JP2005096004A - Optical fiber cutter, and method of cutting optical fiber using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for realizing optical fiber cutting short in cut-off length with high accuracy in an optical fiber cut surface. <P>SOLUTION: This optical fiber cutter for cutting a coated fiber part 8 of the optical fiber from which tip part coating is removed, has a bend applying part 2 having a circumferential curved surface 2a for fixing the coated fiber part 8 of the optical fiber; holding parts 3, 4 for holding the coated fiber part 8 along the curved surface of the bend applying part 2; and a cutting edge 5 for cutting the coated fiber part 8. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber cutter that is applied to tip processing of an optical fiber used in an optical communication system, and that can cut an optical fiber with high accuracy, and in particular, can cut the optical fiber with a short cut length.

  In recent years, an increase in information transmission capacity in public communication networks, LANs, and the like associated with advanced information and multimedia has become a serious problem. As means for solving this, various optical communication systems applying optical transmission technology are attracting attention, and the opticalization of networks is rapidly spreading.

  An optical fiber used in this optical communication system is formed by covering a core wire portion made of quartz glass with a coating portion made of UV acrylic resin or the like. However, an optical fiber cutter that cuts by applying a bending stress is often used.

  FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic views showing this optical fiber cutter. In the cutting method, first, the coating 7 at the tip of the optical fiber is mechanically or chemically removed, and the core portion 8 is removed. Expose. Next, the distal end side and the root side of the core wire portion 8 are held by the distal end clamp 13 and the root clamp 14, respectively. The distance between the tip clamp 13 and the root clamp 14 is about 12 mm, and the Shore D hardness is made of a pair of rubber pieces of about 50-60, holds the optical fiber from above and below, and the contact surface with the core portion 8 is The width is about 4 mm.

  And the blade 5 which can move to the direction perpendicular | vertical with respect to the axial direction of the core wire part 8 is provided in the center lower part of the front-end | tip clamp 13 and the root clamp 14, and the blade 5 moves to the core wire part 8 side. The core wire part 8 is contacted and wounds on a part below the core wire part 8. On the other hand, a bend imparting portion 2 for imparting a bend to the core wire portion 8 is provided at the center upper portion of the tip clamp 13 and the root clamp 14. By applying a bend from the direction, that is, the side opposite to the scratch, the scratch is cleaved and the optical fiber is cut.

  However, the optical fiber cutters shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) have a problem that cutting with a short separation length cannot be performed. The separation length referred to here is the length of the core portion 8 obtained by cutting at the tip of the optical fiber. In the optical fiber cutters shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the holding width of the core wire portion 8 in the tip clamp 13 and the root clamp 14 is about 4 mm, respectively, and the bending applying portion 2 is pushed in after the wound to apply the bending. In addition, the distance between the tip clamp 13 and the root clamp 14 must be about 12 mm. This is because it is necessary to arrange the blade 5 and the bend imparting portion 2 between the tip clamp 13 and the root clamp 14, and when the bend imparting portion 2 bends the core wire portion 8, the core wire portion 8 needs to bend. Because. As a result, the cut-off length must be 10 mm or more, and it is difficult to use the optical fiber with the limited length removed from the covering portion or when cutting as short as possible.

  In order to solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 5C, attempts have been made to shorten the length of the optical fiber core portion 8 required for cutting the optical fiber.

  As this method, the width of the contact surface between the base clamp 14 and the core wire portion 8 is shortened from the conventional 4 mm to about 2 to 3 mm, and the holding force of the core wire portion 8 is maintained even if the width of the root clamp 14 is shortened. The cross-sectional shape of the base clamp 14 viewed from the direction of movement of the blade 5 is 2 to 3 mm at the upper base, and the lower base is The trapezoidal shape is about 4 mm, and the holding width of the core wire portion can be shortened by this trapezoidal shape. Therefore, the coated end can be advanced as compared with the conventional method, and the part closer to the root is cut. Further, as a material suitable for the root clamp 14, hard rubber having a Shore D hardness of about 70 to 85 is employed. By this method, the length of the core wire portion 8 can be reduced by 1 to 2 mm as much as the covering portion 7 is advanced as compared with FIG. 5A, and high-precision cutting can be performed.

Furthermore, when this trapezoidal clamp shape is adopted for the tip clamp 13, it can be expected that the length of the core wire portion 8 is also shortened by 1 to 2 mm.
JP 2001-133633 A

  However, even when the root clamp 14 or the tip clamp 13 as shown in FIG. 5C is used, the length of the cut-off length of the core portion 8 of the optical fiber is limited to 1 to 2 mm.

