Integrated equipment for processing fiber optic ferrule

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10906152-B2
Application number	US-201815957393-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2018
Priority date	Sep 16, 2015
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

An integrated equipment for processing a plurality of fiber optic ferrules comprises a polishing system, a ferrule cleaning system, a drying system, a wiping system, and a robot system. The polishing system polishes a plurality of front end faces of the plurality of fiber optic ferrules mounted on a carrier. The ferrule cleaning system cleans the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the fiber optic ferrules have been polished. The drying system dries the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules have been cleaned. The wiping system wipes the front end faces of the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules have been dried. The robot system transfers the carrier to the polishing system, the ferrule cleaning system, the drying system, and the wiping system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated equipment for processing a plurality of fiber optic ferrules, comprising:
a polishing system configured to polish a plurality of front end faces of a plurality of fiber optic ferrules mounted on a carrier with a polishing film;
a ferrule cleaning system configured to clean the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the fiber optic ferrules have been polished;
a drying system configured to dry the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules have been cleaned;
a wiping system configured to wipe the front end faces of the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules have been dried;
a robot system configured to transfer the carrier to the polishing system, the ferrule cleaning system, the drying system, and the wiping system; and
a polishing film cleaning system adapted to clean the polishing film after the polishing film has been used, the robot system adapted to transfer the polishing film that has been used from the polishing system to the polishing film cleaning system.

2. The integrated equipment of claim 1 , further comprising a carrier loading system adapted to load and store a plurality of carriers, the robot system adapted to pick up the carrier from the carrier loading system and transfer the carrier to the polishing system.

3. The integrated equipment of claim 2 , wherein the carrier loading system comprises a carrier support table on which the carriers are loaded and stored.

4. The integrated equipment of claim 2 , further comprising a polishing film loading system adapted to load and store a plurality of polishing films, the robot system adapted to pick up one of the plurality of polishing films from the polishing film loading system and transfer the polishing film to the polishing system.

5. The integrated equipment of claim 4 , wherein the carrier loading system, the polishing film loading system, the polishing system, the ferrule cleaning system, the polishing film cleaning system, the drying system, and the wiping system are arranged around the robot system.

6. The integrated equipment of claim 5 , wherein the carrier loading system is positioned near the polishing film loading system, the polishing film loading system is positioned near the wiping system, the wiping system is positioned near the polishing system, the polishing system is positioned near the polishing film cleaning system, the polishing film cleaning system is positioned near the ferrule cleaning system, the ferrule cleaning system is positioned near the drying system, and the drying system is positioned near the carrier loading system.

7. The integrated equipment of claim 6 , wherein the robot system, the carrier loading system, the polishing film loading system, the polishing system, the ferrule cleaning system, the polishing film cleaning system, the drying system, and the wiping system are mounted on a common support base.

8. The integrated equipment of claim 4 , wherein the polishing film loading system comprises a polishing film installation table on which the polishing films are loaded and stored.

9. The integrated equipment of claim 8 , wherein the polishing film installation table is adapted to load and store a plurality of different types of polishing films.

10. The integrated equipment of claim 9 , wherein the polishing film installation table has a plurality of polishing film installation regions each corresponding to one of the plurality of different types of polishing films, a slot is formed in each type of polishing film and a pin is provided on each of the polishing film installation regions, the pin on each of the polishing film installation regions is configured to mate with only the slot of the type of polishing film corresponding to the region.

11. The integrated equipment of claim 10 , wherein the polishing film installation table has a sensor disposed under each of the polishing film installation regions and configured to detect whether the polishing film is installed on the polishing film installation region.

12. The integrated equipment of claim 1 , wherein the ferrule cleaning system comprises:
a ferrule cleaning box in which a cleaning liquid is contained;
a carrier moving and holding device adapted to move the carrier into the ferrule cleaning box and hold the carrier in the ferrule cleaning box; and
an ultrasonic generator mounted in the ferrule cleaning box and adapted to emit an ultrasonic wave into the cleaning liquid to clean the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier immersed in the cleaning liquid of the ferrule cleaning box.

13. The integrated equipment of claim 1 , wherein the polishing film cleaning system comprises:
a polishing film cleaning box;
a polishing film moving and holding unit adapted to move the polishing films into the polishing film cleaning box and hold the polishing films in the polishing film cleaning box;
a cleaning liquid spray head adapted to spray a cleaning liquid to the polishing films held in the polishing film cleaning box; and
a rolling brush unit adapted to brush the polishing films while spraying the cleaning liquid to the polishing films.

14. The integrated equipment of claim 1 , wherein the drying system comprises:
a drying box;
a carrier moving and holding unit adapted to move the carrier into the drying box and hold the carrier in the drying box; and
a high pressure jet device mounted on the drying box and adapted to spray a high pressure gas to the carrier held in the drying box to dry the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier.

15. The integrated equipment of claim 1 , wherein the wiping system comprises:
a support table;
a wiping belt conveying unit adapted to convey a wiping belt onto the support table;
a carrier holding device adapted to hold the carrier;
a carrier pressing device adapted to press the carrier on the support table, so that the front end faces of the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier directly contact the wiping belt on the support table; and
an installation base on which the support table is fixed, the carrier holding device and the carrier pressing device are slidably mounted on the installation base so that the carrier pressed on the support table is movable fore and aft relative to the support table to wipe the front end faces of the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier with the wiping belt.

16. An integrated equipment for processing a plurality of fiber optic ferrules, comprising:
a polishing system configured to polish a plurality of front end faces of a plurality of fiber optic ferrules mounted on a carrier with a polishing film, the polishing system comprises:
a polishing film installation plate on which one of a plurality of polishing films are installed;
a carrier holder adapted to hold the carriers and press the carriers on the polishing film; and
a driving mechanism adapted to drive the polishing film installation plate to move fore and aft relative to the carrier holder, the polishing film installed on the polishing film installation plate is arranged to move fore and aft with the polishing film installation plate to polish the front end faces of the fiber optic ferrules mounted on the carrier;

a ferrule cleaning system configured to clean the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the fiber optic ferrules have been polished;
a drying system configured to dry the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules on the carrier after the carrier and the fiber optic ferrules have been cleaned;
a wiping system co

Assignees

• Tyco Electronics Shanghai Co Ltd
• Te Connectivity Corp
• Innogetic Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Xin Liming
• Hu lvhai
• Liu Yun
• Zhang Dandan
• Lu Roberto Francisco-Yi
• Zhou Lei
• Wong Kok Wai

Classifications

• B08B1/34

  rotating about an axis parallel to the surface · CPC title

• B08B1/32

  using rotary cleaning members · CPC title

• B24B55/02

  Equipment for cooling the grinding surfaces, e.g. devices for feeding coolant (cooling or lubricating during dressing operation B24B53/095; incorporated in grinding wheels B24D) · CPC title

• B24B41/005

  Feeding or manipulating devices specially adapted to grinding machines (feeding, loading or unloading work specially adapted to lapping machines B24B37/345) · CPC title

• B24B19/226 Primary

  of the ends of optical fibres · CPC title