JP2003029047A - Apparatus for removing coating of optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for removing a coating of an optical fiber, which can remove the coating of the optical fiber intermediate part over specific length highly precisely without damaging a clad surface. SOLUTION: This apparatus is equipped with a couple of blades (3a, 3b) for forming a cut in the coating of an optical fiber (1) and heating means (4a, 4b) for heating the couple of blades to specific temperature. The couple of blades each have an arcuate tip ridge part and a couple of concave curved surfaces formed on both its side. The couple of blades are formed of materials which are harder than the coating of the optical fiber and softer than the clad of the optical fiber.

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 device, and more particularly to removing a coating on an intermediate portion of an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in order to form a fiber component such as a coupler or a connector, it is necessary to remove a coating on an intermediate portion of an optical fiber. In this case, in the prior art, the coating of the intermediate portion of the optical fiber is manually removed by using an appropriate blade.

[0003]

As described above, in the prior art, since the coating of the intermediate portion of the optical fiber is manually removed by using the blade, there is a problem that the cladding surface is easily scratched. In addition, since the coating is removed by hand using a blade, the length of the coating removal portion cannot be controlled with high accuracy, and it is impossible to downsize fiber components such as couplers and connectors. There was an inconvenience.

By the way, conventionally, there is known an apparatus for removing the coating on the end portion of the optical fiber rather than the middle portion of the optical fiber. In the conventional coating removing apparatus of this type, the coating to be removed is entirely heated and swelled, and a cut is formed in the coating using a pair of blades (blades). The coating of the end of the optical fiber is removed by moving the blade of (1) along the axial direction of the optical fiber.

In the above-mentioned conventional coating removing apparatus, the pair of blades cannot be deeply formed to the clad surface so as not to damage the clad surface. Therefore, the shape of the cut surface formed by cutting cannot be sharpened. The length of the coating removal portion cannot be controlled with high accuracy. In other words, even if the conventional coating removal device applied to the coating removal on the end of the optical fiber is applied to the coating removal on the middle part of the optical fiber, the length of the coating removal part cannot be controlled with high accuracy. However, it is impossible to reduce the size of fiber components such as couplers and connectors.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to remove the coating of the intermediate portion of the optical fiber over a predetermined length with high accuracy without substantially damaging the clad surface. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical fiber coating removing device that can be used.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the first invention of the present invention, a pair of blades for forming a cut in the coating of the optical fiber, and the pair of blades are heated to a predetermined temperature. And a heating means for heating, each of the pair of blades, the arc-shaped tip ridge line portion, and a pair of concave curved surface portions formed on both sides of the tip ridge line portion as a vertex, In a state where a cut is formed in the coating with a pair of blades heated to a predetermined temperature, the coating is removed by moving the pair of blades along the axial direction of the optical fiber. A fiber coating removal device is provided.

According to a preferred aspect of the first invention, the pair of blades are made of a material that is harder than a coating of the optical fiber and softer than a clad of the optical fiber. In this case, it is preferable that the material be a thermoplastic material having heat resistance to the predetermined temperature.

According to a preferred aspect of the first invention,
It includes a residue removing step of removing the residue of the coating left between the position of the first cut and the position of the second cut after the first step and the second step. In this case, it is preferable that the residue of the coating is blown off with hot air in the residue removing step.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pair of blades for forming a cut in the coating of the optical fiber, and a heating means for heating the pair of blades to a predetermined temperature. Is formed of a material that is harder than the coating of the optical fiber and softer than the cladding of the optical fiber, and the pair of blades are heated in a predetermined temperature to form a cut in the coating, To remove the coating by moving the coating along the axial direction of the optical fiber.

According to a preferred aspect of the second invention, the material is a thermoplastic material having heat resistance to the predetermined temperature.

According to a preferred aspect of the first invention and the second invention, there is provided a pair of fiber holders for linearly holding the intermediate portion of the optical fiber. Also, a first guide means for guiding the pair of blades to form the cut along a direction substantially orthogonal to the axial direction of the optical fiber intermediate portion, and the pair of blades in the state where the cut is formed. It is preferable to provide a second guide means for guiding the blade along the axial direction of the optical fiber intermediate portion. Further, it is preferable to provide a residue removing means for removing the residue of the coating remaining between the position of the first cut and the position of the second cut.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a pair of blades heated to a high temperature is used to form a cut in a coating of an optical fiber, and the pair of blades are cut along the axial direction of the optical fiber while the cut is formed in the coating. The coating is removed by moving. Specifically, for example, a pair of fiber holders is used to hold the middle part of the optical fiber linearly, and the optical fiber middle part is formed along a direction substantially orthogonal to the axial direction of the linearly held optical fiber middle part. Make a notch in the coating.

According to a more specific mode, the pair of blades are moved in the first direction along the axial direction of the optical fiber intermediate portion in the state where the first cut is formed in the coating of the optical fiber intermediate portion. To remove the coating. Then, the pair of blades are moved from the first cut to a predetermined position spaced from each other in the first direction, and the second cut is formed in the coating of the intermediate portion of the optical fiber at the position, and the pair of blades are moved to the optical fiber. The coating is removed by moving along the axial direction of the middle section in a second direction opposite to the first direction. When the coating residue remains between the first cut position and the second cut position, the coating residue is removed using, for example, a nozzle.

As described above, in the present invention, the pair of blades are heated to a high temperature prior to the formation of the notch, and a thermal film (a high-temperature air layer) is formed around the tips of the blades. Therefore, even if the tips of the pair of blades heated to a high temperature do not reach the clad surface, due to the action of the thermal coating formed around the tips, a notch having a sharp cutting surface up to the vicinity of the clad surface is formed. It is formed. as a result,
According to the present invention, the coating of the intermediate portion of the optical fiber can be removed over a predetermined length with high accuracy without substantially damaging the clad surface.

In particular, in the present invention, each of the pair of blades has an arcuate tip ridge line portion and a pair of concave curved surface portions formed on both sides of the tip ridge line portion as vertices.
With this configuration, it is possible to move the pair of blades in any direction along the axial direction of the optical fiber intermediate portion in the state where the notch is formed. In other words, the first
The first step of forming the cut and the removal of the coating and the second step of forming the second cut and the removal of the coating can be performed by the same pair of blades, and the configuration of the device can be simplified and downsized. it can.

Further, in the present invention, the pair of blades are made of a material that is harder than the coating of the optical fiber and softer than the cladding of the optical fiber. Specifically, a pair of blades, such as PEEK material described later,
It is formed of a thermoplastic material having heat resistance to a predetermined temperature. Therefore, even if the tips of the pair of blades may come into contact with the clad when the notch is formed and the coating is removed, the coating of the optical fiber middle part can be removed without causing substantial damage to the clad. .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an optical fiber coating removing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus of the present embodiment has a pair of fiber holders 2a for holding the intermediate portion of the optical fiber 1 in a straight line.
And 2b. The pair of fiber holders 2a and 2b are well-known holding means, and detailed description of the configuration thereof will be omitted.

Further, the apparatus of this embodiment includes a pair of blades 3a and 3b for forming a cut in the coating of the optical fiber 1 along a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the optical fiber 1 held linearly. , A pair of blades 3a and 3
Ceramic heaters 4a and 4b are provided as heating means for heating each b to a predetermined temperature.
Here, the upper blade 3a and the ceramic heater 4 in the figure
a is integrally attached to the holding portion 5a, and the lower blade 3b and the ceramic heater 4b in the figure are integrally attached to the holding portion 5b.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of the blade in this embodiment. Referring to FIG. 2 (a),
Each of the blades 3a and 3b has an arc-shaped tip ridge line portion 3c.
And a pair of concave curved surface portions 3d and 3e formed on both sides of the tip ridge portion 3c as an apex. On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
3, the concave curved surface portion 33d has an arc-shaped tip ridge line portion 33c.
Is formed on only one side of the. Therefore, while the conventional blade 33 can be moved only in the direction indicated by F23 in the state where the notch is formed, the blades 3a and 3b of the present embodiment can be moved in both directions indicated by F21 and F22 in the state where the notch is formed. Can be moved to.

Further, in the present embodiment, each of the blades 3a and 3b is made of a material that is harder than the coating of the optical fiber 1 and softer than the clad of the optical fiber 1. Specifically, for example, a PEEK material can be used as a material that is harder than the coating formed of urethane acrylate and softer than the clad formed of quartz glass. PEEK material is a thermoplastic material that is harder than ordinary plastic materials and can withstand high temperatures (for example, 260 ° C.), and is commercially available under the trade name of polyether ether ketone (registered trademark).

Referring again to FIG. 1, the ceramic heater 4 is connected to the power supply source 6 via a wiring (not shown). In this way, the ceramic heaters 4 to which the voltage is applied by the voltage control or the PID control (time proportional control) are heated to a predetermined temperature, and thus the blades 3a and 3b are heated to a predetermined temperature. The blades 3a and 3b may be made of a heat resistant metal such as stainless steel. Further, instead of the ceramic heater 4, for example, another heating means using a Peltier element or the like can be used.

Further, in the apparatus of this embodiment, the first guide portion 7 for guiding the holding portions 5a and 5b along the direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the optical fiber 1 (the direction indicated by the arrow F1 in the figure). Is equipped with. In other words, the first guide portion 7 constitutes a first guide means for guiding the pair of blades 3a and 3b along the direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the optical fiber 1 to form the cut.

Further, the apparatus of this embodiment is provided with a second guide portion 8 for slidingly guiding the first guide portion 7 along the axial direction of the optical fiber 1 (direction indicated by arrow F2 in the figure). . In other words, the second guide portion 8 constitutes second guide means for guiding the pair of blades 3a and 3b along the axial direction of the optical fiber 1 in the state where the notch is formed.

FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the basic coating removing operation of the optical fiber coating removing apparatus of this embodiment. In the optical fiber coating removing apparatus of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1 Make a notch. Specifically, for example, the thumb of the right hand is brought into contact with the holding portion 5b holding one blade 3b, and the index finger and the middle finger of the right hand are brought into contact with the holding portion 5a holding the other blade 3a.
The holding portion 5a and the holding portion 5b are moved in the opposite directions along the first guide portion 7 until the one blade 3b and the other blade 3a come closest to each other.

Here, in the first guide portion 7, the tip portion of one blade 3b and the tip portion of the other blade 3a are linear when one blade 3b and the other blade 3a are closest to each other. Optical fiber 1 held by
It is set so as to reach near the surface of the clad 1b (see FIG. 3B). On the other hand, a thermal coating (high-temperature air layer) is formed around the tips of the pair of blades 3a and 3b heated to a high temperature. Therefore, even if the tips of the pair of blades 3a and 3b heated to a high temperature do not reach the surface of the clad 1b, the effect of the thermal coating formed around the tips sharpens the vicinity of the surface of the clad 1b. A first incision having a smooth cut surface is formed.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the pair of blades 3a and 3b are moved in the axial direction of the optical fiber 1 in a state where the first cut is formed in the coating 1a (for example, urethane acrylate) of the optical fiber 1. The coating 1a is peeled and removed by moving it to the left side in the figure. Specifically, while maintaining the state where the one blade 3b and the other blade 3a are closest to each other, that is, the holding portion 5b and the holding portion 5a are closest to each other, the first guide portion 7 is held by the holding portion 5b. And it moves to the left side in the figure along the 2nd guide part 8 integrally with the holding part 5a. Here, the second guide portion 8 is set so that one blade 3b and the tip portion of the other blade 3a cannot move to the right side in the drawing from the position of the first cut to be formed. .

In the present embodiment, the pair of blades 3
Since a and 3b are heated to a high temperature, the optical fiber 1 is locally heated to a high temperature by the action of the tip portion thereof. Therefore, due to the difference in linear expansion coefficient between the urethane acrylate forming the coating 1a of the optical fiber 1 and the optical material forming the clad 1b, a force that promotes the peeling of the coating 1a from the surface of the clad 1b acts. . As a result, in the present embodiment, the coating 1a is smoothly peeled and removed from the surface of the clad 1b from the position of the first cut toward the left side in the drawing, regardless of the strength of the crosslinking of the urethane acrylate forming the coating 1a. To be done.

Next, the first guide part 7 is moved to the left side in the figure along the second guide part 8 integrally with the holding part 5b and the holding part 5a, and as shown in FIG. A second cut is formed in the optical fiber 1 using 3a and 3b. The formation of the second cut by the pair of blades 3a and 3b is performed in the same manner as the formation of the first cut described above. Here, the second guide portion 8 has one blade 3b.
And the tip of the other blade 3a is set so as not to move to the left side in the drawing from the position of the second cut to be formed.

Thus, the optical fiber 1 is formed with a second cut having a sharp cut surface up to the vicinity of the surface of the clad 1b at a position spaced from the first cut by a predetermined distance. Next, although not shown, in the state in which the second cut is formed in the coating 1a of the optical fiber 1, the pair of blades 3
a and 3b are moved to the right side in the figure along the axial direction of the optical fiber 1. Specifically, the first guide portion 7 is integrally formed with the holding portion 5b and the holding portion 5a along the second guide portion 8 while maintaining the state where the one blade 3b and the other blade 3a are closest to each other. Move it to the right side in the figure. In this way, the coating 1a is smoothly peeled and removed from the surface of the clad 1b from the position of the second cut to the right side in the drawing.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the residue of the coating left between the position of the first cut and the position of the second cut is removed in this embodiment. In the present embodiment, the coating 1a on the left side in the drawing is removed from the position of the first cut by the action of the pair of blades 3a and 3b, and then the coating 1a on the right side in the drawing is removed from the position of the second cut, and then the first cut is performed. A coating residue 1c may remain between the position of the cut and the position of the second cut. In this case, in this embodiment, the coating residue 1c is blown off from the surface of the clad 1b by blowing hot air (for example, 50 ° C. to 500 ° C.) on the coating residue 1c. Further, when there is a possibility that the coating is burned by the hot air and damages the optical fiber, the coating of the coating is blown with hot air of nitrogen gas (for example, 50 ° C to 500 ° C) depending on the type of the optical fiber. The residue 1c is preferably blown off from the surface of the clad 1b.

Specifically, the optical fiber coating removing apparatus of the present embodiment includes a hot air supply unit 14 for supplying hot air,
The nozzle 13 is provided for blowing the hot air 13a supplied from the hot air supply unit 14 toward the coating residue 1c. In this way, by blowing the hot air 13a toward the coating residue 1c, the coating residue 1c can be unraveled while avoiding cooling, and the coating residue 1c can be reliably removed. When the coating residue 1c cannot be removed only by the action of the hot air 13a, the tip of the nozzle 13 applies an external force to the coating residue 1c (for example, a groove formed in the tip of the nozzle 13 (various). (3D-shaped groove) 13b and the coating residue 1c are brought into contact with each other, the hot air 13a is blown toward the coating residue 1c while applying an external force (see FIG. 5) to remove the coating residue 1c more reliably. be able to.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing the structure of a nozzle according to a modification. Referring to FIG. 6, the nozzle 23 as the residue removing means according to the modified example applies normal temperature air or an inert gas (for example, nitrogen) to the coating residue (indicated by reference numeral 1c in FIGS. 4 and 5). A plurality of (five in FIG. 6) discharge ports 23b to 23f for spraying are provided. A groove 23a having a width t smaller than the diameter of the coating of the optical fiber and larger than the diameter of the cladding of the optical fiber is formed at the tip of the nozzle 23. The ejection port 23b is formed at the center of the bottom surface of the groove 23a, and the other four ejection ports 23c to 23f are symmetrically arranged with the central ejection port 23b as the center. Further, the tip of the nozzle 23 is made of a material that is harder than the coating and softer than the clad. Specifically, the tip portion of the nozzle 23 can be formed of a PEEK material similarly to the blades 3a and 3b.

As described above, in the nozzle 23 according to the modified example of FIG. 6, the groove 23a having the width t smaller than the diameter of the coating and larger than the diameter of the clad is formed. Therefore, even if hot air is not necessarily blown, the nozzle 2
The coating residue 1c can be reliably removed by bringing the groove 23a formed at the tip end of 3 into contact with the coating residue 1c. The tip of the nozzle 23 is formed of a material that is harder than the coating and softer than the clad. Therefore, when the coating residue 1c is removed, even if the tip of the nozzle 23 touches the clad, the clad is not substantially damaged. Therefore, even if hot air is not blown, the room temperature air or an inert gas is blown. Thus, the coating residue 1c can be reliably removed.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the pair of blades 3a and 3b are heated to a high temperature prior to the formation of the cut, and the thermal coating is formed around the tip end portion thereof.
Therefore, even if the tips of the pair of blades 3a and 3b heated to a high temperature do not reach the surface of the clad 1b,
Due to the action of the thermal coating formed around the tip portion, a first cut having a sharp cut surface is formed up to the vicinity of the surface of the clad 1b, and the coating 1a extends from the position of the first cut toward the left side in the drawing. Is smoothly removed.

Similarly, by the action of the pair of blades 3a and 3b, a second cut having a sharp cut surface is formed up to the vicinity of the surface of the clad 1b, and the second cut is coated from the position of the second cut toward the right side in the drawing. 1a is smoothly peeled and removed. Here, the distance between the position of the first cut and the position of the second cut, that is, the length of the coating removal portion is controlled with high accuracy by the action of the second guide portion 8. As a result, in the present embodiment, the coating 1a at the intermediate portion of the optical fiber 1 can be highly accurately removed over a predetermined length without substantially damaging the surface of the clad 1b. Further, in the present embodiment, since the blade heated to a high temperature forms the cut while melting the coating to some extent, it is not necessary to accurately and sharply form the tip end portion of the blade, unlike the prior art.

In this embodiment, the pair of blades 3
Each of a and 3b has a circular arc-shaped tip ridge portion 3c and a pair of concave curved surface portions 3d and 3e formed on both sides of the tip ridge portion 3c as an apex. With this configuration, it is possible to move the pair of blades 3a and 3b in either direction along the axial direction of the optical fiber intermediate portion in the state where the notch is formed. In other words,
The first step of forming the first cut and the removal of the coating and the second step of forming the second cut and the removal of the coating can be performed by the same pair of blades 3a and 3b, which simplifies the configuration of the device and reduces the size thereof. Can be realized.

In this embodiment, the pair of blades 3
The a and 3b are made of a PEEK material that is harder than the coating of the optical fiber 1 and softer than the cladding of the optical fiber 1. Therefore, even if the tips of the pair of blades 3a and 3b may contact the clad when forming the cut and removing the coating, the coating of the middle part of the optical fiber is removed without causing substantial damage to the clad. be able to.

In the above embodiment, the steps of bringing the pair of blades close to each other to form the notch and the step of moving the pair of blades in the state of the notch to peel off the coating are manually performed. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the notch forming step and the coating removing step can be performed by automatic control, if necessary.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is applied to the removal of the coating of the optical fiber middle portion, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the removal of the coating of the optical fiber end portion The present invention can also be applied.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the tips of the pair of blades heated to a high temperature do not reach the clad surface, the effect of the thermal coating formed around the tips is Since a cut with a sharp cut surface is formed up to the vicinity of the clad surface, it is possible to remove the coating of the optical fiber middle part with high accuracy over a predetermined length without substantially damaging the clad surface. it can.

Further, according to the present invention, since the pair of blades can be moved in any direction along the axial direction of the optical fiber middle portion in the state where the notch is formed, the first notch The first step of forming and removing the coating and the second step of forming the second cut and removing the coating can be performed by the same pair of blades, and the configuration of the device can be simplified and downsized.

Further, in the present invention, since the pair of blades are made of a material that is harder than the coating of the optical fiber and softer than the cladding of the optical fiber 1, the tips of the pair of blades when forming the cut and removing the coating. Even if the section may come into contact with the cladding, it is possible to remove the coating on the middle section of the optical fiber without substantially damaging the cladding.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of an optical fiber coating removing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a blade in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the basic operation of the optical fiber coating removal device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a state in which a residue of the coating left between the position of the first cut and the position of the second cut is removed in the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a state in which the coating residue is removed while an external force is applied to the coating residue by the tip portion of the nozzle.

FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically showing a configuration of a nozzle according to a modified example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 optical fiber 1a coating 1b clad 1c Coating residue 2 Fiber holder 3a, 3b blade 3c Arc-shaped tip ridge 3d, 3e concave curved surface part 4 Ceramic heater 5 holding part 6 Power supply source 7,8 Guide part 13,23 nozzles 14 Hot air supply unit

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Otsuka             1-3-Azamino Minami, Aoba-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa             3 Moritex Co., Ltd. Advanced Technology Research Institute             Within F-term (reference) 2H038 CA03 CA04

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A pair of blades for forming a notch in a coating of an optical fiber, and a heating means for heating the pair of blades to a predetermined temperature, each of the pair of blades having an arc shape. The tip ridge of
It has a pair of concave curved surface portions formed on both sides with the tip ridge portion as the apex, and in a state where a cut is formed in the coating with the pair of blades heated to the predetermined temperature, the pair of blades is An optical fiber coating removing device, characterized in that the coating is removed by moving along the axial direction of the optical fiber. 2. The pair of blades are formed of a material that is harder than the coating of the optical fiber and softer than the cladding of the optical fiber, and the material is a thermoplastic material having heat resistance to the predetermined temperature. The device of claim 1 wherein: