JP3164238B2 - Optical connector cleaning tool - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a photocurable resin composition.
The present invention relates to an optical connector cleaning tool used. Note that the optical connector
Sweeper is the end of the optical connector
A tool used to clean surfaces.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an optical connector used for connection between optical fibers, it is necessary to align optical fiber end faces with high precision on the order of microns and directly abut each other. For this reason, when using an optical connector, the ferrule end face must be cleaned before the connection operation. In particular, if you carelessly clean the end of the ferrule in the back,
The connection characteristics of the optical connector may be degraded due to the residue of lint or fuzz from the cleaning tool or the solvent remaining in the cleaning tool. For this reason, cleaning must be performed with great care, and the operation is very complicated.

[0003] In the conventional ferrule end face cleaning method, a cleaning method using a cotton swab as a cleaning tool or cleaning paper which is not easily fuzzy is generally used. For example, in a conventional cotton swab wound with a cotton thread, the diameter of the cotton thread itself is large and the gap between the cotton threads is large. Therefore, it is difficult to reliably wipe off dust and oil only with the cotton thread portion of the cotton swab. Further, at the time of cleaning, a cotton swab is rotated inside the jack or inserted and removed in the axial direction, but at this time, the cotton yarn is cut off or detached from the wound portion, and thread waste is easily generated. In order to prevent such problems, when using a cotton swab, a method such as adding a solvent such as ethanol to the wound portion of the cotton thread is used, and after cleaning, the lint or solvent is blown off by a gas such as Freon gas. Was. In this case, in addition to complicated management of the solvent such as ethanol which is a combustible material, there is a possibility that the environment is polluted by the used Freon gas or carbon dioxide gas.

Therefore, in order to solve the problem of the conventional cleaning tool, the ferrule end face of the optical connector can be cleaned by a simple operation, and the cleaning can be performed without using an organic solvent such as ethanol or a gas such as Freon gas. There has been proposed an optical connector purifier capable of reproducing a stable state. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-26202, entitled "Cleaning Tool for Optical Connector", discloses a cleaning device having a structure in which an elastic body is provided at the tip of an operating core and the periphery of the elastic body is covered with a cloth woven of ultrafine fibers. Cleaning methods using tools have been proposed. In such a cleaning device for an optical connector, the cleaning portion is not a twisted yarn but a cloth woven with extra-fine fibers, so that even when a yarn breakage or the like occurs, a lint is hardly generated. Further, the structure provided with the elastic body makes it possible to efficiently press the cleaning surface on the surface of the cleaning cloth against the end face of the ferrule, and to reliably clean the end face of the ferrule. Furthermore, even when cleaning the ferrule end face in a recessed place, the function of the elastic body
There is no fear that the cleaning cloth will be overloaded and the cleaning cloth will be torn or the tip of the core will damage the ferrule end face. In addition, the reaction force from the elastic body makes it possible to easily keep the pressure between the cloth and the ferrule end face constant, thereby making it possible to easily and uniformly clean the ferrule end face.

[0005]

As described above, a cleaning tool for an optical connector combining microfibers and an elastic body has a number of advantages. In manufacturing the cleaning tool, the cleaning surface on the surface of the cleaning cloth is removed. It was an important issue to develop an elastic body that can be efficiently pressed against the ferrule end face.

The requirements for the elastic body include the following. The rubber cloth must have appropriate rubber elasticity so that the cleaning cloth is evenly adhered when the cleaning tool is pressed against the ferrule surface. Since the optical connector cleaning tool is used in a large amount, it is necessary to manufacture a large amount and inexpensively. In order to improve the use efficiency of the mold, the molding time must be short and large quantities can be manufactured in a short time. Molding can be performed at a low temperature so that the shaft material is not deteriorated by heating during molding.

Generally, a rubber-based material is used as the elastic body. These materials are in a liquid or paste state before molding, and a cross-linking reaction occurs by heating to become a solid elastic body.
Usually, the heating operation requires a long time of 2 hours or more, and during this time, the molding die is occupied, so that the productivity is poor. In order to solve this problem, there is an attempt to apply a photocurable resin to an elastic body. However, since conventional photocurable resins cannot be molded in air due to oxygen inhibition, a special curing method such as curing in a nitrogen container was required. In addition, there is a problem that the elastic modulus is large and cannot be used as an elastic body for an optical connector cleaning tool.

