JPH01260445A - Drier for photographic film processing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute drying at a high speed by providing a drying means which is provided on plural drying chambers and executes drying so that the moisture content of a film which is fed out of the last drying chamber and the moisture contents in the environmental open air become an equilibrium state. CONSTITUTION:A temperature of drying air supplied to first-third drying chambers 34, 36 and 38 is controlled by a microcomputer. Also, a temperature of drying air supplied into the first and the second drying chambers is set by a temperature of heaters 58, 60, and this temperature is set at a higher temperature than a temperature of the inside of the third drying chamber 38, and on the other hand, a temperature of the inside of the third drying chamber 38 is determined by a temperature and humidity of the open air. In such a state, by controlling the temperature of the inside of the third drying chamber 38 so as to become an optimum dry temperature, the open air humidity and the moisture content of a film 14 can be set to an equilibrium state, namely, an optimum dry state, when water content is eliminated from the film 14 by development, fixation and washing. In such a way, drying can be executed at high speed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a method for drying a photographic film by evaporating adhering and containing moisture from the photographic film after being processed in the processing liquid of a photographic film processing machine. The present invention relates to a drying device for a photographic film processing machine.

[Prior Art] In a drying device used in an automatic processor or the like to dry photographic film, when the power of the automatic processor is turned on, the heater and fan of the dryer are activated, and the The photographic film is dried by supplying hot air into the drying chamber.

In this case, the outside air taken in from the outside air intake is heated by the heater to become warm air regardless of the outside air temperature and humidity, and is sent into the drying chamber by the fan, reducing the relative humidity inside the drying chamber and using this warm air. The temperature of the photographic film to be dried is raised to evaporate moisture attached to and contained in the photographic film.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when drying photographic film using the drying device described above, if the heating temperature by the outside air heater is set regardless of the temperature and humidity of the outside air, the photographic film may become too dry. The photographic film may be in a so-called over-dried state, or the photographic film may be in a so-called undried state in which it contains a large amount of water due to insufficient drying.

For this reason, the dimensions of the photographic film change, and even if the photographic film after drying is left exposed to changes in the temperature and humidity of the working environment during exposure, there will be a difference between the dimensions of the photographic film after drying and the dimensions of the photographic film at the time of exposure. There is a problem that various adverse effects occur.

That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the photographic film 82 for printing generally consists of a film base 84 made of polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as PET base) and a film base 84 made of polyethylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as PET base).
An emulsion layer 86 coated on one side of the base 84 and a backing N8 made of gelatin and dye coated on the other side.
It consists of 8.

It is known that the dimensions of this photographic film 82 (hereinafter referred to as film) change due to heat and moisture, similar to general substances. However, the film dimensions at the time of exposure of film 82^ (point P in Figure 10) and the film dimensions after drying (
If the dimensions (point A in Figure 10) are the same, there is no problem even if the dimensions change in the middle (at the time of development processing shown by point W in Figure 10), but as shown by the imaginary line in Figure 9, the film 82 When the film contains a lot of water during development, each layer tends to stretch. However, the amount of elongation differs between the PET base 84, the emulsion layer 86 containing gelatin, and the backing layer 88, with the emulsion layer 86 and backing layer 88 elongating more, and the PET base 88 elongating less. Therefore, what is actually observed is a state in which the PET base 84 is stretched. That is, the emulsion layer 86 and the backing layer 88 are held in a contracted state.

When the next drying process is performed in this state, each layer tends to shrink (the state shown by the dotted lines in FIG. 9). In this case as well, the amount of shrinkage is different as in the case of elongation, and therefore the actual observed amount is PET base 8
4 in the contracted state. In this state, the emulsion layer 86 and the backing layer 88 are held in a stretched state.

As described above, when the emulsion layer 86 and the backing layer 88 are stretched by drying, the elasticity that the emulsion layer 86 and the backing layer 88 originally had is lost, and they become stable in this state, and are affected by the environment during exposure. Even if the temperature and humidity are the same, the dimensions will not return to those at the time of exposure, and an error will occur compared to the film dimensions at the time of exposure (dimension G in Figure 10).

Therefore, in order to prevent errors from occurring, the drying temperature must be precisely controlled. However, when the film is continuously conveyed to the drying section, the temperature and humidity of the drying section change due to moisture attached to and contained in the film. For this reason, if the film is transported after the drying temperature has been returned to a predetermined temperature and humidity level, there is a problem that drying takes a long time and cannot be dried at high speed.

