JP2002116553A - Transporting device for exposure - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform good exposure by precisely matching the transport speed of photographic paper by a clamping transport mechanism disposed on an upper side and a lower side of an exposure position. SOLUTION: A driving roller 18 of a squeezing and conveying mechanism C1 on the upper side of the conveyance is independently driven based on an exposure position, and a driving roller 18 of a squeezing and conveying mechanism C2 on the lower side of the conveyance based on the exposure position. And the adjusting means for independently adjusting the frequency of the electric power for driving each of the stepping motors SM.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a scanning type exposure head for sending out an exposure light beam in the main scanning direction, and transports the paper by sandwiching the paper between the upper and lower positions of the exposure position of the exposure head. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for managing a paper transport speed at an exposure position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-1240 discloses a device similar to the above-described exposure transporting device. An upper roller and a lower roller which are rotatably driven at the upper side position and the lower side position in the paper transport direction, and a state in which the lower roller is pressed against the lower roller and an upper roller which can be switched to a separated state, By providing a motor for driving the lower rollers at the upper position and the lower position via a belt, the lower rollers are driven at a constant speed. In this prior art, a cam body for switching each roller pair between a sandwiched state and a separated state is provided, and before the paper is supplied, the roller pair is set to the separated state, and the paper is supplied. The operation mode is set so that the roller body is switched to the nipping state at the timing to carry the sheet.

[0003]

Here, in consideration of a control mode in which the exposure head sends out the exposure light beam in the main scanning direction while moving the paper in the sub-scanning direction to perform the exposure, the paper is moved in the sub-scanning direction. It is necessary to precisely synchronize the sending speed and the timing at which the exposure head sends out the light beam in the main scanning direction. However, even if a single motor and a single belt are used to drive each roller at a constant speed as in the prior art, a slight manufacturing error and a slight slip of the belt may occur. May cause a difference in the driving speed of each roller. When a speed difference is generated between the roller at the upper position of the transport and the roller at the lower position of the transport, the paper at the exposure position may be loosened or excessive tension may be generated. The paper cannot be fed at an appropriate speed, leading to abnormal exposure called banding, and there is room for improvement.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an exposure transfer apparatus which can precisely match the transfer speeds of the nip-press transfer mechanisms arranged at the upper position and the lower position in the transfer direction with reference to the exposure position. It is in the point that it comprises.

[0005]

The features, operations and effects of the exposure transport device according to claim 1 of the present invention are as follows. [Features] Equipped with a scanning type exposure head that sends out the exposure light beam in the main scanning direction, and with a squeezing conveyance mechanism that sandwiches and conveys the paper to the upper position and the lower position of the exposure position of the exposure head. In the exposure transport device, each of the squeezing transport mechanisms is configured to include a driving roller, a driven rotary member that rotates while being pressed against the driving roller, and an electric motor that drives and rotates the driving roller. The present invention has an adjusting means for independently adjusting the rotation speed of each electric motor.

According to the above features, the drive rollers at the upper position and the lower position in the transport direction are driven by independent electric motors based on the exposure position, and the rotational speed of each electric motor is reduced. Because it can be adjusted by adjusting means,
By adjusting the rotation speed of at least one of the drive rollers, the paper conveyance speed of each drive roller can be made equal. As a result, slackness is generated at the exposure position, and the inconvenience of applying an excessive tension is eliminated to enable favorable exposure.

The features, operations and effects of the exposure transport device according to the second aspect of the present invention are as follows. [Features] In the exposure transporting apparatus according to claim 1, when the rotation speed of at least one of the electric motors is adjusted by the adjustment means, the value of the rotation speed of the electric motor is cut off by the power supply. And a control unit for setting the value of the rotation speed stored in the storage unit as the rotation speed of the electric motor after the power is turned on. It is in.

According to the above feature, when the rotation speed of one of the electric motors is adjusted, the power supply is cut off after that, and even when the power supply is turned on, the power is saved. Since the rotation speed of the electric motor is set based on the value stored in the means, it is not necessary to adjust the rotation speed of the electric motor every time the power is turned on. As a result, a good transport state can be maintained continuously after the adjustment is performed.

