JPS5912402A - Production of light guide matrix - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the positional relation of optical fibers with good accuracy and to improve workability, by inserting optical fiber sheets which are arranged and fixed in a prescribed positional relation into the respective slits of a slit plate and fixing the same. CONSTITUTION:Slits 5 of the shape approximately equal to the shape of the cut end of a sheetlike body 2 of optical fibers are juxtaposed on one direction at prescribed intervals to a slit plate 4. The above-described sheetlike bodies 2 are successively inserted into the slits 5 of the plate 4 provided with the slits 5 obtd. in the above-mentioned way by unifying the direction of optical fibers 1 and are fixed by using an adequate adhesive agent. The positional relation of the optical fibers is obtained with good accuracy and the workability is improved according to such method.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a light guide matrix in which optical fibers are arranged in a matrix.

There are two types of light guide matrix in which optical 7 eyepers are arranged in the shape of a matrix: one is composed of a matrix-like light guide with a corresponding lot number on both ends of the source eyeper, and the other is a matrix-like light guide with only one end formed from a matrix-like light guide. It is mainly used in two forms:

In each of these cases, the purpose is to transmit information by guiding light incident from one end to the other end. Specific applications for these include, for example, large displays that project an image from a film onto one matrix-like light guide and magnify the image at the other end, and optical fibers that connect images of the outside world to one end of the light guide through a lens. There are an image guide that guides the image through the sensor to the other end and reproduces the image, and a sensor head that arranges light-receiving elements at one end and detects information at the other end.

As an example of the sensor head, it can also be used as an area portion of an optical sensor head for line-to-area conversion described in a previous application (Japanese Patent Application No. 15964/1983) proposed by the present applicant.

Conventionally, when manufacturing such a light guide matrix,
Generally, the following methods are implemented.

(1) As described in the above-mentioned prior application, a method in which optical fibers are inserted one by one into a grid in which insertion holes are provided in advance at a predetermined pitch and arrangement.

(1) A method of producing a sheet-like body in which optical fibers are arranged and fixed at a predetermined pitch with their axial directions aligned, and forming a laminate from this sheet-like body so that the optical fibers are arranged at a predetermined pitch.

However, each of these methods has its advantages and disadvantages, but the reality is that various studies are being carried out in the direction of streamlining manufacturing operations, speeding up production, and reducing costs.

For example, the method in (1) above is based on the order f? of the optical fiber array above. 1illf has the advantage of being able to maintain this weight, but its productivity is poor,
The other method (11) has good productivity, but has drawbacks such as the fact that it is very difficult to maintain high positional accuracy.

In order to solve this problem, the inventors of the present invention have conducted extensive research and have found a method that can maintain the above-mentioned positional accuracy at a high level and significantly improve productivity, and have thus arrived at the present invention.

That is, the present invention provides an optical fiber sheet in which a desired number of optical fibers are aligned in the axial direction and arranged and fixed in a predetermined positional relationship, and slits having a shape substantially equal to the cut shape of the optical fiber sheet are all arranged at predetermined intervals in one direction. This is a method of manufacturing a light guide matrix, which is characterized by inserting and fixing the light guide matrix into each slit of slit plates arranged in parallel.

As the optical fiber in this invention, any of quartz fiber, plastic fiber, and glass fiber can be used, and coated fibers obtained by coating these optical fibers with polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, etc. can also be used. There is no particular limitation on the diameter of the original fiber used,
For example, thick wires such as extremely thin 50μ diameter and 3μ diameter can also be used at any time.

In order to obtain the above-mentioned optical fiber sheet in which the optical fibers are aligned in the axial direction and arranged at a constant pitch, for example, the optical fibers 1 are wound and arranged around a drum or the like at a constant pitch of 7-Jr as in the conventional method. Then, the fibers are fixed in a sheet form using an adhesive or adhesive tape to produce an optical fiber sheet 2t as shown in the first figure. In the figure 3
is an adhesive.

In this case, the thickness of the sheet-like body 2 is one foot,
and the optical fiber 1 in the thickness direction of the sheet-like body 2.
It is desirable that the centers of the fibers are aligned so that they form a line, and when this sheet-like body 2 is cut and used, it is desirable to similarly ensure that the centers of the original fibers are in a predetermined positional relationship. I can do it.

Next, for the slit plate 4 in FIG.
They are all arranged in parallel in one direction with foot spacing between them. The width of the slit is generally 100 to 140 of the thickness of the sheet-like body 2.
Preferably Viio.

Preferably, the width is 105 inches.

The flooring material of this slit plate 4 is selected from metal plates, ceramic plates, plastic plates, wooden plates, etc., and depending on the grain size, it can be obtained by whole molding or formed by slit i% type etching, cutting, etc. jR construction method can be applied.

The above-mentioned optical fiber sheet 2 is sequentially inserted into the slit plate 4 provided with the slit 5 with all the fibers 1 aligned in the same direction, using an appropriate adhesive. All of these are fixed. Then, if necessary, the entire end face of the fixed optical fiber is polished and used.

As is clear from the above description and the embodiments described later, this invention involves inserting and fixing an optical fiber sheet-like body in which optical fibers are arranged at precise intervals into slits with a predetermined pitch, so that the positional relationship of the original fibers is can be obtained with high accuracy,
Furthermore, the workability of these methods is significantly improved, and the above-mentioned problems can be almost eliminated, so the industrial effects are extremely large.

The present invention will be specifically explained below using Examples.

Made by Iyon, Esca CK-10, )'50 on the drum
Wrap with 0μ pitch and use room temperature curing epoxy adhesive (
It was applied to a thickness of 5300 μm and cured to obtain an optical fiber sheet.

On the other hand, a polymethyl methacrylate plate with a thickness of 3 mm was used as a fully slit plate, and a carbon dioxide laser was applied to it to 310μ×
Ten slits were bored in parallel at a pitch of 500μ in 10-tone slits.

The optical fiber sheet material was cut into a width of k 10 tur, which was sequentially inserted into the slits and fixed with a room-temperature curing epoxy adhesive, and then the end surface of the optical fiber was polished with Sandpeno F-(No. 1000). A light guide matrix was obtained. The positional accuracy of the optical fibers in the obtained light guide matrix was within the range of ±15 μm with respect to the specified position, which was extremely good, and the productivity was much improved compared to the conventional method.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the original fiber sheet-like body according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same slit plate. 1... Optical fiber, 2... Sheet-like body, 4...
Slit plate, 5-...slit. Figure 1 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] A slit comprising an optical fiber sheet in which a desired number of optical fibers are aligned in the axial direction and arranged and fixed in a predetermined positional relationship, and slits having a shape approximately equal to the cut shape of the optical fiber sheet are arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval. A method for producing a light guide matrix, which comprises inserting and fixing the light guide matrix into each slit of a plate.