  This is because the distal end clamp 13 and the root clamp 14 need to be sufficiently spaced in order to push the bend imparting portion 2 after wounding the core wire portion 8 and impart bending to the core wire portion 8.

  Further, even if the holding width of the core wire portion is shortened by forming the tip clamp 13 and the root clamp 14 into a trapezoidal shape, the tip end clamp 3 is not used when the bend applying portion 2 is pushed into the optical fiber to bend the core wire portion 8. There is a possibility that the core wire portion 8 may be pulled out, and there is a problem that cutting cannot be performed.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an optical fiber cutter for cutting a core portion of an optical fiber from which a coating on a tip portion has been removed, wherein the bending has a circumferential curved surface for fixing the core portion of the optical fiber. It has an imparting part, a holding part for holding the core part along the curved surface of the bending imparting part, and a blade for cutting the core part.

  The optical fiber cutter of the present invention is characterized in that the curved surface of the bending imparting portion has a curvature radius of 7 to 12 mm.

  Furthermore, the optical fiber cutter of the present invention is characterized in that the blade moves perpendicularly to the tangent to the curved surface of the bending imparting portion.

  Furthermore, the optical fiber cutter of the present invention is characterized in that the holding portion is provided so as to hold the tip end portion and the root portion of the core wire portion.

  Also, in the method for cutting an optical fiber using the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, the holding portion holds the core portion of the optical fiber along the bending applying portion to apply bending stress, and the blade is moved to move the optical fiber. The core wire part is wound and cut.

  According to the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, it is an optical fiber cutter for cutting the core portion of the optical fiber from which the coating of the tip portion is removed, and has a circumferential curved surface for fixing the core portion of the optical fiber. Since it has a bend imparting portion, a holding portion for holding the core wire portion in the bend imparting portion, and a blade for cutting the core wire portion, it is not particularly affected by the length of the optical fiber core wire portion, Even if the length of the portion is shortened, high-precision cutting is possible.

  In addition, according to the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, since the curved surface of the bending imparting portion has a curvature radius of 7 to 12 mm, an appropriate bending stress is imparted without breaking the core wire portion due to excessive bending stress. can do.

  Furthermore, according to the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, since the blade moves perpendicular to the tangent line of the curved surface of the bending imparting portion, it is possible to always perform a wound perpendicular to the axial direction of the optical fiber. Since there is no twist, the cut surface can be a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the optical fiber.

  Furthermore, according to the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, since the holding portion is provided so as to hold the tip portion and the root portion of the core wire portion, when cutting an optical fiber having a short core wire portion, However, the optical fiber does not come out of the holding portion and can be cut with high accuracy.

  Also, in the method for cutting an optical fiber using the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, the holding portion holds the core portion of the optical fiber along the bending applying portion to apply bending stress, and the blade is moved to move the optical fiber. Since the core wire portion is wound and cut, the time required for cutting can be shortened and workability is improved.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a cross-sectional view of the optical fiber cutter of FIG.

  The optical fiber cutter of the present invention is an optical fiber cutter for cutting the core portion 8 of the optical fiber from which the coating of the tip portion has been removed, and has a circumferential curved surface 2a for fixing the core portion 8 of the optical fiber. It has the bending provision part 2 which has, the front-end | tip holding | maintenance part 3 for hold | maintaining the core wire part 8 along the curved surface of the bending provision part 2, the root holding | maintenance part 4, and the blade 5 which cut | disconnects the said core wire part 8. FIG.

  Here, the structure of the optical fiber cutter will be described in detail.

  The bend imparting portion 2 has a circumferential curved surface 2a that abuts the core wire portion 8, and a horizontal surface 2b that fixes the base holding portion 4 that holds the vicinity of the boundary between the coating portion 7 and the core wire portion 8 of the optical fiber. It is desirable that the core wire portion 8 is made of a resin such as Duracon so as not to be damaged.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the curvature radius of the bending provision part 2 is 7-12 mm, and since excessive stress is applied to the core wire part 8 when a curvature radius will be less than 7 mm, there exists a possibility of fracture | rupturing in parts other than a cutting part. There is. Further, if the radius of curvature is 12 mm or more, the bending stress is small, and the fracture surface of the core wire part after wounding may be rough.

  Further, the bending imparting portion 2 has a mechanism that moves on the base 1 toward the blade 5, that is, in the direction of the arrow A shown in FIG. 1B, and before the core wire portion 8 is installed. There is a space between the bending imparting portion 2 and the tip holding portion 3 in the retracted position. When holding the core wire portion 8, the bend imparting portion 2 is moved forward in the direction of arrow A so as to contact the tip holding portion 3 and at the same time, the core wire portion 8 is sandwiched between the bend giving portion 2 and the tip holding portion. The bend imparting part 2 holds the core part 8 by being locked and fixed at the forward movement position.

  Furthermore, the bend imparting portion 2 is preferably provided with a guide groove 9 for cutting the step surface of the core wire portion 8 without inclination as shown in FIG. By applying a bending stress along the core wire portion 8, a bending stress is uniformly applied to the core wire portion 8, a torsional stress is applied to the core wire portion 8, and a cut surface is applied to the axis of the optical fiber. Therefore, it is possible to effectively prevent an angle from being generated and horizontal cutting cannot be performed.

  The bending portion 2 holds the optical fiber core portion 8 from the tip holding portion 3 that holds the tip of the core portion 8 and the root holding portion 4 that holds the boundary between the covering portion 7 and the core portion 8. Preferably, the core wire portion 8 can be held in contact with the bend imparting portion 2 without gaps by the two holding portions at the tip and the base, and the optical fiber can be held at the tip holding portion 3 even when the core wire portion 8 is cut short. High-precision cutting is possible without slipping out of

  As a structure for pressing the core wire portion 8 against the bending applying portion 2 using the tip holding portion 3, it is preferable to use a method using the reaction force of the spring 11 as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b). The surface of the tip holding portion 3 opposite to the surface that contacts the optical fiber bend imparting portion 2 is connected to the base 1 via a spring 11, and as the bend imparting portion 2 advances, the bend imparting portion 2 and the tip holding portion. The core wire portion 8 is held on the bending applying portion 2 by the reaction force of the spring 11 generated at this time.

  The material of the tip holding portion 3 is preferably a soft rubber having a Shore D hardness of about 50 to 60. When the tip holding portion 3 comes into contact with the circumferential curved surface 2a of the bending imparting portion 2, the width of the tip holding portion 3 is determined by a conventional method. A length of 4 mm is not required unlike an optical fiber cutter, and about 2 to 3 mm is sufficient.

  The root holding portion 4 is preferably made of a ferromagnetic metal plate or the like on which a soft rubber plate 12 having a Shore D hardness of about 50 to 60 is attached, and has a hinge opening / closing mechanism. Further, a magnet 15 is embedded in the horizontal surface 2 b of the bend imparting portion 2, and when the root holding portion 4 is closed, the magnet 15 is held on the horizontal surface 2 b of the bend imparting portion 2.

  Furthermore, it is preferable that the bend imparting portion 2 is provided with a relief groove 10 parallel to the moving direction of the blade 5 in the vicinity of the portion to be scratched on the circumferential curved surface 2a of the bend imparting portion 2 as shown in FIG. In the case where the core wire portion 8 is scratched by the relief groove 10, even if the adjustment of the contact amount between the blade 5 and the core wire portion 8 is insufficient, the force is not applied to the core wire portion 8 more than necessary. As a result, the blade 5 can be cut with high accuracy and the life of the blade 5 can be extended.

  The boundary between the escape groove 10 and the circumferential curved surface 2a is preferably curved so as not to damage the core wire portion 8.

  Further, the blade 5 wound on the core portion 8 of the optical fiber held by the tip holding portion 3 and the root holding portion 4 is preferably arranged so as to be perpendicular to the arc tangent of the bending imparting portion 2. The moving direction of the blade 5 and the core wire portion 8 are orthogonal to each other, and the cut surface can be perpendicular to the optical fiber.

  The blade 5 is preferably in the shape of a disk made of diamond. This is because it is necessary that the material is harder than the core wire portion 8, and when the blade 5 is worn due to repeated use, it is possible to rotate the worn portion and use a new cutting edge. is there. The position of the blade 5 is adjusted in advance so as to be in appropriate contact with the core wire portion 8. When the blade 5 is moved in a direction orthogonal to the core wire portion 8, the core wire portion 8 can be wounded.

  Further, since the distance between the blade 5 and the tip holding portion 3 can be arranged close to about 2.5 mm, as a result, cutting is possible at a position of about 5 mm from the tip of the core wire portion 8.

  In addition, if the core wire portion 8 obtained by cutting after the cutting is vigorously separated from the bend imparting portion 2 and the core wire portion 8 is broken other than in the cut portion, the fragments of the core wire portion 8 may be scattered. Therefore, it is desirable to provide the anti-scattering hood 6 as shown in FIG.

  Here, a method of cutting the core portion 8 of the optical fiber using the above-described optical fiber cutter will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, as shown in FIG. 3 (a), before the cutting operation is started, the bending imparting portion 2 stands by at the retracted position, and a gap for inserting the core wire portion 8 between the tip holding portion 3 is generated. Yes. The core wire portion 8 is fed into this gap, and the core wire portion 8 is brought into contact with the bending imparting portion 2.

  Next, the bend imparting portion 2 in the standby position is advanced in the direction of arrow A while the tip of the core wire portion 8 is in contact with the bend imparting portion 2, and the core wire portion 8 is sandwiched between the tip holding portion 3 and the bend imparting portion 2. . At this time, the spring 11 at the rear of the tip holding portion 3 is contracted by receiving the pressure from the bending imparting portion 2 and presses the core wire portion 8 against the bending imparting portion 2 by the reaction force. At this time, the bending imparting portion 2 is locked at the forward movement position.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the bending stress is applied by causing the optical fiber holding the tip of the core portion 8 to be along the guide groove 9 in the circumferential curved surface 2a of the bending applying portion 2. The root portion of the optical fiber is sandwiched and held by the root holding portion 4.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), the blade 5 is moved in the direction perpendicular to the optical fiber, that is, in the direction of the arrow B, wound when contacting the core portion 8, and immediately after that, the core portion 8 is cleaved. The cutting is finished. After completion, the optical fiber is collected from the root holding part 4, the bend imparting part 2 is returned to the retracted position, and the separated core wire part 8 is removed.

  As described above, according to the method for cutting an optical fiber using the optical fiber cutter of the present invention, the conventional optical fiber installation, wounding, and bending are performed through the three steps, whereas the optical fiber installation is performed simultaneously. Since it can be cut by a two-stage operation of bending and wounding, the workability is further improved and the required time is shortened as compared with the conventional method. Further, if the optical fiber is already damaged before cutting and its strength has deteriorated, the optical fiber breaks in the bending application process of the present invention, so there is an advantage that the deteriorated fiber can be found and extracted.

  Examples of the present invention will be described below.

  First, 20 samples were prepared by removing the coating 7 at the tip of the optical fiber by 20 mm from the tip and exposing the core 8.

  Next, ten optical fiber cutting tests were performed using the optical fiber cutter shown in FIG. 1 of the present invention and the conventional optical fiber cutter shown in FIG.

  As an evaluation, the length of the core portion 8 of the optical fiber after separation was separated from the appearance inspection using a binocular microscope with a 40-fold cut surface, and the comparison was performed.

  From the results of the cutting test, it was found that the cut surface was a good horizontal surface in both optical fiber cutters, and the cutting method according to the present invention can realize the same cut surface as the conventional method. Further, the length of the core wire portion after cutting was 15 mm on average in the conventional method, whereas the average length of the method according to the present invention was 10 mm, and the cut length of the optical fiber could be shortened by 5 mm compared to the conventional method.

(A) is a fragmentary perspective view which shows one Embodiment of the optical fiber cutter of this invention, (b) is sectional drawing of the figure (a). It is a perspective view which shows the other example of the bending provision part in the optical fiber cutter of this invention. (A)-(c) is explanatory drawing explaining the cutting method of the optical fiber using the optical fiber cutter of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the further another example of the bending provision part in the optical fiber cutter of this invention. (A) is a fragmentary perspective view which shows an example of the conventional optical fiber cutter, (b) is the fragmentary sectional view of the figure (a), (c) shows other embodiment of the conventional optical fiber cutter. It is a fragmentary sectional view.

Explanation of symbols

1: Base 2: Bending portion 2a: Circumferential curved surface of bending portion 2b: Horizontal surface of bending portion 3: Tip holding portion 4: Root holding portion 5: Blade 6: Optical fiber scattering prevention hood 7: Cover portion 8 : Core wire part 9: Guide groove 10: Escape groove 11: Spring 12: Rubber plate 13: Tip clamp 14: Root clamp 15: Magnet

Claims (5)

An optical fiber cutter for cutting the core portion of the optical fiber from which the coating of the tip portion has been removed, the bending applying portion having a circumferential curved surface for fixing the core portion of the optical fiber, and the bending applying portion An optical fiber cutter comprising: a holding portion for holding a core wire portion along a curved surface; and a blade for cutting the core wire portion. 2. The optical fiber cutter according to claim 1, wherein the circumferential curved surface in the bending imparting portion has a radius of curvature of 7 to 12 mm. The optical fiber cutter according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the blade moves in a direction perpendicular to a tangent of a circumferential curved surface in the bending imparting portion. The optical fiber cutter according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the holding portion is provided so as to hold the tip portion and the root portion of the core wire portion. An optical fiber cutting method using the optical fiber cutter according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the holding portion holds the core portion of the optical fiber along the bending applying portion to apply bending stress. A method for cutting an optical fiber, wherein the blade is moved and wound on a core portion of the optical fiber to be cut.

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