JP2006171251A - Optical fiber structure and its manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical fiber structure in which positional relation of input/output ports coincides with the arraying order of optical fibers while the wiring of the optical fibers are arranged compactly, and also to provide the manufacturing method of the structure. <P>SOLUTION: In the optical fiber structure, a plurality of optical fiber core wires are arranged between a light input end and a light output end. The structure is composed of an optical-fiber-wiring rearranging section in which the plurality of optical fiber core wires are changed in the arraying order and a plurality of optical fiber arraying sections in which the optical input or output end exists adjacently to the optical-fiber-wiring rearranging section. At least one or all of the plurality of optical fiber arraying sections have a laminated structure in which the plurality of optical fiber core wires are arrayed in parallel on a plurality of planes, while other optical fiber arraying sections have a single layered structure in which the plurality of optical fiber core wires are arrayed in parallel on the same plane. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber structure in which optical fiber core wires used for optical communication and optical information processing such as an optical circuit package and an optical circuit device are combined.

  As an optical fiber structure in which optical fiber cores are collected, optical fiber tape cores are conventionally known (Patent Documents 1 and 2). Optical fiber ribbons are used to store optical fiber cores in cables at high density and compactly, such as optical fiber cables, etc. It is also used for multi-core wiring. An optical fiber structure such as an optical fiber ribbon is a structure in which optical fibers are aligned without gaps and the optical fibers are fixed to each other.

  By the way, when wiring between devices, it is necessary to wire the optical fiber according to the input / output port of the device to be used, but in reality, the positional relationship of the input / output ports often does not match, In a normal optical fiber ribbon, the optical fibers cannot be wired because they are aligned in parallel. If the positional relationship of the input and output ports does not match, it is necessary to recombine the optical fiber of the optical fiber ribbon, but at present, the optical fibers that make up the optical fiber ribbon are once separated, Two sets of them were prepared, and a connector connection or a fusion connection was made between them, or recombination was performed at the ends of the separated optical fiber ribbons, and taped again. Both methods have the problem that work efficiency is poor because it is necessary to remove the coating of the optical fiber ribbon once coated, and to fuse individual optical fibers individually or to attach optical connectors. . In addition, optical fiber wiring boards in which optical fibers are wired in a two-dimensional plane have been developed as optical fiber wiring members that can align optical fiber cores and produce arbitrary wiring patterns. There was a problem that the size increased.

Furthermore, conventionally, when producing an optical fiber ribbon, it is necessary to design the structure of the optical fiber ribbon and to determine the position to be divided before production. It was impossible to divide the core wires for each number or to rearrange the wiring.
JP2002-90588 JP 2002-174760

  The present invention has been made for the purpose of solving the above-described problems in the prior art. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber structure in which the positional relationship of the input / output ports matches the optical fiber alignment order and a manufacturing method thereof, while keeping the optical fiber wiring size compact as described above. is there.

  An optical fiber structure according to the present invention includes a plurality of optical fiber cores wired between an optical input end and an optical output end, and an optical fiber in which the alignment order of the optical fiber cores is converted And a plurality of optical fiber alignment portions having a light input end or a light output end adjacent to the optical fiber wiring replacement portion, and at least one or all of the plurality of optical fiber alignment portions are The optical fiber core has a laminated structure in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned in parallel in a plurality of planes, and the other optical fiber alignment unit is a single layer structure in which the plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned in parallel in the same plane. It is characterized by having.

  In the optical fiber structure of the present invention, it is preferable that the plurality of optical fibers be coated with a coating material. In this case, the coating with the coating material is applied only to the optical fiber cores of the optical fiber alignment portion. Also good. Further, the coating may be applied only to one side of the optical fiber core wire. As the coating material, a flexible polymer material such as silicone rubber is preferable.

  In the present invention, when the entire optical fiber structure is coated, the coating of the optical fiber alignment portion and the coating of the optical fiber wiring recombination portion may be performed by the same coating material, but by different coating materials. It may be done. For example, a curable resin may be used for covering the optical fiber wiring recombination part to fix and protect the optical fiber core wire.

  Moreover, the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part may be fixed by a protective member. A shrinkable tube is preferably used as the protective member. In that case, the shrinkable tube may be provided directly with respect to the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part, or may be provided on the optical fiber core wire to which the coating material is applied. The optical fiber wiring recombination part may be fixed on a substrate.

In the optical fiber structure of the present invention, the optical fiber alignment portion may be branched to form a plurality of optical fiber alignment portions having a laminated structure at the light input end and / or the light output end.
Furthermore, the optical fiber structure of the present invention may be provided with an identification mark for identifying the optical fiber core wire wiring replacement in the optical fiber alignment portion and / or the optical fiber wiring replacement portion.

  In the method for manufacturing an optical fiber structure according to the present invention, after a plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned on a two-dimensional plane, a plurality of structures in which a portion to be a laminated structure is covered with a coating material are produced. A pre-coating step, a wiring recombination step in which the plurality of optical fiber cores are stacked and then rearranged in order to form an optical fiber wiring recombination portion; And a coating step of coating a plurality of optical fiber cores in an uncoated portion aligned and wired with a coating material.

  In the coating step according to the present invention, it is preferable that a liquid curable resin is applied to the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination portion and cured.

In this invention, the process of attaching a protection member to the said optical fiber wiring recombination part may be added. When a shrinkable tube is used as the protection member, the optical fiber core wire can be fixed and protected by inserting the optical fiber wiring replacement part into the shrinkable tube and contracting the shrinkable tube. Also, after applying and curing liquid curable resin to the optical fiber wiring replacement part, the optical fiber wiring replacement part covered with the cured resin is inserted into the shrinkable tube, and the shrinkable tube is contracted. You can also.
Furthermore, in the present invention, a step of attaching an identification mark for identifying recombination of the optical fiber core wire to the optical fiber wiring recombination section may be added.

  In the optical fiber wiring recombination part of the optical fiber structure of the present invention, the number of recombination sites and recombination positions of the optical fiber may be arbitrarily selected according to specifications. The number of crossings of the optical fiber cores at the time of recombination is not particularly limited, but the number of crossings is reduced as much as possible so that optical loss does not occur due to microbending caused by twisting or bending, and the allowable bending radius of the optical fiber. It is preferable to recombine within the range.

  The optical fiber core used in the present invention is not limited in any way, and may be appropriately selected according to its use. For example, an optical fiber core made of a material such as quartz or plastic may be a multimode, single fiber. It can be used regardless of the mode. The outer diameter and the optical fiber length are not limited at all.

  An optical fiber structure according to the present invention includes an optical fiber wiring rearrangement unit in which the order of alignment of a plurality of optical fiber cores is changed, and a fiber arrangement of a laminated structure in which a plurality of optical fiber core wires are aligned in parallel on a plurality of planes. Therefore, according to the present invention, the optical fiber cores are arranged in the optical fiber wiring recombination unit by crossing the optical fiber cores between the upper and lower layers or in the same layer. An optical fiber structure in which is arbitrarily changed can be manufactured. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to select and use an optical fiber structure in which optical fiber core wires are wired in accordance with the input / output ports of the equipment to be used. Therefore, unlike conventional optical fiber ribbons, it is not necessary to separate the optical fiber cores one by one in accordance with the input / output ports of the equipment to be used and to perform wiring recombination. Also, the optical fiber structure of the present invention has the same width as the conventional optical fiber tape core because the optical fiber cores are aligned and fixed without gaps in the optical fiber alignment portion of the laminated structure and the single layer structure. A compact wiring equivalent to a conventional optical fiber ribbon is also possible.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the optical fiber structure of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description, an 8-fiber optical fiber structure will be described as an example. However, the number of optical fiber cores is not limited. Further, it is not necessary for all the optical fiber cores of the optical fiber structure of the present invention to be connected to the input / output ports of the equipment to be used. In this case, the unused optical fiber cores are not connected from the input end to the output end. Some may be missing. The present invention also includes a case where a part of the unused cord is lost.

  In the present invention, the optical fiber alignment portion having a laminated structure refers to a portion where a plurality of optical fiber alignment portions in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are regularly arranged in parallel on the same plane are stacked, and an optical fiber wiring The recombination part refers to a part in which the order of each optical fiber core wire is rearranged in accordance with the position of the port. The recombination of the optical fiber cores may be performed between the optical fiber core wires wired in a plane, or may be performed between different planes. As recombination between different planes, among the stacked planes, there are recombination between adjacent planes and recombination between non-adjacent planes.

