JP2918031B2 - Optical fiber coating removing apparatus and optical fiber coating removing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber coating removing apparatus and an optical fiber coating removing method for removing a coating portion at an arbitrary position in the longitudinal direction of an optical fiber, and more particularly to an optical fiber covering removing method. And an optical fiber coating removing apparatus and an optical fiber coating removing method suitable for removing an intermediate portion of the coating portion in the above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional optical fiber, a covering portion at an end portion or an intermediate portion in a longitudinal direction is removed to expose an optical fiber. In order to remove the coated portion at the end of the optical fiber, a cut is made in the circumferential direction, and the coated portion is peeled off with a tool so as not to damage the fiber strand.

As shown in FIGS. 4 (A) and 4 (B), in order to remove the covering portion of the intermediate portion of the optical fiber to expose the fiber strand 113, the optical fiber must be located at the intermediate portion in advance. A method is adopted in which cuts are made in the circumferential direction at both ends of the removal range of the covering portion, and the side surface of the removal range portion of the optical fiber 112 is cut in the axial direction by a tool 116 such as a knife-like blade. In this cutting method, the shavings 117 are finally removed by the tool 116.

Further, as another conventional technique, there is a tool 1 such as a knife-like blade such as a hot cutter held in a heated state.
It is well known that the coated portion of the optical fiber 112 is softened or melted by heat to remove the coated portion of the optical fiber 112 (see, for example, JP-A-1-172803).

[0005]

However, in the above-described method for removing the optical fiber coating, since the tool 116 such as a knife-like blade is used, the light is controlled depending on the angle of the tool 116 and the protrusion length of the blade of the tool 116. Fiber 11
The blade may come into contact with the surface of the second fiber strand 113 to damage the fiber strand 113.

Further, since the optical fiber 112 has a small diameter, there is a problem that the optical fiber 112 is broken due to a force applied when the covering portion is removed by the tool 116.

Further, in order to prevent the surface of the fiber strand 113 from being damaged, the blade of the tool 116 is removed away from the fiber strand 113 so that the blade does not contact the surface of the fiber strand 113. There is a problem that a residue of the coated portion sometimes comes out in the removed portion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an optical fiber coating removing apparatus capable of completely removing an arbitrary coating portion in the longitudinal direction of an optical fiber without damaging the optical fiber. It is to provide a method of removing the coating.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided an optical fiber coating removing apparatus for removing a coating portion of an optical fiber, comprising: an installation surface on which the optical fiber is installed; and a predetermined coating portion of the optical fiber. Heating means provided on the installation surface to heat, soften and remove the heating fiber, the heating means has a linear installation groove formed to install the optical fiber at a predetermined position, and the heating means Heated by
Removing the covered portion to remove the softened covered portion
An apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating, comprising a removing means for removing while holding the leaving area, is obtained.

According to the present invention, the removing means is soft.
In the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber
Move to expose the fiber strand of the optical fiber
A tool, wherein the tool removes the coated portion by the length.
Prepare multiple in the removal area to converge to the center in the hand direction
Thus, an apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating is obtained.

Further, according to the present invention, the coated portion to be removed is heated by a heating means to be softened, and thereafter,
The covering portion removed by removing the covering portion by removing the covering portion by gripping the covering portion by the removing means and moving the covering portion in the longitudinal direction, exposing the optical fiber of the optical fiber, and removing the covering portion by the removing means. A method for removing an optical fiber coating, wherein the coating waste is removed from the fiber strand.

[0012]

According to the optical fiber coating removing apparatus and the optical fiber coating removing method of the present invention, the coated portion to be removed is heated to soften the coated portion, and the adhesion between the bare fiber and the coating removed portion. , The coated portion can be peeled off from the fiber without using a knife-shaped blade.

The portion of the coating to be removed is heated by heating means to soften the coating. For this reason, the covering portion can be removed by moving the covering portion to be removed while grasping it with a finger or a tool.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of an optical fiber coating removing apparatus and an optical fiber coating removing method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B show an embodiment of the optical fiber coating removing apparatus according to the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B,
The optical fiber coating removing apparatus has an apparatus main body 11 and a pair of clamp devices 7 provided near the apparatus main body 11. The pair of clamp devices 7 will be described later.

The apparatus main body 11 includes an installation surface 1a on which the optical fiber 12 is installed, and a plate-shaped heating means 1 provided on the installation surface 1a so as to heat and soften and remove a predetermined coating portion of the optical fiber 12. Have.

The heating means 1 has a linear installation groove 3 formed to install the optical fiber 12 at a predetermined position. The heating means 1 in this embodiment includes, for example, an electric heater on a metal plate. The electric heater keeps the metal plate at a set temperature by a temperature controller, and the temperature of the electric heater is displayed by a temperature controller 2 mounted on the front surface of the apparatus main body 11. Since these techniques can adopt a well-known technique, further description will be omitted.

The power supply 5 of the heating means 1 is preferably a general 100 V power supply. The material of the heating means 1 is a metal, but a material that is not easily damaged is desirable.

The apparatus main body 11 is provided with a cover 6 that covers the installation groove 3 together with the installation surface 1a so as to be openable and closable.
The cover 6 has a cover groove 6 a at a position corresponding to the installation groove 3 for holding the optical fiber 12 together with the installation groove 3. Although the material of the lid 6 is metal, it is hardly damaged.
Material is desirable.

A magnetic member 4 is provided on one of the lid 6 and the installation surface 1a for holding the lid 6 on the installation surface 1a while the installation surface 1a is closed by the lid 6 to maintain the closed state. ing. The magnetic member 4 serves to close the lid 6 with a constant force.

The dimensions of the installation groove 3 and the cover groove 6a are designed so as not to apply an unnecessary force to the optical fiber 12. .

A pair of clamp devices 7 for clamping an extended portion of the optical fiber 12 installed in the apparatus main body 11 are installed near the apparatus main body 11. The clamp device 7 is a clamp installation surface 7 on which an extension of the optical fiber 12 is installed.
a. The clamp installation surface 7a is an optical fiber 12
Has a linear clamp installation groove portion 8 formed so as to install the extension portion at a predetermined position.

The clamp device 7 has a clamp lid 1 that covers the clamp installation groove 8 and the clamp installation surface 7a so that it can be opened and closed.
0 is attached. The clamp lid 10 has a clamp lid groove 10a formed at a position corresponding to the clamp groove 8 for holding and holding the optical fiber 12 together with the clamp groove 8.

The clamp lid 10 and the clamp installation surface 7a
A clamp magnetic member 9 is provided on either one of the clamp magnetic members 9 for holding the clamp lid 10 on the clamp mounting surface 7a and holding the clamp lid 10 with the clamp lid 10 closed. The clamp magnetic member 9 serves to close the clamp lid 10 to the clamp device 7 with a constant force.

The magnetic member 4 and the clamp magnetic member 9
In order to efficiently and always keep the heat transfer to the coated portion of the optical fiber 12, it is desirable that the material can be adsorbed by several kilograms. Due to this suction, a constant temperature can always be applied to the coating removal portion of the optical fiber 12.

The coated portion of the optical fiber 12 which has been softened by heating by the heating means 1 is removed by removing means 16a to 16d shown in FIG. Removal means 16a-
Reference numeral 16d denotes a tool for grasping the removal range of the coating portion of the optical fiber 12, moving the coating portion heated and softened by the heating means 1 in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber 12, and exposing the fiber strand 13 of the optical fiber 12. . A plurality of removal means 16a to 16d are provided in the removal range so that the covering portion to be removed is converged to the center in the longitudinal direction.

Next, FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C show an embodiment of a method of removing a coated portion of an optical fiber by employing an optical fiber coating removing apparatus. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

First, referring to FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B, both the lid 6 and the clamp lid 10 are opened with respect to the installation surface 1a and the clamp installation surface 7a. The optical fiber 12 is set in the installation groove portion 3 and the clamp groove portion 8 in a state where the optical fiber 12 is in the position. Thereafter, the lid 6 and the clamp lid 10 are rotated to the installation surface 1a and the clamp installation surface 7a such that the lid groove 6a and the clamp lid groove 10a correspond to the installation groove 3 and the clamp groove 8, respectively. Put on. At this time, by setting the optical fiber 12 in the clamp device 7, the covering portion of the optical fiber 12 to be removed can be easily set in the installation groove 3 of the heating means 1.

As described above, in this state, the optical fiber 12 is held by the apparatus main body 11 and the clamp device 7 with a predetermined force.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
(A), FIG. 3 (B) and FIG. 3 (C) will be described in detail.

First, the optical fiber 12 is set on the heating means 1, the installation groove 3, and the clamp groove 8 of the clamp device 7, and the cover 6 and the clamp cover 10 are closed. The magnetic member 4 of the heating means 1 and the clamp magnetic member 9 of the clamp device 7 always hold down the clamp lid 10 with a constant force. Since the heat applied to the optical fiber 12 is controlled by the temperature controller 2, the temperature of the heat applied to the optical fiber 12 is always constant. Thus,
A certain amount of heat can be applied to the required length L to the intermediate portion of the optical fiber 12 shown in FIG.

The installation groove 3 of the heating means 1 and the clamp groove 8 of the clamp device 7 have such groove dimensions that the optical fiber 12 is slightly deformed when the lid 6 and the clamp lid 10 are closed. I have. The magnetic member 4 and the clamp magnetic member 9 are such that the lid 6 and the clamp lid 10 close at about 1 kilogram. The temperature controller 2 is set to a temperature at which the optical fiber 12 softens.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 3A, the optical fiber 12 is softened by applying heat to the coating portion 14 in the coating removal range indicated by the required length L in the apparatus main body 11, and The adhesion to the strand 13 is weakened.

Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3 (B), tools 16 are provided at both ends of the coating portion 14 which is the softened coating removal area.
The tools 16a to 16d are gripped by the tools 16a to 16d and moved from both ends of the covering portion 14 toward the center indicated by arrows. The softened coating portion 14 is brought closer to the center as shown by the coating residue 15.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 3C, the coating residue 15 is removed from the fiber strand 13 with a solvent such as isopropyl alcohol.

[0036]

As described above with reference to the embodiments, according to the optical fiber coating removing apparatus and the optical fiber coating removing method of the present invention, the predetermined coated portion of the optical fiber to be removed is softened. This makes it possible to easily remove the covering portion.

Further, since the predetermined softened portion of the optical fiber is gripped and removed by the removing means, the coated portion can be removed without damaging the fiber.

[0038] Further, the softened covering part can be removed by moving the removing means, by which is adapted gather the softened coating portion to the central portion, the adhesion between the fiber and the coating portion is weakened Therefore, it is possible to completely remove the residue of the coating portion that adheres to the fiber strand.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a side view showing one of the clamp device and the device main body of the optical fiber coating removing device shown in FIG. 1;
(B) is a left side view of (A).

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of an optical fiber coating removing method employing the optical fiber coating removing apparatus of the present invention,
(A) shows a coating portion to be removed from the optical fiber, and (B)
FIG. 3C is a side view showing a state in which the covering portion is being removed, and FIG. 3C is a side view showing the state after the removal.

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional method of removing an optical fiber coating, and FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view of an optical fiber.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Heating means 2 Temperature controller 3 Installation groove part 4 Magnetic member 5 Power supply 6 Lid 7 Clamping device 8 Clamp groove part 9 Clamp magnetic member 10 Clamp lid 11 Device main body 12 Optical fiber 13 Fiber strand 14 Coated part to be removed 15 Coating waste 116 Tool 117 Shavings

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. An apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating portion for removing a coating portion of an optical fiber, comprising: an installation surface on which the optical fiber is installed; and a heating portion that softens and removes the predetermined coating portion of the optical fiber. and a heating means provided on the installation surface, said heating means has a straight installation grooves formed so as to place the optical fiber at a predetermined position, the heating
Removing the coated part heated and softened by the means
Removal while grasping the removal range of the covered part
An apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating, comprising: 2. An apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating according to claim 1 , wherein said removing means precedes said softened coating portion.
By moving the optical fiber in the longitudinal direction, the optical fiber
An apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating, which is a tool for exposing a fiber strand of a fiber . 3. An apparatus for removing an optical fiber coating according to claim 2, wherein said tool removes said coated portion from said length.
Prepare multiple in the removal area to converge to the center in the hand direction
Apparatus for removing optical fiber coatings, characterized in that Eteiru. 4. An optical fiber for removing a coating portion of an optical fiber.
In the method for removing varnish coating, the coating portion to be removed is
Heating by a heating means to soften, and then removing means
Gripping the covered portion by the longitudinal direction of the covered portion
The covering part to be removed by moving
To expose the fiber strand of the optical fiber,
Remove the coating residue of the coating portion removed by the removing means;
An optical fiber characterized by being removed from the fiber strand.
How to remove the coating. 5. A method for removing an optical fiber coating according to claim 4.
The coating portion by a plurality of said removing means.
To the center in the longitudinal direction, and
Accordingly, the coating residue of the coating portion removed is removed from the fiber.
Removal of optical fiber coating characterized by removing from the strand
How to leave. 6. An optical fiber coating according to claim 4, wherein
In the removing method, the coating residue of the coating portion is
Of removing optical fiber coating characterized by removing
Law.