JPH05157932A - Molding device for optical fiber coupler - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate molding with simple equipment. CONSTITUTION:This molding device for producing the optical fiber coupler consists in fixing a mold case 11 and an optical fiber coupler 13 by using the mold case 11 having grooves 12 opening in the direction which are not aligned to the axial direction at both ends and molding adhesives 20 by a dispenser 15 into the grooves 12. The needle part at the front end of the dispenser 15 is branched to three pieces of needles 19 and the pitch of the respective needles 19 is set at >=2mm. In addition, the spacings between the needles 19 at both ends are equal to or shortened from the length in the axial direction of the grooves 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a molding apparatus used for manufacturing an optical fiber coupler.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, optical fiber couplers have been important optical elements in optical communication systems and optical sensor systems. The optical fiber coupler is, for example, one in which two optical fibers are bundled in parallel and the central portion thereof is heated and fused and extended to form a tapered thin extension portion. Is radiated to the clad or is distributed-coupled to be distributed with a predetermined degree of coupling, and is then confined in the core again. In such an optical fiber coupler, the outer diameter of the thin-diameter stretched portion is usually about 30 μm, and it is easily broken, so that it is described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 2-29008 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-271208. A reinforced structure is adopted.

That is, as shown in FIG. 8, an adhesive 2 is applied to both sides of the extending portion of the optical fiber coupler 1 and the adhesive 2 is applied.
It is sandwiched between a plurality of plate-shaped reinforcing members 3, or as shown in FIG. 9, a glass tube 4 is used as a reinforcing member, and an optical fiber coupler 1 is fixed in the glass tube 4 with an adhesive 2. is there.

However, with such a reinforcing structure, the adhesive 2 must be applied manually by using a dispenser, and the assembling work is troublesome.

Therefore, the present inventor previously proposed a mold case for reinforcing an optical fiber coupler, which is easy to mold with an adhesive. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, it is a mold case 6 having on both sides a groove 5 for molding which opens upward. By using the mold case 6, the adhesive can be molded from the upper side of the groove 5, and automation is possible.

[0006]

However, when the adhesive is automatically molded by using the mold case 6 shown in FIG. 10, dispensers having needle-like tips are arranged above the grooves 5 respectively. It is necessary to move the dispenser in the longitudinal direction of the groove 5 at a constant speed by an automatic stage. That is, it is necessary to use two motorized stages,
There is a problem that equipment costs increase.

In view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a molding apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber coupler which has simple equipment and can be easily molded.

[0008]

In a molding apparatus for producing an optical fiber coupler according to the present invention, which achieves the above-mentioned object, an extended portion of an optical fiber coupler is held inside a mold case, and then both ends of the mold case are held. A molding apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber coupler, in which an adhesive is molded by a dispenser into a groove opened in a direction that does not coincide with the axial direction of the optical fiber coupler, and the optical fiber coupler is fixed to the mold case. It is characterized by comprising a plurality of needles, and the tips of the needles are spaced apart from each other in the axial direction of the groove and the tip pitch is 2 mm or more. Further, in the above configuration, the dispenser is arranged above the mold case, and the dispenser is retracted after the dispensing is completed, and a moving mechanism for moving the tip of the needle of the dispenser vertically above the mold case is provided.

[0009]

Operation: After the dispenser is moved above the grooves on both ends of the mold case, the adhesive is applied all at once in a stopped state to complete the molding. At this time, since the pitch of the tips of the plurality of needles at the tip of the dispenser is 2 mm or more, the resin discharged from the needles does not stick to each other before being applied, and the molding is completed well. Molding by applying the adhesive can be carried out by a method of dropping the adhesive in the form of water drops or a method of not dropping the adhesive. In the method of dropping the adhesive in the form of water drops, the amount of the adhesive dropped at one time is determined depending on the properties of the adhesive, and it is difficult to control the amount. On the other hand, in the method in which the adhesive is not dropped, the amount can be controlled even if the same adhesive is used. With the method that does not drop the adhesive, after molding is completed,
By moving the tip of the dispenser needle at least a few millimeters upward, the adhesive at the tip of the needle and the adhesive in the mold case are no longer connected by the viscosity of the adhesive, and then the dispenser is retracted in any direction. To let In this case, the scattering of the adhesive after the completion of molding is prevented.

[0010]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples.

1 and 2 show a molding apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber coupler according to an embodiment. As shown in both figures, the molded case 11 has a groove 1 that is open upward at both ends.
2, the optical fiber coupler 13 is held in the mold case holder 14 with the extended portion of the optical fiber coupler 13 accommodated therein. The mold case 11 of this embodiment is formed by cutting out a part of both ends of a pipe having a rectangular cross section to form a groove 12. The mold case 11 has a hollow pipe shape and the cut ends at both ends are orthogonal to the axial direction. Any hollow case may be used as long as it does not match, and one in which both ends of the cylinder are obliquely cut may be used.

On the other hand, the pair of dispensers 15 is attached to a plate-shaped dispenser bracket 16 by a fixture 17. The mounting position of the dispenser 15 coincides with the position of the groove 12.
Is movable in a direction (X direction in FIG. 1) and a vertical direction (Y direction in FIG. 1) orthogonal to the axis of the optical fiber coupler 13 by a dispenser moving means (not shown).

The needle portion 18, which is the tip of each dispenser 15, has a tip that branches into three needles 19.
9 are arranged in the length direction of the groove 12, the distance between the needles at both ends is substantially the same as the length of the groove 12, and the arrangement direction of each needle 19 and the longitudinal direction of the groove 12 are the same. ..

