JP2003262771A - Coating structure of optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely increase work efficiency at wiring of an optical fiber by bending the optical fiber within the unattenuated range of optical power at the wiring. <P>SOLUTION: In wiring the optical fiber 10, when the optical fiber 10 is bent in a state where a part 10a to be bent is coated with a regulation coating material 11, then, by bringing two coating structures 12 adjacent in the axial direction into contact with each other, the part 10a of the optical fiber 10 can be restricted so as to be bent only with a radius of curvature R in excess of the radius of curvature R1 at which the optical power is attenuated. Thus, the extent of the radius of curvature at which the optical fiber is bent is controlled. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an optical fiber coating structure for coating an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When an optical fiber is bent and used to have a curvature of a certain value or less at the time of wiring, the optical power is attenuated, and it is necessary to be careful not to exceed it. That is, as shown in FIG. 5, when the bendable portion 1a of the optical fiber 1 is wired with a radius of curvature R1 like the solid line when the optical fiber 1 is wired, the optical power transmitted through the inside of the optical fiber 1 is attenuated. Therefore, as shown by the broken line, the optical fiber 1 must be wired with a radius of curvature R larger than its curvature R1.

[0003]

As described above, when the optical fiber 1 is bent, it must be bent at least to a radius of curvature R where the optical power is not attenuated. Therefore, at the time of wiring, the operator has a large radius of curvature. Therefore, there is a problem in that work efficiency at the time of wiring is deteriorated and it takes much time. Such a problem applies not only to the wiring of the optical fiber to the device, but also to the extra length processing and the like.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical fiber coating structure capable of bending an optical fiber in such a size that the optical power is not attenuated when wiring the optical fiber, and thereby reliably improving work efficiency during wiring. is there.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs the following means. Claim 1
The invention according to claim 1 is a coating structure of an optical fiber in which at least a bendable portion of the optical fiber is coated with a regulation coating material, and the regulation coating material regulates bending of the coated portion of the optical fiber to a predetermined curvature or less. Is characterized by.

According to the optical fiber coating structure of the present invention, when the optical fiber coated with the regulation coating material is bent, the bending curvature of the optical fiber is regulated by the regulation coating material, so that the optical power is not attenuated. Can be bent well.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the optical fiber coating structure according to the first aspect, the regulation coating material is formed of a non-stretchable material into a tubular shape and can be cut to a desired length. It is characterized by being.

According to the optical fiber coating structure of the present invention, the optical fiber can be cut according to the length of the bendable portion of the optical fiber, so that the bendable portion can be coated each time when the optical fiber is wired. A power attenuation prevention effect can be obtained.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the optical fiber coating structure described above, the restriction coating material is formed by alternately coupling a tubular coating component and a connector along the axial direction, and when the optical fiber is coated and bent, the axial direction The regulation structures adjacent to each other contact each other to regulate the bend radius of the optical fiber. According to the optical fiber covering structure of the present invention, when the optical fiber is bent, the restricting constituents of the restricting covering material come into contact with each other to reliably restrict the curvature of the optical fiber.

The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the optical fiber coating structure described above, the regulation coating material is formed by spirally winding a thin metal plate having a narrow plate width. According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the optical fiber coating structure according to the first or second aspect, the regulation coating material is formed by incorporating metal wires in a mesh shape. According to the optical fiber coating structure of the present invention, the regulatory coating material is formed by spirally winding a thin and narrow metal plate, and is formed by incorporating metal wires in a mesh shape. Also, when the optical fiber is bent, the radius of curvature of the optical fiber can be reliably regulated.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are views showing a coating structure of an optical fiber according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a regulation coating material is coated on the outer cover of the optical fiber, and the optical fiber has a curvature. It is explanatory drawing when it is wired. This embodiment is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the optical fiber 10 is covered with the regulation coating material 11. Optical fiber 1 handled in this embodiment
Although not shown in detail in FIG. 0, for example, the periphery of the core is covered with the cushioning material, and the periphery of the cushioning material is covered with the outer skin.

The regulating member 11 is the optical fiber 1
When 0 is bent and wired, the bent portion 10a
When the optical fiber is bent by a worker in advance as shown in FIG. 1, the optical fiber is not bent at a radius of curvature R1 or less so that the optical power is attenuated, and is always bent at a radius of curvature R larger than that. ing.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Coupling 1 having a rectangular shape with the cylindrical covering structure 12
3 and 3 are alternately connected in the axial direction to form a tubular shape having a desired length as a whole, and when the optical fiber 10 is wired, the optical fiber 10 is cut into a desired length and the portion to be covered of the optical fiber 10 is inserted. To be used.

When the optical fiber 10 is bent while the bent portion 10a of the optical fiber 10 is covered with the regulation covering material 11, as shown in FIG. 2, one covering structure adjacent to the axial direction is formed. 12 and the other covering structure 12 are deformed into contact with each other, whereby
By allowing the bendable portion 10a of the optical fiber 10 to be bent only at a radius of curvature R that exceeds the curvature at which the optical power is attenuated, the magnitude of the radius of curvature of the bendable portion 10a can be regulated. It has become.

Such a regulation covering material 11 is formed of, for example, a synthetic resin or a hard rubber material, and may be formed by processing a thin metal plate.
In short, by covering at least the portion 10a of the optical fiber 10 that needs to be bent, the optical fiber 10 can be bent with a curvature such that the optical power of the optical fiber 10 is not attenuated. Therefore, the regulation covering material 11 has an appropriate length in advance, but when the optical fiber 10 is wired, the bendable portion 1
According to the length of 0a, an operator cuts it to a desired length with a tool and uses it.

Since this embodiment is constructed as described above, for example, when the optical fiber 10 is wired, if it becomes necessary to bend the optical fiber 10 as shown in FIG. The regulation covering material 11 cut according to the length of the bent portion 10a is used, and the regulation covering material 11 is inserted into the portion of the optical fiber 10 that needs to be bent, and then the optical fiber 10 is bent and wired.

At this time, if the optical fiber 10 is bent and wired, the regulation covering material 11 is also bent together with the optical fiber 10. However, the adjacent covering constituents 12 of the regulation covering material 11 contact each other as shown in FIG. Is regulated so as to bend only up to the radius of curvature R where the optical power is not attenuated, so that it is possible to reliably prevent the optical power of the optical fiber 10 from being attenuated.

In addition, since the curvature of the optical fiber 10 can be regulated by the regulation covering material 11, the worker is not likely to bend the optical fiber 10 with a small curvature R1 such that the optical power is attenuated when wiring the optical fiber. In addition, there is no need to measure the curvature of the optical fiber by using a ruler or the like, and the optical fiber 10 can be simply wired to bend the optical power to a radius of curvature R that is not attenuated. Therefore, the wiring can be performed easily and satisfactorily, and the work efficiency at the time of wiring can be improved.

FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 respectively show an optical fiber coating structure according to another embodiment of the present invention. The regulation covering material 11 shown in FIG. 3 is formed by spirally bending a thin metal plate 111 made of, for example, stainless steel and having a narrow plate width, and when bent, the optical power of the optical fiber 10 is attenuated. There is no bending at a radius of curvature R1 or less that does not occur.

The regulation covering material 11 shown in FIG. 4 is formed by forming thin metal wires 112 in a mesh shape and forming a cylindrical shape. When the optical fiber 10 is bent by covering the optical fiber 10 with the regulation covering material 11 as well, the optical fiber 10 is bent with a curvature such that the optical power is not attenuated by the rigidity of the metal wire 112.

Therefore, according to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the bendable portion 10a of the optical fiber 10 is covered with the regulating member 11 so that the optical fiber 10 is bent to a curvature that does not attenuate the optical power. Therefore, basically, the same operational effect as that of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

Although any of the illustrated embodiments shows an example in which the outer cover of the optical fiber 10 is covered with the regulation coating material 11, the present invention is not limited to this, and the outer cover of the optical fiber is removed by removing the outer cover of the optical fiber. It is also applicable when doing. That is, when the core wire of the optical fiber is subjected to extra length treatment, the core wire can be bent with a curvature such that the optical power is not attenuated if the core wire is coated with a regulation coating material, so that only the outer cover of the optical fiber is covered. Of course, the same operation and effect can be obtained by directly covering the exposed cores of the optical fiber, such as during extra length treatment, before use. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, as the optical fiber 10, a simple configuration example in which the outer cover is provided on the buffer material of the core is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the same operational effect can be obtained by applying the optical fiber to other configurations. can get.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention,
At least the bendable portion of the optical fiber is covered with a regulation coating material, and the regulation coating material prevents the coated portion of the optical fiber from bending below a predetermined curvature, so that the optical power is not attenuated and is excellent. Not only the effect of being able to bend and greatly improving the work efficiency at the time of wiring is obtained, but also the effect of obtaining reliability on wiring is obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing a coating structure of an optical fiber according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a pair of bent and wired optical fibers coated with a regulation coating material.

FIG. 3 is a front view for explaining a regulation covering material showing an optical fiber covering structure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining a regulatory covering material showing an optical fiber covering structure according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the magnitude of curvature when an optical fiber is wired.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 optical fiber 11 regulated covering materials 12 Covering structure 13 Connector 111 metal plate 112 metal wire

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A coating structure for an optical fiber, wherein at least a bendable portion of the optical fiber is coated with a regulation coating material, wherein the regulation coating material restrains the coated portion of the optical fiber from bending below a predetermined curvature. The coating structure of the optical fiber. 2. The optical fiber coating structure according to claim 1, wherein the regulation coating material is formed of a material having non-stretchability into a tubular shape, and can be cut to a desired length. Optical fiber coating structure. 3. The optical fiber coating structure according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the regulation coating material is formed by alternately coupling a tubular coating component and a connector along an axial direction. A covering structure for an optical fiber, characterized in that, when covered and bent, the restricting constituents adjacent to each other in the axial direction contact each other to restrict the bend radius of curvature of the optical fiber. 4. The optical fiber coating structure according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the restriction coating material is formed by spirally winding a thin metal plate having a narrow plate width, and is coated with the optical fiber and bent. , A coating structure for an optical fiber, characterized in that the radius of curvature of the optical fiber is regulated. 5. The optical fiber coating structure according to claim 1, wherein the regulation coating material is formed by incorporating metal wires in a mesh shape.