JP2000085714A - Method for carrying or storing glass base material - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To smoothly package and unseal a glass base material, to prevent foreign matters from adhering to the glass base material during the carriage, and to immediately start the next work after the glass base material is taken out of a packaging material. SOLUTION: A surface of a glass base material W is cleaned with alcohol and dried, and packaged with a bag-like or a sheet-like non-rigid plastic film F of 0.01-0.2 mm in thickness, and then, open parts such as an opening part are sealed by a heat seal or other method, the glass base material W packaged with the soft plastic film F is stored in a container through a cushioning material, and carried or stored.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for transporting or storing a glass base material such as an optical fiber preform.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, after a glass base material such as an optical fiber preform is manufactured, when the glass base material is conveyed for drawing or the like, the surroundings of the glass base material are made of styrene foam having a thickness of 1 to 2 mm or relatively thick paper. Wrap with a tape to fix several places so that the product inside is not exposed, and transport it in a container such as a container with cushioning material.In the drawing process, remove the glass base material and remove foreign matter from the product surface. After inspecting the adherence of foreign matters, if foreign matter adheres, the surface is washed and dried, and thereafter, drawing is performed. This is because if the wire is drawn with the foreign matter attached, the strength of the portion becomes weak and the optical fiber may be cut.

[0003]

However, in the conventional method, the glass base material is wrapped so that the glass base material is not exposed to the outside so that several places are fixed with a tape, or the glass base material is removed from the packaging material after transport. Although it takes time and effort to take out the glass base material and takes care not to expose the glass base material to the outside, the main purpose of packaging is to focus on preventing the occurrence of scratches on the surface of the glass base material. Therefore, foreign matter may adhere to the surface of the glass base material without opening the opening of the packaging material or the like, and it may be necessary to wash the glass base material to remove the foreign material. There was a problem.

[0004] Therefore, the present invention enables the operation of wrapping the glass base material and the operation of taking out the glass base material from the packaging material after the transportation to be carried out smoothly, preventing foreign substances and the like from adhering during the transportation, and allowing the glass base material to be attached to the packaging material. It is intended to be able to immediately proceed to the next work after being taken out from.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method of cleaning the surface of a glass base material with alcohol, drying the glass base material, covering the glass base material with a soft plastic film, and forming an opening or a free end. The portion where the portion was opened was closed, and the envelope of the glass base material was accommodated in a container via a cushion material to be transported or stored.

[0006] As described above, the surface of the glass base material is washed with alcohol, dried, covered with a soft plastic film, and the open portions such as the opening and the free end are closed, so that the foreign matter during transportation can be prevented. In order to prevent the occurrence of adhesion and flaws, for example, the work of inspecting and cleaning the surface when removing the glass base material is eliminated. In addition, by using a soft plastic film, it is possible to easily close the opening and the like, and also to easily take out the glass base material. At this time, as the soft plastic film, for example, a polyethylene film, a vinyl chloride film, and other general packaging films used as ordinary packaging films can be applied.

[0007] By encapsulating using such a soft plastic film, the enclosing operation and the unloading operation are facilitated, and the opening and the like can be easily sealed. In order to prevent the intrusion, it is possible to use a heat sealer or the like to seal with heat seal, etc. You may make it close a film by making the film of an overlapping part adhere closely.

In the present invention, the thickness of the soft plastic film is set to 0.01 to 0.2 mm. If such a thin soft plastic film is used, the wrapping operation and the taking out operation are further facilitated. For example, even when the film is broken and taken out at the time of taking out, the work is easy. In addition, if a thin soft plastic film is used, it is possible to easily close the free end portion of the film, for example, only by overlapping and adhering the free end portions.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the soft plastic film has a size that can accommodate a glass base material and has a bag-like shape or a cylindrical shape with one end or both ends open. After accommodating the material, the opening at one end or both ends was closed.

