JP2005181479A - Method and fiber cutter for cutting optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the cutting of an optical fiber of short cutting slack to be suitably performed using a simple operation. <P>SOLUTION: This cutting method of an optical fiber is characterized in that the coated part 10a of an optical fiber 10 and a fiber part 10b, in which a coat of the top end of the optical fiber 10 is removed are laid on a pair of front and rear fiber holding parts 22, 23, consisting of a cushion property member and a fiber pressing member 26 which has a hard and semicircle-shaped convex face developed over one pair of fiber holding parts 22, 23 and which holds/fixes the side of the coated part 10a presses the optical fiber from the upper side of the optical fiber and a scratch is given on the under surface of the fiber part 10b, in a state with the fiber part 10b being pressed and bent, to have a prescribed bending radius and the fiber part 10b made fractured, by using the bending stress of the fiber part 10b. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber cutting method and a fiber cutter, and more particularly to an optical fiber cutting method and a fiber cutter that are performed as a pretreatment when fusion splicing optical fibers.

  An optical module such as an optical amplifier used in an optical communication system is assembled by fusion-connecting many optical component fibers. At that time, in order to perform fusion splicing with low loss, it is necessary to cut the end face of the fiber to be connected into a mirror state.

 In addition, optical modules such as optical amplifiers need to be assembled by connecting short fibers due to downsizing and the use of fiber sheets, etc., and there is a splicing excess length (ie, cutting) due to splicing failure or repair. If the length of the fiber (which is sometimes cut off) is long, the fiber mounting route will change greatly, making it impossible to mount the fiber. Therefore, it is necessary to perform fusion splicing with a short cutting margin. Although there is a method of increasing the number of times of fiber wrapping at the time of mounting, at the same time the forming operation becomes complicated, the loss of the fibers increases due to the dense fiber. The fiber cutting is the one that greatly limits the extra cutting length at the time of splicing, and a short extra fiber cutter is required.

  Conventionally, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, an initial flaw is provided between clamps 40 to 43 that hold two points on the distal end side and the root side of the bare optical fiber 90 and between the bare optical fibers 90 held by the clamps 40 to 43. And a pressing portion 33 that breaks the bare optical fiber 90 by imparting a bend to the bare optical fiber 90 with an initial flaw to cause the initial flaw to progress, and the clamps 40 to 43 are made of hard rubber. It is known that the gripping state of the fiber is firmly and stabilized by using, so that a highly accurate cut end face can be obtained and cutting with a short cut length is possible (Patent Document 1).

Conventionally, the fiber covering portion 3 is held by one fiber clamp 4a, one pressing leg 5a of the pressing pillow 5 is applied to the end of the fiber covering 3, and the other pressing leg 5b is fixed to the scratched portion 6a. It is known that a high-strength connection optical fiber is cut by applying only to the glass fiber portion 2 that is discarded after cutting in the vicinity (Patent Document 2).
JP 2001-133633 A (summary, figure) JP 2003-75650 A (summary, figure)

  However, in both cases, both sides of the fiber are linearly held by a pair of clamps. In this method, the tensile force in the longitudinal direction of the fiber is increased, so that the fiber clamp holding length is increased (for example, 7 mm or more). Therefore, it is necessary to prevent slipping, and there is a disadvantage that the cutting extra length becomes long.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber cutting method and an optical fiber cutter that can appropriately perform a fiber cutting with a short cutting surplus length with a simple operation. There is.

  The above problem is solved by the configuration of FIG. That is, in the method for cutting an optical fiber according to the present invention (1), the covering portion 10a of the optical fiber 10 and the fiber portion 10b whose tip is removed are placed on a pair of front and rear fiber holding portions 22 and 23 made of a cushioning member. Then, while gripping and fixing the side of the abdomen 10a, a fiber pressing member 26 having a hard semicircular convex surface that extends over the pair of fiber holding portions 22 and 23 from above is pressed, and the fiber In a state where the portion 10b is pushed and bent so as to have a predetermined bending radius, the lower surface is scratched and broken using the bending stress of the fiber portion 10b.

  According to the present invention (1), the bending stress that breaks the fiber portion 10b is substantially perpendicular to the length direction of the fiber, and the fiber holding portions 22 and 23 are also deformed when the fiber pressing member 26 is pressed, so that the optical fiber 10 Therefore, the tensile stress for holding the fiber portion 10b may be small. Accordingly, at the same time as the fiber holding length is shortened, a stable bending stress can be applied with a short fiber length, and thus a fiber cutting with a short cutting extra length can be properly performed.

