JP2007101902A - Method and apparatus for converting fiber pitch - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a method and an apparutus for converting fiber pitch, with which the pitch of a plurality of optical fibers aligned in parallel with a predetermined pitch is readily converted into another arbitrary pitch. <P>SOLUTION: The plurality of optical fibers 11 aligned in parallel with a predetermined pitch P1 is arranged and fixed temporarily on an extensible base member 12, then the extensible base member 12 is stretched in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the optical fibers 11, thus the pitch P1 between the optical fibers 11 is expanded and converted into another arbitrary pitch P2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a fiber pitch conversion method and a fiber pitch conversion device, and more particularly to a fiber pitch conversion method and a fiber pitch conversion device capable of converting an array pitch of a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch into an arbitrary pitch. It is.

There has been disclosed a multi-core thin fiber connector that enables a multi-fiber thin fiber having a pitch interval smaller than that of a conventional multi-fiber connector to be connected to a conventional multi-fiber optical connector (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
As shown in FIG. 6, in the multi-core thin fiber connector 100 disclosed in Patent Document 1, a multi-core thin fiber is provided on the connection rear end side of a ferrule 102 having a plurality of optical fiber insertion holes 101 with a pitch interval P1. A fiber insertion auxiliary tool 105 for converting the pitch interval P2 (P1> P2) of the small-diameter optical fiber 103 into the pitch interval P1 of the optical fiber insertion hole 101 is fixed. The fiber insertion auxiliary tool 105 includes a fiber positioning member 106 in which a plurality of V grooves 108 for aligning the thin optical fibers 104 are arranged at the same pitch interval as the pitch interval P1 of the fiber insertion holes 101 of the ferrule 102, and a V groove. And a fiber fixing member 107 that presses and fixes the small-diameter optical fiber 104 fitted to 108.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-122577

However, in the multi-core thin fiber connector 100 of Patent Document 1, when the pitch of the thin optical fiber 104 is converted from P2 to P1, the thin optical fiber 104 is used as the fiber positioning member 106 of the fiber insertion aid 105. The small-diameter optical fiber 104 is fixed by fitting into a V-groove 108 provided and attaching a fiber fixing member 107 thereon. For this reason, since it is necessary to fit the thin optical fibers 104 with very small diameters one by one into the V-groove 108, it is necessary to handle with care, and time is troublesome. In addition, there is a disadvantage that misalignment may occur when fitting.
Further, in the conventional fiber pitch conversion method, the pitch interval of the pitch conversion member is fixed, so that it is not possible to convert to a pitch other than the standard pitch, for example. In this case, conversion members for the pitch types must be prepared. There was an inconvenience.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to easily convert the pitch of a plurality of optical fiber cores arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch into another arbitrary pitch. An object of the present invention is to provide a fiber pitch conversion method and a fiber pitch conversion device.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, a first feature of the fiber pitch conversion method according to the present invention is a fiber pitch conversion method for converting a pitch between a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch into an arbitrary pitch. The step of arranging and temporarily fixing the plurality of optical fibers on an extendable base material, and extending the base material in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber to expand the arrangement pitch of each optical fiber The process consists of the steps of:

  In the fiber pitch conversion method configured as described above, a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch are arranged on a stretchable base material and temporarily fixed, and the base material is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber. The distance between the optical fibers is increased by stretching in the direction. Thereby, a predetermined pitch can be easily enlarged and converted into an arbitrary pitch with a simple tool.

  Moreover, the 2nd characteristic of the fiber pitch conversion method concerning this invention is that the said base material is an elastic sheet which has an adhesion layer on the surface in the said 1st characteristic of this invention.

  In the fiber pitch conversion method configured as described above, since the stretchable base material has an adhesive layer on the surface, the optical fibers can be easily arranged and temporarily fixed on the base material.

  A third feature of the fiber pitch conversion device according to the present invention is a fiber pitch conversion device that converts a pitch between a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch into an arbitrary pitch, and a pair of locking devices. A member, an adhesive layer that is stretched between the pair of locking members and attaches the plurality of optical fibers to the surface, and is extendable; and a substrate tension applying unit that applies tension to the substrate. And a controller for controlling the substrate tension applying means.

  In the fiber pitch conversion device configured as described above, a stretchable base material is stretched between the pair of locking members and has an adhesive layer for attaching the plurality of optical fibers to the surface. A plurality of optical fibers are arranged and attached to the adhesive layer at a predetermined pitch. And, by applying tension to the base material by the base material tension applying means and extending the base material, the distance between the optical fibers is expanded and converted into another arbitrary pitch, so that light can be easily emitted by a simple device. The fiber pitch can be converted.

  According to the present invention, a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch are arranged and temporarily fixed on a stretchable base material, and the base material is stretched in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, thereby extending the optical fiber. Since the interval between them is increased, the predetermined pitch can be easily enlarged and converted to another arbitrary pitch with a simple tool.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1A is a plan view and a sectional view showing a state before pitch conversion in the fiber pitch conversion method of the present invention, FIG. 1B is a plan view and a sectional view showing a state after pitch conversion, and FIG. FIG. 3B is a plan view of a suitable base material that does not contract in a direction orthogonal to the extension direction, FIG. 3B is a plan view of an inappropriate base material that contracts in a direction orthogonal to the extension direction, and FIG. 3 is a fiber pitch conversion device according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the pitch is converted by the fiber pitch converter.

As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the fiber pitch conversion method according to an embodiment of the present invention sets the pitch between a plurality of optical fibers 11 arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch P1 to an arbitrary pitch P2. A step of converting each optical fiber 11 of a plurality of optical fibers 11 onto an extendable base material 12 and temporarily fixing the optical fiber 11 (see FIG. 1A); A step (see FIG. 1B) of extending the arrangement pitch of the optical fibers by stretching in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction.
Since the optical fiber 11 whose pitch has been enlarged as it is is removed from the adhesive layer 12a of the base material 12 as it is, the optical fiber 11 tries to return to the original pitch P1, so that, for example, an adhesive is temporarily fixed to the adhesive layer 12a. Use a clamp or a clamper.

The base material 12 is preferably an elastic sheet having an adhesive layer 12a. The adhesive layer 12a desirably has an adhesive force that can fix the optical fiber 11 and can be peeled off.
The base material 12 has anisotropy in expansion and contraction, and extends in the pulled direction, but preferably does not expand and contract in the direction orthogonal to the pulling direction. That is, as shown in FIG. 2 (A), the base material 12 is stretchable, but as shown in FIG. 2 (B), the base material 12 is contracted in the width direction when the base material 12 is extended. Is not suitable. This is because when the base material 12 is contracted in the width direction, the optical fiber 11 is contracted in the longitudinal direction, and the optical fiber 11 may be peeled off from the adhesive layer 12a.
Moreover, the base material 12 needs to extend uniformly. That is, if the extension amount differs depending on the position on the base material 12, the pitch of the optical fiber 11 after the pitch conversion is not uniform.

  As described above, according to the fiber pitch conversion method described above, a plurality of optical fibers 11 arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch are arranged and temporarily fixed on the extendable base material 12, and the base material 12 is longitudinally aligned with the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber 11. The pitch P1 of the optical fiber 11 can be converted to an arbitrary pitch P2.

Next, a fiber pitch conversion device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The fiber pitch conversion device 10 according to the present invention can convert a pitch between a plurality of optical fibers 11 arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch P1 into an arbitrary pitch P2. For this reason, the base material has rollers 13a and 13b as a pair of locking members and an adhesive layer 12a that is stretched between the pair of rollers 13a and 13b and affixes a plurality of optical fibers 11 on the surface, and is extendable. 12, a motor 14 as a base material tension applying unit that applies tension to the base material 12, and a control unit 15 that controls the motor 14.

Both ends of the base material 12 are locked by rollers 13 a and 13 b, and are supported so as to be movable along the upper surface of the support base 16. At least one of the rollers 13 a and 13 b, here, the right roller 13 b in FIG. 3 is rotated by the motor 14. The other roller 13a may be fixed, but may be rotated in the same manner as the right roller 13b.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the roller 13 b is rotated by the motor 14 to apply tension to the base material 12 to elongate, the optical fibers 11 arranged on the base material 12 at the pitch P <b> 1 have an arbitrary pitch. It will be converted to P2. The extension amount of the base material 12 can be adjusted by the control unit 15 controlling the rotation amount of the motor 14, the rotational force of the motor 14, and the like.

  In the fiber pitch conversion device 10 configured as described above, the stretchable base material 12 is stretched between the pair of rollers 13a and 13b having the adhesive layer 12a for attaching the plurality of optical fibers 11 to the surface. The plurality of optical fibers 11 are arranged at a predetermined pitch P1 on the adhesive layer 12a of the substrate 12. Then, the motor 14 rotates the roller 13b to apply tension to the base material 12 and expands / contracts the base material 12, thereby adjusting the interval between the optical fibers 11 and converting it to another arbitrary pitch P2. The pitch of the optical fiber 11 can be easily converted to an arbitrary pitch with a simple device.

The fiber pitch conversion method and the fiber pitch conversion device of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and appropriate modifications and improvements can be made.
For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the elastic sheet having the adhesive layer 12a is exemplified as the substrate 12, but the present invention is also applicable to a plastic sheet having an adhesive layer. In this case, only the extension of the base material is possible and the contraction is impossible, so that only the conversion for expanding the pitch is possible.

  Further, rollers 13a and 13b are provided as locking members, and at least one of the rollers 13b is rotated to apply the tension of the base material 12 and extend. However, a pair of locking members that can be separated from each other instead of the rollers. It is also possible to extend the base material 12 by providing the above-mentioned clamper and separating both clampers. In this case, the extension amount of the base material 12 can be easily obtained from the change in the distance between both clampers.

Next, a specific embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the already-described site | part and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.
A polyurethane-based elastic sheet is used as the substrate 12, and an acrylic pressure-sensitive adhesive is applied to the surface as the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 12a. Twelve small-diameter fibers having an outer diameter of 125 μm are used as the optical fibers 11, and the pitch is changed from 125 μm, which is a state in which adjacent optical fibers 11 are in contact with each other, to a pitch of 160 μm.

First, as shown in FIG. 5 (A), twelve small-diameter optical fibers 11 formed as thin-fiber optical fiber ribbons on the adhesive layer 12a of the base 12 are juxtaposed at a P1 pitch (125 μm pitch) and temporarily fixed. To do. The base material 12 is extended to expand the pitch of the optical fiber 11 to P2 (160 μm) (see FIG. 5B), and both ends of the base material 12 are fixed with fixing members 18 and 18 (see FIG. 5C). ). The expanded pitch P2 is fixed with an adhesive 19a or a clamper 19b (see FIG. 5 (D)), the optical fiber 11 is removed from the base 12, and the terminal portion of the optical fiber 11 is cut and polished to end treatment. (See FIG. 5E). And the connector 17 is attached to the optical fiber 11 by which the terminal process was carried out (refer FIG.5 (F)). In the above process, when the clamper 19 is used to maintain the optical fiber 11 in the expanded pitch P2, it can be detached from the optical fiber 11 after the connector 17 is attached.
As described above, according to the fiber pitch conversion method and the fiber pitch conversion device according to the present invention, the pitch of the optical fiber 11 can be easily converted to an arbitrary pitch. Moreover, it can respond according to the pitch to convert, without preparing the conversion member for pitch kind, and has versatility.

  As described above, the fiber pitch conversion method and the fiber pitch conversion apparatus according to the present invention arrange and temporarily fix a plurality of optical fibers on an extendable base material, and the base material is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber. Since the distance between the optical fibers is widened by stretching in a certain direction, a predetermined pitch can be easily enlarged and converted to another arbitrary pitch with a simple tool, and a plurality of optical fibers can be converted. It is useful as a fiber pitch conversion method and a fiber pitch conversion device that can convert the arrangement pitch of the above.

(A) is the top view and sectional drawing which show the state before the pitch conversion in the fiber pitch conversion method of this invention, (B) is the top view and sectional drawing which show the state after pitch conversion. (A) is a top view of the suitable base material which does not shrink | contract in the direction orthogonal to an extending | stretching direction, (B) is a top view of the unsuitable base material which shrink | contracts in the direction orthogonal to an extending | stretching direction. It is a block diagram of the fiber pitch converter concerning this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows the state which converted the pitch with the fiber pitch converter. (A)-(F) is process drawing which shows the fiber pitch conversion procedure in an Example. It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional fiber pitch conversion method and fiber pitch conversion apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Fiber pitch converter 11 Optical fiber 12 Base material 12a Adhesive layer 13a, 13b Roller (locking member)
14 Motor (Substrate tension applying means)
15 Control unit

Claims (3)

A fiber pitch conversion method for converting a pitch between a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch into an arbitrary pitch,
Arranging the plurality of optical fibers on an extendable base material and temporarily fixing the optical fiber; and extending the base material in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber to expand the arrangement pitch of the optical fibers; A fiber pitch conversion method comprising:   The fiber pitch conversion method according to claim 1, wherein the base material is an elastic sheet having an adhesive layer on a surface thereof. A fiber pitch conversion device for converting a pitch between a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel at a predetermined pitch into an arbitrary pitch,
A base member that has a pair of locking members, an adhesive layer that is stretched between the pair of locking members and affixes the plurality of optical fibers to the surface, and that can be extended; and a base that applies tension to the base material A fiber pitch converter comprising: a material tension applying unit; and a control unit that controls the substrate tension applying unit.

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