Transport device for porous substrates for optical fibers

Abstract

To provide a conveyance device without damaging a burner in a step of conveying an optical fiber porous preform.SOLUTION: A device for conveying an optical fiber porous preform, capable of extracting the optical fiber porous preform deposited in the horizontal state from the inside of a deposition device includes: a mainframe; a leg provided in the mainframe and including a conveyable mechanism; two arm parts provided in the mainframe; a workpiece support mechanism provided in the tips of the arm parts and including a wire rope; and a winding-up mechanism provided in the mainframe and moving the workpiece support mechanism in the vertical direction by winding up and down the wire rope. The arm part and the workpiece support mechanism hang and support both ends of the optical fiber porous preform from above.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an apparatus for transporting a porous preform for an optical fiber from the inside of a deposition chamber to the outside of the deposition chamber.

Background Art

[0002] Methods known as the VAD, MCVD method, and OVD method are known for porous preforms for optical fibers formed by depositing glass particles.

[0003] A process for obtaining a porous preform for an optical fiber using the OVD method will be described with reference to FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1(a), a seed rod include a part of the core and the clad, with handles 2 welded to both ends thereof, is gripped by a rotary chuck 4 as a target rod 3. Opposite the target rod 3, a burner 6 fixed to a burner base 5 is provided. The burner base 5 is driven left and right along the target rod 3 and back and forth toward the target rod 3. In addition to glass raw materials such as silicon tetrachloride, trichloro(methyl)silane, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, etc., oxygen and hydrogen are supplied to the burner 6, and glass particles are generated by a flame hydrolysis reaction in the flame 7. While generating glass particles with the burner 6, the burner base 5 reciprocates along the target rod 3, so that the clad remaining part of the rotating target rod 3 is deposited as glass particles in layers. Both ends of the deposited glass particles are tightened by side burners 8 and function to prevent cracking during deposition. These series of deposition processes are performed in a deposition chamber 9 called a chamber.

[0004] As shown in FIG. 1(b), the deposited glass particles form a porous preform 10 for an optical fiber. As the outer diameter of the porous preform 10 for an optical fiber increases, the burner base 5 is retracted. After a desired deposition amount is obtained, the supply of the glass raw material and oxygen / hydrogen to the burner 6 is stopped to obtain a desired porous preform for an optical fiber.

[0005] After the deposition is complete, the porous optical fiber substrate needs to be transported from the deposition chamber to the outside. Patent Document 1 proposes a method of transporting the porous optical fiber substrate in which the handle portions at both ends are supported from below by transport arms. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-056024 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0007] At the bottom of the deposition chamber are a burner 6 for depositing glass microparticles and side burners 8 for scorching the glass microparticles at both ends. There is a possibility of damaging these burners when inserting the transport arm from the bottom of the porous substrate for optical fibers.

[0008] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of these problems, and aims to provide a transport device that does not damage the burner during the transport process of porous preforms for optical fibers. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] The present invention solves these problems, and the conveying device for porous optical fiber base material of the present invention is a conveying device for removing porous optical fiber base material that has been piled up horizontally from a pile mounting, and comprises a main frame, legs provided on the main frame and equipped with a carrying mechanism, two arm sections provided on the main frame, a work support mechanism provided at the tip of the arm sections and equipped with a wire rope, and a winding mechanism provided on the main frame that moves the work support mechanism in the vertical direction by winding up and winding down the wire rope, characterized in that the arm sections and the work support mechanism support both ends of the porous optical fiber base material by suspending them from above.

[0010] In this invention, the portability mechanism provided on the legs is preferably a caster. Furthermore, the hoisting mechanism is preferably an electric winch or a manual winch. In addition, the workpiece support mechanism is preferably composed of a wire rope and a hook.

[0011] In the present invention, it is preferable to support both ends of the tapered portion or both ends of the handle portion of the porous base material for optical fibers with a workpiece support mechanism.

[0012] In the present invention, it is preferable that the wire rope passes through at least one pulley connected to a spring before reaching the winding mechanism via the arm portion.

[0013] In the present invention, it is preferable that the wire ropes merge into a single wire rope at the center of the main frame in the left-right direction before reaching the winding mechanism, and that a single wire rope is wound around the winding mechanism. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to the present invention's conveying device for porous optical fiber substrates, it is possible to convey the porous optical fiber substrate from the storage chamber to the outside without damaging the burner. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0015] [Figure 1] This shows a schematic diagram of the manufacturing process for porous optical fiber substrates. [Figure 2] A front view of the conveying device is shown. [Figure 3] A side view of the conveying device is shown. [Figure 4] This shows a front view of the pulley mechanism connected to the spring. [Figure 5] A side view of the pulley mechanism connected to the spring is shown. [Figure 6] This image shows how a porous preform for optical fibers is suspended and supported from above by a transport device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0016] The conveying device for the porous base material for an optical fiber of the present invention has a main frame, legs provided on the main frame and having a transport mechanism, and two arm portions provided on the main frame. The arm portion has a work support mechanism at its tip. The main frame has a hoisting mechanism for moving the work support mechanism in the vertical direction. Then, the arm portion and the work support mechanism support both ends of the porous base material for an optical fiber by suspending them from above.

[0017] The legs are equipped with casters, and it is possible to move the entire conveying device. The main frame is equipped with a hoisting mechanism such as an electric winch or a manual winch, and it is possible to move the work support mechanism at the tip of the arm portion up and down by winding up and down a wire rope. The work support mechanism is composed of a wire rope and a hook. The handle portions at both ends of the porous base material for a fiber may be directly suspended and supported using the hook of this work support mechanism, or a part of the taper at both ends of the porous base material for a fiber may be suspended and supported by using a sling for the hook.

[0018] The wire rope of the work support mechanism passes through at least one pulley connected to a spring before reaching the hoisting mechanism via the arm portion. Thereby, it is possible to absorb sudden impacts during conveyance and prevent the porous base material for an optical fiber from being damaged.

[0019] Also, before the wire rope reaches the hoisting mechanism, it joins a single wire rope at the center in the left - right direction of the main frame, and finally, the wire rope wound around the hoisting mechanism is a single one. That is, by rotating the hoisting mechanism forward or backward, it is possible to move the work support mechanisms on the two arms up and down synchronously.

[0020] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 2 and 3 are schematic views of a transport device 20 for a porous base material 10 for an optical fiber according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a front view of the transport device 20, and is drawn such that the left-right direction in the figure is the left-right direction of the transport device 20. Further, FIG. 3 is a side view of the transport device 20, and is drawn such that the left in the figure is the front of the transport device 20.

[0021] The gantry of the transport device 20 of the present invention is composed of a main frame 21, two leg portions 22 provided on the main frame 21, and two arm portions 24.

[0022] The leg portion 22 has a caster 23 that enables the entire transport device 20 to move. The movement of the entire transport device 20 may be achieved by manually pushing the main frame or by rotating the caster 23 electrically.

[0023] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the main frame 21 is arranged to extend upward from the rear end portion of the leg portion 22. The main frame 21 includes, in addition to the main struts forming the skeleton, beams, braces, etc. that reinforce the strength of the transport device 20. The arm portion 24 is provided so as to project forward and sideward from the upper end portion of the main frame 21. A wire rope 25 and a hook 26 that constitute a work support mechanism 27 hang down from the tip of the arm portion 24. The amount of projection of the arm portion 24 forward and sideward is determined according to the dimensions of the porous base material 10 for an optical fiber to be transported so that the porous base material 10 for an optical fiber suspended by hanging the hook 26 on the handles 2 at both ends does not interfere with the main frame 21 or the manufacturing device.

[0024] A winding-up mechanism 31 is provided on the main frame 21. It is preferable to use a manual winch or an electric winch for the winding-up mechanism 31. By winding up and down the wire rope 25 by this winding-up mechanism 31, the porous base material for an optical fiber suspended from the tip of the arm portion 24 is moved up and down.

[0025] The wire rope 25 reaches the hoisting mechanism 31 via the arm section 24 and the main frame 21. The two wire ropes 25 merge into one at the center of the main frame in the left-right direction by the wire rope fastening section 30. The merged wire rope is then wound onto the hoisting mechanism 31. With this structure, when the hoisting mechanism 31 is rotated forward or backward, the work support mechanisms 27 hanging from the two arm sections 24 can be moved up and down in synchronous motion.

[0026] The wire rope 25 passes through several pulleys 29 before reaching the winding mechanism 31. This changes the direction in which the wire rope 25 passes. In addition, the shock absorption mechanism 28 using the pulleys 29 has the effect of absorbing sudden shocks when the porous base material 10 for optical fibers is transported.

[0027] The shock absorption mechanism 28 will be described in detail using Figures 4 and 5. As shown in Figure 4, the shock absorption mechanism 28 is equipped with three pulleys 29 through which a wire rope 25 passes. One of the three pulleys 29, the central one, is fixed to a displacement base 36 and connected to a spring 34 via the displacement base 36. The remaining two pulleys 29 are fixed to a base 32 on either side of the central one. A nipple 37 is slidably attached to the displacement base 36. A bush 35 is provided in a through hole in the displacement base 36. The nipple 37 passes through this bush 35, and a nut 33 attached to one end of the nipple 37 prevents the displacement base 36 from falling out of the nipple 37. The bush 35 allows the displacement base 36 to slide smoothly upward when a load is applied. The nipple 37 also passes through the inside of the coil spring 34 and is fixed to the base 32 by the nut 33. One end of the spring 34 is attached to the displacement base 36, and the other end is in contact with a nut 33 that secures the nipple 37 to the base 32. When the transport device 20 is subjected to a sudden impact while transporting the porous base material 10 for optical fibers, the spring 34 absorbs the impact by being compressed as shown in Figure 5(b). In this way, the transport device 20 is able to transport the porous base material 10 for optical fibers stably.

[0028] Figure 6 shows the workpiece support mechanism 27 suspending the porous fiber base material 10 for optical fibers from above. In this figure, the handles 2 at both ends of the porous fiber base material 10 are supported. By using a sling on the hook, it is also possible to support a tapered portion.

[0029] As described above, the transport device 20 according to the present invention does not insert a transport arm from the bottom of the porous preform for optical fibers, and supports both ends of the porous preform for optical fibers by suspending it from above with a work support mechanism. Therefore, the porous preform for optical fibers can be transported from the storage chamber to the outside without damaging the burner. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0030] 1 seed stick 2 handles 3 Target rod 4-rotation chuck 5 burner stands 6 burners 7 Flames 8 side burners 9 Deposition chamber 10 Porous substrate for optical fibers 20 Conveying device 21 Mainframe 22 Legs 23 Casters 24 Arm section 25 Wire rope 26 hooks 27 Work support mechanism 28 Shock absorption mechanism 29 Pulley 30 Wire rope fastening section 31 Winding mechanism 32 bases 33 nuts 34 Spring 35 Bush 36 Displacement base 37 Nipple

Claims

1. A transport device for removing porous preform material for optical fibers, which is deposited in a horizontal position, from inside a deposition apparatus, Mainframe and The main frame is provided with legs that have a portability mechanism, The main frame has two arm sections, A workpiece support mechanism provided at the tip of the aforementioned arm portion and equipped with a wire rope, A winding mechanism provided on the main frame moves the workpiece support mechanism vertically by winding up and down the wire rope, Equipped with, A conveying device for porous optical fiber substrates, characterized in that the arm portion and the work support mechanism suspend and support both ends of the porous optical fiber substrate from above.

2. The transport device for porous substrates for optical fibers according to claim 1, wherein the transport mechanism provided on the leg portion is a caster.

3. The conveying device for porous preforms for optical fibers according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the winding mechanism is an electric winch or a manual winch.

4. The conveying device for porous preforms for optical fibers according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the work support mechanism comprises a wire rope and a hook.

5. The conveying device for a porous material for optical fibers according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the workpiece support mechanism supports both ends of the tapered portion or both ends of the handle portion of the porous material for optical fibers.

6. The conveying device for porous substrates for optical fibers according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the wire rope passes through at least one pulley connected to a spring before reaching the winding mechanism via the arm portion.

7. The conveying apparatus for porous preforms for optical fibers according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the wire ropes merge into a single wire rope at the center in the left-right direction of the main frame before reaching the winding mechanism.

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