JPS63144309A - Optical transmission hose - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent moisture from entering a core material from an outside atmosphere by protecting a flexible tubular body by a cylindrical body consisting of a cylindrical body formed by winding a beltlike material with high moisture shielding performance spirally and a reinforcing material which fills gaps where the beltlike material overlaps with itself. CONSTITUTION:A protection tube 4 is formed at the outer periphery of a clad material 2, a sleeve 5 is fitted onto the outer periphery at an end part, and a window material 3 is pressed and fixed in the clad material 2 to securely seal the core material 1. The protection pipe 4 is formed cylindrically by a forming method wherein a filler 7 of epoxy hardening resin is inserted while the beltlike material 6 made of fiber-reinforced resin such as poly(vinyl fluoride) is wound spirally around the outer periphery of the clad material 2, and the filler 7 is charged in gaps and inside and outside the beltlike material 6 which forms a layer which shifts slightly. Consequently, moisture which is to enter the internal core material 1 from the outside atmosphere is securely cut off, and optical transmission performance is maintained for a long period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a solution-type optical transmission hose having a liquid core material, and more particularly to an optical transmission hose that prevents moisture from entering from the external environment.

1. A fume light transmission hose is usually a fibrous light transmission medium consisting of a flexible tubular body and a core material that have different refractive indexes. Light transmission is performed using total reflection at the interface with the core material, and in recent years it has been used in optical communications, optical sensor image guides, decorative displays, automobiles, home appliances, optical devices, medical equipment, outdoor equipment, etc. It has penetrated into a wide range of industrial fields and is used for various purposes such as signboards, oil plants, etc. as a means of illumination.

As such optical transmission hoses, all-solid optical transmission hoses, in which the flexible tubular body and core material are both solid materials such as quartz fiber, multi-component glass fiber, or plastic fiber, have been put into practical use and are well known. However, apart from this, carbon dioxide laser, helium neon laser
1. Depending on the type and properties of light transmitted by semiconductor lasers, etc., combinations of core materials and flexible tubular bodies with different refractive indexes are required, so gaseous or liquid core materials are used. The optical transmission hose to be used is also being considered.

Therefore, a liquid is used as the core material. A conventional example of the 8'a type optical transmission hose is shown in FIG. 4 and will be described.

This figure is an end sectional view of the solution-type optical transmission hose.

The interior of the flexible tubular body 02 is filled with a liquid core material 01 having a higher refractive index than that of the flexible tubular body 02, and window materials 03 are placed at the openings at both ends of the flexible tubular body 02. The liquid core material 01 is stuck and blocked.

This window material 03 not only seals the liquid core material o1, but also performs optical functions such as guiding incident light and appropriately emitting light.

j] is going to do it! ? ll C Flexible tubular body 0
2 is mainly made of thermoplastic resin, and although some of these materials have extremely low moisture permeability, they completely prevent moisture from the outside air from penetrating into the core material 01. I can't.

When a moisture-friendly substance is used for the core material 01, a small amount of moisture that has entered the core material 01 is integrated with the core material 01, and the optical transmission performance is not deteriorated. On the other hand, when a substance with no water affinity is used for the core material 01, the infiltrated water is not integrated and forms scattering points in the core material, resulting in a performance of 1! be called.

It is also possible to use materials with extremely high moisture barrier properties, such as metals, glass, ceramics, etc., as the +111 true tubular body, but these materials have high rigidity and are generally difficult to form into a long cylindrical shape. Furthermore, even if a cylindrical product is obtained, it is difficult to handle due to poor flexibility.

Therefore, in order to suppress the amount of moisture infiltrating from the external environment, it is necessary to select a material with a small moisture diffusion coefficient and to lengthen the moisture infiltration path.The method generally used for the latter purpose is to thicken the film. It is to be.

However, as mentioned above, the thicker the film, the more difficult it becomes to form it into a cylindrical shape, and the more troublesome it becomes to handle it.

This is even more the case with long objects.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and the object thereof is to provide a protective material that can easily form a tubular body having excellent moisture barrier properties and flexibility. The present invention provides a light transmission hose protected by a tube.

Therefore, in the present invention, a liquid core material having a higher refractive index than that of the flexible cylindrical body is filled inside the flexible cylindrical body. In a closed solution-type optical transmission hose, a neck-shaped member consisting of a cylindrical object made of a spirally wound band-like substance with high moisture-blocking properties and a filler material that fills the gaps where the band-like substances overlap each other is used to prevent the above-mentioned This is a light transmission hose designed to protect a flexible tubular body.

Therefore, by spirally wrapping a strip-shaped material with high moisture-blocking properties, it blocks moisture that attempts to permeate the strip material vertically, and also prevents moisture that attempts to pass through the filler material that fills the strip material. For minutes, the distance can be increased to create a mouth that reliably prevents adults from reaching 1 minute.

An embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of the optical transmission hose of this embodiment.

2 is a cylindrical clad material that is attached to the flexible thrust tube 1, and has a diameter of 0.
5+71mJJ] of fluororesin (4 pieces (hyethylene-hexafluorinated propylene copolymer)).

The interior of the cladding material 2 is filled with a core material 1 made of fluorine oil having a higher refractive index than the fluororesin, and window materials 3 made of hard glass are fitted into the openings at both ends of the cladding material 2. The core material 1 is closed.