In consideration of the above facts, the present invention can restore the dimensions of the photographic film after drying to the same dimensions as the dimensions at the time of exposure.

In other words, if the film is dried at the optimum temperature and humidity, it will not lose its ability to expand and contract (elasticity) in response to the surrounding environment (humidity), and even if the dimensions at the time of exposure and after drying are different, they will remain the same at the same temperature and humidity. It is an object of the present invention to provide a drying device for a photographic film processing machine that can be left in the same place to have the same size and can be dried at high speed.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a method for use in a photographic film processing machine that evaporates and dries water attached to, contained in, or contained in a photographic film after it has been processed in a processing liquid. The drying device includes a plurality of drying chambers in which the photographic film is sequentially conveyed, and a plurality of drying chambers provided in each of the drying chambers so that the photographic film is sent out from at least the final drying chamber and brought into equilibrium with the moisture content of the outside air. It is characterized by comprising a drying means for drying the photographic film so that the water content of the photographic film and the water content of the ambient air are in equilibrium.

[Function] In the present invention having the above configuration, the photographic film is sequentially transported to a plurality of drying chambers.During this transportation, the photographic film is sequentially dried by each drying means provided in each drying chamber.

The photographic film is sequentially dried and finally brought into equilibrium with the moisture content of the outside air, so the photographic film never becomes over-dried and is never sent out of the photographic film processing machine in an undried state. Therefore, the dimensions can be restored to the same dimensions as those at the time of exposure.

Further, since the drying process is performed at a high temperature in the first drying room among the plurality of drying rooms, high-speed drying processing can be performed.

In this case, the temperature may be set to different conditions and drying sections may be provided to dry the photographic film in sequence, or the drying means may be a combination of warm air and far infrared rays, or hot air and microwaves.

[Embodiment] First Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a schematic structure of an automatic developing machine 10 which is a photographic film processing machine.

The film 14 conveyed into the automatic developing machine 10 from the entrance 12 is guided by guide rollers 16, passes through a developing tank 18, a fixing tank 20, a washing tank 22, and then reaches a drying section 24. Inside the developing tank 18, the fixing tank 20, and the washing tank 22, there is a rack 2 composed of a plurality of guide rollers 26.
8 is accommodated, and the film 14 is immersed by this rack 28 from the liquid surface to the bottom of the multi-tank, turned over, and guided to the liquid surface again.

Also, between the developer tank 18 and the fixing tank 20, and between the fixing tank 20
A guide roller 30 is disposed between the washing tank 22 and the washing tank 22, and the film 14 is guided to the adjacent tank in sequence, and a plurality of roller pairs 32 are also arranged between the washing tank 22 and the drying section 24. The film 14 is guided to the drying section 24. Note that these roller pairs 32 also have the function of squeezing some of the water adhering to the film 14.

As shown in FIG. 1, the drying section 24 is provided with a first drying chamber 34, a second drying chamber 36, and a third drying chamber 38 along the vertical direction, and these drying chambers are used to store the film 14. They are communicated with each other through a withdrawal port 40. Further, each of these drying chambers is provided with conveying rollers 42 that are arranged equally, and transports the film 14 inserted into the first drying chamber 34 to the second drying chamber 36 and the third drying chamber 38. The film is guided approximately linearly from the top to the bottom of the film 24, reversed by a guide 44 provided at the bottom, and then sent to a film receiving box 48 by a drive roller 46.

A drive shaft of a motor 50 is connected to the drive roller 46 via a belt 52, so that the drive force of the motor 50 is transmitted to the drive roller 46 and rotated.

It should be noted that each roller disposed within the automatic developing machine 10 is connected to a driving means (not shown) so that a rotational driving force is transmitted thereto and the rollers are rotated.

An intake duct 51 is communicated with the first drying chamber 34 .

Further, an exhaust duct 54 is attached to the first drying chamber 34 and communicates with the outside.

The second drying chamber 36 and the third drying chamber 38 are also communicated with the outside through an intake duct 51, and similarly to the first drying chamber 34, they are also communicated with the outside through an exhaust duct (not shown).

A fan 56 is disposed in the middle of the intake duct 51, and heaters 58, 60, and 62 are disposed on the downstream side thereof. These heaters 58, 60, 62 are connected to the intake duct 5
1 and the first drying chamber 34 are connected to each other.
68. Outside air introduced into the automatic developing machine 10 from the intake duct 51 by the fan 56 is heated to the heater 5.
8. After being heated by 60 and 62, it becomes warm air,
It is supplied to a first drying chamber 34, a second drying chamber 36, and a third drying chamber 38, respectively.

In this case, if the relative humidity of the outside air is below a certain value, at least the final stage heater 62 of the heaters 58, 60, 62 does not need to be energized.

From the exhaust duct 54 and the aforementioned exhaust duct (not shown), the first drying chamber 34, the second drying chamber 36, and the third drying chamber 38 are
After drying the film 14 and the transport roller 42, the moist air is discharged.

Inside the first drying room 34, inside the second drying room 36, and third drying room 38
Inside are dry air temperature detection sensors 61, 63, and 67 respectively.
is arranged to detect the temperature of the drying air supplied to the first drying chamber 34, the second drying chamber 36, and the third drying chamber 38.

Further, an outside air temperature detection sensor 70 for detecting the temperature of the outside air and an outside air humidity detection sensor 72 for detecting the humidity of the outside air are disposed on the outer surface of the automatic developing machine IO.

Further, a plurality of film detectors 74 arranged along the width direction of the film 14 may be arranged near the entrance 12 . The amount of film 14 inserted into the automatic developing machine 10 is detected, and the area of the processed photosensitive material is calculated based on the detection signal from the film detector 74.

That is, in this embodiment, the film 14 is inserted into the automatic developing machine 10 at regular intervals, and the film 14 is inserted into the automatic developing machine 10 per unit time.
It is assumed that the temperature of the drying air is changed according to the area of the film 14 inserted into the drying process, and the drying process is performed at regular intervals so that the dried film 14 is in a standard dry state.

However, for example, when the film 14 is processed at intervals shorter than the above-mentioned fixed interval or when a large amount of film 14 is processed, the film 14 is detected by the film detector 74 and the temperature inside the drying chamber is adjusted to a level that is suitable for drying. Incidental control will be performed to maintain the above-mentioned preconditions, such as providing an interval until the temperature is reached.

dry air temperature detection sensor 67, outside air temperature detection sensor 70,
The outside air humidity detection sensor 72 and the film detector 74 are connected to a control device 76 . As a result, signals from the dry air temperature detection sensor 67, the outside air temperature detection sensor 70, the outside air humidity detection sensor 72, and the film detector 74 are transmitted to the control device 7.
6. As shown in FIG. 2, the control device 76 includes a CPU 78, a RAM 80, and a ROM 9.
0, a human-powered boat 92, and an output boat 94; an A/D converter 98; an analog gate 91; and a driver 93.

dry air temperature detection sensor 67, outside air temperature detection sensor 70,
The outside air humidity detection sensor 72 is connected to the input side of the analog gate 91 and is connected to the input port 92 of the microcomputer 96 via the A/D converter 98. The film detector 74 is also connected to the input port 92 via an A/D converter 98.

The motor 50, fan 56, and heater 58.60°62 are connected to an output boat 94 via a driver 93.
It is controlled by a microcomputer 96.

Therefore, the temperature of the drying air supplied to the first drying chamber 34, the second drying chamber 36, and the third drying chamber 38 is controlled by the microcomputer 96. Here, the temperature of this drying air, that is, the first drying chamber 34, the second drying chamber 3
6. The temperature inside the third drying chamber 38 will be explained.

The temperature of the drying air supplied into the first drying chamber 34 and the second drying chamber 36 is set by the temperatures of the heaters 58 and 60, and this temperature is set higher than the temperature inside the third drying chamber 38. . The temperatures in the first drying chamber 34 and the second drying chamber are controlled at 50 to 70°C and 30 to 50°C, respectively.

On the other hand, the temperature inside the third drying chamber 38 is determined by the temperature and humidity of the outside air. A characteristic diagram of the temperature and humidity inside this third drying chamber 38 is shown in FIG.

This characteristic diagram shows the temperature inside the third drying chamber with respect to the outside air humidity for each outside air temperature, and is a drying temperature setting temperature curve for the film 14. Based on this temperature curve, the RAM 80 of the microcomputer 96 stores the temperature conditions in the third drying chamber when drying the film 14 as shown in FIG. Data is stored that indicates the relationship between the temperature inside the third drying chamber and the specific outside air temperature. Note that the data in FIG. 5 shows, as an example, the case where the outside air temperature is 25°C.

