JP4559139B2 - Optical fiber drawing device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical fiber drawing apparatus in which a high quality optical fiber small in the variation of the outside diameter can be obtained by providing a chuck for reducing the vibration of an optical fiber preform with a simple structure. <P>SOLUTION: In the optical fiber drawing apparatus provided with the chuck for suspending and holding the optical fiber preform and a drawing furnace for heating and melting the optical fiber preform and drawing into the optical fiber, the chuck 20 has a plurality of chuck parts 21A, 21B, each structured respectively to provide a damping member 24A, 24B between a claw member 22A, 22B brought into contact with the optical fiber preform and a claw supporting member 23A, 23B and has an opening/closing mechanism 26 for opening and closing the claw members 22A, 22B of the respective chuck parts 21A, 21B by supporting the claw supporting members 23A, 23B of the respective chuck parts 21A, 21B and moving to part from and close to each other. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&amp;NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber drawing device, and provides a high-quality optical fiber with little variation in outer diameter by providing a chuck capable of reducing vibration of a holding optical fiber preform in a suspended position. The present invention relates to an optical fiber drawing device that can be obtained.

  In manufacturing an optical fiber by heating and melting an optical fiber preform in a suspended posture in a drawing furnace, it is important to reduce vibration of the optical fiber preform. When the optical fiber preform vibrates, the variation in the outer diameter of the optical fiber increases, and the quality of the drawn optical fiber is degraded.

  As an optical fiber drawing device (optical fiber manufacturing device) for the purpose of solving such a problem of vibration of the optical fiber preform, for example, there is one proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-163631. As shown in FIG. 6, this optical fiber drawing apparatus is an optical fiber drawing apparatus that manufactures an optical fiber 83 by heating and drawing an optical fiber preform 81 in a drawing furnace 82. A piezo actuator 86 is provided between the gripper 84 for gripping and the base 85 for supporting the gripper 84, and a strain gauge 87 for detecting the weight deviation of the optical fiber preform 81 is provided on the gripper 84. The control device (not shown) detects the positional deviation of the optical fiber preform 81 from the strain gauge 87, and drives the piezo actuator 86 to displace the gripper 84, thereby locating the positional deviation such as the inclination of the optical fiber preform 81. I am trying to fix it. In this way, vibration, bending, and the like of the optical fiber preform 81 are detected as an inclination with respect to the vertical direction (center line of the drawing furnace), and the inclination is corrected.

However, although the optical fiber drawing device described above can detect the vibration, bending, etc. of the optical fiber preform as an inclination with respect to the vertical direction and correct the inclination, the attitude of the optical fiber preform can be adjusted appropriately. There is a drawback that the configuration of the control device is complicated.
JP 2001-163631 A (FIGS. 1 to 3) JP 2003-342035 A (FIGS. 1 and 2)

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber that can provide a high-quality optical fiber with little variation in outer diameter dimension by providing a chuck that can reduce vibration of the optical fiber preform with a simple configuration. It is to provide a drawing apparatus.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention takes the following technical means.

The invention of claim 1 is an optical fiber drawing apparatus comprising: a chuck for hanging and holding an optical fiber preform; and a drawing furnace for heating and melting the optical fiber preform to draw an optical fiber. includes a chuck portion, the chuck portion comprises a pawl member to abut on the optical fiber preform, and the claw support member for supporting the claw member, is sandwiched between the pawl support member and the pawl member Provided in a hard member housing space formed by a vibration damping member made of a viscoelastic material and the claw member, the claw support member and the vibration damping member, and holding the optical fiber preform. It has a claw member and a hard member that contacts the claw support member in a state where the member is compressed and deformed in the thickness direction, and moves so as to separate and approach the claw support members between the chuck portions. Make Is an optical fiber drawing device according to claim which has a closing mechanism for opening and closing the claw members between the chuck portion between.

An optical fiber drawing device of the present invention includes a chuck having a plurality of chuck portions and gripping an optical fiber preform, and the chuck portion that makes contact with the optical fiber preform, and the claw member A nail support member for supporting the nail, a vibration damping member that is sandwiched between the nail member and the nail support member, and is made of a viscoelastic material, and the nail member, the nail support member, and the vibration suppression member. A hard member which is accommodated in the formed rigid member accommodating space and abuts against the claw member and the claw support member in a state where the vibration damping member is compressed and deformed in the thickness direction when the optical fiber preform is gripped. It is made the structure.