  Further, in the method of scratching the lower surface of the pushed and bent fiber portion 10b, the fiber portion 10b breaks when it reaches the state of a flaw necessary for breakage, so that the cut surface does not cause deep scratches more than necessary. The state is also stable. In addition, since the optical fiber 10 can be held, fixed and cut by only one operation of pressing the fiber pressing member 26 against the optical fiber 10, a short cutting margin can be appropriately cut with a simple operation.

  Further, the optical fiber cutter of the present invention (2) includes fiber holding portions 22 and 23 made of a pair of front and rear cushioning members for holding the covering portion 10a of the optical fiber 10 and the fiber portion 10b from which the coating is removed at the tip, A fixing portion 24 for gripping and fixing the covering portion 10a side; and a fiber pressing member 26 for pressing and bending the fiber portion 10b to a predetermined bending radius by pressing from above the optical fiber 10. The fiber holding portions 22 and 23 are provided with a hard semicircular convex surface and a scratching blade 33 for initially scratching the lower surface of the pushed and bent fiber portion 10b.

  In this invention (3), in the said invention (2), the said wound blade 33 is hold | maintained by the holding mechanism 31 which has the spring material 32, and this wound blade 33 is the said fiber part pushed and bent by fixed press. It is configured to press against 10b. Accordingly, the fiber portion 10b can be scratched at a constant depth, and even if the wound blade 33 contacts the fiber pressing portion 26, the blade is not chipped.

  In the present invention (4), in the above-mentioned present invention (2), for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the portion remaining after the cutting of the fiber portion 10b is not in contact with the semicircular convex surface of the fiber pressing member 26. A concave portion 27 is provided in a part of the semicircular convex surface in a direction orthogonal to the fiber portion. Accordingly, the portion remaining after the cutting of the fiber portion 10b does not come into contact with other portions in the entire process from gripping / fixing of the optical fiber 10 to cutting (breaking), and thus fiber cutting capable of high strength connection can be performed. .

  In the present invention (5), in the present invention (2), for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the scratching blade 33 is provided so as to be slidable in a direction perpendicular to the fiber portion 10b, and the multi-core fiber can be collectively cut. It is a thing. Therefore, it is possible to appropriately perform multi-core fiber cutting with a short cutting margin by a simple operation.

According to the present invention, the short cut length of the fiber cut facilitates the short splicing of the fiber sheet application module and the splicing of the compactly mounted fiber. Further, since the fiber holding, bending stress application, and scratching are simultaneously performed only by pushing down the fiber pressing member 26, the cutting operation is simplified.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the same reference numerals denote the same or corresponding parts throughout the drawings. 1 to 3 are views (1) to (3) showing the configuration of the fiber cutter according to the first embodiment. FIG. 1 shows a state in which an optical fiber is placed on the cutter device, and FIG. 2 shows the placed light. Bending stress is applied to the fiber from the top and the lower part of the fiber is damaged, and FIG. 3 shows the state where the damaged optical fiber is finally broken. In FIG. 1, 10 is an optical fiber, 10 a is a coating portion thereof, 10 b is a fiber portion from which coating is removed, 21 is a support base of a cutter device, and 22 and 23 are fiber holders for placing and holding the optical fiber 10. , 24 is a fiber presser that holds and fixes the sheath 10a on the fiber base side, 26 is a fiber presser for applying bending stress by pressing against the center of the fiber part 10b, and 25 is capable of moving the fiber presser 26 up and down. A support arm 33 is supported by a disk-shaped scratching blade (cutter) 33 made of steel, 31 is a support mechanism portion of the scratching blade 33, and 32 is a spring portion for keeping the pressing force by the scratching blade 31 constant. is there.

  The fiber holding portions 22 and 23 are made of a cushioning rectangular block made of, for example, silicon rubber. Preferably, a mark serving as a reference may be provided on the upper surface side of the fiber holding portions 22 and 23 so that the optical fiber 10 can be easily placed at an appropriate position and direction of the fiber holding portions 22 and 23. On the other hand, the fiber retainer 24 is made of, for example, a rectangular block made of metal. Preferably, a shallow V-groove may be provided on the lower surface side of the fiber retainer 24 so that the optical fiber 10 placed above can be gripped and fixed in an appropriate position and direction of the fiber holding portions 22 and 23.

  Inset (a) is a front view showing a state where the optical fiber 10 is held and fixed by the fiber holding portion 22 and the fiber presser 24. The optical fiber 10 is gripped in an appropriate position and direction by the V groove of the fiber retainer 24, and the fiber holding portion 22 is cushioned, so that the covering portion 10b bites into the surface of the fiber holding portion 22 and is stably gripped. It is fixed.

  The fiber pressing part 26 has a semicircular (ie, semi-cylindrical or semi-cylindrical) convex surface made of, for example, hard rubber that extends over the fiber holding parts 22, 23, and pushes down the support arm 25. The semicircular convex surface is pressed against the middle portion of the fiber portion 10b, and an appropriate bending stress is applied to the fiber portion 10b.

  Since the fiber holding portions 22 and 23 have cushioning properties, they are flexibly deformed according to the pressing of the fiber pressing portion 26, whereby the fiber portion 10b is pressed and bent to have a predetermined bending radius along the semicircular convex surface. The optical fiber 10 is sandwiched between the pair of fiber holding portions 22 and 23 and the semicircular body of the fiber pressing portion 26 so that a part of the optical fiber 10 is caught and fixed firmly. At this time, since both the gripping ends of the optical fiber 10 support the optical fiber 10 not only with a tensile stress but also with a bending stress, the force applied to both the gripping ends is dispersed. There is no need to support, so the holding length of the fiber holding portion 23 can be shortened.

  The scratching blade 33 is arranged and adjusted so that it can be scratched at an appropriate depth just on the lower surface of the fiber portion 10b to which bending stress is applied. The scratching blade 33 is supported by the action of the spring portion 32 so that the pressure on the lower surface of the fiber is constant, thereby enabling the fiber portion 10b to be scratched at a constant depth. Even when the scratching blade 33 contacts the fiber pressing portion 26, the blade is not chipped.

Next, the optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 1, first, the optical fiber 10 whose end is partly removed and washed is placed on the fiber holding parts 22 and 23, and the side of the covering part 10 a is held by the fiber holding part 22 with the fiber presser 24.・ Fix it. At this time, the fiber portion 10 b at the tip is just in contact with the upper surface of the fiber holding portion 23.

  In FIG. 2, when the support arm 25 is pushed down from above the optical fiber 10 placed as described above, the semicircular convex surface of the fiber pressing portion 26 comes into contact with the fiber portion 10b and pushes the fiber portion 10b downward. Bend. Since the tip of the fiber part 10b is initially free (that is, only placed on the fiber holding part 23), the fiber part 10b bends along the semicircular convex surface of the fiber pressing part 26, Finally, the fiber holding part 23 and the fiber pressing part 26 are firmly held and fixed. Further, when the arm 25 is pushed down to a predetermined position, the lower surface of the fiber portion 10b comes into contact with the scratching blade 33 and fine initial scratches are made on the glass surface.

  In FIG. 3, the initial flaw applied to the lower surface of the fiber portion 10b expands due to the bending stress applied to the fiber portion 10b and is broken by itself. By optimizing the magnitude of the bending stress and the size of the initial scratch at that time, the fiber cut surface is cut into a mirror state.

  For example, by setting the radius of the fiber pressing portion 26 to 25 mm and the pressing force of the scratching blade 33 to 30 g to 70 g, the end surface cutting angle is cut into a mirror surface within a range of ± 2 degrees from the surface perpendicular to the fiber. I was able to. When the fiber part 10b is pushed and bent by the fiber pressing part 26 having a radius of 25 mm, it corresponds to a tensile stress of about 250 g. In the cutter according to the present embodiment, a holding length of about 2 mm was sufficient.

  By using the cutter according to the present embodiment, the cutting extra length when two fibers are fusion-spliced is changed from about 18 mm (that is, the extra cutting length of 9 mm per fiber) to about 7 mm (fiber). The extra cutting length per one 3.5 mm) could be shortened. Accordingly, if the optical fiber 10 is mounted on a device with a bending radius of 30 mm, the fixing position deviation of the reinforcing portion can be reduced from about 6 mm to 2 mm. In addition, the minimum bending radius, which was difficult with the conventional cutter device, can be easily maintained.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, the bending stress that breaks the fiber portion 10b is substantially perpendicular to the length direction of the fiber, and the fiber holding portions 22 and 23 are also pressed when the fiber pressing member 26 is pressed. Since the entire optical fiber 10 is deformed and held in a curved shape, the tensile stress for holding the fiber portion 10b may be small. Accordingly, at the same time as the fiber holding length is shortened, a stable bending stress can be applied with a short fiber length, and thus a fiber cutting with a short cutting extra length can be properly performed.

  Further, in the method of scratching the lower surface of the pushed and bent fiber portion 10b, the fiber portion 10b breaks when it reaches the state of a flaw necessary for breakage, so that the cut surface does not cause deep scratches more than necessary. The state is also stable. In addition, since the optical fiber 10 can be held, fixed and cut by only one operation of pressing the fiber pressing member 26 against the optical fiber 10, a short cutting margin can be appropriately cut with a simple operation.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the fiber cutter according to the second embodiment, and shows a case where a so-called high-strength connection is made possible by cutting off the contact of the other part to the fiber part 10b remaining after cutting. Yes. In the figure, reference numeral 27 denotes a recess provided in a part of the lower surface of the fiber pressing portion 26 in a direction orthogonal to the length direction of the fiber portion 10b. Other configurations may be the same as those described in FIG.

The concave portion 27 is provided so as to start from a position where it comes into contact with the end portion of the covering portion 10a and expands to a position just above the scratching blade 33. As a result, the portion remaining after the cutting of the fiber portion 10a does not come into contact with any other individual portion at all steps from the placement of the optical fiber 10 to the end of cutting, and a high-strength connection is possible. This is because the generation of fine scratches when the glass surface comes into contact with the solid is eliminated.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the configuration of the fiber cutter according to the third embodiment, and shows a case where collective cutting of multi-core fibers is possible. In this figure, in this example, the widths of the fiber holding portions 22 and 23, the fiber pressing portion 26 and the concave portion 27 are widened so that a multi-core fiber can be placed, and the scratching blade 33 is placed in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the fiber 10. The multi-core fiber can be cut at once by making it slidable. Other configurations may be the same as those described in FIG. 1 or FIG.

  Also in this case, the scratching blade 33 is supported by a spring portion 32 (not shown) so that the pressure against each fiber portion 10b is constant, so that a constant scratch can be made regardless of variations in the fiber placement state. Thus, 50 or more fiber end faces can be stably and collectively cut at a time.

  In addition, although several embodiment suitable for the said this invention was described, it cannot be overemphasized that the change of the structure of each part and these combinations can be performed within the range which does not deviate from this invention.

It is a figure (1) which shows the composition of the fiber cutter by a 1st embodiment. It is a figure (2) which shows the structure of the fiber cutter by 1st Embodiment. It is a figure (3) which shows the structure of the fiber cutter by 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the fiber cutter by 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of the fiber cutter by 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure explaining a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Optical fiber 10a Covering part 10b Fiber part 21 Support base 22, 23 Fiber holding part 24 Fiber holder 25 Support arm 26 Fiber pressing part 27 Recessed part 31 Support mechanism part 32 Spring part 33 Scratching blade (cutter)

Claims (5)

The optical fiber coating part and the fiber part with the coating removed from the tip are placed on a pair of front and rear fiber holding parts made of a cushioning member to grip and fix the abdomen part side, A fiber pressing member having a hard semicircular convex surface that spreads over the fiber holding portion is pressed, and the fiber portion is pressed and bent so as to have a predetermined bending radius. A method of cutting an optical fiber, wherein the optical fiber is broken using a bending stress. A fiber holding part composed of a pair of front and rear cushioning members for holding the optical fiber covering part and the fiber part from which the coating has been removed at the tip;
A fixing part for gripping and fixing the side of the covering part;
A fiber pressing member that presses and bends from above the optical fiber so that the fiber portion has a predetermined bending radius, and has a hard semicircular convex surface that extends over the pair of fiber holding portions; ,
An optical fiber cutter comprising: a scratching blade for making an initial scratch on a lower surface of the pushed and bent fiber portion. 3. The optical fiber cutter according to claim 2, wherein the scratching blade is held by a holding mechanism having a spring material, and the scratching blade is pressed against the pushed and bent fiber portion with a constant pressure. . In a mode in which the portion remaining after cutting of the fiber portion is not in contact with the semicircular convex surface of the fiber pressing member, a concave portion is provided in a part of the semicircular convex surface in a direction orthogonal to the fiber portion. The optical fiber cutter according to claim 2. 3. The optical fiber cutter according to claim 2, wherein the scratching blade is provided so as to be slidable in a direction perpendicular to the fiber portion, and the multi-core fiber can be collectively cut.

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