JPH079123Y2 - Plastic optical fiber straightening device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial application] The present invention relates to a device for straightening and straightening a plastic optical fiber by curling it.

[Conventional technology]

Plastic optical fibers are widely used for displays and short-distance data communication, but for display applications, it is often required that the fibers are straight and unwound. In particular, in the image bundle in which many fibers are aligned and the vertical and horizontal addresses are accurately arranged, and in the image screen in which the array pitch of the emitting ends is made large to provide the image enlargement function, the fibers are wound on the bobbin. Therefore, if the fiber is wound around the fiber, it may hinder the working process and may be a great obstacle to the automation of the process.

Therefore, before such secondary processing, it has been common practice to straighten the plastic optical fiber wound on the bobbin while heating and pull it straight, and then let it cool down to correct and remove the winding curl attached to the fiber. .
As a means for heating the plastic optical fiber, for example, continuous heating with hot air or far infrared rays is often used, but in these heating means, the temperature setting of the heat source is higher than the curling temperature of the fiber and the fiber continuously runs. If it is stopped without doing so, the fibers in the heating region may become overheated and melt down.

Therefore, as a continuous heating means which does not become overheated even when the fiber is stopped, heating by passing an optical fiber through warm water has been used as one of the effective means.

A heating method using warm water is shown in, for example, FIGS. FIG. 2 (a) shows a method in which a plastic optical fiber (1) fed by a creel is bent by one roller (12) provided in a hot water tank (13) and passed through the hot water. Further, FIG. 2 (b) shows that the hot water tank (13) is effectively used by providing two rollers (12) in the hot water tank (13) and bending the plastic optical fiber (1) twice. Is a way to Further, in FIG. 2 (c), the roller (12) placed in the hot water tank (13) is arranged in the vicinity of the wall surface of the hot water tank (13) to form one roller (12).
It is a method of increasing the distance of immersion of the plastic optical fiber (1) in warm water.

[Problems to be solved by the device]

However, the heating method using warm water shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C has the following drawbacks.

First, the method shown in FIG. 2 (a) has the disadvantage that the tank cannot be used effectively, and the method shown in FIG. 2 (b) is when the traveling of the plastic optical fiber (1) is stopped. , The bending habits of the two bending parts of the roller (12) remain, and it becomes impossible to completely squeeze out, and the plastic optical fiber (1) is damaged due to the stress difference between the inner and outer circumferences when heated in the bent state. There is a drawback that the optical characteristics are deteriorated. Furthermore, in the method shown in FIG. 2 (c), the hot water tank (13) becomes longer than necessary, and the angle between the hot water surface and the fiber becomes small so that the hot water immersion depth is shallow and the temperature conditions are not constant. It was not practical because of the difficulties.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In view of such a situation, the present invention allows the plastic optical fiber to be immersed in warm water without being bent even once and pulled out straight, so that even if the fiber stops traveling, no bending is left and the optical characteristics are improved. We propose a hot water type straightening device of plastic optical fiber that can be operated intermittently without deterioration.

The gist is that the optical fiber made of plastic is soaked in warm water, a smoldering tank, an intermediate collecting tank for collecting the hot water overflowing from the shaving tank, and a heater for heating the hot water to a set temperature. A plastic optical fiber straightening device comprising: a circulation pump for sending hot water to the straightening tank, and means for straightly pulling the plastic optical fiber in the straightening tank.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a plastic optical fiber straightening device according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, (1) is a plastic optical fiber, and a large number of yarns are flatly fed from a creel stand (not shown) and can be pulled out by a pulling roller (2). (3) is a heating tank in which water used for straightening is controlled to a predetermined temperature by a heater (4). In this way, the warm water stored in the heating tank (3) is supplied to the straightening tank (6) by the circulation pump (5).
(8) is an intermediate collecting tank, which is provided so as to surround the habit removing tank (6) so that the warm water overflowing from the habit removing tank (6) can be collected without leakage. In the habit removal tank (6) and the intermediate collection tank (8), the thread guides (7) having holes slightly larger than the fiber system are installed at a predetermined pitch at the entrance and exit of the plastic optical fiber (1). The optical fiber (1) made is constructed so that it can pass straight through the tank. Here, if the circulating flow rate of the warm water supplied by the circulation pump is controlled so that the water surface is always above the yarn path guide (7) at the entrance / exit of the plastic optical fiber (1) of the straightening tank (6), It flows out from the gap of the guide (7). Depending on the circulation flow rate, it overflows from the upper surface of the habit removing tank (3), temporarily gathers in the intermediate collecting tank (8), returns to the heating tank (3), and is again heated to a predetermined temperature. The heating tank (3) is provided with a stirrer (11), and the hot water having a low temperature circulated from the intermediate collecting tank (8) and the hot water remaining in the heating tank (3) and heated to a predetermined temperature And are mixed by stirring to make the temperature distribution in the heating tank (3) constant.

The amount of water supplied by the circulation pump (5) is larger than the amount of water flowing out from the thread guide at the entrance / exit of the straightening tank (3), and it constantly overflows from the upper surface of the straightening tank (3) to straighten the plastic optical fiber (1). It is set so that the depth of immersion in warm water in the tank (6) is always constant. In addition, by setting a bypass that returns from the habit removing tank (6) directly to the heating tank (3) and adjusting the opening degree of the valve (9) provided here, a large amount of water supply to the circulation pump (5) is set. It is also possible to increase the amount of circulation of the hot water rectification tank (6). In such a case, it is possible to reduce the temperature drop of the hot water in the habit removal tank (6) and set more stable habit removal conditions.

In this way, the plastic optical fiber (1) is heated to a predetermined temperature in the straightening tank (3) without being bent even once, and then is cooled straight in the cooling zone (10), so that the Taking is done continuously. here,
The temperature of the hot water may be set depending on the diameter of the plastic optical fiber (1), the running speed, and the length of the straightening tank (3). Generally, the temperature is less than 90 ° C when acrylic plastic fiber is used. Yes, if there is no heating in the bent state, even if the plastic optical fiber (1) stops running, there is no bending habit and it is possible to easily and intermittently get rid of it, and connect it to the subsequent process that operates intermittently. Is also possible.

〔Example〕

40 acrylic fiber optics (SK-30 made by Mitsubishi Rayon) with a diameter of 0.75 mm were used to perform the straightening process intermittently with the straightening device shown in Fig. 1 at a processing speed of 30 m / min. Got The main specifications of this straightening device are as follows.

Straightening tank (3): Length = 3000 mm, thread guide inner diameter = Φ3 mm, thread guide pitch = 10 mm Tank depth = 100 mm Intermediate water replenishment tank (8): Length = 3300 mm, thread guide inner diameter = Φ1 mm Heating tank (3): Capacity = 260l Heater (4): 3KW x 4 (throw-in type) Drawer roller (2): Metal roll (Φ100 x 300W, chrome plating) (drive roll), rubber roll (Φ 100 x) 240W, nitrile rubber) Cooling area (10): 1m long Creel stand: Variable back tension type by each cone independent torque motor (not shown) [Effect] A plastic optical fiber straightening device that can be intermittently operated without any bending habit even when stopped and without deterioration of optical characteristics is obtained, which is extremely useful for industrial equipment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a plastic optical fiber straightening device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a conventional hot water type straightening device. (1) Plastic optical fiber (2) Drawer roller (3) Heating tank (4) Heater (5) Circulation pump (6) Quiet removing tank (7) Thread guide (8) Intermediate collecting tank (9) Valve (10) ) Cooling area (11) Stirrer (12) Roller (13) Hot water tank

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A habit removing tank for immersing a plastic optical fiber in hot water to remove it, an intermediate collecting tank for collecting hot water overflowing from the habit removing tank, and a heater for heating the hot water to a set temperature. A plastic optical fiber straightening device, comprising: a circulation pump for feeding hot water to the straightening tank, and means for pulling the plastic optical fiber straightened in the straightening tank.