JPH06186431A - Optical fiber illumination device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To inexpensively and synchronously control color change by disposing a rotating disk consisting of the color filter of plural colors and providing a detection piece controlling the synchronized color change on the rotating disk. CONSTITUTION:The rotating disk 8 consisting of the color filter 7 of six or more colors is disposed between the incident end surface of plastic optical fiber bundle and a lamp 3 in a light source device. The detection piece 4 controlling the synchronized color change is provided on the disk 8. Besides, a sensor 5 is provided to be faced to the piece 4, and the disk 8 is driven to be rotated by a motor 6. Then, light from a light source is transmitted through the filter 7 on the disk 8 and colored. Besides, it is made incident on the optical fiber bundle at both ends. The light is leaked from the whole part of the side surface of the optical fiber and the leaked light is superposed on light from the other bundled plastic optical fibers and transmitted through a transparent tube. Then, it illuminates the outside.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber illuminating device for illuminating a bundle of plastic optical fibers leaking from all or desired portions of the side surface of an optical fiber with a transparent tube covering the fiber tube in a synchronized color change. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Illuminated plastic optical fibers that leak light from the side are provided by bundling a number of illuminated plastic optical fibers or by twisting them after grouping.
Sheets, bundles, strings, and the like are gathered, and light is made incident from a light source optically connected to the optical fiber focusing end, and is used for illumination, decoration, design, display, and the like.
Various structures and configurations have been conventionally proposed for such an optical fiber illumination device.

For a device related to a string-shaped, rope-shaped or bundle-shaped leaking optical fiber illuminating device, Japanese Patent Publication No. 47-42534 is available.
No., and the published specification states that the optical fiber 2 is added to the fiber bundle 72.
A device in which a rope including a cable is connected to a light source is shown in FIG. 15
~ 17. In fact, in 04-19578,
One that leaks a rope-shaped optical fiber with light of a different color for each fiber, in JP-A-63-14203, one that leaks a rope-shaped optical fiber, especially in the embodiment, a transparent tube is used on the outer periphery. An example of a cover is shown. In 63-80504, a rope is wrapped around with an optical fiber, and in 02-5704, a rope is proposed in which the optical fiber is knitted and leaks in a mitami shape. ing.

[0004]

Usually, when a color change is performed in an optical fiber illuminating device, a rotary disc is arranged in the light source device, and a color filter is built in the rotary disc. However, in the conventional optical fiber illumination device, even if a plurality of combinations of the fiber tube and the light source device are used, they are used independently, and the emission colors from the tubes may be different, resulting in a color rendering effect. Is halved. On the other hand, it has been proposed to incorporate a device for synchronously controlling color change into the light source device, but an expensive synchronous control device must be used.

The present invention has been made based on the above background, and an object thereof is to provide an optical fiber illuminating device which can synchronously control color changes at low cost by using a plurality of light source devices. That is.

[0006]

The above-mentioned problems can be solved by the present invention. That is, the optical fiber illuminating device of the present invention includes a plastic optical fiber bundle in which light incident from the end face leaks from all or a desired portion of the side face, and a plurality of plastic optical fiber bundles optically connected to the incident end face of at least one end. And a transparent tube that covers the plastic optical fiber bundle, and a rotary disc composed of color filters of a plurality of colors is disposed between the light-incident end face of the plastic optical fiber bundle and the light source. It is characterized in that a detection piece for controlling the color change synchronized with the above is provided.

The optical fiber used in the present invention is a plastic type having a clad (sheath) and a core (core), and its structure is a step index type multimode light whose refractive index changes stepwise. There are a fiber, a step index type single mode optical fiber having a single mode in which the refractive index changes stepwise, and a graded index type multimode optical fiber that propagates different modes. As a material constituting the core material, polymethylmethacrylate resin (PMMA, including homopolymer and copolymer of methyl methacrylate in the present specification), deuterated PMMA, polystyrene-based polymer, poly- 4-Methylpentene-1, a silicon-based polymer or the like can be used.