[0010] If a bag-like or tubular-like material is used, the wrapping operation can be particularly easily performed. At this time, the opening may be blocked by a heat sealing method or another method.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the soft plastic film is a sheet having a lateral length longer than the axial length of the glass base material and a vertical length longer than the outer peripheral length of the glass base material. After the film is wound so that the longitudinal direction of the film is wrapped along the outer circumferential direction of the glass base material, the excess portions at both ends in the lateral direction may be wound inward to close the film.

If such a film is used, for example, a commercially available film for wrapping daily necessities or the like can be used for wrapping, but in this case, the length in the vertical direction is sufficiently longer than the outer peripheral length of the glass base material. At the same time, make sure that the horizontal length is sufficiently longer than the axial length of the glass base material, and that the overlapping length at the free end and the wrapping length in the horizontal direction are sufficiently secured so that each part can be securely closed. Is preferred.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described. The method of conveying or storing the glass base material according to the present invention is such that, when the glass base material is transferred or stored, it is possible to smoothly perform an operation of wrapping the glass base material with the packaging material and an operation of removing the glass base material from the packaging material, After washing the surface of the glass base material with alcohol and drying, wrapping it with a soft plastic film, closing the open part, storing it in a container such as a container, transporting it to a predetermined place, and after transporting,
The glass base material extracted from the soft plastic film can be directly input to the next operation.

[0014] Such a soft plastic film is
It is a bag-shaped or cylindrical film of a size capable of accommodating the glass base material in advance, and after storing the glass base material, the opening may be sealed by heat sealing or wrapping inward, or may be vertically or horizontally long. After wrapping the sheet-like film whose length is sufficiently longer than the outer peripheral length and the axial length of the glass base material so as to be wound around the outer peripheral portion of the glass base material, both ends may be wound inward and closed.

As such a soft plastic film, for example, a polyethylene film, a vinyl chloride film or other general films can be applied. In particular, if a film having a thickness in the range of 0.01 to 0.2 mm is used, the glass substrate can be used. It is preferable because the work of wrapping and taking out the material is easy, and the opening and the like are easily closed.

After the glass base material has been wrapped, the opened portion is sealed, so that, for example, even if foreign matter enters the container during transportation, the foreign matter does not adhere to the glass base material and is opened and taken out. It is also possible to put the glass base material as it is in operations such as drawing. Further, even when a plurality of glass base materials are simultaneously accommodated in the container, there is no situation where the glass base materials come into direct contact with each other, and there is no problem that the surface of the glass base material is scratched.

When the glass base material is taken out by opening, for example, if a part of the soft plastic film is cut, it can be taken out easily, especially in the case of a thin film, and it takes no time.

[0018]

EXAMPLES Next, examples of the present invention will be described, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. (Example 1) As shown in FIG. 1, a bag of a soft plastic film F capable of accommodating a glass base material W was prepared. Here, the outer diameter of the glass base material W is 40 mm, and the straight body length is 900 m.
m, on the other hand, as a bag of the soft plastic film F, the material is made of vinyl chloride, the thickness is 0.1 mm,
An inner diameter of 60 mm, a length of 1000 mm, one end closed and the other end opened was prepared.

Then, a bag of soft plastic film F made of vinyl chloride is added to an aqueous solution of ethyl alcohol (70
%), The glass base material W which has been left standing in a clean room and dried is housed, and then the opening is sealed by heat sealing or the like, and the product is put into a container containing a cushion material and transported and taken out. In addition, there was no adhesion of foreign substances or generation of scratches on the glass base material W, and measures such as re-cleaning and re-polishing were not necessarily required. In addition, the wrapping operation and the unloading operation are extremely simple, and the time is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional case.

Example 2 As shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, a sheet-shaped soft plastic film F having a length and width sufficient to wrap a glass base material W was prepared. Here, the outer diameter of the glass base material W is 60 mm and the straight body length is 1300 mm, whereas the sheet of the soft plastic film F is made of polyethylene, has a thickness of 0.01 mm, and has a vertically long shape. It was 450 mm in length and 1500 mm in horizontal length.

