JPS62258408A - Optical rotary connector device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure transmission by switching transmission lines electrically on a photodetection side and making corrections at a high speed. CONSTITUTION:End surfaces of respective cores 8 of an optical fiber cable which are fixed in six holes 9 of a rotary disk 2 are exposed in the surface of a case 1 which faces six arcuate photodetectors 12, and light signals emitted from the cores 8 are photodetected by the corresponding photodetectors 12 respectively and transmitted through a multicore transmission line. A contactor 14 contacts a six-divided conductor plate in the case 1 according to the rotation of the disk 2 and the angle of rotation is detected. Transmission lines are switched according to the detection signal of the angle and a position shift is corrected under electric control so that data of the same channel is received by the same line, so the transmission is secured regardless of whether the optical cable fiber rotates or stops.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an optical rotary connector device that extracts optical signals from a multicore optical fiber cable that is unwound or wound from a drum.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides a ring-shaped light receiver having the same number of arc-shaped light-receiving surfaces as the number of core wires of an optical fiber cable on the opposing surface of a main body provided facing a rotating part of an optical rotary connector. A detection means is provided to detect the rotation angle of the
By replacing the transmission line from the light receiver with the detection means signal, the optical signal can be reliably transmitted through the rotating mechanism regardless of irregular changes in the rotational speed of the optical fiber cable. It is.

[Conventional technology]

In recent years, multicore optical fiber cables, which can transmit larger amounts of data than coaxial cables, have come into use as signal transmission lines for video monitors for submarine exploration and robots for submarine work.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a conventional multi-core optical fiber cable rotary connector, in which the optical rotary connector 22 that supplies signals to the optical fiber cable 20 wound around the body of the drum 21 is the seventh one. It is shown enlarged in the figure.

The optical rotary connector 22 has three concave mirrors 24A inside.
, 24B, and 24C are fixed by a support rod 23 and connected to a side wall 25 of the rotating drum 21 via a bearing 26. And core wires 20a, 20b of the optical fiber cable 20.

An end portion of 20c is fixed to the side wall 25.

The outer wall of the optical rotary connector 22 has core wires 27a and 27b of other optical fiber cables 27 for transmitting signals 11j.
, 27c are fixed, and the core wires 27a, 27b, 27
The optical signal output from the lens 28a, 28b, 28
The light is formed so as to be irradiated onto the concave mirrors 24A, 24B, and 24C through the light beams c.

Therefore, no matter which position the rotating drum 21 rotates, a plurality of signals from the optical fiber cable 27 are transmitted via the optical rotary connector 22 to the concave mirror 24A,
Each core wire 20a of the optical fiber cable 20 is reflected by 24B and 24C and is wound around the rotating drum 21.
, 20b, 20c.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, since the rotary connector configured as described above uses a mirror to optically correct the positional shift of the transmission line due to rotation, it is necessary to maintain the reflective surface of the reflective mirror with high precision. Since the mounting position must be precisely determined, manufacturing is extremely difficult and impractical.

[Means for solving problems]

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and the end face of each core wire of a multi-core optical fiber cable is exposed on one circumference of the surface perpendicular to the rotation axis of the rotating disk. The above-mentioned core wires are inserted and fixed into the holes in the direction of the rotation axis of the rotating disk, and the above-mentioned core wires are inserted into the surface of the case to which the above-mentioned rotating disk is rotatably fixed, which faces the exposed surface with a small gap. , a light receiver including a plurality of arc-shaped light-receiving elements constituting a ring as a whole and a rotation angle detection section are provided, and each of the plurality of arc-shaped light-receiving elements receives an optical signal irradiated from an end surface of each of the core wires. At the same time, the signal from the rotation angle detection section on which the contact fixed to the rotating disk slides is transmitted to each of the multi-core transmission lines, and on the receiving side, the signal from the rotation angle detection section is transmitted to each of the transmission lines. The present invention provides a means for correcting the positional deviation of the transmission line due to the rotation of the rotating disk by replacing the optical connector, thereby ensuring reliable signal transmission regardless of changes in the rotation or stoppage of the optical connector section.
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems by obtaining an optical rotary connector device that is easy to manufacture.

