JP2003005001A - Method for manufacturing coated optical fiber tape - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for manufacturing a coated optical fiber tape by which the arrangement of optical fibers is not disturbed even when the fibers are electrostatically charged to >=2 kV in the stage of applying a resin (near the die for the application of the resin). SOLUTION: In the method for manufacturing a coated optical fiber tape to harden the coating material to make a tape consisting of a UV curing resin, the UV curing resin having viscosity of 2,000 to 2,200 cPs of the resin as the coating material to make the tape is used.

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of arranging a plurality of optical fiber strands in parallel, applying a taped covering material made of an ultraviolet curable resin, and curing the coated material. The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an optical fiber tape, and particularly to an optical fiber tape in which the arrangement of optical fiber wires is not disturbed even when static electricity of 2 Kv or more is charged in a step of coating a resin (around a resin coating die). The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a core wire. 2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method of manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon, and shows an example of manufacturing an eight-core optical fiber ribbon. In FIG. 1, eight optical fiber wires 10 are sent out from a rotating reel 12 and
Roll 14, strand 10 for giving appropriate tension to
Are guided to a wire coating device 18 via a fixed roll 16 for juxtaposing at regular intervals. This wire coating device 18
A plurality of optical fiber strands 1 are
0 is coated with a tape coating material made of an ultraviolet curable resin. Conventionally, UV-curable resins have a viscosity of 1
Those having a size of about 200 to 1800 cps (centipoise) were used. After the application, an optical fiber tape core 22 is obtained, in which the ultraviolet curable resin is collectively coated on the circumference of the eight optical fibers through the ultraviolet irradiation device 20. [0003] As shown in FIG. 1, in the method of manufacturing the optical fiber ribbon, when the optical fiber 10 is sent out from the rotary reel 12, the wires are not connected to each other. Static electricity is generated due to friction and contact with the adjusting roll 14 and the fixing roll 16 before the resin is introduced into the resin coating die.
In some cases, as much as v was charged. When the high static electricity is charged as described above, in the case of the conventionally used ultraviolet curable resin having a viscosity of about 1200 to 1800 cps, the optical fiber strand 10 is hardened before the resin is completely cured due to the repulsive force between the strands due to the static electricity. Was disturbed, which adversely affected the transmission characteristics of the tape. Therefore, in the past, a certain amount of static electricity was removed by a static electricity removing device. However, when the element wire was coated in a state charged at 2 Kv or more, the curing of the ultraviolet curable resin was terminated by the repulsive force due to the static electricity as described above. There is a problem in that the arrangement of the optical fiber strands is disturbed before the operation. In addition, if a high-viscosity UV-curable resin is used to oppose the repulsion between the strands, it is possible to suppress the repulsion between the strands. The surface of the tape was not preferable in terms of tape appearance, because irregularities were generated on the surface and bubbles were mixed into the coating material. The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems in the process of manufacturing the optical fiber ribbon, and has a viscosity of from 2000 cps to 2200 cps as a taped coating material made of an ultraviolet curable resin.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon in which the arrangement of the optical fibers is not disturbed even if the optical fibers have a high electrostatic charge amount by using the optical fibers having the above-mentioned range. Subject. [0004] In order to achieve this object, an invention according to claim 1 is a tape coating material comprising a plurality of optical fiber wires arranged in parallel and made of an ultraviolet curable resin. Is applied, and then sent to an ultraviolet irradiation device to irradiate ultraviolet light to cure the taped coating material.
A taped covering material in the range of 200 cps is used. According to the first aspect of the present invention, by using an ultraviolet curable resin having a viscosity in the range of 2,000 cps to 2200 cps, even if the optical fiber is 2 Kv near the resin coating die. Even with the above-mentioned high electrostatic charge, an optical fiber tape core without disturbing the arrangement of the strands can be obtained, and the upper limit of the viscosity is specified, so the appearance of the completed tape core And also good ones are obtained. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. 1 and Table 1. The manufacturing process of the optical fiber ribbon of the present invention is the same as the manufacturing process of the conventional tape core shown in FIG.
The viscosity of the UV curable resin applied to the
To 2200 cps. As described above, due to the friction between the optical fibers when the optical fiber 10 is sent out from the rotary reel 12 and the contact with the adjusting roll 14 and the fixing roll 16 until the optical fiber 10 is introduced into the resin coating die, the conventional resin 0.5 near the coating die
To about 2 Kv in some cases. And, depending on the type of the coating material of the optical fiber, there was a material that was charged at 2 Kv or more. The present invention relates to an optical fiber 1
The lower limit of the viscosity of the ultraviolet curable resin applied to 0 is 200
0 cps, the upper limit is 2200 cps, the resilience between the strands is suppressed by using a resin having a viscosity larger than that of a commonly used ultraviolet-curable resin, and the upper limit of the viscosity is defined. No irregularities are generated on the surface of the sample, and bubbles are not mixed into the coating material. Next, examples of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to Table 1. Among the samples used in the experiment, resin No. 1, No. Reference numeral 2 denotes a conventionally used ultraviolet curable resin having a resin viscosity of 1600 cps and 1800 cps, which is a comparative example. Resin No. 3, no. 4 has a resin viscosity of 20
The ultraviolet curable resin of the present invention has a viscosity range of 00 cps and 2200 cps corresponding to the lower limit and the upper limit. Resin N
o. Reference numeral 5 denotes an ultraviolet curable resin having a resin viscosity of 2400 cps, which is given as a comparative example. As an experiment, the arrangement disorder and the appearance were examined when the charge amount was 1.4 Kv and when the charge amount was 2.2 Kv. The evaluation of the sequence disorder was performed using Bellcore GR-20-CORE "Generic requirements f
or optical fiber and optical fiber cable
The evaluation was performed on the ribbon fiber, and the appearance was examined with a microscope for irregularities on the surface of the tape core wire and the inclusion of bubbles. The circles in the table indicate that there is no disorder in the sequence,
The appearance is good. As can be seen from Table 1, the resin having a resin viscosity of 1600 cps or 1800 cps had disordered arrangement at a charge amount of 2.2 Kv. The resin having a resin viscosity of 2400 cps has a charge amount of 1.4.
Both Kv and 2.2 Kv showed irregularities on the tape core wire surface. As described above, according to the present invention, the viscosity range of the ultraviolet curable resin applied to the optical fiber is set to a lower limit of 2
By limiting the upper limit to 2200 cps at 2,000 cps, the repulsive force between the strands is suppressed to eliminate the disorder of the arrangement of the strands, and irregularities are generated on the surface of the tape core wire, and bubbles are formed in the covering material. Thus, it is possible to manufacture an optical fiber ribbon having a good appearance without contamination.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic view for explaining a method for manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon. [Description of Signs] 10 ... Optical fiber wire 12 ... Rotary reel 14 ... Adjustment roll 16 ... Fixed roll 18 ... Wire coating device 20 ... Ultraviolet irradiation device 22 ... Optical fiber ribbon

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page    (72) Inventor Keiji Ohashi             Fuji Co., Ltd., 1440, Rokuzaki, Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture             Kura Sakura Office F term (reference) 2H001 BB15 BB19 KK17 MM04 PP01

Claims (1)

Claims: 1. A plurality of optical fiber strands are arranged in parallel, coated with a tape-shaped coating material made of an ultraviolet curable resin, and then sent to an ultraviolet irradiation device to be irradiated with ultraviolet light. What is claimed is: 1. A method for manufacturing an optical fiber ribbon, comprising: curing a taped coating material, wherein the taped coating material has a viscosity in the range of 2000 cps to 2200 cps.