JP5021996B2 - End face polishing apparatus and end face polishing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an end surface polishing apparatus and an end surface polishing method, and more particularly, to an end surface polishing apparatus and an end surface polishing method for polishing an end surface where an end surface of a rod lens of a rod lens array is exposed.

  A cylindrical rod lens is known as one of micro lenses. In addition to being used alone, such a rod lens is a rod lens array in which a plurality of rod lenses are arranged in parallel in one or a plurality of rows between two substrates and used in a facsimile, a scanner, or the like. It is used as an optical component for an image sensor or a writing device such as a printer.

  As one of the methods for manufacturing such a rod lens array, a rod lens array original plate is manufactured in which rod lens materials cut to a predetermined length are arranged in parallel between two substrate materials and fixed with an adhesive. There is a method of obtaining a single rod lens array by cutting the lens array original plate in a direction perpendicular to the rod lens material. In such a manufacturing method, the rod lens array original plate is cut by a rotary cutting blade (see, for example, FIG. 6 of Patent Document 1).

JP-A-6-59101

  In this rod lens array, the end surfaces where the front and rear ends of the rod lens are exposed are the light incident surface and light exit surface. Therefore, in order to make the rod lens array exhibit desired optical performance, etc. It is necessary to remove the scratches generated on the surface and process it smoothly. For this purpose, after the cutting operation with the rotary cutting blade, a process of smoothly cutting the end surface of the rod lens array with a tool provided with the cutting blade is performed.

In recent years, since the optical performance required for the rod lens array has been increased, it has been necessary to process the end surfaces of the rod lens array, which are the light incident surface and the light exit surface, more smoothly with higher accuracy.
However, when machining with a tool equipped with a cutting blade, the cutting blade will wear as it is repeatedly used, resulting in poor sharpness, and the end surface of the rod lens array cannot be machined smoothly with high accuracy to obtain the required optical performance. There has been a problem that the yield of products has deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides an end surface polishing apparatus and an end surface polishing method capable of smoothly polishing an end surface of a rod lens array with high accuracy and with a simple configuration. It is an object.

According to the present invention, there is provided an end surface polishing apparatus that polishes both end surfaces of the rod lens array from which the rod lenses are exposed, and is configured so that one rod lens array passes along a path with the both end surfaces facing sideways. A conveying means for conveying; and a rotating polishing means having a rotating buff disposed as a pair opposed to each other across the path so as to contact the end surface of the rod lens conveyed along the path; An end surface polishing apparatus is provided in which a rotation axis is inclined by 0 to 45 degrees from a vertical line along a conveyance direction of a rod lens array conveyed along the path.

  In such a configuration, the end surface of the rod lens array is formed by a rotation buff having a rotation axis inclined at 0 to 45 degrees from the vertical line along the conveyance direction of the rod lens array conveyed along the path of the rod lens array. By polishing the surface, scratches and the like can be effectively removed from the end surface of the rod lens array without applying an excessive load to the rod lens array, and the end surface of the rod lens array can be smoothed with high accuracy.

According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the rotating buff includes a cylindrical buff.
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, ultrafine fibers are arranged on the surface of the buff.
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the buff is a felt buff.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the buff is a resin porous body.
According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention, an abrasive is kneaded into the buff.
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, a plurality of pairs of the rotating buffs are arranged along the path.

According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the rotating buff is configured to be movable up and down while rotating with the rotating shaft inclined.
According to such a configuration, the portion (position) that contacts the end surface of the rod lens array of the rotating buff can be changed, so that it is possible to prevent the rotating buff from wearing away and maintain a constant polishing state. Become.
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, a plurality of pairs of rotating buffs are provided along the path, and the conveying means is disposed between adjacent pairs of the rotating buffs.
According to the other preferable aspect of this invention, the said conveying means is equipped with the upper and lower roller opposingly arranged up and down.

  According to the other preferable aspect of this invention, the said conveyance means is equipped with the roller arrange | positioned between the adjacent rotation buffs along the said conveyance path | route.

According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the rotation axis of the rotation buff is inclined so that the upper part is located upstream in the transport direction of the rod lens array.
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the rotation axis of the rotation buff is inclined so that the upper part is located downstream in the transport direction of the rod lens array.

  According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the rotation axis of the rotary buff positioned on the upstream side in the transport direction of the rod lens array is inclined so that the upper portion is positioned on the upstream side in the transport direction of the rod lens array, The rotation axis of the rotary buff located on the downstream side in the transport direction of the rod lens array is inclined so that the upper part is located on the downstream side in the transport direction of the rod lens array.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an end surface polishing method for polishing both end surfaces where rod lenses of a rod lens array are exposed, wherein the rod lens arrays are arranged one by one with the both end surfaces facing sideways. While being transported along the path in a state, they are arranged as opposed pairs across the path so as to contact the end surface of the rod lens transported along the path, and the rotation shaft is transported along the path. An end face polishing method is provided, wherein the end face is polished with a rotating buff inclined at 0 to 45 degrees from a vertical line along the conveying direction of the rod lens array.
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, a plurality of pairs of rotating buffs are provided along the path, and the conveying means is disposed between adjacent pairs of the rotating buffs.
According to the other preferable aspect of this invention, the said conveying means is equipped with the upper and lower roller opposingly arranged up and down.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there are provided an end surface polishing apparatus and an end surface polishing method capable of polishing the end surface of the rod lens array smoothly with high accuracy with a simple configuration.

  Hereinafter, an end surface polishing apparatus 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a rod lens array 2 whose end face is polished by the end face polishing apparatus 1, and FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view schematically showing the structure of the end face polishing apparatus 1. 3 is a side view of the end surface polishing apparatus 1, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG.

  In the end surface polishing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the front end or the rear end of the rod lens 4 of the rod lens array 2 (FIG. 1) that is cut from a rod lens array original plate (not shown) and whose end surface is cut is exposed. This is an apparatus for polishing the end surfaces 6 on both sides and removing scratches and the like from the end surfaces 6.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the end surface polishing apparatus 1 includes a transport mechanism 8 that is a transport unit that transports the rod lens array 2 along the transport path with the end surface 6 facing sideways, and a transport mechanism. And a polishing mechanism 10 for polishing the end surface 6 of the rod lens array 2 conveyed along the path.

  The transport mechanism 8 includes a plurality of transport roller means 12 arranged at a predetermined interval (for example, about 75 mm) along the transport path P. Each transport roller means 12 includes an upper roller 14 and a lower roller 16 that are opposed to each other in the vertical direction across the transport path P. The upper roller 14 and the lower roller 16 are configured to be rotatable around a rotation shaft that extends in the horizontal direction perpendicular to the conveyance path P, and the lower roller 16 is rotationally driven by a drive mechanism (not shown) and is located between the upper roller 14 and the upper roller 14. In addition, the rod lens array 2 disposed so that both end faces 6 and 6 of the rod lens 4 face sideways is sandwiched up and down, and the rod lens array 2 can be transferred along the transport path P. .

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the polishing mechanism 10 includes a plurality of rotating buffs 18 serving as rotating polishing means. Each rotating buff 18 is arranged as a pair opposed across the conveyance path P, and the end surface polishing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment has five pairs (upstream group) on the upstream side (right side in FIG. 3) of the conveyance path P and downstream. A total of 10 pairs of 5 pairs (downstream group) are attached to the side (left side in FIG. 3).

Each rotary buff 18 includes a rotary shaft 22 whose upper end is rotatably connected to the rotary drive device 20, and a cylindrical buff body 24 attached to the outer peripheral surface on the distal end side of the rotary shaft 22.
In this embodiment, the rotary shafts 22 of the five pairs of rotary buffs 18 in the upstream group are in the rotary drive device 20 on the upstream side, and the rotary shafts 22 of the five pairs of rotary buffs 18 in the downstream group are the rotary drive devices on the downstream side. The five rotation buffs 18 are connected to each other and are rotationally driven by the same rotation driving device 20.

The buff body 24 is a felt buff in the present embodiment, and a cylindrical (bamboo ring) buff made of wool having a thickness of 10 mm, an outer diameter of 25 mm, and a length of 50 mm is placed on the outer peripheral surface of the shaft that serves as the rotating shaft 22 in the longitudinal direction. 4 are continuously bonded to each other.
As the felt, press felt is preferable, and in addition to wool, chemical fiber felt, heat-resistant fiber felt, needle felt, resin processing felt, molded felt, and the like can be used.

  Moreover, you may arrange | position and use the cloth which consists of microfibers, such as a nonwoven fabric, on the buff surface. Examples of such a non-woven fabric include Toraysee, Exeine (manufactured by Toray Industries, Inc.), Glore (manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.), Clarino (manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd.), and the like. By arranging the non-woven fabric, the holding performance of the abrasive is improved. Also, the polishing marks on the fiber itself are reduced. The diameter of the ultrafine fiber is preferably 0.1 to 10 μm, and more preferably 0.1 to 5 μm.

Moreover, you may use the resin porous body processed into the cylindrical shape as a rotation buff. Examples of the resin porous body include urethane, polyolefin, PVC, and PVA. The resin porous body has a hardness (Asker C) of preferably 10 to 60, more preferably 40 to 60. The hardness is preferably low in order to suppress deterioration of the lens surface due to a decrease in durability of the buff or adhesion of an abrasive to the lens surface, and is preferably high because it is easy to apply pressure during polishing and is easy to polish. The average pore diameter of the porous body is preferably 1 to 60 μm, and more preferably 1 to 10 μm.
Moreover, you may use the resin porous body which mixed the abrasive | polishing agent on the surface as a rotation buff. The amount of abrasive to be mixed is determined in consideration of a desired polishing rate and buff hardness.

Further, it is preferable to perform the polishing work by impregnating the buff body 24 with an abrasive.
As abrasives, diamond, silicon carbide powder, boron carbide, carbon powder, corundum, aluminum nitrate, aluminum chloride, alumina, tripoly, chromium oxide, iron oxide and other abrasive grains, water, stearic acid, beef tallow, paraffin , It is preferable to use what is blended in a medium such as metal soap, carboxymethyl cellulose, or a surfactant. For example, an abrasive containing alumina abrasive grains having a particle size of about 0.3 to 3 μm is preferable.

  In this embodiment, an alumina abrasive (trade name Baikalox) dissolved in 2 to 3 times water is sprayed onto the buff body 24 with a spray. The particle size of the abrasive can be adjusted according to the required conditions, but is preferably 0.1 to 10 μm, more preferably 0.1 to 3 μm. In this embodiment, a 1 μm one is used.

  The abrasive may be used by impregnating the buff main body 24 in advance, or may be dropped or sprayed on the driving buff main body 24 at a predetermined interval. When the buff is dried, the rod lens may be scratched or the buff may be damaged, so it is important to keep the buff from drying out. You may hold | maintain an abrasive | polishing agent by giving a magnetic force to a buff using a magnetic abrasive | polishing agent.

  As shown in FIG. 4, each rotary buff 18 can polish both end surfaces 6 and 6 of the rod lens 4 of the rod lens array 2 conveyed along the conveyance path P by the outer peripheral surface of the buff body 24. At such an interval, they are arranged substantially parallel to face each other across the transport path P. Note that the interval between the pair of rotating buffs 18 can be changed.

The rotation buff 18 is arranged so as to be inclined by 0 to 45 degrees from the vertical line along the conveyance path P by arranging the rotation driving device 20 and the rotation shaft 22 connected thereto in an inclination. .
By setting the inclination angle within this range, the rotation buff 18 can be brought into contact with the entire thickness direction of the end face without being obstructed by the edge of the rod lens array. In particular, the inclination angle is preferably 5 degrees or more, more preferably 10 degrees or more in that the longitudinal scratch that easily enters the end face can be removed, and the rotating buff 18 contacts the upper roller 14 and the lower roller 16 described later. In order to avoid this, 40 degrees or less is preferable, and 20 degrees or less is more preferable.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5A, the five pairs of upstream rotation buffs 18 are arranged such that the upper part of the rotation axis X is located upstream in the transport direction of the rod lens array 2. In addition, it is disposed along the transport path P so as to be inclined by an angle θ (15 degrees) from the vertical line. On the other hand, the five pairs of rotation buffs 18 on the downstream side are transported so that the upper part of the rotation axis X is located downstream in the transport direction of the rod lens array 2 as shown in FIG. It is inclined along the line P by an angle θ (15 degrees) from the vertical line.

  FIG. 6 is a side view of the rotary drive device 20, and FIG. 7 is a plan view of the rotary drive device 20. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the rotary drive device 20 includes an output shaft 26 of the motor M and an endless belt 28 wound around the upper ends 22 a of the five pairs of rotary shafts 22. The driving force of the motor M is transmitted to the rotating buffs 18 by the endless belt 28, and the rotating buffs 18 are driven to rotate at a rotational speed of, for example, about 1000 to 1500 rpm.

  In addition, the rotation drive device 20 moves the arrow A between an upper position indicated by a solid line and a lower position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. It is comprised so that it may move up and down in the rotating shaft direction shown by these. As the rotary drive device 20 moves up and down, the rotary buff 18 connected to the rotary drive device 20 also moves up and down. As a result, the buff main body 24 has different height positions along the transport path P. Thus, the end surface 6 of the rod lens array 2 conveyed can be polished. For this reason, it is avoided that the part of the buff main body 24 of the same height position always contacts the end surface 6 of the rod lens array 2 and wears away.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the rotary buff group on the upstream side in the transport direction and the rotary buff group on the downstream side are connected and moved up and down, the rotary buff group on the upstream side in the transport direction is used to balance the left and right of the rotary buff group. It is desirable that the rotation buff group on the downstream side in the transport direction is in the uppermost position when the position is at the bottom. When the vertical movement speed is high, there is a possibility that the workpiece is lifted or pushed down when the tip of the workpiece is pinched by the buff main body 24, so about 0.5 to 5 mm / min is preferable.

  In the end surface polishing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the conveying roller means 12 disposed adjacent to the rotating buff 18 has a cylindrical shape in which both the upper roller 14 and the lower roller 16 have a flat outer peripheral surface.

  However, a groove extending in the circumferential direction over the entire circumference of the outer peripheral surface is formed at the center in the width direction of the outer peripheral surface of the lower roller 16 disposed in a section other than the section adjacent to the rotation buff 18 of the transport path P. Has been. On both side portions of the groove, flanges having inner wall surfaces 16b inclined by a predetermined angle θ with respect to a line perpendicular to the bottom surface 16a of the groove are provided. The θ is not particularly limited, but is preferably 5 to 45 degrees, and is set to 30 degrees in the present embodiment.

  The bottom surface 16a has a width slightly larger than the width of the rod lens array 2, and receives the rod lens array 2 to be transported in the groove in a section other than the section adjacent to the rotation buff 18 of the transport path P, and transports it. The inner rod lens array 2 is conveyed straight along the conveyance path P without deviating from the conveyance path P in the lateral direction.

  In the present embodiment, the rod lens supply device 30 configured to sequentially feed the rod lens 2 onto the transport path P of the end surface polishing apparatus 1 on the upstream side (right side in FIG. 3) of the end surface polishing apparatus 1. On the other hand, on the downstream side of the end surface polishing apparatus 1 (left side in FIG. 3), the rod lens array 2 that has been subjected to end surface polishing by the end surface polishing apparatus 1 is sequentially received and conveyed, A cleaning device 32 for cleaning with water is connected to form a series of end surface polishing systems. A drying device is preferably provided after the cleaning device 32.

  Next, the operation of the end surface polishing apparatus 1 will be described. When the end surface polishing process by the end surface polishing apparatus 1 is started, the rod lens array 2 to be polished is transferred from the rod lens supply device 30 to the upstream end of the transfer path P of the end surface polishing apparatus 1 at a predetermined interval. Come. Subsequently, the rod lens array 2 is sandwiched between the upper roller 14 and the lower roller 16 of the transport roller means 12 of the transport mechanism 8 and is rotated along the transport path P at about 1200 rpm by the polishing mechanism 10. It is conveyed between 10 pairs of rotating buffs 18.

  By passing between the rotating buffs 18 rotating, both side surfaces 6 and 6 on the side of the rod lens array 2 are polished by the buff main body 24 of the rotating buff 18 to remove scratches and the like.

  The conveying speed of the rod lens array 2 by the conveying roller means 12 is the state of the end surface 6 of the rod lens array 2 before polishing (whether there is a scratch or the like), or how much finish is to be achieved by polishing (large scratches) Removal, removal of small scratches, removal of dirt, etc.), which is appropriately set, but preferably 1 to 10 m / min.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes and modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims.
In the end surface polishing apparatus 1 of the above-described embodiment, a total of 10 pairs of the rotation buffs 18 in the upstream side and the downstream side are arranged in a reverse “C” shape in a side view. A total of ten pairs of the rotating buffs 18 in the downstream side may be arranged in a “C” shape in a side view. Moreover, you may change the number of the rotation buff pairs installed according to the processing capability required.

  Furthermore, the polishing mechanism may be configured with only a pair of rotating buffs inclined in a certain direction.

It is a perspective view of an example of the rod lens array by which an end surface is grind | polished with the end surface grinding | polishing apparatus of preferable embodiment of this invention. It is a typical perspective view which shows roughly the structure of the principal part of the end surface grinding | polishing apparatus of the preferable aspect of this invention. It is a side view of the end surface grinding | polishing apparatus of the preferable aspect of this invention. It is sectional drawing along the VI-VI line of FIG. It is drawing for demonstrating the inclination state of the rotation buff of an end surface grinding | polishing apparatus. It is a side view of the rotation drive device which rotationally drives a rotation buff. It is a top view of a rotation drive device. It is a side view for demonstrating the vertical motion of a grinding | polishing mechanism. It is a front view of the lower roller which has a groove.

Explanation of symbols

1: End surface polishing device 2: Rod lens array 4: Rod lens 6: End surface (of the rod lens array)
8: Conveying mechanism P: Conveying path 10: Polishing mechanism 12: Conveying roller means 14: Upper roller 16: Lower roller 18: Rotating buff 20: Rotating drive device 22: Rotating shaft 24: Buff main body

Claims (7)

An end surface polishing apparatus that polishes both end surfaces from which rod lenses of a rod lens array are exposed,
Conveying means for conveying the one rod lens array along the path in a state where the both end faces face sideways;
Rotational polishing means having a rotating buff disposed as a pair opposed across the path so as to contact the end surface of the rod lens conveyed along the path;
The rotation axis of the rotation buff is inclined by 0 to 45 degrees from the vertical line along the conveyance direction of the rod lens array conveyed along the path.
An end surface polishing apparatus. The rotating buff is configured to be movable up and down while rotating with the rotating shaft inclined.
The end surface polishing apparatus according to claim 1. A plurality of pairs of rotating buffs are provided along the path;
The conveying means is disposed between adjacent pairs of the rotating buffs;
The end surface polishing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The transport means includes upper and lower rollers disposed to face each other in the vertical direction.
The end surface polishing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. An end surface polishing method for polishing both end surfaces of the rod lens array where rod lenses are exposed, while transporting the rod lens arrays one by one along the path with the both end surfaces facing sideways, Arranged as opposed pairs across the path so as to be in contact with the end surface of the rod lens conveyed along the path, the rotation axis is vertical along the conveyance direction of the rod lens array conveyed along the path Polishing the end face with a rotating buff inclined from 0 to 45 degrees from the line;
An end surface polishing method characterized by the above. A plurality of pairs of rotating buffs are provided along the path;
The conveying means is disposed between adjacent pairs of the rotating buffs;
The end surface polishing method according to claim 5. The transport means includes upper and lower rollers disposed to face each other in the vertical direction.
The end surface polishing method according to claim 5 or 6.

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