JPH0579962U - Optical coupling device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] In an optical coupling device having a movable piece integrally formed with a return leaf spring, the leaf spring is attached without error when the movable piece is attached. [Structure] The color tone of the movable piece 27 'is changed in advance according to the load of the return leaf spring 28.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an optical coupling device, and more particularly to a transmissive optical coupling device (photointerrupter) that detects the presence or absence of a detected object by rotating a movable segment.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 A conventional technique will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 7.

Conventionally, a transmission type optical coupling device (photointerrupter) which indirectly detects the presence or absence of a detected object by the operation of a movable segment has a structure shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. 1 is an object to be detected, 2 is a movable segment, 3 is a slit on the light emitting side, 4 is a slit on the light receiving side. The presence or absence of an object is detected by opening and closing, that is, rotating between the detection position A and the non-detection position B.

The movable piece 2 is attached to the main body 6 via bearings 9 and 10 provided on the light emitting portion 7 and the light receiving portion 8 of the optical coupling device main body 6, respectively. Further, the movable segment 2 is constantly urged in the non-detected posture B direction by the return winding spring 12 wound around the horizontal axis 11. Therefore, the movable segment 2 is forcibly pressed against the rotation stop wall 13 at the end of the passage 5 and positioned at the non-detection position B unless the external force of the detected object 1 is applied.

The light emitting unit 7 houses a light emitting element, and the light receiving unit 8 houses a light receiving element.

By the way, in order to assemble the above-mentioned conventional optical coupling device, when the movable piece 2 is attached to the main body 6, the winding spring 12 is inserted into the horizontal shaft 11, and one end 15 of the winding spring 12 is engaged with the light emitting portion 7. The other end 17 must engage the movable segment 2.

[0007] Therefore, the workability when mounting the return spring on the movable segment becomes poor, and a great deal of time and labor is required.

Therefore, in order to improve workability, a device using a leaf spring in place of the above-mentioned coil spring has been devised.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, this optical coupling device includes an optical coupling device body 24 in which a light emitting portion 21 and a light receiving portion 22 are opposed to each other with a passage 23 in between, and the optical coupling device main body 24 is rotatable. Of the object 25 to be detected, which is supported by the mechanical contact of the object 25 to be detected and which passes through the passage 23 around the horizontal axis 26 and rotates between the detection position A and the non-detection position B. In the optical coupling device that indirectly detects the presence or absence of the movable piece 27 by rotating the movable piece 27, the movable piece 27 is integrally formed with a return leaf spring 28 for urging the movable piece 27 toward the non-detection position B. It is a thing.

As described above, since the return leaf spring 28 is provided integrally with the movable piece 27, the work of attaching the return spring to the movable piece can be simplified and the work efficiency is improved.

[0011]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 By the way, although the workability is improved by using the return leaf spring 28 as described above, there are still the following problems.

That is, it is necessary to change the load of the return leaf spring 28 depending on the object to be detected, but since the shape of the leaf spring is the same, a return leaf spring having a different load may be erroneously used during the spring mounting process. There was a case to be attached.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical coupling device capable of preventing erroneous mounting of a returning leaf spring having a different load during the step of mounting the returning leaf spring.

[0014]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an optical coupling device main body in which a light emitting part and a light receiving part are arranged to face each other with a passage in between, and is rotatably supported by the main body. A movable segment that passes between the detection path and the non-detection position by passing through the passage around the horizontal axis by mechanical contact with the detected object, and attaches the movable segment to the non-detection position direction. The biasing return leaf spring is integrally formed, and the color tone of the movable piece is determined according to the load of the return leaf spring.

[0015]

[Action]

 As described above, in the optical coupling device of the present invention, since the color tone of the movable piece is changed according to the load of the restoring leaf spring, the load of the restoring leaf spring can be loaded at a glance when mounting the movable piece. It can be surely identified, erroneous mounting can be prevented, and reliability can be improved.

[0016]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an optical coupling device according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a mounting process of a movable piece according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the movable piece according to the present embodiment.

