JP2007101924A - Plastic optical fiber ribbon, plastic optical fiber, and cord, cable and sheet using same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a plastic optical fiber ribbon and a plastic optical fiber that can reduce increase in the loss of the plastic optical fiber caused by heat during heated coating for the formation of a cord, cable or sheet, and also to provide the cord, cable and sheet using the same. <P>SOLUTION: In the plastic optical fiber ribbon, a plurality of plastic optical fibers are arranged in parallel, for which a coating layer is provided on the outer circumference to cover them all together. Assuming that d is the minimum thickness of the coating layer and r is the radius of the outer diameter of the plastic optical fiber, the coated plastic optical fiber ribbon is characterized by the structure with a range of 0.6≥d/r≥0.25. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a plastic optical fiber tape core wire, a plastic optical fiber single core wire, a plastic optical fiber cord, a plastic optical fiber cable, and a plastic optical fiber sheet using the same.

  As a means for mounting a plurality of plastic optical fibers, there is a tape core structure. Tape core is a coating structure that is generally used for optical fibers made of silica glass, and is formed by arranging multiple optical fibers in parallel and covering them in a tape with a synthetic resin coating layer. (For example, refer to Patent Documents 1 to 5.)

  In the case of a simple parallel structure, in the tape core structure, since there is a theoretically infinite number of optical fiber strands as long as there is a die for batch coating formation and a delivery device for the number of packages to be mounted, It is more effective than an optical fiber sheet.

Although this tape core wire may be used alone, in the case of temperature, the outer layer is further coated. Examples include optical fiber tape cords used for inter-device wiring and optical fiber ribbon cables used for FTTH (Fiber to the home) access systems. A plastic resin is used, and a thermosetting resin may be used in some cases.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-206048 JP 2003-241042 A JP 2005-10310 A JP 2004-354889 A JP 2004-240014 A

  There are the following problems when the above-mentioned coding technique for a tape core wire for an optical fiber made of quartz glass is applied to the coding of a plastic optical fiber tape core wire.

  For example, a plurality of general plastic optical fibers consisting of a core made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and a thin clad made of fluororesin surrounding the core are arranged in parallel and covered in a tape shape with a coating material such as an ultraviolet curable resin. When a plastic optical fiber ribbon is used and the outer side is coated with a thermoplastic resin by heating, the temperature during the heating coating exceeds 85 ° C., which is the glass transition temperature of the plastic optical fiber. . Thereby, the plastic optical fiber in the optical fiber cord is thermally deteriorated, and the transmission loss characteristic is deteriorated. Further, the degree of deterioration of the transmission loss is not uniform depending on the location even when heat is applied uniformly. For example, in a part in one production lot, the loss is deteriorated by 1 dB / m, but in a certain place, it is deteriorated by 0.2 dB / m. For this reason, there is a large variation in the characteristics of the product after manufacture.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, a plastic optical fiber tape core wire, a plastic optical fiber single core wire capable of reducing an increase in loss of the plastic optical fiber due to heat at the time of heat coating for coding, cable formation or sheeting, The purpose is to provide a cord, a cable and a sheet using the same.

  In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a plastic optical fiber ribbon in which a plurality of plastic optical fibers are arranged in parallel and a coating layer is provided on the outer periphery of the plastic optical fibers, and the coating layer has a minimum thickness. Is provided, and a plastic optical fiber ribbon is configured such that 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25, where r is the outer diameter radius of the plastic optical fiber. .

  Further, the present invention is a plastic optical fiber single-core wire in which a coating layer is provided on the outer periphery of a plastic optical fiber, and when the thickness of the coating layer is d and the outer radius of the plastic optical fiber is r, 0. A plastic optical fiber single-core wire is provided which is configured to satisfy the range of 6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25.

  The present invention also provides a plastic optical fiber cord, wherein the plastic optical fiber tape core wire or the plastic optical fiber single core wire according to the present invention is coated with a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin.

  The present invention also provides a plastic optical fiber cable, wherein the plastic optical fiber tape core or the single plastic optical fiber core according to the present invention is coated with a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin.

  The present invention also provides a plastic optical fiber sheet, wherein the plastic optical fiber tape core or the plastic optical fiber single core according to the present invention is coated with a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin.