Here, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), each needle 1
The pitch p of 9 is 2 mm or more. The pitch p of the needles 19 is set to 2 mm or more as described above in order to prevent the adhesives from the needles 19 from sticking to each other. That is, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3B, the adhesive 20 does not come together immediately after coming out of each needle 19, so that even if the tip of the needle 19 and the mold case are separated from each other to some extent. Good application, needle 1
It is not necessary to bring the tip of 9 and the mold case close to each other, for example, 2 mm or less. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4 (A), if the needles 19 'have their tips stuck to each other, the adhesive 20 sticks out of the needles 19' immediately as shown in FIG. 4 (B). , Good coating is not possible. This is because the adhesive 20 from the needle 19 'is shown in FIG.
This is because, as shown in (C), the needle 19 'runs along the tip surface m and does not separate from the tip surface m as shown in FIG. 4 (D). Although the preferable pitch p of each needle 19 depends on the viscosity of the adhesive 20, it is generally 2 mm or more as described above.

The opening diameter of the tip of the needle 19 is preferably 0.5 mm or less. Generally, a larger opening diameter makes it easier to release the adhesive at a time, but it is advantageous to arrange thin needles at a short pitch because it is necessary to dispense long and narrow in the molding of an optical fiber coupler. .. However, the pitch cannot be made too short because of the problems described above, but for this reason, the smaller opening diameter of the needle 19 is preferable. According to the experiment, the sphere formed by the surface tension is small, and in order to prevent the adhesives from the adjacent needles from sticking together, the opening diameter of the tip of the needle 19 is 0.5mm.
It turned out to be better to do the following:

The dispenser 15 may be of a compressed air type, a mono type, a mechanical type, etc., and is driven by a drive source (not shown) such as a compressed air source or a power source connected by a drive source transmission pipe (or wire) 21. It is supposed to be done.

Next, manufacturing of an optical fiber coupler using the molding apparatus of this embodiment will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5, a part of the coating in the longitudinal direction of the two core wires 22 is removed to form a wire portion 23, and the mold case 11 described above is passed through the two core wires 22. Two core wires 22
The core stage clamps 24A and 24B to extend the drawing stage 25
Fix to A and 25B. Next, the wire portions 23 of the two core wires 22 are combined using the wire clamps 26A and 26B, and the flame 28 of the burner 27 welds the central portion 29, which is the portion of the wire portion 23 to be tapered. Then, the wire clamp stage 30A, 30B is used to clamp the wire clamp 26.
After moving A and 26B in the expanding direction, the flame 28 again heats the central portion 29, and at the same time, the stretching stages 25A and 2B.
The core clamps 24A and 24B are moved outward by 5B to form a tapered extension portion in the central portion 29 to form the optical fiber coupler 13. Next, after moving away the flame 28, the straight case 31 moves the mold case 11 mounted on the bracket 32 that moves in the fiber axis direction, and extends the center part of the mold case 11 as shown in FIG. Make sure that the center of the section matches.

Next, the bracket 1 on which the pair of dispensers 15 are fixed by a dispenser moving device (not shown).
6 in the X direction in the drawing, and as shown in FIG.
Are located above the grooves 12 at both ends of the mold case 11. At this time, the positioning in the Y direction in the drawing is appropriately performed.

Then, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the dispenser 15 is driven by a dispenser driving source (not shown) at the same position to apply a fixed amount of the adhesive 20 to complete the molding. Next, the dispenser 15 is lifted up by several millimeters through a vertical movement mechanism of a dispenser moving device (not shown) to bond the adhesive 20 at the tip of the needle 19 to the mold case 11 as shown in FIG. It is assumed that the agent 20 is not connected by the viscosity. Then, after that, the bracket 16 to which the dispenser 15 is fixed is retracted to the original position. By doing so, the adhesive 20 does not scatter when the dispenser 15 is retracted.

As described above, according to the molding apparatus of this embodiment, the molding can be automatically and favorably performed, and since the molding is performed with the dispenser stopped, the apparatus structure is simple.

[0021]

As described above, according to the optical fiber coupler molding apparatus of the present invention, the molding automation can be achieved with a relatively simple apparatus configuration, and the cost of the optical fiber coupler can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a molding apparatus of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a molding apparatus of one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing an example of the shape of a needle portion of a dispenser.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a comparative example of the needle portion of the dispenser.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a molding operation by the apparatus of one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a molding operation by the apparatus of one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a molding operation by the apparatus of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing a conventional reinforcing structure.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing a conventional reinforcing structure.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a molded case.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Mold Case 12 Groove 13 Optical Fiber Coupler 15 Dispenser 16 Dispenser Bracket 17 Fixing Tool 18 Needle Part 19 Needle 20 Adhesive

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An extension part of an optical fiber coupler is held inside a mold case, and then an adhesive is molded by a dispenser into grooves that are opened at both ends of the mold case in a direction that does not coincide with the axial direction of the mold case. A molding apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber coupler for fixing the mold case and an optical fiber coupler, wherein the tip of the dispenser comprises a plurality of needles, and the tips of the needles are separated from each other in the axial direction of the groove. A molding apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber coupler, which is arranged side by side and has a tip pitch of 2 mm or more. 2. The molding apparatus for producing an optical fiber coupler according to claim 1, wherein the opening diameter of the tip of the dispenser needle is 0.5 mm or less. 3. The moving mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the dispenser is disposed above the mold case, retracted after the dispensing is completed, and the tip of the needle of the dispenser is moved vertically above the mold case. A molding apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber coupler, which is characterized in that: