KR101642122B1 - optical coupler for solar light transfer and method of manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a photovoltaic coupler for solar photovoltaic transmission, and more particularly, to a quartz tube having a hollow portion made of quartz material and having a tapered portion whose center portion gradually becomes narrower from both sides, A plurality of first optical fibers inserted in the tube, a second optical fiber inserted in the quartz tube at the other side around the tapered portion, and a second optical fiber inserted in the quartz tube between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers by a transparent thermosetting silicone rubber And a waveguide filling layer filled to provide a waveguide path between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers. According to such an optical coupler for solar transmission and a method of manufacturing the same, a large number of optical fibers having a silica-based core are connected to one optical fiber so as to reduce optical loss, thereby being capable of replacing a large diameter silica optical fiber, Provides advantages that can be used for optical distribution or optical coupling.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical coupler for a solar cell,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical coupler for a solar light transmission and a method of manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to an optical coupler for a solar light transmission capable of reducing optical transmission loss using a quartz tube and a method of manufacturing the same.

Recently, a variety of optical transmission technologies have been researched to efficiently supply natural light to indoors where natural light such as a plant is difficult to enter.

In order to transmit the natural light to the interior of the building, there is a tendency to increase the number of artifacts reflecting the natural light transmission.

As a natural light transmission method, there is a method of finishing a part of the roof of a public toilet or a single-layer building with a transparent glass. In addition, the natural light to the multi-story building and the basement is transmitted through natural light by constructing ducts with reflection mirrors to each floor and the basement floor. However, this method has a problem in that a large area of the building is occupied by a duct, .

As an alternative to solve these drawbacks, a variety of natural channel transmission methods using optical cables have been attempted.

Plastic optical fiber has a diameter of 10 ~ 20mm larger than quartz glass optical fiber, but it is weak to heat, low transparency, and has a disadvantage in that transmission efficiency is not good due to high loss at a short wavelength due to raylayer scattering. There is a problem in that the color rendering property is deteriorated.

In addition, in the case of a plastic optical fiber, there is a problem that the end portion of the optical fiber is deformed due to high temperature due to sunlight condensation.

In order to solve such a problem, an optical fiber which can be cured by applying pure silica as a core is disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2010-0115949.

On the other hand, in the case of a large-diameter cured optical fiber having a diameter of several millimeters or more using pure silica as a core, the manufacturing cost is relatively high.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an opto-coupler for solar transmission capable of transmitting light from a plurality of optical fibers having a silica core to one optical fiber and a method of manufacturing the same. have.

In order to achieve the above object, an optical coupler for solar light transmission according to the present invention comprises: a quartz tube having a hollow quartz material and having a tapered portion whose center portion is gradually narrowed from both sides; A plurality of first optical fibers inserted into the quartz tube at one side of the tapered portion; A second optical fiber inserted into the quartz tube at the other side of the tapered portion; And a wave guide filler layer filled with the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber in the quartz tube between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers to provide a light waveguide path between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers .

In addition, the smallest inner diameter of the tapered portion of the quartz tube is formed to be smaller than the outer diameter of the second optical fiber.

Preferably, the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber have a structure including a core made of a glass material and a clad layer made of a polymer material, and the refractive index of the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber forming the optical waveguide filling layer Is in the range of 1.51 to 1.55.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing an optical coupler, Forming a central portion of the quartz tube having a hollow and having a tapered portion with a narrowed inner diameter gradually from both sides while applying heat to the central portion; I. Injecting a liquid transparent thermosetting silicone rubber into the tapered portion of the quartz tube to form a waveguide filling layer; All. The first optical fiber is inserted into the optical waveguide filling layer from one side of the quartz tube toward the tapered portion and the second optical fiber is irradiated from the other side of the quartz tube to the tapered portion, ; la. And thermally treating the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber to cure the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber.

Preferably, after the step (a), the quartz tube has a connecting end of the first optical fibers inserted from one side of the quartz tube toward the tapered part, and a connecting end of the second optical fiber inserted from the other side of the quartz tube toward the tapered part. Liquid transparent thermosetting silicone rubber is applied, and the above-mentioned multi-step is performed.

According to the opto-coupler for solar photovoltaic transfer and the method of manufacturing the same according to the present invention, a plurality of optical fibers having a silica-based core are connected to one optical fiber so as to reduce optical loss, , And can be used for optical distribution or optical coupling when needed.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one side of an optical coupler for solar light transmission according to the present invention,
2 is a sectional view of the photovoltaic coupler for the solar light transmission of FIG. 1,
FIG. 3 is a process flow chart showing a manufacturing process of an optical coupler for a solar light transmission according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, an optical coupler for solar photovoltaic transfer according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and a method of manufacturing the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one side of an optical coupler for solar light transmission according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the optical coupler for solar light transmission of FIG.

1 and 2, an optical coupler 100 for a solar light transmission according to the present invention includes a quartz tube 110, a plurality of first optical fibers 120, a second optical fiber 130, (150).

The quartz tube 110 is made of a quartz material and has a hollow 111, and has a central portion having a tapered portion 112 gradually narrowing its inner diameter from both sides.

In other words, the quartz tube 110 has a tubular portion 114 that is deviated from the tapered portion 112 and has a tube structure having the same inner diameter S, and the tubular portion 114 is formed at the center of the tubular portion 114 The minimum internal diameter d of the tapered portion 112 having the smallest inner diameter is formed to be smaller than the outer diameter of the second optical fiber 130, which will be described later, when the inner diameter is gradually narrowed.

The quartz tube 110 may be formed by stretching the tubular portion 114 in a bi-

The inner diameter S of the tubular portion 114 is formed to be at least two times larger than the outer diameter of the first optical fiber 120 so that the plurality of first optical fibers 120 can be accommodated.

The first optical fibers 120 are inserted into the quartz tube 110 from one side of the tapered portion 112 of the quartz tube 110.

In the illustrated example, three first optical fibers 120 are inserted in the quartz tube 110, and the number of the first optical fibers 120 can be differently applied to the illustrated example.

The first optical fiber 120 includes a core 121 made of quartz or glass and a clad 122 surrounding the core 121 and having a refractive index lower than that of the core 121.

The clad 122 may be formed of a polymer material.

One end of the second optical fiber 130 is inserted into the quartz tube 110 from the other side of the tapered portion 112 of the quartz tube 110.

Like the first optical fiber 120, the second optical fiber 130 includes a core 131 made of quartz or glass and a clad 132 surrounding the core 131 and having a lower refractive index than the core 131.

Of course, the clad 132 of the second optical fiber 130 may be formed of a polymer material.

The optical waveguide packing layer 150 is filled with the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber in the quartz tube 110 between the second optical fiber 130 and the first optical fibers 120 to form the second optical fiber 130 and the first optical fiber 120 To provide a bridging path between them.

The refractive index of the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber forming the light waveguide filling layer 150 is higher than that of the quartz tube 110, and preferably the refractive index is 1.51 to 1.55.

This transparent heat cured silicone rubber can be applied by silicone rubber of OE-6630, a product of Dow Corning Corporation.

Hereinafter, a manufacturing process of the optical coupler 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, a center portion of the tubular quartz tube 110 having a hollow 111 is formed with a central portion having a tapered portion 112 gradually narrowing its inner diameter from both sides, A tapered quartz tube 110 as shown in FIG.

Next, a liquid transparent thermosetting silicone rubber is injected into the tapered portion 112 in the quartz tube 110 to form a photoresist guide filling layer 150 (Step 220).

The first end of the first optical fibers 120 to be inserted toward the tapered portion 112 from one side of the quartz tube 110 and the other end of the first optical fibers 120 toward the tapered portion 112 from the other side of the quartz tube 110, The transparent thermosetting silicone rubber of the same material liquid applied to the waveguide filling layer 150 is applied to the connection end of the second optical fiber 130, that is, one end of the second optical fiber 130, The first optical fibers 120 are inserted into the optical waveguide filling layer 150 toward the green portion 112 and the second optical fiber 130 is irradiated with the light intensity toward the tapered portion 112 from the other side of the quartz tube 110. [ The waveguide filling layer 150 is inserted (step 250).

Here, the distance between the first optical fibers 120 and the second optical fiber 130 may be about 10 mm.

Finally, the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber is heat-treated at 150 ° C for about 2 hours so as to be cured.

<Production example>

A quartz tube having a tapered portion having a minimum inner diameter of 1 mm was formed by applying heat to a quartz tube having an outer diameter of 6 mm and an inner diameter of 4 mm, and the optical waveguide filling layer 150 was formed using OE-6630 thermosetting silicone rubber solution of Dow Corning Co., The first and second optical fibers 120 and 130 are formed such that the core 121 and 131 made of a glass material have a refractive index of 1.49 and a diameter of 1.0 mm and a refractive index of the clads 122 and 132 of 1.41 , And a diameter of 1.035 were applied in the same manner.

The first and second optical fibers 120 and 130 have three jackets inserted into one side of the quartz tube 110 and one side of the second optical fiber 130 on the other side And the mixture was heated at 150 DEG C for 2 hours to complete the production.

The insertion loss of each of the three first optical fibers 120 as a photo coupler was measured using the light emitted from the laser diode having the wavelength of 633 nm, and the result was 11.4 to 13 dB.

Further, the insertion loss of each of the three first optical fibers 120 when acting as an optical splitter was measured, and as a result, it was 7.0 to 10.9 dB.

The optical waveguide filling layer 150 between the first optical fibers 120 and the second optical fiber 130 functions as a core because the refractive index of the optical waveguide filling layer 150 is higher than that of the quartz tube 110, Functions as a cladding to increase the efficiency of optical waveguiding between the first optical fibers 120 and the second optical fiber 130.

Further, if the other end of the first optical fiber 120 is disposed in the direction in which sunlight is incident and the other end of the first optical fiber is extended to the illumination position, it can be used as a solar concentrator.

According to the photocoupler 100 for solar photovoltaic transfer described above and the method of manufacturing the same, a structure in which a plurality of optical fibers having a silica-based core can be connected to one optical fiber so as to reduce optical loss, But offers the advantages that can be used for optical distribution or optical coupling when needed.

110: quartz tube 120: first optical fiber
130: second optical fiber 150: waveguide guide filling layer

Claims (6)

delete A quartz tube having a hollow portion made of quartz material and having a central portion tapered in such a manner that its inner diameter progressively narrows from both sides;
A plurality of first optical fibers inserted into the quartz tube at one side of the tapered portion;
A second optical fiber inserted into the quartz tube at the other side of the tapered portion;
And a waveguide filling layer filled with the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber in the quartz tube between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers to provide a light waveguide path between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers ,
Wherein the smallest inner diameter of the tapered portion of the quartz tube is smaller than the outer diameter of the second optical fiber. A quartz tube having a hollow portion made of quartz material and having a central portion tapered in such a manner that its inner diameter progressively narrows from both sides;
A plurality of first optical fibers inserted into the quartz tube at one side of the tapered portion;
A second optical fiber inserted into the quartz tube at the other side of the tapered portion;
And a waveguide filling layer filled with the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber in the quartz tube between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers to provide a light waveguide path between the second optical fiber and the first optical fibers ,
Wherein the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber have a structure of a core made of a glass material and a cladding layer made of a polymer material, and the refractive index of the transparent heat curing silicone rubber forming the waveguide- 1.55 &lt; / RTI &gt; is applied. delete end. Forming a central portion of the quartz tube having a hollow and having a tapered portion with a narrowed inner diameter gradually from both sides while applying heat to the central portion;
I. Injecting a liquid transparent thermosetting silicone rubber into the tapered portion of the quartz tube to form a waveguide filling layer;
All. Inserting the first optical fibers from the one side of the quartz tube toward the tapered portion to the optical waveguide filling layer and inserting the second optical fiber from the other side of the quartz tube toward the tapered portion to the optical waveguide filling layer ;
la. And thermally treating the transparent thermosetting silicone rubber so as to be cured,
After the above step
Wherein the liquid transparent thermosetting silicone rubber is applied to the connecting end of the first optical fibers to be inserted from the one side of the quartz tube toward the tapered portion and the connecting end of the second optical fiber to be inserted from the other side of the quartz tube toward the tapered portion, And the multi-step is performed. &Lt; Desc / Clms Page number 20 &gt; The optical information recording medium according to claim 5, wherein the first optical fiber and the second optical fiber have a structure including a core made of a glass material and a clad layer made of a polymer material, Wherein the refractive index of the rubber is 1.51 to 1.55.

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