JP3499802B2 - Surface matching mechanism for connecting surfaces between optical components - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a face-to-face aligning mechanism for connecting faces between optical components for aligning the faces when connecting optical components.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional surface aligning mechanism for connecting surfaces between optical components, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-133832. That is, referring to FIG. 11, the face-to-face matching mechanism 201 includes one optical component 205 connected to the optical component fixing holder 203 and the other optical component 20 to be connected.
7 is to be face-to-face. Note that in FIG. 11, the same surface alignment mechanism 2 is provided on the left and right sides of one optical component 205.
No. 01 is provided, but since the structure and operation are exactly the same, only the left face matching mechanism 201 in FIG. 11 will be described, and the right face matching mechanism 201 will be denoted by the same reference numerals.

In the face-matching mechanism 201, a space 211 having a partially spherical shape is provided inside the spherical pressing member 209. Inside the space 211, a spherical seat 213 having a partially spherical shape is formed by an elastic body such as a spring 215. It is movably suspended. A movable holder 217 is provided on the spherical seat 213 so as to hold the other optical component 207 described above.

On the inner wall of the space 211, a rear air nozzle 21 for blowing air from the rear side to the spherical seat 213.
9 are provided above and below. Further, a front air nozzle 221 for blowing air from the front side to the spherical seat 213.
Are provided above and below.

Therefore, the spherical seat 213 is in a state of being floated by the air blown inside the space 211 and is held so as to be freely movable.
By pressing the connection surface of the other optical component 207 and the connection surface of the one optical component 205, the spherical seat 213 rotates and the like to perform face-to-face matching.

[0006]

However, in such a conventional technique, since air is blown from the front and rear (left and right in FIG. 11) two directions by the air nozzles 219 and 221, the number of parts is reduced. As the number of spherical pressers 209 increases, the machining shape of the spherical presser 209 and the like becomes complicated and highly accurate machining is required, which causes a problem that the cost and size of the apparatus increase. In addition, the amount of air blown out may be unbalanced and the function may not be stable.

The object of the present invention was made by paying attention to the problems of the conventional techniques as described above, and it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the processing steps, and to reduce the size and cost. An object of the present invention is to provide a face aligning mechanism for connecting surfaces between optical components that can be achieved.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a surface aligning mechanism for connecting surfaces of optical components according to the invention of claim 1 is provided with a connecting surface of one optical component to be connected and another optical component of the other. Is an inter-optical component connection surface aligning mechanism that holds the other optical component so as to align the connection surfaces of the other optical components, and is movable to hold the other optical component. A partially spherical spherical seat having a holder, a housing having a spherical recess for holding the spherical seat at a predetermined interval, a suction member for urging the spherical seat toward the recess of the housing, Air is blown against the spherical seat provided in the recess of the housing to urge the suction member.
And a double several air nozzles that floated spherical seat against the force,
It is characterized by comprising.

Therefore, the spherical seat provided with the movable holder for holding the optical component to be connected is fitted into the spherical recess provided in the housing. The spherical seat is separated from the recess by the air blown out from a plurality of air nozzles provided in the recess.However, since the suction member provided between the spherical seat and the housing attracts the spherical seat to the recess, the air separation The force and the suction force of the suction member are balanced to rotatably support the spherical seat in a state of floating at a constant interval from the recess.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surface aligning mechanism for the inter-optical component connection surface, which has an adjusting means for adjusting the biasing force of the suction member. It is characterized by.

Therefore, the spherical seat is easily and floatably supported by adjusting the suction force of the suction member by the adjusting means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surface aligning mechanism for connecting optical components, wherein the air nozzle is made of a porous material. It is characterized by being.

Therefore, air is blown out in good balance from the air nozzle formed of a porous body.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a surface aligning mechanism for connecting surfaces between optical components, wherein in the surface aligning mechanism for connecting surfaces between optical components according to the first aspect, when the movable holder is horizontal and the surface is aligned, A spring hook for mounting the spherical seat on the housing in good balance, a support spring for supporting the spherical seat via the spring hook, and an adjusting means for adjusting the tension of the support spring. It is what

Therefore, the spherical seat is suspended in the recess of the support housing through the spring hook by the spring whose tension is adjusted by the adjusting means.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 6, as an example of an optical component connection device 3 using the inter-optical component connection surface aligning mechanism 1 according to the present invention, one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-133832. There is.

In this connection device 3, a first stage 7F for alignment is provided on the left side of the pedestal 5, and a second stage 7S is provided on the right side.
And an optical component fixing holder 11 for holding the optical circuit component 9, which is one of the optical components, is provided upright therebetween.

