JP2015077648A - Optical fiber end face grinder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a grinding device capable of grinding while easily aligning a lens focal axis and an optic axis of an optical fiber when an optical fiber end face is processed into a lens, and capable of processing plural optical fiber end faces simultaneously.SOLUTION: An annular V-shaped groove is provided on a grinder, and an optical fiber end face which is rotated around an optic axis is brought into contact with the V-shaped groove for grinding, thereby a center of a part to be processed on the optical fiber serving as a lens focal axis and a central axis of the optical fiber to be the optic axis of the optical fiber are made match, for facilitating alignment of the lens focal axis formed on the part to be processed which has been ground and the optic axis of the optical fiber.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber end surface polishing machine for polishing an end surface of an optical fiber.

  Currently, in the field of information communication, a cable transition from a conductive cable used so far to an optical fiber cable is in progress. Optical fibers communicate with each other by being connected to circuit components that perform photoelectric conversion. For this reason, the end portion of the optical fiber is made into a lens for the connection portion, and the direction of the output light is made uniform, so that loss during conversion can be suppressed and communication efficiency can be improved. While having such an advantage, in optical communication, it is necessary to match the optical axis of the optical fiber with the focal axis of the lens in forming the lens of the end face of the optical fiber, which is a main component. It had the subject that it was difficult to process an optical fiber end surface simultaneously.

  As a similar processing corresponding to the above-mentioned problem, there is a method for processing an end face of a ribbon fiber in which a plurality of optical fibers are bundled. Is published after the application. In these two prior applications, Patent Document 1 discloses a polishing method in which a polishing disk provided with a V-groove is reciprocated, and Patent Document 2 discloses a polishing method in which the end face of a bent optical fiber is polished on the polishing disk. , Each of which is a technical feature, and enables a plurality of optical fiber end faces to be polished simultaneously.

JP-A-11-223732 Japanese Patent No. 4263705

  While having the above-described technical features and the effects thereof, the polishing methods described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are chamfering polishing methods for ribbon fibers, and a plurality of optical fibers were simultaneously polished. There is no means for aligning the center of each optical fiber end face with the optical axis of the optical fiber. For this reason, the polishing methods described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have a problem that a plurality of optical fiber end faces cannot be formed into lenses simultaneously.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the invention described in the present application, when forming the lens of the optical fiber end face, the focal axis of the lens and the optical axis of the optical fiber can be easily aligned and polished, and a plurality of optical fiber end faces are provided. An object of the present invention is to provide a polishing apparatus capable of processing at the same time.

  For the above purpose, the polishing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that polishing is performed by pressing a rotating optical fiber end face against a polishing disk having an annular V groove. Yes. More specifically, it is a V-groove profiling apparatus that utilizes the elasticity of an optical fiber, and performs partial surface grinding by apparent three-point support using the two surfaces of the V-groove and the load applied by the pressing. It is characterized by the structure to be performed.

The polishing apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention is characterized by polishing by pressing a plurality of optical fiber end faces against the V-groove described in the first aspect. .

  By using the structure described above, the polishing apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention can align the center of the polished end face with the optical axis of the optical fiber when polishing the end face of the optical fiber. This is the effect of rotating and polishing an optical fiber end surface rotated by an optical fiber holding mechanism that applies rotation about an optical fiber core with a surface grinder provided with an annular V groove in the structure described in the present application. It has become.

  More specifically, the end of the optical fiber is stripped and the end face of the optical fiber is protruded and pressed against the V-groove, so that the center of the V-groove and the center of the optical fiber core that is the optical fiber optical axis are always obtained during polishing. An overlapping structure can be used. This is due to the fact that the V-groove functions as a guide with respect to the side surface of the optical fiber core wire that contacts the inner wall of the V-groove. That is, in the polishing machine described in the present application, the V-groove serving as the polishing disk is not polished by setting the cut amount in the end face of the optical fiber, but using the elasticity of the optical fiber and the optical groove. By abutting and polishing the end face, the center of the shape to be polished formed on the end face of the optical fiber is aligned with the center of the optical fiber core that becomes the optical axis of the optical fiber.

  Also, in this aspect, the polishing amount of the end face of the optical fiber polished by the inner wall on the inner side and the inner wall on the outer side of the V groove can be made equal by the interaction between the rotating optical fiber and the V groove that is rotationally polished. It becomes possible. This is an effect obtained by adding rotation about the optical fiber core to the optical fiber to be polished.

