JP2003073031A - Optical fiber cord feed-out and take-up device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact and portable optical fiber cord feed-out and take-up device. SOLUTION: This optical fiber cord feed-out and take-up device comprises an inner cylinder 8 and an outer cylinder 9 respectively rotatably mounted on a supporting shaft 6, a return spring 14 fixed to the inner cylinder 8 at its one end, further fixed to the outer cylinder 9 at its other end, and wound on an inner cylinder outer peripheral face 8a in a natural state, a holding mechanism 16 for holding and releasing the return spring 14 between the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9, and an optical fiber cord 20 wound on an outer peripheral face of the outer cylinder 9. When the optical fiber cord 20 is drawn out, the outer cylinder 9 is rotated, the return spring 14 is replaced from the inner cylinder outer peripheral face 8a to an outer cylinder inner peripheral face 9a, and the restoring force is generated on the return spring 14 to take up the optical fiber cord 20. When the return spring 14 is held between the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9 by the holding mechanism 16, the optical fiber cord 20 is held in a state of being drawn out from the outer cylinder 9, and when the holding is released, the drawn-out optical fiber cord 20 is taken up on the outer cylinder 9. As this automatic take-up mechanism is stored in the outer cylinder 9, the device can be miniaturized as a whole.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber cord feeding / winding device which pulls out and holds an optical fiber cord and releases it to wind it around the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An optical fiber cord feeding / winding device is
It is used for optical communication test work such as operation test and characteristic evaluation of the optical communication device, and the optical fiber cord is paid out or wound up from the reel. FIG. 8 shows an outline of a conventional automatic winding reel for optical fiber cords.

As shown in the figure, in this automatic take-up reel for optical fiber cords, a belt-shaped spring c common to a first drum a and a second drum b is wound in opposite directions, and attached to a second drum b. In this reel, an optical fiber cord is wound in the same direction as the strip-shaped spring c. According to this configuration, when the optical fiber cord is pulled out from the reel, the second drum b is rotated in the direction of the arrow d, the strip spring c of the first drum a is rewound around the second drum b, and the strip spring is wound.
A restoring force is generated in c, and the optical fiber cord tries to rewind.

At this time, the rewinding of the optical fiber cord is suppressed by a screw-in type self-locking mechanism (not shown), whereby the optical fiber cord is pulled out from the reel and held. Then, by releasing the lock mechanism, the second drum b is rotated in the direction of the arrow e by the restoring force of the strip-shaped spring c, and the drawn optical fiber cord is wound on the reel.

[0005]

By the way, in such an automatic winding reel for optical fiber cords, since the drums a and b for automatic winding are provided separately from the reels around which the optical fiber cords are wound, the apparatus is not suitable. It becomes large. Further, in optical signal transmission between optical devices, it is usually desired that both ends of the optical fiber cord can be drawn and rewound to a free length. Only one end is extended
You can only rewind.

An object of the present invention, which was devised in view of the above circumstances, is to provide a compact and highly portable device for feeding and winding an optical fiber cord.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to an optical fiber cord feeding / winding device which pulls out and holds an optical fiber cord from the device and releases the optical fiber cord to wind it around the device. The inner cylinder and the outer cylinder are rotatably attached to the support shaft, and one end is fixed to the inner cylinder and the other end is fixed to the outer cylinder, and they are naturally wound around the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder or the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder. A return spring, a holding mechanism for holding and releasing the return spring between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder, and an optical fiber cord wound around the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder are provided.

According to the present invention, when the optical fiber cord wound around the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder is pulled out, the outer cylinder rotates and the return spring moves from the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder to the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder or to the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder. The optical fiber cord is rewound to the outer peripheral surface of the cylinder and a restoring force is generated in the return spring, so that the optical fiber cord tries to rewind. Here, if the return spring between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder is sandwiched by the holding mechanism, the optical fiber cord is held in a state of being pulled out from the outer cylinder,
When the clamp is released, the drawn optical fiber cord is wound around the outer cylinder. Since the automatic winding mechanism is housed inside the outer cylinder around which the optical fiber cord is wound, the entire apparatus can be made compact.

