JPH0424183B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION -Field of Industrial Application- The present invention relates to an apparatus for polishing the tip of a ferrule provided at the connecting end of an optical fiber into a convex spherical shape.

-Prior Art- In order to reduce light leakage loss at the connection portion of an optical fiber as much as possible, a technique is known in which the end portion of the optical fiber is polished into a convex spherical surface and butt-connected. A ferrule is provided at the connecting end of the optical fiber to protect the fiber and serve as a connecting member. Spherical polishing of the connecting end of the optical fiber is achieved by polishing the tip of this ferrule into a spherical shape. . A conventional polishing device for polishing the tip of a ferrule into a spherical surface has a holder that grips the ferrule and a polishing dish facing the holder and having a concave spherical polishing surface. By rotating and relatively swinging around the center point of the concave spherical surface, the tip of the ferrule is polished into a convex spherical shape.

-Problems to be Solved by the Invention- When an optical fiber is installed, maintenance polishing such as re-polishing the tip of a damaged ferrule is always required, and a situation arises in which polishing work has to be performed at the site where the optical fiber is installed. .

On the other hand, polishing work requires a polishing liquid and abrasive powder, and the polishing surface of the polishing plate is also worn out by performing the polishing work. Since the worn polished surface reduces the processing accuracy and work efficiency of the ferrule tip, it must be shaped by dressing. However, since this dressing operation requires high precision and is complicated, it is difficult to carry out at the site where the fiber is laid, which often causes obstacles to the polishing operation at the site where the fiber is laid. Further, polishing work performed using polishing liquid or abrasive powder is complicated at the installation site, and a polishing device that can perform the work more easily is required.

On the other hand, a disposable polishing sheet is known as a polishing tool that does not require dressing work and does not require polishing liquid or abrasive powder. However, this polishing sheet is flexible but not stretchable, and therefore cannot form a spherical polishing surface. Therefore, with the prior art, it has been impossible to polish the spherical surface of the ferrule tip using a polishing sheet.

- Means for Solving the Problems - The present invention solves the above problems by providing an apparatus that makes it possible to polish the spherical surface of the tip of the ferrule using a polishing sheet.

The spherical polishing device for a ferrule according to the present invention is equipped with a rigid concave cylindrical polisher 37. This concave cylindrical polishing surface 37 includes a polishing surface plate 30a having concave cylindrical sheet adhesion surfaces 31a and 31b,
It is formed by pasting the polishing sheet 36 on the sheet pasting surface of 30b using, for example, double-sided adhesive tape.
The polishing plates 30a and 30b are driven to rotate relative to a ferrule 40 held by a holder 41, and are driven to reciprocate in the axial direction of the cylinder and to swing around the central axis of the cylinder. .

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the polishing plates 30a, 30b have sheet adhesion surfaces 31a,
31b and concentric cylindrical receiving surfaces 32a, 32b,
The cylindrical receiving surface is pressed against and supported by a roller 20 that is pivoted parallel to the driving direction of a slide table 15 that is driven reciprocally in parallel with the central axis, and is reciprocated in a direction that intersects with the central axis. It is engaged with the drive pin 9 and is driven to swing.

- Effect - According to the above configuration, the partially concave cylindrical polishing surface 37
Ferrule 40 held in holder 41 by
The tip of the polishing surface 37 can be polished into a convex spherical surface with the same curvature as the polishing surface 37. Since the polishing surface 37 is a cylindrical surface, the polishing sheet 36 is attached to the polishing surface 37.
7 can be formed, and when the polishing surface 37 becomes worn, the polishing sheet 36 can be replaced, and neither polishing liquid nor abrasive powder is required.

By reciprocating the axial movement of the polishing plates 30a and 30b and swinging movement in a direction perpendicular to this, the entire surface of the polishing sheet 36 can be used uniformly, and the sliding between the polishing surface 37 and the tip of the ferrule 40 Since the direction of movement changes sequentially to polish the tip of the ferrule in a twill pattern, a smooth polished surface can be obtained.

