JP2000258651A - Method for fixing optical fiber juncture protective sleeve and structure therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To exactly set the position of an optical fiber juncture protective sleeve with simple work and to reduce an occupying volume. SOLUTION: The ends of a pair of optical fibers 1 are connected to each other by fusion splicing, etc. The prescribed range inclusive of the juncture is enclosed by the optical fiber juncture protective sleeve 2. The optical fiber juncture protective sleeve 2 is provided with a reinforcing metallic rod consisting of magnetic material. The reinforcing metallic rod is formed of a sheet 5 of a rectangular shape consisting of magnetic material or the optical fiber juncture protective sleeve 2 is fixed by the magnetic attraction force between itself and the sheet-like magnet of the rectangular shape.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and a structure for fixing a protective sleeve for an optical fiber connection portion, and more particularly, to a protective sleeve for surrounding a connection portion between optical fibers to reinforce the connection portion between predetermined optical fibers. The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for fixing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an optical communication device or the like comprising a plurality of optical components, optical fibers provided in each optical component are fused together in order to optically connect the optical components as constituent elements. The connection is made by connection, and the connection part is accommodated in the housing and fixed. Specifically,
General-purpose heat-shrinkable protective tube (protective sleeve)
And these protective sleeves are fixed to the bottom plate or the like in the housing. As a method for fixing the protective sleeve, there are a method of attaching with an adhesive, an adhesive sheet or the like (see FIG. 8), a method of sandwiching with a sponge as shown in FIG. 9, or a method of fixing with a fixing groove as shown in FIG. And a mechanical fixing method such as pressing down the protective sleeve housed in the fixing groove with a pressing plate.

[0003]

However, when the method of fixing the protective sleeve using an adhesive is adopted, there is a disadvantage that the protective sleeve cannot be replaced, added, rearranged, or the like.

[0004] Further, when the method of fixing the protective sleeve using the adhesive sheet is adopted, the workability of removal is poor, and when the protective sleeve is placed on the adhesive sheet, the position,
If the direction is not carefully adjusted to the desired position, the wrong position, the inconvenience of being fixed in the direction, the position of the protective sleeve due to vibration or the tension of the optical fiber, etc.
If the direction is deviated, it will be fixed in the same position and direction, and if an excessive force is applied to the optical fiber during assembly (especially if an excessive force is applied in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the protective sleeve). In this case, there is a disadvantage that the optical fiber may be broken at the end of the fixed protective sleeve, and another optical fiber may stick to the adhesive surface, resulting in poor workability.

Further, when a mechanical fixing method using a fixing base or the like having a fixing groove is adopted, there is a disadvantage that the optical fiber may be broken due to a tension applied to the optical fiber, and the replacement of the protective sleeve is required. There is a disadvantage that workability deteriorates. In addition, the method for fixing the protective sleeve is not only simple, but also has a disadvantage that the volume occupied by the fixing component is large and the storage density of the protective sleeve fixing portion is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to accurately set the position of an optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve with a simple operation and to reduce the occupied volume. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fixing method and a structure of a fiber connection portion protection sleeve.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of fixing a protective sleeve for an optical fiber connecting portion, wherein a connecting portion between optical fibers is surrounded by a protective sleeve to reinforce the connecting portion, and a predetermined position of the protective sleeve is provided. Is a method of fixing the magnet or the magnetic material provided in the above by a magnetic attraction force to a fixing portion to which the protective sleeve is to be fixed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the connecting portion between the optical fibers is surrounded by a protective sleeve to reinforce the connecting portion, and a magnet or magnetic material is provided at a predetermined position of the protective sleeve. And a magnet or a magnetic body is provided at a fixing portion where the protective sleeve is to be fixed so as to exert a magnetic attraction between the magnet and the magnetic body.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for fixing a protective sleeve for an optical fiber connecting portion, wherein a connecting portion between optical fibers is surrounded by a protective sleeve to reinforce the connecting portion, and a magnet provided at a predetermined position of the protective sleeve. Alternatively, since the magnetic material is fixed by magnetic attraction to the fixing portion where the protective sleeve is to be fixed, it is possible to prevent the drawback fiber from being inadvertently fixed, and to accurately position the protective sleeve. , And the occupied volume can be reduced. Furthermore, even if an abnormal force is applied to the optical fiber during assembly or the like, the protective sleeve is displaced or separated, thereby preventing breakage of the optical fiber. Furthermore, the addition and change of the protective sleeve can be easily achieved, and the density can be increased.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the connecting portion between the optical fibers is surrounded by the protective sleeve to reinforce the connecting portion.
A magnet or a magnetic material is provided at a predetermined position of the protective sleeve, and a magnet or a magnetic material is applied to a fixing portion to which the protective sleeve is to be fixed so as to exert a magnetic attraction between the magnet and the magnetic material. Since it is provided, it is possible to prevent inconvenience that the drawing fiber is erroneously fixed, and it is possible to accurately set the position of the protective sleeve and reduce the occupied volume. Furthermore, even if an abnormal force is applied to the optical fiber during assembly or the like, the protective sleeve is displaced or separated, thereby preventing breakage of the optical fiber.
Furthermore, the addition and the change of the protective sleeve can be easily achieved, and the density can be increased.

[0011]

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of a method for fixing an optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeve according to the present invention;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an optical fiber connecting portion protection sleeve 2. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 1, the ends of a pair of optical fibers 1 are connected by fusion splicing or the like.
A predetermined range including the connection portion is surrounded by a first heat-shrinkable tube (protective tube) 2a. A reinforcing metal bar 3 made of a magnetic material is provided in parallel with the first heat-shrinkable tube 2a, and the first heat-shrinkable tube 2a and the reinforcing metal bar 3 are surrounded by a second heat-shrinkable tube 2b. are doing.

However, the reinforcing metal rod 3 may be made of a permanent magnet.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view schematically showing an embodiment of the fixing structure of the optical fiber connecting portion protection sleeve of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, a rectangular sheet 5 made of a magnetic material or a rectangular sheet magnet is provided at a predetermined position to which the optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeve 2 is to be fixed. However, when the reinforcing metal bar 3 is a magnetic material, a rectangular sheet-shaped magnet is employed. When the reinforcing metal bar 3 is a permanent magnet, a rectangular sheet 5 made of a magnetic material or a rectangular sheet-shaped magnet is used. A sheet magnet is employed.

In the case where the above-described structure for fixing the optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeve is employed, the connecting portion between the pair of optical fibers 1 can be surrounded and reinforced by the optical fiber connecting portion protecting sleeve 2. Then, the rectangular sheet 5 made of the reinforcing metal bar 3 and the magnetic material is formed by a simple method of bringing the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve 2 close to the rectangular sheet 5 made of a magnetic material or the rectangular sheet magnet. The optical fiber connection part protection sleeve 2 can be fixed by magnetic attraction between the five or rectangular sheet magnet.

Further, since the fixing can be achieved only by the magnetic attraction force, when an excessive force acts on the optical fiber 1, the optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeve 2 is displaced, so that the breakage occurs. Can be prevented. Of course, there is no inconvenience of attracting the drawing fiber.

Further, the permanent magnet is elongated, or
By arranging several pieces on a straight line, the fixing direction of the optical fiber connection part protection sleeve 2 can be determined. Of course, in this case, even if the direction shifts due to the external force, the direction returns to the original state when the external force stops.

In addition, high-density mounting becomes possible as compared with the case where a fixed base is used. Of course, addition and change of the optical fiber connection part protection sleeve 2 can be easily achieved.

Furthermore, the self-instruction direction of the heat-shrinkable sleeve can be set according to the direction of the line of magnetic force, and a plurality of heat-shrinkable sleeves can be arranged neatly.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of another embodiment of the fixing structure of the optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeve of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, a pair of circular sheets 5 made of a magnetic material or a circular sheet-like magnet is provided at a distance substantially equal to the length of the optical fiber connection section protection sleeve 2.

Therefore, in this case, the required amount of sheets can be reduced as compared with the case of FIG. 2, and the same operation as that of FIG. 2 can be achieved.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a state in which a plurality of optical fiber connection portion protection sleeves 2 are arranged.

In FIG. 4, a fixing member 6 made of a permanent magnet is employed, and the S pole and the N pole are arranged in a predetermined manner.

In this case, the directions of the optical fiber connection part protection sleeves 2 can be aligned so that the direction of the magnetic field lines of the fixing member 6 and the direction of the optical fiber connection part protection sleeve 2 match.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another example of a state in which a plurality of optical fiber connection portion protection sleeves 2 are arranged. In this case, an optical fiber connecting portion protection sleeve 2 having a permanent magnet is employed.

In FIG. 5, since the magnetic poles of the adjacent optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeves 2 are set to be opposite to each other, the optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeves 2 are attracted to each other by magnetic attraction, and are integrated as a whole. Can be

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing still another example of the arrangement of the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve 2. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 6, a round bar made of a permanent magnet is employed as the fixing member 6, and the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve 2 is disposed on the entire outer surface of the fixing member 6.

Therefore, by selecting the diameter of the fixing member 6, the number of heat-shrinkable sleeves 2 that can be arranged can be increased or decreased.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing still another example of the arrangement of the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve 2. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 7, a plate-shaped fixing member 6 is provided on each of the upper surface of the bottom plate, the inner surface of the side plate, and the lower surface of the upper plate of the housing 7, and an optical fiber connecting portion is connected to each of the fixing members 6. The protective sleeve 2 is fixed by magnetic attraction.

As is clear from this arrangement example, the vertical plane,
The optical fiber connection part protective sleeve 2 can be fixed to an arbitrary surface such as a bottom surface, and the optical fiber connection part protective sleeve 2 can be easily fixed to a deep place, a hidden place, or the like.

In addition, the above-mentioned optical fiber connecting portion protective sleeve 2 and the corresponding optical fibers are integrated into a tape shape such as four cores or eight cores, and this is fixed to a predetermined position of a fixing member by a conventional method. , Such a tape-shaped optical fiber is stiffer, bent,
Because of a large restoring force against torsion, it is difficult to fix the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve at a fixed position and accommodate the optical fiber. However, when any of the above embodiments is adopted, the optical fiber connection part protection sleeve 2 is temporarily fixed by magnetic attraction to prevent the once stored optical fiber connection part protection sleeve 2 from jumping out. Thus, all the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeves 2 and the optical fibers can be stored, and thereafter, final fixing such as pressing and fixing by a pressing plate can be performed.

[0037]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent the drawback fiber from being erroneously fixed, to set the position of the protective sleeve accurately, and to reduce the occupied volume. Can be
Even if an abnormal force is applied to the optical fiber during assembly, etc., the protective sleeve is displaced or separated, preventing breakage of the optical fiber, and easily adding or changing the protective sleeve. And a specific effect that high density can be achieved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent inconvenience that the routing fiber is erroneously fixed, and it is possible to accurately set the position of the protective sleeve.
Moreover, the occupied volume can be reduced, and even if an abnormal force is applied to the optical fiber at the time of assembly or the like, the protective sleeve is displaced or separated, thereby preventing breakage of the optical fiber. It is possible to easily achieve addition and change of the protective sleeve, and it is possible to achieve a high density.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of the structure of an optical fiber connection part protection sleeve.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of one embodiment of the fixing structure of the optical fiber connecting portion protection sleeve of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a main part of another embodiment of the fixing structure of the optical fiber connecting portion protection sleeve of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a state in which a plurality of optical fiber connection portion protection sleeves are arranged.

FIG. 5 is a view showing another example of a state in which a plurality of optical fiber connection portion protection sleeves are arranged.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing still another arrangement example of the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view showing still another arrangement example of the optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve.

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a conventional fixing structure of an optical fiber connecting portion protection sleeve.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view showing another example of a conventional fixing structure of an optical fiber connecting portion protection sleeve.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing still another example of a conventional fixing structure of an optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber 2 Protection sleeve for optical fiber connection part 3 Metal bar for reinforcement 5 Sheet 6 Fixing member

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A connection part between optical fibers (1) is surrounded by a protective sleeve (2) to reinforce the connection part,
An optical fiber connection part wherein a magnet or a magnetic body (3) provided at a predetermined position of the protective sleeve (2) is fixed by magnetic attraction to a fixing portion to which the protective sleeve (2) is to be fixed. How to fix the protective sleeve. 2. A connection portion between optical fibers (1) is reinforced by surrounding the connection portion with a protective sleeve (2), and a magnet or a magnetic material (3) is provided at a predetermined position of the protective sleeve (2). And a magnet or magnetic body (5) (6) for applying a magnetic attractive force between the magnet or the magnetic body (3) to a fixing portion where the protective sleeve (2) is to be fixed. A fixing structure for an optical fiber connection portion protection sleeve, characterized by comprising: