Grinding improvement process of bare optical fiber

Abstract

The invention discloses an improved grinding process of a bare optical fiber, which is characterized in that a product with high end face precision can be obtained by only peeling off a small section of coating, then putting the bare optical fiber into a large-size ferrule and carrying out four grinding processes of coarse grinding, medium grinding, fine grinding and polishing, the operation is convenient and simple, the efficiency is high, the equipment cost is low, the product is not easy to break, the material cost is low, and the use requirements are effectively met.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of communications, and particularly relates to an improved process for grinding bare optical fibers with high grinding efficiency, low grinding processing cost, and convenient and simple operation. Background Art

[0002] The end face of the bare optical fiber used in the butterfly laser needs to be angle-ground to meet the usage requirements. At present, the most direct method in the industry is to first strip the optical fiber coating, and then directly use a high-precision laser cutting device for octagonal cutting. However, since this laser cutting device is very expensive, at least more than 600,000 yuan, and some even cost more than one million yuan, and the current market demand for butterfly lasers is not very large, therefore, many enterprises will not consider directly buying laser cutting devices, and most will choose to entrust cutting manufacturers for cutting. However, this also involves the problem of expensive processing costs, which does not fundamentally solve the problem. The industry also has a method of first stripping the coating, and then loading it into a double-fiber capillary or ferrule with an inner diameter of about 0.126 mm and fixing it before grinding. This process is simple and has low requirements for equipment, but the grinding efficiency is low, it is easy to cause breakage of the bare optical fiber, and the yield rate is extremely low, resulting in a large amount of cost waste and unable to effectively meet the production and usage requirements.

[0003] The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an improved process for grinding bare optical fibers with high grinding efficiency, low grinding processing cost, and convenient and simple operation. Summary of the Invention

[0004] To solve the above problems of the prior art such as low grinding efficiency, easy breakage of the bare optical fiber, extremely low yield rate, large cost waste, and inability to effectively meet the production and usage requirements, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0005] The present invention provides an improved grinding process for bare optical fibers, comprising the following steps: S1. Stripping the coating layer. Prepare a bare optical fiber and strip off 3 mm of the coating layer at the front end of the bare optical fiber; S2. Inserting and fixing the ferrule. Directly insert the bare optical fiber stripped in step 1 into a PC ferrule with an inner hole of 0.280 mm, and fix the front end of the ferrule and the end of the metal tail handle with UV glue to avoid loosening and displacement during the grinding process; S3. Fixing with a fixture. Fix the assembled semi-finished product obtained in step 2 with a special fixture. The fixture is designed according to the angle requirements of the product to ensure that the angle of the ground end face is more accurate; S4. Grinding. Start grinding with a special grinding machine. The grinding follows processes such as rough grinding, medium grinding, fine grinding, and polishing. For rough grinding, use 30-μm grinding paper to grind at an angle for 35 seconds. For medium grinding, use 9-μm grinding paper to grind for 40 seconds. For fine grinding, use a 3-μm grinding sheet to smooth the surface for 45 seconds. Finally, use 0.02-μm colloidal silicon for polishing to achieve atomic-level surface finish for 45 seconds; S5. Disassembling and taking out. After grinding, untie the original fixed UV glue and take out the bare optical fiber; S6. End face inspection. Use a special end face inspection instrument to irradiate the end face of the bare optical fiber for inspection; S7. Angle error and fixed point offset inspection. Use a special interferometer to confirm the angle error, vertex offset, etc.; S8. Measuring and marking. If the end face, angle error, and fixed point offset inspection all meet the requirements, according to the actual assembly length requirement of the kovar tube of the product, perform dimensional measurement and make marks; S9. Stripping the coating layer and inspecting the appearance. Use a thermal stripping pliers to strip off the coating layer according to the marked position, and then perform columnar appearance inspection under a two-dimensional or high-power microscope. If there is no problem with the inspection, it can be packaged.

[0006] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: By only stripping a small section of the coating layer and then putting it into a large-sized ferrule and undergoing four grinding processes of rough grinding, medium grinding, fine grinding, and polishing, a product with high end face precision can be obtained. The operation is convenient, simple, and efficient, the equipment cost is low, the product is not easily broken, the material cost is low, and the use requirements are effectively met. Detailed implementation manners

[0007] The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below.

[0008] An improved grinding process for bare optical fibers includes the following steps: S1. Strip the coating. Prepare a bare optical fiber and strip off 3 mm of the coating at the front end of the bare optical fiber; S2. Insert and fix the ferrule. Directly insert the bare optical fiber stripped in step 1 into a PC ferrule with an inner hole of 0.280 mm, and fix the front end of the ferrule and the end of the metal tail handle with UV glue to prevent loosening and displacement during the grinding process; S3. Fix with a fixture. Fix the assembled semi-finished product obtained in step 2 with a special fixture. The fixture is designed according to the angle requirements of the product to ensure that the angle of the grinding end face is more accurate; S4. Grinding. Start grinding with a special grinding machine. The grinding follows processes such as rough grinding, medium grinding, fine grinding, and polishing. For rough grinding, use 30-μm grinding paper to grind at an angle for 35 seconds. For medium grinding, use 9-μm grinding paper to grind for 40 seconds. For fine grinding, use a 3-μm grinding sheet to smooth the surface for 45 seconds. Finally, use 0.02-μm colloidal silicon for polishing to achieve atomic-level smoothness for 45 seconds; S5. Disassemble and take out. After grinding, untie the original fixed UV glue and take out the bare optical fiber; S6. End face inspection. Use a special end face inspection instrument to irradiate the end face of the bare optical fiber for inspection; S7. Angle error and fixed point offset inspection. Use a special interferometer to confirm the angle error, vertex offset, etc.; S8. Measurement and marking. If the end face, angle error, and fixed point offset inspections all meet the requirements, perform dimensional measurement and make marks according to the length requirements of the actual assembly of the kovar tube of the product; S9. Strip the coating and check the appearance. Use a hot stripping pliers to strip off the coating according to the marked position, and then check the appearance of the cylinder under a two-dimensional or high-power microscope. If there is no problem, it can be packaged.

[0009] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows: By only stripping a small section of the coating, putting it into a large-size ferrule, and undergoing four grinding processes of rough grinding, medium grinding, fine grinding, and polishing, a product with high end face accuracy can be obtained. The operation is convenient, simple, and efficient. The equipment cost is low, the product is not easily broken, the material cost is low, and it effectively meets the use requirements.

[0010] The above embodiments do not limit the product form and style of the present invention. Any appropriate changes or modifications made by those of ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present invention pertains shall be regarded as not departing from the patent scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An improved process for grinding a bare optical fiber, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S1. Strip the coating and prepare a bare optical fiber. Strip 3mm of the coating on the front end of the bare optical fiber. ; S2, install the ferrule and fix it. The bare optical fiber stripped in step 1 is directly installed into the PC ferrule with an inner hole of 0.280mm. The front end of the ferrule and the end of the metal tail handle are fixed with UV glue to prevent loosening and displacement during grinding; S3, fix with a fixture. The assembled semi-finished product obtained in step 2 is fixed with a special fixture. The fixture is designed according to the angle requirements of the product to ensure that the angle of the ground end face is more accurate; S4, grinding. Start grinding with a special grinder. The grinding follows the process of coarse grinding, medium grinding, fine grinding, and polishing. Rough grinding uses 30um grinding paper for open angle grinding, and the grinding time is 35 seconds. Medium grinding uses 9um grinding paper for grinding, and the grinding time is 40 seconds. Fine grinding uses 3um grinding sheet to smooth the surface, and the grinding time is 45 seconds. Finally, 0.02um colloidal silica is used for polishing to achieve atomic-level smoothness, and the grinding time is 45 seconds; S5, disassemble and take out. After grinding, the original fixed UV glue is untied and the bare optical fiber is taken out; S6, end face inspection, use a special end inspection instrument to inspect the bare optical fiber end face; S7, angle error and fixed point offset inspection, use a special interferometer to confirm the angle error, vertex offset, etc.; S8. If the measurement marks, end faces, angle errors and fixed-point offset checks meet the requirements, the dimensions shall be measured and marked according to the actual length requirements of the assembled kovable tubes; S9. Strip the coating and inspect the appearance. Use hot stripping pliers to strip the coating according to the marked positions, and then inspect the appearance of the cylinder under a secondary element or high-power microscope. If there are no problems, it can be packaged.