Patent ID: 6400446
Filing Date: 2002-06-04
Classification: G03D

Abstract:
A thermally developing apparatus for thermally developing a thermally developable material shaped in a sheet form by heating the thermally developable material to at least 80Â° C. comprising:a thermally developing device comprising a heating member having a heating surface moved in a predetermined direction, a supplying section at which the thermally developable material is loaded on the heating surface, a discharging section at which the thermally developable material is removed from the heating surface and a heater to heat the heating member, wherein the thermally developing device thermally develops the thermally developable material by heating the thermally developable material with the heating surface while moving the heating surface from the supplying section to the discharging section; a sensor to detect the temperature of the heating member; and a controller to control the heater in accordance with the detected temperature of the heating member in such a way that the heater conducts ON-mode to generate heat or OFF-mode to stop generating heat; wherein the heater has a heating capacity to satisfy the following formula: 0.07&lE;M/Hmax&lE;0.75 where M is an amount of heat taken by the thermally developable material during a developing time period to thermally develop a single sheet of the thermally developable material, and Hmax is a maximum amount of heat that the heater can generate on the ON-mode during the developing time period.