  That is, in a general surface grinder serving as a basic structure of the present application, a difference in polishing amount due to a difference in speed between the inner peripheral side and the outer peripheral side occurs on the surface of the polishing disk due to the structure. For this reason, at the time of polishing using a surface grinder, the material to be polished is affixed to a processing surface plate and polished. Since the processing surface plate is rotatably supported, the difference in the amount of polishing can be eliminated at the relative speeds of the facing surfaces of the processing surface plate and the surface polishing machine by contacting the rotating surface grinding machine. , Uniform surface polishing can be performed.

  On the other hand, in the polishing machine described in the present application, the end face of the optical fiber is polished using an annular V groove provided on the surface of the polishing board. For this reason, as described in Patent Document 1, in the case of performing polishing by contact only, the inner wall and the outer periphery of the inner circumferential side of the V-groove are obtained despite the lens processing of the optical fiber end face that requires high accuracy. There is a problem that the central axis of the shape to be polished is biased due to the difference in the polishing rate generated between the side inner walls. In addition, since the V-groove is annular, the side surface of the shape to be polished is curved. In the present application, the influence of the speed difference between the end face of the optical fiber to be polished and each of the wall surfaces is eliminated by applying rotation about the optical fiber core to such a problem caused by making the V groove annular.

  More specifically, by rotating the optical fiber, the polishing on each inner wall of the end face of the optical fiber that abuts on each wall surface is a polishing that includes a forward component with respect to the rotation direction of the polishing disk. It is possible to combine the rotating polishing including the reverse direction component. Therefore, in the polishing machine described in this aspect, the difference in the polishing amount caused by the speed difference can be offset by the difference in the polishing amount depending on the rotation direction of the optical fiber. In addition, in the polishing machine of this aspect, the end face of the optical fiber that is polished at the same rate for the entire circumference is always sent in the center direction by the elasticity. For this reason, it is possible to continuously align the center of the shape to be polished which is polished by the V-groove and the center which is the optical axis of the optical fiber core wire. From the same technical point of view, rotating the rotation direction of the optical fiber in the opposite direction to the above increases the polishing speed on the inner peripheral side, lowers the polishing speed on the outer peripheral side, and alternately performs rough polishing and finish polishing. While performing, it is also possible to align the optical axis with the central axis of the end face of the optical fiber.

  As described above, by using the polishing machine described in this aspect, a conical shape having good coaxiality that can be used as a lens blank is formed on the end face of the optical fiber, and the blank tip is centered on the optical axis by another processing. Thus, it is possible to easily align the focal axis of the lens and the optical axis of the optical fiber.

  Further, by using the content described in the second aspect of the present invention in the above structure, it becomes possible to simultaneously process a plurality of optical fiber end faces by the polishing machine of the first aspect. This is because the polishing apparatus described in the present application polishes the end face of the optical fiber by using the annular V groove. That is, by polishing using an annular V-groove, the optical fibers to be processed can be arranged radially, and a plurality of optical fiber tips can be processed under the same processing conditions. Sex can be imparted. In addition, in this embodiment, a plurality of V-grooves of the polishing disk can be provided concentrically, so that it is also possible to simultaneously polish a plurality of optical fiber end faces having different shapes such as a tip angle.

As described above, by using the structure described in the claims of the present application, when the optical fiber end face is made into a lens, the focal axis of the lens and the optical axis of the optical fiber can be easily aligned and polished. It is possible to provide a polishing apparatus capable of simultaneously processing the optical fiber end faces.

1 is an overall perspective view of an optical fiber end surface polishing machine used in an embodiment of the present invention. Enlarged view of the end face of the optical fiber shown in FIG. Explanatory drawing of the optical fiber end surface polished in embodiment of this invention Overall perspective view during multiple polishing using the optical fiber end surface polishing machine shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, the best embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3 and 4. In addition, about the symbol and component number in a figure, the common symbol or number is provided to what functions as the same component.

  FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view of an optical fiber end surface polishing machine used in the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the optical fiber end surface in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a surface polished in the embodiment of the present invention. An explanatory view of the end face of the optical fiber is shown, and FIG. 4 is an overall perspective view at the time of multiple polishing using the polishing machine. In addition, about the mechanism of an optical fiber holding | maintenance part upper part, description in a figure is abbreviate | omitted.

