JPH0566311A - Video transmission body using optical fiber and manufacture of the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently and securely manufacture a video transmission body which is manufactured by using many pieces of optical fibers. CONSTITUTION:The optical fibers 10 having their external surfaces formed of materials which can be sealed thermally are heated and housed in jigs 12 and 14 in a constant-quantity lateral array; and the optical fibers are pressed by the jigs on the whole and formed in a rectangularity sectioned shape, and the optical fibers are fused mutually. The fused optical fibers are laminated and the end surfaces of the optical fibers are arrayed and joined in a longitudinally long lattice shape to form an end surface part which has specific end area.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video transmitter using an optical fiber and a method for manufacturing the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Image transmitters using optical fibers such as fiberscopes are used in various fields such as industry and medicine. The image transmitter using this optical fiber has an advantage that it can be observed even in a portion which is difficult to observe by a conventional method or under environmentally harsh conditions, and has an advantage that it is hard to break down. By the way, when the optical fiber is used as an image transmitter, it is necessary to accurately align the optical fibers on the light introducing end surface and the light emitting end surface. This is for accurately transmitting the image, and is basically different from the case of forming a bundle like a light guide. Therefore, when manufacturing an image transmitting body using an optical fiber, it is a work problem to arrange the optical fibers in alignment on the end face. FIG. 4 shows the arrangement of optical fibers at the end face of the fiberscope. As described above, in the conventional image transmitter using the optical fiber, the optical fiber has a circular cross section, and thus the optical fibers are stacked and joined in order in a so-called bale stacking manner. Is done by.

[0003]

As described above, the image transmitter using the optical fiber has a problem in the arrangement of the optical fiber at the end face and requires a very precise work, so it is manufactured manually. In the manufacturing method (1), since the cross-sectional shape of the optical fiber is circular, there is a problem that the workability in manufacturing the image transmitter is extremely low, and in addition, the defective rate is extremely high. Further, when the optical fibers are laminated and manufactured, unevenness of about the radius of the optical fibers is generated in the side portion as shown in FIG. 4, which causes image loss and causes unstable and collapse when laminated. The optical fiber used for the image transfer medium has an extremely small diameter of about 0.25 mm or less, and is therefore difficult to handle, and an extremely large number of optical fibers must be stacked to obtain a certain end area. At present, it takes a long time to manufacture two image transmitters.

As a method for efficiently producing an image transmitting member using an optical fiber, a long optical fiber is aligned and wound around a bobbin, and when a predetermined end area is obtained, it is cut in the cross-sectional direction. I also examined how to get it. However, in the case of this method, there is a problem in terms of performance that the image is shifted by the usual method due to a change in the stage when the optical fiber is wound, and because the image carrier is composed of an extremely large number of optical fibers, it is extremely long. It is necessary to continuously wind the optical fiber on the shaku,
In this respect, there is a problem that it takes a long time to manufacture. In addition, since the finished length of the image transfer body is limited by the length of the outer circumference of the bobbin, there is a limit to the diameter of the bobbin in order to manufacture a long product, and high accuracy is required due to blurring during rotation. It is difficult to obtain, and it is difficult to manufacture a long product. Therefore, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to use an optical fiber that can manufacture an image carrier with extremely high efficiency. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing an image transfer medium.

[0005]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve the above object. That is, it is characterized in that optical fibers whose end face shape is formed into a quadrangular shape are arrayed and joined in a vertical and horizontal lattice shape to form an end face portion having a predetermined end area. In addition, an optical fiber whose outer surface is made of a heat-weldable material is heated, and a certain number of the optical fibers are arranged side by side and housed in a jig, and the jig is used to press the optical fiber as a whole so that the optical fiber has a rectangular cross section. It is characterized in that the optical fibers are molded and welded to each other, the fused optical fibers are laminated, and the end faces of the optical fibers are arrayed and joined in a matrix in the vertical and horizontal directions to form an end face portion having a predetermined end area.

[0006]

Function: A fixed number of optical fibers are placed side by side in a jig and heated, and the jig is used to press the entire optical fiber to shape the cross section of the optical fiber into a square shape, and the optical fibers are welded to each other. The welded optical fibers are aligned and laminated so that their end faces are arranged in a lattice shape in the vertical and horizontal directions, and are arrayed and joined to obtain an image transmitting body having a predetermined end area. By molding the optical fiber into a rectangular cross-section and arranging and joining the optical fibers in a vertical and horizontal lattice, the image transmitter can be efficiently manufactured.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 and 2 are explanatory views showing a method of manufacturing an image carrier using an optical fiber according to the present invention. In the method of the present invention, a heat-weldable optical fiber,
For example, a plastic fiber is used, and a certain number of these optical fibers are molded into a rectangular cross-section using a jig and heat-welded to each other to manufacture an image transmitting body having a constant end surface area. FIG. 1 shows how the plastic fiber 10 is set in a jig and heat-welded. In the figure, 12 is a setting jig and 14 is a pressing jig. The set jig 12 is a fixed number of plastic fibers 10
Are arranged side by side with their outer surfaces in contact with each other. The pressing jig 14 presses the entire plastic fiber 10 housed in the setting jig 12, and heat-welds the adjacent plastic fibers 10.

