JPS599201Y2 - Optical fiber cutting device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical fiber cutting device that can obtain a cut surface with high optical quality.

In order to couple an optical fiber with optical components such as a light source and a light receiver, or to connect it to other optical fibers, an optical fiber cut surface with high optical quality is required.

Ideally, an optical fiber cut surface with high optical quality has a mirror surface, and there is no angle between the cut surface and a plane perpendicular to the fiber axis.

The conventional cutting method for optical fiber involves making a scratch on a part of the outer peripheral surface of the optical fiber, controlling the stress distribution within the fiber by applying bending and tension to the scratch, and cutting the scratch along the stress concentration caused by this stress distribution. The rupture is performed by deriving .

Generally, the stress distribution within an optical fiber is non-uniform, and the external stresses such as bending and tension applied to the fiber are also non-uniform. Therefore, it is necessary to precisely control the end face shape of the cut surface, especially the end face inclination angle, to obtain a cut surface with high optical quality. It is difficult to obtain.

In order to solve this problem, it has been considered to significantly improve the end face inclination angle by making circumferential scratches on the outer peripheral surface of the optical fiber over the entire circumference and breaking the optical fiber along the scratches.

Specific devices include those that rotate the optical fiber with respect to a fixed blade, and those that rotate the optical fiber with respect to a movable blade with a load balance attached.

However, in a cutting device with a fixed cutting blade, the rotating mechanism is precisely machined to prevent eccentricity, and ultra-precise adjustments are made to ensure that the eccentricity from the rotation axis is within 1 μm when installing the optical fiber. is necessary.

In addition, in a cutting device where the cutting blade moves in accordance with the eccentricity of the rotating optical fiber, a load balance is installed just like a pickup device for a record player, but the load (in the range of several grams) applied to the cutting edge is adjusted. There are problems in that it is difficult to operate, is susceptible to vibrations of the equipment, and is easily affected by the work environment.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber cutting device that is easy to operate and can cut a uniform depth around the entire outer circumference of an optical fiber without being affected by the working environment such as vibrations. be.

In order to achieve the above object, the device of the present invention improves the above-mentioned device in which the damaging blade moves, and automatically brings the cutting edge into contact with the outer periphery of the optical fiber with the desired damaging load. The structure is equipped with a control mechanism.

The entire cut surface of the optical fiber has a mirror surface (excluding the damaged area).

same as below. ), various experimental results have shown that not only is the damage depth uniform over the entire circumference, but also that there is an appropriate range of damage depth depending on the diameter of the optical fiber to be cut. I understand.

For example, the diameter of the optical fiber is 150μφ.
In this case, the appropriate damage depth was 4 to 10 μm.

The depth of the scratch is determined by the angle and degree of the cutting edge of the cutting tool and the pressure applied there.In order to obtain the desired depth of the scratch uniformly over the entire circumference of the optical fiber, the pressure of the cutting edge in contact with the optical fiber surface is determined by the pressure applied to the cutting edge. must be controlled so that it remains constant.

The cutting device of the present invention realizes this by making it possible to control this automatically, and will be explained in detail in the following examples.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the cutting device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the main structure of the cutting device of the present invention.

In the figure, 1 is an optical fiber, 2 is a chuck part that holds and fixes an optical fiber or an optical component using an optical fiber, 3 is a rotation mechanism part that rotates the chuck part 2, 4 is a cutting blade, and 5 is a A pressure sensor for applying scratches with a constant pressure, 6 a V-groove base for holding the optical fiber, 7 a downward press type clamp, 8 a control circuit that keeps the blade pressure constant, 9 a pressure adjustment that adjusts the blade pressure It is a device.

A diamond blade or a cemented carbide blade is used as the cutting tool 4, and the cutting edge angle θ is selected to be 60' to 80° in order to reduce deterioration.

Furthermore, (2) the groove base 6 is configured to damage the optical fiber 1 and then clamp it with a downward holding type clamp 7 or the like to apply tension (not shown).

Next, the operation will be explained.

Generally, the rotation mechanism section 3 and the chuck section 2 have eccentricity, but the cutting device of the present invention does not care if there is some eccentricity.

The cutting edge of a cutting knife 4 equipped with a pressure sensor 5 composed of a pressure sensitive element (piezoelectric element) or the like is applied to the optical fiber 1, and the optical fiber 1 is rotated by the rotation mechanism 3.

The optical fiber is displaced in the axial direction of the blade due to eccentricity.

This displacement causes the scratches to become non-uniform.

However, here, the pressure sensor 5 detects the pressure change caused by this displacement, and this detection signal is fed back via the control circuit 8 to the pressure adjustment device 9 configured with a solenoid or the like, thereby controlling the pressure on the optical fiber of the blade. becomes constant, making it possible to uniformly create scratches necessary to make the entire surface a mirror surface.

According to the cutting device of the present invention, an optical fiber end face with high optical quality can be easily produced without requiring special working techniques or know-how.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of the operation of the cutting device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the main structure of the device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Optical fiber, 2... Chuck part, 3... Rotating mechanism part, 4... Cutting tool, 5... Pressure sensor,
6...■Groove stand, 7...Downward holding type clamp, 8...
- Control circuit, 9...pressure adjustment device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A chuck part and a V-groove stand for holding and fixing the optical fiber to be cut, a rotation mechanism part for rotating the chuck part holding the optical fiber, a cutting blade equipped with a pressure sensor, and the pressure sensor. An optical fiber cutting device comprising: a control circuit and a pressure adjustment device for controlling the pressure at which the blade of the cutting tool contacts the optical fiber to a desired value in response to an output signal from the above.