JPH0799405B2 - Optical fiber end face processing device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber end face processing apparatus for inserting a connector to the end of a plastic optical fiber and subjecting the end face of the optical fiber to a mirror surface heat treatment to form a mirror surface on the end face of the optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical fiber end face processing device of this type that has been already proposed is constructed as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 (Japanese Patent Application No. 1-321059).

That is, in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a machine frame 2 is installed on a flat bed 1, and a drive motor 3 such as a pulse motor is installed on the machine frame 2. A pulley 4a of an index unit 4 having a built-in transmission is connected to an output shaft 3a of the drive motor 3 via a transmission belt 5. The rotary shaft 6 connected to the output shaft of the index unit 4 intermittently rotates and stops at the first stop position, the second stop position and the third stop position. The rotating body 7 is axially attached to the end portion. Further, a plurality of smooth heating elements (in the figure, 3
8a, 8b, 8c are provided with a certain pitch interval, and the smooth heating elements 8a, 8b, 8c are made of a material which forms a mirror surface and has heat resistance and thermal conductivity. ing. Further, a holding frame body 9 is erected on the bed 1 in front of the rotating body 7, and a pair of upper and lower guide holes 10 are formed in parallel on the upper portion of the holding frame body 9. Has been done. In addition, each guide bar 12 of the connector support 11 is slidably inserted in the guide hole 10 in the front-rear direction, and a gripping member 13 is provided above the connector support 11. , The gripping member 13 includes
For example, a plastic optical fiber F is the end face F
A is gripped so as to face the smooth heating element 8b and is detachably attached, and the gripping member 13 constitutes a gripping device 16 that grips the optical fiber F. Further, a cylinder device 14 is horizontally provided above the holding frame body 9, and the output shaft 14 of the cylinder device 14 is provided.
The connector support 11 is pivotally attached to a by a pin shaft 15 so as to slide in the front-rear direction.

Therefore, the gripping device 16 drives the cylinder device 14 to push the connector support body 11 connected to the output shaft 14a of the cylinder device 14 forward to drive the optical fiber of the gripping member 13. F is brought into contact with the smooth heating element 8b and subjected to a mirror surface heat treatment so that a mirror surface can be formed on the end face Fa of the optical fiber F.

On the other hand, an air nozzle 17 for cooling is attached to the index unit 4 on the back surface of the smooth heating body 8b via a bracket 18, and the air nozzle 17 cools the back surface of the smooth heating body 8b by air cooling. is doing. A support 19 is installed on the bed 1 located in front of the rotating body 7, and a pair of left and right guide holes 20 are formed in parallel on the upper part of the support 19. There is. Further, each guide bar 22 of the moving body 21 is slidably fitted in the guide hole 20 in the front-rear direction, and a motor 23 is installed on the moving body 21. Further, a cleaning rotary brush 24 held by a bracket (not shown) is connected to the output shaft 23a of the motor 23 via a belt 25.
Reference numeral 4 makes it possible to clean the surface of the smooth heating element 8c at the third stop position. Further, a cylinder device 26 is horizontally provided on the support body 19, and the movable body 21 is pivotally attached to an output shaft 26a of the cylinder device 26 by a pin shaft 27. In addition, the first of the smooth heating element 8a
About 2 hot air jet nozzles 28 are provided in the machine frame 2 at the stop position.
It is arranged so that it can be heated by blowing hot air of about 00 ° C. from the back surface of the smooth heating body 8a.

Therefore, in the above-described optical fiber end face processing apparatus, the smooth heating body 8a at the first stop position is heated by blowing the hot air jet nozzle 28 to about 200 ° C. from the back surface of the smooth heating body 8a in advance. , The smooth heating element 8a
The holding device 16 holds the optical fiber F at the second stop position, faces the surface of the smooth heating body 8a, and stands by.

Next, the drive motor 3 is driven, the output shaft 3a of the drive motor 3 rotates, and the pulley 4a of the index unit 4 rotates via the transmission belt 5, whereby the index unit 4 rotates. Since the rotary shaft 6 that is integral with the body 7 is intermittently rotated, the smooth heating bodies 8a, 8b, and 8c attached to the rotary body 7 are moved from the first stop position to the second stop position and the third stop position. It turns to the position intermittently.

On the other hand, the gripping device 16 drives the cylinder device 14 to drive the cylinder device 1
4, the connector support 1 connected to the output shaft 14a
1 is pushed forward and the optical fiber F of the gripping member 13 is pushed.
Can be brought into contact with the smooth heating body 8a and subjected to a mirror surface heat treatment to form a mirror surface on the end surface Fa of the optical fiber F.