In FIG. 5, curve A is the optimum drying temperature curve shown in FIG. 4, and the temperature in the third drying chamber 38 is controlled based on this curve A to dry the film 14. The dimensions after completion are the same as those at the time of exposure. That is, when the film 14 is exposed, the film 14
The water content is in equilibrium with the humidity of the outside air (moisture content in the outside air), but if the temperature in the third drying chamber 38 is controlled so that it reaches the temperature determined from this optimal drying temperature curve, When the water contained in the film 14 is removed by the development, fixing, and water washing processes, the outside air humidity (the amount of water in the outside air) and the amount of water in the film 14 can be brought into equilibrium. This state is defined as the optimal dry state. Curve A
is a characteristic diagram obtained from experimental results, etc., and by controlling the temperature in the third drying chamber 38 using this curve A, the film 14 can be brought into the optimal drying state.

A state dried at a temperature higher than this curve A is defined as an overdried state.

Next, curve B is a minimum drying curve indicating the minimum range in which the film 14 has a moisture content higher than the outside air humidity and does not adhere to each other when the films 14 are overlapped. That is, the third
When the temperature in the drying chamber 38 is below this curve B, the films 14 will adhere to each other when overlapped, but this state is defined as an undried state.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the temperature in the third drying chamber 38 is controlled within a temperature range (defined as a semi-dry region) that is at least above the minimum drying curve B and below the optimum drying curve A.

After drying at a temperature close to the curve in the semi-dry region, the water content is slightly higher than during exposure, and the dimensions of the film 14 are slightly elongated, but this elongation is caused by leaving it in the working environment. (about 2 minutes to 30 minutes), the water content of the film 14 becomes almost in equilibrium with the outside air humidity, and the dimensions become the same as those at the time of exposure.

As shown in FIG. 5, in the curve A1 and the curve B, the set temperature in the third drying chamber 38 with respect to the outside air humidity has an upper limit value and a lower limit value that are determined independently of the working environment humidity. This is because the upper limit is 70° C., and if the temperature in the third drying chamber 38 is increased above this temperature, there is a risk that the members used in the drying chamber, especially the resin products, will be thermally deformed. However, it is also conceivable to dry the film 14 at a temperature in the third drying chamber 38 of, for example, 80° C. based on calculations. In this case, the drying speed is constant and the upper limit (7
Since the film 14 is dried at a temperature of 0° C.), the film 14 becomes undried, but it is necessary to prevent this undrying by other means such as slowing down the drying process speed.

Further, the lower limit value is set to the temperature of the outside air.

This is because drying the film 14 at a temperature below the lower limit value is essentially cooling it, and setting the temperature inside the third drying chamber 38 below the temperature of the outside air is not suitable for the drying apparatus of this embodiment. Because you can't. However, it is also possible to dry the film 14 at a temperature below the calculated upper and lower limits, but in this case, the film 14 will be dried at the lower limits, and the film 14 will be overdried. For this reason, it would be possible to dry the film 14 by attaching a cooling device, but this requires a large space on the device and is practically difficult, so this is not preferred 9). Therefore, in this case, it is necessary to prevent the film 14 from overdrying by stopping the fan 56 and heaters 58, 60, 62, or increasing the drying speed to quickly discharge the film 14 from the third drying chamber 38. There is.

Further, an allowable range is provided between the optimum drying temperature shown by curve A and the curve α in FIG. 5, which is provided on the over-dry side. Between the curve α and the curve A, the film 14 is a little too dry, and the dimensions of the film 14 have shrunk;
This shrinkage is negligible. Note that this tolerance range is +7° C. in this example.

In addition, the range surrounded by the curve α, the curve β, and the straight line between the upper limit of the drying chamber temperature of 70° C. and the lower limit of the outside air temperature shown in FIG. 5 is considered to be a standard dry condition. The state in which substances are contained or contained is defined as the standard dry state.

When the film 14 is dried in a standard dry state, it becomes an optimal dry state after drying, and the dimensions after drying recover to the dimensions at the time of exposure.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

The exposed film 14 inserted into the automatic developing machine 10 through the loading port 12 is conveyed by the guide rollers 16 and fed into the developer tank 18, where it is conveyed by the guide rollers 26 and developed. Afterwards, it is inserted into the fixing tank 20 by the guide roller 30. The film 14 inserted into the fixing tank 20 is conveyed within the fixing tank 20 by a guide roller 26 in the fixing tank 20, and is sent out after being made to a fixed volume. The film 14 fed out of the fixing tank 20 is inserted into the washing tank 22 by a guide roller 30 and washed with water, and then squeezed by a pair of rollers 32 and sent from the conveying port 40 to the first drying chamber 34 of the drying section 24. .