The features, functions and effects of the exposure transport device according to claim 3 of the present invention are as follows. [Features] In the exposure transport device according to claim 1 or 2, the rotation speed of an electric motor that drives the nipping transport mechanism at the upper side position is synchronized with the scanning timing of an exposure head, and the adjustment unit is configured to transport the exposure head. The configuration is such that the drive speed of the lower electric motor in the direction is adjusted in preference to the drive speed of the upper electric motor in the transport direction.

According to the above-mentioned feature, when adjusting the transport speed of the paper by the adjusting means, the rotational speed of the electric motor at the lower position in the transport direction is set to be smaller than the electric motor at the upper position in the transport direction. It will be adjusted with priority. or,
This adjustment does not directly affect the paper transport speed nor affects the scanning timing of the exposure head. Can be avoided. As a result, good exposure can be achieved without changing the exposure amount on the paper.

The features, operations and effects of the exposure transport device according to claim 4 of the present invention are as follows. [Features] In the exposure carrying device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the electric motor is formed of a stepping motor, and a driving circuit for supplying driving power to the stepping motor; Supply a rotation number designation clock generated from one reference clock signal 2
And the adjusting means is configured to individually set the frequency of the rotation number designation clock generated by the two clock generating means.

According to the above-described feature, each stepping motor is driven by the driving power based on the rotation number specifying clock generated based on one reference clock signal, and the frequency of each rotation number specifying clock is used. Can be individually adjusted by the adjusting means, so that after adjusting the rotation speed of each stepping motor, the relative rotation speed of each stepping motor does not change even if the frequency of the reference clock signal changes. . As a result, after adjusting the speeds of the respective stepping motors, this speed relationship is maintained to maintain a good exposure state.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, one of two photographic paper magazines M, M containing rolls of silver halide-type long photographic paper P is cut into a pair of cutting blades by a plurality of rollers 1. A photographic paper P (an example of paper) that is provided with a transport system that transports the paper to a cutter unit having the print units 2 and 2 and that is cut to a print size by the cutter unit.
Having a plurality of developing tanks by a transport system for transporting the printing paper P to the exposure unit EX by the plurality of pressure rollers 3 and a transport system having the plurality of pressure rollers 4 by the photographic paper P exposed by the exposure unit EX A transport system for feeding the photographic paper P developed by the development processing unit DE to the drying processing unit DR;
A photographic printing apparatus is provided with a transport system for sending out after drying in.

As shown in FIG. 1, the photographic printing apparatus includes a control section 6 having a microprocessor (not shown) (an example of control means for controlling a stepping motor described later) and a photographic film (FIG. 1). (Not shown) as image information obtained by separating the frame image information into three primary colors of R (red), G (green), and B (blue), and image data from a storage medium such as a memory card or MO. A media reader 8 to be captured, a console 9 for inputting various information, and a monitor 1 for displaying control information and image information
0, and a memory 11 (general term for RAM, ROM, and EEPROM) for storing signals from the control unit 6 and a hard disk 12 for storing signals from the control unit 6.

The control unit 6 controls the photographic paper P in the photographic paper magazine M to be cut into print sizes by a cutter unit and transported to the exposure unit EX, the development processing unit DE, and the drying processing unit DR. , The temperature control of the developing solution in the plurality of developing tanks constituting the developing section DE, and the drying section D
The control for controlling the drying temperature of R is performed.
In X, the photographic paper P is conveyed at the set speed while the exposure unit E
It is configured to perform control for transferring image information to the exposure head 15 provided for X and performing exposure. In particular, in the present invention,
It is characterized in that it is configured to control the speed at which the photographic paper P is transported to the exposure unit EX, and this point will be described in detail below.

That is, as shown in FIG.
X is to irradiate the exposure light beam in the horizontal direction (this direction is the main scanning direction) while conveying the photographic paper P downward from above while keeping the photographic paper P in a substantially vertical position (this direction is the sub-scanning direction). DMD (Digital Micr) that forms a latent image on photographic paper P
An exposure head 15 of an omirror device type is provided. Further, in the transport direction with reference to an image forming area S (an example of an exposure position) to which the exposure light from the exposure head 15 is irradiated so that the photographic paper P is transported in the sub-scanning direction with respect to the exposure head 15. The pressing and conveying mechanisms C1 and C2 are arranged at the upper position (upper side in the figure) and the lower position (lower side in the figure), and contact the back side of the photographic paper P sent to the image forming area S. The guide plate 16 is arranged.

