JP2006308747A - Manufacturing device of optical fiber bundle and manufacturing method of the optical fiber bundle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a high-quality welded part with simple constitution and also simply and easily in a manufacturing device and a manufacturing method for forming the end face of an optical fiber bundle with welding. <P>SOLUTION: A high-quality welded part 101 is formed at the end part of an optical fiber bundle 10 by allowing the optical bundle to be heated into a uniform temperature range from its surrounding part to the center part while heating both sides of the surroundings of a metal mouthpiece pipe 11 and the end face of the optical fiber bundle 10 with a heating device 20 after putting the metal mouthpiece pipe 11 on the end face of the optical fiber bundle 10. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a heat-resistant optical fiber bundle used for, for example, a light guide, an image guide, and an optical fiber sensor provided in an endoscope, and more particularly to a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method thereof.

Conventionally, as a method of manufacturing this type of optical fiber bundle, a plurality of optical fiber strands are bundled to form a bundle, and a flexible base tube is covered on the end, and then a heating device There has been proposed one that is inserted into a heating coil and subjected to a fusion treatment (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This heating device heats and softens the periphery of the base tube of the optical fiber bundle with the heating coil to a temperature near the softening temperature above the bending point of the optical fiber, and pulls and moves the optical fiber bundle in this softened state. Then, the end portion is inserted into a diameter-reducing die, and the end portion is reduced in diameter to a desired filling rate.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-30771

  However, in the manufacturing method of the optical fiber bundle, since the diameter is reduced by heating from the periphery of the base tube of the optical fiber bundle, the temperature difference tends to occur between the peripheral portion and the central portion of the bundle, and the temperature difference As a result, the fusion quality is deteriorated so that a desired filling rate cannot be obtained, and there is a possibility of causing irritation, so that the production is very troublesome.

  Such a problem becomes conspicuous when an optical fiber strand having a small diameter of about 30 μm is used or due to variations in the strand diameter of the optical fiber strand and the diameter of the cap tube.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method thereof that have a simple configuration and can easily and easily realize high-quality fusion. For the purpose.

  According to the present invention, an apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber bundle is configured by including heating means for heating the periphery of the optical fiber bundle and the end surface of the optical fiber bundle of the optical fiber bundle in which the cap pipe is inserted at the end.

  According to the above configuration, the optical fiber bundle is heated to a uniform temperature from the peripheral portion to the central portion by being heated from both the periphery of the base tube and the end surface thereof by the heating means. High-quality end fusion can be reliably performed. Therefore, it is possible to stably manufacture a high-quality fused structure that can be used up to the heat resistance temperature of the fiber temperature of the optical fiber bundle.

  The present invention also comprises a heating process of heating from both the periphery of the optical fiber bundle of the optical fiber bundle whose end is covered with the base pipe and the end face of the optical fiber bundle, thereby constituting an optical fiber bundle manufacturing method.

  According to the above configuration, the optical fiber bundle is heated from both the periphery of the end tube and the end face thereof in the heating step, so that the temperature is uniform from the periphery to the center of the end of the optical fiber bundle. Therefore, it is possible to reliably perform high-quality end fusion. Therefore, it is possible to stably manufacture a high-quality fused structure that can be used up to the heat resistance temperature of the fiber temperature of the optical fiber bundle.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method thereof that have a simple configuration, and that can easily and easily realize high-quality fusion. it can.

  Hereinafter, an optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method thereof according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  First, prior to describing an optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, a manufacturing procedure including an end face pretreatment of an optical fiber bundle 10 to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG. explain.

  That is, in the optical fiber bundle 10, a plurality of optical fiber strands 10a are bundled and inserted into the base tube 11 (see FIG. 1A), and a part of the base tube 11 is crimped with a swaging machine into a taper shape. Temporarily fixed (see FIG. 10B), and then attached to the base fixing yatoe 12 for extruding, for example (see FIG. 10C).