The clad (sheath) material has a smaller refractive index than the core material, and is, for example, a fluoropolymer, for example, a vinylidene fluoride polymer (in the present specification,
Including a copolymer, for example, vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer (for example, vinylidene fluoride 50 wt% or more, preferably 70 wt% or more 90 wt%
Included below), vinylidene fluoride-propylene hexafluoride copolymer, vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoroacetone copolymer, vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene copolymer, vinylidene fluoride ternary or more (Including copolymers), perfluoroalkyl methacrylate-based polymers, methacrylic acid ester-based polymers, and the like.

The optical fiber according to the present invention is an optical fiber in which the light incident from the end face leaks from all or desired portions of the side faces, and the side face light leak treatment can be performed on the optical fiber by various methods. For example, as its treatment, one that mechanically or thermally selectively destroys the total internal reflection of the optical fiber to leak light, one that disperses transparent small pieces inside the optical fiber, and one that is made of glass on the core of the optical fiber. Those that disperse translucent or opaque materials such as particles or diffusion materials such as bubbles, those that form cuts on the optical fiber surface with a blade, those that form rough surfaces and strains on the optical fiber surface by heat treatment, optical fibers Twisting or mechanically pressing to form a strain. In the present invention, the preferable side light leakage is carried out by using a specific combination of the core and the sheath of the optical fiber, particularly without the light leakage treatment.
As such a combination, a polymethylmethacrylate resin as a core material and a vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer as a clad (sheath) material (for example, vinylidene fluoride is 50% by weight or more, preferably 70% by weight). And 90% by weight or less of the copolymer).

The optical fiber used in the present invention is used in the form of a bundle, and the term "bundle" means a state in which a plurality of optical fibers are simply assembled, a state in which they are twisted into a rope or a string. , A state in which sheets are aligned and rolled, a state in which the fiber aggregates are further collected and bundled, and a state in which they are twisted. The number of bundled optical fibers that can be used in the present invention is arbitrary and can be appropriately selected and changed according to the purpose. Specifically, for example, 5 to 30 bundles are included in one bundle. Optical fiber is used.

In the present invention, the plastic optical fiber bundle is not only a bundle of a plurality of bundles, but the total number is divided into a plurality of groups and these are twisted at a rate of 1 to 20 twists / m. But it's okay. By this microbending, the light leakage efficiency of the optical fiber can be further improved, and a high-brightness illumination device can be obtained. Further, it is possible to twist a plurality of optical fibers divided into groups in advance. This double twist can further enhance the microbending effect. The specific number of twists in a group is 5 to 50 twists / m.

The transparent tube used in the present invention is made of, for example, soft or flexible plastic and has transparency, and is colorless or colored. Specifically, there are vinyl chloride resin, acrylic resin, polycarbonate resin, polystyrene resin and the like. Sub-materials such as a plasticizer and an auxiliary agent can be added to these main components as appropriate.

The light source used in the present invention is optically connected to the end face of at least one end of the plastic optical fiber bundle. The preferred light source in this invention is a high capacity lamp. Specifically, it is a discharge lamp such as metahalide. It can be appropriately changed according to the purpose of use such as mounting of the reflecting mirror and lens, lamp shape, and power consumption. In the illumination device according to the present invention, the brightness from the tube light emitting section is several hundred cd / m2 to several tens cd / m2, and the brightness can be adjusted according to the application.

According to the present invention, a rotating disk composed of color filters of a plurality of colors is arranged between the light-incident end surface of the plastic optical fiber bundle and the light source. Is provided. A sensor (a proximity switch or the like) is provided so as to face the detection piece.
The rotating disk is rotated by a driving device such as a motor. At least a sensor and the driving device are connected to a color change synchronization control device (sequencer or the like). Although various sensors and control devices for color change synchronization can be used, from the object of the present invention of being simple and inexpensive,
It is desirable to use a proximity sensor or the like as a sensor and a small-capacity sequencer as a color change synchronization control device. All light source devices have the same specifications, and the detection timing is adjusted for each rotation.

[0015]

The optical fiber illuminating device of the present invention having the above construction operates and operates as follows. The light emitted from the light source passes through the color filter on the rotating disk and is colored. This light enters from both ends or one end of the plastic optical fiber, and the optical fiber propagating the light leaks a part of the propagating light from all or desired portions of its side surface.
The leaked light overlaps with the light from another bundle of plastic optical fibers, passes through the transparent tube, and illuminates to the outside. Since the rotating discs are synchronized, the color change is synchronized and the fiber tube illuminates with a rich color rendering effect.

[0016]

EXAMPLE An optical fiber illumination device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples. FIG. 1 shows a schematic external view of an embodiment of the optical fiber illumination device according to the present invention. The optical fiber illumination device of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a plastic optical fiber bundle in which light incident from an end face leaks from all side surfaces, a light source device 2 optically connected to both end faces of the plastic optical fiber bundle, and a plastic optical fiber bundle. The transparent tube covers the optical fiber bundle.

The illumination device of this aspect is a fiber tube 1 comprising a plastic optical fiber bundle and a transparent tube.
Two light source devices 2 are connected to each end of the.
FIG. 2 is a schematic external view showing a state in which two sets of illumination devices, each of which has a light source device 2 connected to both ends of a fiber tube 1 composed of a plastic optical fiber bundle and a transparent tube, are installed on the wall surface. By connecting both ends to the light source device in this way, it is possible to improve the light utilization efficiency and prevent un-leaked light from being emitted from the end when one end becomes free and adversely affecting the surroundings. it can.

The optical fiber used in this example is a plastic optical fiber composed of polymethylmethacrylate resin as a core material and vinylidene fluoride-tetrafluoroethylene copolymer as a clad material (trade name Esca CK-30 manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.). ) And soft PVC was used as the transparent tube. In this embodiment, a plurality of optical fibers divided into groups are pretwisted at a number of twists of 12.5 times in the group, the number of twists / m. Next, a plurality of groups were twisted at a rate of 5 twists / m.

Between the incident end face (not shown) of the plastic optical fiber bundle and the lamp 3 inside the light source device of these embodiments, as shown in FIG. 3, a rotation consisting of color filters 7 of 6 colors or more. A disc 8 is arranged, and a detection piece 4 for controlling the color change synchronized with the rotating disc 8 is provided. A sensor 5 (proximity switch) is provided so as to face the detection piece 4, and the rotating disk 8 is rotationally driven by a motor 6. A color change synchronization sequencer (not shown) is connected to and controlled by the sensor 5 and the motor 6. In this aspect, all the light source devices have the same specifications, and the detection timing is adjusted for each rotation.

A method of using the optical fiber illumination device of the above embodiment will be described. An optical fiber illuminating device is installed at a predetermined location, the light source is turned on, and the light from this light source is transmitted through a color filter on the rotating disk to be colored. This light is
It is incident on the optical fiber bundles at both ends. This plastic optical fiber leaks light from all of its side surfaces, and the leaked light overlaps with the light from another bundle of plastic optical fibers, passes through a transparent tube, and illuminates to the outside. By this illumination, the shape of the fiber tube is displayed, characters,
Since the symbols and patterns are displayed with a high design effect and the rotating discs are synchronized, the color change is synchronized and the fiber tube illuminates with a rich color rendering effect. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications included in the technical idea disclosed in the present invention are also within the scope of the present invention.

[0021]

As will be concretely demonstrated in the above embodiments, according to the present invention, it is possible to inexpensively and synchronously control color changes using a plurality of light source devices.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic external view of an embodiment of an optical fiber illumination device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic external view showing a state in which two optical fiber illuminating devices of another embodiment are installed on a wall surface.

FIG. 3 is a schematic external view showing a color change synchronizing mechanism inside a light source device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Fiber tube 2 Light source device 3 Lamp 4 Detection piece 5 Sensor 6 Motor 7 Color filter 8 Rotating disc

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plastic optical fiber bundle in which light incident from an end face leaks from all or a desired portion of a side surface,
A plurality of light sources optically connected to an incident end surface of at least one end of the plastic optical fiber bundle, and a transparent tube covering the plastic optical fiber bundle, and between the incident end surface of the plastic optical fiber bundle and the light source. An optical fiber illuminating device characterized in that a rotating disk made up of color filters of a plurality of colors is arranged on the rotating disk, and a detection piece for controlling a color change synchronized with the rotating disk is provided on the rotating disk.