The upper and lower clamping and conveying mechanisms C1 and C2 are respectively composed of an aluminum driving roller 18 which rotates integrally with the roller shaft 17 and a shaft with the roller shaft 17 parallel to the axis. A pair of pulley shafts 19 having a posture, a pulley 20 that rotates integrally with the pulley shaft 19, and an endless end made of a flexible material such as rubber, soft or resin such as NBR wound around each pulley 20. And a belt 21 (an example of a driven rotating body). Each drive roller 18 has the same diameter of about 50 mm in diameter and has a roughened outer peripheral surface, and tension is applied to the endless belt 21 at an intermediate position between the pair of pulleys 20 against the outer peripheral surface of each drive roller 18. They are pressed against each other in a working state.

It should be noted that the present invention relates to each of the pressing and conveying mechanisms C1,
C2 may be configured such that one pressure roller is pressed against one drive roller 18, or the pressure roller may be constantly pressed against the drive roller. In this manner, the pressure roller may be separated at the timing when the paper P is supplied, and then the pressure roller may be controlled to be pressed against the drive roller.

Each of the drive rollers 1 is provided in the exposure section EX.
Motor S as an electric motor for driving the motor 8
M, SM, each stepping motor SM
The power from the toothed type output pulley 23 provided on the output shaft of the motor is transmitted through a toothed belt 24 to the toothed type intermediate pulley 2.
5, the power from the intermediate pulley 25 is transmitted to the input pulley 27 of the drive roller 18 at a reduced speed via the toothed belt 26. Further, the reduction ratio of each belt transmission system is about 1/10 and is set to be equal.

As shown in FIG. 3, there is provided a drive circuit 29 for supplying drive power to each of the stepping motors SM, SM. A phase signal generator 29A for generating a phase signal for driving the stepping motor SM, and a power amplifier 29B for amplifying the phase signal from the phase signal generator 29A and supplying the amplified signal to the stepping motor SM are provided. The internal clock signal generator 3 is provided inside the controller 6.
By counting the reference clock signal generated at 0 by software or by counting the combination of software and hardware, the rotation number designation clock is generated independently for each stepping motor SM. A clock generator 31 capable of generating clock signals having different frequencies. Each of the clock generators 31 is configured to output a rotation number designation clock signal corresponding to a set rotation speed value. The rotation number designating clock signal is output to the drive circuit 29. The rotation speed value is adjusted by the adjusting means 32,
Alternatively, it is provided from the storage units 11 and 12. Note that the storage means 11 and 12 are
It is a general term for data that is stored even when the power supply is cut off, such as the EEPROM or the EEPROM 11.

The rotation speed value is calculated by the clock generation means 31.
The number of clocks within a unit time of the number of rotations specifying clock generated by the above is set, and finally the rotation speed of each stepping motor SM is set. The rotation speed value can be arbitrarily set by selecting the “exposure conveyance speed adjustment mode”.

That is, when the "exposure conveyance speed adjustment mode" is selected, the contents shown in FIG. The display contents of the monitor 10 include the drive rollers 18 on the [upper] side (upper transport side) and [lower] side (lower transport side).
A speed display section 33, 33 for displaying the value of the rotation speed per unit time of 18 is formed, and a speed-up button 34 and a speed-down button 35 for setting a speed difference of each step;
Ratio display unit 36 that indicates the ratio of the speed difference as a percentage
And an upper button 37 for selecting an object to adjust the speed and a lower button 38, and a default button 39 for setting the speed of each stepping motor SM to an initial value.
, An OK button 40 for approving the setting change, and an end button 41 for ending this mode. In the initial state, the lower button 38 is selected, and when the speed-up button 34 or the deceleration button 35 is operated, only the speed of the stepping motor SM on the lower transport side is adjusted.

