JP2002040294A - Method and apparatus for injecting adhesive into optical fiber insertion hole of optical connector component - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus capable of stably injecting a fixed amount of an adhesive into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component such as a ferrule in a short time. A holding unit (13) for holding a ferrule (100).
, A syringe 20 having an injection needle 22 for injecting an adhesive, and an injector for moving the injection needle so as to be inserted into / withdrawn from the optical fiber insertion hole of the ferrule. The driving device 30 is connected to the holding unit,
Using an apparatus including a device for sucking the inside of the optical fiber insertion hole and a piston driving device 40 connected to the piston 23 of the injector and driving the piston step by step by one injection, the injector is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole. When the adhesive is injected, the adhesive is injected while sucking the inside of the optical fiber insertion hole from the side opposite to the injection side. Preferably, the adhesive is injected while slightly moving the injection needle of the injector out of the optical fiber insertion hole.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an optical fiber terminal (or an optical fiber cable terminal) used for optical communication.
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for injecting an adhesive into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component such as a ferrule used for connecting and / or fixing an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of optical communication, optical connectors are used for connecting optical fibers to each other or to an optical fiber and an optical circuit component.
For example, the state of butting between ferrules in a conventional single mode optical connector is as shown in FIG. The ferrule 100 includes a capillary portion 102 in which a small-diameter fine hole 103 for inserting an optical fiber 101 (or an optical fiber) is formed along a central axis.
A large-diameter hole 10 for inserting an optical fiber core 111 (an outer jacket of an optical fiber is attached) along the central axis.
Flange 104 formed with 5 (optical fiber insertion hole)
The small diameter pore 103 and the large diameter pore 105 are connected via a tapered diameter portion 106. Optical fiber 1
01 and the tip of the optical fiber 111 are
8, the ferrule 100 is fixed in the fine holes 103 and 105 of the ferrule 100.

[0003] A pair of optical fibers 101, 101 is connected to each ferrule 100, 1 into which they are inserted and joined.
00 from both ends of the sleeve 109, and insert the ferrule 1
The end faces of the optical fibers 101 and 101 are butt-connected while the axes of the optical fibers 101 and 101 are aligned. As the ferrule 100, besides the one in which the capillary portion 102 and the flange portion 104 are separate as shown in FIG. As described above, the distal end portions of the optical fiber 101 and the optical fiber core wire 111 are fixed in the fine holes 103 and 105 of the ferrule 100 by the adhesive 108. However, the fine holes (optical fiber Since the inner diameter of the insertion pore 103 is extremely small (for example, S
The pore diameter of the capillary called C type is 0.126m
m), it is extremely difficult to inject an adhesive into the pores.

[0004] The injection of the adhesive into the optical fiber insertion hole of the ferrule is conventionally performed by a syringe type dispenser. That is, the needle-like tip (injection needle) of the dispenser is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 105 to inject the adhesive, and the injection needle has an extremely thin optical fiber insertion hole 10.
Since it does not enter 3, it is injected into the vicinity of the tapered diameter portion 106 of the large-diameter optical fiber insertion hole 105, and an adhesive pool is generated in this portion. As described above, the optical fiber insertion hole 103
Since the adhesive is extremely thin, the adhesive does not enter the pores 103 from the adhesive pool even by the pouring operation, so it is necessary to wait for the adhesive to flow naturally. In the case of the agent, the initial viscosity is doubled in about 4 hours, so that it becomes increasingly difficult to enter. Therefore, the operation of inserting the optical fiber in a state where the adhesive is accumulated near the tapered diameter portion is performed.
At this time, the adhesive does not completely wrap around the optical fiber, but is dispersed around the optical fiber and incompletely filled and adhered. Therefore, bubbles are formed in the adhesive, and it is difficult to make a firm and stable bond.

To solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
No. -14610 proposes a method of injecting an adhesive, inserting an optical fiber, and then bonding the optical fiber support while applying vibration. However, when bonding is performed while applying a vibration having an amplitude of 0.05 mm as proposed, the risk of breaking the optical fiber is extremely high. Therefore, the occurrence rate of defective products increases, and workability deteriorates because careful operation is required.

