing liquid in each of the processing liquid tanks 7a and 7b is kept at a constant temperature by a temperature sensor, a heater or the like so that development processing can be performed in an optimum state. Therefore, in some cases, due to this heating or spontaneously, each processing solution such as the developing solution and the fixing solution evaporates, and the solution concentration of the processing solution cannot be maintained in the initial optimum state. is there.

On the other hand, a level indicator is provided in each processing liquid tank,
In this way, it is possible to detect the decrease amount of the processing liquid and replenish the water. However, the reduction amount of each processing solution detected by this level indicator is due to natural evaporation of water, and in the first tank, when the photosensitive material passes through each processing solution tank for continuous processing, Adhesion is caused, and the reduction amount of each processing liquid due to the adhesion and transfer is included. Therefore, depending on the level indicator, it is not possible to accurately grasp the amount of reduction due to evaporation of water, so simply supplying water corresponding to the amount of reduction detected by the level indicator will dilute each treatment liquid gradually. However, there is a problem in that it is not possible to keep the concentration of a constant.
Such a problem also applies to the second tank and the like downstream of the first tank, and it is not possible to accurately grasp the increase / decrease amount of the processing liquid due to the adhering transfer amount, so that the concentration of the processing liquid cannot be kept constant.

In addition, depending on the processing amount of the light-sensitive material, the replenishing solution for replenishing the processing solution with a decrease in the processing capacity can be used in the replenishing method of the reduced amount or in the method of replenishing while overflowing. Since the liquid level in the tank does not decrease, there is a problem that the amount of water loss due to evaporation cannot be grasped.

It is also conceivable to mount a concentration sensor in each processing liquid tank and supply water based on the detection signal of the concentration sensor to keep the solution concentration constant. However, in this case, it is necessary to provide an expensive concentration sensor for each treatment liquid tank, and a complicated control device for replenishing water based on the concentration detection signal is required. Problems also arise. Further, when the concentration sensor is used, there is a problem such as deposition of a solvent on the sensor main body which comes into contact with each processing liquid, which makes maintenance troublesome.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is possible to easily detect the amount of water decrease due to evaporation of each processing liquid tank with a simple structure and automatically replenish the amount of evaporation decrease based on this. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for supplying water to a treatment liquid tank that enables the above.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a monitor water tank containing water as shown in the outline of FIG. 1, and correlates the water evaporation amount in the monitor water tank with the water evaporation amount in the treatment liquid tank. The amount of water evaporation in the monitor water tank is detected, the amount of water evaporation in the processing liquid tank is calculated from the detected amount of water evaporation based on the correlation, and the amount of water equivalent to this amount of water evaporation is supplied to the processing liquid tank. It is something that is done. The water evaporation amount of the monitor water tank can be detected accurately by detecting the water level change amount of the bird's fountain storage tower that replenishes the monitor water tank with water.

[Action]

When the water in each treatment liquid tank naturally evaporates, the water in the monitor water tank placed in the same atmosphere also evaporates. The correlation between the evaporation amount of water in the treatment liquid tank and the evaporation amount of water in the monitor water tank is obtained in advance. Then, the water evaporation amount of the monitor water tank is detected by the water level change amount of the Bird's Fountain storage tower, and the water evaporation amount of each processing liquid tank is obtained based on the correlation obtained in advance from the detected amount. Water corresponding to the calculated water evaporation amount of the treatment liquid tank is replenished to the treatment liquid tank. Therefore, even in the case of the method of replenishing the reduced amount of the capacity corresponding to the processing amount with the replenishing solution or the method of replenishing by the overflow, the structure is simplified without using an expensive concentration sensor etc. It is possible to prevent concentration of the processing liquid tank.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The same members as those of the conventional photographic printing apparatus shown in FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

The automatic water supply device for supplying water according to the amount of water evaporation to the processing liquid tank, such as the color developing tank 7a and the bleach-fixing tank 7b, which needs to be rehydrated by natural evaporation of the photoprinting processing apparatus
As shown in the figure, a monitor water tank 10, a water evaporation amount detecting means 11 for detecting the water evaporation amount of the monitor water tank 10, a water replenishing means 12 for supplying water to each tank 7a, 7b, and a water content. The controller 14 controls the water replenishing means 12 in accordance with the amount of water decrease due to evaporation of each tank 7a, 7b based on the detection signal of the evaporation amount detecting means 11.

The monitor water tank 10 is arranged in the photographic printing apparatus close to the tanks 7a and 7b so that the atmosphere is the same as that of the tanks 7a and 7b.

The water evaporation amount detecting means 11 comprises a Bird's Fountain water storage tower 15 connected to the monitor water tank 10 and a water level detection sensor 16 for detecting the water level of the water storage tower 15.
The bird's-fountain water tower 15 replenishes the water reduced by evaporation of its water so that the water surface position of the monitor water tank 10 is always constant, and its water supply port 17 is arranged in the monitor water tank 10. Has been done.

The water level detection sensor 16 is composed of a pressure sensor arranged at the bottom of the bird's fountain water storage tower 15. Instead of this pressure sensor, a weight sensor for detecting the total weight of water in the water storage tower 15 may be used. Further, the water storage tower 15 may be made of transparent synthetic resin or the like, a float may be provided in the water storage tower 15, and the vertical displacement of the float may be detected by a plurality of photosensors or the like.

The water supply means 12 is a water supply tank 20, and a flow control valve 21, for supplying a predetermined amount of water in the tank 20 to the tanks 7a, 7b.
It is composed of 22 and. Further, the controller 14 is composed of a microcomputer, and the monitor water tank 10
The storage means 13 stores a conversion table for determining the amount of water to be supplied to each of the tanks 7a and 7b in accordance with the amount of water vaporized.
Reference numerals 25a and 25b in the figure denote processing solution replenishing tanks for replenishing the respective processing solutions to the respective tanks 7a and 7b in order to prevent a reduction in processing capacity due to processing of the photosensitive material. ,twenty five
The treatment liquid in b is sent to each tank 7a, 7b by the replenishment pumps 26a, 26b. 27a and 27b are overflow pipes for keeping the liquid level of each of the tanks 7a and 7b constant, and the processing liquid flowing out from the overflow pipes 27a and 27b is a waste liquid tank 28.
It is stored in a and 28b.

The conversion table, the relationship between the volume of the monitor water tank 10 and the area of the water surface and the volume of each tank 7a, 7b and the area of the liquid surface, the installation position relationship, etc., in consideration of the monitor water tank 10 in advance. It is created for each tank 7a, 7b based on the correlation between the amount of water decreased by natural evaporation and the amount of water decreased by natural evaporation of each treatment liquid in each tank 7a, 7b. . FIG. 3 shows an example of this conversion table.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. First, before the photoprinting work, a predetermined amount of water is put in the monitor water tank 10 and the bird's fountain water storage tower 15. Also, each processing liquid is prepared by a specified method so that it has a predetermined concentration. Then, the sequence control of water replenishment is performed by the operator supplying a water replenishment signal before the development processing work or by automatically outputting the water replenishment signal when the power is turned on.

This sequence control is performed by the following procedure. First, in response to the water supply signal, the controller 14 causes the water level detection sensor 16 to detect the water evaporation amount of the monitor water tank 10. Specifically, depending on the passage of time, the monitor water tank 10
When the water in the water naturally evaporates and its surface level drops, air enters the bird's-fountain water storage tower 15 through the water supply port 17, and the water in the water storage tower 15 is replenished to the monitor water tank 10 accordingly. The water level detection sensor measures the amount of water supplied to this monitor tank 10.
By detecting at 16, the water evaporation amount of the monitor water tank 10 is detected.

The controller 14 obtains the natural evaporation amount of water in each tank 7a, 7b from the signal of the water level detection sensor 16 based on the conversion table. For example, when the amount of water decrease in the monitor water tank 10 is m, the amount of water evaporation n1 in the color developing tank 7a is calculated from the curve A1 showing the relationship between the amount of water evaporation in the color developing tank 7a and the amount of water decrease in the monitor water tank 10a.
Ask for. Further, the water evaporation amount n2 of the bleaching and developing tank 7b is obtained from the curve A2 showing the relationship between the water evaporation amount of the bleach-fixing tank 7b and the water reduction amount of the monitor water tank 10. And the controller
Reference numeral 14 controls the opening degree and opening time of each flow rate control valve 21, 22 to replenish the water corresponding to the water evaporation amounts n1, n2 obtained for each tank 7a, 7b. In this way, water equivalent to the water evaporation amount n1, n2 is automatically replenished to each tank 7a, 7b, so that it is possible to prevent the treatment liquid in each tank 7a, 7b from being concentrated. Become.

In the above example, the water evaporation amount n of each tank 7a, 7b
The water supply amount corresponding to 1, n2 was performed by the flow rate control valve, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an open / close valve for controlling the replenishment amount by the release time and a fixed amount capable of fixed amount feeding. It may be performed by a pump or the like.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the monitor water tank is provided, the correlation between the water evaporation amount in the monitor water tank and the water evaporation amount in the treatment liquid tank is obtained, and the water evaporation amount in the monitor water tank is detected. From the detected water evaporation amount, the water evaporation amount of the treatment liquid tank is calculated based on the above correlation, and the amount of water equivalent to this water evaporation amount is supplied to the treatment liquid tank. Can be detected, and the concentration of the treatment liquid can be kept substantially constant by replenishing each treatment liquid tank with water based on this. Therefore,
It is possible to prevent the treatment liquid from being concentrated by evaporation of water.

Moreover, since the concentration of the treatment liquid can be kept substantially constant without using an expensive and complicated one such as a concentration sensor, the apparatus structure can be simplified. Further, in the case of using the concentration sensor, it is necessary to individually arrange a sensor for each processing liquid tank, but in the case of the present invention, one monitor water tank is provided and the correlation between this and each processing liquid tank is provided. It is only necessary to check and the configuration can be made even simpler.

Also, the amount of water evaporation in the monitor water tank can be detected by the amount of change in the water level of the Birds Fountain Reservoir that replenishes the monitor water tank so that the structure can be simplified and the amount of water evaporation can be accurately detected. Become.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the gist of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an automatic water supply device embodying the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the correlation between the water evaporation amount of the monitor water tank and the water evaporation amount of each treatment liquid tank. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional photographic printing apparatus. 7a, 7b …… Processing liquid tank 10 …… Monitor water tank 11 …… Moisture evaporation amount detecting means 12 …… Water replenishing means 14 …… Controller 15 …… Birs fountain storage tower 16 …… Water level detecting sensor 20 …… Water tank 21,22 …… Flow control valve.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for supplying water to a processing solution tank of a photographic processing apparatus, wherein a monitor water tank containing water is provided, and the amount of water evaporation in the monitor water tank and the evaporation of water in the processing solution tank are provided. The amount of water evaporation in the monitor water tank is detected, the amount of water evaporation in the treatment liquid tank is calculated based on the correlation from the detected amount of water evaporation, and the amount of water corresponding to this amount of water evaporation is processed. A method for supplying water to a treatment liquid tank, which comprises replenishing the liquid tank. 2. The treatment liquid tank according to claim 1, wherein the amount of water evaporated in the monitor water tank is detected by the amount of change in the water level of a Birds Fountain storage tower for supplying water to the monitor water tank. Water supply method to.