JPH057145B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to an apparatus for polishing the end face of a rod-shaped member of an optical fiber connector or a rod lens with high accuracy and high quality.

<Prior art> In an optical fiber connector structure that connects optical fibers to each other, in order to efficiently propagate optical signals, the optical axes of the optical fibers must be precisely aligned, and a hole must be provided at the abutting portions of these fibers. It is necessary to bring the optical fibers into close contact with each other so that no cracks occur. Therefore, the end face of the optical fiber is polished so that it becomes a plane perpendicular to the central axis.

Furthermore, in recent years, many connectors have a so-called PC type optical fiber connector structure in which the end faces of abutting optical fibers are polished into a convex spherical shape.

As mentioned above, when connecting optical fibers, it is necessary to polish the end face of the optical fiber connector tip (ferrule) into a plane perpendicular to the central axis of the optical fiber, or into a convex spherical shape. Furthermore, during this polishing process, it is important to avoid forming a step between the end face of the ferrule and the end face of the optical fiber.

The ferrules used in optical fiber connectors are usually made of hard materials such as ceramics, and in order to efficiently process them into a certain shape, rough machining, rough machining,
After going through two or three steps such as rough polishing, final polishing is performed to obtain a mirror surface with an R _nax of approximately 0.01 μm.

Therefore, in the past, as a polishing device for processing the end face of a ferrule, polishing devices were prepared in several stages, such as a polishing device for rough processing, a processing device for rough polishing, and a polishing device for final finishing. .

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> However, as described above, in polishing using a plurality of polishing devices, the work becomes extremely complicated, and the devices themselves become large and expensive. For this reason, the cost of polishing the ferrule itself increases, and the optical fiber connector itself becomes expensive. Furthermore, as the device becomes larger, it requires a larger amount of space and installation problems arise.

<Means for Solving the Problems> In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a circular surface plate that is driven and rotated, a circular polisher for finishing provided on the top surface of the circular surface plate, and a circular polisher for finishing provided on the top surface of the circular surface plate. a ring-shaped pre-processing grindstone provided on the upper surface of the circular surface plate outside the circular polisher for finishing processing, and a first supply nozzle that supplies a finishing agent to the surface of the circular polisher; a second supply nozzle that supplies an abrasive for pre-processing to the surface of the pre-processing grindstone; a chuck portion that grips the bar-shaped material at a constant angle with respect to the surface of the circular polisher or the pre-processing grindstone; a chuck drive section for providing the movement necessary for polishing the tip of the rod-shaped material; further, a cleaning buff for final finishing is provided at the center of the surface of the circular polisher;
A cleaning brush for pre-processing is provided between the circular polisher and the pre-processing grindstone to constitute an end face polishing apparatus for bar-shaped materials.

<Function> Since there is a grindstone for pre-processing and a polisher for finishing on one circular surface plate, polishing processes that were previously performed in stages can now be performed continuously. In addition, since cleaning is performed using a cleaning brush and a cleaning buff, there is no need to move on to the next process with polishing powder still attached, which eliminates the possibility of scratches on the rod-shaped material. The process and cleaning process can be performed continuously, making it possible to fully automate the polishing process.

<Example> (1) Prerequisite structure Figure 1 shows a cross section (longitudinal cross section) along the side of an end face polishing device with the basic structure that is the premise of the present invention. Its plane is shown.
This device is applied to processing the ferrule end face of optical fiber connectors.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a circular surface plate, which is rotated about the center of the circle by a drive mechanism (not shown). As the drive mechanism, a mechanism whose rotational speed is arbitrarily variable is adopted, so that the rotational speed of the circular surface plate 1 can be arbitrarily changed between the pre-processing polishing process and the final polishing process.

On the surface of the circular surface plate 1, a circular polisher 2 is arranged and adhered around the rotation center of the circular surface plate 1. The material for this circular polisher 2 is as follows:
Relatively hard cloth, resin fiber materials such as polyurethane, or plastics such as Teflon, acrylic, vinyl chloride, and nylon are used.

On the surface of the circular surface plate 1, a thin ring-shaped pre-processing grindstone 3 is arranged and adhered to the outside of the circular polisher 2. As the pre-processing whetstone 3, a resin-bonded or metal-bonded fine-grain diamond whetstone is used.

On the other hand, a chuck drive device 4 is provided above the circular surface plate 1. This chuck drive device 4 is a bar-shaped material to be processed (ferrule 5 in this case).
chuck part 6 that grips and fixes the phenol 5
It is composed of a chuck part driving part 7 which applies a series of movements such as reverse rotational movement, vertical movement and horizontal reciprocating movement to the chuck part 6 and moves the chuck part 6 relative to the surface of the circular polisher 2 and the surface of the pre-processing grindstone 3. .