[Effect]

On the surface of the case facing the rotating disk to which each core wire of a multi-core optical fiber cable is fixed on the circumference, multiple arc-shaped light receiving elements forming a ring as a whole are used to receive optical signals from each core wire. Since the signals from the multiple arc-shaped photodetectors are exchanged according to the rotation of the rotating disk, it is possible to electrically compensate for deviations in the transmission line due to rotation, and it is also easy to manufacture. This eliminates the need for precision parts, making manufacturing easier and making mass production possible.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, how the configuration of the present invention is actually implemented will be explained with reference to the drawings, along with its operation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a rotary connector portion of an optical rotary connector device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2(a) and (b)
) shows a cross section taken along line AA' and line BB' of the optical rotary connector portion.

In these figures, 6 of multi-core optical fiber cable A
Each fiber core wire 8 of the book is inserted and fixed into six holes 9 of the rotating disk 2, respectively. The end faces of each of the six optical fiber core wires 8 are exposed on the surface facing the light receiver 12 provided in the case l of the rotating disk 2. A rotating roller 3 is fixed to the outer periphery of the rotating disk 2,
The rotating roller 3 is engaged with a groove 4 provided on the inner periphery of the case 1, and the rotating disk 2 is rotatably supported by a mechanism not shown in the drawings with respect to the case 1.

In addition, the contact 14 that is in electrical contact with the conductive plate 11 provided on the case l is fixed to the rotating disk 2, so that the rotation angle of the rotating disk 2 can be detected from the position of contact with the conductive plate 11. Make it. A light receiver 12 faces the surface of the rotating disk 2 with a slight gap from which the end faces of the six optical fiber core wires 8 are exposed, and receives the optical signals emitted from each of the six optical fiber core wires 8. The light receiver 12 is configured to be able to receive light.

The mounting structure of the rotating roller 3 is as shown in FIG. 2(a).
The spring 7 is housed in the vertical groove 6 of the rotary disk 2, one end of the telescopic rod 5 is inserted, the rotary roller 3 is rotatably attached to the other end of the telescopic rod 5, and the rotary roller 3 is attached to the case 1. It is pressed and engaged with the four parts 4 provided on the inner periphery by a spring 7. Here, when the rotating disk 2 rotates, the rotating roller 3 resists the spring 7, overcomes the recess 4 and the peaks of the four parts 4, and engages with the next four parts, and the rotating disk 2 is intermittently rotated at a predetermined angle. It will rotate one by one. The configuration for determining the rotation angle of the rotating disk 2 is shown in Figure 2 (
As shown in b), the light receiver 12 consists of six arc-shaped light receiving elements 13, and each of the light receiving elements 13 is connected to an optical fiber core 8.
are provided at positions corresponding to each core wire. A conductor plate 11 divided into six parts having similar shapes is provided outside the light receiver 12, and a contactor 14 attached to the rotating disk 2 slides on the conductor plate 11. That is, as the rotating disk 2 rotates, the position of the conductive plate 11 that the contact 14 contacts changes, so by detecting the conductive plate 11 that the contact 14 is in contact with, the rotation angle of the rotating disk 2 can be determined. can be known. A lead wire is connected to each of the six areas '~■' of the conductor plate 11, and a high level is applied only to the lead wires of the areas '■'~■' of the conductor plate 11 that are in contact with the contactor 14. A signal is made to appear.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the transmission line between the light receiving section and the terminal section of the case L. As mentioned above, the six lead wires from the conductor plate 11, which are divided into six sections 1' to 2', are marked with reference numbers. converter 3
2 and outputs a high level signal.
3-bit code A as shown in Table 1 according to the fixed position of
, AI, A2. In Table 1, the output of the code converter 32 corresponds to the divided areas I' to ■' of the light receiving section in FIG. It becomes.

The signal is inputted in parallel to the second communication device (UART) 33, converted into a serial signal at the timing of the timing circuit 34, and converted into an optical signal by the electro-optical converter E1031. and,
This optical signal is transmitted along with other transmission information to a terminal device having a monitor section and a control section through one transmission line of the multi-core optical fiber cable B forming the transmission line.

On the other hand, optical signals a to f, which are channel signals emitted from the core @8 attached to the rotating disk 2, are received by the light receiving elements 13 at corresponding positions and converted into electrical signals.

These electrical signals are each converted into optical signals again by the electrical-optical converter E1031 and sent to the optical fiber cable B.

When the rotary disk 2 rotates, the positions of the optical signals a to f also rotate, so each of the light receiving areas I to ■ that receives these optical signals
moves to adjacent light-receiving areas 1 to 3. In other words, as the transmission lines corresponding to each channel made up of the multi-core optical fiber cable B move as it rotates, the transmission lines must be switched to receive signals, and data from the same channel can be transmitted on the same line. You must be able to receive uke. The signal used for such control is the above-mentioned U
This is a 3-bit rotation angle detection signal sent from the ART33.

The optical signal transmitted through the relatively long-distance transmission line of the optical fiber cable B is converted into an electrical signal by the optical-to-electrical converter 0/E 35. The simultaneously transmitted angle detection signal from the UART 33 is applied to the UART 38, and each channel signal IR to VIR is applied to the line switching circuit 36. The serial 3-bit signal input to the UART 38 is converted into a parallel 3-bit signal according to the timing of the timing circuit 39, and is applied to the decoder 37. The decoder 37 converts the 3-bit signal as shown in Table 3 to create a switching control signal for the line switching circuit 36.

The six lines IR to VIR in Table 3 are replaced by the switching control signal output from the decoder 37, and the signals are output to lines a' to f'.

The signals on lines a' to f' are then applied to the monitor section or control section 40.

Since the line switching circuit 36 switches the lines in synchronization with the rotation of the rotating disk 2, the channel signals transmitted by each optical fiber core wire 8 of the multi-core optical fiber cable A are changed when the rotating disk 2 rotates. The signals are also taken out to lines a' to f' without being confused with signals of other channels. That is, when the rotating disk 2 rotates, the output signal of the code converter 32 determines which of the areas 1 to 2 of the light receiving element 13 constituting the light receiver 12 receives the irradiated light a to f from the rotating disk 2. (input signal of decoder 37) and forms a switching control signal (output signal of decoder 37) for line switching circuit 36 to control line switching circuit 36.

As a result, the above-mentioned 1. As shown in Table 2, even if the channel numbers a-f received by the light-receiving element 13 change, the channel signals output to the lines a'-f' are electrically corrected by the line switching circuit 36 and always remain a+ a',
l) + b', C+ C', d + d'
.

e+6', f+f'.

FIG. 4 shows a circuit example of the code converter 32.

In this figure, 6 parts from 6 divided areas I' to ■' of the conductor plate 11 are shown.
Output signals A2 to AO can be obtained by converting the two input signals as shown in Table 2 above.

For example, only I′ has the “l” signal, and ■′ to ■′ are “
0'' signal, this l II times signal OR gate 40
through only the output signal A2 AIAO as “001
" is obtained. Also, if ■' is 1", "I II" is input to the OR gates 41 and 42, so the OR game)
41 and 42 outputs become l''', and the output signal A2 AI
The AO is "110''. The general purpose asynchronous transmitter/receiver device (UART) 33.38 is, for example, Intersil's IC.
An IC numbered IM6402 can be used.