The set jig 12 and the pressing jig 14 are provided with heaters 16 and 18 for heating them to a constant temperature. It is also possible to heat using warm air or the like.
The plastic fiber 10 is accommodated in the setting jig 12 as shown in FIG. 1 and then heated while being pressed from above by the pressing jig 14 so that the outer surface portion is deformed into a rectangular shape and welded. In the embodiment, as the setting jig 12, one that accommodates 80 plastic fibers having a diameter of 0.25 mm is used.
The pressure was applied by the pressing jig 14 to weld. The optical fibers after welding are formed into a sheet by welding each plastic fiber with a rectangular cross section. The plastic fiber 10 has a predetermined length depending on the application, but the plastic fiber is welded only in the vicinity of the end face where the arrangement positions need to be aligned, and the middle portion of the optical fiber is in a free state.

As described above, a large number of plastic fiber end faces are prepared, and these are sequentially laminated and adhered as shown in FIG. 2 to form the end faces to be the light introducing part and the light emitting part. To form a part. Since the welded plastic fiber 10 has a sheet-like end face, it is possible to form an end face portion in which the end face positions of the optical fibers are aligned by aligning and laminating and adhering as shown in FIG. Plastic fiber 1
No. 0 has a quadrangular cross-sectional shape due to welding, and the upper and lower surfaces thereof are flat, so that they can be easily laminated and joined.
In addition, since each fiber has a quadrangular shape, the void portion between adjacent fibers is blocked, and the area of the non-image portion can be reduced. The end face portion of the image transfer body is not in the shape of a bale knob as in the prior art, but is in the form of vertical and horizontal arrangement in a lattice. In this way, by laminating a fixed number of welded plastic fibers, an image carrier having a constant end area can be obtained.

According to the above-described method of manufacturing the image transmitting body, the set jig 12 and the pressing jig 14 are used to weld a certain number of optical fibers into a sheet having a certain width,
Since sheet-shaped objects are stacked and joined to form the end face portion of a standard image transmitting body, it is possible to automate the production of the image transmitting body. For example, a predetermined number of, for example, 80 plastic fibers to be accommodated in the setting jig are drawn out side by side in parallel on a plane, the plastic fibers are welded at the pulling position by the same method as the above method, and at the central position of the welding portion. An end face portion is formed by cutting in the width direction, an optical fiber body having a sheet end face is formed by sequentially repeating this, and the obtained optical fibers can be laminated and joined to form an image transmission body.

Although the image transmitter can be used for various purposes, FIG. 3 shows an example in which it is used for rearward monitoring of a truck. Due to the structure of trucks, it is difficult to confirm the field of view from the driver's seat in the rear position. Therefore, some of them have a TV camera for rear monitoring. Here, an image transmitter using an optical fiber is installed between the driver's seat and the rear position of the truck, and the image is transmitted by the optical fiber to monitor the rear. For this reason, the objective lens 20 and the lens 21 for magnifying the image are provided at both ends of the image transfer body so that the driver can easily see the image. In FIG. 3, 22 is a lens 2.
A case portion supporting 0 and 21 and a reference numeral 24 are optical fiber coatings. Since the optical fiber has flexibility, it can be easily attached to a predetermined position on the track. Also,
Unlike TV cameras and the like, it has the advantages that it is highly durable against vibrations and the like, and that the image can be visually confirmed in color, so it is possible to reliably monitor and prevent visual errors. Although there are various other uses of the image carrier other than the above, the method according to the present embodiment can efficiently manufacture the image carrier manufactured by using a large number of optical fibers, thus reducing the labor cost in manufacturing. It is possible to reduce the cost, and by lowering the manufacturing cost of the image transmission body, it is possible to expand the possibility of using it for various purposes in terms of cost. Although the present invention has been variously described with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and many modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. That is.

[0012]

As described above, according to the method of manufacturing the image transmitter using the optical fiber of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently and reliably manufacture the image transmitter manufactured by using a large number of optical fibers. It is possible to solve the problem that the workability due to manpower, which is the biggest problem in the production of the image transmission body, is solved, and the mechanization makes it possible to effectively reduce the production cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a method of manufacturing a video transmitter.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of manufacturing an image carrier by laminating welded plastic fibers.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of use of a video transmitter.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement of optical fibers on an end surface of a video transmitter.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Plastic Fiber 12 Set Jig 14 Pressing Jig 16, 18 Heater 20, 21 Lens 22 Case Part 24 Cover

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A video transmitter using an optical fiber, characterized in that the optical fiber whose end face is formed in a quadrangular shape is arrayed and joined in a vertical and horizontal lattice shape to form an end face portion having a predetermined end area. 2. An optical fiber whose outer surface is made of a material capable of being heat-welded is heated and a certain number of the optical fibers are arranged side by side and housed in a jig, and the optical fiber is entirely pressed by the jig so that the optical fiber has a cross-sectional shape. It is characterized in that it is formed into a quadrangular shape, the optical fibers are welded to each other, the fused optical fibers are laminated, and the end faces of the optical fibers are arranged and joined in a grid pattern in the vertical and horizontal directions to form an end face portion having a predetermined end area. A method for manufacturing an image transmitter using an optical fiber.