Further, the polishing surface plates 30a, 30b are attached to the cylindrical receiving surfaces 32a, 32 concentric with the sheet adhesion surfaces 31a, 31b.
According to the structure in which the sheet is supported by the roller 20 via the roller 20, polishing surface plates having sheet adhesion surfaces of various curvatures including flat surfaces can be used on the same device, and in this case, the polishing surface plate can be easily replaced. Not only surface polishing, but also a series of polishing steps in which the curvature of the polished surface is reduced in the order of rough polishing, medium polishing, and final polishing can be performed efficiently with one device.

-Embodiment- FIGS. 1 and 2 are longitudinal sectional views showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the following description, the left-right direction in FIG. 1 of a three-dimensional space that rotates together with the rotary table 3, which will be described later, will be referred to as the Y-axis direction, and the direction perpendicular to the plane of the paper (left-right direction in FIG. 2) will be referred to as the X-axis direction.

The illustrated device includes a casing 1, and a rotary table 3 supported by a swing bearing 2 is installed inside the casing. The rotary table 3 has a wheel gear 4.
A pinion gear 6 fixed to the output shaft of an electric motor 5 mounted on the housing 1 meshes with the wheel gear.

The rotary table 3 has a hollow part 3a,
A support 7 fixed to the bottom of the housing is installed in this hollow part, and a first drive pin 9 has a spherical engagement end 8 at its tip, which is offset from the axis of the rotary table 3.
has been erected. A sun gear 10 whose axis is aligned with the axis of the rotary table 3 is also fixed to the support 7, and a planetary gear 1 meshing with this sun gear.
1 is pivotally supported on a rotary table 3, and a second drive pin 13 having a cylindrical engagement end 12 at its tip is erected at an eccentric position of this planetary gear.

On the upper surface of the rotary table 3, there is a slide base 15 guided movably in the Y-axis direction by a linear guide 14.
is provided, and the cylindrical engagement end 12 of the second drive pin
is slidably inserted into an engagement groove 16 in the X-ray direction formed on the bottom surface of the slide base 15. The slide base 15 has a hollow portion 17 through which the first drive pin 9 extends upward.

The slide base 15 includes a roller bracket 18 and a guide plate 19 extending further upward from the roller bracket 18.
are erected so as to form opposing wall surfaces in the direction perpendicular to the Y-axis, and four rollers 20 that freely rotate around axes in the Y-axis direction are supported on this roller bracket 18 at positions occupying the four corners of a rectangular plane. ing. Further, spring hook pins 21 are implanted on the side surfaces of both ends of the slide base 15 in the Y-axis direction.

The polishing surface plate 30a, 30b or 30c, which is shown singly in FIGS. It is supported and mounted on the slide table 15. Each polishing plate 3
0a, 30b, 30c are the receiving surfaces 3 which are the bottom surfaces.
2a, 32b, 32c and guide side surfaces 33 forming both sides thereof, and the roller 20 rolls in contact with these receiving surfaces 32a, 32b, 32c.
The guide side surface 33 is guided by the inner wall surface of the guide plate 19 of the slide base 15. The receiving surfaces 32a, 32b of the polishing surface plates 30a, 30b having cylindrical sheet adhering surfaces are respectively sheet adhering surfaces 31a,
The receiving surface 32c of the polishing surface plate 30c, which has a cylindrical surface concentric with the polishing surface 31b and has a planar sheet adhesion surface, is a plane parallel to the sheet adhesion surface 31c.

Each polishing surface plate 30a, 30b, and 30c has an engaging groove 34 in the center in a direction perpendicular to the guide side surface 33.
is provided, and this engagement groove 34 is connected to the polishing surface plate 30.
When a, 30b or 30c is mounted on the slide base 15, it is slidably fitted into the spherical engagement end 8 of the first drive pin 9. At this time, this engagement groove 34
The direction is the Y direction. In addition, each polishing surface plate 30a,
30b and 30c have spring hook pins 35 planted on the upper part of their guide side surfaces 33, and when these polishing surface plates are mounted on the slide table 15, the spring hook pins 35 and the springs on the slide table side are connected. A tension spring 22 is stretched between the hanging pin 21 and the polishing surface plate fixed on the slide table 15.

A polishing sheet 36 is attached to the sheet attachment surfaces 31a, 31b, and 31c of the polishing surface plates 30a, 30b, and 30c with double-sided adhesive tape, and the ferrule 40 to be polished has its central axis aligned with the center of the rotary table 3. The holder 41 is fixed to the casing 1 side and aligned with the axis, and is biased toward the polishing surface plate mounted on the slide table 15.

Polishing surface plate 30 provided with a cylindrical polishing surface 37 by pasting a polishing sheet 36 on the sheet pasting surface
In FIGS. 1 and 2, which are shown with the rotary table 3 mounted, by rotating the electric motor 5,
rotates within the housing 1, and therefore the X defined in Fig. 1
It also rotates in the axial direction and Y-axis direction. now rotary table 3
Considering a rotating coordinate system fixed at
0 rotates, the planetary gear 11 also rotates. With this rotation, the first drive pin 9 and the second drive pin 13 are connected to the center axis of the rotary table 3 and the planetary gear 1.
The first drive pin 9 reciprocates the polishing surface plate 30a in the X-axis direction on the slide table 15, and the second drive pin 13 rotates the slide table 15 on the rotary table 3 in the Y-axis direction. drive back and forth in the direction. At this time, the cylindrical center axis of the polishing surface 37 is in the Y-axis direction, and the polishing surface plate 30a is supported on the slide base 15 by a cylindrical receiving surface 32a centered on this cylindrical center axis. , the polishing surface 37 is the second
The slide base 15 is driven in the Y-axis direction by the drive pin 13 to reciprocate linearly in the direction of its cylindrical center axis, and the first drive pin 9 causes it to reciprocate around its cylindrical center axis. Therefore, the ferrule 40 is pressed against the polishing surface 37 in a fixed position.
The tip is rubbed on the polishing surface 37 while drawing a resurge locus determined by the gear ratio of the sun gear 10 and the planetary gear 11, and this gear ratio is slightly shifted from a simple integer ratio. If it is set as , the above-mentioned locus will be drawn on substantially the entire surface of the polishing surface 37, and polishing can be performed using substantially the entire surface of the polishing surface 37. During this polishing, the rotary table 3 is actually rotating (relatively speaking, the ferrule 40 is rotating around its axis).
The tip of the ferrule 40 is polished onto the spherical surface which is the rotation locus surface of the cylindrical polishing surface 30a.

In order to polish the tip of the ferrule 40 into a spherical surface with a different radius, it is sufficient to attach another polishing surface plate 30b with a different curvature of the sheet attachment surface to the slide table 15 and perform polishing. If it is desired to polish the sheet into a flat surface, a polishing surface plate 30c having a flat surface to which the sheet is attached may be used. This polishing surface plate can be easily replaced by removing the tension spring 22, replacing the polishing surface plate, and hooking the tension spring 22 onto the new polishing surface plate.

-Effects of the Invention- According to the apparatus of the invention described above, it is possible to polish the tip of the ferrule into a spherical surface using a polishing sheet that does not require polishing liquid or abrasive powder, and when the polishing surface is worn, the polishing sheet is applied. Since all you have to do is replace it, polishing work at the site where the optical fiber is installed can be carried out efficiently. Furthermore, the device can be configured to be lightweight and compact, it is easy to transport, and it is also capable of flat surface polishing and spherical polishing with different curvatures, making it possible to provide an extremely excellent device as a portable ferrule polishing machine. can.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of section A in FIG. 1.
3 to 5 are side views showing polishing plates of different shapes. In the figure, 3: rotary table, 7: support column, 9: first
Drive pin, 10: Sun gear, 11: Planet gear, 1
3: Second drive pin, 14: Linear guide, 15: Slide base, 16: Engagement groove, 20: Roller, 22:
Tension spring, 30a, 30b: Polishing surface plate, 31a,
31b: sheet adhesion surface, 32a, 32b: receiving surface,
34: Engagement groove, 36: Polishing sheet, 37: Polishing surface, 40: Ferrule, 41: Holder.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 includes a rigid concave cylindrical polishing surface 37,
The polishing surface is rotationally driven relative to the ferrule 40 pressed against the polishing surface, linearly reciprocated in the direction of the central axis of the cylindrical surface, and oscillated around the central axis. A spherical polishing device with a ferrule tip.