JP2003014984A - Fiber unit for optoelectric sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a fiber unit for a photo-electric sensor in which detection- side fibers can be connected to amplifier-side fibers only by cutting the detection-side fibers to proper length without performing troublesome connector processing at a detection-area side. SOLUTION: This fiber unit is a fiber unit for a photo-electric sensor which is provided with an amplifier-side light projecting fiber 21 and an amplifier-side light receiving fiber 22 whose ends of one side are connected to an amplifier unit AU, a housing 11 to which other ends of the amplifier-side fiber 21 and the amplifier-side light receiving fiber 22 are respectively fixed and a holding means 12 which holds a detection-side light projecting fiber 31 and a detection- side light receiving fiber 32 to be attachable and detachable with frictional force at a position where other ends of the fiber 21 and the fiber 22 are facing with each other.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor, which can easily connect a detection side fiber to an amplifier side fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in an environment where semiconductor manufacturing equipment is installed, an operation area in which an operator operates various control devices and a detection area in which a chemical solution is used are separated by a partition wall or the like. There is. When performing some detection in the detection area using the optical fiber type photoelectric sensor, as shown in FIG. 5, the optical fibers 61 on the detection side and the amplifier side are used by using the optical connectors 51 and 52 inserted in the wall W.
(62) and 71 (72) are detachably connected.

FIG. 6 shows an example of such an optical connector.
This is because the detection side light emitting / receiving fiber 61 (62) and the amplifier side light receiving / receiving fiber 71 (72) are cut into appropriate lengths according to the application, and then connector processing such as adhesive fixing of the plugs 81 and 82 and end face polishing. And the end faces thereof are butted by the adapter 90.
More specifically, a pair of U-shaped brackets 91 in side view,
92 is housed in the adapter case 93, and the coil spring 94
Elasticity of the bracket causes the base portions 91b, 92 of the bracket to
It has a configuration in which b is located in a direction away from each other.
As a result, when the plugs 81 and 82 of the optical fibers are respectively engaged with the ends of the brackets 91 and 92, the end faces of the plugs 81 and 82 are attracted by the biasing force of the coil spring 94 and come into contact with each other. ing.
It should be noted that the plugs 81 and 82 and the adapter 90 are not provided for the sensor but are commercially available for communication.

[0004]

However, the optical fibers 61 (62), 71 (72) can be obtained by simply diverting a communication connector that assumes the use of a silica fiber.
It becomes necessary to perform a very troublesome connector process such as adhesion fixing to the plugs 81 and 82 and polishing of end faces. In addition, in the detection area where the chemical liquid or the like is used, the devices are often installed densely and the working space is limited, and in such a case, it becomes more troublesome.

In view of the above problems, the present invention connects the detection-side fiber to the amplifier-side fiber by simply cutting the detection-side fiber to an appropriate length without performing a troublesome connector process on the detection area side. Another object of the present invention is to provide a fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor that can be used.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor according to the present invention is
An amplifier-side light projecting fiber and an amplifier-side light-receiving fiber whose one ends are connected to an amplifier unit, a housing for fixing the other ends of the amplifier-side light-emitter fiber and the amplifier-side light-receiving fiber, and the amplifier-side light-emitter fiber and the amplifier side The other end of the light receiving fiber is provided at a position facing each other with a detection side light projecting fiber and a holding means for detachably holding the detection side light receiving fiber by a frictional force.

Since the detecting side projecting fiber and the detecting side receiving fiber can be held by the frictional force between the detecting side projecting fiber and the detecting side receiving fiber and the holding means, it is necessary to cut the detecting side fiber to an appropriate length. The detection-side fiber can be connected to the amplifier-side fiber (without any special connector processing). According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an optical fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor, which includes an amplifier-side light projecting fiber and an amplifier-side light-receiving fiber, one end of which is connected to the amplifier unit, the amplifier-side light-projecting fiber and the amplifier-side light-receiving fiber. A housing for fixing the ends thereof respectively, and a holding means for detachably holding the detection-side light projecting fiber and the detection-side light receiving fiber at opposite positions of the other ends of the amplifier-side light projecting fiber and the amplifier-side light receiving fiber, The holding means includes a support member having a groove in which the detection-side light projecting fiber and the detection-side light-receiving fiber are mounted, and a fiber retainer that is movable in a direction of pressing the detection-side light-projecting fiber and the detection-side light-receiving fiber into the groove. And the gap between the groove of the support member and the fiber retainer is smaller than the diameters of the detection side light projecting fiber and the detection side light receiving fiber. And a locking means for supporting and fixing said fiber-pressing the narrower position.

