JPH024203A - Cutting device for optical fiber - 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 (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a device for cutting optical fibers in the connection of optical fibers, and in particular to a device for cutting optical fibers in connection of optical fibers. This invention relates to a cutting device that obtains a cut end surface with high precision (small irregularities in cutting, end surfaces at right angles).

(Prior Art) Conventionally, a method called "stress rupture method" has been used to cut optical fibers. In this method, an initial scratch is created on the side surface of the optical fiber using a very hard knife, and then the optical fiber is broken by bending or applying stress such as l and tension. A stapler-like tool is widely used as a simple tool for this purpose.

FIG. 1θ is an explanatory diagram of an example of a conventional optical fiber cutting tool. This tool has a handle (+01) equipped with a scratching blade (+03) at the inner tip, and a pivot (10) attached to the handle (101).
5) and a clamp (104) that can be pressurized by a spring for gripping the tip of the optical fiber.

Figures (A) to (C) are explanatory diagrams of the procedure for cutting an optical fiber using such a cutting tool.

(1) First, an optical fiber (A) is set on a spring plate (102) as shown in a) of the same figure, and its tip is held in place with a clamp (104).

(2) Next, as shown in the same figure (b), lower the handle (+01) and apply a minute initial scratch (A') to the optical fiber (A) using the scratching blade (+03).

■After that, connect the optical fiber (A) and the spring plate (+02
) with your fingers and bend the spring plate (102) downward as shown in the figure, the optical fiber (A) will be cut by the bending stress at the initial flaw part (A'), and the cut end surface (B) will be cut. is obtained.

(Problems to be Solved) However, there are the following problems in cutting an optical fiber using the above-mentioned cutting tool.

■Since the optical fiber is set on a spring plate that bends easily, the optical fiber moves easily when applying the initial scratch.
As a result, the scar becomes too thick.

■If the initial scratch is larger than necessary, the optical fiber will not be cut mirror-like or will be cut diagonally.

■If the initial flaw is large, the cutting position will not be constant, and in the case of multi-core optical fibers, if the cutting position is not constant, uneven cutting will occur and the connection quality in subsequent processes will deteriorate.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides uniform and stable initial flaws, especially for high-precision cutting of multi-core optical fibers, based on the principle of stress rupture method. The present invention provides a cutting device equipped with a cutting mechanism, and its features include a clamp mechanism that can be opened and closed to grip the optical fiber, and a wand-like structure that holds the optical fiber in the air to cause initial damage to the optical fiber. A scratching blade that imparts damage, a slide mechanism that linearly drives the scratching blade in a direction perpendicular to the optical fiber axis, a vertical fine movement mechanism for the scratching blade mounted on the slide mechanism, a pillow that cuts the optical fiber by bending it 51 times, and a pillow. An ink lock that prevents the pillow from lowering except at a specified position to prevent the fiber from coming into contact with the damaging blade, and an optical fiber clamp that moves in conjunction with the lowering of the pillow to prevent the two opposing end faces from touching after cutting the optical fiber. There is a lever on the side of the machine that looks like it will open.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the optical fiber cutting device of the present invention, and Figure (A) is an external view with the optical fiber clamp arm and pillow arm closed; It is an external view of the state.

In the drawing, (1) is the cutting device base, (2) is the clamp arm, (3) is the pillow arm, and the clamp arm (2) is the pillow arm.
) and the pillow arm (3) are provided so as to be openable and closable with respect to the base (1).

The base (1) of the cutting device includes lower clamp members (4b) on both sides of the scratching blade (5) that gives an initial scratch to the optical fiber and its slide mechanism (8), and the scratching blade (
5) and its slide machine +M (G), the positioning groove (8) of the fixing jig that grips and fixes the optical fiber, the magnet (9) that sucks and fixes the clamp arm (1), and the discharge of cut optical fiber waste. ) are provided at the relevant positions shown in FIG. 1(o).

The clamp arm (2) also has the lower clamp member (
An upper clamp member (4a) is provided at a position corresponding to 4b), and a fixing jig holding member (1 (1)) for fixing the fixing jig is provided at a corresponding position on the positioning groove (8) of the fixing jig. The pillow arm (3) is equipped with a pillow (3) that bends and cuts the optical fiber.
7) is provided.

Figure 2 (A) is an explanatory diagram of the positional relationship between the optical fiber (A) and the damaging blade (5), and shows the positional relationship between the optical fiber (A) and the scratching blade (5).
A scratching blade (5) is located in a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the optical fiber (A), and the upper end of this scratching blade (5) is above the lower surface of the optical fiber (A). A) is cut, and an initial flaw (B) is created on the lower surface of the optical fiber (A) as shown in FIG. 2 (B).

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the initial scratches on the optical fiber and the movement of the pillow before and after cutting after the initial scratches are made.

The optical fiber (A) is attached to the upper and lower clamp members (4a) (4b).
), the optical fiber (A) is held securely in the air in a horizontal state, and after an initial scratch is given to its lower surface by the scratching blade (5), the pillow (7) is lowered to apply bending stress to the optical fiber (A). to cut the optical fiber (A). (Exit in the same figure) At this time, the clamp member (4aH4b) is very accurately attached to the optical fiber (A
) to prevent the generation of torsional stress and the optical fiber coming out. This was investigated in Figure 4, where cemented carbide was used as the material for the scratching blade, and (a) shows the relationship between the depth of cut (X) and the initial scratch depth (d), and (b) shows the relationship between the depth of cut (X) and the depth of the initial scratch (d). The relationship between X) and irregularity L%ff1 (Q), (c) the relationship between the initial flaw depth (d) and the cut end surface, and (c) the relationship between the depth of cut (X)
The relationship between and end face angle (θ) is shown as 0.

In addition, (e) is the depth of cut (X), and (e) is the initial scratch depth (
d), ()) are the amount of irregularity (Q), (a) is the cut end surface, (
2) are explanatory diagrams of the end face angle (θ).

When combining the relationship diagrams in (a) to (a) above, in order to obtain a good cut end surface, it is necessary to create an initial flaw of approximately 5 to 50 Gμm, and for that purpose, the depth of cut must be 20 to 50 Gμm.
Must be in μm.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the fixing of the damaging blade (5) and the sliding mechanism (8).

Figure (A) is a structural diagram of the sliding portion of the damaging blade, and Figure (B) is a view taken in the direction of the >l-X+ arrow in Figure (A). The upper and lower blocks (at
) is rotatably provided to adjust the blade pressure, and its rotation center (B8), the fixing hole (5a) of the damaging blade (5), the fine adjustment screw (65), and the fixing screw (64) are connected to this They are provided in the upper and lower blocks (81) of the scratching blade (5) in this order. Further, the slide base (62) has a linear guide (G
3) It is installed on the top and performs linear drive. Note that a pillow (7) lowering stopper (67), which will be described later, is provided on the side surface of the slide base (82).

The fine adjustment screw (65) is formed with a thread with an extremely fine pitch, for example, the pitch of the fine adjustment screw is set to 0.3.
5 ■■, If the distance between the rotation center and the blade fixing hole and the distance between the blade fixing hole and the fine adjustment screw is 1 pair, then the damage to the blade (5) will be 0 with one rotation of the fine adjustment screw (65). You will have to climb 175m. Therefore, to obtain the aforementioned 20-50 μm depth of cut, 0.11 to 0.23 rotations, or 40@ to 100
The rotation angle is @, and can be fully adjusted manually.

Figure (c) shows the positional relationship between the optical fiber (A) held by the damaging blade (5) installed in the slide mechanism (6) and the clamps (4a) and (4b). (5
) is moved linearly in the direction of the arrow by the slide mechanism (6), and the point! ! In the process of reaching position a (5'), an initial flaw is given to the optical fiber (A).

In the same figure), the mechanism in figure (A) has a slight hole, and the damaged blade (
5) can be rotated around its center hole, and the scratching blade is rotated little by little during one reciprocation of the sliding movement, so that different parts of the scratching blade are always in contact with the optical fiber. It is a view taken along arrow I2-I2 in the figure. As shown in the figure, a gear A (G8) is provided concentrically with the rotation center (B6) of the blade pressure in the above figure (A), and is connected to the rotation axis (5b) of the damaging blade (5). The provided gear B (69) is connected by a timing belt (7 (1)), and the hook for gear rotation (71
) and gear A (68) to rotate the wounding blade (5).

Figure (F) is an explanatory diagram of a method of fixing the damaging blade (5), and Figure (G) is a plan view of the damaging blade (5). The damaging blade (5) has a center hole (51) and a plurality of holes (52) on a certain circumference.
) are provided, and the above two types of holes (51) (52)
Screws or pins (53) (54) with tapered tips
) and secure it to the upper and lower blocks of the damage blade. The advantages of this are: ■ The injury blade (5) can be rotated by simply loosening the screw or pin a little, and ■ The injury blade (5) can be replaced without completely removing the screw or pin. It is a certain thing. Furthermore, the positioning of the inflicting blade can be easily performed.

Figure 6 shows the clamp arm (2) and clamp member (4a)
(4b) and a positional relationship diagram of holding the optical fiber (A).

FIG. 5(A) is a vertical cross-sectional view perpendicular to the optical fiber axis at fA position. Center of rotation of clamp arm (2) (4I)
The optical fiber gripping surface (42) of the clamping member and the upper surface of the stopper (3I) incorporating the magnet (3) are formed on the same plane, making it easy to adjust the clamping force as described below.

The same figure ("J") is an explanatory view of adjusting the clamping force, in which a gap plate (44) is inserted between the clamp arm (2) and the upper clamp member (4a), and the clamp member (4a) ( 4
By raising and lowering b), vertical adjustment is possible. Figure f9 shows the relationship between the thickness of the gap plate (44) and the gripping pressure. Since the gripping pressure is uniquely determined by the thickness of the gap plate (44), the gripping pressure can be easily adjusted. It shows that.

) is a comparative example, and has a structure in which the clamp members (4a) and (4b) can be adjusted in the vertical direction using set screws (45), but due to zero-point contact, it becomes difficult to fix each time the clamp is repeated. There are drawbacks such as instability, and (1) the reference surface is perpendicular to the clamping surface, requiring high machining accuracy of the parts. Therefore, the structure shown in figure (b) is more difficult to shift;
Since only the flat surface needs to be processed, it has excellent long-term reliability.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the interlocking operation in which the lever (12) rotates as the pillow (7) descends, and the clamp arm (2) opens.

As shown in the same figure (A), when the pillow (7) is lowered, the pin (3I) provided on the pillow arm (3) is pushed off the lever (12).
) and push down the pin (122) at the negative end of lever 02.
) raise the other end. (See the opening in the same figure) As a result, the clamp arm (2), which was attracted by the magnet, is pushed up by the pin (123) at the other end of the lever lever (12).
It opens upwards around the shaft (21) and reaches a position where the magnet does not work (opening in the figure). At this time, the fixing jig holding jig (1G) provided on the clamp arm (2) pushes up the clamp arm (2) by the action of the spring, so the clamp arm (2) is below the position that balances this pushing up force. does not fall (Figure C). Note that (13) in the figure indicates a well-known optical fiber fixing jig.

In addition, in order to prevent the pillow (7) from coming into contact with the damaging blade (5), an interlock plate (
I4) is provided.

Figure 8 shows how to discharge the cutting waste (A') of the optical fiber.
- In the explanatory diagram of (II), in a multi-core optical fiber, cutting waste (A') is generated for the number of fibers, so it is discharged all at once, improving work efficiency.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of another example of fixing means for the damaging blade (5),
Figure (a) is a front view of the damaging blade (5), and in addition to the same figure (li is a cross-sectional view of I3-I3 in Figure 5), as shown in Figure 9, Separately from the hole, a V-groove (53) is formed at least on one side of the injury blade (5) as a rotary indexer, and a screw or pin (54) with a V-shaped tip is inserted into the groove (53).
) may be pressed and fixed to the damage blade block.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, according to the cutting device of the present invention, not only multi-core optical fibers but also single-core optical fibers can be cut with high precision, and optical fibers can be connected with low loss. Not only is this possible, but high reproducibility can be maintained even in optical fiber measurements, resulting in highly efficient work.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of the optical fiber cutting device of the present invention; Fig. 1 (a) is an external view of the prone state with the clamp arm and pillow arm closed, and Fig. 1 (b) is an external view of the prone state with both arms open. FIG. Figure 2 (a) is an explanatory diagram of the positional relationship between the optical fiber and the scratching blade. figure("
J) is an explanatory diagram of the movement of the pillow before and after cutting. Figure 4 shows the relationship between the depth of cut and the depth of the initial flaw (A), the relationship between the depth of cut and the amount of irregularity (O), the relationship between the cut end surface and the depth of the initial flaw (C), and the relationship between the depth of cut and the r1 plane angle. (E) is the depth of cut, (F) is the depth of the initial scratch, (G) is the amount of irregularity, (N) is the cut end surface, and (S) is the end angle. . Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram of the damaging blade and slide mechanism;
Figure (b) is a structural diagram of the damaging blade and the slide part, Figure (b) is a view taken along the L-X + arrow in Figure (a), Figure (c) is a diagram of the positional relationship between the damaging blade and the optical fiber, (see the same figure) are explanatory diagrams of other structural examples of the vertical mechanism of the damaging blade;
The same figure (f) is an explanatory diagram of the fixing method of the inflicting blade.
(g) is a front view of the damaging blade shown in (f). Figure 6 is a diagram showing the relationship between the clamp arm, the clamp member, and the gripping position of the optical fiber. An explanatory diagram, (c) is a diagram showing the relationship between the thickness of the gap plate and the gripping force, and (c) is an explanatory diagram of a comparative example. FIGS. 7(A) to 7(C) are explanatory diagrams of the interlocking operation in which the lever lever rotates and the clamp arm opens due to the effect of the pillow, and FIGS. 7(A) and (E) are explanatory diagrams of the interlock. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a lever for discharging cut debris from an optical fiber. Figure 9 is another explanatory diagram of the fixing structure for rotation indexing of the scratching blade, the same figure (A) is a front view of the scratching blade, and the same figure (B).
is a sectional view taken along line Xa-Xa in FIG. Figure 10 is a side view of a conventional cutting tool, Figure 1 (A) ~
(C) is an explanatory diagram of the cutting procedure using the tool. A...Optical fiber, 1...VI mounting base, 2...Clamp arm, 3...
...Pillow arm, 4as4b...Clamp member, 5...
・Injury blade, 6...Slide mechanism, 7...Pillow, 8...
・Fixing jig positioning groove, 9... magnet), 10...
・Fixing jig holding member, ■...dust ejection lever, 12.
...Pry lever, +3...Optical fiber fixing jig, 14
...Interlock, 44...Gap plate, 51...
Damage rotation center hole, 52... Damage blade circumferential hole, 53...V
Groove, 6 t...Scarring blade upper and lower block, 82...Slide base, 83...Linear guide, G4...Scarring blade fixing screw, 65...Scarring blade fine adjustment screw, 6 t... ·Rotation center. Arithmetic +rjf! 4

Claims (9)

[Claims] (1) A clamp mechanism that can be opened and closed to grip the optical fiber;
A scratching blade that applies an initial scratch to the optical fiber while the optical fiber is held in the air by a clamp mechanism, a slide mechanism that drives the scratching blade linearly in a direction perpendicular to the optical fiber axis,
A vertical fine movement mechanism for the scratching blade mounted on the slide mechanism, a pillow that bends and cuts the optical fiber, and an interlock and optical fiber that prevent the pillow from coming down except in the specified position to prevent the pillow from coming into contact with the scratching blade. An apparatus for cutting an optical fiber, comprising a lever mechanism that opens a clamp of the optical fiber in conjunction with the lowering of the pillow so that the two opposing end surfaces do not come into contact with each other after cutting. (2) A rotation center of a clamp mechanism that can be opened and closed to grip an optical fiber, and a clamp surface that directly grips an optical fiber;
Claim (1) characterized in that the stoppers that define the closed position of the clamp mechanism are provided on the same horizontal plane.
The optical fiber cutting device described. (3) The vertical fine movement rotation center of the damaging blade, the fixed center of the damaging blade, the vertical fine adjustment screw of the damaging blade, and the vertical fine movement fixing screw are arranged in this order, and once the fine movement fixing screw is loosened. 2. The optical fiber cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the fine adjustment screw is rotated to raise and lower the scratching blade, and the fine adjustment fixing screw is then tightened. (4) The wound blade has a circular shape, and a fixing hole is provided in the center, and the blade is fixed to the upper and lower blocks by tightening a screw with a tapered tip to this hole. The optical fiber cutting device according to claim (1). (5) Separately from the fixing hole, the scratching blade has multiple rotation indexing holes on a fixed radius, and the screws with tapered tips are tightened to these holes to block the top and bottom of the scratching blade. 5. The optical fiber cutting device according to claim 4, wherein the optical fiber cutting device is fixed to. (6) Separately from the fixing hole, the blade has a V groove formed on at least one side for rotation indexing, and a screw or pin with a V-shaped tip is pressed against the groove to inflict damage. Claim (4) characterized in that it is fixed to a blade block.
The optical fiber cutting device described. (7) Equipped with a fixture positioning groove that easily guides the fixture that grips and fixes the end of the optical fiber to a specified position, and a fixture presser that presses down the top cover of the fixture to cut the optical fiber. 2. The optical fiber cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber is securely held until the optical fiber is cut, and when the optical fiber is cut, the optical fiber clamping mechanism is opened using the force of pressing the top cover. (8) The optical fiber cutting device according to claim (1), wherein the damaging blade rotates slightly every reciprocation in conjunction with a sliding mechanism of the damaging blade. (9) Claim (1) characterized in that a scrap discharge lever is attached to discharge the debris after cutting the optical fiber to the outside of the device.
) The optical fiber cutting device described in ).