JPH02298903A - Optical fiber fusion splicing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an improvement in an optical fiber fusion splicer that performs fusion splicing by melting optical fibers using discharge heating.

[Conventional technology]

When fusion splicing optical fibers using an optical fiber fusion splicer, it is important to optimize the amount of heating applied to the optical fibers in order to reduce splice loss. Therefore, optical fiber fusion splicers using discharge heating are usually equipped with a function of adjusting the amount of heating by adjusting the discharge current. On the other hand, in a discharge heating type optical fiber fusion splicer, if the discharge current is kept constant, the discharge intensity is proportional to the outside temperature, as shown in FIG. 4, for example. In addition, in this Figure 4, the discharge intensity is defined as 12 bits, which is the discharge intensity obtained with a standard discharge current of 15.6 mA at an outside temperature of 20°C, and when the discharge current is increased or decreased in steps of 0.3 mA at the same outside temperature. The change in discharge intensity is expressed as a 1-bit change. In other words, this figure 4 shows that even if the discharge current is maintained at the standard value, the discharge intensity at -10℃ corresponds to the 9-bit intensity (discharge current 14.7mA) at 20℃, and the discharge intensity at 50℃ It is shown that the discharge intensity at the time corresponds to the intensity of 15 bits at 20°C (discharge current 14°7mA). In the case of such temperature characteristics, if the outside temperature changes while the discharge current is set to the standard discharge current of 20"C, the discharge intensity will change according to the outside temperature, so the temperature characteristics of the connection loss are shown in Figure 5. In Figure 5, when the temperature is below 10°C and above 40°C, the discharge intensity becomes inappropriate and the connection loss becomes so large as to exceed 0.1 dB. When it changes, the discharge current must be adjusted manually.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, there is a problem in that it is extremely inconvenient to manually adjust the discharge current every time the outside temperature changes. This invention provides an improved optical fiber fusion system that automatically sets the optimal discharge current that is uniquely determined according to the outside temperature, and does not impair the manual adjustment function of the discharge current. The purpose is to provide a connecting device.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an optical fiber fusion splicer comprising a discharge electrode, a discharge circuit including a discharge current control circuit, and a manual regulator that generates a manually adjusted discharge current setting signal. , a temperature detector that generates an output according to the outside temperature, and a circuit that generates a discharge current control signal from the detection output from the temperature detector and the above-mentioned setting signal, and supplies this control signal to the above-mentioned discharge current control circuit. It is characterized by having the following.

[For production]

A detection signal corresponding to the outside temperature is obtained from the temperature detector. A discharge current control signal is created using this outside temperature detection signal and the manually adjusted setting signal. This control signal is sent to a discharge current control circuit, and a discharge current corresponding to this control signal is supplied to the discharge electrode. Therefore, the discharge current supplied to the discharge electrode depends on the outside temperature, and even if the outside temperature changes, a constant discharge intensity is always obtained, and connection loss is reduced. The discharge current changes automatically in response to the outside temperature in this way, but it also includes manually adjusted factors. Therefore, if you manually adjust a certain type of optical fiber to the optimal discharge strength at a certain outside temperature, then when the outside temperature changes, the discharge current can be adjusted to correspond to the change in outside temperature. only will be done automatically,
Even if the outside temperature is different, the optimal discharge intensity can be obtained for the type of optical fiber. Further, when the types of optical fibers are different, it is only necessary to manually perform adjustment according to the difference in type, and there is no need for adjustment work to correspond to changes in outside temperature.