Further, the support shaft accommodates an optical fiber along the axial direction thereof, and adapters are provided at both ends thereof, and the support shaft is provided with the inner cylinder, the outer cylinder, and the holding shaft at predetermined intervals in the axial direction. One set may be provided for each mechanism, and a connector that is attached to and detached from the adapter may be provided at the winding start portion of the optical fiber cord wound around the outer peripheral surface of each outer cylinder. According to this configuration, the optical fiber cords wound around the outer peripheral surface of each outer cylinder are appropriately pulled out and held, and then the connectors at the winding start portions of the respective optical fiber cords are attached to the adapters at both ends of the support shaft. Thus, both optical fiber cords can be connected. Thus, if one optical fiber cord is set as the light input side and the other optical fiber code is set as the light output side, the light input side and the light output side of the optical fiber code can be set to free lengths in optical signal transmission between optical devices. Can be adjusted.

Further, a temporary adapter to which the connector is temporarily attached / detached may be provided on the outer cylinder. According to this configuration, if the connector at the winding start portion of the optical fiber cord wound around the outer surface of the outer cylinder is attached to the temporary adapter provided in the outer cylinder, the optical fiber cord can be pulled out from the outer cylinder. When is rotated, the winding start portion of the optical fiber cord is also rotated together with the outer cylinder and is not twisted. In this way, after pulling out the optical fiber cord for a predetermined length, the connector is removed from the temporary adapter of the outer cylinder and attached to the adapter of the support shaft, without twisting the winding start portion of the optical fiber cord.
Both optical fiber cords can be connected to each other.

Further, the holding mechanism has a pair of cylindrical bodies for sandwiching the return spring between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder, and the cylindrical bodies are sandwiched when the optical fiber cord is fed out from the outer cylinder. It may have a one-way rotation mechanism that rotates only in a direction that allows the return spring to pass. This ensures that the optical fiber cord can be held when it is pulled out. Further, the return spring may be made of rubber having an elastic shape retaining force. This makes it possible to reduce costs.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view of an optical fiber cord feeding / winding device according to this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the above device.
FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder of the above apparatus, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder in different directions.

As shown in FIG. 1, an optical fiber cord feeding / winding device 1 includes a base 4 having a handle 2 which serves as a handle during transportation and a cushion 3 which cushions impact during landing. Have. A support shaft 6 accommodating an optical fiber 5 is axially passed through the base portion 4, and optical adapters 7 are provided at both ends of the support shaft 6. A pair of inner cylinder 8 and outer cylinder 9 are rotatably attached to the support shaft 6 at predetermined intervals in the axial direction.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
A collar 10 is non-rotatably fitted on the support shaft 6, and an inner cylinder 8 is rotatably fitted on the collar. A disk-shaped support frame 11 is fixed to both ends of the support shaft 6 in the axial direction, and an outer cylinder 9 is rotatably attached to the support frame 11. That is, the support frame 11 is formed with a ring-shaped groove 12 centered on the support shaft 6, and the ring-shaped engagement portion 13 provided at the shaft end of the outer cylinder 9 rotates in the groove 12. Engageable. Note that FIG. 3 shows only one of the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9 for convenience.

As shown in FIG. 4, between the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9, one end is fixed to the inner cylinder 8 and the other end is fixed to the outer cylinder 9, and the inner cylinder is wound around the outer peripheral surface 8a. Strip-shaped return spring 1
4 is installed. The return spring 14 is formed in a string shape, and when the outer cylinder 9 is rotated in the direction of the arrow 15 from the natural state of being wound on the outer peripheral surface 8a of the inner cylinder, the return spring 14 is rewound to the inner peripheral surface 9a of the outer cylinder to be natural. It exerts the shape-retaining force (shape restoring force) that attempts to return to the state.

