Optical: systems and elements – Lens – With support
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-02
2003-08-19
Ben, Loha (Department: 2873)
Optical: systems and elements
Lens
With support
C359S819000, C359S885000, C359S892000, C351S163000, C355S034000, C156S064000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06608724
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and method for manufacturing fiber optics components for carrying out optical signal transmission. More particularly, this invention relates to a new and improved automatic dispensing apparatus and method for dispensing high viscosity and high surface tension epoxy resin for enabling a simplified and automated surface mount process in assembling optical components.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The manufacturers of fiber optical components are confronted with a growth limitation due to shortage of optical components. As ever-increased network communications are now carried out over the Internet, a requirement for high bandwidth communications is increasing with an explosive rate. One key development in the wired technology area (as opposed to wireless) to expand bandwidth is the deployment of optical fiber network systems. Optical networking systems are implemented by interconnecting active and passive components to perform important functions of optical signal transmission, reception, amplification, routing, switching, multiplexing, de-multiplexing, etc. One of the critical factors hampering the deployment of optical networking system is the shortage of passive components. An important factor that causes the component shortage is the limited manufacture capacity due to high percentage of manual handling of optical devices, resulting in limited and unpredictable quantity and quality. One can clearly appreciate such difficulties by examining a specific assembly processes in assembling the optical filters onto GRIN lens. The manual processes employed for manufacturing the filter-GRIN lens assembly are particularly difficult since tiny parts are required to be handled by human hands in the assembling processes that require high precision hand-eye coordination under the microscope.
The following descriptions present a general process flow of the conventional method for manufacturing the filter/GRIN lens assembly that involves great amount of manual labors. The process of assembling the filter/GRIN lens assembly begins with a step that the operators use a pair of tweezers to pick up GRIN lens from a vendor's shipping tray and turn the GRIN lens from a horizontal to a vertical orientation. The lens and filter are both solvent cleaned before assembly. The lens is then placed in a freestanding style with bottom wedge angle on the Gel-Pak. The clear deficiency in this procedure is that the lens is not constrained by a fixture so inexperienced operators have constant problem of having to pick up the fallen lens and reposition them in a straight up position. This problem is further compounded by the need that operator is to place the filter onto the unstable GRIN lens since the filter is not constrained by other holding mechanism except very minimal friction between two highly polished optical surfaces. Additionally, there are also problems that these elements may fall or become incorrectly positioned. While operators can manually hold the filter at the seemingly central position with one hand and apply the epoxy with the other. This cumbersome procedure requires great deal of skill carried out by experienced hand/eye coordination under the microscope, which only the veteran operators having such skill can properly handle the assembling process. If the filter position is not maintained during UV epoxy application process, repositioning of the filter causes uneven glue line and spill over on the optical surface, which sometimes result in rework when this unfavorable condition is discovered immediately. A more serious problem happens when the non-uniform glue line and improper sealing conditions are not discovered and the manufacturing processes proceed unchecked thus lead to product failure during reliability testing or failure at the customer's site if the improperly assembled products passes the reliability tests. After UV epoxy dispensing, operators then bring the assembled parts to be UV light cured. Finally, permanent thermal epoxy is applied manually and the finished parts are oven cured in a batch fashion.
Therefore, a need still exists in the art of manufacturing and designing the fiber optic filter/lens assemblies to provide new and automated manufacture equipment and processes to reduce manual labors and to improve product yields and performance reliability. Specifically, novel and improved manufacture equipment provides novel methods of fixing the filter to the GRIN lens for dispensing the ultraviolet glue to the filter/lens interfacing edges. It is further desirable that the novel manufacturing process can consistently provide high precision alignment and high uniformity of UV glue on the filter/lens interfacing edges such that product yield and reliability can be improved.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus and method for manufacturing and assembling a filter/lens assembly by use of an automatic filter/lens assembler to reduce the manual labors. The simplified process can further improves the product quality and reliability such that the aforementioned difficulties and limitations in the prior art can be overcome.
Specifically, it is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic optical filter/lens assembler to automatically handle the manufacturing processes of mounting, epoxy dispensing and curing and thermal epoxy dispensing processes with high precision with minimum human intervention. The filter/lens assembler is provided with an attachment-medium dispensing means for dispensing a plurality of gapped-dots of an attachment-medium on a top surface of the lens. The gapped-dots are dispensed along a peripheral line substantially according to a bottom-surface shape of the filter. A surface-mounting means then mounts the optical filter onto the top surface of the lens for stamping the gapped-dots into a continuous peripheral attachment-seal for attaching the filter to the lens and for sealing a peripheral interface-edge between the filter and the lens.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved method for automatically and reliably assembling high quality filter/lens assembly by minimizing human labors while maintaining precise filter/lens relative position by providing new configuration and methods for carrying out the UV dispensing and curing. New UV dispensing systems are disclosed to dispense the UV epoxy when the filter is pressed onto the lens on all sides of the filter/lens assembly such that the automated process can be carried out without impacting the filter/lens alignment.
Briefly, in a preferred embodiment, the present invention includes a machine for automatically attaching an optical filter to a lens. The machine includes lens table for supporting the lens. The machine further includes an attachment-medium dispensing means for dispensing a plurality of gapped-dots of an attachment-medium on a top surface of the lens along a peripheral line substantially according to a bottom-surface shape of the filter. The machine further includes a surface-mounting means for mounting the optical filter onto the top surface of the lens for stamping the gapped-dots into a continuous peripheral attachment-seal for attaching the filter to the lens and for sealing a peripheral interface-edge between the filter and the lens.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention includes a machine for automatically attaching an optical filter to a lens. The machine includes a lens table for supporting the lens. The machine further includes a pick and place means for picking up and placing the optical filter on the lens for satisfying an alignment requirement. The machine further has an attachment-medium dispensing means for applying an attachment-medium on edge-surfaces surrounding an interface between the lens and the optical filter for securely attaching the filter to the lens. In a preferred embodiment, the machine further has a computerized controller for controlling the machine
Liao Shih-Wei
Liu Kowang
Ben Loha
Oplink Communications Inc.
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