That is, when the smooth heating body 8a moves from the first stop position to the second stop position, the optical fiber F of the gripping device 16 contacts the surface of the smooth heating body 8a for about 4 seconds, and the optical fiber F The end face Fa of F is made into a gel and formed into a mirror surface. Thereafter, the back surface of the smooth heating element 8a is cooled to a temperature of about 80 ° C. by the cooling fluid of the air nozzle 17 and plastically deformed, and then the optical fiber F of the gripping device 16 is separated from the surface of the smooth heating element 8a. By doing so, the end surface of the optical fiber is mirror-finished.

On the other hand, the optical fiber F of the gripping device 16
When the end face treatment of 1 is completed, the gripping device 16 grips a new optical fiber F and stands by. Further, since the smooth heating element 8a that has completed the work intermittently swivels from the second stop position to the third stop position, the cleaning rotary brush 24 at the third stop position causes the cleaning rotary brush 24 to contaminate the surface of the smooth heating element 8a. To clean.

Next, when the surface of the smooth heating element 8a is cleaned, the smooth heating element 8a intermittently pivots from the third stop position to the first stop position and returns to the initial state.

As described above, in the above-described optical fiber end face processing apparatus, the end face Fa of the optical fiber F is set to the melting temperature of the optical fiber to perform the mirror surface heat treatment to form the mirror surface.

[0013]

However, the above-mentioned optical fiber end face processing device drives the cylinder device 14 to move the connector support 11 connected to the output shaft 14a of the cylinder device 14 forward. Although the optical fiber F of the gripping member 13 is pushed and brought into contact with the smooth heating body 8a to perform mirror surface heat treatment to form a mirror surface on the end face Fa of the optical fiber F, in reality, the optical fiber F of the gripping member 13 is smoothed. Not only is it difficult to accurately position and abut the contact pressure (load) on the heating element 8a, but also the stroke of the abutting position of the optical fiber F of the gripping member 13 is controlled by the cylinder device 14. Since it is regulated, it is difficult to regulate the contact positioning with high precision. Since the mirror surface is formed by heat treatment, when used for a long time, not only the debris such as resin adheres to the smooth heating body 8a and the quality of the end face Fa of the optical fiber F is deteriorated, but also smooth heating is performed. A new cleaning operation is inevitable on the surface of the body 8a, the production efficiency is reduced, and it is difficult to provide it at low cost.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and aims to improve the quality of the optical fiber by highly accurately abutting and positioning the mirror-finished heating element and applying an accurate abutment pressure. In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide an end face processing device for an optical fiber which is designed to improve production efficiency.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a feed screw is axially mounted on a frame, and a moving body that moves in the front-rear direction is screwed on the feed screw, and the tip end of the moving body contacts an end face of an optical fiber. A mirror surface heating element for forming a mirror surface on the end face of the optical fiber by contacting with the mirror surface heat treatment is attached, a cooling device is provided on the moving body so as to cool the mirror surface heating body, and the moving body is contacted with the mirror surface heating body. A cylinder device having a heater for heating is provided, and an encoder is connected to the feed screw so as to detect the end face contact position of the optical fiber.

[0016]

According to the present invention, the heater of the cylinder device is brought into contact with the mirror surface heating body to heat the mirror surface heating body to the softening temperature of the material of the optical fiber, and the temperature of the mirror surface heating body is detected by the heat detecting sensor. The softening temperature of the material of the optical fiber is set, the feed screw is rotated to move the moving body forward, and the end face abutting position of the optical fiber is detected by the encoder and stopped, and the mirror heating body The end face of the optical fiber is brought into contact with the mirror surface to soften the end face of the optical fiber while softening the end face of the optical fiber,
After that, the heater is returned to the original position by the cylinder device, the end faces of the mirror-like heating body and the optical fiber are cooled and plastically deformed by the cooling device, and then the moving body is returned to the original position. .

[0017]

The present invention will now be described with reference to the illustrated embodiments.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 30 denotes a channel-shaped frame horizontally provided on the machine frame 31, and a feed screw rod 32 such as a ball screw is mounted on the frame 30. This is the feed rod 3
A guide rod 33 is mounted in parallel with the feed screw rod 32 on the frame 30 located on one side of the frame 2. A moving body 34 that moves in the front-rear direction is screwed on the guide rod 33 and the feed screw rod 32, and a tip end portion 34 of the moving body 34 is mounted.
a is a smooth and relatively thin mirror surface heating element 35 so as not to come out through the coil spring 36, and is abutted perpendicularly to the end face Fa of the optical fiber F to perform a mirror surface heat treatment to end face the optical fiber. It is attached to form a mirror surface on Fa. Further, the connector C of the optical fiber F is temporarily held by the anvil A and the movable crimping member B of the connector crimping device which is connected to the machine frame 31.