A holding mechanism 16 for sandwiching and releasing the return spring 14 between the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9 between the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9.
Is provided. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the holding mechanism 16 includes a base portion 17 formed in a cylindrical shape from a spring material, a portion of which is provided with a notch through which the return spring passes, and one of the notched ends of the base portion 17. A fixed grip portion 18 attached to the support frame 11 and fixed to the support frame 11, and a movable grip portion 19 attached to the other cutout end of the base portion 17 and provided on the support frame 11 so as to be movable in the circumferential direction. . A part 19 a of the movable grip portion 19 projects out from the support frame 11 so that a worker can operate it from the outside.

In the holding mechanism 16, in the natural state, the movable grip portion 19 is brought close to the fixed grip portion 18 by the spring force of the base portion 17, and the return spring 14 is sandwiched between the grip portions 18 and 19 to perform work. When the member separates the moving grip 19 from the fixed grip 18, the return spring 14 is released. Specifically, the outer cylinder 9 of these gripping portions 18 and 19 is indicated by the arrow 1 in FIG.
The return spring 14 is allowed to pass from the inner cylinder 8 side to the outer cylinder 9 side when rotated in five directions, and when the rotation of the outer cylinder 9 is stopped, the return spring 14 is sandwiched to restore the shape of the return spring 14. The force prevents the outer cylinder 9 from returning and rotating in the direction opposite to the direction of the arrow 15.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, an optical fiber cord 20 is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder 9. The winding direction is the direction in which the outer cylinder 9 rotates in the direction of arrow 15 in FIG. 4 when the optical fiber cord 20 is paid out, that is, the direction of arrow 15. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the winding start portion 20a of the optical fiber cord 20 is drawn outward through a through hole 21 provided in the engaging portion 13 of the outer cylinder 9, and the optical connector 22 is attached to the tip thereof. ing. The optical connector 22 is selectively attached to either the temporary adapter 23 provided on the engaging portion 13 of the outer cylinder 9 or the optical adapter 7 provided on the support shaft 6.

When the optical connectors 22 and 22 of the winding start portions 20a and 20a of both optical fiber cords 20 and 20 are attached to the optical adapters 7 and 7 at both ends of the support shaft 6, respectively, both optical fiber cords 20 and 20 are attached. Will be connected. The optical connectors 22 and 22 are connected to the outer cylinder 9 and
When mounted on the temporary adapters 23 and 23 of 9, the optical connectors 22 and 22 are integrally rotated when the outer cylinder 9 is rotated, so that the optical fiber cord winding start portions 20a and 20a are not twisted. Further, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, at the winding end portions 20b, 20b of the respective optical fiber cords 20, 20, optical connectors 24, 24 connected to an optical device for optical transmission are provided.
Are installed respectively.

The operation of this embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

When the optical fiber cord feeding / winding device 1 according to the present embodiment is used to perform optical transmission between optical devices in an optical communication test work such as an operation test or characteristic evaluation of the optical communication device, First, as shown in FIG. 2, both optical fiber cords 2 pulled out through the through hole 21 of the outer cylinder 9
0, 20 winding start portions 20a, 20a optical connectors 22, 2
2 is attached to the temporary adapters 23, 23 provided on the outer cylinders 9, 9.

Then, the winding end portions 20b and 20b of the optical fiber cords 20 and 20 wound around the outer peripheral surfaces of the outer cylinders 9 and 9, respectively.
To the desired length. Then, the outer cylinder 9 rotates as indicated by an arrow 15 in FIG. 4, and the return spring passes from the outer peripheral surface 8a of the inner cylinder 14 between the grip portions 18 and 19 of the holding mechanism 16 and is wound around the inner peripheral surface 9a of the outer cylinder. Can be replaced. As a result, a restoring force is generated in the return spring 14, and the outer cylinder 9 tries to return and rotate in the direction in which the optical fiber cord 20 is rewound (the direction opposite to the arrow 15). Here, the grips 18, 1 of the holding mechanism 16
9 holds the return spring 14 between the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9 by the spring force of the base portion 17, the outer cylinder 9 does not return and rotate, and the optical fiber cord 20 is pulled out from the outer cylinder 9. Is kept in a closed state.

