JP5779940B2 - Apparatus and method for manufacturing optical fiber ribbon - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method of an optical fiber ribbon in a form in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are arranged in parallel and adjacent optical fiber cores are intermittently coupled to each other.

  In an optical fiber ribbon integrated with a plurality of optical fiber cores arranged in a parallel row, it is easy to separate the optical fiber cores into a single core, and the parallel state of the tape core wires is maintained. An optical fiber ribbon that can be maintained and used for multi-fiber batch fusion connection or the like is known. In this optical fiber ribbon, a plurality of optical fibers are arranged in a parallel line, and coupling portions and non-coupling portions are alternately formed in the longitudinal direction, and adjacent optical fiber cores are intermittently connected to each other. Various shapes and manufacturing methods have been proposed.

For example, in Patent Document 1, a bonding portion in which an adhesive resin or a coating resin is applied for a predetermined distance in the longitudinal direction between adjacent optical fiber cores and a non-adhesive resin or a coating resin for a predetermined distance are not applied. A method of manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon in which coupling portions are alternately formed is disclosed.
Further, in Patent Document 2, after UV (ultraviolet curable) resin is applied to the entire length of a plurality of optical fiber cores, UV irradiation is intermittently performed in the longitudinal direction, and a cured portion (non-bonded portion) of the UV resin is obtained. And a method of manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon in which uncured portions (bonded portions) are alternately formed.
In Patent Document 3, a notch is formed in the longitudinal direction of the common coating of the optical fiber ribbon with a rotary cutter having a plurality of blades or an intermittently irradiated laser beam, and a coupling portion and a non-coupling portion are formed. A method of manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon that is formed alternately is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-232297 JP 2010-2743 A Japanese Patent No. 2573632

  As disclosed in Patent Document 1, the method of intermittently applying an adhesive resin or the like between adjacent optical fiber lines has a problem that resin application control is not easy and it is difficult to increase the production line speed. Further, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, the method of intermittently irradiating UV is not easy to control the driving of the light-shielding shutter that forms the uncured portion, and the light-shielded portion is uncured with a target size. Probability is low, and it is also difficult to increase the production line speed. Further, the method using a rotary blade or a laser beam as in Patent Document 3 may damage the optical fiber core wire.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and can increase the production line speed, intermittently and reliably separate the core wires without damaging the optical fiber core wires, and uncoupled from the coupling portion. An object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method of an optical fiber ribbon having alternating portions.

An apparatus and a method for manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon according to the present invention include a plurality of optical fiber cores arranged in a parallel line and integrated between adjacent optical fiber cores by a common coating. An optical fiber ribbon manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method in which an intermittent cut is made in the longitudinal direction by a cutter blade, and an optical fiber core adjacent to a running optical fiber ribbon before the cut is made In the meantime, after the cutter blade is rotated in a circular arc shape into a position in contact with the optical fiber ribbon running from the position away from the optical fiber ribbon running , the cutting blade is cut in the opposite direction to the above rotation. It is characterized by having a cutting mechanism that intermittently cuts in a swing operation that returns to the original position separated from the optical fiber ribbon running by rotation .
The cutter blade has a cross-sectional shape of both blades, and the thickness of the blade portion into which the cutting is made is 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm, and the cutting mechanism includes a plurality according to the number of optical fiber core wires, It is preferable that they are shifted in the production line direction. Further, a twisting mechanism for twisting the optical fiber ribbon may be provided after the cutting mechanism.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it can cut smoothly by putting a cutter blade in the hardened common coating | cover of an optical fiber tape core wire, without giving an impact, and can attain speeding up of a manufacturing line speed. Further, by cutting with a cutter blade, adjacent optical fiber cores can be reliably separated intermittently, and workability can be improved.

It is a figure which shows an example of the optical fiber tape core wire formed by this invention. It is a figure explaining the outline of the cutting by the cutter blade by this invention. It is a figure which shows the other example of the optical fiber tape core wire used for this invention. It is a figure explaining an example of the manufacturing apparatus by this invention. It is a figure which shows the example which provides twist to an optical fiber tape cable core in this invention. It is a figure explaining the example which used the cam mechanism for the cutting mechanism in this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1A to 1C show an example of an optical fiber ribbon manufactured by the manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an optical fiber ribbon (tape core). 2 is an optical fiber core wire, 3 is a common coating, 4 is a cut portion, and 5 is a non-cut portion.

The optical fiber core wire 2 in the present invention is, for example, an optical fiber strand obtained by coating a glass fiber having an outer diameter of 125 μm with a fiber coating having a coating diameter of about 250 μm. A single-core optical fiber including a colored layer on the outer surface of the optical fiber.
Further, the optical fiber ribbon 1 (hereinafter referred to as “tape ribbon”) is a tape formed by arranging three or more fibers of the optical fiber 2 in a parallel line and integrating them with a common coating 3. The common coating 3 refers to a form in which cut portions 4 and non-cut portions 5 having a predetermined length are alternately formed between adjacent optical fiber core wires 2.

  The cut portion 4 inserted into the common coating 3 of the tape core wire 1 is formed so as to penetrate the upper and lower surfaces of the tape core wire. In the portion where the cut is made, adjacent optical fiber core wires are connected to each other. By pulling in a direction separated from each other and pulled away from each other (a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction), a non-bonded portion that can be bent and separated is obtained. On the other hand, in the non-cut portion 5 where no cut is made, adjacent optical fiber cores are integrated with each other by the common coating 3 to form a coupling portion that maintains the tape state.

  The cut portion 4 and the non-cut portion 5 can be formed in various forms (patterns). The example of FIG. 1A is an example in which the adjacent cut portions 4 are formed so as to coincide with each other, and all the optical fiber core wires are connected at intermittent positions where the non-cut portions 5 are orthogonal to the longitudinal direction. ing. The example of FIG. 1B is an example in which the positions of the adjacent cut portions 4 are made different so that the positions of the cut portions one distance away from each other coincide. FIG. 1C shows an example in which the positions of adjacent cut portions 4 are shifted in order.

  Further, the length of the cut portion 4 and the length of the non-cut portion 5 can be arbitrarily set. For example, if importance is attached to the single fiber separation of the optical fiber core wire, the cut length of the cut portion 4 is made longer than that of the non-cut portion 5. If importance is attached to the tape core, the length of the non-cut portion 5 is made longer than the cut portion 4. Further, if the single-core separation property and the unity are balanced, the lengths of the cut portion 4 and the non-cut portion 5 can be made equal.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the cutter blade 6 that forms the incision portion 4. FIG. 2A shows the shape of the cutter blade 6 to be used, and FIGS. FIG. 2 (D) is a diagram for explaining the swing operation of the cutter blade 6.

  In the present invention, as the cutter blade 6 used for cutting, either a double-sided blade or a single-sided blade can be used as shown in FIG. However, each blade preferably has a double-edged shape having blade surfaces 6a on both sides, so that the optical fiber core wire 2 is pushed evenly to the left and right as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C. It is possible to cut smoothly. Further, the thinner the blade portion into which the cut is made, the more the bending stress to the optical fiber can be reduced. However, if the blade portion is too thin, the strength is reduced and it is easily damaged, and the discriminability of the cut portion is deteriorated. Therefore, since the outer diameter of the optical fiber core wire 2 is about 0.25 mm, it is preferable to set it to 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm.

  The cutter blade 6 is cut from the surface of the common coating 3 as shown in FIG. 2 (B), and as shown in FIG. 2 (C), the optical fiber core wire 2 is pushed open to the right and left to open the common coating 3. Open up. Note that the cut-out common coating 3 is preferably maintained in a state of adhering to the outer surface of the optical fiber core 2, and the common coating 3 has a good adhesion to the fiber coating of the optical fiber core wire. It is desirable.

  When the Young's modulus of the fiber coating of the optical fiber core wire 2 is low (soft), the glass fiber inside may be damaged when the cutter blade 6 is inserted, and the Young's modulus is too high (hard). The coating removal operation becomes difficult and the connection operation is significantly deteriorated. Therefore, a tape formed with a Young's modulus of the fiber coating of the optical fiber core wire 2 of about 500 MPa to 800 MPa is preferable. Moreover, it is also preferable to include a lubricant in the fiber coating resin so that when the cutter blade 6 is inserted, the blade slides on the surface of the fiber coating of the optical fiber core 2 and is hardly damaged.

In the present invention, in particular, the cutter blade 6 is characterized in that the tape core wire 1 is cut by an arcuate swing operation S as shown in FIG. Although a specific example in which the swing operation S is performed will be described later, the cutter blade 6 swings from the left side to the right side when the tape core wire 1 travels in the left direction in the drawing. The swing is a position (b) that rotates from a position (a) away from the tape core wire 1 where the cutter blade travels to a position (b) in contact with the tape core wire 1 and further cuts into the tape core wire 1 (c). ) In a circular arc shape and then return to the original position separated from the tape core wire 1 by rotation in the opposite direction, as will be described later .

