JP2007010918A - Optical fiber unit and fiber optic cable - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical fiber unit, having identifiability of the optical fiber units from each other and identifiability of thread like fibers and coated optical fibers, and to provide an optical fiber cable. <P>SOLUTION: At the time of integrating a plurality of the coated optical fibers 11 of different coating colors by winding the coated optical fibers 11 with the thread like fibers 12, the thread like fibers 12 are formed of stripe patterns by the identification colors for identifying the optical fiber units 10 by using the different colors for every optical fiber unit 10 and the separating colors that are not used as the identification colors of any of the optical fiber units 10. Consequently, the optical fiber units 10 can be identified easily by the identification colors, constituting the stripe patterns of the thread like fibers 12 and can be identified easily from the coated optical fibers 11 of the single color by the separating colors of the stripe patterns. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber unit and an optical fiber cable. For example, the present invention relates to an optical fiber unit that can easily distinguish a core wire in an optical fiber unit and an optical fiber cable that can easily distinguish an optical fiber unit in a cable.

Conventionally, an optical fiber unit formed by winding a thread around a plurality of optical fiber cores in order to improve the efficiency of use of the optical fiber core when branching several optical fibers in the middle part of the optical cable laying Is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
As shown in FIG. 10, in the optical fiber cable 100 disclosed in Patent Document 1, a cable core composed of a plurality of optical fiber cores 101 is accommodated in a pipe-shaped sheath 102 and the cable core and the pipe-shaped sheath 102 are accommodated. The buffer layer 103 is provided between the two. The cable core is composed of a plurality of optical fiber units 104, and the optical fiber unit 104 is configured by bundling a plurality of optical fiber core wires 101 with thread fibers 105. A tensile body 106 is provided inside the sheath 102.
JP 2003-302560 A

By the way, in the optical fiber cable 100 disclosed in Patent Document 1, a plurality of optical fiber cores 101 are bundled using a thread-like fiber 105 having the same color as one of the optical fiber cores 101 in the optical fiber unit 104. . This fiber 105 has substantially the same color and thickness as the optical fiber core 101 (thread fiber: 0.1-0.2 mm, optical fiber core: 0.25 mm), and the optical fiber core 101 is twisted. Since the pitch and the winding pitch of the filamentous fiber 105 are approximate, both take a shape arranged substantially in parallel, and further, because the coating of the optical fiber core 101 is reflected and difficult to see,
(1) The discrimination between the optical fiber units 104 by the filamentous fibers 105 is poor.
(2) Poor discrimination between the filamentous fiber 105 and the optical fiber core wire 101,
There was a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber unit and an optical fiber cable having distinctiveness between optical fiber units and distinction between a filamentous fiber and an optical fiber core wire. It is to provide.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the first feature of the optical fiber unit according to the present invention is as follows.
An optical fiber unit in which a plurality of coated optical fiber cores of different coating colors are wound with a filamentary fiber, and the filamentous fiber is an identification color different for each optical fiber unit and an identification color for any optical fiber unit The color change of the striped pattern is provided by at least one separation color that is not used.

  In the optical fiber unit configured as described above, when a plurality of optical fiber cores with different coating colors are wound around and integrated with the filamentous fiber, the filamentary fiber is light-transmitted using a different color for each optical fiber unit. A stripe pattern is formed by an identification color for identifying the fiber unit and at least one separation color that is not used as an identification color by any optical fiber unit. For this reason, the optical fiber unit can be easily identified by the identification color constituting the striped pattern of the filamentous fiber, and the filamentous fiber and the monochromatic optical fiber core wire can be easily distinguished by the separation color of the striped pattern. Will be able to.

  Further, a second feature of the optical fiber unit according to the present invention is that, in the first feature of the present invention, the thread-like fiber is formed by twisting the thread-like fiber elements constituting the identification color and the separation color. It is in forming.

  In the optical fiber unit configured as described above, a striped pattern is formed by twisting the above-described identification-colored thread-like fiber element and the separation-colored thread-like fiber element, so that it is easy to form a thread-like fiber that is not easily scattered. Therefore, the cost can be reduced.

  A third feature of the optical fiber unit according to the present invention is that, in the first feature of the present invention, the filamentous fibers are formed in a striped pattern by dyeing the identification color and the separation color.

  In the optical fiber unit configured as described above, the thread-like fibers are formed by dyeing the identification color and the separation color into a striped pattern, so that it is possible to form a thread-like fiber that is not easily scattered. Moreover, a filamentous fiber can be manufactured easily and inexpensively.

  A fourth feature of the optical fiber unit according to the present invention is that, in the first feature of the present invention described above, the plurality of optical fibers in which one thread-like fiber is wound in S and the other thread-like fiber is wound in Z. This is because the filamentous fibers are wound around the core wire in a cross shape.

  In the optical fiber unit configured in this manner, one thread-like fiber is wound around S and the other thread-like fiber is wound around Z, and is wound around the outer periphery of a plurality of optical fiber core wires. The core wire can be reliably integrated.

  A fifth feature of the optical fiber cable according to the present invention is that a cable core in which the optical fiber units according to any one of the first to fourth features of the present invention are arranged in a plurality of groups is interposed via a buffer layer. And accommodated in a pipe-shaped sheath.

  In the optical fiber cable configured as described above, the optical fiber unit included in the buffer layer can be easily identified by the identification color of the filamentous fiber, and the light in each optical fiber unit can be identified by the separation color of the filamentous fiber. Since it can be easily distinguished from the fiber core wire, a desired optical fiber core wire can be easily taken out in the intermediate post-branching operation. For this reason, work efficiency can be improved and erroneous work can be prevented.

  According to a sixth aspect of the optical fiber cable of the present invention, there is provided a slot groove in which the optical fiber unit according to any one of the first to fourth aspects of the present invention is formed in a slot rod having a tensile body at the axial center. And the outer surface of the slot rod is covered with a sheath.

  In the optical fiber cable configured as described above, the optical fiber unit included in the slot groove can be easily identified by the identification color of the filamentous fiber, and the optical fiber in each optical fiber unit can be identified by the separation color of the filamentous fiber. Since it can be easily distinguished from the core wire, a desired optical fiber core wire can be easily taken out in the intermediate post-branching operation. For this reason, work efficiency can be improved and erroneous work can be prevented.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to solve the problem that it is difficult to distinguish each fiber optic unit by using fiber filaments and to distinguish between fiber fibers and optical fiber cores as in the past, and the identification color that forms the striped pattern of fiber filaments. Thus, it is possible to easily identify the optical fiber unit and to easily distinguish the optical fiber unit from the single-color optical fiber core wire by the striped separation color.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1A is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of the optical fiber unit of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a perspective view of a filamentary fiber formed by twisting, and FIG. 1C is formed by dyeing. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a slotless optical fiber cable, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a slot-type optical fiber cable. It is.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the optical fiber unit 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention is integrated by winding a plurality of optical fiber core wires 11 of different coating colors with bundle yarns 12 that are filamentous fibers. As shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C, the bundle yarn 12 has a different identification color 13 for each optical fiber unit 10 and the optical fiber units 10 are connected to each other. The color change of the striped pattern 15 is provided by one separation color 14 that is not used as the identification color 13 to be identified.
For example, when the optical fiber unit 10 is formed by bundling eight optical fiber cores 11 with the bundle yarn 12, each optical fiber core wire 11 has a different color (for example, blue, yellow, green, (Red, purple, white, brown, ash).