On the other hand, in a part of the mirror surface heating element 35, the heat detecting sensor 37 changes the temperature of the mirror surface heating element 35 to the softening temperature (about 120 to 18) of the material of the plastic optical fiber F.
It is attached to detect at 0 ° C). Further, a cooling device 38 such as an air cooler is attached to the bracket 34b34c of the moving body 34, and the cooling fluid from the nozzle 38a of the cooling device 38 causes the mirror surface heating body 35 to reach about 80 ° C. It is provided to cool to temperature. Further, a cylinder device 39 is horizontally mounted in the middle of the moving body 34, and a heater 40 abuts on the mirror surface heating body 35 to heat the end of the output shaft of the cylinder device 39. Is provided. Further, a guide rod 41 is slidably fitted to one side of the movable body 34 to which the cylinder device 39 is attached, and a tip end portion 41a of the guide rod 41 moves the heater 40 in a devious manner. Hold on not to.

On the other hand, at the other end of the feed screw rod 32,
An encoder 44 is connected via a pulley 42 and a joint 43 so as to detect the end face contact position of the optical fiber F, and the encoder 44 is attached to the frame 30. A drive motor 45 such as a pulse motor is provided on the support member 31a of the machine frame 31 below the pulley 42. The main pulley 45a integral with the output shaft of the drive motor 45 is It is connected to the pulley 42 via a timing belt 46.

The operation of the present invention will be described below.

Therefore, by driving the cylinder device 39, the heater 4 of the cylinder device 39 is now driven.
0 comes into contact with the mirror surface heating element 35, and the mirror surface heating element 35
Is heated to the softening temperature of the plastic optical fiber F material (about 120 to 180 ° C),
The temperature of the mirror heating body 35 is detected by the heat detecting sensor 37 and set to the softening temperature of the material of the optical fiber F. After that, when the drive motor 45 is driven to rotate the pulley 42 via the timing belt 46 by the main pulley 45a of the drive motor 45, the feed screw rod 32 rotates, and thus the feed screw rod 32 is screwed into the drive screw 45. The moving body 34 is moved forward, and the encoder 44 detects the end face contact position of the optical fiber F and stops.

Next, the mirror surface 35a of the mirror surface heating body 35 is brought into contact with the end surface Fa of the optical fiber F to soften it, and a mirror surface heat treatment is performed to form a mirror surface on the end surface Fa of the optical fiber F. By returning, the heater 40 connected to this is returned to the original position, and after the mirror heating body 35 and the end face Fa of the optical fiber F are cooled to about 80 ° C. by the cooling device 38 and plastically deformed. , The moving body 34 is returned to the original position.

As a result, according to the present invention, the mirror heating body can be positioned and abutted on the end face of the optical fiber with high accuracy, and the temperature of the mirror heating body 35 is softened lower than the melting temperature of the material of the optical fiber F. Temperature (about 120 ~
Since the temperature is set to 180 ° C., there is no possibility that slag or dirt such as resin will adhere to the mirror surface heating member 33 for a long period of time, and quality and production efficiency can be improved.

Although the optical fiber F used in the present invention has been described as a plastic material, the design can be freely changed to be used for a glass optical fiber, for example.

[0026]

As described above, according to the present invention, the frame is provided with the feed screw, and the feed screw is provided with the moving body which moves in the front-rear direction. A mirror surface heating body for contacting and performing mirror surface heat treatment to form a mirror surface on the end face of the optical fiber is attached, a cooling device is provided on the moving body so as to cool the mirror surface heating body, and the moving body is contacted with the mirror surface heating body. A cylinder device having a heater for heating is provided, and the encoder is connected to the feed screw so as to detect the contact position of the end face of the optical fiber. Not only can it be performed, but also the contact load can be accurately applied to improve the quality, and at the same time, it has an excellent effect of improving the production efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an optical fiber end face processing device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view showing an end face of the optical fiber of the present invention in an exaggerated manner.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an optical fiber end face processing device that has already been proposed.

FIG. 4 is a front view of a main part of an already proposed optical fiber end face processing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 30 frame 31 machine frame 32 feed screw rod 34 moving body 35 mirror surface heating body 38 cooling device 39 cylinder device 40 heater 44 encoder

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A feed screw rod mounted on a frame, a moving member screwed on the feed screw rod to move in the front-rear direction, and attached to the tip of the moving member and contacting the end face of an optical fiber. A mirror-like heating body for performing mirror surface heat treatment to form a mirror surface on the end face of the optical fiber, a cooling device provided on the moving body for cooling the mirror-like heating body, and a cooling device provided on the moving body and abutting against the mirror-like heating body An optical fiber end face processing device comprising: a cylinder device having a heater for heating the optical fiber; and an encoder connected to the feed screw and detecting an end face contact position of the optical fiber.