JP2009093077A - Optical fiber ribbon and its separation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily separate optical fiber ribbons without twisting nor bending when branching a live line and to prevent the deterioration in transmission characteristic and break of the optical fiber ribbons. <P>SOLUTION: The optical fiber ribbon 1 is provided with an overall coating 5 on the outer periphery of a plurality of optical fibers 3 arranged in parallel to one another. Slits 7 penetrating through the thickness direction of the overall coating 5 are intermittently provided in the longitudinal direction of the overall coating 5 at the positions on the overall coating 5 corresponding to the boundary position between the adjacent optical fibers 3. The dimension of the length of the slits 7 and the dimension between the slits 7 are like that the bending radius of the optical fibers 3 adjacent to the slits 7 is enough for branching live line when the slits are expanded with a longitudinally splitting member which is pierced to the slit 7 and moved in the longitudinal direction to longitudinally split the overall coating 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber ribbon that can be easily branched and a method for dividing the same.

  Conventionally, as an optical fiber tape core wire provided with a collective coating on the outer periphery of a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel, various devices have been made so that it can be easily torn between the core wires, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 4 include the following.

  In the split-type optical fiber ribbon of Patent Document 1 and the manufacturing method thereof, a portion without secondary coating (collective coating) and a portion with secondary coating (collective coating) are formed alternately over the entire length in the width direction. ing. That is, after a plurality of optical fibers are collectively covered and the ultraviolet rays are intermittently cured with respect to the batch coating, an uncured portion of the resin is dissolved to form a portion without the batch coating. Therefore, it becomes possible to easily divide from a portion where there is no collective coating.

  The optical fiber tape and optical cable of Patent Document 2 have a configuration in which the thickness of one surface is smaller than the thickness of the other surface in the thickness of the collective coating of the optical fiber ribbon. For example, when the lower thickness is thinner than the upper side of the tape coating, the optical fiber can be easily branched from the lower surface side.

  In the optical fiber tape unit and the optical fiber cable of Patent Document 3, a recess is formed at a position between the divided optical fibers to facilitate tearing. In this case, since a plurality of integrated optical fiber ribbons are lined up and the plurality of optical fiber ribbons are connected by a connecting resin, they can be easily divided from the connecting resin.

In the tape-shaped optical fiber and the manufacturing method thereof in Patent Document 4, the coating layer for integrating the two adjacent optical fibers in the optical fiber ribbon is slightly constricted. In addition, a notch opening is formed in the covering layer between the two optical fibers to facilitate tearing (by hand). Therefore, since the slit is formed in the coating layer between the two adjacent optical fibers in the optical fiber ribbon, it can be easily divided.
JP-A-11-183768 JP, 2005-10422, A JP, 2005-292518, A JP-A-1-138516

  By the way, the conventional optical fiber ribbon has various problems.

  In Patent Document 1, it is difficult to completely remove uncured resin. The thickness of the tape core wire in the portion where the resin in the uncured portion is removed becomes thinner than in other portions.

  In Patent Document 2, since there is a difference in the upper and lower thicknesses of the covering portion, the optical fiber ribbon is easily warped.

  In Patent Document 3, since the taped material is coated twice or more with the taped material of the integrated optical fiber tape core and the connecting resin tape, the optical fiber tape core becomes thick. Further, at the time of branching work, since the connecting resin (tape material) coated for connection must be removed, it takes time.

  In Patent Document 4, for example, when tearing by hand, (1) the optical fiber ribbon is pulled to the right and left to tear. (2) It tears by raising one side of the tear line and lowering the other side. The above method (1) or (2) is used for tearing. However, this causes twisting or bending of the optical fiber ribbon, and in the worst case, the transmission characteristics are deteriorated. There is a risk of disconnection. Thus, the dividing method which considered the loss fluctuation | variation at the time of the division | segmentation of an optical fiber ribbon is not described. Moreover, the width and pitch of the notch openings suitable for live line branching are not taken into consideration.

  An object of the present invention is to easily divide each core wire so as not to cause twisting or bending at the time of hot line branching to avoid deterioration of transmission characteristics or disconnection.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an optical fiber ribbon of the present invention is an optical fiber ribbon in which a lump is provided on the outer periphery of a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel.
Intermittently providing a slit penetrating in the thickness direction of the collective coating at the position of the collective coating corresponding to the position of the boundary between the adjacent optical fibers, in the longitudinal direction of the collective coating,
The length of the slit and the dimension of the interval between the slits are slits widened by the longitudinal tearing member when longitudinally tearing the collective covering by moving in the longitudinal direction through the longitudinal tearing member to the slit. The bend radius of the optical fiber adjacent to the structure is such that a live line can be branched.

