JPH0365903A - Cutting device for optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the amt. of irregularity in cutting in the case of simultaneous cutting of multiple optical fibers by driving a cutting blade to give initial flaws to the optical fibers by an electric motor, by which the specular surfaces perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical fibers are obtd. with good accuracy. CONSTITUTION:The optical fibers 19 fixed to a fixing jig 17 are spanned on a lower clamping member 20. The cutting blade 22 is driven by the rotation of the electric motor 36 and the initial flaws are given to the surfaces of the optical fibers 19. A 2nd upper case 13 is deflected to further push a cutting head 27 downward to bend the optical fibers downward. The initial flaws given to the optical fibers are, therefore, expanded and the optical fibers are fractured. The fluctuation in the moving speed of the motor at the time of giving of the initial flaws is suppressed in this way and the specular surfaces perpendicular to the optical axis of the cut surfaces are accurately obtd. The amt. of the irregularity in cutting in the case of simultaneous cutting of the multiple optical fibers is decreased.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an optical fiber cutting device used when connecting optical fibers, e.g. j1, al11, etc.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a "stress rupture method" has been used to cut silica-based optical fibers. This stress rupture method involves creating an initial scratch on the surface of an optical fiber using a very hard cutting blade made of cemented carbide or diamond, and then subjecting the optical fiber to bending, pulling, or a combination of these. In this method, the initial flaw is enlarged and the optical fiber is broken by applying stress, thereby obtaining a mirror surface on the broken surface of the optical fiber.

According to this method, a mirror surface can be formed in a short time without polishing the cut surface of the optical fiber with a grindstone, etc., so it can be used for highly reproducible measurements of large numbers of optical fibers at optical cable connection construction sites or in laboratories. It is effective for

As a device for carrying out this stress rupture method, an optical fiber cutting device shown in FIG. 11 is known. In the illustrated cutting device, the optical fiber core 2 from which the coating of the portion to be cut has been removed is fixed to a fixture 3, and this fixture 3 is mounted on the device. By this mounting, the coating is removed and the exposed optical fiber 1 is placed on the clamp table 4. Then, the upper case 6 is closed, and the optical fiber 1 is clamped between the clamp table 4 and the clamper 5.

Thereafter, the operating lever 7 is operated to manually drive the cutting blade 8 in a direction perpendicular to the optical fiber 1, thereby creating an initial scratch on the lower surface of the optical fiber 1. After the initial flaw is made on the optical fiber 1, the cutting head 8 is pressed against the optical fiber 1 from above to apply bending and tensile stress to the optical fiber 1. As a result, the initial flaw is enlarged and the optical fiber 1 is cut.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, since the above-mentioned optical fiber cutting device is a manual device operated by lever operation, when the optical fiber is cut using this device, there is variation in the moving speed of the cutting blade, which causes the cutting blade to be attached to the optical fiber. Variations in the size of initial scratches, etc. become large, and variations in the inclination angle of the cut end faces become large. Furthermore, when cutting multi-core optical fibers at once, there is a problem in that the variation in length of each cut optical fiber (hereinafter referred to as the amount of cutting irregularity) becomes large.

In view of the above-mentioned circumstances, the present invention is capable of accurately obtaining a mirror surface that is substantially perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical fiber as a cut surface of the optical fiber, and eliminates uneven cutting when cutting multi-core optical fibers at once. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical fiber cutting device that can reduce the amount of fiber cut.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the optical fiber cutting device according to the present invention is configured such that the cutting blade that causes initial damage to the optical fiber is driven by an electric motor.

[Effect]

With such a configuration, variations in the moving speed of the cutting blade when making initial scratches on the optical fiber are suppressed.

The optical fiber is disposed on the holding means and held by the holding means, and the cutting blade is driven when the cutting head approaches a predetermined position spaced apart from the optical fiber. Errors in cutting procedures are prevented.

Furthermore, when the optical fiber is taken out from above the holding means,
By returning the cutting blade to the starting position before inflicting the initial scratch on the optical fiber, the cutting blade is prevented from coming into contact with the cut surface of the optical fiber.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 10.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an optical fiber cutting device according to the present invention.

The illustrated optical fiber cutting device generally includes a base 11,
It is composed of a first upper case 12 that is swingably supported on a base 11 by a pivot 14, a second upper case 13 that is similarly swingably supported on the base 11, and the like. . A recess 15 is formed in the upper surface of the base 11, and a fixing jig 17 holding a multi-core optical fiber 16 from which the coating of the portion to be cut has been removed is provided in the recess 15.
is fitted. And this recess 1
When the fixing jig 17 is loaded into the recess 15, the first switch 18 provided in the recess 15 is activated, as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, two lower clamp members 2 are provided on the upper surface of the base 11.
0 is mutually i! II Iul L, is provided,
When the fixing jig 17 to which the optical fiber is fixed is fitted into the recess 15, the optical fiber 1 fixed to the fixing jig 17
9 is placed over two lower clamp members 20. Between the two lower clamp members 20,
A recess 21 is formed, and an arcuate cutting edge 22 is disposed therein. The cutting blade 22 is driven in a direction perpendicular to the optical fiber placed on the lower clamp member 20 by an electric damaging means 23 provided within the base 11 .

On the other hand, a recess 1 formed in the base 11 is provided on the lower surface of the first upper case 12 which is pivotally supported with respect to the base 11.
A jig presser 24 is provided corresponding to the first upper case 12 , and two upper clamp members 25 are provided spaced apart from each other corresponding to the lower clamp member 20 provided on the base 11 . When the fixing jig 17 is swung to cover the base 11, the fixing jig 17 is pressed against the bottom of the recess 15 by the jig holder 24 and is firmly fixed, and the covering is held between the upper and lower clamp members. The removed portion of the optical fiber 19 is sandwiched between the two locations and is firmly held. The upper clamp member 25 and the lower clamp member 20 are made of a flexible material such as rubber, and have smooth and flat surfaces. Furthermore, a U-shaped notch 26 is formed in the first upper case 12 between the upper clamp members 25 .

A cutting head 27 protruding from the second upper case 13 is inserted into the notch 26 . A pad 28 made of a flexible material such as rubber is attached to the tip of the cutting head 27.

As shown in FIG. 3, two second switches are arranged near the pivot portion of the second upper case 13, and these two switches are arranged so that the cutting head 27 is separated from one optical fiber. It is activated when the tip of the cutting head 27 approaches a predetermined position, for example, a position 1+an above the optical fiber 19.

FIG. 4 shows an electric scratching means 23 that uses an electric motor as a drive source to drive the cutting blade 22 to create initial scratches on the optical fiber.

As illustrated, the cutting blade 22 is fixed to a tool rest 30, and a lever 31 is pivotally supported on the side of the tool rest 30 so as to be swingable. The tool rest 30 is supported on the slider rail 32 and is guided by the slider rail 32 to reciprocate on the slider rail 32. The direction of this reciprocating movement is perpendicular to the optical fiber held by the upper and lower clamp members. A fixing pin 33 is fixed to the side of the slider rail 32, and the fixing pin 33 is pushed into a long hole 31a formed in the lever 31 in its longitudinal direction. A cam 35 is arranged below the slider rail 32.
5 is adapted to be driven by an electric motor 36 fixed below the slider rail 32. When the cam 35 rotates, a cam switch 37 provided near the outer periphery of the cam 35 is activated. cam 35
A crank pin 38 that rotates together with the cam 35 is mounted on the end face of the
is erected, and the crank pin 38 is connected to the fixed pin 33.
is inserted into the elongated hole 31a of the lever 31 into which the lever 31 is pushed. Therefore, when the cam 35 is rotationally driven by the electric motor 36, the lever 31 slides in opposition to the fixed pin 33 and swings about the fixed pin 33, and the tool rest 30 moves toward the slider rail 33. It is driven while being guided by.

The operation of the electric motor 36 is controlled by the first switch 18, the two second switches, and the cam switch 37 described above.

Figure 5 shows the electric motor 36 and each switch 18.2, 3
7 is a circuit diagram showing the connection relationship with 7, and shows the initial state of the above-described embodiment device. As can be seen from this figure, the first switch 18 and the cam switch 37 function as changeover switches that switch between the two circuits.

Next, the operation of the above-described embodiment device will be explained in FIGS. 5 and 6.
This will be explained with reference to the drawings and FIG.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart showing how the operation of the electric motor 36 is controlled by the above-described switch, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the process of cutting the optical fiber.

First, the fixing jig 17 holding the optical fiber is attached to the base 1.
1, the first switch 18 is activated and the contact A side is turned on. Then, the first upper case 12 is swung, and one optical fiber is held between the upper and lower clamp members.

Next, when the second upper case 13 is swung relative to the base 11 and the cutting head 27 approaches one optical fiber to a predetermined position (see FIG. 7(a) @), the second switch 2
is activated and turns on.

At this time, the actuator 37a of the cam switch 37 is in contact with the small diameter part of the cam 35, and therefore the cam switch 37 is
It's turned on to the side. Therefore, a closed circuit for supplying electric power to the electric motor 36 is formed, and the electric motor 36 rotates.

This rotation drives the cutting blade 22 and creates an initial scratch on the surface of one optical fiber (Fig. 7(b) and (c)).
reference).

Then, when the cutting blade 22 passes below one optical fiber, the actuator of the cam switch 37 comes into contact with the large diameter portion of the cam 35, and the cam switch 37 is turned on to the D side. As a result, the power supply to the electric motor 36 is cut off, and the electric motor 36 is stopped. Then, the second upper case 13 is bent, and the cutting head 27 is pushed further downward, comes into contact with the optical fiber, and bends the optical fiber downward.

As a result, the initial scratch on the optical fiber is enlarged and the optical fiber is broken (see FIG. 7(d)). After one optical fiber is broken, the second upper case 13 is swung upward and the two second switches are turned off. And the first
The upper case 12 is swung upward, the optical fiber 19 is released from the upper and lower clamp members, and the fixing jig 17 is taken out from the recess 15. As a result, the first switch 18 is turned on to the B side, power is again supplied to the electric motor 36, and the electric motor 36 rotates. This rotation returns the cutting blade 22 to the starting position before making the initial scratch on the optical fiber 19, and the entire apparatus returns to the initial state before the fixing jig 17 is fitted into the recess 15 of the base 11. In this way, by controlling the operation of the electric motor 36, the optical fiber can be cut without making any mistakes in the work procedure, and the cutting blade 22 is kept in position until the cut optical fiber is taken out of the device. Since the cutting blade 22 does not return to the fulcrum position, when the cutting blade 22 returns, the cutting blade does not come into contact with the cut end of the optical fiber and cause damage thereto.

FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the moving speed of the cutting blade and the end face angle of the cut optical fiber. As can be understood from this figure, if the moving speed of the cutting blade is too slow or too fast, the inclination of the cut optical fiber end face with respect to the optical axis increases.

Therefore, it is preferable to drive the cutting blade at a moving speed that reduces the inclination angle of the end face, for example, 5 ml/s.

FIG. 9 shows a comparison between the end face angle of the optical fiber when the fiber is cut using a conventional manual device and the end face angle of the optical fiber when the optical fiber is cut using the embodiment device described above. show. When using the conventional device, the end face angle of the optical fiber varies greatly, and the average value is 0.77 degrees (see figure (a)).
. On the other hand, when the above-mentioned embodiment device is used,
The variation was small, the average value was 0.54 degrees, and the inclination of the cut end surface was small (see Figure (b) @).

FIG. 10 shows as a histogram the results of measuring the amount of cutting irregularities when five-core optical fibers are cut at once using the apparatus of the embodiment described above.

As a result, the maximum amount of cutting irregularity was 28 μm, and the average was 8.
It became 77 μm. When using a conventional manual device, the amount of cutting irregularity was about 35 μm at maximum and about 10 μm on average, but according to the optical fiber cutting device of the present invention,
It can be seen that the amount of uneven cutting has become smaller.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the optical fiber cutting device according to the present invention, the cutting blade is configured to be driven by an electric motor, so that the cutting blade can cause initial damage to the optical fiber. Variations in moving speed when making a scratch are suppressed.Therefore, a mirror surface perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical fiber can be obtained with good viscosity as the cutting surface of the optical fiber, and when cutting multi-core optical fibers at once. The amount of uneven cutting can be reduced.

The optical fiber is disposed on the holding means and held by the holding means, and the cutting blade is driven when the cutting head approaches a predetermined position spaced apart from the optical fiber. Errors in cutting procedures can be prevented.

Furthermore, when the optical fiber is taken out from above the holding means,
By returning the cutting blade to the starting point α before making the initial scratch on the optical fiber, the cutting blade is prevented from coming into contact with the cut surface of the optical fiber, etc., and the end of the optical fiber after cutting is prevented. This can prevent damage to the parts.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an optical fiber cutting device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing the operation of the first switch, and FIG. 3 is a view showing the operation of the second switch. 4 is a perspective view showing the electric injury means, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram for controlling the operation of the electric motor, and FIG. Fig. 7 is a process diagram showing the process of cutting an optical fiber, and Fig. 8 shows the moving speed of the cutting blade and the end face angle of the cut optical fiber. Figure 9 shows the relationship between the end face angle of the optical fiber when the optical fiber is cut using a conventional manual device and the end face angle of the optical fiber when the optical fiber is cut using the embodiment device described above. Figure 10 is a diagram comparing the end face angles, Figure 10 is a histogram showing the results of measuring the amount of cutting irregularities when five-core optical fibers are cut at once using the equipment shown in Figure 1, and Figure 11 is a histogram showing the results of measuring the amount of cutting irregularities when five-core optical fibers are cut at once using the device shown in Figure 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a fiber cutting device. 11...Base, 12...First upper case, 13...
・Second upper case, 16... Optical fiber core wire, 17...
・Fixing jig, 18... First switch, one... Optical fiber, 20... Lower clamp member, 22... Cutting blade,
23... Electric wounding means, 25... Upper clamp member,
27... Cutting head, two... Second switch, 30
...Turret post, 31...Lever 32...Slider rail, 33...Fixed bin, 35...Cam, 36...
...Electric motor, 37...Cam switch, 38...
crank pin. (a) 1st switch operation Fig. 2 8 Electric motor control circuit Fig. 5 (a) (b) 2nd switch operation Fig. 3 2 Electric motor control circuit Fig. 5 ( First: pQ) Timing chart Fig. 6 Sliding sparsity of the cutting blade, cutting nail sa ar, and screw thread with the end bending angle of the optical fiber Fig. 8 (tJ of the optical fiber) Fig. 9 Fig. 11 Equipment for non-uniform optical fiber

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Holding means for holding at least two parts of the optical fiber spaced apart from each other; and a holding means for holding at least two parts of the optical fiber at right angles to the optical fiber using an electric motor as a drive source between the two parts of the optical fiber. an electric wounding means that drives a cutting blade in a direction to cause an initial scratch on the optical fiber; and an electric wound means that is pressed against the optical fiber from the opposite side of the portion where the initial scratch was made, enlarges the initial scratch and cuts the optical fiber. An optical fiber cutting device characterized in that it is equipped with a cutting head. 2. When the optical fiber is placed on the holding means, the optical fiber is held by the holding means, and the cutting head approaches a predetermined position spaced apart from the optical fiber, the cutting blade is driven to cut the light. 2. The optical fiber cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the fiber is initially scratched. 3. The optical fiber cutting device according to claim 2, wherein when the optical fiber is taken out from above the holding means, the cutting blade is returned to a starting position before making an initial scratch on the optical fiber.