JP6034758B2 - End face observation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an end face observation apparatus that observes an end face state of an optical connector.

  In optical communication, an optical connector is an indispensable component for connecting various network devices and optical fibers, and reducing the loss in the optical connector is very important for realizing good optical communication. . The loss factor in the optical connector is mainly dust and foreign matter adhering to the connector end face and dirt. For this reason, conventionally, cleaning and observation of the connector end face has been an important task when an optical connector is connected.

  The optical connector is composed of a plug that is a male connector and a female connector that is a receptacle serving as a plug insertion port in a network device or the like.

  So far, cleaners and end face observation devices have been proposed for the plugs and receptacles of these optical connectors. For example, there is a cleaner (see Patent Document 1) including a liner tape for a connector end surface in a receptacle, an observation device for a connector end surface in a receptacle (see Patent Document 2), and the like.

  The optical connector cleaning operation and the observation operation are operations that are alternately repeated when the connector is connected.

JP 2004-219602 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-19728

  However, since the cleaning device and the observation device are provided as separate devices, in addition to the cleaning work and observation work using the respective devices, the replacement work of these devices always occurs. There was a problem of becoming complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an end face observation apparatus in which an end face observation apparatus and an apparatus for performing work other than the end face observation work are integrated. is there.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an end observation device, and a transparent member disposed in the immediate vicinity of the end face of the subject, is disposed in the subject side of on the transparent member, the subject A first light propagation optically connecting an opaque structure for touching the end face of the subject to perform an operation other than the end face observation of the subject , a light source, an image receiver, the transparent member, and the light source A second light propagation path including at least one lens and optically connecting the transparent member and the image receiving section so that an end face image of the subject is formed on the image receiving section. , And the first optical propagation path and the second optical propagation path are spatially separated.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the end face observation apparatus according to the first aspect, the opaque structure is a cleaner mechanism that cleans foreign matter adhering to the end face of the subject .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the end face observation device according to the first or second aspect, the second light propagation path includes first and second end face images of the subject divided by the opaque structure. It includes spatially separated third and fourth light propagation paths that separately transmit the second end face image.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the end face observation device according to the first or second aspect, the transparent member has first and second transmission regions divided by the opaque structure, 1 of the optical propagation path, which is connected to a first transmission area, the second optical propagation path, characterized in that it is connected to the second transmission region.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the end face observation device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the second light propagation path includes a bundle fiber.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the end face observation device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the first light propagation path includes a bundle fiber.

  The present invention integrates an end face observation apparatus and an apparatus that performs work other than the end face observation work, and thereby achieves effects such as improvement in operability and reduction in work time.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the end surface observation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the end surface observation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the end surface observation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention. It is a figure which shows the state which is observing the optical connector end surface of a receptacle with the end surface observation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention.

  The end face observation apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention uses a lens having an axially penetrating hole in the center as a connector end face observation mechanism, and an optical connector cleaning cleaner is provided in the lens hole. Yes. This cleaner has a structure in which a cleaning tape is pressed against an end face of an optical fiber at a connector end, and is slid on one axis in the cleaner end face. The sliding guide mechanism of the cleaning tape has a diameter smaller than the diameter of the connector opening at the connector end. The cleaning tape is pressed against the vicinity of the end face of the optical fiber at the center of the connector, and the foreign matter on the end face is removed by sliding. In the end face observation device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the cleaning mechanism and the observation mechanism are integrated and can be used simultaneously.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

(Embodiment 1)
In FIG. 1, the structure of the end surface observation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention is shown. In FIG. 1, what is indicated by a one-dot chain line is an optical connector 200 to be observed and cleaned. The end face observation apparatus 100 is provided with a cleaning tape 101 for cleaning the end face so as to face the center of the optical connector 200 and a guide mechanism 102 for the cleaning tape 101. Although not shown, a sliding mechanism for sliding the cleaning tape 101 in a fixed direction is provided together with the guide mechanism 102.

  In order to observe the connector end surface, the end surface observation apparatus 100 includes a transparent member 103 through which an end surface image is transmitted at a position closest to the optical connector, and the transparent cleaning member 101 slides on the transparent member 103. A sliding guide is provided. When cleaning the end face of the optical connector, the cleaning tape 101 can be pressed against the end face of the optical connector together with the transparent member 103, and the cleaning tape 101 can be slid according to the sliding guide.

  The transparent member 103 is installed at one end of the outer cylindrical portion 104 and the inner cylindrical portion 108 constituting the double cylinder structure, and the end face image is transmitted through a portion of the transparent member 103 where the cleaning tape 101 is not provided, and further the inner cylinder. The light passes through the two lenses 105 and 106 in the section 108 and forms an image on the image receiving element 107 installed at the other end of the inner cylindrical section 108.

  A light source 109 for illuminating the connector end surface of the optical connector 200 is installed at the other end of the outer cylindrical portion 104. In the first embodiment, the inner surface of the outer cylindrical portion 104 and the outer surface of the inner cylindrical portion 108 are reflecting surfaces that reflect light, and the illumination light of the light source 109 propagates between the outer cylindrical portion 104 and the inner cylindrical portion 108. Thus, the end face of the optical connector 200 can be irradiated.

  As in the first embodiment, by arranging the transparent member 103 having the guide mechanism 102 of the cleaning tape 101 at the tip, the cleaning device and the observation device for the optical connector end face can be integrated.

  In the first embodiment, two lenses are arranged in the propagation optical path of the end face image, but the transparent member 103 itself may be used as a lens, or an optical system that forms an image on the image receiving element with one objective lens. good. In any case, it is possible to reduce the number of optical components, and it can be expected to reduce the size and cost of the apparatus and simplify the assembly work by reducing the number of members to be aligned.

  The image receiving element 107 may be a CCD or CMOS. Further, in the propagation of illumination light, a cylindrical propagation path using a reflecting surface is used, so that space-saving and power-efficient propagation is possible. The propagation of the illumination light may use the space of the inner cylindrical portion 108 in the same manner as the end face image. In this case, a structure having a smaller diameter than that of the above-described propagation path is possible, which is suitable for observation of a thin connector.

(Embodiment 2)
In FIG. 2, the structure of the end surface observation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 2 of this invention is shown. In the present invention, the end face image is divided into two by the cleaning tape 101 on the transparent member. Therefore, in the second embodiment, a propagation optical path is provided for each of the divided end face images.

  In the second embodiment, in contrast to the first embodiment, lenses 110a and 110b are individually arranged for each propagation optical path instead of the lens 105, and the bundle fiber 111 is used in the propagation optical path so that the divided end face images are not mixed with each other. To. Separation in this way makes it possible to propagate an image with high definition and facilitates detection of the size and the like of foreign matter adhering to the end face.

(Embodiment 3)
In FIG. 3, the structure of the end surface observation apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 3 of this invention is shown. The third embodiment is an example in which the inner cylindrical portion 106 is omitted from the second embodiment, one of the divided propagation light paths is used for propagation of illumination light, and the other is used for propagation of the end face image. In both cases, a bundle fiber 111 is used for the propagation optical path. In the third embodiment, the specularly reflected light of the illumination light applied to the end face propagates as an end face image to the image receiving element 107, so that a bright image can be propagated and a high-definition image can be propagated.

  Further, by using the bundle fiber 111, it is not necessary to make the optical axes of the lens 106 and the lenses 110a and 110b coincide with each other. For example, the image receiving surface of the image receiving element 112 can be arranged to be inclined with respect to the connector end surface. It is possible to construct a device that effectively uses.

  Furthermore, as with the propagation path of the end face image, the use of a bundle fiber for the propagation path of the illumination light eliminates the need to place the propagation path of the illumination light in parallel with the propagation path of the imaging, making the space more effective. Utilization of the propagation optical path arrangement becomes possible.

  Although the example using the bundle fiber 111 is shown in the second and third embodiments, the bundle fiber can also be used in the propagation optical path in the first embodiment, and the same effect can be expected.

  FIG. 4 shows a state in which the optical connector end face of the receptacle is observed by the end face observation apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the receptacle, the optical connector 200 is disposed in a cylindrical member called a split slave 300. Therefore, by setting the outermost diameter of the distal end portion of the end surface observation device 100 to be equal to or smaller than the inner diameter of the split slave 300, the end surface of the optical connector 200 in the receptacle can be cleaned and the end surface can be observed.

  As described above, in any of the embodiments, by setting the outermost diameter near the optical connector to be equal to or smaller than the connector diameter, the end face observation device 100 that can be integrated with the cleaning mechanism in both the receptacle and the plug optical connector is provided. Can be configured.

  Further, although the embodiment in which the cleaning mechanism and the observation mechanism are integrated has been described, in the end surface observation apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning mechanism is replaced with a prober, a stylus device, a processing apparatus, or the like that operates the end surface of the subject. For example, since the images before and after the operation can be observed in each case, it is possible to achieve effects such as improvement in operability and reduction in work time.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 Cleaning tape 102 Guide mechanism 103 Transparent member 104 Outer cylindrical part 105,106,110 Lens 107,112 Image receiving element 108 Inner cylindrical part 109 Light source 111 Bundle fiber 200 Optical connector 300 Split sleeve

Claims (6)

A transparent member disposed in the immediate vicinity of the end surface of the subject;
Wherein on the transparent member is disposed on the subject side, the opaque structures for touching the end face of the object to work other than the end face observation of the subject,
A light source;
An image receiver;
A first light propagation path that optically connects the transparent member and the light source;
A second light propagation path that optically connects the transparent member and the image receiving unit, including at least one lens, so that an end face image of the subject is formed on the image receiving unit;
An end face observation device, wherein the first light propagation path and the second light propagation path are spatially separated. The end face observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opaque structure is a cleaner mechanism that cleans foreign matter adhering to the end face of the subject . The second light propagation paths are spatially separated third and fourth that separately transmit the first and second end face images of the end face image of the subject divided by the opaque structure. The end face observation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an optical propagation path. The transparent member has first and second transmissive regions divided by the opaque structure, said first light propagation path is connected to said first transmission area, the second The end face observation device according to claim 1, wherein the light propagation path is connected to the second transmission region.   The end face observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second light propagation path includes a bundle fiber.   The end face observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first light propagation path includes a bundle fiber.

Images