Therefore, in the chuck, the nail member and the nail support can be obtained by using both the flexible support of the optical fiber preform by providing the damping member and the rigid support of the optical fiber preform by providing the hard member. Compared with a member having only a damping member between members, the force for gripping the optical fiber preform can be increased. Further, the hard member performs a minute rolling motion or a minute sliding motion between the claw member and the claw support member with respect to the vibration of the optical fiber base material (the pendulum vibration or bending vibration of the base material). The member can easily perform a minute swinging motion within the elastic deformation range of the damping member, and can insulate vibration input from the outside with respect to the optical fiber preform. Further, the pendulum vibration and the like of the optical fiber preform that has occurred can be quickly attenuated by absorbing the vibration energy by the damping member. Therefore, by providing a chuck having a simple structure in which a vibration damping member and a hard member are provided between the claw member and the claw support member, vibration of the optical fiber preform in a suspended posture is reduced. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a high-quality optical fiber with little variation in the outer diameter.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of an optical fiber drawing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the optical fiber drawing apparatus includes a chuck 20 ′ that holds a support portion 1 b of the optical fiber preform 1 that has a thin cylindrical shape and holds the optical fiber preform 1 in a suspended state, and a heater 3 a. A drawing furnace 3 that heats and melts the optical fiber preform 1 and draws it to the optical fiber 2 and a chuck 20 ′ are connected, and the tip of the optical fiber preform is connected to the center line (drawing furnace axis) of the drawing furnace 3. A horizontal biaxial positioning XY stage 6 for positioning 1a, and a lifting bracket 5 to which the horizontal biaxial positioning XY stage 6 is coupled, and an optical fiber mother through the XY stage 6 and the chuck 20 '. And a lifting device 4 that lifts and lowers the material 1.

  In addition, the optical fiber drawing apparatus includes an outer diameter / position measuring device 7 that measures the outer diameter of the drawn optical fiber 2 and the position in the two horizontal axes, below the drawing furnace 3. Centering is performed so that the center line of the outer diameter / position measuring device 7 and the center line of the drawing furnace 3 coincide. Positioning control is performed by moving the optical fiber preform 1 by the horizontal biaxial positioning XY stage 6 so that the optical fiber 2 drawn to the center line of the outer diameter / position measuring device 7 is positioned. A controller 8 gives a biaxial positioning command for moving the horizontal biaxial positioning XY stage 6 based on the measurement output from the outer diameter / position measuring device 7.

  The optical fiber drawing device is positioned below the drawing furnace 3, and a coating device 9 for coating the drawn optical fiber 2 with a protective resin, and a curing device 10 for curing the coated protective resin, A winding device 13 is provided on the downstream side of the curing device 10 and takes up and winds the optical fiber coated with drawing through a guide roller 11 and a capstan 12.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the chuck according to the reference example , and FIG. 3 is a front view of the chuck portion in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the chuck 20 includes two chuck portions 21A and 21B and an opening / closing mechanism 26 for moving the chuck portions 21A and 21B to open and close.

  The chuck portion 21A is provided with an L-shaped vibration damping member 24A between a rectangular steel claw member 22A and an L-shaped steel claw support member 23A that supports the claw member 22A. In this embodiment, the claw member 22A, the vibration damping member 24A, and the claw support member 23A are integrated by adhesive bonding. The other chuck portion 21B has the same shape as the chuck portion 21A, and is provided with a vibration damping member 24B between a steel claw member 22B and a steel claw support member 23B that supports the claw member 22B, and is adhesively bonded. Thus, the claw member 22B, the vibration damping member 24B, and the claw support member 23B are integrated. The claw members 22A and 22B having the same shape have an angle of 90 degrees formed by two vertical planes having an equal angle with respect to a vertical plane passing through the central axis in the opening / closing direction (left-right direction in FIG. 2), in this embodiment, 45 °. V-shaped holding surfaces 22Aa and 22Ba.

  The material of the damping members 24A and 24B is a viscoelastic material, and examples thereof include resin materials such as natural rubber, synthetic rubber, ethylene polymer, silicone gel, and silicone rubber.

  The opening / closing mechanism 26 will be described. The chuck portions 21A and 21B are supported by nuts 27 and 28 attached to the claw support members 23A and 23B so that the holding surfaces 22Aa and 22Ba of the claw members 22A and 22B are vertical surfaces. The nuts 27 and 28 mesh with the opening / closing feed screw shaft 29. The direction of the screw of the opening / closing feed screw shaft 29 is reversed at the center, and one screw is left-handed and the other is right-handed and has the same feed pitch. A nut 27 attached to the claw support member 23A of the chuck portion 21A is engaged with the left screw of the open / close feed screw shaft 29, and a right screw of the open / close feed screw shaft 29 is attached to the claw support member 23B of the chuck portion 21B. The nut 28 is engaged.

  The open / close feed screw shaft 29 is rotatably supported by the bearings 31 and 32 on a bracket 33 provided with the bearings 31 and 32. In this embodiment, the bracket 33 is fixed to the horizontal biaxial positioning XY stage 6 of the optical fiber drawing device. A handle 30 is attached to one end of the opening / closing feed screw shaft 29 supported by the bracket 33. When the optical fiber preform 1 is gripped, the handle 30 is rotated in a certain direction, and the claw members 22A and 22B are moved to an interval wider than the outer diameter of the support portion 1b of the optical fiber preform 1 so that the claw member 22A. , 22B, the support portion 1b of the optical fiber preform 1 is inserted. Next, the handle 30 is rotated in the opposite direction, the claw members 22A and 22B are moved in the direction of narrowing the interval, the support portions 1b of the optical fiber preform 1 are gripped by the holding surfaces 22Aa and 22Ba, and the optical fiber preform Hold 1 in a suspended position. The nuts 27 and 28, the opening / closing feed screw shaft 29, the handle 30, the bearings 31 and 32, and the bracket 33 are moved so as to move away from each other while supporting the claw support members 23A and 23B of the chuck portions 21A and 21B. Thus, an opening / closing mechanism 26 for opening / closing the claw members 22A, 22B between the chuck portions 21A, 21B is configured. In addition, as an opening / closing mechanism, one claw support member 23A, for example, may be fixed, and the other claw support member 23B may be configured to move away from the claw support member 23A.

Thus, the chuck 20 according to the reference example to grip the optical fiber preform 1 has a chuck portion 21A, and 21B, the chuck portion 21A, 21B is, pawl member 22A which is brought into contact with the optical fiber preform 1, 22B Further, vibration control members 24A and 24B made of a viscoelastic material are provided between the claw support members 23A and 23B that support the claw members 22A and 22B. Therefore, in the chuck 20, vibration input from the outside through the opening / closing mechanism 26 to the optical fiber preform 1 can be insulated by the damping members 24 </ b> A and 24 </ b> B, and the generated optical fiber preform 1 can be insulated. Vibration (pendulum vibration or bending vibration of the base material) can be quickly damped by the vibration control effect of the vibration control members 24A and 24B.

  Accordingly, the chuck 20 having a simple structure in which the vibration damping members 24A and 24B made of a viscoelastic material are provided between the claw members 22A and 22B and the claw support members 23A and 23B is gripped. It is possible to reduce the vibration of the optical fiber preform 1 in the suspended posture, and thereby it is possible to obtain a high-quality optical fiber 2 with little variation in the outer diameter. Further, since the optical fiber preform 1 is softly supported by the presence of the damping members 24A and 24B having elastic properties, the optical fiber preform 1 can automatically obtain a vertical degree by gravity, so that the rigid support is provided. Compared with the method, the optical fiber preform attachment can be easily centered.

4 is a plan view showing the configuration of the chuck in FIG. 1 , and FIG. 5 is a front view of the chuck portion in FIG. Here, in this embodiment, the same parts as those of the chuck according to the reference example shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the chuck 20 ′ includes two chuck portions 21 </ b> A ′ and 21 </ b> B ′ and an opening / closing mechanism 26. The chuck portion 21A ′ is provided with vibration damping members 24A ′ and 24A ′ between the claw member 22A and the claw support member 23A. In this embodiment, the claw member 22A, vibration damping members 24A ′ and 24A ′ and A structure in which the claw support member 23A is integrated and a hard sphere 25A as a hard member having a predetermined outer diameter is disposed in the gap in the vertical direction of the two vibration damping members 24A ′ and 24A ′. It is. The other chuck portion 21B ′ has the same shape as the chuck portion 21A ′, and has a structure in which vibration damping members 24B ′ and 24B ′ are provided and integrated between the claw member 22B and the claw support member 23B. A hard sphere 25B as a hard member having a predetermined outer diameter is disposed in a gap in the vertical direction of the two damping members 24B ′ and 24B ′.

  The material of the hard spheres 25A and 25B is a highly rigid material such as metal or ceramics, for example, bearing steel. Examples of the hard member include a hard roller body and a hard ellipsoid in addition to the hard sphere.

  The hard sphere 25A of the chuck portion 21A ′ has an outer diameter that is slightly smaller than the thickness of the damping members 24A ′ and 24A ′, and the support portion 1b of the optical fiber preform 1 is gripped by the claw members 22A and 22B. When the vibration damping members 24A 'and 24A' are compressed and deformed in the thickness direction, they come into contact with the claw member 22A and the claw support member 23A. Similarly, the hard sphere 25B of the chuck portion 21B ′ has an outer diameter slightly smaller than the thickness of the vibration damping members 24B ′ and 24B ′, and the support portion 1b of the optical fiber preform 1 by the claw members 22A and 22B. Is held in contact with the claw member 22B and the claw support member 23B in a state where the vibration damping members 24B ′ and 24B ′ are compressed and deformed in the thickness direction.

  As described above, the chuck 20 'has chuck portions 21A' and 21B 'provided with damping members 24A' and 24B 'made of viscoelastic material between the claw members 22A and 22B and the claw support members 23A and 23B. Further, when the optical fiber preform 1 is gripped, the hard spheres 25A and 25B are formed on the claw members 22A and 22B and the claw support members 23A and 23B in a state where the vibration damping members 24A ′ and 24B ′ are compressed and deformed in the thickness direction. Are configured to contact each other. Therefore, in this chuck 20 ′, soft support of the optical fiber preform 1 by providing the damping members 24A ′ and 24B ′ and rigid support of the optical fiber preform 1 by providing the hard spheres 25A and 25B. By using together, compared with what provided only the damping member between the nail | claw member and the nail | claw support member, the force which grips the optical fiber preform 1 can be heightened. Further, the hard spheres 25A and 25B perform a minute rolling motion or a minute sliding motion between the claw members 22A and 22B and the claw support members 23A and 23B with respect to the vibration, thereby controlling the claw members 22A and 22B. The vibration member 24A ′, 24B ′ can be easily oscillated minutely within the elastic deformation range of the vibration member 24A ′, can insulate vibration input from the outside with respect to the optical fiber preform 1, and is generated. The pendulum vibration and the like of the optical fiber preform 1 can be quickly damped.

  Therefore, an optical fiber provided with a chuck 20 'having a simple structure in which vibration control members 24A' and 24B 'and hard spheres 25A and 25B are provided between the claw members 22A and 22B and the claw support members 23A and 23B. In the wire drawing apparatus, the chuck 20 'can reduce the vibration of the optical fiber preform 1 in the suspended posture that is being gripped, so that a high-quality optical fiber 2 with little variation in the outer diameter can be obtained.

The chuck according to the present invention has been described with respect to the chuck 20 ′ having two chuck portions, but is not limited to this, for example, a chuck having three chuck portions at a 120 ° pitch, Alternatively, it may be provided with four or more chuck portions.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an overall configuration of an optical fiber drawing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows the structure of the chuck | zipper by a reference example . It is a front view of the chuck | zipper part in FIG. It is a top view which shows the structure of the chuck | zipper in FIG. It is a front view of the chuck | zipper part in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating a prior art.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical fiber preform 1b ... Support part of optical fiber preform 3 ... Drawing furnace 4 ... Elevating device 5 ... Elevating bracket 6 ... Horizontal biaxial positioning XY stage 20, 20 '... Chuck 21A, 21B ... Chuck part,
21A ', 21B' ... chuck part,
22A, 22B ... Claw member,
22Aa, 22Ba ... Holding surface
23A, 23B ... Claw support member 24A, 24B ... Damping member 24A ', 24B' ... Damping member 25A, 25B ... Hard sphere 26 ... Opening / closing mechanism 27, 28 ... Nut 29 ... Feed screw shaft for opening / closing 30 ... Handle 31, 32 ... Bearing 33 ... Bracket

Claims (1)

In an optical fiber drawing apparatus comprising: a chuck for holding an optical fiber preform suspended; and a drawing furnace for heating and melting the optical fiber preform to draw an optical fiber;
The chuck includes a plurality of chuck portions, and each chuck portion includes a claw member that contacts the optical fiber preform, a claw support member that supports the claw member, and the claw member and the claw support member. A vibration damping member made of a viscoelastic material and a hard member housing space formed by the claw member, the claw support member, and the vibration damping member, sandwiched between them, and grips the optical fiber preform Sometimes the vibration damping member has a hard member that contacts the claw member and the claw support member in a state where the vibration damping member is compressed and deformed in the thickness direction, and supports the claw support member between the chuck portions to separate. optical fiber drawing apparatus characterized by comprising a closing mechanism for opening and closing the claw members between the chuck portion by moving to approach.

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