The same functional parts as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 4 to 7 are designated by the same symbols. As shown in FIG. 1, the transmissive optical coupling device (photointerrupter) of the present embodiment includes an optical coupling device main body 24 in which a light emitting portion 21 and a light receiving portion 22 are opposed to each other with a passage 23 interposed therebetween. A movable segment 27 ', which is rotatably supported by the main body 24 and rotates between the detection position A and the non-detection position B by passing through the passage 23 around the horizontal axis 26 by mechanical contact with the detected object 25. The presence or absence of the detected object 25 is indirectly detected by the rotation of the movable segment 27 '.

A return leaf spring 28 for urging the movable piece 27 'toward the non-detection position B is integrally formed with the movable piece 27'.

Here, as will be described later, the movable segment 27 ′ has a predetermined color tone corresponding to the load of the return leaf spring 28.

Hereinafter, the structure and operation of the optical coupling device including the color-definable movable piece 27 ′ will be described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 1, the main body 24 has a passage 23 from a light emitting portion 21, a light receiving portion 22, and a connecting portion 30 connecting the light emitting portion 21 and the light receiving portion 22 with a light shielding resin. It is formed in a rectangular shape.

The light emitting unit 21 houses a light emitting element mounted on the light emitting side lead frame 31. The light receiving section 22 accommodates a light receiving element mounted on the light receiving side lead frame 32. Strip-shaped slits 37 and 38 that form the optical paths of the light emitting element and the light receiving element are provided on the facing surfaces 34 and 35 of the light emitting section 21 and the light receiving section 22, respectively. The light emitting side slit 37 is cut out below the central portion of the facing surface 34 of the light emitting portion 21, and the light receiving side slit 25 extends along the longitudinal direction of the facing surface 35 of the light receiving portion 22 in order to increase the sensitivity of the light emitting element. Notched so that it penetrates upward.

A mountain-shaped rotation stopping wall 41 for stopping the rotation of the movable piece 27 ′ in the direction of the non-detection position B is formed on the upper portion of the connecting portion 30 so as to project toward the passage 23. The surface (tapered portion) 41a of the stop wall 41 on the plate spring 28 side is formed in a tapered shape to prevent the plate spring 28 from rotating together with the movable segment 27 'in the detection position A direction. This is to apply a biasing force to the movable piece 27 'in the direction of the non-detection position B, and also to easily guide the leaf spring 28 when the movable piece 27' is attached to the main body 24.

The horizontal shaft 26 is rotatably provided between bearings 44 and 45 which are integrally formed on the light emitting portion 21 and the light receiving portion 22, respectively. As shown in FIG. 3, both ends of the horizontal axis have small diameter portions 26a, 26b provided with small diameters so that they can be fitted into the bearings 44, 45.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bearings 44 and 45 are formed in a substantially C-shape having bearing holes 44 a and 45 a that are elastically deformed when the horizontal shaft 26 is fitted to facilitate the fitting.

The opening amounts of the C-shaped bearings 44 and 45 are regulated by the leaf spring 28 so as to prevent the horizontal shaft 26 from coming out upward.

The movable piece 27 ′ is arranged below the contact piece 51 and the contact piece 51 that comes into contact with the object 25 to be detected, and the movable piece 27 ′ is located at the detected position as shown in FIG. When located at B, the passage 23 is constituted by a blocking piece 52. The contact piece 51 and the blocking piece 52 are integrally formed in the central portion of the horizontal shaft 26. The horizontal shaft 26, the contact piece 51, and the blocking piece 52 are insert-molded by injecting a thermoplastic resin with a mold.

The leaf spring 28 is a metal plate made of spring steel, and is integrally molded so as to be positioned at the center of the horizontal shaft 26 when the movable piece 27 ′ is molded by a mold. .. As shown in FIG. 7, the tip end 55 of the leaf spring 28 is formed in a bent shape so as to be easily guided to the taper portion 41a of the rotation stopping wall 41 when the movable piece 27 'is attached to the main body 24.