The film 14 sent to the drying section 24 is transferred to the first drying chamber 3
4. The film is transported downward to the second drying chamber 36 and the third drying chamber 38 to be dried, and after being reversed by the guide 44, it is taken out to the film receiving box 48.

The automatic developing machine 10 is connected to the first drying chamber 34 by a fan 56.
The outside air taken in is heated by the heater 58 and supplied as warm air. This hot air is set at a high temperature, and the moisture in the film 14 is evaporated and dried. In this drying, the film 14 is in an undried state, and the film 1
The 40 dimension is longer than the dimension at the time of exposure.

Further, warm air is supplied to the second drying chamber 36 as well as to the first drying chamber 34. This hot air is set at a lower temperature than the hot air being supplied to the first drying chamber 34, so that the film 14 is not dried. Therefore, the dimensions of the film 140 are slightly elongated compared to the dimensions at the time of exposure.

Warm air controlled by a control device 76 is supplied to the third drying chamber 38 . This control will be explained according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the automatic developing machine 10 is turned on, the program starts. First, in step 100, the heater 58
, the heater 60, the heater 62, and the fan 56 are controlled on and off to control the first drying chamber 34, the second drying chamber 36, and the third drying chamber 3.
Preheat the inside of 8.

Next, in step 101, film detection is performed by the film detector 74, and in step 102, the film area is calculated.

Next, the process proceeds to step 104 where the outside air humidity detection sensor 72
The humidity of the outside air is detected, and then, in step 106, the temperature of the outside air is detected by the outside air temperature detection sensor 70, and the process moves to step 108.

Next, the third data of the data read in this step 108
The temperature T inside the drying chamber 38 is determined from the curve A shown in FIG.

Next, in step 110, the detected temperature data t2 from the dry air temperature detection sensor 67 is read, and in step 112, the required drying temperature T and t2 are compared.

If Tf-t2, the process advances to the next step 114, where the heater 62 is controlled on and off according to the value of the required drying temperature T, and then the drying room temperature control routine ends. If T=t, step 114 is skipped and the routine ends.

As a result, the film 14 is pre-dried in the first drying chamber 34 and the second drying chamber 36, and then dried in the third drying chamber 38.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the temperature in the third drying chamber 38 is not only determined based on the outside air temperature, but also the temperature inside the third drying chamber 38 is determined based on the humidity of the outside air. There is no need to set the temperature in the third drying chamber 38 to a high temperature, and as a result, the drying state of the film 14 will not become overly dry. By preventing overdrying, the film 14
The elastic force is not lost, and even if there is a slight dimensional change during the development process, the dimensions can be returned to those at the time of exposure after drying, and good dimensional accuracy can be obtained.

In addition, in this example, a predetermined width (
Since it has a semi-dry region), temperature control is easy and simple on/off control can be applied. In this case, the moisture content of the film 14 may be slightly higher than the outside air humidity immediately after the drying process (see Figure 5), but for a short period of time (2
Since the optimum drying state is reached in about 30 minutes), there is no problem.

In addition, in this embodiment, the drying section 24 is divided into a first drying chamber 34, a second drying chamber 36, and a third drying chamber 38, and the film 14 is
After sequentially drying, the film 14 is dried in the third drying chamber 38 so that the moisture content in the outside air and the moisture content of the film 14 are in equilibrium, so the temperature of the warm air supplied to the third drying chamber 38 can be controlled. becomes easier.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In this embodiment, the drying section 24 is provided with a first drying chamber 120 and a second drying chamber 122.

In the first drying chamber 120, two sets of conveyance rollers 124 are arranged to nip and convey the film 14 downward. These conveyance rollers 124 are rollers that are not heated by infrared rays. Furthermore, far-infrared heaters 126 are arranged between the transport rollers 124 on both sides of the film 14 transport path. The far-infrared heater 126 is connected to the control device 76, and is controlled so that the humidity above the film surface temperature is 50 to 70°C.

The film 14 inserted into the first drying chamber 120 by the transport roller 124 is dried by evaporating its water content (D) of 70% or more.

In the second drying chamber 122, a conveyance roller 42, a guide 44, and a drive roller 46 similar to those in the first embodiment are arranged.
The film 14 sent out from the first drying chamber 120 is dried.

Therefore, the film 14 inserted into the first drying chamber 120 from the transport port 40 is dried in the second drying chamber 122 after being dried by the far-infrared heater 126 in advance. Second drying room 1
The temperature inside 22 is controlled in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

Further, in the second embodiment, since the far-infrared heater 126 is used, drying can be performed faster than when drying by supplying hot air, and this also enables high-speed drying processing.

Third embodiment A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

The drying section 24 is provided with a first drying chamber 127 and a second drying chamber 122 as in the second embodiment.

The first drying chamber 127 is formed of a waveguide 128,
As shown in FIG. 8, three partition plates 130, 132.
The interior is partitioned by 134. The space partitioned by this partition plate is communicated with each other, and a magnetron 136 that generates microwaves is arranged at one end. Each of the partition plates 130, 132, and 134 is provided with a slit 140, through which the film 14 conveyed by a conveyance roller 142 passes.

Therefore, the magnetron 136 irradiates the inside of the first drying chamber 127 with microwaves (eg, frequency 245QM) Iz) to dry the film 14.

At this time, only the water adhering to the surface of the film 14 is evaporated by dielectric heating without increasing the temperature of the base material (PET base) of the film 14. The film 14 dried in the first drying chamber 127 is transferred to the second drying chamber 127.
2, the film is dried at a drying temperature controlled by the temperature and humidity of the outside air, and then taken out into a film receiving box 48.

As a result, the dimensions of the film 14 can be restored to the same dimensions as those at the time of exposure, and the drying process can be performed at high speed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention provides a drying device for a photographic film processing machine that evaporates and dries the water adhering to and contained in a photographic film after being processed in a processing solution. , a plurality of drying chambers in which the photographic film is sequentially conveyed, and a state in which the moisture content of the photographic film provided in each of the drying chambers and sent out from at least the final drying chamber and the moisture content of the ambient outside air are in equilibrium. Since the photographic film has a drying means for drying the photographic film so that the photographic film has a drying means, the dimensions of the photographic film can be restored to the dimensions at the time of exposure, and the excellent effects of being able to perform high-speed drying can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of an automatic processor to which the present invention is applied, FIG. 2 is a control block diagram, FIG. 3 is a control flow chart, FIG. 4 is an optimum drying temperature characteristic diagram, and FIG. 5
The figure is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between outside air humidity and the temperature of the drying chamber, Figure 6 is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic developing machine showing the second embodiment, and Figure 7
The figure is a schematic configuration diagram of an automatic processor showing the third embodiment, Figure 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■-■ in Figure 7, Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view of photographic film, and Figure 10 is a cross-sectional view of the photographic film. FIG. 2 is a characteristic diagram showing dimensional changes of photographic film. 10... Automatic developing machine, 14... Film, 24... Drying section, 34.120.127... First drying chamber, 36.122
...Second drying chamber, 38...Third drying chamber 126...Far infrared heater, 128...Waveguide, 136...Magnetron.

Claims (6)

[Claims] (1) The photographic film is sequentially conveyed in a drying device for a photographic film processing machine that evaporates and dries the photographic film after it has been processed in a processing liquid by evaporating the moisture attached to, contained in, or contained in the photographic film. a plurality of drying chambers provided in each of the drying chambers, and a drying means for drying the photographic film so that the moisture content of the photographic film sent out from at least the final drying chamber and the moisture content of the ambient air are in an equilibrium state. A drying device for a photographic film processing machine, comprising: (2) The drying device for a photographic film processing machine as set forth in claim (1), wherein the drying means includes hot air generating means. (3) The drying device for a photographic film processing machine as set forth in claim (1), wherein the drying means includes far-infrared irradiation means for irradiating the photographic film with far-infrared rays. (4) The drying device for a photographic film processing machine according to claim 1, wherein the drying means includes a microwave generating means for irradiating the photographic film with microwaves. (5) The drying device for a photographic film processing machine according to any one of claims (1) to 4, characterized in that the drying device for a photographic film processing machine has means for detecting the temperature and humidity of outside air. . (6) The drying device for a photographic film processing machine according to any one of claims (1) to 5, characterized in that the drying device for a photographic film processing machine has a detection means for detecting insertion of the photographic film. .