When the outer cylinders 9 and 9 are rotated with the winding end portions 20b and 20b of the optical fiber cords 20 and 20 being pulled out from the outer cylinders 9 and 9, the optical fiber cords 20 and 20 are rotated.
The winding start portions 20a, 20a of the
Is attached to the temporary adapters 23 and 23 of the outer cylinders 9 and 9, so that the outer cylinders 9 and 9 rotate together and are not twisted. Thus, after pulling out and holding the optical fiber cords 20 and 20 for a predetermined length, the optical connectors 22 and 22 are detached from the temporary adapters 23 and 23 of the outer cylinders 9 and 9, and the support shaft 6 is removed.
By attaching to the optical adapters 7, 7 at both ends of the optical fiber cords 20, 20b, the winding end portions 20b, 20b can be pulled out to a desired length without twisting the winding start portions 20a, 20a. The fiber cords 20, 20 can be connected to each other.

Then, the optical connector 24 of the winding start portion 20b of one optical fiber cord 20 is set to the light incident side, and the optical connector 24 of the winding start portion 20b of the other optical fiber cord 20 is set to the light emitting side, and each optical connector 24, By attaching 24 to the optical adapter of an optical device (not shown) respectively, the light input side and the light output side of the optical fiber cords 20, 20 can be adjusted to free length in the optical signal transmission between the optical devices.

After that, when the test of the optical equipment is completed,
As shown in FIG. 2, the optical connectors 22, 22 of the winding start portions 20a, 20a of the optical fiber cords 20, 20 are removed from the optical adapters 7, 7 at both ends of the support shaft 6, and the temporary adapters of the outer cylinders 9, 9 are removed. Attach to 23, 23. And the holding mechanism 1
The movable gripper 19 of 6 is separated from the fixed gripper 18, and the return spring 14 that is gripped is released.

Then, the return spring 14 rewound on the inner peripheral surface 9a of the outer cylinder returns to its natural state of being wound around the outer peripheral surface 8a of the inner cylinder, and the outer cylinder 9 is wound in the winding direction. The winding end portion 20b of the optical fiber cord 20 that has been pulled out by rotating in the direction opposite to the arrow 15 in FIG.
Wind up. At this time, since the optical connectors 22 and 22 of the winding start portions 20a and 20a of the optical fiber cords 20 and 20 are attached to the temporary adapters 23 and 23 of the outer cylinder 9,
It is not twisted.

As described above, in the optical fiber cord feeding / winding apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the automatic winding mechanism and the holding mechanism for the optical fiber cord 20 are used as the optical fiber cord 20.
Since it is housed inside the outer cylinder 9 around which is wound, the entire device can be made compact. Therefore, it is excellent in portability. Further, in optical signal transmission between optical devices, the light input side and the light output side of the optical fiber cord 20 can be adjusted to any length, which is convenient.

A modified example is shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, in this modification, a return spring 14 extending from the inner cylinder 8 side to the outer cylinder 9 side in the previous embodiment shown in FIG. 4 and a holding mechanism 16 for sandwiching the return spring 14 are provided.
And are improved. That is, a hook-shaped hooking portion 14a is continuously formed on one surface of the return spring 14 in the longitudinal direction, and the moving gripping portion 19 of the holding mechanism 16 has the hooking portion 14a.
The difference from the previous embodiment is that a wedge portion 19a that engages with is provided.

According to this configuration, the optical fiber cord 20
When the outer cylinder 9 is rotated by pulling out the gripping portion 1,
The return spring 14 between 8 and 19 is easily pulled out from the inner cylinder 8 side to the outer cylinder 9 side, and then the wedge portion 19a of the moving grip portion 19 is formed.
Engages with the hooking portion 14a of the return spring 14, so that the optical fiber cord 20 is reliably held in the pulled-out state.
When the holding is released, the wedge portion 19a of the moving grip 19 is
May be separated from the fixed grip portion 18 against the spring force of the base portion 17 and removed from the hook portion 14a of the return spring 14.

Another modification is shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, this modified example has a return spring 1
4 is wound around the outer peripheral surface 8a of the inner cylinder in a direction opposite to that of the embodiment shown in FIG. Even in this winding, the return spring 14 exerts the same shape restoring force as that of the previous embodiment, and therefore has the same effect as that of the previous embodiment.

Further, the fixed gripping portion 18 and the moving gripping portion 19 of the holding mechanism 16 of this modified example have a pair of cylindrical bodies (made of rubber) for sandwiching the return spring 14 between the inner cylinder 8 and the outer cylinder 9. The optical fiber cord 20 has an outer cylinder 9
It has a one-way rotation mechanism (a ratchet mechanism or the like) that rotates only in a direction that allows the return spring 14 that is clamped to pass therethrough when it is fed from the outside, that is, when the outer cylinder 9 rotates in the direction of arrow 15. Thereby, the optical fiber cord 20 can be securely held when it is pulled out.

Another modification is shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, in this modification, the optical fiber cable 20 is not a single core but a multi-core (three cores in the illustrated example). This makes it possible to connect to more optical communication devices.

In the above embodiment, the return spring 14 may be made of rubber having an elastic shape retaining force. This makes it possible to reduce costs.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the return spring 14 is not wound around the outer peripheral surface 8a of the inner cylinder 8 in a natural state, but is attached to the inner peripheral surface 9a of the outer cylinder 9 in a natural state. The wound state may be such that the outer tube 9 is rewound on the outer peripheral surface 8a of the inner tube 8 when the outer tube 9 rotates as the optical fiber cord 20 is fed.

When the optical fiber cord 20 is composed of a plurality of optical fibers, the same number of optical fibers 5 in the support shaft 6 are required, and the optical connectors 22 and 24 are multi-fiber optical connectors corresponding to the number. There is a need.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a compact and highly portable optical fiber cord feeding / winding device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an optical fiber cord feeding / winding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the device.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an outer cylinder and an inner cylinder of the device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the outer cylinder and the inner cylinder in different directions.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a modified example of the holding mechanism of the above apparatus.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a modified example of a holding mechanism and a return spring of the above device.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a modified example of the device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Optical fiber cord feeding / winding device 5 optical fiber 6 Support shaft 7 adapter 8 inner cylinder 8a Inner cylinder outer peripheral surface 9 outer cylinder 9a Outer cylinder inner peripheral surface 14 Return spring 16 holding mechanism 20 optical fiber cord 20a winding start 20b Volume end 22 connector 23 Temporary adapter

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) // H05K 7/00 H05K 7/00 A

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber cord feeding / winding device for pulling out and holding an optical fiber cord from the device and releasing the optical fiber cord to wind it around the device, wherein the inner cylinder is rotatably attached to a support shaft. And an outer cylinder, one end fixed to the inner cylinder and the other end fixed to the outer cylinder, the return spring wound around the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder or the inner peripheral surface of the outer cylinder in a natural state, and the return between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder. An optical fiber cord feeding / winding device comprising: a holding mechanism for holding / releasing a spring; and an optical fiber cord wound around an outer peripheral surface of the outer cylinder. 2. An optical fiber is accommodated in the support shaft along the axial direction of the support shaft, and adapters are provided at both ends of the support shaft. The inner cylinder is provided at a predetermined interval in the support shaft.
An outer cylinder and a holding mechanism are provided in each set, and a connector to be attached to and detached from the adapter is provided at a winding start portion of an optical fiber cord wound around an outer peripheral surface of each outer cylinder.
The described optical fiber cord feeding / winding device. 3. The optical fiber cord feeding / winding device according to claim 2, wherein the outer cylinder is provided with a temporary adapter to which the connector is temporarily temporarily attached / detached. 4. The holding mechanism has a pair of cylinders that sandwich a return spring between an inner cylinder and an outer cylinder, and the cylinders sandwich the optical fiber cord when it is fed out from the outer cylinder. The optical fiber cord feeding / winding device according to claim 1, further comprising a one-way rotating mechanism that rotates only in a direction in which the return spring is allowed to pass. 5. The optical fiber cord feeding / winding device according to claim 1, wherein the return spring is made of rubber having an elastic shape retaining force.