With such a configuration, when it is necessary to adjust the speed of each stepping motor SM as in the case where banding occurs as a result of printing, the monitor 10 can be controlled via the console 9. By moving the cursor displayed on and selecting and operating the speed-up button 34 or the deceleration button 35, the process of adjusting the speed of only the stepping motor SM on the lower transport side is performed, and The speed is displayed on the speed display section 33,
In addition, the percentage of the speed difference (the ratio of the result of comparing the value of the rotational speed difference of the drive roller 18 between the upper transport side and the lower transport side with the rotational speed of the upper drive roller 18) is displayed in the ratio display section 36. The display is displayed, and the adjustment is completed by operating the OK button 40 after performing the adjustment based on this display. When the rotational speed of the drive roller 18 on the upper side of the transport is adjusted, the operation mode is such that the up button 37 or the deceleration button 35 is operated after the upper button 37 is selected and operated.

When such a process is performed, the set data, that is, the rotation speed value is stored in the storage units 11 and 12 even when the power supply is cut off, and when the printing is performed. Reads the rotation speed values stored in the storage units 11 and 12 and supplies the rotation speed values to the clock generation unit 31 described above.

With this configuration, if banding occurs in the print, the transport speed of the clamping and transporting mechanism C2 on the lower transport side at the exposure position is insufficient due to the coloration of the banding portion and the like. Or the transport speed is too high, select the “exposure transport speed adjustment mode”, and adjust the transport speed according to the display on the monitor 10 in this selected state to visually check the adjustment amount. By performing adjustment without error, proper exposure can be performed. Particularly, when performing this adjustment, the rotation speed of the drive roller 18 (stepping motor SM) on the lower side of the conveyance is adjusted, so that the adjustment can be performed without affecting the exposure amount. It has become something.

[Other Embodiments] In addition to the above-described embodiments, the present invention uses a synchronous motor as an electric motor or a motor having a structure in which the number of revolutions is strictly controlled by feeding back the number of revolutions. It is also possible to provide means for measuring the paper transport speed in the nipping transport mechanism between the upper position and the lower position in the transport direction of the exposure position, and feed back the measured value to control the rotational speed with accuracy. It is also possible to arrange for a high adjustment.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a photographic printing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a transport system of an exposure unit.

FIG. 3 is a block circuit diagram of a control system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing display contents of a monitor in an exposure conveyance speed adjustment mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS 15 Exposure head 18 Drive roller 21 Follower rotating body C1, C2 Nipping and conveying mechanism P Paper SM Electric motor

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A pressure transport mechanism comprising: a scanning type exposure head for sending out an exposure light beam in a main scanning direction; and a paper transport mechanism for sandwiching and transporting a paper between an upper position and a lower position of an exposure position of the exposure head. An exposure transport device comprising: each of the nipping transport mechanisms includes a drive roller, a driven rotary member that rotates by pressing against the drive roller, and an electric motor that drives and rotates the drive roller. And an adjusting device for adjusting the rotation speed of each electric motor independently. 2. A storage means for storing a value of the rotation speed of the electric motor when the power supply is cut off when the rotation speed of at least one of the electric motors is adjusted by the adjustment means. And save for
2. The exposure transport device according to claim 1, further comprising control means for setting the value of the rotation speed stored in the storage means as the rotation speed of the electric motor after turning on the power supply. 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: synchronizing a rotation speed of an electric motor for driving the pressing and conveying mechanism at the upper position with a scanning timing of an exposure head, and adjusting the driving means for driving the lower electric motor in the conveying direction. 3. The exposure transport device according to claim 1, wherein the speed is adjusted prior to the drive speed of the electric motor on the upstream side in the transport direction. 4. An electric motor comprising a stepping motor, a driving circuit for supplying driving power to the stepping motor, and a rotation number specifying clock generated from one reference clock signal to the driving circuit. 4. The control device according to claim 1, further comprising two clock generation units, and wherein the adjustment unit is configured to individually set frequencies of the rotation number designation clocks generated by the two clock generation units. 5. The transfer device for exposure according to any one of the preceding claims.