  Next, the optical fiber bundle 10 is attached to the first heating unit 21 of the heating device 20 and details of the diameter constituting the heating means and a diameter reducing device 30 called a diameter reducing die. Thereafter, the heating device 20 is driven and heated from both the periphery and the end face of the temporarily fixed end tube 11, and when the fiber bundle is melted, the diameter is reduced, and the fused portion 101 is attached to the end portion. Is formed (see FIG. 4D). Subsequently, the fused portion 101 of the optical fiber bundle 10 is cut (see (e) in the figure) and polished (see (f) in the figure).

  FIG. 2 shows an optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the heating device 20 includes a first heating unit 21 and a second heating unit 22. Among these, the 1st heating part 21 is formed in the ring shape by which heat generating bodies 211, such as an implantation heater, were embedded, for example, and the heat insulation part 23 is coat | covered by the outer peripheral part. In the first heating unit 21, the base tube 11 temporarily fixed to the end of the optical fiber bundle 10 is inserted, and the heating element 211 is driven through a drive control unit (not shown) to generate heat. Then, the periphery of the base tube 11 of the optical fiber bundle 10 is heated.

  The other second heating unit 22 is formed of a lamp such as a halogen lamp, for example, and this light irradiation surface is disposed to face the end surface of the optical fiber bundle 10. When the second heating unit 22 is driven and controlled via the drive control unit 24, the end surface of the optical fiber bundle 10 is irradiated with a light beam to heat the end surface.

  Further, the diameter reducing device 30 is juxtaposed on the downstream side of the first heating unit 21 in the heat insulating unit 23. The diameter reducing device 30 is formed in a tapered shape, for example, the parallel portion at the tip is set to 2 to 3 mm where the light beam irradiated from the second heating unit 22 can reach, and heating by the heating device 20 is performed. Prior to this, the diameter of the temporarily fixed base tube 11 is reduced. In this diameter reduction process, when the diameter is reduced by the diameter reducing device 30, the parallel portion is reduced in a taper shape having a length L of 2 to 3 mm, so that the first portion irradiated from the end of the optical fiber bundle 10 is irradiated. The second heating unit 22 is not damaged.

  In the heating device 20, for example, the length L1 of the heat insulating part is formed to be about 70 mm, the length L2 of the first heating part 21 is formed to be about 40 mm, and the second heating part 22 is formed. Are arranged opposite to the heat insulating part 13 with an interval d of about 19 mm.

  Here, the manufacturing procedure of the optical Pfizer bundle 10 using the heating device 20 will be described. First, when the fusion processing of the end of the optical fiber bundle 10 is performed, a plurality of optical fiber strands 10a are bundled as described above and the end is covered with the base tube 11, and the base tube 11 is tapered. The base fixing Yatoi 12 is attached to the base 11 between the bases 11 in a state where the base is fixed.

  Next, the optical fiber bundle 10 to which the base fixing yatoe 12 is attached is mounted on an extrusion mechanism (not shown), and the base fixing yatoy 12 is pushed into the heating device 20 and the diameter reducing device 30 and transferred to a predetermined position. Then, the diameter is reduced by the diameter reducing device 30. The diameter reducing device 30 is formed by reducing the diameter of the cap tube 11 of the optical fiber bundle 10 in a tapered shape, and the parallel portion has a length L of 2 to 3 mm. At this time, the optical fiber bundle 10 is effectively prevented from being bent by the optical fiber strand 10a, and is reduced in diameter with high quality.

  After the diameter reduction process, the first and second heating switches (not shown) are operated to shift to the fusion process. Then, the 1st and 2nd heating parts 21 and 22 are driven via the above-mentioned drive control part (not shown) and drive control part 24, respectively, and the 1st heating part 21 is the base tube 11 of the optical fiber bundle 10. Heat around. At the same time, the second heating unit 22 heats the end face of the optical fiber bundle 10 by irradiating it with a light beam. As a result, the optical fiber bundle 10 is heated substantially uniformly from the periphery of the end portion to the center portion, and the optical fiber strands 10a are fused in a hexagonal close packed state having a hexagonal cross section as shown in FIG. The portion 101 is formed and the fusion is finished.

  Here, the optical fiber bundle 10 is detached from the heating device 20, and is cut at the fused portion 101 as described above (see FIG. 1 (e)), and then polished (see FIG. 1 (f)). The work is completed.

  As described above, the optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus is configured to heat both the periphery of the cap tube 11 and the end face of the optical fiber bundle 10 that are covered with the end portion of the optical fiber bundle 10 by the heating device 20.

  According to this, the optical fiber bundle 10 is heated to a uniform temperature from the peripheral part to the central part by being heated from both the periphery of the cap tube 11 at the end part and the end face thereof by the heating device 20. The As a result, it is possible to reliably perform high-quality end fusion, and stably manufacture a high-quality fusion structure that can be used up to the heat resistance temperature of the optical fiber bundle 10 in which the upper limit temperature of the fiber is used. can do.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the first heating unit 21 is configured to have a heating structure in which the heating element 211 is embedded has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and other heating structures may be used. Is possible.

  Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, the above embodiments include inventions at various stages, and various inventions can be extracted by appropriately combining a plurality of disclosed constituent elements.

  For example, even if some constituent elements are deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiment, the problems described in the column of problems to be solved by the invention can be solved, and the effects described in the effects of the invention can be obtained. In some cases, a configuration from which this configuration requirement is deleted can be extracted as an invention.

  In addition, according to each of the embodiments described above, the present invention can also obtain the following configuration.

(Appendix 1)
In an optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus in which the end of an optical fiber bundle is inserted into a base tube and fixed,
A first heating unit for heating the periphery of the base tube of the optical fiber bundle;
A second heating unit for heating the end face of the optical fiber bundle;
An optical fiber bundle manufacturing apparatus comprising:

(Appendix 2)
The apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber bundle according to appendix 1, wherein the second heating unit is a lamp.

(Appendix 3)
The optical fiber bundle manufacturing method according to appendix 1 or 2, wherein the end portion of the base tube of the optical fiber bundle is subjected to a diameter reduction process prior to the fusion process by the first and second heating units. apparatus.

It is the figure which showed the manufacturing procedure of the optical fiber bundle to which the manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method of an optical fiber bundle concerning one embodiment of this invention are applied. It is the figure which showed the manufacturing apparatus of the optical fiber bundle which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which expanded and showed the diameter reducing apparatus of FIG. It is the figure which showed the fusion | melting process state by FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Optical fiber bundle, 10a ... Optical fiber strand, 101 ... Fusion part, 11 ... Base pipe, 12 ... Base fixing Yatoi, 20 ... Heating device, 21 ... 1st heating part, 211 ... Heat generating body, 22 ... 2nd Heating unit, 23 ... heat insulation unit, 24 ... drive control unit, 30 ... diameter reduction device.

Claims (6)

An apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber bundle, comprising: heating means for heating the periphery of the optical fiber bundle having the base tube inserted into the end portion and the end surface of the optical fiber bundle.   2. The optical fiber bundle according to claim 1, wherein the heating unit includes a first heating unit that heats the periphery of the cap tube of the optical fiber bundle, and a second heating unit that heats an end surface of the optical fiber bundle. apparatus.   The apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber bundle according to claim 2, wherein the second heating unit is a lamp.   The optical fiber bundle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a diameter-reducing means for reducing the diameter of the cap tube covered at an end of the optical fiber bundle prior to the heat treatment of the heating means. Manufacturing equipment. A method of manufacturing an optical fiber bundle, comprising: a heating step of heating both the periphery of the optical fiber bundle and the end face of the optical fiber bundle, the optical fiber bundle having an end covered with the base pipe.   6. The method of manufacturing an optical fiber bundle according to claim 5, further comprising a diameter reducing step of reducing a diameter of a cap tube covered on an end of the optical fiber bundle prior to the heat treatment in the heating step.

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