JP3486835B2 - Optical taper processing machine - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber mainly used for tapering the tip of an optical fiber element wire part exposed by peeling off the optical fiber coating part of the optical fiber by machining using a grindstone. The present invention relates to a taper processing machine for fibers.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in response to the demand for miniaturization and high density of optical connectors, optical connectors of the type in which optical fibers are directly connected at a narrow pitch have been developed. An example of the standard of such an optical connector is a case where optical fibers having an outer diameter of 0.125 mm are connected at a pitch of 0.25 mm.

In the optical connector having such a structure, as shown in FIG. 2, a tip end portion 10a 'of an optical fiber element wire portion (also referred to as a bare optical fiber) 10a which is exposed by peeling off an optical fiber coating portion of the optical fiber is connected. In order to reduce the load and improve the insertability into the aligning member, it is required to taper the cone.

As a well-known technique related to the tip processing of this kind of optical fiber, for example, in the optical fiber tip polishing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-217054, when the tip of the optical fiber is processed into a conical shape by a grindstone. In order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the optical fiber, the guide part is provided between the optical fiber element wire part of the installed optical fiber and the grindstone, and the guide part holds the middle part of the optical fiber element wire part through the optical fiber. The tip portion of the wire portion can be tapered without any axial misalignment.

Further, in the method of processing an optical fiber tip disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-210411, the vicinity of the processed tip of the optical fiber, which is rotated during the processing of the optical fiber tip, is slightly smaller than the diameter of the optical fiber. By supporting the shaft through a guide having a large-diameter through-hole and centering it by the air bearing action, it is possible to damage the outer surface (surface) of the optical fiber in this part, which would be a practical problem. I'm avoiding it.

[0006]

In the case of the above-mentioned optical fiber tip polishing apparatus, the guide plate as a guide portion provided to improve the precision of taper processing is slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the optical fiber wire portion. With a large inner diameter guide hole,
Since the optical fiber bare wire portion is directly held in this guide hole, during processing, the processing machine main body holds the optical fiber while moving it in the uniaxial direction, which is the extending direction, and around the uniaxial direction. When the optical fiber rotates with respect to the fixed guide plate, the surface of the optical fiber element wire portion is damaged, and there is a problem that the strength and the damage of the optical fiber are easily caused.

On the other hand, in the case of the above-described method for processing the end of the optical fiber, the optical fiber element wire portion is directly held through the through hole of the guide as well, and here the surface of the optical fiber is damaged during driving. The air bearing action is applied to the guide bearing structure so that an air layer is formed on the inner wall of the through hole of the guide in consideration of the load capacity of receiving hydrodynamic fluid film pressure. However, such a bearing structure has a drawback that it requires high precision in designing and tends to be expensive.

The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem, and its technical problem is to perform taper processing with a simple structure at a low cost and with high accuracy without causing deterioration or damage of the optical fiber. An object of the present invention is to provide a taper processing machine for optical fibers that enables the above.

[0009]

According to the present invention, the optical fiber coating portion is exposed by peeling off the optical fiber coating portion in the uniaxially extending optical fiber formed by coaxially coating the optical fiber element wire portion with the optical fiber coating portion. in the optical fiber tapering machine that tapered tip portion of the optical fiber portion obtained by, the holding medium holding the optical fiber at the time of driving after having the optical fiber coating portion and held fixed with intervening retaining medium A processing machine main body that moves around the uniaxial direction, and a holding guide part that holds the middle part of the optical fiber bare wire part exposed by peeling off the exposed optical fiber coating part corresponding to the part to be stripped and guides during driving , Having a polishing surface which is arranged so as to be inclined at a desired angle in advance with respect to the uniaxial direction and with which the tip end of the optical fiber element wire portion abuts, and the tip end of the optical fiber element wire portion is formed by the polishing surface. When driving And a grinding wheel to taper machining,
Further, the holding guide part is fixed to the processing machine body and the sleeve that holds and fixes the intermediate part of the optical fiber.
The sleeve is stored so that it can rotate as the holding medium rotates.
A taper machine for optical fibers, which is composed of a holding sleeve holder, is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, in the above-described optical fiber taper machine, the sleeve has a diameter that is substantially the same as the diameter of the optical fiber element wire portion that can penetrate the optical fiber element wire portion, or An optical fiber taper machine provided with a through hole having a slightly larger diameter can be obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, in the above-described optical fiber taper machine, the sleeve is fixed to a midway portion of the optical fiber element by wax or water-soluble UV adhesive with which the inner wall of the through hole is filled. The taper processing machine for optical fibers is obtained.

In addition, according to the present invention, in any one of the above-described optical fiber taper processing machines, the sleeve is made of a transparent material such as quartz, borosilicate, polycarbonate or PES.
An optical fiber taper machine formed by selecting any one of the above can be obtained.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The taper processing machine for optical fibers of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing the basic structure of an optical fiber taper machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

This taper processing machine for optical fibers peels off and exposes the optical fiber coating portion 10b in the uniaxially extending optical fiber formed by coaxially coating the optical fiber wire portion 10a with the optical fiber coating portion 10b. and the tip of the optical fiber portion 10a intended to tapering tube 5 holding the optical fiber at the time of driving on holding fixed the optical fiber coating portion 10b is interposed tube 5 as a holding medium as the basic structure a machine body 1 to move around the uniaxial direction, the optical fiber coating unit 1 corresponding to the peeling working portion
0b is peeled off to expose the optical fiber element wire portion 10a, and a holding guide portion that penetrates and holds the middle portion of the optical fiber element wire portion 10a to guide at the time of driving, and the optical fiber element A grindstone 7a which has a polishing surface with which the tip of the wire portion 10a abuts, and which polishes and taper the tip of the optical fiber element wire portion 10a when driven by the polishing surface,
7b (in the example shown, a grindstone 7b is used, and the grindstone 7a has a different roughness).

Of these, the processing machine main body 1 can be mounted with a cylindrical fiber holder 3 with a cylindrical chuck 2 interposed substantially at the center. The fiber holder 3 has a through hole along the axis that allows the optical fiber covered with the tube 5 to penetrate therethrough, and a body portion for holding and fixing the optical fiber coating portion 10b covered with the tube 5 at one end side. The screw 4 has the same outer diameter as that of the screw 4 and whose inner diameter can be changed by turning the outer diameter portion, and the through hole on the other end side is for facilitating insertion of the optical fiber covered with the tube 5. An enlarged space portion S is formed.

The holding guide portion is the optical fiber bare wire portion 10a.
The sleeve 6a made of a glass capillary that penetrates through the middle part and is held and fixed, and the sleeve 6a that is fixed to the processing machine main body 1 rotatably accommodates and holds the sleeve 6a as the tube 5 rotates. And a sleeve holder 6b. Further, the optical fiber and the grindstone 7 are moved by the processing machine main body 1 during driving for taper processing.
When moving a and 7b in and around the uniaxial direction, the tip of the optical fiber element wire portion 10a is projected from the sleeve 6a by about 2 mm so as to come into contact with the polishing surface of the grinding stone 7b during driving, by a stage (not shown) Move 7a and 7b. Furthermore, the sleeve 6 a, the optical fiber section 10a
A through hole having a diameter that is substantially the same as or slightly larger than the diameter of the optical fiber bare wire portion 10a that can penetrate the through hole is provided, and wax or water-soluble UV adhesive filled in the inner wall of the through hole is used. A sleeve 6a is fixed to the middle portion of the optical fiber bare wire portion 10a by adhesion or the like.

That is, in the case of this taper processing machine for optical fibers, the optical fiber and the grindstones 7a and 7b are moved in the uniaxial direction and around by the main body 1 of the machine during driving for taper processing, and contact the grinding surface of the grindstone 7b. When the tip end portion of the optical fiber element wire portion 10a in the formed optical fiber is polished by a polishing surface and tapered into a conical shape, the middle part of the optical fiber element wire portion 10a is the inner wall of the through hole of the sleeve 6a of the holding guide portion.
It is held and fixed, and the sleeve 6a is attached to the processing machine main body 1.
The tube holder 5 is rotated by the fixed sleeve holder 6b.
Since it is rotatably housed and held as it rotates, the tip of the optical fiber element wire portion 10a is highly accurately taper-processed without deteriorating the strength of the optical fiber element wire portion 10a or damaging its surface at all. be able to. Therefore, according to this taper machine for optical fibers, deterioration of the strength and damage of the optical fiber do not occur, and it is possible to perform highly accurate taper processing at a low cost with a simple structure.

Incidentally, in the optical fiber taper processing machine of the above-mentioned embodiment, the glass capillary is used as the material of the sleeve 6a, but other than this, quartz, borosilicate, polycarbonate and PES are used as the transparent material. Any one of them may be selected and formed. Whichever is selected, if it is adhered to the optical fiber element wire portion 10a by using, for example, a UV adhesive, it can be incorporated into the optical connector as it is without peeling off the sleeve 6a after the taper processing.

[0020]

As described above, according to the taper machine for an optical fiber of the present invention, the optical fiber coating part of the existing optical fiber is peeled off to expose the middle part of the optical fiber bare wire portion. The basic structure of the guide part to be held is improved so that the inner wall of the through hole of the sleeve serves as a holding guide part to hold and fix the middle part of the optical fiber wire part before adding the sleeve.
Holding medium by the sleeve holder fixed to the machine body
Since it is rotatably housed and held as it rotates, the tip of the optical fiber wire is raised without damaging the strength or damaging the surface of the optical fiber wire during taper drive. It becomes possible to taper with high precision. As a result, in the case of this taper processing machine for optical fibers, it is possible to perform highly accurate taper processing with a simple structure at low cost without causing strength deterioration or damage of the optical fiber.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view showing a basic configuration of an optical fiber taper machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state of taper processing on a tip portion of an optical fiber element wire portion used for direct connection in a conventional optical connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Processing machine body 2 chuck 3 Fiber holder 4 screws 5 tubes 6a sleeve 6b Sleeve holder 7a, 7b grindstone 10a Optical fiber strand 10a 'tip 10b optical fiber coating S expanded space section

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-60-217054 (JP, A) Actual development Shou 62-195442 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 6/00 335 G02B 6/36 B24B 19/00 603

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A tip of the optical fiber element wire portion, which is exposed by peeling off and exposing the optical fiber element in the uniaxially extending optical fiber formed by coaxially coating the optical fiber element wire portion with an optical fiber coating element. In a taper machine for optical fibers for tapering a portion, a processing for holding and fixing the optical fiber coating portion with a holding medium interposed therebetween, and moving the holding medium holding the optical fiber during driving around the uniaxial direction A machine body, a holding guide portion for holding the middle portion of the optical fiber bare portion exposed by peeling and exposing the optical fiber coating portion corresponding to the portion to be stripped, and guiding during driving, and in the uniaxial direction On the other hand, it has a polishing surface which is arranged so as to be tilted at a desired angle in advance and against which the tip end of the optical fiber element wire portion abuts, and the tip end of the optical fiber element wire element is polished by the polishing surface when driven. Shi And a grindstone for taper processing, and further, the holding guide portion penetrates a midway portion of the optical fiber element wire portion and is held and fixed, and the processing machine main body.
Fixed to the body to keep the sleeve rotating as the holding medium rotates.
A taper processing machine for optical fibers, which comprises a sleeve holder that rotatably stores and holds it. 2. The taper processing machine for an optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve has a diameter that is substantially the same as the diameter of the optical fiber element wire portion that can penetrate the optical fiber element wire portion, or An optical fiber taper machine having a through hole having a slightly larger diameter. 3. The taper machine for an optical fiber according to claim 2, wherein the sleeve is formed in a middle portion of the optical fiber wire portion by wax or water-soluble UV adhesive with which the inner wall of the through hole is filled. A taper processing machine for optical fibers, which is fixed. 4. The taper machine for an optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the sleeve is made of quartz, borosilicate, polycarbonate, PE as a transparent material.
An optical fiber taper machine characterized by being formed by selecting any one of S.