  As can be seen from FIG. 1, the optical fiber end surface polishing machine used in the present embodiment is provided with a clamp portion 2 that gives rotation to the optical fiber 1 around the optical fiber core, and the optical fiber 1 held by the clamp portion 2. The end surface is abutted against an annular V-groove e provided on the flat polishing disc 3 and polished. Here, the rotation direction of the polishing disk 3 is clockwise when viewed from above in the figure, and the rotation direction of the optical fiber 1 is clockwise when viewed from the front of the optical fiber end face. With such a structure, in the polishing apparatus described in the present embodiment, the length to be stripped can be suppressed to several millimeters for the portion to be processed f that is stripped during polishing and the end face of the optical fiber protrudes. In addition, since the other contact portion of the optical fiber 1 such as the clamped portion g becomes a covering portion, damage to the optical fiber 1 during processing does not occur, and stripping with a predetermined dimension is possible after processing. became.

  Further, as can be seen from FIGS. 2 and 3, in the present embodiment, the processed part f that rotates about the optical axis is abutted against the V groove e and polished. For this reason, polishing is performed with an apparent three-point support structure by the contacting load and both side walls of the V-groove, and the center of the V-groove e and the center of the end face of the optical fiber that is the optical axis of the optical fiber are always overlapped during polishing. Could be a structure. This is an effect of the V groove e functioning as a guide with respect to the side surface of the processed part f that contacts the V groove e. That is, in the polishing machine of the present embodiment, the V groove e serving as a polishing disk is not polished by setting the cut amount in the processed part f, but is provided in the polishing disk 3 using the elasticity of the optical fiber 1. Further, the center of the shape of the processed part formed on the end face of the optical fiber and the center of the optical fiber core serving as the optical axis of the optical fiber are aligned by abutting and polishing the V groove e and the processed part f. In the present embodiment, during polishing, the polishing liquid is dropped into the V groove for polishing.

  More specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 (a), by rotating the optical fiber 1, polishing of the workpiece to be in contact with the inner peripheral side inner wall and the outer peripheral side inner wall of the V groove e is performed. In addition, polishing (i) by the V-groove inner peripheral side wall rotating including the forward direction component with respect to the rotation direction of the polishing disc 3, and polishing by the V-groove outer peripheral side wall rotating (o) including the reverse direction component, Can be combined. Thereby, in the polishing machine of this embodiment, the difference in the polishing amount caused by the speed difference between the inner wall on the inner periphery side and the inner wall on the outer periphery side of the V groove e can be offset by the difference in the polishing amount depending on the rotation direction of the optical fiber. In addition, as can be seen from FIG. 3 (a), in the polishing machine of this embodiment, the processed part f to be polished at the same rate for the entire circumference of the optical fiber is always V-groove e due to the elasticity and the rotation of the optical fiber 1. The structure is sent in the center direction. Therefore, it becomes possible to continuously align the center of the shape to be polished, which is polished by the V-groove e, with the center serving as the optical axis of the optical fiber core wire and the core c of the optical fiber.

  FIG. 3B shows an enlarged view of a workpiece to be polished according to the above principle. As can be seen from FIG. 3B, by using the polishing apparatus described in the present embodiment, the outer periphery of the end face of the optical fiber is uniformly polished around the optical axis of the optical fiber. Therefore, after the polishing described in the present embodiment, when the end face of the optical fiber is made into a lens, it becomes possible to easily align the focal axis of the lens formed on the polished processed portion f and the optical axis of the optical fiber 1. . Note that the rotation direction of the polishing disk is a relief direction with respect to the inclination of the optical fiber, which gives an effect of suppressing chipping in the processed part during polishing.

  In addition to the basic structure described above and the effects thereof, FIG. 4 shows a configuration when performing a plurality of polishings using the polishing apparatus described in this embodiment. In this configuration, mass production of the same optical fiber is performed using the same V-groove e. However, by changing the rotation direction of the optical fiber holding portion, the contact angle of the optical fiber, etc. from the same technical point of view, Any optical fiber end face can be obtained.

As described above, by using the structure described in the embodiment of the present invention, when the end face of the optical fiber is made into a lens, the focal axis of the lens and the optical axis of the optical fiber can be easily aligned and polished. It was possible to provide a polishing apparatus capable of simultaneously processing the optical fiber end faces.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber 2 Clamp part 3 Polishing board c Core d Clad e V groove f Worked part g Clamped part

Claims (2)

An optical fiber tip polishing machine,
A polishing machine having an annular V-groove centered on the rotation axis of the polishing machine;
An optical fiber holding mechanism for applying rotation around the optical fiber core,
A polishing apparatus for polishing by pressing an end face of an optical fiber rotated by the holding mechanism against a V groove of the rotated polishing disk.
  The polishing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein polishing is performed by pressing a plurality of optical fiber end faces against the V groove.

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