  Note that the optical fiber structure of the present invention may include a single-layer optical fiber alignment section in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are regularly arranged on the same plane. That is, there is a case where a laminated optical fiber alignment portion exists at the light input end, a single-layer optical fiber alignment portion exists at the light output end, and an optical fiber wiring reconfiguration portion exists between them. It corresponds to this. Moreover, the laminated planes of the optical fiber aligning portion of the laminated structure may be coated separately for each plane, or the laminated planes may be coated integrally.

  Further, the number of the optical fiber cores to be reconfigured in the wiring recombination section is not particularly limited. In the case of a two-layer structure with four input wires at the input end and a one-layer structure with eight output wires, various wiring recombination can be considered. An optical fiber structure provided with a function of identifying these recombination is also within the scope of the present invention. A specific form of this function will be described later.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an example of an optical fiber structure of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an optical fiber structure 1 is a laminated structure in which optical fiber alignment portions in which optical fiber cores 2a to 2d are aligned without gaps and optical fiber alignment portions in which optical fiber cores 2e to 2h are aligned without gaps are stacked. Optical fiber alignment section A having a structure, optical fiber alignment section B having a single-layer structure in which optical fiber cores 2a to 2h are aligned without a gap, and optical fiber wiring recombination section in which the optical fiber core wiring is recombined between them C. In the case of FIG. 1, in the optical fiber alignment section A having a laminated structure, the optical fiber core assembly 2a to 2d has a two-layer structure with the optical fiber core wires 2a to 2d in the lower layer and the optical fiber core wires 2e to 2h in the upper layer. In the replacement part C, the two-layer structure is a one-layer structure, and the positions of the core wires 2b and 2c are interchanged. The optical fiber plane alignment portion B has a single wiring layer in the order of 2a, 2e, 2c, 2f, 2b, 2g, 2d, and 2h. In the laminated optical fiber alignment portion A and the single-layer optical fiber alignment portion B, the optical fiber core group is covered with the coating material 3.

  FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the optical fiber alignment portion of the optical fiber structure of FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of an optical fiber alignment portion A having a laminated structure, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of an optical fiber alignment portion C having a single-layer structure. In the case shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the optical fiber alignment portion has a structure in which only one side (upper portion) of the optical fiber core wire is covered with the coating material 3. The coating with the coating material may be performed on both sides of the optical fiber core, but is preferably performed on one side of the optical fiber core. This is because the coating portion is made only on one side of the optical fiber core, so that when the optical fiber is bent, the coating material is less likely to be distorted than in the case of the double-sided structure, and the optical fiber can be followed. Since the coating material is bent, the flexibility of the optical fiber structure is improved, and the handleability is improved.

  The optical fiber structure can be manufactured, for example, as follows. First, after placing and aligning a plurality of optical fiber cores on a two-dimensional plane, a portion of the optical fiber core wire that is to become the optical fiber aligning portion is made into a laminated structure (optical fiber aligning portion having a laminated structure). . And in the part which should become an optical fiber wiring rearrangement part, an optical fiber core wire is made to cross | intersect according to a port number, the wiring of an optical fiber core wire is rearranged, and an optical fiber wiring rearrangement part is formed. Next, a plurality of optical fiber core wires in a portion to be the optical fiber alignment portion are placed and aligned in parallel on a two-dimensional plane (optical fiber alignment portion having a single layer structure). Next, a coating material is applied to the upper surface of the optical fiber alignment portion on both sides of the optical fiber core wire so that a desired area is covered. Thereafter, the coating material is cured using an appropriate curing means to produce an optical fiber structure. The alignment of the optical fiber cores in the present invention means that the optical fiber cores are installed and arranged in a desired position, and the intervals between the optical fiber cores may or may not be equal to each other. The selection may be appropriately made according to the specifications of the optical fiber structure to be manufactured.

  According to the manufacturing method described above, the optical fiber cores can be aligned, and after recombination, the coating material can be produced simply by applying it to the upper surface. An optical fiber structure can be produced.

  As another manufacturing method of the optical fiber structure of the present invention, first, a plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned on a two-dimensional plane. Thereafter, a plurality of structures in which a portion to be a laminated structure is coated with a coating material are produced. After laminating a plurality of the obtained structures to form an optical fiber alignment portion having a laminated structure, the alignment order of the plurality of optical fiber cores is recombined in the portion to be the optical fiber wiring recombination portion. A fiber wiring recombination part is formed. Next, a plurality of optical fiber core wires in a portion to be the optical fiber alignment portion are placed and aligned in parallel on a two-dimensional plane. Next, a plurality of optical fiber cores in a desired uncoated portion aligned and wired on a two-dimensional plane are coated with a coating material.

  In the optical fiber structure of the present invention, the optical fiber alignment portion of the laminated structure may exist at both the input end portion and the output end portion. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a structure may be adopted in which the optical fiber alignment unit A having a laminated structure is recombined by the optical fiber wiring recombination unit C and laminated again to the optical fiber laminated arrangement unit B having a laminated structure.

FIG. 4 is a view showing another example of the optical fiber structure of the present invention. In the case of this figure, the optical fiber alignment part of the laminated structure branches to form two optical fiber alignment parts A ₁ and A ₂ of the laminated structure (each 4 cores and 2 layers), and the optical fiber of the single layer structure The alignment portion branches to form two single-layered optical fiber alignment portions B ₁ and B ₂ (each of eight cores and one layer), and the optical fiber cores are rearranged in the optical fiber wiring reassignment portion C. It is. The number of core wires, the number of layers, and the number of branches can be appropriately selected depending on the specifications.

  In the present invention, the coating material for coating the optical fiber core wire is not particularly limited, but is preferably a flexible material. Examples thereof include rubber-like resin materials, flexible thermosetting resins, and ultraviolet curable resins. Especially, it is preferable that it is rubber-like resin which is easy to shape | mold and is easy to peel after hardening. An example of a material that satisfies the above conditions is silicone rubber. Silicone rubber has excellent elasticity due to its rubber elasticity, and also has excellent elongation and tensile strength. Therefore, it has high flexibility to the movement of the coated optical fiber, and tears in the middle. Also strong against. In addition, since the siloxane bond of silicone rubber is excellent in heat resistance, it has excellent heat resistance retention and excellent adhesive strength even in high temperature and low temperature environments. Furthermore, silicone rubber is excellent in electrical insulation, chemical resistance, weather resistance, and water resistance, and can be adhered to a wide range of materials by using a primer as necessary. Therefore, for example, it can be adhered to a plastic fiber made of a fluorine resin that does not have adhesiveness to non-silicone rubber, an optical fiber whose cladding layer is coated with a fluorine resin, or the like.

  Also, in order to maintain the initial wiring pattern and protect the optical fiber from external factors such as heat, shock, and vibration in the optical fiber wiring recombination part, a coating material different from the coating material in the optical fiber alignment part is used. It may be used. FIG. 5 shows such a case, in which the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part C is covered with a coating material 4 different from the coating material 3 in the optical fiber alignment parts A and B. Show. A layer of the coating material 3 may be present under the coating material 4.

  In the optical fiber structure of the present invention, the above coating material may be used to cover only the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber alignment portion, but the optical fiber wiring recombination portion and the optical fiber wiring reconfiguration portion are coated in the same coating. The material may be used for batch coating. In that case, the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part is protected and fixed, so that the optical fiber alignment part and the optical fiber wiring recombination part do not easily tear or peel off, and the production is also efficient. It becomes possible.

  In the optical fiber structure of the present invention, the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part may be fixed by a protective member. It is preferable to use a shrinkable tube as the protective member. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a case where the optical fiber wiring recombination portion is fixed with a shrinkable tube. That is, the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber alignment part A is covered with the coating material 3, and the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part C that has been recombined is inserted into the shrinkable tube 5 and contracted. . The optical fiber core wire can be fixed without coating. In this case, since the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part can be fixed without being covered with the coating material, it is effective for shortening the working time.

  The material constituting the shrinkable tube is preferably a flexible material, and examples thereof include plastics such as polyolefin and elastic materials such as silicone rubber. The resin-made shrinkable tube is preferably heat-shrinkable from the viewpoint of convenience and yield, and can be easily shrunk by using a heater to fix the optical fiber wiring recombination part. . The shape of the shrinkable tube is not particularly limited, and the cross section can be appropriately selected according to specifications such as a circle, an ellipse, and a rectangle. Further, a hard support member may be put in the shrinkable tube so that the optical fiber wiring recombination portion is not deformed, or the workability may be improved by performing a process such as cutting the shrinkable tube. One example of a member using a resin shrinkable tube is an optical fiber protective sleeve.

  In the present invention, the liquid curable resin is applied to the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring replacement portion and cured, and then the optical fiber wiring replacement portion covered with the cured resin is applied to the shrinkable tube. You may protect an optical fiber wiring recombination part by inserting and shrinking a shrinkable tube.

Moreover, the optical fiber core wire may be fixed on the substrate in the optical fiber wiring recombination section. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an example in that case. In FIG. 7, the optical fiber core wire is recombined on the base material 6 coated with the adhesive, and the fixing coating material 4 is applied thereto to protect the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination portion. is doing. As described above, if the optical fiber core wire is fixed to the substrate, twisting or bending due to the opening of the optical fiber core wire does not occur, and light loss due to microbending does not occur. For this reason, the wiring state of the optical fiber core wire at the intersection can be maintained for a long time. In the above case, a method may be used in which the optical fiber core wire and the base material of the optical fiber wiring recombination part are inserted into the shrinkable tube and contracted to be contracted.

In the optical fiber structure of the present invention, it is preferable that the optical fiber alignment part and / or the optical fiber wiring replacement part is provided with an identification mark for identifying the wiring replacement of the optical fiber core wire. Hereinafter, although the specific form of the identification function of wiring recombination is described, the identification mark which identifies the wiring recombination of this invention is not limited to these. As a method for identifying the wiring recombination and the wiring direction, a method using a color mark can be used as an identification mark. The number of colors used for the color mark and the number of marks depend on the number of wiring recombination to be identified. For example, if 5 colors are used and the number of marks is 2, 25 kinds of recombination can be identified. For the color mark, a method of applying a color paint to the end of the fiber alignment portion and the fiber wiring recombination portion can be adopted. In addition, in order to identify the wiring recombination, it is also possible to use a method in which the color marks recording the wiring order information on the input side and the wiring order information on the output side are separately arranged on the input side and the output side, respectively. it can.

  As a method that does not depend on coating, there is a method using a color plate for identification (see FIG. 8) made of a PET plate or the like. In this case, the color plate may be fixed with an adhesive on the coating material of the optical fiber alignment part and / or the optical fiber wiring recombination part. FIG. 9 shows an example thereof, in which the color plate 7 is fixed to the optical fiber wiring recombination portion with an adhesive. Or after mounting a color plate on the coating material before hardening, the method of fixing to a coating material can also be employ | adopted by hardening a coating material. In addition, the color plate can be fixed inside a shrinkable tube which is a protective member for protecting the optical fiber wiring recombination part. By providing the knowledge color plate prepared in advance as described above, the manufacturing process of the optical fiber structure can be simplified, and the yield reduction due to contamination with the paint can be avoided.

As a method not using the color mark, a method using a barcode for recombination identification of an optical fiber core or a method using an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag storing identification information can be adopted. These can be fixed to the optical fiber structure of the present invention in the same manner as the above-described color plate, and the identification information can be read by an optical method or wireless communication. By providing an identification mark as described above and providing a wiring recombination identification function, it is possible to avoid an operator from confusion with an optical fiber structure having another wiring recombination pattern. Wiring can be avoided and work efficiency is further improved.
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of examples, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

  For the production of the optical fiber structure of the present invention, the coating apparatus shown in FIG. 10 was used. The coating apparatus includes a uniaxial control robot 10 and a material supply apparatus 20, and the uniaxial control robot has a substrate 11 on which an optical fiber core wire is placed, and a ball screw along the longitudinal direction. A shaft 12 is disposed, a drive motor 13 is provided at the end, and the other end is supported by a bearing 14. A movable unit 15 is screwed into the ball screw, and the movable unit is a needle for supplying material. 16 is installed perpendicular to the stage surface. The needle is connected to the material supply device by a flexible rubber tube 17.

  In addition, the optical fiber core wire is moved manually with respect to the substrate, and an ultraviolet curable resin (Viscotac PM-654, Osaka Organic Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used as a coating material for fixing the optical fiber alignment part and the optical fiber wiring recombination part of the single layer structure. A dispenser was used as a material supply device for supplying a coating material.

First, four optical fiber core wires 2a to 2d (Sumitomo Electric Co., Ltd., silica-based single mode fiber, outer shape 0.25 mm) having a length of 30 cm are aligned in parallel on a two-dimensional plane of the substrate, and adhesive tape 21 is used. Fixed. Next, the needle is fixed to the movable unit so that the tip is 0.1 mm from the surface of the optical fiber, the needle is moved to the application start position of the portion that becomes the optical fiber alignment portion, and the center of the needle has four light beams. Adjustment was made so that it would be the center in the fiber core width direction. And the coating material was apply | coated to the upper surface of an optical fiber core wire by moving a needle to an optical fiber axial direction (FIG. 10 (a)). Next, the applied coating material was subjected to ultraviolet irradiation treatment (irradiation intensity 20 mW / cm ² , 10 seconds) with an ultraviolet irradiation apparatus and cured to form an optical fiber alignment portion having a single layer structure.

  Prepare two structures having an optical fiber alignment part with a single-layer structure coated on one side, as described above, and stack the optical fiber alignment parts of these two structures vertically, The uncoated portions of the fiber cores 2a to 2d and the upper optical fiber cores 2e to 2h are wired in a single layer so as to be alternately aligned, and the positions of the cores 2b and 2c are switched to 2a 2e, 2c, 2f, 2b, 2g, 2d, and 2h. At that time, the optical fiber alignment portion and the portion not covered with the coating were fastened and fixed with an adhesive tape 21 so that a certain tension was applied to each optical fiber core wire (FIG. 10B). Next, a coating material is applied onto the optical fiber core wire in the same manner as described above, and cured by applying an ultraviolet irradiation treatment, and an optical fiber alignment portion having a laminated structure at one end and an optical fiber having a single layer structure at the other end. An optical fiber structure having an alignment portion was obtained (FIG. 10C). The height of the needle was set at a position 0.5 mm from the surface of the optical fiber in the wiring recombination portion, and was set at a position 0.1 mm from the surface of the optical fiber in the other optical fiber alignment portion.

  As described above, by rearranging the wiring when manufacturing the optical fiber structure, the arrangement order of any optical fiber can be changed, and the wiring position can be adjusted to the input / output port. In addition, since the optical fiber cores are aligned and fixed without any gaps, the size of the conventional optical fiber ribbons can be made equal. Also, since the optical fiber cores of the optical fiber alignment part and the optical fiber wiring recombination part are coated with the same coating material, the optical fiber alignment part and the optical fiber wiring replacement part are not torn or peeled off. There was no occurrence and production was also efficient.

  An optical fiber structure using the same manufacturing method as in Example 1 except that a thermosetting silicone rubber resin (manufactured by KE1800 Shin-Etsu Silicone) was used as a coating material for the optical fiber alignment part and the optical fiber wiring recombination part. The body was made. Curing was performed by heat treatment at 120 ° C. for 1 hour with a dryer.

  The optical fiber structure produced in this example is excellent in flexibility because it uses silicone rubber as the coating material of the optical fiber alignment portion, and has good workability because it can be bent flexibly during handling. there were.

  An optical fiber structure having an optical fiber alignment portion having a laminated structure at one end of an optical fiber wiring recombination portion fixed with a base material was produced. That is, two structures each having an optical fiber alignment portion having a single-layer structure were prepared at one end using the same method and material as in Example 2, and a size of 3 mm × with an adhesive layer having a thickness of 100 μm was formed. The optical fiber cores are superposed on a polyimide film having a thickness of 40 mm and a thickness of 125 μm so that the optical fiber wiring recombination portions are formed, and recombination of the optical fiber core wires is performed. The optical fiber wiring recombination part of the state fixed to was formed. Next, a coating material similar to that described above was applied onto the portion of the optical fiber core wire that would become the optical fiber alignment portion, and dried. Next, a fiber protective sleeve (manufactured by Sumitomo Electric Co., Ltd., protective sleeve FPS-5) made of a synthetic resin tube is passed through an optical fiber wiring recombination section, and heated by a heating device for 1 minute to form an optical fiber wiring set. The replacement part was fixed. By fixing the optical fiber wiring recombination part with the base material as in this example, the shape of the intersecting optical fibers can be maintained, and no optical loss due to microbending occurred during use.

  An optical fiber wiring recombination color plate as shown in FIG. 8 was made of a PET plate. This color plate was produced by printing red and blue marks (1 mm × 3 mm) on a PET film (3 mm × 5 mm × 100 μm).

