Cleaning system for a polishing film

This application is a continuation of PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2016/055543, filed on Sep. 16, 2016, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Chinese Patent Application No. 201510589656.6, filed on Sep. 16, 2015.

The present invention relates to a cleaning system and, more particularly, to a cleaning system for cleaning a polishing powder dust from a used polishing film.

A fiber optic connector generally comprises a housing and a fiber optic ferrule mounted in the housing. The fiber optic ferrule has a ferrule and an optical fiber inserted into a bore of the ferrule. A front end of the optical fiber protrudes from a front end face of the ferrule by a predetermined distance. The optical fiber is fixed in the bore of the ferrule by an adhesive filled in the bore of the ferrule.

After the optical fiber is fixed in the bore of the ferrule, the front end face of the fiber optic ferrule is processed. The processing of the front end face of the fiber optic ferrule generally includes polishing the front end face of the fiber optic ferrule, cleaning the polished fiber optic ferrule to remove the polishing powder from the fiber optic ferrule, drying the cleaned fiber optic ferrule, and wiping the front end face of the dried fiber optic ferrule to remove dust from the front end face of the fiber optic ferrule.

After a polishing film used to perform the polishing becomes dirty, the polishing film can be cleaned to remove an accumulated polishing powder dust, and can then be reused. The cleaning of the used polishing film is generally performed manually and is therefore inefficient and ineffective, as it is difficult to completely remove the polishing powder dust from the polishing film.

A cleaning system comprises a first cleaning tank, a carrying and moving unit, a first cleaning spray head, and a rolling brush unit. The carrying and moving unit is configured to move a polishing film to be cleaned into the first cleaning tank and hold the polishing film in the first cleaning tank. The first cleaning spray head is configured to spray a cleaning liquid on the polishing film held in the first cleaning tank. The rolling brush unit is configured to brush the polishing film while the first cleaning spray head sprays the cleaning liquid on the polishing film.

The invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying Figures, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cleaning system according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the cleaning system with a rolling brush in a first cleaning tank of the cleaning system; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the cleaning system with the rolling brush in a second cleaning tank of the cleaning system.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter in detail with reference to the attached drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the concept of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

A cleaning system according to an embodiment is shown in FIGS. 1-3 . The cleaning system is adapted to clean off a polishing powder dust from a used polishing film 400 . The cleaning system comprises a first cleaning tank 10 , a carrying and moving unit, a first cleaning spray head 11 , and a rolling brush unit.

The carrying and moving unit is configured to move the used polishing film 400 to be cleaned into the first cleaning tank 10 and hold the polishing film 400 in the first cleaning tank 10 . The first cleaning spray head 11 is configured to spray a cleaning liquid to the polishing film 400 held in the first cleaning tank 10 . The rolling brush unit is configured to brush the polishing film 400 while the first cleaning spray head 11 is spraying the cleaning liquid on the polishing film 400 .

The carrying and moving unit, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , comprises a carrying table 120 adapted to load the polishing film 400 thereon, a lifting mechanism 110 adapted to move the carrying table 120 into the first cleaning tank 10 , and a support frame 100 configured to support the lifting mechanism 110 and the carrying table 120 .

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the carrying and moving unit comprises a sensor 130 adapted to detect both whether the polishing film 400 is placed on the carrying table 120 and to detect a state of the polishing film 400 on the carrying table 120 . The state of the polishing film 400 may include the position and/or the posture of the polishing film 400 on the carrying table 120 .

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the lifting mechanism 110 is mounted on the support frame 100 . The carrying table 120 is mounted on the lifting mechanism 110 and configured to move up and down with the lifting mechanism 110 along a vertical direction. The sensor 130 is mounted on the lifting mechanism 110 . The lifting mechanism 110 comprises an installation frame on which the carrying table 120 and the sensor 130 are mounted and a driver mounted on the support frame 100 and adapted to drive the installation frame to move up and down in the vertical direction. In an exemplary embodiment, the driver of the lifting mechanism 110 is a gas cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder.

The rolling brush unit, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , comprises a rolling brush installation frame 310 , a rolling brush 300 rotatably mounted on the rolling brush installation frame 310 , a rolling brush driver 320 adapted to drive the rolling brush 300 to rotate about its axis, a horizontal moving mechanism configured to move the rolling brush 300 fore and aft in a horizontal direction, a vertical moving mechanism configured to move the rolling brush 300 up and down in the vertical direction, and a main support frame 200 configured to support the rolling brush 300 , the rolling brush driver 320 , the horizontal moving mechanism and the vertical moving mechanism.

The horizontal moving mechanism, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , comprises a horizontal rail 210 mounted on the main support frame 200 , a horizontal moving table 220 slidably mounted on the horizontal rail 210 , and a horizontal moving driver 240 mounted on the main support frame 200 and configured to drive the horizontal moving table 220 to move fore and aft along the horizontal rail 210 . The horizontal moving driver 240 drives the horizontal moving table 220 to move fore and aft along the horizontal rail 210 using a first belt transmission mechanism 241 .

The vertical moving mechanism, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , comprises a vertical moving driver 230 mounted on the horizontal moving table 220 and a vertical connecting shaft 231 connecting the rolling brush installation frame 310 to the vertical moving driver 230 . The vertical moving driver 230 is configured to move fore and aft along the horizontal rail 210 with the horizontal moving table 220 . In an embodiment, the vertical moving driver 230 is a gas cylinder or a hydraulic cylinder. The vertical moving driver 230 may lift up or lower down the rolling brush installation frame 310 in the vertical direction via the vertical connecting shaft 231 .

The rolling brush driver 320 , shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , is configured to drive the rolling brush 300 to rotate about its axis using a second belt transmission mechanism 330 . In an embodiment, the rolling brush driver 320 is a motor. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , two protection plates 340 are provided at a front side and a rear side of the rolling brush 300 in a direction parallel to the horizontal rail 210 , respectively, so as to prevent the cleaning liquid from being splashed outward from the front and rear sides of the rolling brush 300 .

The cleaning system comprises a gas spray head 12 adapted to spray a gas to the cleaned polishing film 400 to dry the polishing film 400 . In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 , the first cleaning spray head 11 and the gas spray head 12 are mounted in the first cleaning tank 10 . A first drain outlet 13 is formed in a bottom of the first cleaning tank 10 , so as to drain waste cleaning liquid out of the first cleaning tank 10 .

The rolling brush 300 , as shown in FIG. 3 , can be cleaned in a second cleaning tank 20 of the cleaning system. A second cleaning spray head 21 is mounted in the second cleaning tank 20 . The horizontal moving mechanism and the vertical moving mechanism cooperate with each other to move the rolling brush 300 to be cleaned, which is used and dirty, into the second cleaning tank 20 . The second cleaning spray head 21 is adapted to spray a cleaning liquid to the rolling brush 300 in the second cleaning tank 20 to clean the rolling brush 300 . A second drain outlet 23 is formed in a bottom of the second cleaning tank 20 to drain waste cleaning liquid out of the second cleaning tank 20 .

A cleaning process of the cleaning system will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1-3 .

A dirty polishing film 400 to be cleaned is first held on the carrying table 120 . Then, the carrying table 120 and the polishing film 400 held on the carrying table 120 are lowered and moved into the first cleaning tank 10 using the lifting mechanism 110 , as shown in FIG. 2 .

The rolling brush 300 is the moved into the first cleaning tank 10 using the horizontal moving mechanism and the vertical moving mechanism. The rolling brush 300 is moved into contact with the polishing film 400 on the carrying table 120 . The first cleaning spray head 11 is opened and the rolling brush driver 320 and the horizontal moving driver 240 are then turned on, driving the rolling brush 300 to rotate about its axis and move fore and aft along a horizontal surface of the polishing film 400 while the first cleaning spray head 11 sprays the cleaning liquid to the polishing film 400 , removing a polishing powder dust from the polishing film 400 .

After the polishing film 400 has been cleaned, the gas spray head 12 is opened to spray the gas to the cleaned polishing film 400 and dry the polishing film 400 .

After the polishing film 400 is dried, the rolling brush 300 is moved into the second cleaning tank 20 using the horizontal moving mechanism and the vertical moving mechanism as shown in FIG. 3 . The carrying table 120 and the cleaned and dried polishing film 400 held on the carrying table 120 are then lifted out of the first cleaning tank 10 using the lifting mechanism 110 . Finally, the second cleaning spray head 21 is opened to spray a cleaning liquid to the rolling brush 300 to be cleaned in the second cleaning tank 20 and clean off the polishing powder dust from the rolling brush 300 .