【Example】

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, a discharge electrode 1 is connected to a discharge circuit 2 and supplied with a discharge current. This discharge circuit 2 includes a discharge current control circuit 3, and controls the discharge current according to the control voltage Vo. Control voltage Vo is provided by non-inverting amplifier circuit 4. This non-inverting amplifier circuit 4 amplifies the manually set voltage Vi from the manual regulator 5. Manual regulator 5
is composed of a manually adjustable variable resistor 51, and obtains a manually set set voltage (i) by dividing the DC voltage supplied from the power supply circuit and regulated by the constant voltage diode 21. The non-inverting amplifier circuit 4 includes an OP amplifier 41 and resistors 42 and 62 which are feedback resistors connected to the inverting input terminal of the OP amplifier 41.
and a temperature-sensitive resistor 61. The set voltage Vi from the manual regulator 5 is applied to the non-inverting input terminal of the OP amplifier 41. The output voltage ■0 of this non-inverting amplifier circuit 4 is the input voltage V
For i, Vo= (1+ (R1/R2)) Vi
R1=R11+R12 all is the resistance value of the temperature sensitive resistor 61, R12 is the resistance value of the resistor 62, and R2 is the resistance value of the resistor 42. A temperature-sensitive resistor 61 having positive temperature characteristics is used, and as the outside temperature rises, its resistance value R11 increases, the amplification factor of the non-inverting amplifier circuit 4 increases, and the output voltage Vo increases as the temperature rises. I'm trying to get high. Here, the discharge current control circuit 3 applies a control voltage V
A material having a characteristic that the higher o is, the smaller the discharge current is used is used. Further, in this embodiment, an ultra-precision temperature-sensitive resistor having a positive characteristic of about 6000 ppm/'C is used as the temperature-sensitive resistor 61. In this case, as the outside temperature rises, the control voltage Vo increases, and as a result, the discharge current decreases, and by appropriately selecting each resistance value all, R12, and R2, the temperature characteristics of the discharge intensity can be changed as a result. It became as shown in Figure 2. That is, the discharge intensity can be kept constant even if the outside temperature changes. Therefore, the discharge intensity is stable, so
The connection loss is reduced regardless of temperature fluctuations, and the temperature characteristic of the connection loss becomes as shown in FIG. 3, indicating that a low loss connection of 0.1 dB or less can be achieved at any temperature. Therefore, automatic control is performed in which the discharge current is increased when the outside temperature is low and decreased when the outside temperature is high, so that even if the outside temperature changes, the variable resistance of the manual regulator 5 is adjusted accordingly. There is no need to adjust the device 51. Note that if the variable resistor 51 is manually adjusted, the set voltage Vi changes, and therefore the control voltage Vo changes.
The discharge current can be varied independently of automatic control of the discharge current with respect to outside temperature. Therefore, when it is necessary to change the discharge current due to factors other than fluctuations in outside temperature, such as when the type of optical fiber changes, the adjustment can be made manually. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may be modified without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, a circuit that generates a control signal from a setting signal from a manual regulator and a temperature detection signal is the non-inverting amplifier circuit 4 in Figure 1.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any method that generates a signal that is a function of these two signals can be adopted.

【Effect of the invention】

According to the optical fiber fusion splicer of the present invention, since the discharge current is controlled to be optimal according to the outside temperature, stable optical fiber fusion splicing operation can always be performed regardless of fluctuations in the outside temperature. I can do it. Particularly during actual splicing work, when there is a large temperature difference between indoors and outdoors, such as in summer or winter, when fusion splicing must be performed alternately indoors and outdoors, it is possible to proceed without considering the temperature at all. It is useful because it can be done. Furthermore, since manual adjustment can be performed in the same way as in the conventional method, the discharge current can be adjusted based on factors other than the outside temperature.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical fiber fusion splicer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a graph showing the temperature characteristics of discharge intensity in the optical fiber fusion splicer of the same embodiment, and FIG. A graph showing the relationship between outside temperature and splicing loss in the optical fiber fusion splicer of the same embodiment; FIG. 4 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between outside temperature and discharge intensity in the conventional optical fiber fusion splicer; FIG. 5 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between outside temperature and splice loss in a conventional optical fiber fusion splicer. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Discharge electrode, 2... Discharge circuit, 3... Discharge current control circuit, 4... Non-inverting amplifier circuit, et al... Manual regulator, 21... Constant voltage diode, 41... ...OP amplifier, 42.62...Resistor, 51...Variable resistor, 61...Temperature-sensitive resistor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an optical fiber fusion splicer equipped with a discharge electrode, a discharge circuit including a discharge current control circuit, and a manual regulator that generates a manually adjusted discharge current setting signal, the output is adjusted according to the outside temperature. and a circuit that generates a discharge current control signal from the detection output from the temperature detector and the above-mentioned setting signal, and supplies this control signal to the above-mentioned discharge current control circuit. Optical fiber fusion splicer.