Accordingly, the present invention has good cleaning properties.
Optical connector with excellent manufacturability and cost reduction
An object of the present invention is to provide a kuta cleaning tool.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, an optical connector cleaning tool according to the present invention firstly comprises a rod-shaped shaft.
At the end, the elastic body integrally molded with the shaft and the periphery of the elastic body
A cleaning unit having a cleaning cloth for covering the elastic body,
Mixture of olefin and polythiol as base resin
The gist is that it is a photocurable resin composition containing
You.

Second, the rod-shaped shaft is integrated with the shaft at the tip end.
Hold the molded elastic body and a cleaning cloth
Cleaning part, and the elastic body is made of polyolefin and polyolefin.
Photocurable resin composition containing thiol and epoxy resin
It should be a gist.

Third, the rod-shaped shaft is integrally formed with the shaft.
It has a shaped elastic body and a cleaning cloth covering the periphery of the elastic body
It has a cleaning part, and its elastic body is made of polyolefin and polystyrene.
5 parts epoxy resin per 100 parts by weight of all mixture
From 50 to 50 parts by weight
Is the gist.

[0012]

[0013]

In the above configuration, first, an optical connector cleaning tool
The elastic body provided at the tip of the rod-shaped shaft
Hardening based on a mixture of resin and polythiol as a base resin
Since it is a curable resin composition, it is not subject to oxygen inhibition. Although the elastic body according to the conventional photo-curable resin had to be molded by blocking the air for oxygen inhibition, the photo-curable resin composition
An elastic body made of a material can be molded in the air, and a great improvement in productivity can be obtained. As the polyolefin, for example, a urethane-based polymer obtained by reacting an alcohol with a diisocyanate, and a urethane-based polyene obtained by further reacting an allyl alcohol, a reaction between an epoxy compound and allyl alcohol or a reaction between an epoxy resin and allylamine Polyene or the like to be synthesized can be used. As the polythiol, a product obtained by an esterification reaction between β-mercaptopropionic acid and a polythiol such as trimethylolpropane or pentaerythritol can be used.

Second, the tip of the rod-shaped shaft of the optical connector cleaning tool
The elastic body provided at the end is made of polyolefin and polythio
Curable resin containing epoxy resin
Because it is a composition, it is possible to greatly reduce the elastic modulus after curing. A substance having a Shore A hardness of 75 or less is used as an elastic body used for the optical connector cleaning tool. Shore A with only mixture of polyolefin and polythiol
Although there are few cases where the hardness can be reduced to 75 or less, it is possible to more easily provide a photocurable resin composition capable of forming an elastic body of an optical connector cleaning tool by adding an epoxy resin. Examples of the epoxy resin include aliphatic diepoxides such as diglycidyl ether of butanediol and hexanediol, aliphatic monoepoxides such as allyl grindyl ether and butyl glycidyl ether, aromatic epoxides such as phenylglycidyl ether, and bis (3,4-epoxy). Alicyclic epoxy resins such as cyclohexyl) adipate can be used.

Third, the tip of the rod-shaped shaft of the optical connector cleaning tool
The elastic body provided at the end is made of polyolefin and polythio
Photo-curable resin composition containing epoxy resin and epoxy resin
And a mixture of polyolefin and polythiol 100
5 to 50 parts by weight of epoxy resin based on parts by weight
Therefore, the Shore A hardness can be reliably reduced to 75 or less, and the required characteristics as an elastic body for an optical connector cleaning tool can be sufficiently satisfied.

In the photocurable resin compositions of the first, second and third constitutions, a carbonyl compound such as benzophenone, fluorenone or benzanthrone is mixed as a sensitizer for the purpose of further shortening the curing time. Thus, the workability can be further improved.

An optical connector having the first, second or third configuration
Kuta cleaning tool consists of an elastic body molded at the tip of a rod-shaped shaft.
Low elastic modulus after curing of the constituent photocurable resin composition
Therefore, it is possible to obtain good cleaning properties. Also,
In the case of manufacturing an optical connector cleaning tool using the above-mentioned photocurable resin composition, several minutes is sufficient for photocuring. When a conventional thermosetting resin is used, the mold is occupied for several hours, so that the use of the photocurable resin composition improves the production efficiency by at least 10 times or more. Furthermore, since a heating device is not required, a significant cost reduction can be achieved.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

Example 1 Urethane-based polyene obtained by reacting butanediol, hexamethylene diisocyanate and allyl alcohol as polyolefin, and product obtained by esterification reaction of β-mercaptopropionic acid and trimethylolpropane as polythiol And benzophenone as a sensitizer. After preparing a photocurable resin composition in which the polyolefin, polythiol, and sensitizer were mixed at a weight ratio of 70: 29: 1, the mixture was cast onto a petri dish so as to have a thickness of 2 mm, and an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp was used. Ultraviolet rays of 10 mW / cm ² were irradiated for 10 minutes to cure in air. The Shore A hardness of the cured product was 71. The composition 3 is poured into a silicone resin mold shown in FIG. 3 and a core (rod-shaped shaft) 4 is inserted thereinto, and then cured by irradiating an ultraviolet ray 5 of 10 mW / cm ² for 10 minutes using an ultra-high pressure mercury lamp. I let it. In FIG.
Reference numerals 1 and 2 denote a molding die body and an enclosing jig, respectively, which constitute a molding mold. Both of the moldings 1 and 2 are made of silicone resin as described above from the viewpoint of easy transmission of ultraviolet rays and releasability from the composition 3. Have been made. The molding die body 1 has a through-hole 11 having substantially the same diameter as the core 4 and a hole provided with a large-diameter portion 12 at the end thereof. After the core 4 is inserted into the through hole 11 of the molding die body 1, the core 4 is positioned with respect to the hole by pressing a positioning jig (not shown) against the surface 13 of the molding die body 1. After positioning, the positioning jig is removed from the molding die body 1, and instead, the surrounding jig 2 is placed on the molding die body 1 and the composition 3 is poured from above. After the composition 3 is cured, the surrounding jig 2 is removed from the mold body 1 and the cutting jig 6 having a sharp tip is used.
The excess composition cured along the surface 13 of the mold body 1 is removed. Thereafter, the core 4 and the cured elastic body 31 of the composition 3 are integrally removed by extruding the rear end of the core 4 from below the through hole 11 of the molding die body 1.

Thereafter, the optical connector cleaning tool 10 shown in FIG. 1 was manufactured using the above-mentioned molded product. As shown in FIG. 2, cleaning is performed by inserting the tip of the optical connector cleaning tool 10 from the tip 741 of the optical connector jack 7 and picking the core 4 as shown by the arrow in the drawing to rotate and insert and remove. Was. The elastic body 31 produced by using the composition of the present invention adhered to the front end 81 of the cleaning cloth 8 while the front end part 32 was pressed against the end face 721 of the ferrule 72 and deformed.
Therefore, by rotating the optical connector cleaning tool 10, a wide range of dust and oil on the end face 721 could be easily removed. Furthermore, since the fold 83 of the cleaning cloth comes into contact with the inner surface 711 of the split sleeve 71 with an appropriate pressure due to the curing of the elastic body 31, the inner surface 711 of the split sleeve 71 is rotated as the optical connector cleaning tool 10 is rotated and inserted. Garbage and oil can be easily removed. In the above process, the oil was absorbed by the cleaning cloth 8, and the dust was surrounded by the stitches of the cleaning cloth to complete the cleaning.

In this embodiment, the optical connector cleaning tool 10
Obviously, the photocurable resin composition could be applied to the preparation of the optical connector cleaning tool elastic body that satisfies the required characteristics in a short time by using the photocurable resin composition of this example. Can be provided.

Example 2 Epoxy polyene obtained by reacting bisphenol type epoxy resin with allyl alcohol as polyolefin, product obtained by esterification reaction of β-mercaptopropionic acid and pentaerythritol as polythiol, and sensitizer as sensitizer Using fluorenone, weight ratio 6
A photocurable resin composition mixed at a ratio of 0: 39: 1 was prepared. The Shore A hardness of the cured product when cured in the same manner as in Example 1 was 75. Further, similarly to Example 1, an optical connector cleaning tool using the photocurable resin of the present example was able to be manufactured, and good cleaning characteristics were obtained.

Example 3 A commercially available photocurable resin composition (BY-310, manufactured by Asahi Denka) comprising a combination of polyolefin and polythiol was prepared in Example 1.
When cured by the same method as described above, the Shore A hardness of the cured product is 78 and cannot be used as it is as an elastic body for an optical connector cleaning tool. Di-glycidyl ether of hexanediol (HDDG), butyl glycidyl ether (BGE), phenyl glycidyl ether (PGE), bis (3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)
Fig. 4 shows Shore A hardness when each epoxy resin of adipate (BECA) was added and cured by ultraviolet irradiation.
Shown in When an epoxy resin is added to the base resin, the hardness of the cured product decreases, and the required characteristic hardness of 75 or less is satisfied. However, if the amount of addition is large, it becomes difficult to cure or the cured product becomes brittle, so that it cannot be used as an elastic body for an optical connector cleaning tool. From FIG.
100 parts by weight of BY-310 and HDDG of 20 parts
When 50 to 50 parts by weight, 5 to 40 parts by weight for BGE, 7 to 40 parts by weight for PGE, and 25 to 45 parts by weight for BECA, an elastic body having a Shore A hardness of 75 or less is obtained. It satisfies the required characteristics. As a result, as in Example 1, it was possible to manufacture an optical connector cleaning tool using the photocurable resin in the above range, and good cleaning characteristics were obtained.

From this example, it is clear that the addition of an epoxy compound can greatly reduce the hardness without impairing the photocurability of a photocurable resin composition in which a polyolefin and a polythiol are combined.

[0025]

As described above, the optical connector of the present invention
The cleaning tool is a photo-curable resin composition in which the elastic body that forms the cleaning section is excellent in moldability without being affected by oxygen, and cures in a short time by light irradiation , greatly improving productivity. Thus, the cost can be significantly reduced. In addition, the optical connector cleaning tool manufactured using the photocurable resin composition has a small elastic modulus after curing the photocurable resin composition, so that good cleaning characteristics can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an embodiment of an optical connector cleaning tool according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a cleaning state of an optical connector jack by the optical connector cleaning tool of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows an optical connector cleaning tool according to the present invention .
It is a figure showing the method of shaping a curable resin composition.

FIG. 4 shows a commercially available photocurable resin composition in which a polyolefin and a polythiol are combined, and diglycidyl ether (HDDG) of hexanediol, butyl glycidyl ether (BGE), and phenyl glycidyl ether (PG).
FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing Shore A hardness when each epoxy resin of E) and bis (3,4-epoxycyclohexyl) adipate (BECA) is added and cured by ultraviolet irradiation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 3 photocurable resin composition 4 core (rod-shaped shaft) 10 optical connector cleaning tool 31 cured elastic body of photocurable resin composition

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI G02B 6/36 G02B 6/36 (56) References JP-A-63-49168 (JP, A) JP-A-4-74611 (JP) JP-A-54-116096 (JP, A) JP-A-3-210364 (JP, A) JP-A-1-201652 (JP, A) JP-A 64-22927 (JP, A) JP-A-55-104318 (JP, A) JP-A-2-112245 (JP, U) JP-B-50-1599 (JP, B2) JP-A-3-19374 (JP, A) Y2) Utility model registration 2530291 (JP, Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) C08G 75/04 B08B 1/00 A47L 25/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A rod-shaped shaft is integrally formed with a tip of the shaft.
A shaped elastic body, and a cleaning cloth covering the periphery of the elastic body.
A cleaning unit having the elastic body, an optical connector cleaning tool which is a mixture of light-curable resin composition containing as a base resin of polyolefin and polythiols. 2. A rod-shaped shaft is integrally formed with a tip of the shaft.
A shaped elastic body, and a cleaning cloth covering the periphery of the elastic body.
A cleaning unit having the elastic body, an optical connector cleaning tool, which is a photo-curable resin composition comprising a polyolefin and polythiols and epoxy resins. 3. A rod-shaped shaft is integrally formed with a tip of the shaft.
A shaped elastic body, and a cleaning cloth covering the periphery of the elastic body.
A cleaning unit having the elastic body, with respect to 100 parts by weight of a mixture of polyolefin and polythiols, optical connector cleaning tool, characterized in that the epoxy resin from 5 photocurable resin composition containing 50 parts by weight .