In addition, a circular polisher 2 is placed above the circular surface plate 1.
A first supply nozzle 8 is provided for providing a finishing agent to the surface of the substrate. As the finishing agent supplied from this first supply nozzle 8, for example,
A material in which fine particles of SiO ₂ , CeO ₂ , Fe ₂ O ₃ , TiO ₂ , ZrO ₂ , etc. are dispersed in pure water is used.

A second supply nozzle 9 is provided above the circular surface plate 1 for supplying abrasive to the surface of the pre-processing grindstone 3. Although ordinary water may be used as the abrasive, pure water is preferable in order to achieve higher quality.

Next, polishing of the ferrule 5 using the apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

The optical fiber 10 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole of the ferrule 5, which has one end face pre-processed into a flat or convex spherical shape and has an optical fiber insertion hole in the longitudinal central axis direction, and both are fixed with adhesive. do. Note that during this bonding work, the optical fiber 10
The end face of the ferrule 5 is made to protrude from the end face of the ferrule 5. The amount of protrusion of this optical fiber end face greatly affects the later polishing time, so it is adjusted in advance to a substantially constant length using a diamond cutter or the like.
Although one end surface of which had been polished in advance was used, it is obvious that one which is not polished may also be used.

After producing the phenol 5 as described above, the chuck portion 6 of the chuck drive device 4 grips the ferrule 5 and moves the chuck portion 6 to the upper position of the pre-processing grindstone 3 (the position shown in FIG. 1). At this point or prior to this, the circular surface plate 1 is rotated at a rotation speed that matches the pre-processing. The chuck portion 6 is lowered and the end face of the ferrule 5 is pressed against the rotating pre-processing grindstone 3 with a predetermined pressing force. At the same time, abrasive is supplied to the pre-processing grindstone 3 from the second supply nozzle 9. The abrasive enters between the end face of the ferrule 5 and the pre-processing grindstone 3 and contributes to grinding and lubrication.
This pre-processing polishing ends when the excess adhesive protruding from the end face of the phenol 5 and the protruding length of the optical fiber become approximately several microns.

Next, the chuck part 6 is moved to the upper position of the circular polisher 8 (the position shown in FIG. 1) by the chuck part driving part 7 of the chuck driving device 4, and the circular polisher 2 rotates the end face of the ferrule 5 with a predetermined pressing force. to press against. At the same time, the first supply nozzle 8
A processing agent for final polishing is supplied to the two surfaces of the circular polisher. The end face of the ferrule 5 is polished by the action of the finishing agent. Note that during this finishing process, the rotational speed of the circular surface plate 1 is changed in accordance with the finishing process. Also, during pre-processing and final polishing, the optical fiber 1 connected to the ferrule 5
In order to avoid twisting of the chuck part 6, the chuck part 6 is given repeated rotational motion of about 360 DEG to 400 DEG and reciprocating motion parallel to the polishing surface by a chuck part driving part 7.

(2) Embodiment 1 FIG. 6 shows a plan view of an embodiment according to the present invention.

This polishing device has the basic structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and a pre-processing grindstone 3 is placed between a circular polisher 2 on a circular surface plate 1 and a pre-processing grindstone 3 on the outside thereof. A ring-shaped cleaning buff 18 is provided in the center of the circular polisher 2 to clean the end surface of the ferrule 5 that has been processed, and the circular polisher 2 for finishing is used to clean the end surface of the ferrule 5 that has been finished processing. A final cleaning brush 19 is attached thereto for cleaning, and the other configurations are the same as those described in FIGS. 1 and 2.

When polishing Ferrule 5 etc., after polishing,
If the optical fiber is not cleaned and moved to polishing, the polishing debris and dirt from polishing with the grinding wheel will act like a kind of abrasive grains, easily causing scratches and chipping on the optical fiber surface and reducing the surface roughness.
It is not possible to achieve high precision in the shape of the optical fiber end face. Furthermore, if the polishing is not cleaned after polishing, dirt will remain attached, making it impossible to ensure a high-quality polished surface.

For these reasons, in the present invention, the end surface of the ferrule 5 after being polished by the pre-processing whetstone 3 is cleaned with a cleaning buff 18, and the end surface of the ferrule 5 after being finished with the circular polisher 2 is cleaned with a cleaning brush. It was designed to be washed at 19.

Further, according to this polishing apparatus, the polishing process and the cleaning process can be performed in the same apparatus, so that the polishing process can be fully automated.

(3) Example 2 Another example of the structure of the circular polisher in Example 1 is shown in FIG. This is circular polisher 1
1 is a two-layer laminate consisting of an upper elastic body 12 and a lower elastic body 13, and other buffs, brushes, and nozzles are omitted. Here, the lower elastic body 13 has an elastic force such as silicone rubber, and has elasticity of several mm to
The upper elastic body 12 is a buffer layer several centimeters thick.
is impregnated nonwoven fabric such as cloth or polyurethane, or sheet-like plastic such as Teflon or acrylic.

By finishing using the polisher 11 having such a structure, the pressing force of the end face of the ferrule 5 against the polisher 11 becomes extremely higher on the outer circumferential surface of the ferrule 5 than on the center, and the outer circumferential surface is first polished more. , the pressure is gradually equalized,
Finally, it is polished into a curved shape. This situation is shown in FIGS. 4a, b, and c.

(4) Example 3 Another example of the structure of the circular polisher is shown in FIG. This involves forming a recess 14 on the surface of the circular surface plate 1 where the polisher is to be provided, and covering the recess 14 with a ring-shaped portion 15 made of cloth, a resin fiber cloth material such as polyurethane, or Teflon, acrylic, etc. A polisher 17 is constructed by stretching a sheet-like plastic 16 in the shape of a diaphragm, and the other parts have the same structure as in Example 1, so a description thereof will be omitted.

In this polishing device, the polisher 17 is
Since the ferrule 5 has elasticity as well as the polisher 17, the pressure on the outer circumferential surface of the ferrule 5 against the polisher 17 comes from the center, and the outer circumferential surface is polished first, and the pressure gradually becomes uniform. The same polishing process as in Example 2 is performed, such as polishing into a curved shape.

In each of the above embodiments, the ferrule of an optical fiber connector is mentioned as the object to be polished, but it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to end face processing of other rod-shaped materials such as rod lenses due to the functionality of the apparatus. do not have.

<Effects of the Invention> According to the polishing apparatus according to the present invention, a circular polisher for finishing and a ring-shaped grindstone for pre-processing are arranged on the surface of a circular surface plate that is driven and rotated, and a rod-shaped grindstone to be polished is arranged. In addition to being able to move and press the materials, abrasives and processing agents are supplied during polishing, and the standard shape is equipped with a cleaning buff for pre-processing and a cleaning brush for finishing. are arranged so that the rod-shaped material is cleaned after polishing and after polishing, so that a high-quality polished surface can be obtained without causing scratches or the like on the end surface of the rod-shaped material. In addition, a series of polishing steps and cleaning steps can be performed in the same device, which ultimately makes the device smaller and cheaper, and the polishing process more economical and easy, and can be fully automated.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a polishing apparatus according to the structure that is the premise of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of a circular polisher, and FIGS.
b, c are process diagrams showing the processing principle and its pressure distribution, Fig. 5 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of another circular polisher side,
FIG. 6 is a plan view of a polishing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawing, 1 is a circular surface plate, 2, 11, 17 are polishers, 3 is a grindstone for pre-processing, 4 is a chuck drive device, 5 is a ferrule, 6 is a chuck part, 7 is a chuck drive part, and 8 is a first supply 9 is a second supply nozzle, 18 is a cleaning buff, and 19 is a cleaning brush.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for polishing the end face of a rod-shaped material, comprising:
a circular surface plate that is driven and rotated; a circular polisher for finishing provided on the top surface of the circular surface plate;
a ring-shaped pre-processing grindstone provided on the upper surface of the circular surface plate outside the circular polisher for finishing; a cleaning brush for final finishing attached to the center of the surface of the circular polisher; a cleaning buff for pre-processing provided between the polisher and the pre-processing grindstone; a first supply nozzle for supplying a finishing agent to the surface of the circular polisher; a second supply nozzle for supplying an abrasive for processing; a chuck portion for gripping the bar-shaped material at a constant angle with respect to the surface of the circular polisher or the pre-processing grindstone; and a chuck portion for polishing the tip of the bar-shaped material. An end face polishing device for a rod-shaped material, comprising: a chuck drive section that provides the necessary movement; 2. The end face polishing device for a bar-shaped material according to claim 1, wherein the circular polisher has a laminated structure of a lower elastic body and an upper elastic body. 3. A recess is provided in the center of rotation of the circular surface plate, and a resin fiber cloth material or a film-like resin material is stretched and held in the shape of a diaphragm above the recess to form the circular polisher. End face polishing device for rod-shaped materials.