  Further, the optical fiber ribbon of the present invention is provided with a separating portion of the collective covering that separates the optical fibers at a position of a boundary between the optical fibers in the optical fiber ribbon. The slit is preferably provided at a position.

Further, the optical fiber ribbon of the present invention, in the optical fiber ribbon, when the width or diameter of the longitudinal tearing member is 0.2 mm,
5mm ≦ slit length <500mm
5 mm <(slit length + slit interval) ≦ 500 mm
0.01 ≦ slit length / (slit length + slit interval) <1
It is preferable that

  The method for dividing an optical fiber ribbon according to the present invention is an optical fiber ribbon in which a lump is provided on the outer periphery of a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel, and the position of a boundary between adjacent optical fibers Slits penetrating in the thickness direction of the collective coating are provided intermittently in the longitudinal direction of the collective coating at the position of the collective coating, and the slits of the collective coating are passed through the longitudinal tearing member in the longitudinal direction. The collective coating is longitudinally split by moving.

  As will be understood from the means for solving the above-described problems, according to the optical fiber ribbon of the present invention, by moving in the longitudinal direction through the longitudinal tearing member through the slit, In addition, it is possible to easily split and split the collective coating without causing twisting or bending of the optical fiber, and avoid deterioration of transmission characteristics and disconnection. Moreover, even if the width | variety of a slit is narrow, the member for vertical tearing can be passed. Moreover, even if it does not aim at the improvement of the branching property of an optical fiber by providing the difference in the upper and lower thickness of a coating | coated part like the conventional patent document 2, That is, even if it covers a lump with the same thickness over the whole length Since the branching property of the optical fiber can be improved, the thickness of the optical fiber ribbon is almost uniform, so that it does not warp and is easy to handle. Further, as in the conventional patent document 3, it is not necessary to improve the branching property of the optical fiber by coating the taped material twice or more and providing the connecting resin, that is, the coating to be coated is only one layer. However, since the branching property of the optical fiber can be improved, a thin tape core can be obtained.

  Further, according to the method for dividing the optical fiber ribbon of the present invention, the lapping is longitudinally split without twisting or bending the optical fiber only by moving the slit through the longitudinal tearing member in the longitudinal direction. It can be easily divided.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  Referring to FIG. 1, an optical fiber ribbon 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as “tape ribbon”) according to this embodiment includes a plurality of optical fibers 3 such as an optical fiber or an optical fiber. In this embodiment, for example, optical fiber colored core wires as a total of eight optical fibers 3 are arranged in parallel and collectively on the outer periphery of the eight optical fibers 3 in this embodiment. A coating 5 (taping material) is applied.

  In addition, at the position of the collective coating 5 corresponding to the position of the boundary between the adjacent optical fibers 3, a separation portion 5A of the collective coating 5 that separates the optical fibers 3 is provided. Slits 7 penetrating in the thickness direction of the collective coating 5 are intermittently provided at the position of the separation portion 5A over the longitudinal direction of the collective coating 5. In the present embodiment, the optical fibers 3 are # 1, # 2, # 3,..., # 7, # 8 in order from the left in FIG. The slits 7 are intermittently provided in the 5A batch coating 5. In other words, the portions separated by the slits 7 (separation portions) and the slit interval portions 9 (adhesion portions) that are bonded to each other without the slits 7 are alternately provided.

  By providing the slits 7 intermittently, it is possible to easily branch, but with this alone, for example, the optical fiber tape core wire of the conventional patent document 4 is pulled to the left and right. If the tearing line 11 is torn by raising one of the left and right sides in FIG. 1 and lowering the other side of the tearing line 11, twisting or bending that causes deterioration in transmission characteristics (loss fluctuation) or disconnection of the optical fiber 3 is caused. It will cause it. In order to avoid this, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, a longitudinal tearing wire 13 as a longitudinal tearing member is inserted into the slit 7, and this longitudinal tearing wire 13 is By moving in the longitudinal direction of the tape core wire 1, the collective covering 5 can be longitudinally split.

  That is, the slit length of the slit 7 (separating portion) is A (hereinafter simply referred to as “length A”), and the slit interval of the slit interval portion 9 (adhesive portion) is B (hereinafter simply “interval B”). The length A, (length A + interval B), and length A / (length A + interval B) can be obtained by moving the longitudinal tearing wire 13 passed through the slit 7 in the longitudinal direction. It is necessary to adopt a configuration in which the transmission characteristics of the optical fiber 3 do not deteriorate.

  More specifically, an 8-core tape core wire 1 using an optical fiber core wire having a diameter of, for example, 0.25 mm as the optical fiber 3 is taken as an example. The slit 7 is intermittently provided between the optical fibers 3 of # 4 and # 5. The ratio of the length A of the slit 7 to the interval B of the slit interval 9 and the period of the length A of the slit 7 and the interval B of the slit interval 9 are examined, The loss change of transmission characteristics at the time of division was measured.

  The produced 8-fiber ribbon 1 has a slit 7 having a length A of 72 mm and a slit spacing 9 having a spacing B of 8 mm. Therefore, (length A + interval B) is 80 mm, and length A / (length A + interval B) is 0.9. The length A / (length A + interval B) is referred to as “separation part ratio”.

  The pitch interval P between the optical fibers 3 of # 4 and # 5 is 0.32 mm, and the width C of the separating portion 5A of the collective coating 5 between the optical fibers 3 of # 4 and # 5 is 0.07 mm. . Therefore, in this case, the width D of the slit 7 is smaller than 0.07 mm.

  Also, the tape core wire 1 was divided into the following three methods.

(1) The slit 7 (separation part) of the tape core wire 1 is used as a boundary, and it divides | segments so that it may rip, holding both sides by hand.

(2) The longitudinal tear wire 13 having a diameter of 1.0 mm is inserted into the slit 7 between the optical fibers 3 of the tape core wire 1 and is slid parallel to the slit 7 to divide the tape core wire 1.

(3) The longitudinal tear wire 13 having a diameter of 0.2 mm is inserted into the slit 7 between the optical fibers 3 of the tape core wire 1 and is slid in parallel with the slit 7 to divide the tape core wire 1.

Table 1 shows the loss fluctuation when the above division methods are used. In Table 1, ◯ indicates that the loss fluctuation at the time of division is 1 dB or less, and Δ indicates that the loss fluctuation at the time of division is 1 dB or more.

  As can be seen from the results in Table 1, the division method (1) is the same as that of the conventional patent document 4, the result is Δ, and the loss fluctuation at the time of division is 1 dB or more. Further, in the dividing method (2), the longitudinal tearing wire 13 had a diameter of 1.0 mm, the result was Δ, and the loss fluctuation at the time of division was 1 dB or more. On the other hand, in the dividing method (3) described above, the longitudinal tearing wire 13 had a diameter of 0.2 mm, the result was ◯, and the loss fluctuation at the time of division was 1 dB or less.

  From the above, when the longitudinal tear wire 13 having a large diameter with respect to the pitch interval P of the optical fiber 3 is used, a large bend is applied to the optical fiber 3 when the tape core wire 1 is divided. It can be seen that the loss fluctuation at the time also increases. On the other hand, it was possible to suppress the loss fluctuation at the time of division to 1 dB or less by using the longitudinal tearing wire 13 having an appropriate diameter.

  For example, the width D of the slit 7 is smaller than 0.07 mm, but the diameter of the longitudinal tearing wire 13 is 1.0 mm or 0.2 mm, which is larger than the width D of the slit 7 in any case. Therefore, when the longitudinal tearing wire 13 is inserted into the slit 7, the optical fiber 3 is bent, and the distance between the # 4 and # 5 optical fibers 3 is widened. Therefore, by bending the optical fiber 3, it becomes possible to insert the longitudinal tearing wire 13 having a diameter larger than the width D of the slit 7.

  However, in the case of using the longitudinal tearing wire 13 having a diameter of 0.2 mm, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the case where there is no separation (0 mm) between adjacent optical fibers 3 is a slit. 7, the adjacent optical fiber 3 is separated. That is, the separation of the optical fiber 3 spreads and bending is applied to the optical fiber 3, but if the length A of the slit 7 is about 5 mm or more, the bending radius applied to the optical fiber 3 can be suppressed to R30 mm or more. , Loss fluctuation at the time of division can be suppressed. Therefore, in this embodiment, the length A of the slit 7 is preferably 5 mm or more.

  Therefore, in the case where the above-described longitudinal tearing wire 13 having a diameter of 0.2 mm is used for dividing the tape core wire 1, the bending of the optical fiber 3 when the longitudinal tearing wire 13 is inserted into the slit 7 is R30 mm or more. Then, it is difficult for the transmission loss to increase. Therefore, it is desirable that the interval B ≧ 5 mm. In addition, when an optical fiber cable such as an SZ type optical fiber cable is intermediately branched, since the length of the cable sheath to be peeled is about 500 mm, at least one slit interval portion 9 (adhesive portion) in 500 mm. ) Must have.

In summary, when the diameter of the longitudinal tearing wire 13 is 0.2 mm, the length A, (length A + interval B), length A / (length A + interval B) are:
5mm ≦ length A <500mm
5 mm <(length A + interval B) ≦ 500 mm
0.01 ≦ length A / (length A + interval B) <1
Must. Note that [length A / (length A + interval B)] is referred to as a separation portion ratio.

