JP2008241766A - Unit type coated optical fiber ribbon - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a unit type coated optical fiber ribbon having a plurality of coated optical fiber ribbons arranged in parallel in a plane and is coated with a collective coating for coupling as a whole, which is superior in branching performance and is capable of reducing a PMD value. <P>SOLUTION: In a unit type coated optical fiber ribbon 6, a plurality of coated optical fiber ribbons 3 which are coated with a collective coating 2 so as to form collective coating recessed parts 4 in spaces between optical fibers 1 are arranged in parallel in a plane and are coated with a collective coating 5 for coupling so as to form collective coating recessed parts 7 for coupling in the collective coating recessed parts 4 and spaces between adjacent coated optical fiber ribbons 3, 3 and an outer diameter d of optical fibers 1 and a thickness g<SB>2</SB>in collective coating recessed parts 7 for coupling satisfy d-g<SB>2</SB>≥40 μm, and a total thickness a<SB>2</SB>of the collective coating and the collective coating 5 for coupling and a total thickness b<SB>2</SB>in side face parts are both ≤25 μm. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  In the present invention, a plurality of optical fiber strands are arranged in parallel in a planar shape, and a plurality of optical fiber ribbons coated in a lump are arranged in parallel in a planar shape, and a connecting lapping coating for the whole is provided. The present invention relates to unit-type optical fiber ribbons that are applied and connected.

Conventionally, for example, a plurality of so-called optical fiber strands in which a coating made of an ultraviolet curable resin or a thermosetting resin is applied to the outer periphery of a glass optical fiber are arranged in parallel in a flat shape, and an ultraviolet curable resin or the like is arranged on this. An optical fiber ribbon with a collective coating made of is known (Patent Document 1).
Furthermore, various unit type optical fiber ribbons in which a plurality of optical fiber ribbons are arranged in parallel in a planar shape and adjacent optical fiber ribbons are connected with a connecting resin have been proposed and manufactured ( Patent Document 2).

The optical fiber ribbon described in Patent Document 1 is excellent in branching workability (hereinafter simply referred to as “branchability”) when branching the optical fiber ribbon into individual optical fiber strands. At the same time, an optical fiber ribbon capable of suppressing an increase in transmission loss of the optical fiber is proposed. At the same time, Patent Document 1 also mentions the structure of an optical fiber ribbon that can reduce the polarization mode dispersion value (hereinafter simply referred to as PMD).
Specifically, we have proposed an optical fiber ribbon in which the thickness of the coating is reduced and a recess having a predetermined depth corresponding to the depression between the optical fibers constituting the optical fiber ribbon is formed. ing.

Patent Document 2 proposes a unit-type optical fiber ribbon in which optical fiber ribbons are arranged in parallel in a planar shape and connected with a connecting resin.
This invention also proposes a unit type optical fiber ribbon that is excellent in branching ability to divide a unit type optical fiber ribbon into individual optical fiber ribbons and that causes little increase in transmission loss. Furthermore, it is also noted that it is desirable to reduce the PMD in the unit type optical fiber ribbon.

Japanese Patent No. 3664254 JP 2005-352510 A

However, although Patent Document 1 mentioned above refers to a structure for reducing PMD of an optical fiber ribbon, a plurality of such optical fiber ribbons are arranged in parallel in a planar shape, There is no disclosure about the reduction of PMD when a unit type optical fiber ribbon is formed by applying a collective coating for connection.
Patent Document 2 states that an optical fiber cable having a small PMD and capable of high-speed long-distance transmission is desired as a unit-type optical fiber ribbon. Specifically, if the PMDQ value when the unit type optical fiber ribbon is bundled is 0.2 (ps / km ^1/2 ) or less, the transmission speed is 40 Gbps and the transmission distance is 625 km. Thus, there is a description that if the transmission speed is 80 Gbps, the transmittable distance is 156 km.

However, the cited document 2 specifically describes the structure of the unit-type optical fiber ribbon in order to make the PMDQ value 0.2 (ps / km ^1/2 ) or less. Does not show anything.

  Therefore, the object of the present invention is to arrange a plurality of optical fiber ribbons in parallel in a planar shape, and united optical fiber ribbons connected by applying a collective coating for the whole, excellent branching, And it is providing the unit type optical fiber tape core wire which can make the value of PMD smaller.

In order to achieve the above object, the unit type optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1 of the present invention has a plurality of optical fiber strands arranged in parallel in a planar shape and corresponds to a depression between the adjacent optical fiber strands. Then, a plurality of optical fiber ribbons that are collectively coated so as to form a collective coating recess are arranged in parallel in a planar shape, and each of the optical fiber tape cores is arranged on the whole of the plurality of optical fiber ribbons. A unit-type light that is provided with a connecting collective coating so that a connecting collective covering recess is formed corresponding to each of the recesses between the optical fiber tape cores adjacent to the collective covering recess formed on the surface of the wire. in the fiber ribbon, the upper and lower surfaces of the light d the outer diameter of the fiber, the thickness of the unit optical fiber ribbons in said coupling collective coating recesses g _2, unit type optical fiber ribbons The collective coating and the connecting bulk total thickness of the coating a ₂ to _definitive, the total thickness of the bulk coating and the connecting collective coating on the side portions when the b _2, with d-g ₂ ≧ 40μm And a ₂ and b ₂ are both 25 μm or less.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, a plurality of optical fiber ribbons are arranged in parallel in a planar shape, and a unit-type optical fiber ribbon is connected by applying a collective coating for connection to the whole. It is possible to provide a unit type optical fiber ribbon that is excellent in performance and can further reduce the value of PMD.

The unit type optical fiber ribbon of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a transverse sectional view showing an embodiment of the unit type optical fiber ribbon of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged transverse sectional view thereof.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in order to obtain the unit type optical fiber ribbon of the present invention, first, for example, a resin coating made of an ultraviolet curable resin or a thermosetting resin on the outer periphery of a glass optical fiber. A plurality of so-called optical fiber strands 1 having the above are prepared. For example, four optical fiber strands 1 are arranged in parallel in a plane, and a batch coating 2 made of, for example, an ultraviolet curable resin, a thermosetting resin, or the like is applied thereto, and an optical fiber ribbon 3 is attached. Form. Note that the number of the optical fiber strands 1 is not limited to four, and may be eight, for example, and the number can be appropriately selected as needed.
Note that when the collective coating 2 is applied, the collective coating recesses 4 are formed in the collective coating 2 so as to correspond to the depressions (valleys) between adjacent optical fiber strands 1 arranged in a plane. In this way, consideration is given to reducing the resin amount of the collective coating 2 coated on each optical fiber 1.

In this embodiment, two optical fiber tape cores 3 formed in this way are prepared, and the two optical fiber tape cores 3 are arranged in parallel in a planar shape, and the entire optical fiber tape cores 3 are arranged. Then, a connecting collective coating 5 made of, for example, an ultraviolet curable resin or the like is applied, and both optical fiber ribbons 3 are connected to form a unit type optical fiber ribbon 6.
Here, when the connecting collective coating 5 is applied, the collective coating recesses 4 formed between the optical fiber strands 1 of the optical fiber tape core 3 and the recesses between the adjacent optical fiber tape cores 3 are respectively provided. Correspondingly, coating was applied so as to form a connecting collective covering recess 7 and the connections were made.
Thus, when forming the connecting batch coating 5 on the surface of the plurality of optical fiber ribbons 3, the unit-type optical fiber ribbon 6 is attached in consideration of minimizing the amount of resin to be coated. When branching to the optical fiber ribbons 3 and 3, it is easy to branch.

By the way, the present inventors have obtained the knowledge that the PMD value of the optical fiber ribbon 3 can be made smaller as the resin thickness of the batch coating 2 on the optical fiber 1 is thinner, and from that viewpoint 1 and FIG. 2, in the unit type optical fiber ribbon 6, the outer diameter of the optical fiber 1 is d, the thickness of the optical fiber ribbon 3 is T ₁ , and the optical fiber in the collective covering recess 4. The thickness of the tape core wire is g ₁ , similarly, the thickness of the unit type optical fiber ribbon core is T ₂ , the thickness of the connecting batch covering recess 7 is g ₂ , and the unit type optical fiber ribbon core 6 is above the lower surface, i.e., a ₂ the total thickness of the connecting collective coating 5 and collective coating 2 in the thickness _direction, the collective coating 2 on the side surface portion of the total thickness of the connecting collective coating 5 as b _2, these T ₁ , T ₂ , a ₂ , b ₂ , g The relationship between ₁ , g ₂ , and (d-g ₂ ) and PMD was examined. The results are shown in Table 1.

As shown in Table 1, from the results of Experimental Examples 1 to 12, when dg ₂ ≧ 40 μm and the batch coating 2 and the linked batch coating 5 are applied so that both a ₂ and b ₂ are 25 μm or less, It was found that the PMDQ of the unit type optical fiber ribbon 6 can be surely made 0.2 (ps / km ^1/2 ) or less.
Further, as described above, in the unit type optical fiber ribbon 6, the collective coating recess 4 is disposed between the optical fiber strands 1 and 1 in each optical fiber ribbon 3, and the collective coating recess 4 is adjacent. Since the connecting collective covering recesses 7 are respectively formed corresponding to the recesses between the optical fiber ribbons 3 and 3, branching to the optical fiber 1, or optical fiber strands assembled in groups of plural In the case of branching to 1 and further branching to the optical fiber ribbons 3 and 3, the branching operation could be performed very easily.

In Table 1, ◎ indicates PMDQ is 0.1 ps / km or less, ○ indicates 0.1 ps / km to 0.2 ps / km or less, Δ indicates 0.2 ps / km to 0.4 ps / km or less, and X indicates 0.4 ps / km or more.
In Table 1, PMD is indicated as PMDQ. It is a value calculated by the Monte Carlo method defined in 650.2.
Further, the single core separation property indicates the difficulty in separating one optical fiber strand 1 from the unit type optical fiber ribbon 6 and taking it out. Incidentally, this single-core separation property is, for example, the length of time required to separate the optical fiber 1 from the unit-type optical fiber ribbon 6 using the separation tool disclosed in JP-A-2006-30684. Judged by

  Specifically, the separation tool includes a filed portion that presses the optical fiber ribbon, and a concavo-convex portion that is provided adjacent to the file portion and has a plurality of small protrusions that press the optical fiber ribbon. Are pivotally supported by a fulcrum provided at the base of the arm, and both arms are biased by leaf springs or coil springs in a direction in which both arms open. The pair of arms are closed against the urging force of the spring, so that the optical fiber tape core wire is pressed by the file part or the uneven part.

The optical fiber tape core wire is rubbed with the filed portion of the separation tool thus formed, and further, when the single fiber is separated into the respective optical fiber strands by rubbing with the concavo-convex portion, the single-fiber separation property depends on the length of time required. Was judged.
Incidentally, ◯ indicates that it took less than 30 seconds, Δ indicates that it took less than 1 minute, and X indicates that it took longer than 1 minute.
Moreover, although the manufacturability of whether each unit type optical fiber ribbon 6 was easy to manufacture was also investigated, there was almost no significant difference regarding the manufacturing method.

Needless to say, the single fiber separation property, that is, the branching property of branching from one optical fiber strand 1 or the optical fiber tape core wire 3 or the unit type optical fiber tape core wire 6 is between the optical fiber strands 1. The collective covering recesses 4 are formed in this, and branching is easy because the amount of resin in this portion is small.
In addition, since the connecting collective coating recess 7 with a small amount of resin is formed between the optical fiber ribbons 3 and 3, the optical fiber ribbon 3 can be branched from the unit type optical fiber ribbon 6. It can also be done very easily.

  Moreover, in the said Example, although ultraviolet curable resin is used as the collective coating 2 or the connection collective coating 5, specifically, an ultraviolet curable epoxy acrylate resin, a polybutadiene acrylate resin, or a silicone acrylate resin is used. it can.

As described above, according to the present invention, a unit type optical fiber ribbon in which a plurality of optical fiber ribbons are arranged in parallel in a planar shape and these unit type optical fiber ribbons are connected together by a collective coating for connection. In this case, the PMD value is excellent when the unit type optical fiber ribbon is bundled, more specifically, 0.2 (ps / km ^1/2 ) or less. A unit type optical fiber ribbon that can be provided can be provided.

It is a cross-sectional view which shows one Example of the unit type optical fiber ribbon of this invention. It is a partially expanded view of the unit type optical fiber ribbon of the present invention shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber strand 2 Collective coating 3 Optical fiber tape core wire 4 Collective coating recessed part 5 Connection collective coating 6 Unit type optical fiber tape core wire 7 Collective coating concave part

Claims (1)

An optical fiber tape core wire in which a plurality of optical fiber strands are arranged in parallel in a planar shape and collectively coated so as to form a collectively coated recess corresponding to a recess between adjacent optical fiber strands. A plurality of optical fiber tape cores are arranged in parallel, and the optical fiber tape cores adjacent to the collective covering recesses formed on the surface of each of the optical fiber ribbons are arranged over the plurality of optical fiber ribbons. In a unit type optical fiber ribbon coated with a connecting lump so as to form a connecting lump covering in correspondence with each depression, the outer diameter of the optical fiber is d, The thickness of the unit type optical fiber ribbon is g ₂ , the total thickness of the collective coating and the connecting collective coating on the upper and lower surfaces of the unit type optical fiber ribbon is a ₂ , When the total thickness of the serial collective coating and the connecting collective coating was b _2, a d-g ₂ ≧ 40μm, and unit type, characterized in that a _2, b ₂ is both 25μm or less Optical fiber ribbon.

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