Decoder 37 may be constructed using a Texas Instruments IC with IC number 74LS138.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the circuit of the line switching circuit 36 and the decoder 37. Table 4 shows the function table of the IC74LS138 that constitutes the decoder 37.

They are each inverted in the fourth table 50 and applied to the line switching circuit 36 as a switching control signal Yl - Y6. As is clear from Table 4, only one line of the switching control signals Y1 to Y6 is at a high level.

If line Y1 is at high level, line Y? ~
Since Y6 is in a low level state, AND gate case 611.622,633°644.655.666
only opens, input lines IR~VTR are connected to output line a'
~f'.

That is, input line IR is connected to output line a', input line IIR is connected to output line b', and input line mR is connected to output line b'.
~VIR will be connected to output lines C'-f', respectively. A function table for such a line switching circuit 36 is shown in Table 5.

Table 5 For example, in the light-receiving area II of the light-receiving element 13, the light-receiving area
When it starts to receive the signal that was being received by the conductor plate 1,
Region II' of No. 1 sends out a high level signal, and among the switching control signals Y1 to Y6, only Y2 G is in a high level state, connecting input line IIR to output line a'.

Therefore, since the signal a transmitted through the input line IIR is connected to the output line a', the output lines a' to f'
A signal with the same channel number will always be connected.

In the above embodiment, the light receiving element 13 first converts the signal into an electric signal, and then the electric-optical converter E1031 converts it into an optical signal and sends it to the cable B. However, the light receiving element 13, 13. If a bundle optical fiber (an optical fiber with a wide range end face) is provided in the area of .
It becomes possible to use a device that converts only the control signal of No. 3 into an optical signal.

Also, I explained the switching of six optical fibers,
It goes without saying that even if the number of optical fibers increases, the rotary connector can be constructed using the same method.

If the center of the rotating disk 2 is also used as an optical fiber connector, one more transmission line can be added.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, even if the transmission line on the fixed side of the optical rotary connector is replaced with the rotation of the multi-core optical fiber cable, the side receiving the signal transmitted by the optical fiber cable By electrically switching the transmission line and quickly correcting the replaced transmission line, signals can be reliably transmitted regardless of whether the optical fiber cable rotates or stops, and the configuration for switching the transmission line is Since it can be done with a simple logic circuit, it is easy to realize, inexpensive, and mass-produced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical rotary connector section showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2(a) and (b) are AA' in FIG.
3 is an explanatory diagram showing the connection between the transmitting section and the terminal section, 4 is a circuit diagram of the code converter, 5 is a circuit diagram of the line switching circuit, 6 is a cross-sectional structural diagram taken along line B-B', 7 are explanatory diagrams of a conventional optical rotary connector. In the figure, 1 is a case of an optical rotary connector, 2 is a rotating disk of an optical rotary connector, 8 is an optical fiber core wire, 11 is a conductor plate, 12 is a light receiver, 32 is a code converter, 37 is a decoder, and 36 is a This is a line switching circuit. JMFJA rotary rotary connector lf11-
Case 2 Rotating circle, tB Moo Izumi 7-Spring 14 Crushing force diagram of the shield part

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A rotating disk that is fixed so that the core wire of a multi-core optical fiber cable is exposed on the end face on the circumference perpendicular to the rotation axis, and a rotating disk that rotatably supports the rotating disk, and a case portion provided with a plurality of arc-shaped light receiving elements arranged in a ring shape on a surface facing the end surface of the disk; and an angle for detecting the relative rotational position of the rotating disk and the case portion. An optical rotary connector device comprising a detection member, and controlled to distribute a plurality of pieces of transmission information obtained from each of the light receiving elements to predetermined transmission lines based on digital data output from the angle detection member. . (2) A claim characterized in that a plurality of pieces of transmission information obtained from a light receiving element and digital data obtained from an angle detection member are converted into optical signals and supplied to a remote point via an optical fiber cable. The optical rotary connector device according to item (1).