Then, after the surface is washed with isopropyl alcohol, the glass base material W left to dry in a clean room is wrapped around the film sheet so as to be wound in the longitudinal direction, and the excess portions at both ends are placed inside. When it was rolled up and folded several times into a container with cushion material, transported and taken out, there was no adhesion of foreign matter or scratches on the glass base material W, and no treatment such as re-cleaning or re-polishing was necessary. Was something. In addition, the wrapping operation and the unloading operation are extremely simple, and the time is significantly reduced as compared with the conventional case. From the above, the effectiveness of the present invention was confirmed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The above embodiment is an exemplification, and has substantially the same configuration as the technical idea described in the scope of the claims of the present invention. It is included in the technical scope of the invention.

For example, the form of the soft plastic film F is not limited to a bag-like form with only one end open, but may be a cylindrical form with both ends open, or a glass base material W contained in a container such as a container. Not only when transporting
For example, the present invention can also be applied to a case of temporarily storing.

The method of cleaning and drying the surface of the glass base material is not limited to the method described above, and any other commonly used method such as using another alcohol or heating and drying may be used. I can do it.

In the above description, after the glass base material is transported or stored according to the present invention, the glass base material is taken out of the soft plastic film and sent to the next process as it is. It goes without saying that the base material may be sent to the next step after processing such as re-cleaning.

[0026]

As described above, in the method for transporting or storing a glass base material according to the present invention, the surface of the glass base material is washed with alcohol, dried, wrapped with a soft plastic film, and the opening or the like is opened. The location was closed and stored or transported or stored in a container via a cushioning material, preventing foreign substances from adhering to the surface or causing scratches during transport, and also when removing the glass base material. It is also possible to abolish the work of inspecting and cleaning the surface, and to simplify the work and shorten the work time. Further, the thickness of the soft plastic film is set to 0.0
When the thickness is 1 to 0.2 mm, the wrapping operation and the unloading operation are further facilitated, and it is also possible to easily close the free end portion of the film, for example, by simply overlapping and adhering the same. Become.

The flexible plastic film is formed in a bag or a tube having one end or both ends opened. After the glass base material is accommodated in the bag or the tube, the openings at the one end or both ends are closed. By doing so, the wrapping operation can be particularly easily performed. If a sheet-like film having a sufficient length and width is used as the soft plastic film, for example, a commercially available film for wrapping daily necessities or the like can be used to wrap the film, which is convenient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view when a soft plastic film according to the present invention is formed into a bag shape and a glass base material is wrapped.

FIGS. 2A to 2C are explanatory diagrams when a glass base material is wrapped with a soft plastic film of a sheet-like film.

[Explanation of symbols]

 F: Soft plastic film, W: Glass base material.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tadakatsu Shimada 2-3-1-1, Isobe, Annaka-shi, Gunma Shin-Etsu Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. Precision Functional Materials Research Laboratories (72) Inventor Hideo Hirasawa Isobe, Annaka-shi, Gunma 2-13-1 Shin-Etsu Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. Precision Functional Materials Laboratory F-term (reference) 3E043 AA03 BA06 EA16 EA20

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A step of washing and drying a surface of a glass base material with alcohol, and a step of enclosing the glass base material with a soft plastic film to seal off an opening or a free end portion. A method for transporting or storing a glass base material, comprising a step of storing and transporting or storing a package of a glass base material in a container via a cushion material. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said soft plastic film has a thickness of 0.01 to 0.2 mm. Method. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the soft plastic film is large enough to accommodate the glass base material and is open at one end or both ends. A method of conveying or storing a glass base material, wherein the glass base material is shaped like a cylinder or a cylinder, and an opening at one end or both ends is closed after the glass base material is accommodated in a bag or a cylinder. 4. The method for conveying or storing a glass base material according to claim 1, wherein the soft plastic film has a horizontal length longer than an axial length of the glass base material and a vertical length. It is a sheet longer than the outer peripheral length of the glass base material, and after being wound so that the longitudinal direction of the sheet-like film is wrapped along the outer peripheral direction of the glass base material, the excess portion at both ends in the horizontal direction is wound inward A method for transporting or storing a glass base material, wherein the glass base material is sealed off.