  The cutting in the swing operation S of the cutter blade 6 reduces the impact at the start of the cutting into the running tape core wire 1 compared to the case where the cutter blade 6 stabs directly into the tape core wire 1 to cut. In addition, it is possible to make a smooth cut. As a result, the positional deviation that occurs when the cutter blade 6 contacts the surface of the tape core wire 1 is reduced, the cutting position of the cutter blade 6 is maintained accurately, and the optical fiber core wire 2 in the common coating is not damaged. A cut can be formed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a tape core wire that can accurately cut the cutter blade 6. A tape core wire 1 a shown in FIG. 3A is an example in which both surfaces of the common coating 3 a are formed into a corrugated shape along the outer surface of the optical fiber core wire 2. A tape core wire 1b shown in FIG. 3B is an example in which one surface of the common coating 3b is corrugated along the outer surface of the optical fiber core wire 2 and the other surface is formed flat.
In the case of these tape cores 1a and 1b, the cutter blade can be positioned by the corrugated trough of the common coating, and the cut portion 4 can be formed with high accuracy.

  Moreover, the tape core wire 1c shown in FIG. 3C is an example in which the common coating 3c is formed so as to be connected by the connecting portion 7 with an interval between the optical fiber core wires 2 interposed therebetween. 3D is formed so that the connecting portion 7 of the common coating 3d in FIG. 3D is flat on one surface side with an interval between the optical fiber cores 2 interposed therebetween. This is an example. In addition, although the space | interval between optical fiber core wires spreads compared with the thing of FIG. 3 (A) (B) by providing the connection part 7, a small diameter (for example, 0.2 mm) is formed in the optical fiber core wire 2. You may make it match | combine using a thing.

  These tape core wires 1c and 1d can be positioned by applying a cutter blade to the connecting portion 7 of the common coatings 3c and 3d. Similarly to the case of FIGS. 4 can be formed with high accuracy. Moreover, since there is some distance between the optical fiber cores, damage to the optical fiber cores is further reduced.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an installation example of a cutting mechanism for cutting a tape core wire. For example, it is assumed that the tape core wire 1 travels from the right direction to the left direction on the paper surface, and a plurality of cutting mechanisms 8a to 8c corresponding to the number of optical fiber core wires with respect to the tape core wire 1 are provided. (In the case of four optical fiber cores, three cutting mechanisms) are prepared. The incision mechanisms 8a to 8c are arranged, for example, by being shifted in the production line direction (longitudinal direction of the tape core wire) between the guide rollers 9a and 9b for guiding the running of the tape core wire 1, and the incision portions are formed by the respective cutting mechanisms. 4 is formed. By controlling the timing at which cutting is performed by the cutting mechanisms 8a to 8c, the form (pattern) of cutting as described with reference to FIG. 1 can be changed.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example in which twisting is applied to the tape core wire 1 at a later stage after the cut portion 4 is inserted into the tape core wire 1. The incision portion 4 that is intermittently inserted by the incision mechanisms 8a to 8c is incompletely incised due to wear of the cutter blade or the like, and is not separated and connected completely in a thin skin shape without penetrating the blade. May be. In such a case, by twisting the tape core wire 1, it is possible to tear and separate the thinned portion. Therefore, after the cut portion 4 is inserted into the tape core wire 1, the twist may be applied using a mechanism that twists the cut portion 4, for example, a mechanism that changes the direction of the guide roller 9 c.

  FIG. 6 shows an example in which the cutter blade described in FIG. 2 is cut into the tape core wire by a swing operation, and is a configuration example using a cam mechanism. For example, the cam mechanism 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 6A. Reference numeral 11 denotes a swing member which is rotatably supported by a support shaft 12. The swing member 11 is provided with a driven roller 13 held by a shaft 14 while the cutter blade 6 described above is attached and fixed by a cutter holding member 17. A cam member 15 is rotationally driven by a cam drive shaft 16. Further, the cam member 15 and the driven roller 13 are urged so as to contact each other by a spring member 18.

  When the cam member 15 is rotated counterclockwise by the cam drive shaft 16, the position of the cam mechanism 10 varies as the driven roller 13 follows the cam surface of the cam member 15. The fluctuation of the driven roller 13 is transmitted to the swing member 11, and the swing member 11 rotates around the support shaft 12 in the counterclockwise direction. By the rotation of the swing member 11, the position of the cutter blade 6 is displaced so as to swing counterclockwise, and is cut in the longitudinal direction of the running tape core wire 1.

  A process of cutting into the tape core wire by the cam mechanism 10 will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 6A, the cutter blade 6 is separated from the traveling tape core wire 1 at the rotational position of the cam member 15, and is not cut into the tape core wire 1 but adjacent to the optical fiber. Between the cords, the state of being coupled to each other is maintained. Next, as shown in FIG. 6 (B), the position of the driven roller 13 fluctuates due to the rotation of the cam member 15, the swing member 11 rotates counterclockwise, and the cutter blade 6 follows the tape core. Swing to a position in contact with the upper surface of line 1.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6C, when the cam member 15 is further rotated, the swing member 11 is further rotated by the driven roller 13, and the cutter blade 6 bites into the tape core wire 1. A cut is made. When a predetermined length of cut is made in the tape core wire 1 by the rotation of the cam member 15, the cutter blade 6 is moved into the tape core wire 1 by the rotational position of the cam member 15 as shown in FIG. From this state, the cutter blade 6 swings to a position where it contacts the upper surface of the tape core wire 1. Next, as the cam member 15 further rotates, as shown in FIG. 6E, the follower roller 13 changes and the swing member 11 rotates counterclockwise from FIG. 6A to FIG. 6C. By rotating in the opposite clockwise direction , the cutter blade 6 is separated from the upper surface of the tape core wire 1 and returns to the state of FIG.

The cutting operation by the cutter blade 6 described above exhibits a swinging behavior with respect to the tape core wire 1 traveling at a predetermined speed, and the impact when the cutter blade makes a cut into the tape core wire 1 is reduced. The cutting into the core can be performed smoothly.
In addition, since the tape core wire taped in advance with a common coating is cut intermittently, no adhesive resin is applied or resin curing treatment is not required by UV irradiation, so the production line speed can be increased. It becomes.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical fiber ribbon (tape core), 2 ... Optical fiber core, 3, 3a-3d ... Common coating, 4 ... Cut part, 5 ... Non-cut part, 6 ... Cutter blade, 7 ... Connection part, 8a to 8c: cutting mechanism, 9a to 9c ... guide roller, 10 ... cam mechanism, 11 ... swing member, 12 ... support shaft, 13 ... driven roller, 14 ... shaft portion, 15 ... cam member, 16 ... cam drive shaft, 17 ... Cutter holding member, 18 ... Spring member.

Claims (5)

Light with intermittent cutting in the longitudinal direction by a cutter blade between adjacent optical fiber cores of optical fiber ribbons in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned in a parallel row and integrated by a common coating An apparatus for manufacturing a fiber ribbon,
Between the optical fiber adjacent the optical fiber ribbon which runs before the cut is placed, the optical fiber ribbon cutter blade is the travel from a position spaced from the optical fiber ribbon to the running In a swinging motion that returns to the original position separated from the traveling optical fiber tape core by rotating in a circular arc shape at a position in contact with the optical fiber, and then rotating in the opposite direction to the rotation. An apparatus for manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon comprising a cutting mechanism for making a cut.   The said cutter blade is the cross-sectional shape of both blades, and the thickness of the blade part which cuts is 0.2 mm-0.5 mm, The manufacturing apparatus of the optical fiber tape core wire of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned.   3. The optical fiber tape core manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the cutting mechanisms are provided according to the number of optical fiber cores, and are shifted in a manufacturing line direction. 4.   The optical fiber tape core wire according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a torsion mechanism that twists the optical fiber tape core wire after the cutting mechanism. manufacturing device. Light with intermittent cutting in the longitudinal direction by a cutter blade between adjacent optical fiber cores of optical fiber ribbons in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned in a parallel row and integrated by a common coating A method for manufacturing a fiber tape core, comprising:
After turning the cutter blade of the cutting mechanism in a circular arc from a position away from the traveling optical fiber ribbon to a position in contact with the traveling optical fiber ribbon, a direction opposite to the rotation is made. Between the adjacent optical fiber cores of the traveling optical fiber ribbon before the incision is made by performing a swing operation to return to the original position separated from the traveling optical fiber ribbon by the rotation of An optical fiber tape core manufacturing method characterized by intermittently cutting.

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