By locking the locking means in a state in which the detection side light projecting fiber and the light receiving fiber are inserted in the gap between the groove of the supporting member and the fiber retainer, the detection side light projecting fiber and the light receiving fiber are firmly held by the frictional force between them. Since it can be held, the detection-side fiber can be connected to the amplifier-side fiber simply by cutting the detection-side fiber to an appropriate length (without tedious connector processing).

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor 1 according to the present invention is provided with a connector 10 which is inserted and fixed from a region A side into a partition wall W separating an amplifier installation region A and a detection region B. Prepare Connector 10
As shown in FIG. 2 or 3, is a housing 11 that accommodates the fiber end, a fiber holder 12 that is slidably attached to the housing 11, a lever 13 that holds the fiber holder 12 against the housing 11, and a fiber. A cover 14 that surrounds a part of the holder 12 and the lever 13 is provided.

The housing 11 is made of engineering plastic having a certain strength, such as polycarbonate, and has a substantially trapezoidal shape as shown in FIG. Inside the housing, amplifier-side fiber insertion holes 11a and 11b for inserting the amplifier-side light emitting / receiving fiber are formed. Also, on the front part of the housing,
Fiber carriers (supporting members) 11c and 11d each having a guide groove having a semicircular cross section extend from the opening of the amplifier-side fiber insertion hole. Fiber carrier 11
Projections 11e and 11f are formed at predetermined positions of c and 11d to prevent the fibers from being displaced in the axial direction by being pressed against the detection-side light projecting / receiving fiber.

The amplifier side light emitting / receiving fibers 21, 2
2 are plug end faces 21e and 22e, respectively (see FIG. 3)
Are inserted into the fiber insertion holes 11a and 11b until they come into contact with the stepped portions 11g and 11h (see FIG. 4) of the fiber insertion hole, and are firmly fixed to the housing 11 by the adhesive G. 2 to 4 are provided on both sides of the bottom surface of the housing.
As shown in, when the connector 10 is attached to the wall W,
Flange 11m, 11n which contacts one side surface of the wall W is formed. Further, cantilever-shaped locking claws 11p and 11q are formed from the front surface of the housing along the side surface of the housing.

Since the locking claws 11p and 11q have a certain degree of flexibility, the connector 10 can be easily inserted into the mounting hole of the wall W from the amplifier installation area A side as shown in FIG. After being completely inserted, the wall W is sandwiched in cooperation with the flanges 11m and 11n to firmly fix the connector to the wall W. As shown in FIG. 3, cover engagement grooves 11s and 11t are formed on the side surface of the housing, and fiber holder engagement grooves 11u (only one is shown) are formed at positions sandwiching the fiber carriers 11c and 11d. .

A support arm 11 for rotatably supporting the lever from the end (upper part in the figure) on the front surface of the housing.
x and 11y are extended. The housing 11 having the above-described configuration allows the amplifier-side light emitting / receiving fibers 21 and 2 to be received.
2 is bonded and held, and at the same time the sensor side light emitting / receiving fiber 31,
It plays the role of supporting 32.

Next, the fiber holder 12 will be described. The fiber holder 12 is made of a molded product having a two-layer structure as described later, and has a rectangular shape as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The fiber holder 12 is formed with insertion holes 12a and 12b through which the sensor side light emitting / receiving fibers are inserted. The insertion holes 12a and 12b are formed so as to correspond to the diameters 2.2 mm of the sensor side light emitting / receiving fibers 31 and 32. Further, fiber holding portions 12c and 12d are formed so as to extend toward the housing side above the exit portion of the insertion hole. Fiber holding parts 12c, 12d
(See FIG. 4) is the fiber carrier 1 of the housing 11.
It has a shape in which 1c and 11d are vertically inverted in the figure. Therefore, when the fiber holder 12 is assembled to the housing 11, the groove portions of the fiber pressing portions 12c and 12d having a semicircular cross section face the groove portions of the fiber carriers 11c and 11d.