  The plastic optical fiber ribbon and the single optical fiber of the present invention have 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0... When the minimum thickness of the coating layer is d and the outer radius of the plastic optical fiber is r. When the cord, cable and sheet are produced by providing a coating made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin on the tape core or single core, the tape core or single core Even if a wire is coated with a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin, the influence of heat on the plastic optical fiber can be reduced, and the increase in transmission loss can be suppressed to 0.1 dB / m or less. Plastic optical fiber cords, cables and sheets can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of the plastic optical fiber ribbon of the present invention. The plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 of the present embodiment has a structure in which a plurality (four in the illustration of FIG. 1) of plastic optical fibers 11 are arranged in parallel, and a coating layer 12 is provided on the outer periphery thereof to collectively cover them. Yes. The plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 has a range of 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25, where d is the minimum thickness of the covering layer 12 and r is the outer radius of the plastic optical fiber 11. It is configured.

  The plastic optical fiber 11 used in the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 of the present embodiment is not particularly limited, and various conventionally known plastic optical fibers can be appropriately selected and used. It is desirable to use a general plastic optical fiber having a core made of methyl methacrylate (PMMA) and a thin clad made of a fluororesin surrounding the core. The outer diameter of the plastic optical fiber 11 is not limited, and plastic optical fibers 11 having various outer diameters can be used.

  As a material of the coating layer 12 used in the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 of the present embodiment, a conventionally known coating material used as a coating material for a plastic optical fiber, for example, an ultraviolet curable resin or the like is used. Can do.

  In the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 of the present embodiment, when the value of d / r that is the ratio of the minimum thickness d of the coating layer 12 to the outer radius r of the plastic optical fiber 11 is less than 0.25, Loss due to heat applied to the plastic optical fiber 11 when the coating layer 12 becomes too thin and a cord, cable, or sheet is produced by providing a coating made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin on the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10. The effect of reducing the increase cannot be sufficiently obtained, and the loss of the plastic optical fiber 11 after coding, cable formation or sheet formation increases. Moreover, since the coating layer 12 will become thick when the value of d / r exceeds 0.60, it becomes difficult to form in a tape shape.

  The plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 of the present embodiment has a range of 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25, where d is the minimum thickness of the coating layer 12 and r is the outer radius of the plastic optical fiber. With this configuration, when the cord, cable, and sheet are manufactured by providing the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 with a coating made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin, the plastic optical fiber ribbon 10 Even if the thermoplastic resin or thermosetting resin is heat-coated, the effect of heat on the plastic optical fiber 11 can be reduced, and the increase in transmission loss can be suppressed to 0.1 dB / m or less, so that the low-loss plastic Optical fiber cords, plastic optical fiber cables and plastic optical fiber sheets can be provided.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the plastic optical fiber single fiber of the present invention. The plastic optical fiber single-core wire 20 of this embodiment has a structure in which a coating layer 22 is provided around a single-core plastic optical fiber 21, and the minimum thickness of the coating layer 22 is d, and the plastic optical fiber 21. When the outer diameter radius is r, the range is 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25.

  The plastic optical fiber 21 and the coating layer 22 constituting the plastic optical fiber single core wire 20 are configured in the same manner as the plastic optical fiber 11 and the coating layer 12 constituting the plastic optical fiber tape core wire 10 described above. be able to.

  The plastic optical fiber single fiber 20 has a range of 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25, where d is the minimum thickness of the covering layer 22 and r is the outer radius of the plastic optical fiber 21. With this construction, when the cord, cable and sheet are manufactured by providing a coating made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin on the plastic optical fiber single fiber 20, the plastic optical fiber single fiber 20 is thermoplastic. Even if the resin or thermosetting resin is heat-coated, the influence of heat on the plastic optical fiber 21 can be reduced, and the increase in transmission loss can be suppressed to 0.1 dB / m or less. Cords, plastic optical fiber cables and plastic optical fiber sheets can be provided.

  The plastic optical fiber cord, the plastic optical fiber cable, and the plastic optical fiber sheet according to the present invention are a coating of the plastic optical fiber tape core wire 10 or the plastic optical fiber single core wire 20 made of a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin. It is covered with a layer to form a cord, cable or sheet shape.