In the above structure, when the movable piece 27 ′ is molded with the mold by injecting the thermoplastic resin, at the same time, the return leaf spring 28 is integrally molded in the mold.

Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the movable piece 27 ′ is attached to the main body 24 from above. Then, the horizontal shaft 26 elastically deforms the bearings 44 and 45, and the tip 55 of the leaf spring 28 contacts the apex of the rotation stop wall 41. When the fitting is further continued, the horizontal shaft 26 is engaged with the bearing holes 44a and 45a, and the bearings 44 and 45 are elastically restored. On the other hand, the tip 55 of the leaf spring 28 is guided along the spring guiding taper portion 41 a of the rotation stop wall 41. As a result, the leaf spring 28 holds the biasing force of the movable segment 27 'toward the non-detection position B.

Here, when the movable piece 27 ′ is attached, the color tone of the movable piece 27 ′ is predetermined according to the load of the leaf spring 28, so that the movable piece having the required load can be reliably selected at a glance. It will not be installed incorrectly.

In the above structure, the movable segment 27 ′ rotates from the non-detection position B to the detection position A through the passage 23 by the mechanical contact of the detected object 25, as in the conventional example of FIG. The presence or absence of the detected object 25 is detected. Then, after the detection of the detected object 25, when the detected object 25 does not come into contact with the movable piece 27 ′, the movable piece 27 ′ is urged in the non-detection position B direction by the leaf spring 28. 27 ′ returns to the non-detection position B, and the detected object 25 can be continuously detected.

As described above, since the return leaf spring 28 is integrally provided on the movable piece 27 ′, the work of mounting the return spring on the movable piece is simple.

Further, by providing the spring guide taper portion 41a on the rotation stop wall 41, it is only necessary to mount the movable segment 27 'on the main body 24 from above, and the leaf spring 28 is allowed to detect the non-detection position B of the movable segment 27'. A biasing force can be applied in the direction, and the work of attaching the movable segment to the main body is easy.

In the present embodiment, the leaf spring 28 urges the movable segment 27 ′ toward the non-detection position B by the taper portion 41 a of the rotation stop wall 41. It suffices that the spring 28 bias the movable segment 27 ′ toward the non-detection position B.

As described above, in the optical coupling device according to the present embodiment, the color tone of the movable piece 27 ′ is predetermined corresponding to the load of the plate spring 28.

This makes it possible to surely identify the load of the leaf spring 28 at a glance when mounting the movable segment 27 ′, and prevent the leaf springs 28 having different loads from being mistakenly attached. As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to solve the problem of erroneous mounting of the leaf spring 28 that has occurred in the past and improve reliability.

If a light-shielding black resin is used as the material of the light-shielding piece 52 of the movable piece 27 ', the light-shielding property of the movable piece 27' can be improved, and the reliability and the optical characteristics can be further improved.

[0040]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the present invention, in the transmission type optical coupling device that indirectly detects the presence or absence of the detected object by the rotation of the movable segment provided with the return spring, during the mounting process of the movable segment, It is possible to reliably identify the load of the return spring, prevent erroneous mounting of the return spring with different loads, and improve reliability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an optical coupling device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a mounting process of a movable section according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a movable section according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an optical coupling device according to a conventional example.

5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line YY of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an optical coupling device according to another conventional example.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 21 Light emitting part 22 Light receiving part 23 Passage path 24 Device body 27 'Movable segment 28 Leaf spring for return

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An optical coupling device main body in which a light emitting part and a light receiving part are arranged to face each other with a passageway in between, and the object to be detected rotatably supported by the main body is mechanically contacted to pass through the optical axis around the horizontal axis. A movable leaf that passes through a path and rotates between a detection position and a non-detection position, and a return leaf spring that biases the movable segment in the non-detection position direction is integrally formed with the movable piece, and An optical coupling device, wherein the color tone of the section is determined according to the load of the return leaf spring.