The fiber holding portions 12c and 12d are
It cooperates with the fiber carriers 11c and 11d of the housing 11 to sandwich the sensor side light emitting / receiving fibers 31 and 32, respectively. As can be seen from the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, each of the fiber pressing portions 12c and 12d has a two-layer structure in which a portion in contact with the optical fiber is molded with an elastomer resin and the other portion is molded with a polycarbonate. There is.

As a result, when the fiber holder 12 is pressed against the sensor side light emitting / receiving fiber, the elastomer resin comes into close contact with the sensor side light emitting / receiving fiber due to a frictional force. Further, a slide portion 12u (only one of which is shown in the drawing) which is slidably engaged with the guide groove of the housing 11 is formed on the housing-side end surface of the fiber holder 12.

When the fiber holder 12 is pressed against the sensor side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32, the grooves of the fiber carriers 11c, 11d and the fiber holding portions 12c,
It is dimensioned so that the gap with 12d is slightly narrower than the diameter of 2.2 mm of the sensor side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32. Since the fiber holder 12 has the above-described configuration, it cooperates with the housing 11 to play a role of holding the sensor-side light emitting / receiving fibers 31 and 32.

The lever 13 is made of a resin material such as polycarbonate and has a substantially L-shape in end view. The lever 13 is configured to be freely rotatable within a certain range around the cutout portions by engaging the cutout portions of the stays 11x and 11y of the housing 11 with the rotation shaft thereof.

When the lever 13 is tilted toward the fiber holder, the corner portion of the lever 13 slides the fiber holder 12 along the guide groove of the housing 11 according to the principle of leverage. As a result, the sensor side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32 are connected to the fiber carriers 11c, 11
It is designed to be firmly sandwiched between d and the fiber pressing portions 12c and 12d.

The cover 14 has a rectangular C-shape when viewed from above and is made of a resin material such as polycarbonate. At the free end of the cover 14, the engagement groove 11 of the housing 11 is formed.
It is provided with flange portions 14s and 14t that engage with s and 11t. In addition, on the front surface of the cover 14, the fiber holder 1
Fiber insertion holes 14a and 14b are provided at positions corresponding to the two fiber insertion holes 12a and 12b.

The cover 14 has flange portions 14s and 14t.
By engaging the protrusions of the guides with the recesses (not shown) of the guide grooves 11s and 11t of the housing, the protrusions are firmly attached to the housing 11, and a part of the lever 13 and the entire fiber holder 12 are surrounded. There is. Subsequently, attachment of the photoelectric sensor fiber unit configured as described above to the partition wall will be described.

First, the amplifier side light emitting / receiving fiber 2
The connector 10 connected to the end portions of 1 and 22 is inserted into the mounting hole of the wall W from the amplifier installation area (operation area) A side. At this stage, the detection side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32 are not connected to the connector 10. When inserting the connector 10 into the mounting hole of the wall W, the insertion operation is performed with the lever 13 tilted with respect to the housing 11.

As mentioned above, the housing flange 11
By bringing m and 11n into contact with the wall W, the flange 11
m, 11n and the engaging claws 11p, 11q cooperate with each other to firmly fix the connector 10 to the wall W. Subsequently, on the detection area B side, the detection side light emitting / receiving fiber 3
The connection work between the connectors 1 and 32 and the connector 10 is performed as follows.

First, the lever 13 is rotated so that its end faces upward (see FIG. 1), and the fiber holder 1
Make 2 slideable. Then, the ends of the detection side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32 cut into a predetermined length are inserted into the fiber insertion holes 14a, 14b of the cover. Then, after inserting the detection side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32 until the end surfaces of the detection side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32 come into contact with the end surfaces of the amplifier side light emitting / receiving fibers 21, 22, the lever 13 is moved to the detection side light emitting / receiving fiber 31 ,. Defeat in the direction of 32.

As a result, the fiber holders 12c and 12d made of the elastomer resin of the fiber holder 12 are provided.
The detection side light emitting / receiving fibers 31, 32 are firmly sandwiched between the fiber carriers 11c, 11d of the housing 11. At this time, the convex portions of the fiber carriers 11c and 11d bite into a part of the peripheral surfaces of the sensor-side fibers 31 and 32 to more reliably prevent the fibers from being pulled out. as a result,
The end faces of the amplifier side light emitting / receiving fibers 21 and 22 and the detection side light emitting / receiving fibers 31 and 32 are brought into close contact with each other to achieve a good optical connector connection.

Here, the detection side projecting / receiving fibers 31, 32 are provided.
Even if the length of the fiber is too long, the fiber is cut in the detection area B and the fiber insertion hole 14 of the cover is cut.
The connection work of the optical connector 10 can be easily completed only by inserting the optical connector 10 into a and 14b and tilting the lever 13. still,
Since the fiber cores of the detection side light emitting / receiving fibers 31 and 32 are thick and soft (φ0.25 mm or more, made of resin), even if there is some positional deviation, the reduction in transmission efficiency due to it is almost negligible. For example, actual development 60-1
The end face can be cut smoothly with the resin fiber jacket with a dedicated cutter as described in No. 84002. Therefore, the sensor light emitting / receiving fiber 31,
When adjusting the length of 32, only the fiber cutting work need be performed, and the troublesome connector processing such as end face polishing as in the conventional example is not required.

As described above, when the photoelectric sensor fiber unit according to the present invention is used, the fiber connection work in the detection region can be easily performed. That is, since no troublesome connector processing such as adhesively fixing the fiber end portion to the plug and polishing the fiber end surface in the detection region is required, the working efficiency is remarkably improved. still,
Instead of polycarbonate, ABS alloy having a certain degree of strength may be used as the material of the above-mentioned connector.

[0028]

As described above, in the fiber unit for photoelectric sensor according to the present invention, the detection side light projecting fiber and the detection side light receiving fiber are separated by the frictional force between the detection side light projecting fiber and the detection side light receiving fiber and the holding means. Because it can be held
It is possible to connect the detection-side fiber to the amplifier-side fiber simply by cutting the detection-side fiber into an appropriate length without performing a troublesome connector process.

Further, in the fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor according to claim 2 of the present invention, the lock means is locked in a state where the detection side light projecting fiber and the light receiving fiber are inserted in the gap between the groove of the supporting member and the fiber retainer. Thus, the detection side light projecting fiber and the light receiving fiber can be held by the frictional force between them. Therefore, the detection-side fiber can be connected to the amplifier-side fiber only by cutting the detection-side fiber into an appropriate length without performing a troublesome connector process.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a partial cross section of a fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a perspective view showing a connector portion of the optical sensor fiber unit in FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a connector portion in FIG.

4 is a longitudinal sectional view of a connector portion in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of a connector portion of the optical sensor fiber unit in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Photoelectric sensor fiber unit 10 connectors 11 housing 11a, 11b Amplifier side fiber insertion hole 11c, 11d Fiber carrier (support member) 12 Fiber holder 12c, 12d Fiber holding part 12u slide part 13 lever 14 cover 21,22 Amplifier side light emitting / receiving fiber 31, 32 Sensor side light emitting / receiving fiber

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshinori Kyoujima             2-12-19 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Stock market             Takeyama (72) Inventor Koji Tsutsui             2-12-19 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Stock market             Takeyama F-term (reference) 2G065 BA01 BB02 DA15 DA20                 2H036 QA03 QA12 QA18 QA24 QA32                       QA44 QA47 QA57

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An amplifier-side light projecting fiber and an amplifier-side light-receiving fiber, one end of which is connected to an amplifier unit, a housing for fixing the other ends of the amplifier-side light-emitter fiber and the amplifier-side light-receiving fiber, respectively, and the amplifier-side light-emitter. A fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor, which is provided with holding means for removably holding the detection-side light projecting fiber and the detection-side light receiving fiber by frictional force at opposite positions of the other end of the optical fiber and the amplifier-side light receiving fiber. . 2. An amplifier side light projecting fiber and an amplifier side light receiving fiber, one ends of which are connected to an amplifier unit, a housing for fixing the other ends of the amplifier side light projecting fiber and the amplifier side light receiving fiber respectively, and the amplifier side light projecting fiber. Holding means for detachably holding the detection-side light projecting fiber and the detection-side light-receiving fiber at opposite positions of the other end of the optical fiber and the amplifier-side light-receiving fiber, wherein the holding means comprises the detection-side light-projecting fiber and the detection side A support member having a groove in which the side light receiving fiber is placed; a fiber retainer movable in a direction of pressing the detection side light emitting fiber and the detection side light receiving fiber into the groove; and a groove of the support member and the fiber retainer. Support the fiber presser at a position where the gap between them is slightly narrower than the diameter of the detection side projecting fiber and the detection side receiving fiber. A fiber unit for a photoelectric sensor, comprising: locking means for fixing.