  As the coating layer made of this thermoplastic resin or thermosetting resin, thermosetting properties such as thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate, acrylic resin, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyamide, polyimide, polystyrene, and epoxy resin, phenol resin such as bakelite, etc. Resins are used, and among these, polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene are preferable.

  Since the plastic optical fiber cord, the plastic optical fiber cable, and the plastic optical fiber sheet use the plastic optical fiber tape core wire 10 or the plastic optical fiber single core wire 20 according to the present invention, the internal plastic optical fiber is formed when the coating is formed. Loss increase is reduced, and a low-loss plastic optical fiber is provided.

Table 1 shows the plastic optical fiber transmission loss of the plastic optical fiber after changing the outer diameter radius r of the plastic optical fiber and the thickness d of the coating layer in the configuration of the plastic optical fiber ribbon shown in FIG. A plastic optical fiber cord is manufactured by coating polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with heat and pressure coating on the tape core, and the difference from the transmission loss after the coding (referred to as “maximum loss fluctuation” in Table 1). It shows the result of measuring. The plastic optical fiber used is a plastic optical fiber made of a resin (for example, Teflon (registered trademark)) whose core is PMMA with r = 125 μm or 250 μm and whose cladding is fluorine-containing (for example, Teflon (registered trademark)), and the coating layer is formed of an ultraviolet curable resin. did. Further, the heating and pressing conditions at the time of encoding were set to a temperature of 160 ° C., a pressure of 1 kg / cm ² , and a heating and pressing time of 20 seconds.

  From the results in Table 1, the greater the thickness d of the coating layer, the smaller the degradation of transmission loss after encoding. This indicates that the heat applied to the plastic optical fiber at the time of heat-coating at the time of encoding can be reduced as the coating layer is thicker as described above. In addition, since tape formation is performed using an ultraviolet curable resin, there is almost no thermal degradation, but ultraviolet curable resins are expensive and have poor weather resistance compared to thermoplastic resins and thermosetting resins. Encoding is difficult.

  From the results shown in Table 1, when d / r is in the range of 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25, the increase in transmission loss due to heat coating after tape formation can be suppressed to 0.1 dB / m or less. It is thought that.

  This structure can be applied not only to the tape core structure but also to the case of a single core, and the same effect can be obtained when a coating made of a thermosetting resin / thermoplastic resin is applied to a single optical fiber of a plastic optical fiber. Obtained.

  This structure can be applied not only to the case of applying a heat coating on a cord or cable, but also to the case where the tape core wire is heated and pressed with a hard plastic such as PET or an acrylic plate. For example, when a tape cord having the structure shown in FIG. 1 was subjected to heat and pressure bonding with PET to produce a sheet-like cord, the increase in transmission loss was as small as 0.1 dB / m.

It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the plastic optical fiber tape core wire of this invention. It is sectional drawing which shows one Embodiment of the plastic optical fiber single core wire of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Plastic optical fiber tape core wire, 11, 21 ... Plastic optical fiber, 12, 22 ... Covering layer, 20 ... Plastic optical fiber single core wire.

Claims (5)

A plastic optical fiber ribbon in which a plurality of plastic optical fibers are arranged in parallel, and a coating layer is provided on the outer periphery of the plastic optical fibers to collectively cover them,
A plastic optical fiber configured to satisfy the range of 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25, where d is the minimum thickness of the coating layer and r is the outer radius of the plastic optical fiber. Tape core. A plastic optical fiber single core wire in which a coating layer is provided on the outer periphery of a plastic optical fiber,
A plastic optical fiber unit characterized by having a range of 0.6 ≧ d / r ≧ 0.25 where d is the thickness of the coating layer and r is the outer radius of the plastic optical fiber. Heartline.   A plastic optical fiber cord, wherein the plastic optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1 or the plastic optical fiber single core according to claim 2 is coated with a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin.   A plastic optical fiber cable, wherein the plastic optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1 or the plastic optical fiber single core according to claim 2 is coated with a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin. A plastic optical fiber sheet, wherein the plastic optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1 or the plastic optical fiber single core according to claim 2 is coated with a thermoplastic resin or a thermosetting resin.

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