JPS58209703A - Manufacture of image guide - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form a flexible image guide free of defect such as a flaw, etc., without degrading picture element density greatly by fixing an optical fiber wound around a drum plural times with a coating film made of oily ink applied around the external circumference of the optical fiber before the optical fiber is wound around the take-up drum. CONSTITUTION:An optical fiber blank wire 1 spun in an optical fiber spinning process is fed into a coating vessel 2 which has an insertion hole 3 at the bottom, and contains water 4 and an adequate amount of oily ink 5 on its top surface, and then drawn out of the vessel 2 through the inserton hole 3, providing a coating film of the oily ink 5 continously around the external circumferential surface of the optical fiber blank material 1. Then, the coated optical fiber 1' is taken up around the take-up drum 6 to about 100 layers in total by being arrayed successively without any gap by a guide capstan 8 which guides the optical fiber 1' to left and right along the revolving shaft 7 of the drum 6. This take-up operation is completed while the coating film around the optical fiber 1' is still viscous before being dried completely.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Kan Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in a method for manufacturing an image guide in which a large number of thin optical fibers are bundled and integrated.(b) Prior art and problems Generally speaking, the core Optical fiber bundles for image transmission are well-known, in which a large number of optical fibers made of Kutsurad are arranged and stacked to form a solid layer with both ends, and a light image is transmitted from one end to the other. It is also called a 7-eye pathscope.

However, in such an image guide, if the arrangement of the optical fibers is different between the end surfaces of the incident end and the exit end of the optical image, a faithful optical image cannot be transmitted. It is important to arrange them regularly. In addition, in order to increase the resolution, it is necessary to assemble as many optical fibers as possible and form them in one piece.The conventional method for forming an image guide with such a configuration is, for example, to form an image guide with a diameter of 100μ Optical fiber strands spun to a certain degree are wound and arranged many times on a rotating drum, and the optical fiber strands are continuously wound back and forth on the rotating drum and stacked, and the condensed part of the strand is glued with adhesive. At that point, the optical fiber bundle is cut and removed from the rotating drum, and both ends of the optical fiber bundle are embedded and fixed in a resin material using a mold, etc., and the optical fiber bundle between them is In this method, each optical fiber element is wrapped in a covering tape made of resin, rubber, etc., so that it does not lose its flexibility.
Furthermore, both end faces of the optical fiber bundle are completely polished to form a flexible image guide in which the optical fibers are correctly arranged in correspondence with each other on both end faces.

By the way, in the method of manufacturing an image guide as described above, since the optical fibers used are not coated with a coating layer, when a large number of optical fiber cables are bundled, the outer circumferential surface of each optical fiber FG gland is There is a problem that it is easy to get scratched. Therefore, it is natural to consider forming an image guide using a resin-coated optical fiber that is thinly coated with silicone resin, etc., which is used for coating ordinary optical fibers. It is extremely difficult to apply a thin coating, and if an image guide is formed using a resin-coated optical fiber obtained by such current resin coating technology, there is a drawback that a high pixel density cannot be obtained. On the other hand, an optical fiber bundle that has been removed from the rotating drum and both parts of which have been rinsed with resin, etc., has multiple optical fiber cables between both ends of the first bundle that have become loose. 5c
For example, it is very troublesome to apply a resin coating to prevent the material from losing its flexibility.

(C) Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the conventional art, and its purpose is to provide a thin optical fiber with a thickness of several μm or less for use in forming an image guide. To provide a new mounting method that can easily provide an image guide with a protective film and a flexible image guide without significantly impairing pixel density and without vortex damage such as scratches by using such #IL covered fiber. It is in.

■ Structure and purpose of the invention are as follows: A thin optical fiber is wound up on a citrus laminate by being continuously scraped and wound in multiple rows and layers, and the optical fiber is wrapped around the circumference. In the method of forming an image guide by cutting the optical fiber at the top and taking it out, and then fixing and integrating both cut ends thereof, before winding the optical fiber around a winding drum, a Note: A coating film made of ink 1 is applied, and the oil-based ink is made of the oil-based ink! A method for creating an image guide, characterized in that a plurality of fibers wound around the drum are fixed to each other by a 6-tai wire. This is achieved by making suggestions.

(''3) Embodiments of the Invention The embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail using the F-page.

, 8LIA is an outline showing an example of an apparatus 2 and a process applied to the image guide Taizo method according to the invention. An optical fiber having a diameter of 125 μm, that is, a bare optical fiber 1 is inserted into the bottom of the bottom, for example, with a straight 0.5 - insertion hole 8 (I - + fL, and water 4 is accommodated inside, and the upper surface of the rough Temporary covering 2 with excess oil 1 ink 5 buoyant
A coating film made of the oil-based ink 5 is continuously applied to the outer circumferential surface of the optical fiber cable 1 by inserting it into the coating tank 2 and pushing it out through the push-through hole 3 at the bottom of the coating tank 2. In the process of this device, the light 7 fibers 1 are inserted through the insertion hole 8 of the coating 2.
A, JE, ilI[ can be applied to a thickness of 2 μm by drawing at a speed of Omt,/m. Next up is that wave-covered light, Ipa 1゛? For example, diameter 1/nt
, and the L! of the drum 6. 3] Biaxial 7
The guide capstan 8 guides the coated optical fibers 1' in the left-right direction along the 101
Wind the fiber into one layer, and then apply the same operation to the same layer to add a total of 1' of fiber 1'.
Take 4 @ in the form of a pile of about 004.

This S stripping operation is carried out in a state where there is lamination until the coated film of the coated optical fiber r is sufficiently dried, so that each coated optical fiber 1 degree removed from the four strips is mutually This has the advantage that the subsequent process is facilitated. Therefore, the next four cut optical fiber bundles are transferred to the drum 6.
When cutting at a point 1r parallel to the rotation axis 7 of the cut #t Ii! There is no need to temporarily fix the area with adhesive as in the conventional method, and it can be cut out as it is. Afterwards this light 7
The optical fiber bundle is taken out by taking it out by pulling it off from the drum 6, and as shown in FIG. After taking out the optical fiber bundle 21, both ends 22a and 22b of the optical fiber bundle 21 are embedded in, for example, acrylic lv resin to form a block in the same manner as before, and a silicone resin or the like is applied to the outer peripheral surface of the optical fiber bundle 21 between the cocooned parts. do. after that,
Furthermore, by polishing each end face of the end portions 22a and 22c+ to a mirror finish, it is possible to easily manufacture a flexible image guide configured with a high pixel density using 10,000 optical fibers. .

(G) Effects of the Invention As is clear from the above explanation, according to the method for manufacturing an image guide according to the present invention, before the original fiber wire is wound onto the winding drum, the outer periphery of the optical fiber is coated with oil. A manufacturing method is used in which a thin coating film made of ink is applied, the coating film reinforces the optical fiber strands, and a large number of optical fibers wound on the drum are fixed to each other. Therefore, the process after winding a large number of coated optical fibers on the wound citram is facilitated, and it is possible to easily manufacture an image guide with high pixel density and flexibility that can faithfully transmit images. It has the advantage of being possible and is extremely advantageous in its application to the production of flexible image guides of this kind.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic diagrams illustrating an embodiment of the apparatus and manufacturing process applied to the method of manufacturing an image guide according to the present invention. In the drawings, 1 is a bare optical fiber, 1° is a coated optical fiber, 2 is a coating tank, 8 is an insertion hole, 4 is water, 6 is an oil-based ink, 6 is a winding citram, 7 is a rotation axis of the winding citram,
8, the guide capstan 21 is an optical fiber bundle, 22a,
22t) indicates both ends.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A large number of thin-diameter optical components 4 are wound up and continuously arranged on a draft.
The optical aperture is focused by aligning and winding it in multiple layers.
In the method of forming an image guide by cutting and taking out the upper part and fixing both cut ends together to form an image guide, the above-mentioned optical value! a'f: Prior to winding on the winding drum, 4iEa consisting of ink is applied to the outside of the optical fiber.
1. A method for manufacturing an image guide, characterized in that the optical fibers having no mantissa and no mantissa wound around the drum are fixed to each other by a coating film made of tJ ink.