Here, the first stage 7F and the second stage 7S are provided facing each other in a horizontal position with the optical component fixing holder 11 sandwiched therebetween, and since most of the configurations are common, the same parts are provided. Are given the same symbols,
Only the first stage 7F will be described.

In the first stage 7F, a hollow support column 13 is provided in the internal space 17 in a state of being suspended from the upper plate 15 of the pedestal 5, and a base plate 19 is provided horizontally below the support column 13. Has been. A Y-axis motor 21 is provided below the base plate 19, and a Y-axis ball screw 23 rotatably provided inside the column 13 is attached to the Y-axis motor 21.

A plurality of balance cylinders 25 are provided on the upper surface of the base plate 19, and a Y-axis block 27 is provided above the balance cylinders 25. The Y-axis block 27 is composed of a thick plate-like plate portion 29 and a rod-shaped portion 31 extending downward in the central portion of the plate portion 29. The rod-shaped portion 31 is vertically movably inserted into the column 13. There is. The Y-axis ball screw 23 described above is attached to the rod-shaped portion 31.
A ball nut 33 to which is screwed is attached.

Therefore, when the Y-axis motor 21 is driven to rotationally drive the Y-axis ball screw 23, the Y-axis block 27 moves up and down in the Y-axis direction (vertical direction in FIG. 6).
At this time, the rod portion 31 moves up and down along the column 13, and the action of the balance cylinder 25 allows the Y-axis block 27 to move up and down and be positioned with a smaller driving force.

A guide rail 35 is provided on the upper surface of the Y-axis block 27 in the Z-axis direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 6), and a Z-axis plate 37 movable along the guide rail 35 in the Z-axis direction. Is provided. A Z-axis ball nut (not shown) is attached to the Z-axis plate 37.

A bracket 39 extending upward is attached to a side end surface of the Y-axis block 27, and a Z-axis motor 41 is attached to the bracket 39. A Z-axis ball screw 43 is attached to the Z-axis motor 41 and is screwed to the Z-axis ball nut described above.

Therefore, when the Z-axis motor 41 is driven,
The Z-axis ball screw 43 rotates to move / position the Z-axis plate 37 relative to the Y-axis block 27 in the Z-axis direction.

A guide rail 45 is provided on the upper surface of the Z-axis plate 37 in the X-axis direction (direction orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 6), and the guide rail 45 is movable along the guide rail 45 in the X-axis direction. X-axis block 47 is provided. An X-axis ball nut (not shown) is attached to the X-axis block 47. An X-axis motor (not shown) is provided on the side surface of the Z-axis plate 37 to move and position the X-axis block 47 in the X-axis direction relative to the Z-axis plate 37.

The X-axis block 47 includes the X-axis block 47.
Is attached with a main shaft 49 penetrating in the Z-axis direction,
A C-axis motor 51 for rotating the main shaft 49 about the C-axis (around the Z-axis) is provided. The surface alignment mechanism 1 according to the present invention is attached to the tip end portion of the spindle 49 on the optical component fixing holder 11 side. On the other hand, at the opposite end of the spindle 49,
A load cell 53 is attached.

The load cell 53 is connected to a personal computer 57 via an amplifier 55. Further, the optical fiber component 59 as the other optical component is set in the surface alignment mechanism 1, and the LD light source 61 is connected to the tip of the optical fiber component 59 in the first stage 7F.

On the other hand, the surface alignment mechanism 1 on the second stage 7S side
An O / E converter 63 that converts light energy into a voltage is connected to the optical fiber component 59 held by S. Further, an image fiber 65 is attached to the lower side of the surface alignment mechanism 1S.

Although not shown in the drawing, an adhesive applying means for applying an adhesive and an ultraviolet ray connecting surface are provided on the back side of the optical component fixing holder 11 on the upper surface of the gantry 5 (the side opposite to the direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 6). An ultraviolet irradiation device or the like for irradiating the composition with the ultraviolet rays to cure the ultraviolet curable adhesive is provided.

With the above structure, the optical fiber component 59 is pressed against the optical circuit component 9 set in the optical component fixing holder 11, and the connection face is aligned by the action of the alignment mechanism 1. Then, the adhesive is dropped between the connection surfaces by the adhesive applying means, and ultraviolet rays are applied to the dropped adhesive by an ultraviolet irradiation device to cure the adhesive.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, an explanation will be given of the surface aligning mechanism 1 for connecting surfaces between optical components according to the present invention. The surface aligning mechanism 1 includes a housing 73 having a spherical concave portion 69 on the side surface 67R (right side surface in FIG. 1) and a through hole 71 penetrating the center horizontally (horizontal direction in FIG. 1). .

A spherical seat 75 having a partially spherical shape is provided in the recess 69, and a magnet 77 as an example of a suction member provided facing the center of the outer surface of the spherical seat 75 is horizontally provided in the through hole 71. It is inserted so that it can move in any direction.

On the side surface 67L of the housing 73 opposite to the recess 69, the holder 7 is provided so as to cover the through hole 71.
9 is provided, and the spherical seat 75 is biased toward the holder 79 side by the attraction force of the magnet 77. The holder 79 is provided with an adjusting screw 81, which is an adjusting means for separating the magnet 77, so as to penetrate in the horizontal direction.

As shown in FIG. 3, spring hooks 83 for balancing the weight are provided at the left and right ends of the spherical seat 75 at the center height position. This spring hook 83
Support springs 87 attached downward from holders 85 attached to the left and right ends of the upper surface of the housing 73.
It is suspended by.

The tension of the support spring 87 is adjusted by an adjusting screw 89 attached to the holder 85. Therefore, by rotating the adjusting screw 81, the pulling force of the support spring 87 can be adjusted to balance the spherical seat 75.

Further, holders 91 are attached to the housing 73 at three positions, for example, upper and lower left and right positions, and the spring 93 attached to the holders 91 supports the spherical seat 75 in a floating state. .

As a result, the movable holder 95 attached to the central portion on the inner surface side of the spherical seat 75 holds the optical fiber component 59 at the tip and is supported in the horizontal direction. The number of springs 93 is not limited to three, but a plurality of springs 75 may be provided at positions that hold the spherical seats 75 in a well-balanced manner.

In the recess 69 of the housing 73, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), four air nozzles 97 are provided at upper, lower, left, and right positions to blow out air whose air pressure, air amount, and cleanliness are controlled. A porous body is used for the air nozzle 97, and air is blown to the outer surface of the spherical seat 75 in a well-balanced manner to separate the spherical seat 75 from the recess 69.

The arrangement of the air nozzle 97 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4B, the position shown in FIG. 4A may be arranged at a position shifted by 45 degrees. Further, the number of air nozzles 97 is not limited to four, and a plurality of air nozzles 97 may be provided to maintain the balance of the spherical seat 75.

With the above construction, the optical fiber component 59 is set at the tip of the movable holder 95, the vertical pulling force of the support spring 87 is adjusted by the adjusting screw 89, and the air is transferred from the air nozzle 97 to the outer surface of the spherical seat 75. Is blown away from the concave portion 69 of the housing 73, and the suction force is adjusted by adjusting the distance between the magnet 77 and the holder 79 by the adjusting screw 81 to adjust the spherical seat 75 and the housing 73.
The distance between the movable holder 95 and the concave portion 69 is adjusted so that the movable holder 95 is held horizontally with good balance. Then, the connection surface of the optical fiber component 59 is pressed against the connection surface of the optical fiber component 59 to be connected, and the surfaces are aligned.

From the above results, since the air nozzle 97 for blowing air is provided only on one side, the number of parts of the face-aligning mechanism 1 can be reduced and the structure can be made compact. A large space can be taken. Along with this, the degree of freedom in the arrangement of the optical fiber component 59 and the optical circuit component 9 to be joined, or the arrangement of the optical fiber components 59 with each other is increased, and the work efficiency is improved. Therefore, the optical loss is minimized and the reliability of the joining is improved. Can be improved.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments of the invention, but can be made by making appropriate changes.
It can be implemented in other modes. That is, in the above-described embodiment, the magnet 7 is used as the attraction member.
7 has been described, the holder 101 is attached to the bolt 10 as in the face-aligning mechanism 99 shown in FIG.
3, the spherical seat 75 may be attracted by the spring 105. Since other configurations are the same as those of the above-described embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

Next, with reference to FIG. 7 to FIG. 9, a surface alignment mechanism 107 according to another embodiment will be described. In this face-to-face mechanism 107, the movable holder 95 that holds the optical fiber component 59 faces vertically upward. Therefore, unlike the case of the surface aligning mechanism 1 shown in FIG. 1 and the like, the spring hook 83, the support spring 87, and the holder 85 to which the support spring 87 is attached are not necessary for balancing the weight. Therefore, it is not provided. Other configurations are similar to those of the above-described face-to-face aligning mechanism 1, and therefore, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals, and duplicate description will be omitted.