A protective tube 4 is formed around the outer periphery of the cladding material 2, a sleeve 5 is fitted at the end of the outer periphery, and the window material 3 is crimped and fixed inside the cladding material 2 to reliably seal the core material 1. ing.

As the end sealing jig, in addition to the sleeve, tightening with a boce band, winding with a wire strand, tightening with an O-ring, packing, etc. can be considered.

The protective tube 4 is formed into a cylindrical shape by a method in which a band material 6 made of fiber-reinforced resin of polyvinylidene fluoride is wound spirally around the outer periphery of the clad material 2, and a filler material 7 made of hardened epoxy resin is inserted. Fill in the gaps and the inner and outer spaces between the band-shaped materials 6 that are layered with a slight deviation from each other (off is filled).

In the case of the protective tube 4 formed in this way, the strip material 6
The material itself is a material with high moisture barrier properties, and the amount of moisture that diffuses vertically through the strip material 6 can be reduced to approximately zero.
Moisture infiltration paths in the protective tube 4 are limited to only the gaps between the layered strips 6.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of the main part of this moisture infiltration route.

In the same figure, the path indicated by the arrow is the moisture infiltration path, and both sides of the path are the band-like material 6, and the moisture intrusion path itself is the band-like material 6.
It is formed of a filler material 7 filled between 36.

As is well known, the amount of moisture infiltration is proportional to the surface area and inversely proportional to the distance, so by narrowing the gap d between the strip materials 6 and widening the overlapping width A, the amount of moisture infiltration can be brought close to zero. I can do it.

In this embodiment, the outer periphery of the cladding material 2 is spirally wrapped with a strip material 6 having high moisture barrier properties, and the overlapping gap is filled with the filler material 7, thereby preventing the internal core material from being exposed to the external atmosphere. The ability of 7'iJ is to almost certainly block moisture that is about to enter the fiber, and maintain optical transmission performance over a long period of time.

Note that a material with high moisture barrier properties is selected for the strip material 6, and in addition to fiber-reinforced resin of polynylidene fluoride,
As resin or fiber reinforced resin, polyvinylidene chloride, polymonochloroh-refluoro[]ethylene, 6-nylon,
Possible examples include 6-6-nylon, PET, PAT, epoxy resin, phenolic resin, unsaturated polyester resin, and the like.

In addition to the above-mentioned resin materials, metal molds such as SUS, copper, aluminum, iron, zinc, brass, high lead, lead, and tin can also be used as strip materials, and are more moisture-blocking than the resin materials. Because of its excellent properties, it is possible to form thin expanses.

Furthermore, it is also possible to use a composite film of metal and resin in which a metal film is placed on the surface or in the middle of a resin film as a strip material.Such a composite film can be created using dry plating technology, wet plating technology, lamination technology, etc. .

Next, various supplementary materials can be considered, but the selection depends on the manufacturing process of the light transmission hose.

Therefore, we will give a representative example of the production process and exemplify the supplementary materials used therein.

(1) When a protective tube is formed by coating the back side of the band material in advance with an adhesive filling material and rolling up the outer surface of the cladding material with this material, the material is a group of substances that have been made sticky by, for example, a tackifier. and NR, IR, SBR
, IIR, BR, halogenated butyl rubber, NBR, CR
1 or oligomers such as liquid NBR and liquid 11R, or viscous grade products of epoxy resin, phenol resin, and acrylic resin. Further, a curing agent may be added to these in advance and the materials may be cured and integrated after molding.

(2) When forming a protective tube by applying a thermoplastic filler material to the back of the band-shaped material in advance and raising the outer surface of the clad material and molding it, heating and integrating it, the material may be acrylic, for example. Examples include acid-based, ac-1-nolic acid ester-based, acrylate-based (including Surlyn, etc.), olefin-based, styrene-butadiene-based, EV^-based polymers, polyurethane, polyester, polyamide, and the like.

(3) When inserting a filler material while winding up a strip material spirally on the outer surface of the cladding material, the material may be epoxy-based as used in the example, as well as phenol-based, urethane-based, fluororesin-based, silicone-based, or diene-based material. , butyral-based, polyamide-based, and polyacrylate-1-based curable resins.

The protective tube composed of the strip material and the filler material is not limited to those mentioned above, but can be used as a general protective film for ponds for purposes such as 4-ink resistance, external damage resistance, and oil resistance. It is also possible to apply it as a multilayer structure.

The present invention protects the core from the external environment by protecting the flexible body of the solution-based optical transmission system with a protection tube composed of a spirally wound band material and a filling material. It is possible to prevent moisture from entering the material and maintain high optical transmission performance over the installation period, further improving practicality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an end sectional view of an embodiment of the optical transmission hose according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of a protection tube of the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of essential parts of the protection tube. FIG. 4 is an end sectional view of a conventional optical transmission hose. 1... Core material, 2... Clad material, 3... Window material,
4...Protective tube, 5...Sleeve, 6...Band material, 7...Supplementary material.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a solution-type optical transmission hose, the inside of a flexible tubular body is filled with a liquid core material having a higher refractive index than the flexible tubular body, and both end openings of the flexible tubular body are closed with window materials,
The flexible tubular body is protected by a cylindrical body made up of a cylindrical body made of a spirally wound band-like material with high moisture barrier properties, and a filler material that fills gaps where the band-like substances overlap each other. A light transmission hose featuring: