JPH0433898B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a fabric using optical fibers.

[Conventional technology]

Optical fibers are used as light guide fabrics to guide light incident from one end to the other end for illumination, and are therefore used for various decorations and displays.

Such optical fibers may damage the fiber surface,
Japanese Patent Publication No. 47-42534 discloses that by bending the fibers, light can be emitted from the fibers by utilizing the fact that light leaks from the area, emitting light in the middle of the fibers in the axial direction, or by forming optical fabrics to emit light from the entire surface of the fabric or from a portion of the fabric. It is known from the publication No.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

When light leaks from the surface of a fabric made of optical fibers arranged on the weft, it is necessary to enter the light from the end of the optical fiber, and for this reason, multiple wefts that do not intersect with the warp are bundled and connected to a light source. . Therefore,
In the textile, the area where incident light propagates through the optical fiber (light guide area) is in a state in which the weft, which becomes the optical fiber, does not intersect with the warp, and the light leakage area is in a state in which the optical fiber, which becomes the weft, intersects with the warp. It is used as the so-called textile material. However, since this raw fabric does not impose any restrictions on the light guiding area, the ends of the weft yarns tend to move easily, so when weaving the optical fiber fabric and winding it into the winding device of the loom, or when packaging the wound raw fabric. There is a problem in that the optical fibers are easily bent or damaged during release, transportation, and connection work with a light source.

In addition, optical fibers are thicker and more rigid than general clothing fibers, so multiple warps (optical fibers or other fibers) near the end of the light leakage area of a fabric using optical fibers as wefts. If the intervals between the optical fibers are disturbed and light is incident from the ends of the optical fibers constituting the wefts, brightness unevenness will occur at that part, which not only adversely affects the optical properties but also tends to significantly impair the quality of the fabric. Furthermore, the woven fabric not only has irregular warp spacing for the same reason as mentioned above, but also causes looseness, making it difficult to maintain the shape of the woven fabric, and these problems immediately lead to a decline in the optical properties of the optical fiber woven fabric. There are also problems.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention adds restraint to the fabric structure that forms the light guiding area without impairing the light guiding properties of these optical fibers, and prevents the occurrence of undesirable bending or damage to the optical fibers, thereby separating the light leakage area and the light guiding area. The purpose of the present invention is to prevent the occurrence of irregularity or dispersion of the warp spacing at the boundary, and also to improve the optical characteristics in the light leakage area. The optical fiber has a light leakage area and a light guide area, and the boundary between both areas and the tip of the light guide area forms a twisted structure, and the twisted structure has a weft optical fiber and an optical fiber. It is composed of warp threads and tie threads that are more flexible than fibers, and the tie threads are thinner threads than the optical fibers and warp threads, and are a structure that entangles and tightens the optical fibers and warp threads to fix them. The optical region is an optical fiber fabric restrained by presser threads at arbitrary intervals.

The present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing the structure of an example of the optical fiber fabric of the present invention. The optical fiber fabric of the present invention has a weft group 8 in which optical fibers 10 are arranged, and a large number of warps 2.
A light leakage region 2 formed by crossing the light leakage region 2 and light guide regions 1 and 3 that propagate incident light to the light leakage region 2 are formed.

The boundaries 4 and 6 between the light leakage area 2 and the light guide areas 1 and 3 of the fabric are made of twisted texture. In addition, the tips 5 and 7 of the light guide area are also made of a twisted structure, and the light guide area is further provided with presser threads 80 and 8 at arbitrary intervals.
1 restrains the optical fibers that become wefts.

In FIG. 1, all of the weft yarn groups 8 are optical fibers 10.
It is not necessary to consist of fibers, and there is no problem even if they are arranged with other fibers in a regular or non-periodic manner.

Also, the warp threads 2 for forming the light leakage area 2 of the fabric
0 may be an optical fiber or another fiber.

Various light leakage methods can be used for the light leakage of the fabric of the present invention, such as light leakage by bending the optical fibers between the warp and weft, or light leakage by damaging the optical fibers before and after weaving.

There is no problem even if the presser threads 80 and 81 exist multiple times in the light guiding region.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged configuration diagram of FIG. 1.

The boundary part 4 between the light guiding area 1 and the light leaking area 2 is the warp 4
1 and 42 and the tightening thread 40 form a twisted structure.

As shown in FIG.
2 and the optical fiber 10 are entangled with each other and simultaneously tightened and fixed.

The warps 41, 42 and the tightening thread 40 that form the twisted structure are yarns that are more flexible than optical fibers, and the tightening thread 40 is composed of the optical fibers and the warp threads 41, 40.
Any yarn may be used as long as it is thinner than 42 mm. The warp threads 41, 42 and the tightening thread 40 that form the twisting structure are flexible, and since the tightening thread is thinner than the optical fiber and the warp thread, each of the warps 41, 42 and the tie thread 40 forming the twisting structure is The thread is fixed in position.

Similarly, a twisting structure can also be applied to the end 5 of the light guide area. That is, a structure is formed by the warp threads 51, 52, the tightening thread 50, and the optical fiber 10, and the position is fixed.

In addition to the one shown in Fig. 2, the twisting structure is one in which tie threads 40 and 40' are used as shown in Fig. 3, and one in which four tightening threads are used to form a twist structure as shown in Fig. 4. , a structure shown in Fig. 5 in which a plurality of weft yarns are bundled and woven, or a twisting structure as shown in Fig. 6 in which a warp 43 that does not intersect with the bundled wefts is woven together with the weft by a tie thread 40, etc. Various types of twisting structures can be used depending on the situation.

The presser threads 80, 8 are placed at an arbitrary interval between the two twisted structures present at both ends of the light guide region of the fabric of the present invention.
1, the weft is slightly restrained.

The presser yarns 80 and 81 must not impair the light guiding properties of the optical fibers, and like the twisted structure, they are preferably yarns that are more flexible than the optical fibers.

The optical fiber fabric of the present invention may be produced by a commonly used method. In order to avoid damaging the optical fibers during weaving, a loom having a weft insertion mechanism on one side, such as a pier loom, is used. This can be achieved by, for example, adopting a method of inserting at a relatively low speed.

The formation of the twisted structure may be carried out by adding a device for forming the twisted structure when weaving the optical fiber fabric.

[Effects of the present invention]

The optical fiber fabric of the present invention has a twisted structure at the tip of the light guide region, which prevents the tip of the weft from coming loose, and when winding it onto a loom during weaving or when unpacking the original fabric. This prevents bending and damage during transportation and when connecting the light source. Furthermore, by using presser threads at arbitrary intervals in the light guide area, it is possible to prevent the middle part of the light guide area from coming apart.
This further strengthens the above effect.

In addition, by using the twisted texture at the boundary between the light guide region and the light leakage region, it is possible to reliably prevent disturbances in the spacing between the plurality of warp yarns near the end of the light leakage region of the textile of the present invention. Compared to conventional textiles, the occurrence of brightness is extremely low and the optical characteristics of the light leakage area can be improved, and the shape of the textile can be maintained, improving the quality of the textile, so the effects of the present invention are great. There is.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing an example of the optical fiber fabric of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a partially enlarged view of Fig. 1, and Figs. FIG. 3 is a plan view of various twisted structures used in the optical fiber fabric of . DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 3... Light guide area, 2... Light leakage area, 4, 6... Boundary part of the light guide area and light leakage area, 5, 7... Light guide area tip part, 8... Optical fiber consisting of weft group, 10... Optical fiber , 20... Light leakage part warp, 41, 42, 43 and 51, 52... Warp that constitutes the twisted structure, 40,
40', 50... Tightening threads constituting the twisted structure, 8
0,81...Presser thread.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A woven fabric in which optical fibers are arranged in the weft,
The optical fiber has a light leakage region and a light guide region, and the boundary between both regions and the tip of the light guide region forms a twisted structure, and the twisted structure has a weft optical fiber and a warp that is more flexible than the optical fiber. The tightening thread is a thread thinner than the optical fibers and warp threads, and is a structure that entangles and tightens the optical fibers and warp threads, and furthermore, the light guide area is arranged at arbitrary intervals. An optical fiber fabric that is restrained by presser threads. 2. The optical fiber fabric according to claim 1, which has light guiding regions on both sides of the light leaking region.