In the case of injecting an adhesive using a conventional syringe type dispenser, an injection needle is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 105.
Since the adhesive is inserted into the inside, the injected adhesive adheres to the side surface of the injection needle, and adhesion of adhesive droplets (liquid pool) at the tip of the injection needle extracted after injection and liquid dripping from the injection needle are likely to occur. There is a problem that the amount of adhesive injected becomes inaccurate due to the liquid pool or the liquid dripping, or the ferrule becomes dirty, and defective products are generated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and a method capable of stably injecting a fixed amount of an adhesive into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component such as a ferrule without the above-mentioned problem. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus, thereby reducing defective optical connector parts and improving productivity.

[0008]

According to the present invention, when an adhesive is injected by an injector into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component, the optical fiber is inserted from the side opposite to the injection side. There is provided a method of injecting an adhesive into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component, wherein the adhesive is injected while sucking the inside of the insertion hole. Preferably, at the time of the adhesive injection, the adhesive is injected while slightly moving the injector having the needle-like tip inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole in a direction to withdraw from the hole. In a preferred mode of preventing liquid accumulation and liquid dripping at the needle-shaped tip of the injector, a slight suction is performed by the injector after the adhesive is injected, and the adhesive droplets collected at the needle-shaped tip are injected. Inhale into the container. Alternatively, the adhesive adhering to the needle-like tip is wiped off.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided means for holding an optical connector component having an optical fiber insertion hole, and an injector for injecting an adhesive into the optical connector component held by the holding means, comprising: An injector having a cylindrical body, a piston slidably disposed within the body, and a needle tip; inserting the needle tip of the injector into the optical fiber insertion hole of the optical connector component. Injector driving means for moving so as to carry out / withdrawing; means for sucking the inside of the optical fiber insertion hole of the optical connector component held and connected to the holding portion of the holding means; An apparatus for injecting an adhesive into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component is provided, further comprising a piston driving means connected to the piston and driving the piston step by step by one injection.

[0010] In a preferred aspect of the apparatus, the piston driving means includes a rack for driving the piston of the injector step by step for each injection, and a sensor for detecting upper and lower limits of a moving distance of the rack. Is further provided. More preferably, the piston driving means includes a mechanism for driving the piston in a slightly reverse direction immediately after driving the piston for one injection. In a further preferred aspect, the holding means has at least two holding portions,
In addition, the injector is arranged to be reciprocally movable in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the needle-like tip of the injector. In addition, the apparatus further includes a wiping mechanism having a wiping portion that can advance forward toward the needle-like tip of the injector after one injection of the adhesive.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described above, the method of the present invention comprises:
When the adhesive is injected into the optical fiber insertion hole of the optical connector component by the injector, the adhesive is injected while sucking the inside of the optical fiber insertion hole (optical fiber insertion hole) from the side opposite to the injection side. And Thus, although the optical fiber insertion hole is extremely thin, the optical fiber insertion hole is easily sucked into the optical fiber insertion hole from the adhesive pool generated by being injected from the injector into the optical fiber insertion hole and filled. Therefore, by such an operation, the adhesive can be stably injected into the optical fiber insertion pores stably in a short time. Also,
When the optical fiber is inserted, the adhesive is bonded in a state of completely covering the periphery of the optical fiber, so that strong and stable bonding can be achieved without generating bubbles in the adhesive.

Preferably, at the time of injecting the adhesive, the adhesive is injected while slightly moving the injector having the needle-like tip inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole in a direction to pull out from the hole. By performing such an operation, the injected adhesive does not adhere to the side surface of the needle-like tip of the injector, and liquid dripping from the needle-like tip extracted after injection is prevented. Adhesive droplet adhesion at the tip (liquid pool)
Is less likely to occur. Further, in a preferred embodiment for completely preventing liquid accumulation and liquid dripping at the needle-like tip of the injector, a slight suction is performed by the injector after injecting the adhesive, and the adhesive collected at the needle-like tip is A droplet is drawn into the injector. Alternatively, the adhesive adhering to the needle-like tip is wiped off. By such operations, the adhesive injection amount is not inaccurate due to liquid accumulation or liquid dripping, and further, the optical connector parts such as ferrules are not contaminated, and the adhesive is stably maintained in the optical fiber insertion hole. Thus, a certain amount can be injected in a short time. As a result, it is possible to reduce defective optical connector parts and improve productivity.

[0013]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG.
The present invention will be described more specifically. 1 to 3
1 shows the overall schematic configuration of the adhesive injection device of the present invention. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes a base box, 10 denotes a holder for holding an optical connector component having an optical fiber insertion hole such as a ferrule 100, 20 denotes an injector having a needle-like tip for injecting an adhesive, Reference numeral 30 denotes the insertion of the needle-like tip of the injector into the optical fiber insertion hole of the optical connector part.
An injector driving device 40 that moves so as to perform extraction is a piston driving device that drives the piston of the injector step by step by one injection. Also, the back plate 2 of the base box 1
A wiping device 50 is attached to the back of the device as shown in FIG.

The holder 10 is slidably engaged on a guide rail 11 fixed to the back plate 2, and is reciprocated by a linear ball bearing 12. At the upper part of the holder 10, two holding parts 13 are attached at a predetermined interval, and each holding part 13 is located on a straight line located directly below the injector 20, and at an injection position located directly below the injector 20. And a take-out position at a predetermined distance from both sides thereof. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a suction pipe 14 is connected to each holding unit 13, and the suction pipes 14 are connected to suction devices (not shown), respectively, so that suction is performed in a certain cycle. It has become.

On the other hand, the injector 20 is composed of a syringe type dispenser, and has a cylindrical main body 21, an injection needle 22 (needle-shaped distal end) attached to the distal end of the cylindrical main body 21, and a sliding body inside the cylindrical main body 21. And a piston 23 movably arranged. The injector driving device 30 includes an elevating plate 31 and a main cylinder 32 for elevating the elevating plate 31, and a piston rod 33 of the main cylinder 32 is connected to a flange member 34 fixed to a side portion of the elevating plate 31. ing. On the other hand, a slider 35 is attached to the back surface of the elevating plate 31, and the slider 35 is slidably engaged with the guide body 3 fixed to the back plate 2. The injector 20
Is to lock the flange portion 24 of the cylindrical body 21 with a locking portion 36 projecting from a predetermined position of the elevating plate 31, and to engage the cylindrical body 21 with upper and lower locking portions 37 and 38. The main cylinder 32 is operated to move the elevating plate 31 up and down, so that it moves up and down with it.

A piston driving device 40 is attached to the upper part of the elevating plate 31, and the rack 41 is driven stepwise by a stepping motor 42. Rack 4
The lower end of 1 is connected to the head of the piston 23 of the injector 20 by a clip 43, as shown in FIG. A side plate 44 is provided on one side of the piston driving device 40 so as to face the rack 41, and an upper limit for detecting the upper and lower driving limits of the rack 41 is provided at a predetermined interval vertically. A sensor 45 and a lower limit sensor 46 are provided. The upper limit sensor 45 detects the initial position of the upper end of the rack 41 when the injector 20 is set, while the lower limit sensor 46 injects the adhesive in the injector 20 as the rack 41 descends stepwise. When the process is completed, the upper end of the rack 41 is detected, and the stepping motor 42 is rotated in the reverse direction to return the upper end of the rack 41 to the initial position.

A wiping device 50 is attached to the bracket 4 fixed to a predetermined position at the rear of the back plate 2. The wiping device 50 has an arm member 51 which can be tilted through the opening 5 of the back plate 2, and has a wiping portion 52 at a tip end of the arm member 51, and the wiping portion 52 applies a wiping sheet 53 to a leaf spring 54. , So as to be sandwiched between the distal ends of the arm members 51. The rear end of the arm member 51 is rotatably connected to a piston rod 56 of a wiping unit tilting cylinder 55 attached to a bracket 57 fixed to the back plate 2, and operates the wiping unit tilting cylinder 55. As a result, the arm member 51 swings and the wiping portion 52
Is configured to advance forward toward the tip of the injection needle 22 of the injector 20.

Next, an operation of injecting an adhesive into the optical fiber insertion hole of the ferrule 100 using the above-described apparatus will be described. First, when the lift plate 31 is at the raised position (the wiping unit 52 of the wiping device 50 is at the retracted position), the injector 20 filled with the adhesive is set on the lift plate 31 and the piston 23 is The head is connected to the lower end of the rack 41 by a clip 43. At this time, the upper end of the rack 41 is set at the initial position detected by the upper limit sensor 45, and the adhesive injection is started.
After that, the ferrule 1 is attached to one of the holding portions 13 of the holder 10.
00 is set and moved to the adhesive injection position located just below the injector 20. While the following adhesive injection operation is being performed on the ferrule 100, the next ferrule is set in the other holding portion 13 located at the take-out position.

The ferrule 10 set as described above
0 is located at the adhesive injection position.
When a sensor (not shown) installed at a predetermined position detects that the main cylinder 32 is operated, the elevating plate 31 is lowered, and the piston driving device 40 and the injector 20 attached to the elevating plate 31 are also injected. Then, the injection needle 22 of the injector 20 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 105 of the ferrule 100.

Next, when the stepping motor 42 is operated and the rack 41 is lowered by a distance corresponding to one injection, the piston 23 is pushed down, and as shown in FIG.
At the same time as the adhesive A is injected into the optical fiber insertion hole 105 of the ferrule 100, a suction device (not shown) is operated to suck through the suction tube 14 to thereby perform the optical fiber insertion hole 103.
The main cylinder 32 is operated and the elevating plate 31 is slightly raised, so that the injection needle 22 of the injector 20 is slightly raised. Thereby, the adhesive injection is completed without the adhesive being attached to the tip side surface of the injection needle 22. The suction amount and the time can be changed according to the size of the ferrule 100 (particularly, the diameter and length of the optical fiber insertion hole 103). You can set it for a long time. Further, the degree and speed at which the injection needle 22 is slightly raised are determined by the ferrule 10.
It can be changed according to the size of 0 (particularly the diameter and length of the optical fiber insertion hole 105) and the amount of adhesive injected. For example, when the amount of the injected adhesive is small, the distance is reduced and the speed is increased, while when the amount is large, the distance is increased and the speed is decreased.

After the injection of the adhesive is completed, the main cylinder 32 operates to raise the elevating plate 31, and together with this, the piston driving device 40 and the injector 20 attached to the elevating plate 31 also return to their original positions, and the stepping motor When the rack 41 is slightly driven in reverse to slightly raise the rack 41, thereby causing the droplet at the tip of the injection needle 22 to be sucked (adhesive is sucked), at the same time, the wiper tilting cylinder 55 is actuated to activate the arm member. The wiping part 52 at the distal end of 51 advances toward the distal end of the injection needle 22 of the injector 20,
The tip of the injection needle 22 is wiped. This completes one cycle of adhesive injection. Thereafter, the holder 10 slides to move the ferrule held by the other holding portion 13 to the adhesive injection position, and the next adhesive injection operation is performed. The ferrule 100 into which the adhesive has been injected moves to the take-out position. After taking out the ferrule 100, the next ferrule is set.

When the optical fiber is inserted into the ferrule 100 into which the adhesive has been injected as described above, the state roughly becomes as shown in FIG. The determination of the quality of the adhesion is made based on whether or not the adhesive A slightly comes out from both ends of the ferrule 100 as shown in FIG. If not, the injection of the adhesive is too small and re-inject. When a large amount of the adhesive is discharged, the adhesive may be wiped off. Thereafter, after the adhesive is cured, the tip is polished to remove the portion of the optical fiber 101 and the adhesive which protrude from the tip of the ferrule 100 to obtain a product.

FIGS. 6A to 6C show examples (a) to (c) of using a holder when the adhesive injection device of the present invention is applied to ferrules having various shapes and sizes. By using the holder 15 as shown in FIG. 6, even if the shape and size of the ferrule 100 are different, the same device can be used to inject the adhesive. Further, the shape and size of the holder 15 can be arbitrarily changed according to an object into which the adhesive is injected. Therefore, the method and apparatus of the present invention can be applied not only to optical connector parts such as ferrules, but also to other precision parts having micropores that require injection of an adhesive.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. Adopting the feature or further, the point of performing the adhesive injection while moving the injector in the direction opposite to the injection direction, providing a mechanism for slightly sucking and / or wiping after injection of the adhesive from the injector, and liquid dripping, Various design changes are possible as long as one or both of the functions of adding the function of eliminating droplet accumulation are adopted, and all of them are included in the scope of the present invention. In addition, by adding the point of performing the adhesive injection while moving the injector in the direction opposite to the injection direction, it is possible to satisfy a certain degree without providing a mechanism for slightly sucking and / or wiping after the adhesive is injected from the injector. It can be used to inject adhesive. Of course, it is preferable to employ either or preferably both of the mechanism for sucking the adhesive and / or the wiping mechanism after injecting the adhesive from the injector since the liquid dripping and the accumulation of the liquid droplets can be completely eliminated.

[0025]

As described above, according to the method and apparatus of the present invention, when an adhesive is injected into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component by an injector, the adhesive is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole from the side opposite to the injection side. To inject the adhesive while sucking
The injected adhesive is easily sucked and filled into the extremely thin optical fiber insertion pore, and the adhesive can be injected stably and reliably in a short time. In addition, when the adhesive is injected, the adhesive is injected while slightly moving the injector with the needle-like tip inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole in a direction to pull out from the hole, so that the side of the needle-like tip can be injected. The adhesive is prevented from adhering to the adhesive, and after the adhesive is injected, a slight suction is performed by the injector to suck the adhesive droplets accumulated at the needle-like tip into the injector and / or the needle-like tip. Of liquid from the needle-like tip extracted after injection and adhesion of adhesive droplets to the needle-like tip (liquid pool)
Is completely prevented, the adhesive can be stably injected into the optical fiber insertion hole in a fixed amount in a short time, and the optical connector parts such as the ferrule are not stained by the liquid dripping. As a result, it is possible to reduce defective optical connector parts and improve productivity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing one embodiment of an adhesive injection device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic partial side view showing an upper portion of the adhesive injection device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic partial sectional side view showing a lower portion of the adhesive injection device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a ferrule showing a state at the time of injecting an adhesive.

FIG. 5 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view showing a state where an optical fiber is inserted into a ferrule into which an adhesive has been injected.

FIG. 6 is a schematic partial sectional view showing some usage examples of a holder used in the adhesive injection device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view illustrating a connection state between ferrules for an optical connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base box 2 Back plate 3 Guide body 5 Opening 10 Holder 11 Guide rail 13 Holder 14 Suction tube 15 Holder 20 Injector 22 Injection needle (needle-shaped tip part) 23 Piston 30 Injector drive 31 Lifting plate 32 Main Cylinder 40 Piston drive unit 41 Rack 42 Stepping motor 50 Wiping device 52 Wiping unit 100 Ferrule 101 Optical fiber 103 Optical fiber insertion hole 105 Optical fiber insertion hole 111 Optical fiber core

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H036 LA07 MA05 QA23 QA24 QA29 QA44

Claims (9)

[Claims] When an adhesive is injected into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component by an injector (20), the adhesive is injected while sucking the inside of the optical fiber insertion hole from a side opposite to the injection side. A method for injecting an adhesive into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component. 2. At the time of injecting the adhesive, the injection of the adhesive is performed while slightly moving the injector (20) having the needle-like tip portion (22) inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole in the direction of extracting from the hole. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the adhesive is injected, a slight suction is performed by the injector to suck the adhesive droplets accumulated at the needle-like tip into the injector. Or the method of 2. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the adhesive is injected, the adhesive attached to the needle tip is wiped off. 5. An injector for injecting an adhesive into an optical connector part held by said holding means, said means being for holding an optical connector part having an optical fiber insertion hole, said cylindrical body. (21) an injector (20) having a piston (23) slidably disposed in the main body and a needle-like tip (22); and connecting the needle-like tip of the injector to an optical connector. Injector driving means (30) for moving the component so as to insert / remove the optical fiber into / from the optical fiber insertion hole; and an optical connector which is connected to and held by the holding portion (13) of the holding means (10). Means (14) for sucking the optical fiber insertion hole of the component; and piston (2) of said injector (20).
3. An apparatus for injecting an adhesive into an optical fiber insertion hole of an optical connector component, comprising: a piston drive means (40) connected to 3) and stepwise driving the piston by one injection. . 6. The rack driving means (40) includes a rack (41) for driving the piston (23) of the injector (20) step by step by one injection and moving the rack (41). Sensors (45,
Apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising (46). 7. The piston driving means (40) comprises a mechanism for driving the piston (23) by one injection in a slightly reverse direction immediately after driving the piston (23). An apparatus according to claim 1. 8. The holding means (10) comprises at least two
6. The device according to claim 5, wherein the holder has two holding portions and is arranged so as to be reciprocally movable in a direction perpendicular to a direction of the needle tip of the injector. An apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims. 9. A wiping mechanism (50) having a wiping portion (52) that can move forward toward the needle-like tip (22) of the injector (20) after injecting the adhesive for one injection. Device according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that it is located.