JP2001108836A - Coated optical fiber jacket remover - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the structure of a coated optical fiber jacket remover which can remove jackets many times by fast raising the temperature while using an internal battery as a power source for heating with heater. SOLUTION: This coated optical fiber jacket remover 1 clamps the end part of a single-core coated optical fiber or a coated optical fiber 14 composed of more than one optical fiber and coated with ultraviolet-ray setting resin, etc., and extracts the jacket of the end part of the coated optical fiber core 14 while heating it with a heater. A foil type heater is used as the heater stored in the heater storage part of a remover main body 3, a heater protection plate 8 is provided above the foil type heater, and projection parts 15 whose height is larger than the thickness of the coated optical fiber having its jacket removed by being mounted on the surface of the heater protection plate are provided on both the flanks of the heater storage part, and the internal power source for the foil type heater is stored in the remover main body 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber stripping apparatus for removing an end of an optical fiber coated with a single-core or multi-core ultraviolet curable resin while heating the coating. It is.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an optical fiber is connected, it is necessary to remove the coating of the optical fiber before the connection of the optical fiber.

[0003] Therefore, an optical fiber core stripper 40 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is generally used.

[0004] The optical fiber stripping apparatus 40 comprises a stripper body 4 having a heater 42 surrounded by a metal plate 41.
3 and two rods 4 provided on the remover body 43.
4 comprises an optical fiber holder fixing portion 45 slidably provided.

[0005] The remover main body 43 is provided with an optical fiber pressing cover 46 at the upper portion thereof so as to be freely opened and closed, and a heater confirmation lamp 47.

Further, blades 48, 48 are provided on the upper end surface of the remover main body 43 and the lower end surface of the optical fiber pressing cover 46, respectively.
Each is provided.

On the other hand, the optical fiber holder fixing portion 45 also has
An optical fiber pressing cover 49 is provided on the upper part thereof so as to be freely opened and closed.

On the upper surface of the optical fiber holder fixing portion 45, an optical fiber holder 51 sandwiching the optical fiber core wire 50 is provided.
Is set in the optical fiber holder fixing portion 45.

The optical fiber stripping apparatus 40 heats the heater 42 with an external power supply using a DC 12V power supply cord 53.

At the time of the coating removing operation, first, the removing device body 4
In a state where the optical fiber holder 3 and the optical fiber holder fixing portion 45 are brought close to each other and connected, the optical fiber holder 51 sandwiching the tape optical fiber core 50 is placed on the mounting portion 52 and set on the optical fiber holder fixing portion 45.

Then, after confirming that the portion 50A to be covered is placed on the metal plate 41 immediately above the heater 42, the optical fiber pressing lid 46 and the optical fiber pressing lid 49 are closed from above.

At this time, only the coating is cut by the two blades 48 leaving the optical fiber.

Next, when the terminal portion 54 of the DC 12V power supply cord 53 is inserted into the coating remover 40, the heater 42
Is heated and begins to rise in temperature, and is stabilized at a certain temperature by the balance between the amount of heat generated by the heater 42 and the amount of heat radiated from the metal plate 41 immediately above the heater 42.

Thus, the portion 50A whose coating is to be removed is removed.
Is heated by the heater 42 and softened.

When the heater 42 reaches a preset optimum temperature for coating removal, a heater confirmation lamp 47 is turned on.

After confirming this, if the optical fiber holder fixing portion 45 is moved in a direction away from the remover main body 43, the coating is extracted by the two blades 48, and the coating of the optical fiber core 50 is removed. .

[0017]

However, the conventional single-core optical fiber core strip or tape optical fiber core stripper 40 supplies heater heating power from outside.

For this purpose, the optical fiber core stripper 4
When using 0, there is a problem that a power supply must be prepared.

Further, the presence of the DC 12 V power supply cord 53 for supplying the heater heating power to the coating removing apparatus causes the following problem.

There is a problem that the operation of removing the sheath of the optical fiber core can be executed only within the length of the DC12V power supply cord 53 from the power supply unit.
There are also problems such as the dropping of the coating remover from the workbench caused by putting the foot on the V power supply cord 53 and breakage of other articles due to the contact of the DC12V power supply cord 53 with other articles.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and uses a built-in battery as a power supply for heating a heater.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a structure of an optical fiber coating stripper capable of rapidly increasing the temperature and removing the coating many times.

[0022]

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides an optical fiber core coated with a single-core optical fiber core or an ultraviolet-curing resin comprising a plurality of cores. In an optical fiber stripping apparatus, a wire end is sandwiched by a remover body having a heater and a coating of the end of the optical fiber is removed while heating with a heater.
A heater in the form of a foil is used as the heater to be housed in the heater housing of the remover body, and a heater protection plate is provided on the top of the foil heater, and placed on both sides of the heater housing on the surface of the heater protection plate. An optical fiber sheath remover in which a protruding portion is provided so as to be higher than the thickness of the optical fiber to be covered and removed, and an internal power supply of the foil heater is accommodated in the remover body.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the optical fiber stripping apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein a concave portion is formed at the temperature detecting portion of the foil-shaped heater, and the temperature-sensitive element thermistor is attached to the concave portion.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, as the internal power supply, 1.
The light according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4 to 8 2-1.5 volt batteries are incorporated in the remover body, and the foil heater has a resistance of 6 to 12 ohms. It is a fiber core stripper.

With the above arrangement, the optical fiber stripping apparatus of the present invention is troublesome because of the trouble of preparing a heater heating power source and the cord for supplying the power to the optical fiber stripping apparatus as in the conventional art. The use of a built-in battery as a power source for heating a heater enables the use of a foil heater to achieve a high-speed temperature rise and an optical fiber core stripper that can be stripped many times. .

[0026]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 to 3 show an optical fiber stripping apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an optical fiber stripping apparatus 1, and FIG. FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the optical fiber core heating unit, and FIG. 3 is a wiring connection diagram thereof.

As shown in FIG. 1, an optical fiber core coating remover 1 of the present invention comprises a remover main body 3 incorporating an optical fiber core heating section 2 having a built-in foil heater, and a remover main body. An optical fiber holder fixing portion 5 slidably provided on two rods 4 provided on 3.

First, the configuration of the optical fiber core heating unit 2 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 2, the optical fiber core wire heating section 2 includes a foil heater 6 provided in a heater accommodating section 9, a temperature sensing element thermistor 7 for detecting the temperature thereof, and these foil heaters. 6 and a thermistor 7 are covered by a heater protection plate 8 from above and are housed in a heater housing 9.

The foil-shaped heater 6 minimizes the heat capacity of the heater itself to save power and increase the temperature, and the temperature detecting portion is formed in a concave shape. It is provided along 10 and assembled.

The foil heater 6 has, for example, 6 to 12
It is preferable to use one having an ohmic resistance.

The heater protection plate 8 is formed in a flat plate having a tip bent at a right angle. The heater protection plate 8 covers the foil-like heater 6 and the thermistor 7 firmly from above so that the heater protection plate 8 can be housed in the heater housing 9. .

It is preferable to use, for example, stainless steel having a high thermal conductivity as the heater protection plate 8, and use a heater protection plate which is as thin as possible, has a heater protection strength, and does not deteriorate even when a sudden temperature change occurs. Is preferred.

The heater housing 9 has a side surface 11 and
The heater housing 9 includes a bottom plate portion 12 and a heater mounting surface 13 which is an upper surface thereof. It is preferable to use a heat insulating material having a low thermal conductivity such as bakelite.

A rectangular parallelepiped for preventing the tape optical fiber core 14 from being displaced so as to be higher than the thickness of the tape optical fiber core 14 to be covered and removed by being placed on the surface of the heater protection plate 8 is provided on the side surface part 11. Four projections 15 are provided.

The bottom plate portion 12 is formed in a concave plate shape.
When incorporated in the remover main body 3, a convex portion 16 is provided on a part of the bottom plate portion 12 so as to be fitted with the remover main body 3, and a step 17 is provided at a tip end thereof.

The heater mounting surface 13 is formed in a rectangular plane, and a part thereof is a U-shaped surface 18.

On the U-shaped surface 18, the concave portion 10, which is the temperature detecting portion of the foil heater 6, is located.

As shown in FIG. 1, the optical fiber core heating section 2 having the above-described configuration is provided with the coating removal target mounting section 19 of the remover body 3 so that only the four projections 15 are exposed.
Incorporated in

A power supply section 21 for accommodating 4 to 8 1.2-1.5 volt batteries is formed as an internal power supply behind the remover main body 3 and a heater is supplied to the power supply section 21. A confirmation lamp 20 is provided.

On the other hand, an optical fiber holding lid 22 is mounted on the upper part of the mounting section 19 to be opened and closed, and a switch is provided on the upper surface of the mounting section 19 by opening and closing the optical fiber holding lid 22. Is provided with a heater energizing switch 23 which turns ON and OFF.

Further, a blade 24 is provided on the upper front surface of the mounting portion 19 to be coated and on the front surface of the optical fiber pressing cover 22.
A and 24B are respectively attached.

Further, a concave portion 25 is formed on the side surface of the mounting portion 19 to be removed, and a convex portion 26 is formed on the side surface of the optical fiber holding lid 22.

The concave portion 25 and the convex portion 26 allow the optical fiber pressing cover 22 to be securely closed.

When the optical fiber pressing cover 22 is closed, the optical fiber core heating unit 2 and the bottom surface of the optical fiber pressing cover 22 are provided on the upper surface of the coating removal target mounting portion 19 and the bottom surface of the optical fiber pressing cover 22. Spacer 2 to keep the space
7 are provided at four locations.

The remover body 3 is provided with two rods 4, 4, and the optical fiber holder fixing portion 5 is slidably provided on the rods 4, 4. A groove 28 is formed on the upper end face of the remover body 3 located on the rods 4, 4, and the protrusion 2 is formed on the upper end face of the optical fiber holder fixing section 5.
The grooves 28 and the projections 29 are engaged with each other, so that the remover main body 3 and the optical fiber holder fixing portion 5 can be securely connected or separated.

The optical fiber holder fixing part 5 has a holder mounting part 30 formed on the upper surface, and an optical fiber holding lid 31 provided on the upper part thereof so as to be freely opened and closed.

An optical fiber holder 32 is mounted on the holder mounting portion 30 with the tape optical fiber core wire 14 to be covered removed sandwiched from above and below.

In the optical fiber holder 32, it is possible to determine the length of the coating removal target 14A which is the portion to be coated.

Next, the circuit of the power supply section 21 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the power supply section 21 contains an internal power supply 33, a heater temperature control circuit 34, and a toggle switch 35 which is a manual switch.

The internal power supply 33 includes, for example, 1.2 to 1.
It is preferable to use a battery containing 4 to 8 5-volt batteries.

Between the terminals P and N of the heater temperature control circuit 34, a toggle switch 35, a heater energizing switch 23 whose switch is turned on and off by opening and closing the optical fiber holding lid 22, and an internal power supply 33 are connected. In H2,
The foil-shaped heater 6 is connected via a lead wire, and the thermistor 7 is connected to the terminals SR1 and SR2.

The heater temperature control circuit 34 includes a heater set temperature adjusting screw 3 for adjusting the amount of current supplied to the foil heater 6.
A heater confirmation lamp 20 is connected, which is turned on when the foil-shaped heater 6 is energized, and blinks when the thermistor 7 detects a set temperature.

In the circuit shown in FIG. 3, when the toggle switch 35 is turned on and the heater energizing switch 23 is turned on, the electric power is supplied to the heater temperature control circuit 34 by the internal power supply 33, and the foil heater 6 is energized. At the same time, the heater confirmation lamp 20 is turned on.

Then, the actual temperature of the foil heater 6 is quickly and sequentially detected by the thermistor 7, and when the foil heater 6 reaches the preset coating removal optimum temperature with the heater set temperature adjusting screw 36, the heater is heated. The confirmation lamp 20 blinks.

In the adjustment of the heater setting temperature adjusting screw 36, an optimum coating removal temperature is appropriately determined according to the coating material of the tape optical fiber core 14.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described.

In the optical fiber coating removing apparatus 1 of the present invention, first, in a state where the removing apparatus main body 3 and the optical fiber holder fixing section 5 are close to each other, the tape optical fiber core 1 is attached to the holder mounting section 30.
The optical fiber holder 32 with the reference numeral 4 is set on the optical fiber holder fixing portion 5.

At this time, the coating removal target 14A is securely placed on the heater protection plate 8 by the projections 15 provided on both side surfaces of the heater housing 9.

Next, the optical fiber pressing lid 22 and the optical fiber pressing lid 31 are closed from above.

Then, only the coating is cut off by leaving the optical fiber by the two blades 24A and 24B, and the heater energizing switch 23 is turned on by closing the optical fiber pressing lid 22, and the foil heater 6 is turned off. It is energized.

Then, the coating portion of the coating removal target 14A placed on the heater protection plate 8 is heated at a high speed by the foil heater 6 and softened.

At this time, the heater confirmation lamp 20 is in a lighting state. After a few seconds, the heater confirmation lamp 20 is turned on and off, and it is confirmed that the covering portion has reached the optimal temperature for removing the covering. When the optical fiber holder fixing portion 5 is moved in a direction away from the remover main body 3 while the remover main body 3 is fixed, only the softened coating portion can be removed by the two blades 24A and 24B.

At the time when the coating removing operation is completed, the optical fiber pressing cover 22 is opened and the heater energizing switch 2 is opened.
3 is turned off, and the energization of the foil heater 6 is stopped, so that wasteful power consumption during standby is prevented, which is particularly suitable for a battery-driven optical fiber core stripper.

In the present invention, since the foil-shaped heater 6 having a small heat capacity is used as the heater for heating the optical fiber core wire, the temperature can be rapidly increased with low power consumption.

The temperature-sensitive element thermistor 7 is used for detecting the temperature of the foil-shaped heater 6. A concave portion 10 is formed in the temperature-detected portion of the foil-shaped heater 6, and the temperature-sensitive element thermistor 7 is attached to the concave portion 10. Therefore, the actual temperature can be quickly detected, and the controllability of the temperature of the foil heater 6 can be improved.

In other words, the use of the foil-shaped heater 6 capable of rapidly increasing the temperature of the heating element makes it possible to reduce the time required from energizing the heater to elevating the temperature to the optimal temperature for removing the coating of the optical fiber core. It is possible to reduce the power consumption, and further reduce unnecessary heat generation of the heater, thereby realizing power saving.

Further, it has been confirmed that the smaller the resistance value of the foil-shaped heater 6 is, the shorter the time required for raising the temperature of the optical fiber core is, and the efficiency of the coating removing operation can be improved.

Normally, the battery has an allowable current I during continuous use.
(A), the optimum resistance value R (Ω) of the foil-shaped heater 6 when using H (book) batteries of voltage V (V) per heater as a heater heating power supply is expressed by the following equation. Is determined as follows.

R = V × H / I This makes it possible to optimize the resistance value of the heater for heating the optical fiber core and to improve the number of times of coating removal in one battery replacement.

Further, by establishing a method of calculating the optimum heater resistance value for the used power supply specification, it is possible to support the design of a future optical fiber stripping apparatus.

In the present invention, since the protrusion 15 is provided in the heater accommodating section 9, the foil-like heater 6 having a width substantially the same as that of the tape optical fiber 14 is used to improve the heat transfer efficiency.
The tape optical fiber 14 can be reliably mounted on the upper part.

[0075]

As is apparent from the above description,
According to the present invention, the following excellent effects are exhibited.

(1) The use of a foil-like heater capable of high-speed heating as the heating element makes it possible to reduce the time required from energizing the heater to raising the temperature to the optimum temperature for removing the coating of the optical fiber core wire. Can be shortened.

(2) By improving the controllability of the foil-shaped heater, wasteful heat generation of the heater can be reduced and power saving can be realized.

(3) By establishing a method for calculating the optimum heater resistance value for the used power supply specification, it is possible to support the design of a future optical fiber stripping device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an assembled exploded view of an optical fiber core heating unit of the optical fiber core stripper shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a wiring connection diagram of the optical fiber stripping apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a conventional optical fiber stripping apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an optical fiber core heating unit of the optical fiber core stripper shown in FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 optical fiber core stripper 2 optical fiber core heating unit 3 remover main body 5 optical fiber holder fixing part 8 heater protection plate 14 tape optical fiber core 14A coating removal target 15 protrusion 20 heater confirmation lamp 21 power supply unit 22 Optical fiber holding lid 23 Heater energizing switch 24 Blade 31 Optical fiber holding lid 32 Optical fiber holder

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Ueda 880 Sunasawa-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside the Takasago Plant of Hitachi Cable Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshinobu Kurosawa 5-1-1 Hidaka-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture (72) Inventor Masaaki Takaya 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Koji Shibata 2-chome Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No.3-1 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F-term (reference) 2H038 CA02 CA04

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber core end coated with a single-core optical fiber core or an ultraviolet curable resin comprising a plurality of cores is sandwiched by a remover body having a heater, and the optical fiber core end is covered. Is removed while heating with a heater, a foil-shaped heater is used for the heater housed in the heater housing portion of the remover body, and a heater protection plate is provided on the top of the foil-shaped heater. On both sides of the heater accommodating portion, a projection is provided so as to be higher than the thickness of the optical fiber to be covered and removed by being placed on the surface of the heater protection plate. An optical fiber core stripper comprising an internal power supply. 2. The optical fiber stripping device according to claim 1, wherein a concave portion is formed at a temperature detecting portion of the foil-shaped heater, and a thermosensitive element thermistor is attached to the concave portion. 3. An internal power supply having four to eight 1.2-1.5 volt batteries built in the remover body,
3. The optical fiber stripping apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the foil-shaped heater has a resistance of 6 to 12 ohms.