From the above results, the number of parts can be reduced and the structure can be made compact as in the case of the above-described surface-aligning mechanism 1, so that the peripheral space of the joining portion can be made large. Along with this, the degree of freedom in the arrangement of the optical fiber component 59 and the optical circuit component 9 or the optical fiber components 59 to be joined is increased, and the work efficiency is improved. Therefore, the optical loss is minimized and the reliability of the joining is improved. Can be improved.

As the suction member, a magnet 77 can be used as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9, or a spring 105 can be used as in the face-aligning mechanism 109 shown in FIG. What can be done is the same as in the case of the above-described surface matching mechanism 99.

[0047]

As described above, in the surface aligning mechanism for connecting optical components according to the present invention, the spherical seat having the movable holder for holding the optical components to be connected is provided in the housing. It fits into the spherical recess and is separated from the recess by the air blown out from the multiple air nozzles provided in the recess, but the suction member provided on the spherical seat attracts the spherical seat to the recess, so the air separation The force and the suction force of the suction member are balanced, and the spherical seat can be rotatably supported in a state of being floated from the recess at a constant interval. Also, since the air nozzle that blows air is provided only on one side, the number of parts of the face-matching mechanism can be reduced and the structure can be made compact, manufacturing is easy, and the peripheral space of the joining site can be reduced. It can be taken large. Along with this, the degree of freedom in arranging the optical components to be joined is increased, and the work efficiency is improved. Therefore, the optical loss can be minimized and the joining reliability can be improved.

In the surface aligning mechanism for connecting the optical parts according to the second aspect of the present invention, since the suction force of the suction member is adjusted by the adjusting means, the spherical seat can be easily supported in a floating manner.

In the surface aligning mechanism for connecting the optical components according to the third aspect of the present invention, the air nozzle is made of a porous material, so that air can be blown out in a well-balanced manner.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the spherical seat is suspended in the recess of the housing by the support spring through the spring hook, so that the suspension can be suspended in a well-balanced manner.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a surface aligning mechanism of a connection surface between optical components according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a front view seen from the direction III in FIG.

4A and 4B are front views showing the arrangement of air nozzles provided in the recess of the housing.

5 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a case where a spring is used as a suction member.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing an entire optical component connecting device using a surface alignment mechanism for connecting faces between optical components according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a plan view seen from the direction VIII in FIG. 7.

9A and 9B are front views showing the arrangement of air nozzles provided in the recess of the housing.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a case where a spring is used as a suction member.
It is a considerable sectional view.

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional face-to-face matching mechanism for connecting surfaces between optical components.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 99, 107, 109 Face matching mechanism 9 Optical circuit components (one optical component) 59 Optical fiber parts (other optical parts) 69 recess 73 housing 75 Spherical seat 77 Magnet (suction member) 81 Adjustment screw (adjustment means) 83 Spring hook 87 Support spring 95 Movable holder 97 air nozzle

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Shigeru Fujiwara 2068 Ooka, Numazu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Motohisa Ishii 2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Fumiaki Hanawa 2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (56) Reference JP-A-9-133832 (JP, A) JP-A-9- 113766 (JP, A) JP-A-3-131439 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 6/26 G02B 6/24

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An inter-optical component connection for holding the other optical component so that the connection face of the other optical component is relatively pressed against the connection face of the one optical component to be connected and the connection face of the other optical component is aligned. A surface-matching mechanism, a housing having a partially spherical spherical seat having a movable holder for holding the other optical component, and a spherical recess for holding the spherical seat at a predetermined interval. A suction member for urging the spherical seat toward the recess of the housing; and a suction unit provided in the recess of the housing for blowing air to the spherical seat.
And a plurality of air nozzles capable of floating a spherical seat against the urging force of a material . 2. The face-matching mechanism for connecting surfaces between optical components according to claim 1, further comprising adjusting means for adjusting a biasing force of the suction member. 3. The surface aligning mechanism for connecting optical components according to claim 1, wherein the air nozzle is formed of a porous body. 4. A spring hook for mounting the spherical seat on the housing in a well-balanced manner when the movable holder is leveled to perform face-to-face matching, and a support spring for supporting the spherical seat through the spring hook. 4. The adjusting mechanism for adjusting the tension of the support spring, and the surface aligning mechanism of the connecting surface between the optical parts according to claim 1, 2 or 3.