  Using this optical fiber wiring recombination identification color plate, an optical fiber structure was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 3. That is, in Example 3, when the optical fiber wiring recombination portion was passed through the fiber protective sleeve (Sumitomo Electric Co., Ltd., protective sleeve FPS-5) having heat shrinkability, a color plate was inserted inside the heat shrinkable tube. . Otherwise, an optical fiber structure was fabricated using the same method as in Example 3. By providing an identification plate prepared in advance as in the present embodiment, it is possible to avoid the use of an operator mixed with an optical fiber structure having another wiring pattern, and to avoid erroneous wiring. The connection work efficiency was further improved.

It is a perspective view which shows an example of the optical fiber structure of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the optical fiber alignment part of the optical fiber structure of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the optical fiber structure of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the optical fiber structure of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the optical fiber structure of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the optical fiber structure of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows another example of the optical fiber structure of this invention. It is a top view of the color plate for identification. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the optical fiber structure of this invention which attached | subjected the color plate for identification. It is process drawing explaining the apparatus and manufacturing method which produce the optical fiber structure of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical fiber structure, 2a-2h ... Optical fiber core wire, 3 ... Coating material, 4 ... Coating material, 5 ... Shrinkable tube, 6 ... Base material, 7 ... Color plate, 10 ... Uniaxial control robot, 11 ... substrate, 12 ... ball screw shaft, 13 ... driving motor, 14 ... bearing, 15 ... movable unit, 16 ... needle, 17 ... rubber tube, 20 ... material supply device (dispenser), 21 ... adhesive tape, _{A, A} 1, A ₂ , B, B ₁ , B ₂ ... Optical fiber alignment part, C... Optical fiber wiring recombination part

Claims (15)

In an optical fiber structure in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are wired between an optical input end and an optical output end, an optical fiber wiring recombination unit in which the alignment order of the plurality of optical fiber cores is converted, and the light A plurality of optical fiber alignment portions having an optical input end or an optical output end adjacent to the fiber wiring rearrangement portion, and at least one or all of the optical fiber alignment portions include a plurality of optical fiber core wires. It has a laminated structure aligned in parallel on a plurality of planes, and the other optical fiber alignment section has a single layer structure in which the plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned in parallel on the same plane. An optical fiber structure. 2. The optical fiber structure according to claim 1, wherein at least an optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber alignment portion is coated with a coating material. The optical fiber structure according to claim 2, wherein the coating material is coated only on one side of the optical fiber core wire. 4. The optical fiber structure according to claim 2, wherein the coating material is silicone rubber. 2. The optical fiber structure according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part is coated and protected with a resin. The optical fiber structure according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination part is protected and fixed by a protective member. The optical fiber structure according to claim 6, wherein the protective member is a shrinkable tube. The optical fiber structure according to claim 1 or 6, wherein the optical fiber wiring recombination part is fixed on a substrate. 2. The optical fiber structure according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber alignment portion is branched to form a plurality of optical fiber alignment portions at a light input end and / or a light output end. 2. The optical fiber structure according to claim 1, wherein an identification mark for identifying the wiring replacement of the optical fiber core wire is provided on the optical fiber alignment unit and / or the optical fiber wiring replacement unit. After a plurality of optical fiber cores are aligned on a two-dimensional plane, a pre-coating step for producing a plurality of structures in which a portion to be a laminated structure is coated with a coating material, and laminating the plurality of structures Then, reordering the alignment order of the plurality of optical fiber core wires to form an optical fiber wiring recombination portion, and a plurality of uncovered portions aligned and wired on a two-dimensional plane A method of manufacturing an optical fiber structure according to claim 1, further comprising a coating step of coating the optical fiber core wire with a coating material. The method of manufacturing an optical fiber structure according to claim 11, wherein a liquid curable resin is applied to the optical fiber core wire of the optical fiber wiring recombination portion and cured. The method of manufacturing an optical fiber structure according to claim 11, further comprising a step of attaching a protective member to the optical fiber wiring recombination part. 14. The optical fiber structure according to claim 13, wherein in the step of attaching a protective member to the optical fiber wiring recombination part, the optical fiber wiring recombination part is inserted into the shrinkable tube, and the shrinkable tube is contracted. Body manufacturing method. 12. The method of manufacturing an optical fiber structure according to claim 11, further comprising a step of attaching an identification mark for identifying recombination of the optical fiber core wire to the optical fiber wiring recombination section.

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