As shown in FIG. 1B, the bundle yarn 12A can be formed by twisting together the filamentous fiber element 16 of the identification color 13 and the filamentous fiber element 17 of the separation color 14. For example, the blue bundle yarn 12A twists a blue thread fiber element 16 and a black thread fiber element 17, and the yellow bundle thread 12A twists a yellow thread fiber element 16 and a black thread fiber element 17. They can be formed together.
As a result, the optical fiber units 10 can be easily distinguished from each other by the identification color 13 constituting the striped pattern 15, and the bundle yarn 12 </ b> A and the monochromatic optical fiber core 11 are separated from each other by the separation color 14 of the striped pattern 15. Can be easily distinguished. Further, it is possible to easily form the bundle yarn 12A that is difficult to be separated, and to reduce the cost.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 1C, a striped pattern 15 may be formed on the bundle yarn 12B by dyeing the identification color 13 and the separation color 14.
Thus, the optical fiber units 10 can be easily distinguished from each other by the identification color 13 constituting the striped pattern 15, and the bundle yarn 12B and the monochromatic optical fiber core 11 are separated from each other by the separation color 14 of the striped pattern 15. Can be easily distinguished. Since the bundle yarn 12B configured in this way is a single yarn, it is natural that the bundle yarn 12B does not come apart.

  In addition, in the optical fiber unit 10 shown in FIG. 1 (A), the bundle yarn 12 for bundling a plurality of optical fiber core wires 11 is spirally wound in one direction to be integrated. As in the optical fiber unit 10B shown in FIG. 2, one bundle yarn 121 of the two bundle yarns 12 is set to S winding, and the other bundle yarn 122 is set to Z winding so as to be crossed into a plurality of optical fiber cores 11. You may make it wind. Further, using three or more bundle yarns 12, S winding or Z winding can be appropriately performed.

Next, the optical fiber cable 20 according to the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, the optical fiber cable 20 according to the present invention includes the optical fiber units 10 and 10B described above (except for the case where the optical fiber units 10 and 10B are distinguished below). Cable cores 21 arranged in a plurality of groups are accommodated in a pipe-like sheath 23 via a buffer layer 22.
Inside the sheath 23, tension members 24 and 24 are provided above and below the cable core 21. Further, for example, a support portion 25 having a support wire 25 a formed by twisting a plurality of steel wires can be used by being connected to the sheath 23 via the connection portion 26.

FIG. 4 shows another example of the optical fiber cable. In this optical fiber cable 30, the above-described optical fiber unit 10 is accommodated in a slot groove 33 formed on the surface of a slot rod 32 having a tension member 31 that is a tensile member at the center of the axis, and the outer surface of the slot rod 32 is sheathed 34. It is coated with.
As in the case of FIG. 3, the support portion 35 having the support wire 35 a can be used by being connected to the sheath 34 via the connection portion 36. Here, the case where five slot grooves 33 are provided and five optical fiber units 10 are accommodated has been described, but the number of slot grooves 33 and optical fiber units 10 is not limited to this. Further, a mark 37 is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the slot rod 32 so that a predetermined slot groove 33 can be specified.

  As described above, according to the optical fiber unit 10 and the optical fiber cables 20 and 30 described above, when the optical fiber core wires 11 having different coating colors are wound and integrated with the bundle yarn 12, the bundle yarn 12 is A stripe pattern is formed by an identification color for identifying the optical fiber unit 10 using a different color for each fiber unit 10 and at least one separation color that is not used as an identification color for any optical fiber unit 10. For this reason, the optical fiber units 10 can be easily distinguished from each other by the identification color constituting the striped pattern of the bundle yarn 12, and the bundle yarn 12 and the monochromatic optical fiber core wire 11 are separated by the separated color of the striped pattern. Can be easily distinguished.

  The optical fiber unit and the optical fiber cable of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and appropriate modifications and improvements can be made.

Next, a specific example will be described.
For the slotless type optical fiber cable 20 described above in FIG. 3 and the slot type optical fiber cable 30 described above in FIG. Here, as shown in FIG. 5, intermediate branching was performed on the optical fiber cables 20 and 30 formed using the optical fiber unit 10B of the type in which the bundle yarn 12 described above in FIG.
In addition, as bundle yarn 12, the polyester filament 30 count / 3 strand was used.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the intermediate branch operation.
In the intermediate branch, as shown in FIG. 5, the sheaths 23 and 34 and the buffer layer 22 of the intermediate portion 500 mm of the optical fiber cables 20 and 30 are removed, and the optical fiber unit 10B is taken out in a bundle,
(1) Unit identification from a bundle: Work to arrange units No. 1 to No. 5 in a predetermined color order
(2) Identification of core wire from unit: For No. 1 unit, all the optical fiber core wires were arranged in a predetermined color order. Each of the five workers performed this identification work three times, and the working time at that time was measured.

Example 1
6A is a table showing an example of a color arrangement in an optical fiber cable of an 8-core unit according to the present invention, FIG. 6B is a table showing an example of a color arrangement in an optical fiber cable of a conventional 8-core unit, and FIG. These are tables showing the time required for the intermediate branching work in the color scheme shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B).

As an example, the color arrangement shown in FIG. 6A is used for the optical fiber cables 20 and 30 that accommodate five optical fiber units 10B each having eight optical fiber cores 11 and eight optical fiber units 10B. FIG. 6B shows the color scheme of an optical fiber unit conventionally used.
That is, in each of the first unit to the fifth unit, eight colors of blue, yellow, green, red, purple, white, brown, and ash are used as identification colors 13 for identifying the covering colors of the eight optical fiber core wires 11. Was used. In addition, as the color of the filamentous fiber elements 16 and 17 constituting the bundle yarn 12, the first and second filamentous fiber elements 16 having colors used as identification colors 13 for identifying each unit, In the optical fiber unit 10B, the third single filamentous fiber element 17 having one separation color 14 which is a color that is not used as an identification color is used.

Therefore, in the optical fiber unit 10B according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 6 (A), as the filamentous fiber element 16 of the identification color 13, for example, the first unit has the color of the first optical fiber core 11. Some blue, the second unit adopts yellow, which is the color of the second optical fiber core 11,..., And the separated fiber thread 17 is black which is not the color of any optical fiber core 11. Adopted.
In the conventionally used optical fiber unit, as shown in FIG. 6B, the third thread-like fiber element is also configured in the same color as the first and second thread-like fiber elements. Is different.

FIG. 7 shows the result of the working time. In addition, the time described in the table is an average / maximum time.
As a result, both the slotless type optical fiber cable 20 shown in FIG. 3 and the slot type optical fiber cable 30 shown in FIG. This is about half that of the conventional structure, and it can be seen that the unit identification is greatly improved.
Also, in the identification of the core wire, both types of optical fiber cables 20 and 30 to which the structure of the present invention is applied are shorter in time than the conventional structure, and the core wire identification is greatly improved. You can see that

(Example 2)
FIG. 8A is a table showing an example of a color arrangement in a 12-fiber unit optical fiber cable according to the present invention, FIG. 8B is a table showing an example of a color arrangement in a conventional 12-fiber unit optical fiber cable, and FIG. These are tables showing the time required for the intermediate branching work in the color scheme shown in FIGS. 8 (A) and 8 (B).

As an example, the color arrangement shown in FIG. 8A is used for the optical fiber cables 20 and 30 that accommodate five twelve optical fiber units 10B each having twelve optical fiber cores 11. FIG. 8B shows a color scheme of an optical fiber unit conventionally used.
That is, in each of the No. 1 unit to No. 5 unit, blue, yellow, green, red, purple, white, brown, ash, peach, Twelve colors of water, black and orange were used. Moreover, as the color of the thread-like fiber elements 16 and 17 constituting the bundle thread 12, the first and second two thread-like fiber elements 16 having colors used as identification colors for identifying each unit, The third single filamentous fiber element 17 having one separation color 14 that is not used as an identification color also in the optical fiber unit 10B is used.

Therefore, in the optical fiber unit 10B according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 8 (A), as the filamentous fiber element 16 of the identification color 13, for example, the first unit has the color of the first optical fiber core 11. A certain blue, the second unit adopts yellow, which is the color of the second optical fiber core 11,..., And the separation fiber 14 as the filamentous fiber element 17 is the color used for the optical fiber core 11. There is black, which is not used as an identification color for any unit.
In the conventionally used optical fiber unit, as shown in FIG. 8B, the third thread-like fiber element is also configured in the same color as the first and second thread-like fiber elements. Is different.

FIG. 9 shows the result of the working time. As a result, both the slotless type optical fiber cable 20 shown in FIG. 3 and the slot type optical fiber cable 30 shown in FIG. It can be seen that the unit identification is 1/2 or less that of the conventional structure, and the unit identification is greatly improved.
Also, in the identification of the core wire, both types of optical fiber cables 20 and 30 to which the structure of the present invention is applied are shorter in time than the conventional structure, and the core wire identification is greatly improved. You can see that

  As described above, the optical fiber unit and the optical fiber cable according to the present invention can easily identify the optical fiber unit by the identification color constituting the striped pattern of the filamentous fiber, and can also identify the filamentous fiber by the separated color of the striped pattern. For example, an optical fiber unit capable of easily distinguishing a core wire in an optical fiber unit and an optical fiber unit in a cable can be easily distinguished from each other. It is useful as an optical fiber cable that can be used.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS (A) is a perspective view which shows 1st Embodiment which concerns on the optical fiber unit of this invention. (B) is a perspective view of the thread-like fiber formed by twisting. (C) is a perspective view of the filamentous fiber formed by dyeing. It is a perspective view which shows 2nd Embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing of a slotless type optical fiber cable. It is sectional drawing of a slot type optical fiber cable. It is explanatory drawing of an intermediate | middle branch operation | work. (A) is a table | surface which shows an example of the color scheme in the optical fiber cable of the 8-core unit of this invention. (B) is a table | surface which shows an example of the color scheme in the optical fiber cable of the conventional 8-core unit. It is a table | surface which shows the time required for the intermediate | middle branch work in the color scheme shown to FIG. 6 (A) and (B). (A) is a table | surface which shows an example of the color scheme in the optical fiber cable of the 12 core unit of this invention. (B) is a table | surface which shows an example of the color scheme in the optical fiber cable of the conventional 12 core unit. It is a table | surface which shows the time required for the intermediate | middle branch work in the color scheme shown to FIG. 8 (A) and (B). It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional optical fiber cable.

Explanation of symbols

10, 10B Optical fiber unit 11 Optical fiber core wire 12 Bundle yarn (thread-like fiber)
13 Identification Color 14 Separation Color 16 Threaded Fiber Element (Identification Color)
17 Threaded fiber element (separate color)
20 Optical fiber cable (slotless type)
21 Cable core 22 Buffer layer 23 Sheath 30 Optical fiber cable (slot type)
31 Tension member
32 Slot rod 33 Slot groove 34 Sheath

Claims (6)

An optical fiber unit in which a plurality of optical fiber cores having different coating colors are wound with a filamentous fiber and integrated,
An optical fiber characterized in that the filamentary fiber has a striped color change with an identification color different for each optical fiber unit and at least one separation color that is not used as an identification color for any optical fiber unit. unit.   2. The optical fiber unit according to claim 1, wherein the thread-like fiber is formed by twisting thread-like fiber elements constituting each of the identification color and the separation color.   The optical fiber unit according to claim 1, wherein the filamentary fibers are formed in a striped pattern by dyeing the identification color and the separation color.   2. The optical fiber unit according to claim 1, wherein one thread-like fiber is wound in S and the other thread-like fiber is wound in Z, and the thread-like fiber is wound in a cross shape around the plurality of optical fiber core wires.   An optical fiber cable comprising a cable core in which the optical fiber units according to any one of claims 1 to 4 are arranged in a plurality of groups and housed in a pipe-shaped sheath via a buffer layer.   The optical fiber unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is accommodated in a slot groove formed in a slot rod having a tensile body at an axial center, and the outer surface of the slot rod is covered with a sheath. Features an optical fiber cable.

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