JPH0854522A - Single-core optical fiber assembling method and tape forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [PROBLEMS] To provide a device in which single-core optical fiber core wires can be easily aligned in a horizontal row, and an adhesive can be applied without soiling the fingertips to efficiently form a tape. [Structure] When the optical fiber core wires 20 are dropped into the slits 34 of the assembly block 30 one by one in the order of the wire numbers, the optical fiber core wires are aligned in one row. Then, when the collecting block 30 is laid down sideways, the aligned optical fiber core wires 20 are lined up on the main body 52 of the coating block 50. An adhesive is injected into the recess 58, the lid 56 is closed, and the main body 52 and the sponge 60 are closed.
The optical fiber core wire 20 is clamped by and. Then, when the rod 66 is pushed as it is to advance the coating block 50, the adhesive is coated on the optical fiber core wire 20. When the coating block 50 reaches the end 21 of the optical fiber core wire,
Leave it for a while. Then, the optical fiber core wire 20 is continuously tensioned by the frictional force of the sponge 60, and the adhesive is cured in this state.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an assembling method and a tape forming apparatus for assembling single-fiber optical fibers into a tape.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a device shown in FIG. 5 has been announced (1991 IEICE Spring National Convention Proceedings, B-88).
See 4). Reference numeral 10 is an alignment block. A spring 12 is provided at the rear of the upper surface (upward, backward, forward, and lateral, see arrow 11), a fiber guide 14 is provided at the front, and an alignment lid 18 is provided openably and closably on the side. There is. Fiber guide 1
4 can move laterally while being fitted in the groove 16.

Tape formation is performed as follows. The optical fiber core wire 20 is fixed by being sandwiched between the springs 12 in the order of the wire numbers. When the alignment lid 18 is closed and the fiber guide 14 is moved to the center, the optical fiber core wires 20 are aligned in a row in contact with each other. An adhesive is applied to the aligned optical fiber core wires 20. The coating was carried out as follows. That is, a worker holds a paper or the like in his / her hand, attaches an adhesive thereto, wraps the optical fiber core wire 20, and sandwiches it with fingers. After that, the optical fiber core wire 20 is sandwiched by fingers, and while being aligned, the optical fiber core wire 20 is moved forward and applied to the optical fiber core wire 20. After moving to the terminal, hold it while applying tension until the adhesive is cured. The upper lid of the fiber fixing jig previously placed on the fixing jig base 22 is opened, and the aggregate of the optical fiber core wires in which the adhesive is hardened is sandwiched. After that, the tape is removed from the device and the tape formation is completed.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

(1) It takes time and effort to push the optical fiber core wires 20 into the spring 12 one by one. Moreover, there is a risk that the coating of the optical fiber core will be scratched. (2) The adhesive penetrates the paper or the like and sticks to the finger, leaving uncomfortable feeling. Before the next work (removal of the coating of the optical fiber), the work of washing the hands is involved, which increases the work time. (3) Since the adhesive is applied while wrapping the optical fiber core wires 20 with paper or the like and sandwiching them with fingers to align the optical fiber core wires 20, there is no overlap between the optical fiber core wires 20 or unevenness of the adhesive. Occurrence and many work mistakes, it is a very difficult work. (4) After applying the adhesive to the terminal, it is necessary to hold the optical fiber core wire 20 straight while holding the tension until the adhesive is hardened, which is also a troublesome work.

[0005]

As illustrated in FIG. 1 (see arrow 11 for up, down, front and back, and side), an assembly block 30 which is an assembly device of single-core optical fibers.
And the coating block 50 constitute a tape forming device. The assembly block 30 allows its main body 32 to stand up and down on one side as an axis. The main body 32 is provided with a slit 34 having a width that allows only one optical fiber 20 to be inserted therein and having an appropriate depth so as to pass through in the front-rear direction and open to the end face 36. The coating block 50 is composed of a main body 52 having a concave portion 58 on the upper surface, and a lid having a coating member 60 on the lower surface which can be opened and closed. The coating block 50 also enables movement in the front-back direction before or after the position where the slit 34 is present when the collecting block 30 is in the collapsed state.

[0006]

[Work]

(1) The main body 32 of the assembly block 30 can be rotated around one side so as to stand upright or fall sideways. As shown in FIG. 1, the main body 32 is erected by providing a slit 34 having a width that allows only a book and having an appropriate depth so as to pass through in the front-rear direction and open to the end face 36. When the optical fiber core wires 20 are dropped one by one into the optical fiber 34 in consideration of the arrangement order of the optical fiber cores, a predetermined number of optical fiber core wires 20 are naturally gathered in one row vertically and in an aligned state. (2) The coating block 50 is located in front of or behind the position where the slit 34 is present when the collecting block 30 is in a tilted state, and is composed of a main body 52 and a lid 56 that can be opened and closed with respect to the main body 52. Thus, when the lid 56 is opened and the assembly block 30 in which the optical fiber core wires 20 are aligned in the slit 34 is laid down sideways, the aligned optical fiber core wires 20 are placed on the main body 52 of the coating block 50. They appear side by side.

(3) Since the main body 52 of the coating block 50 has the concave portion 58 and the lid 56 has the coating member 60, when the concave portion 58 is filled with the adhesive and the lid 56 is closed, the main body 52 is removed. With the coating member 60, the aligned optical fiber core wires 20 are vertically clamped, and the adhesive penetrates into the coating member 60. (4) By allowing the coating block 50 to move back and forth, if the coating block 50 is moved forward in the state of the above (3), the adhesive is coated on the optical fiber core wire group 20. The coating block 50 is attached to the end 21 of the optical fiber core wire 20.
If the optical fiber core wire 20 is continuously tensioned by the frictional force of the coating member 60, the adhesive is cured in that state.

[0008]

EXAMPLE The example of FIG. 1 will be described. Also in this case, the up, down, front, back, and side are indicated by arrow 11. 30 is a collective block, and its main body 32 is, for example, a square thick plate. A slit 34 is provided in the main body 32 so as to pass in the front-rear direction and open to the end face 36. The lateral width of the slit 34 is so narrow that only one optical fiber core wire 20 (250 μm diameter) can be inserted therein, and the slit 34 has a uniform width or the width is changed as necessary. The depth is such that a certain number of optical fibers 20 can be arranged side by side in consideration of the tape width such as 4, 8 and 12 cores, and there is still some margin. The end face 36 has tapered surfaces on both sides of the entrance of the slit 34 to facilitate insertion of the optical fiber. The assembly block 30 is mounted on the base 42 by means of the support shaft 38 and the shaft 40, and is made foldable so that it can be erected (state of FIG. 1) or can be laid sideways (direction of arrow 44). .

Reference numeral 50 denotes an adhesive application block, which is a main body 52.
And a lid 56 attached to it with a hinge 54 so that it can be opened and closed.
Consists of On the upper surface of the main body 52, a concave portion 58 (bottomed) of a liquid pool of the liquid resin adhesive is provided. For example, the sponge 60 is detachably attached to the lower surface of the lid 56 via the holder 62, or is adhered to the lid 56.

On the other hand, the collective block 30 on the base 42
A groove 64 in the front-rear direction is provided on the side opposite to that, and the square rod 66 is fitted in the groove 64 so as to slide back and forth. In addition, the rod 66 is a guide member 46 that is a bearing.
It is guided in the front-back direction by (Fig. 1 (b)). Then, the coating block 50 is detachably attached to the front end of the rod 66, for example. Further, the application side of the rod 66 is manually operated so that the position of the coating block 50 attached to the tip of the rod 66 is before the position where the slit 34 of the collecting block 30 in the tilted state exists. The position of 50 is moved in the front-back direction to determine the position.

The optical fiber core wire 20 is formed into a tape as follows. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2A which is a plan view thereof, the assembly block 30 is set upright, and the optical fiber core wires 20 are dropped into the slits 34 one by one in the order of the wire numbers, and a row of upper and lower wires is provided. And line up. The optical fiber core wire 20 is projected about 200 mm forward from the slit 34.
This is because it is possible to take out and cut three times in consideration of work mistakes. Then, a packing member such as a plate is inserted into the sliding slit portion 34 so as to prevent the optical fiber core wire from jumping out, and the optical fiber core wire is temporarily fixed, and then the assembly block 30 is moved to the direction indicated by the arrow 44 in FIG. Tilt it to the side and lay it down (Fig. 2 (b)). The optical fiber core wires 20 are mounted on the main body 52 of the coating block 50 while being aligned in one horizontal row.

An adhesive is injected into the recess 58. Then, the lid 56 is closed in the direction of arrow 57 in FIG.
The optical fiber 20 is clamped with the sponge 60 (FIG. 2C). With the optical fiber core wire 20 clamped, the rod 6
6 is pushed forward to advance the coating block 50 (see FIG.
(D)) The adhesive is applied to the optical fiber core wire 20, and the optical fiber core 20 also penetrates into the sponge. The coating block 50 is the terminal 21 of the optical fiber core wire 20.
After that, the application block 50 is stopped at that position for the curing time of the adhesive. Then, since the end is fixed by the coating block, a constant tension is continuously applied to the optical fiber core wire 20 due to the pressing force of the sponge 60 and the flatness as a tape is maintained. The adhesive is hardened to form a flat tape whose front side is straight from the slit 34. Finally, the lid 56 is opened, the optical fiber core wire 20 is taken out from the assembly block 30, and the tape formation is completed. The taped optical fiber core wire is set to the fusion splicer after removing the coating on the tip to make a bare optical fiber.
It is possible to perform fusion splicing of multiple cores at once.

FIG. 3 shows a histogram of the amount of misalignment of the 8-core assembly tape produced by the apparatus of the present invention, in comparison with an 8-core tape produced by batch coating multiple cores. The amount of misalignment has a great effect on splice loss, but there is no significant difference between the 8-core assembly tape and the 8-core tape.

Also, in FIG. 4, the splice loss after fusion splicing of the 8-core assembly tape (however, collective splicing splicing in which the individual V-grooves are not aligned, and the amount of indentation is aligned by the fixed V groove is controlled) is shown. Histograms are shown in comparison with those of 8-core tape. The splice loss was also good, and the result was similar to that of a normal 8-fiber tape.

Although not particularly described, an adhesive tape may be used as another assembling method, instead of fixing the ends of the optical fiber core wires 20 arranged in parallel by the assembling block 30 by applying an adhesive. It can also be fixed and taped.

[0016]

【The invention's effect】

(1) Since it is sufficient to drop the optical fiber core wire into the slit 34, the single-core optical fibers can be easily aligned and assembled. Moreover, since the handling is performed while maintaining the straight state, the possibility of scratching the coating of the optical fiber core wire is reduced. (2) Since the adhesive is applied by the application member, the adhesive is not applied to the fingertip, and there is no need to wash the fingertip. (3) Since the adhesive is applied mechanically, there is no work error such as overlapping of optical fibers or unevenness of the adhesive, and the level of the operator is not affected. (4) The end of the optical fiber can be fixed by the pressing and clamping force of the coating member, and tension can be applied to the optical fiber core after the adhesive is applied until the curing is completed. Therefore, the flatness of the tape can be easily secured. it can. (5) When the multi-fiber fusion splicing is performed after forming the tape, the entire splicing time can be significantly reduced by collectively splicing the assembled pieces rather than the fusion splicing for each individual piece. For example 8
In the case of the mind, the connection time can be shortened to 1/3.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A and 1B relate to an embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1A is an overall perspective view, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view showing the relationship between a rod 66, a guide member 46, and a base 42.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view sequentially showing steps of forming a single-core optical fiber core wire into a tape by the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a histogram of the amount of misalignment of a collective tape formed into a tape by the apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a histogram of connection loss of a collective tape formed into a tape by the device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional technique.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Alignment Block 12 Spring 14 Fiber Guide 16 Groove 18 Alignment Lid 20 Optical Fiber Core 21 Optical Fiber Terminal 22 Fixing Jig Stand 30 Assembly Block 32 Assembly Block Main Body 34 Slit 36 End Face 38 Spindle Base 40 Shaft 42 Base 46 Guide Member 50 Adhesive coating block 52 Coating block main body 54 Hinge number 56 Lid 58 Recessed portion (adhesive pool) 60 Coating member 62 Holder 64 Groove 66 Rod

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. The main body can be erected on one side as an axis and can be laid sideways, and the main body has a lateral width capable of containing only one optical fiber core wire. And using a collective block provided with a slit having an appropriate depth so as to pass through in the front-rear direction and open at the end surface of the main body on the side opposite to the axis, and drop the optical fiber core wire into the slit. A method for assembling a single-core optical fiber, in which the optical fibers are assembled in an aligned state by moving. 2. A main body having a concave portion on the upper surface and a lid having a coating member on the lower surface which can be opened and closed with respect to the main body, and before or after the position where the slit exists when the collective block is in a tilted state, The single-core optical fiber tape forming apparatus using the assembling method according to claim 1, further comprising a coating block that is movable in the front-rear direction.