  In the above-described embodiment, the 8-core ribbon 1 has the slits 7 between # 4 and # 5. However, the number of the ribbons 1 is arbitrary, that is, the 4-core tape, 12 It may be a core tape or other numbers of core wires. Further, the position where the slit 7 is provided is not limited to between # 4 and # 5 as in the above-described embodiment, but may be provided between any optical fibers 3. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, slits 7 may be provided between a plurality of cores of the tape core 1.

  Further, as the longitudinal tearing member used for the division, a longitudinal tearing plate having a thickness similar to the diameter of the longitudinal tearing wire 13 may be used instead of the above-described longitudinal tearing wire 13.

  Further, when the separation portion 5A of the collective coating 5 that separates the adjacent optical fibers 3 as in the above-described embodiment is provided, it is easy to provide the slit 7, and the longitudinal tearing wire 13 is provided in the slit 7. Although it is desirable in that the bending radius of the optical fiber 3 adjacent to the slit 7 is increased when inserted, the separation portion 5A may be omitted.

  From the above, by moving the slit 7 through the longitudinal tearing wire 13 in the longitudinal direction of the slit 7, twisting or bending is made to the optical fiber 3 so that it is impossible to branch the live line when the live line is branched. Without this, it is possible to split the tape core wire 1 easily by longitudinally tearing the batch coating 5. As a result, it is possible to avoid deterioration in transmission characteristics and disconnection of the optical fiber 3. Even if the width D of the slit 7 is narrow, the longitudinal tearing wire 13 can be passed.

  Moreover, the tape core wire 1 has the same thickness over the entire length without improving the branching property of the optical fiber 3 by providing a difference in the upper and lower thicknesses of the covering portion as in the conventional patent document 2. Since the optical fiber 3 can be easily branched even if the cover 5 is covered, the thickness of the tape core 1 is almost uniform, and the tape core 1 is not warped and is easy to handle. is there.

  Further, since the optical fiber 1 can be improved in the optical fiber 1 even if only one layer of the coating 5 is coated, the thin optical fiber ribbon 1 can be obtained. That is, even if it does not aim at the improvement of the branching property of the optical fiber 3 by coating the taped material twice or more as in the conventional patent document 3 and providing the connecting resin, that is, in the conventional manner, the two layers are formed. Dividing can be easily performed without providing a tape material.

It is a perspective view which shows the optical fiber tape cable core of embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows roughly the division | segmentation method of the optical fiber tape core wire of embodiment of this invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a spread state of a slit into which a longitudinal tearing member is inserted in FIG. 2. It is a perspective view which shows the optical fiber tape core wire of another embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber ribbon 3 Optical fiber 5 Collective coating 5A Separation part 7 Slit 9 Slit space part 11 Tear line 13 Vertical tearing wire (longitudinal tearing member)
A Slit length B Slit spacing C Width of collective coating between # 4 and # 5 optical fibers D Slit width P # Pitch spacing of # 4 and # 5 optical fibers

Claims (4)

In an optical fiber ribbon in which a lump coating is provided on the outer periphery of a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel,
Intermittently providing a slit penetrating in the thickness direction of the collective coating at the position of the collective coating corresponding to the position of the boundary between the adjacent optical fibers, in the longitudinal direction of the collective coating,
The length of the slit and the dimension of the interval between the slits are slits widened by the longitudinal tearing member when longitudinally tearing the collective covering by moving in the longitudinal direction through the longitudinal tearing member to the slit. An optical fiber ribbon having a configuration in which a bend radius of the optical fiber adjacent to the optical fiber is capable of hot branching.   2. The optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein a separation portion of the collective coating that separates the optical fibers is provided at a position of a boundary between the optical fibers, and the slit is provided at a position of the separation portion. Tape core. When the width or diameter of the longitudinal tearing member is 0.2 mm,
5mm ≦ slit length <500mm
5 mm <(slit length + slit interval) ≦ 500 mm
0.01 ≦ slit length / (slit length + slit interval) <1
The optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1 or 2, wherein   An optical fiber tape core wire provided with a collective coating on the outer periphery of a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel, wherein the collective coating is provided at a position of the collective coating corresponding to a boundary position between the adjacent optical fibers. Slits penetrating in the thickness direction of the collective coating are intermittently provided in the longitudinal direction of the collective coating, and the collective coating is longitudinally split by moving in the longitudinal direction through the longitudinal tearing member to the slits of the collective coating. A method of dividing an optical fiber ribbon that is characterized.

Images