Optical fiber cutting knife using sliding bearing, elastic blade support and sliding block

Abstract

The invention provides an optical fiber cutting knife using a sliding bearing, an elastic blade support and a sliding block. The optical fiber cutting knife comprises a main body assembly, a pressing block assembly, a sliding block assembly and the like. An elastic knife rest structure is adopted, meanwhile, a sliding bearing formed by combining a shaft sleeve and an optical shaft is used for replacing a popular linear guide rail, a reed or screw structure is used for correcting cutting deviation caused by radial rotation of the sliding bearing, and on the premise that the cutting quality is guaranteed, a plastic structure with poor strength is used for replacing a metal structure; and the product cost is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of optical fiber cutters for communication engineering, and in particular to an optical fiber cutter which scratches the outer cylindrical surface of an optical fiber and squeezes or knocks off the optical fiber along the scratched incision to form an optical fiber end face that meets engineering standards. Technical Background

[0002] Optical fiber has been widely used in communications, medical treatment, sensors, navigation, and other fields. The main material for making optical fiber is high-purity quartz. The diameter of the standard single-mode optical fiber is 0.125mm, so special methods are required to connect optical fibers. Currently, two methods are mainly used in the engineering field: one is physical connection, which is to accurately align and fix the optical fibers to be connected, which is called cold connection; the other is to further heat a group of optical fibers after precise alignment at high temperature to reach the melting point of the optical fiber so that the two core optical fibers are fused, which is called fusion splicing; whether it is cold splicing or fusion splicing, the radial cross-section of the optical fiber must be planarized before the operation. Only in this way can the radial cross-sections of the optical fibers fit together as much as possible during alignment to meet the requirements of the next step of connection processing, and light can be effectively transmitted in a low-loss manner. In the field of optical fiber communication engineering, the end face processing tool of optical fiber is an optical fiber cutter. Its principle is: use a sharp blade edge ground with hard material to scratch the outer circle of the optical fiber to form an incision perpendicular to the axis of the optical fiber, and then apply external force in the opposite direction of the incision to expand the incision radially until the optical fiber breaks. The incision surface after the break is the cut end face; the existing method of scratching the optical fiber with an optical fiber cutter using a linear guide is to fix the blade on a slider, the slider is fixed on one side of the linear guide, and the other side of the linear guide is fixed on the base, and the linear guide is slid to make the slider move linearly. In this process, the blade edge fixed on the slider horizontally crosses the outer circle of the optical fiber clamped by the pressure foot. In this process, the vertical distance between the blade edge and the outer circle of the optical fiber is adjusted in advance, and the position of the optical fiber is adjusted. The position is fixed, the blade height is fixed, and the position of the optical fiber and the blade in the vertical direction remains unchanged during the cutting and scratching process; the cross-section of the optical fiber is circular, and the operation of the blade scratching the optical fiber is a process from shallow to deep. During this process, the contact pressure of the blade changes with the cutting depth, but the blade itself will not make position adjustments with the change of the pressure, so the process of the blade sliding over the outer circle of the optical fiber is a rigid scratching process; the structure is complex and difficult to adjust. For these problems, patent No. 201911401089.3 "An optical fiber cutting knife slider using an elastic blade holder" and patent No. 202223252912.7 "An improved elastic blade holder optical fiber cutting knife slider" have been proposed, but in practical application, the following problems also exist;

[0003] 1. The original design uses linear guides as the connection between the slider and the main body. Compared with the sliding bearing connection method composed of a sleeve and an optical axis, the linear guide has a higher unit price, a relatively complex structure, and poor anti-drop performance.

[0004] 2. The linear guide rail is large in size, which is not conducive to further miniaturization of the cutting knife.

[0005] 3. In existing designs, such as the CT-06 fiber optic cutting knife produced by Japan's Fujikura Company, although a sliding bearing consisting of a single sleeve and a shaft is also used, it is only used in a circular blade structure with a fixed height, and is not used in an elastic blade structure. In addition, there is only one radial fixed point in the sliding motion, and the effect of correcting radial deviation is poor.

[0006] 4. Taking Japan's Fujikura CT-06 optical fiber cutting knife as an example, in the existing single shaft sleeve and shaft combined into a sliding bearing, one end of the slider reset spring is fixed on the main structure, and the other end is fixed on the protrusion of the outer edge of the slider, so that the reset spring tension and the slider sleeve and shaft sliding friction force are not coaxial. This axial force will change the force distribution of the component, which is not conducive to the alignment of the slider's linear motion, and is more likely to cause deformation of materials with poor structural rigidity, such as plastics.

[0007] 5. The hammer that breaks and scratches the optical fiber is currently designed with a single-sided support design due to structural limitations of the circular blade that needs to be adjusted during use. This causes the upward support force on the hammer to shift away from the center of gravity of the hammer during the movement of the slider, resulting in uneven distribution and easily causing the hammer to tilt and shake within the installation gap.

[0008] 6. In the original 201911401089.3 elastic blade structure, the upward elastic force of the blade holder acts completely in the vertical direction during the resetting process, and there is no unlimited structure in the horizontal direction. Therefore, each time it is reset, the position of the blade edge in the horizontal direction is prone to deviation, which affects the fixed length of the butterfly optical fiber cutting when used for cold connection, which is not conducive to cold connection. Summary of the invention

[0009] In view of the above-mentioned problems, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a fiber optic cutter using a sliding bearing elastic blade holder slider, and its core features are: based on the design of patent No. "201911401089.3 A fiber optic cutter slider using an elastic blade holder", a fiber optic cutter is designed without using linear guides, so that the cost is further reduced, the volume is further reduced, the force position of the sliding bearing reset spring is optimized, the sliding bearing rotation limit method is optimized, the horizontal direction accuracy of the elastic blade when resetting is optimized, and the hammer support is optimized, so that the force is evenly distributed during the hammer operation process, the cutting quality is improved, and the product cost is reduced.

[0010] The invention is suitable for both optical fiber fusion cutting and optical fiber cold cutting.

[0011] The blade involved in the present invention can be a sheet-shaped linear blade, or an existing circular or arc-shaped blade, and the blade material can be a metal alloy material, or an artificial single crystal or a diamond material. Technical Solution

[0012] An optical fiber cutting knife using a sliding bearing elastic blade support slider is characterized by;

[0013] The optical fiber cutting knife using the sliding bearing elastic blade support slider comprises:

[0014] Slider assembly, main body assembly, pressing block assembly;

[0015] The slider assembly includes a slider assembly, a shaft sleeve, an optical axis, a return spring, a tool holder, and a blade;

[0016] The slider assembly has a hole in the optical fiber cutting direction, the sleeve is fixed in the hole, the optical axis is installed in the sleeve, the reset spring is sleeved on the outer circle of the optical axis, the slider assembly hole, the sleeve, the optical axis, and the reset spring are coaxial after installation, and the sleeve drives the slider assembly to reciprocate on the optical axis, compressing and releasing the reset spring during the reciprocating motion;

[0017] The knife holder is pivotally mounted on the slider assembly in the optical fiber cutting direction. The slider assembly is processed with a limit surface in the optical fiber cutting direction to limit the upward movement of the knife holder. The limit surface has a certain angle with the vertical plane.

[0018] The tool holder is an elastic structure on the slider assembly, and the tool holder is processed with a surface that fits with the limit surface of the slider assembly. When the tool holder moves upward to limit the position under the action of elastic force, the tool holder fits with the limit surfaces of the slider assembly in pairs, thereby limiting the vertical height of the tool holder and limiting the horizontal position at the same time;

[0019] The blade is fixed on the blade holder with the cutting edge facing upward, and when the slider assembly moves, the blade scratches the optical fiber;

[0020] The main body component includes a main body assembly and a positioning spring;

[0021] The main body assembly is provided with holes in the optical fiber cutting direction for mounting the two ends of the optical axis, and in this way assembling the slider assembly that reciprocates along the optical axis;

[0022] There are two positioning springs, which are processed with protrusions and are respectively clamped on the two side walls of the main assembly. The protrusions are in contact with the radial side walls of the slider assembly sleeve. The elastic protrusions of the spring provide elastic support force in the radial direction to the sliding bearing structure formed by the slider assembly sleeve optical axis, which reduces the radial rotation of the sliding bearing when moving along the axis, thereby achieving a radial limit effect;

[0023] The pressing block assembly includes a pressing block assembly, a hammer, and a hammer spring;

[0024] The pressing block assembly has an opening in the direction of the optical fiber, the hammer is installed in the opening, and the hammer spring is a compression spring, one end of which is fixed and the other end is installed in the hammer, providing elastic force for the hammer in the direction of optical fiber cutting;

[0025] The hammer is processed with two protrusions in the direction of the optical fiber, which fit in pairs with the upward lifting structure position of the slider assembly when the slider assembly moves. After the slider assembly scratches the optical fiber, the two protrusions of the hammer are released at the same time. Under the action of the hammer spring, the hammer knocks down the scratched optical fiber to complete the cutting;

[0026] The positioning reed includes but is not limited to a reed structure, a screw structure, and a spring structure; The present invention has the following beneficial effects

[0027] 1. The single-axis, sleeve sliding bearing structure replaces the more expensive and complex linear guide structure on the one hand, and on the other hand, it avoids the linear guide structure composed of two axes and sleeves (such as Japan's early square fiber optic cutting knife, the two-axis, sleeve structure avoids radial rotation) The movement trajectory is not completely parallel due to assembly, the parts themselves, and other reasons, resulting in uneven movement resistance and resulting in jamming.

[0028] 2. The single-axis and sleeve sliding bearing reset spring is installed on the outer circle of the single axis, coaxial with the single axis, and the compression spring acts on the side of the sleeve. Compared with the traditional method of installing a compression spring or a tension spring on the cutting knife slider, no force acts on the slider assembly, thereby reducing the force influence on the slider structure. This is more valuable in plastic structures and can support the plastic structure cutting knife to cut out the metal structure cutting quality.

[0029] 3. The single-axis and sleeve structure cannot be positioned in the radial direction and will rotate, which will cause the cutting blade to have an unstable cutting angle on the optical fiber. Therefore, the existing design uses an elastic spring to select a point in the radial direction of the sleeve to elastically support the slider to control the radial shaking of the slider in the sleeve. On this basis, the present invention adds an elastic support point on the other radial side of the sleeve, and can choose to limit the position by screw adjustment, thereby optimizing the radial shaking.

[0030] 4. Based on the original elastic tool holder structure, the original single-sided height limit structure of the tool holder and slider height limit structure in the vertical position is optimized to an inclined double-sided height limit structure. In this way, when the tool holder height is reset, the component force generated by the inclined limit in the horizontal direction controls the tool holder to reset in the horizontal position, so that the reset accuracy of the tool holder in the horizontal direction is improved, which is more suitable for the accuracy requirements of the optical fiber cutting length during optical fiber cold connection.

[0031] 5. In traditional fiber optic cutting knife designs, the hammer is positioned on the slider support block relative to the blade edge, usually on the left side in the front view, which easily leads to uneven force on the hammer. The present invention adopts a design with protrusions on both sides, and the slider also has corresponding supporting protrusions on the left and right sides. In this way, when the hammer is supported by the protrusions, the force is on the center of gravity of the hammer and will not be offset or twisted. When the fiber is dropped to cut, the force on both sides of the scratched fiber is even, thereby improving the incision quality.

[0032] 6. The single shaft sleeve and optical axis are smaller in size, making it easier to miniaturize the entire cutting knife. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The embodiments of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings;

[0034] Figure 1 It is a front view of a fiber optic cleaver using a sliding bearing elastic blade support slider;

[0035] Figure 2 It is a front view of a fiber optic cutting knife using a sliding bearing elastic blade support slider and an axial cross-section of the optical axis;

[0036] Figure 3 , Figure 4 , is a diagram illustrating the principle of the elastic limiting inclined plane of the blade support;

[0037] Figure 5 It is a diagram illustrating the structure of the hammer;

[0038] Figure 6 It is the structural diagram of the positioning reed;

[0039] Figure 7 It is a diagram showing the installation position and function of the positioning spring or screw;

[0040] Figure numerals: 1. main body component, 11. main body assembly, 12. positioning spring, 13. positioning screw, 14 main body rubber pad, 2. pressing block component, 21. pressing block assembly, 22. hammer, 23. hammer spring, 24. pressing block cover, 25. pressing block rubber pad, 26. hammer right protrusion, 27. hammer left protrusion, 3. slider assembly, 301. slider assembly, 302. shaft sleeve, 303. return spring, 304. optical axis, 305. tool holder, 306. blade, 307. magnet adjustment screw, 308. tool holder magnet, 309. slider magnet, 310. right inclined surface of slider, 311. right inclined surface of tool holder, 312. left inclined surface of slider, 313. left inclined surface of tool holder, 314. right support of slider, 315. left support of slider, 4. optical fiber; DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] Figure 1This is the main view of the optical fiber cutting knife using a sliding bearing elastic blade holder slider; 1. The main body component, in 3. The slider component, a hole is opened along the optical fiber cutting direction to assemble the 3. slider component in the form of a slider bearing; 2. The pressure block component is pivotally mounted on 1. The main body component and can be opened and closed up and down to compress and cut the optical fiber; 12. The positioning spring is installed at the position of 1. The main body component, and its raised side is in contact with the outer side of 3. The slider component on the other side of the installation position, which is used to control the rotational displacement of 3. The slider component during radial movement; 13. The positioning screw is another option to replace 12. The positioning spring has basically the same function and installation position, and the gap is adjusted by rotating the screw instead of the spring.

[0042] Figure 2 The optical fiber cutting knife with sliding bearing elastic blade support slider is a front view and an axial cross-section of the optical axis. Figure 1, 3. Slider assembly, 304. Optical axis, a cross-sectional view in the vertical direction of the axis, further illustrates the operation process of cutting 4. Optical fiber; for the convenience of explanation, this figure hides the main assembly and the pressure block assembly, 304. Optical axis, inserted into the inner hole of 302. Copper sleeve, and there is a certain gap for sliding, 302. Copper sleeve, fixed in the opening of 301. Slider assembly, these structures constitute a sliding bearing; 303. One end of the return spring is tightly attached to one end of 302. Copper sleeve, and the other end is fixed to the hidden main body, and can reciprocate under the action of external thrust and 303. Return spring force along the direction of the horizontal arrow in the figure; when moving to the right, it is pivotally mounted on The 305 tool holder on the slider assembly 301 and the 306 blade fixed in the tool holder 305 move to the right. When the edge of the 306 blade contacts the outer circle of the 4 optical fiber, due to the elastic force formed by the mutual repulsion of the 308 tool holder magnet installed on the left side of the 305 tool holder and the 309 slider magnet installed on the 301 slider assembly, as shown by the vertical arrow in the figure, the 306 blade elastically scratches the 4 optical fiber to form a scratch crack on the 4 optical fiber. At this time, the 4 optical fiber is clamped and fixed by the 25 pressure block rubber pad and the 14 main body rubber pad; the 307 magnet adjustment screw can adjust the distance between the two magnets to change Variable elastic force; 302. Bushing, 303. Return spring, 304. Optical axis, 305. Tool holder, 306. Blade, 307. Magnet adjustment screw, 308. Tool holder magnet, 309. Slider magnet, 301. Slider assembly, constitute 3. Slider assembly; After completing the scratching operation on 4. Optical fiber, 3. Slider assembly, continue to move to the right, release 22. Hammer, under the action of 23. Hammer spring, move downward to act on both sides of the scratched surface of 4. Optical fiber, knock off 4. Optical fiber, form a cutting surface, and complete the cutting (the specific process can refer to the design of patent number 201911401089.3), 24. Block cover, for 23. Hammer The hammer spring provides a fixed space; after the cutting is completed, take out 4. the optical fiber, and under the force of 303. the reset spring, 3. the slider assembly automatically resets to the starting position; as can be seen in the figure, 303. the reset spring, the left side is tightly attached to one end of 302. the copper sleeve, and is coaxial with 302. the copper sleeve and 304. the optical axis, so that the spring force is driven by 302. the copper sleeve to drive 301. the slider assembly to be stressed, instead of being fixed to the side position of the slider and the main body with a tension spring like other existing optical fiber cutting knife products, which causes slight deformation of the structure, especially when using plastic structural parts with poor hardness, avoiding such deformation can ensure the cutting quality, and this design is more valuable.

[0043] Figure 3 , Figure 4, is a diagram illustrating the principle of the elastic limit inclined plane of the blade holder; the patent number is 201911401089.3. The design only limits the height of the elastic support of the 305. knife holder in the horizontal direction, resulting in the 305. knife holder. The horizontal position will deviate at each height reset, and the actual measurement is between 0.2-0.3mm. This has no effect on the optical fiber fusion splicing operation, but it has a certain effect on the optical fiber cold splicing operation: the optical fiber cold splicing has high requirements for the optical fiber cutting length, and generally requires an error within 0.1-0.2mm. Therefore, in order to adapt to the optical fiber cutting application of the optical fiber cold splicer, the original horizontal limit in the horizontal direction is optimized to the inclined plane limit to improve the accuracy of the optical fiber cutting length, specifically: Figure 3 , 305. Tool holder, front view before reset position, it can be seen that 311. Tool holder right bevel, 313. Tool holder left bevel, are two bevels with a certain angle to the vertical direction processed on the structure of 305. Tool holder, and the inclination angle is consistent with 310. Slider right bevel, 312. Slider left bevel; when Figure 4 As shown, under the action of the elastic force direction as shown by the arrow, the right inclined surface of the slider 310, the right inclined surface of the tool holder 311, the left inclined surface of the slider 312, and the left inclined surface of the tool holder 313, the inclined surfaces are fitted together, and the tool holder 305 is stuck upward in the structure, which limits the reset height of the tool holder 305. When the inclined surfaces are fitted together, the horizontal component of force also limits the horizontal position of the tool holder 305, which plays a role in improving the cutting length accuracy.

[0044] Figure 5 This is a diagram illustrating the hammer structure; the existing optical fiber cutting knife uses a circular fixed-height blade, which requires adjusting the height of the circular blade and changing the operating path space of the cutting surface. The spatial position coincides with the position of 26. Hammer right protrusion and 314. Slider right support of this design, so there is a conflict. Therefore, a single-sided support is used in the hammer design, which is equivalent to 22. Hammer canceling 26. Hammer right protrusion and 314. Slider right support. This results in the hammer being subjected to force on only one side during the upward lifting and releasing process of 301, slider assembly. When the gap in the hammer assembly structure is too large, the hammer is easily tilted, causing it to fall and break. The position of the optical fiber process is inaccurate, the force is uneven, and the cutting quality is reduced. As shown in the figure, the design of the 22. hammer is designed with 26. hammer right protrusion and 27. hammer left protrusion, and they are respectively corresponding to 301. slider assembly, 315. slider left support, and 314. slider right support, and are pushed up one by one. The tool holder is located at its midline position. The 22. hammer is subjected to force at its center during the cutting movement, and no offset or distortion occurs, and the internal stress distribution is not affected. The protrusion is released while the optical fiber is broken downward, so that the 22. hammer has a balanced downward stroke and an accurate position, thereby improving the cutting quality.

[0045] Figure 6It is a diagram of the positioning spring structure; in addition to axial movement, the sliding bearing structure also has radial rotational movement. Rotational movement is not good for optical fiber cutting. In severe cases, it will cause the blade and the optical fiber to be unable to contact. Therefore, the rotational movement of the sliding bearing in the optical fiber cutting action must be limited. Japan's Fujikura CT-06 optical fiber cutting knife has this design, but this design is only used in a circular blade structure with a fixed height, and is not used in an elastic blade structure. On the one hand, this design uses this limiting method in the elastic blade structure, and on the other hand, adds a limiting position to make the effect better, as shown in the figure, 12. The positioning spring is "U" shaped as a whole, with a protrusion on one side. The installation position can be referenced Figure 1 and Figure 7 .

[0046] Figure 7 This is a diagram of the installation position and function of the positioning spring or screw; the figure is a bottom-up view, 11. The main assembly passes through the 304. optical axis, and the 3. slider assembly is installed. It can be seen that the 303. reset spring is installed on the outer circle of the 304. optical axis. The 3. slider assembly can reciprocate along the 304. optical axis in the axial direction. This process is accompanied by the 3. slider assembly rotating radially along the 304. optical axis, which will affect the fiber cutting; therefore, in the 11. main assembly, located in the side wall gaps on both sides of the 3. slider assembly, the 12. positioning spring is clamped, and the spring elastic protrusion position is toward 3. Slider assembly, one side; when the sliding bearing moves, friction is generated to limit the radial rotation of the 3. slider assembly; holes can also be drilled and tapped at the same position to install 13. positioning screws. By using 13. positioning screws alone and adjusting the position of the screws, the gap on both sides of the 3. slider assembly can be adjusted, which can also limit the radial rotation of the 3. slider assembly; the 13. positioning screw solution can be used together with the 12. positioning spring, as shown in the figure, the 13. positioning screw can adjust the contact pressure between the 12. positioning spring and the 3. slider assembly by tightening the inner side of the 12. positioning spring to achieve a limiting effect.

Claims

1. An optical fiber cutting knife using a sliding bearing elastic blade support slider is characterized by ； The optical fiber cutting knife using the sliding bearing elastic blade support slider comprises: Slider assembly, main body assembly, pressing block assembly; The slider assembly includes a slider assembly, a shaft sleeve, an optical axis, a return spring, a tool holder, and a blade; The slider assembly has a hole in the optical fiber cutting direction, the sleeve is fixed in the hole, the optical axis is installed in the sleeve, the reset spring is sleeved on the outer circle of the optical axis, the slider assembly hole, the sleeve, the optical axis, and the reset spring are coaxial after installation, and the sleeve drives the slider assembly to reciprocate on the optical axis, compressing and releasing the reset spring during the reciprocating motion; The knife holder is pivotally mounted on the slider assembly in the optical fiber cutting direction. The slider assembly is processed with a limit surface in the optical fiber cutting direction to limit the upward movement of the knife holder. The limit surface has a certain angle with the vertical plane. The tool holder is an elastic structure on the slider assembly, and the tool holder is processed with a surface that fits with the limit surface of the slider assembly. When the tool holder moves upward to limit the position under the action of elastic force, the tool holder fits with the limit surfaces of the slider assembly in pairs, thereby limiting the vertical height of the tool holder and limiting the horizontal position at the same time; The blade is fixed on the blade holder with the cutting edge facing upward, and when the slider assembly moves, the blade scratches the optical fiber; The main body component includes a main body assembly and a positioning spring; The main body assembly is provided with holes in the optical fiber cutting direction for mounting the two ends of the optical axis, and in this way assembling the slider assembly that reciprocates along the optical axis; There are two positioning springs, which are processed with protrusions and are respectively clamped on the two side walls of the main assembly. The protrusions are in contact with the radial side walls of the slider assembly sleeve. The elastic protrusions of the spring provide elastic support force in the radial direction to the sliding bearing structure formed by the slider assembly sleeve optical axis, which reduces the radial rotation of the sliding bearing when moving along the axis, thereby achieving a radial limit effect; The pressing block assembly includes a pressing block assembly, a hammer, and a hammer spring; The pressing block assembly has an opening in the direction of the optical fiber, the hammer is installed in the opening, and the hammer spring is a compression spring, one end of which is fixed and the other end is installed in the hammer, providing elastic force for the hammer in the direction of optical fiber cutting; The hammer has two protrusions processed in the direction of the optical fiber, which fit in pairs with the upward lifting structure of the slider assembly when the slider assembly moves. After the slider assembly scratches the optical fiber, the two protrusions of the hammer are released simultaneously. Under the action of the hammer spring, the hammer knocks down the scratched optical fiber to complete the cutting.

2. According to claim 1, a fiber optic cutting knife using a sliding bearing elastic blade support slider is characterized in that ； The positioning reed includes but is not limited to a reed structure, a screw structure, and a spring structure.

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