JP2010271385A - Cutter for cutting optical fiber and method of cutting optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cutter for cutting an optical fiber and method, having high reliability to cut the optical fiber inexpensively and surely. <P>SOLUTION: This cutter 1 for cutting the optical fiber is a simplified blade mounted to an optical fiber cutting machine 10 for cutting a glass fiber or the optical fiber 70 including the glass fiber in a coated part. The blade includes a cutting edge part 4 having a planar part 20 for bringing the knife edge into surface contact with the glass fiber surface in applying an initial scratch. The planar part 20 has a width of 5-20 μm, and the surface thereof is surface-treated with a DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coating. The cutting edge part 4 applies an initial scratch to the surface of the glass fiber with load of 5N-8N. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber cutting cutter for cutting an optical fiber housed in an optical connector, for example, and an optical fiber cutting method.

  As an example of a conventional method for cutting an optical fiber, the outer peripheral edge of the blade member contacts the optical fiber and cuts into the coated portion of the optical fiber by holding the optical fiber between the upper and lower clamps and moving the slider. . And after a coating | coated part is cut | incised, what cut | disconnected the glass fiber surface by making a blade member contact the glass fiber of an optical fiber is known (for example, patent document 1). reference).

Usually, in order to cut a coated optical fiber, it is necessary to cut the coating and scratch the surface of the glass fiber, and an optical fiber having an expensive carbide blade at a relatively large angle such as a cutting edge angle of 60 degrees. A cutting cutter is used.
That is, with the optical fiber cutting cutter, although the glass fiber can be sufficiently scratched, it is difficult for the blade edge to tear the coating and to cut the coating.

JP 2006-284839 A

For this reason, in order to cut the coated optical fiber, a blade having a sharp edge has been used to cut the coating.
Further, in the optical fiber cutting cutter, an NT blade having a sharp edge and being inexpensive is used. In that case, although it is suitable for coating cutting, special cutting conditions were necessary because there was not enough strength in glass scratching.
For example, when the glass fiber is not crushed at the time of scratching and is scratched with a blade pressure that causes the blade tip to collapse, the gripping force (tension) of the glass fiber is set to be twice or more that of a normal glass fiber.
Also, special adjustments such as slowing the bending break speed are required to stabilize the bending break. These special conditions are caused by small damage to the glass. Since the damage is not sufficient, the bending process conditions (fiber gripping force, bending speed, etc.) are limited.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable optical fiber cutting cutter and an optical fiber cutting method that can perform reliable cutting at low cost. There is.

The optical fiber cutting cutter according to the present invention that can solve the above-mentioned problems is an optical fiber cutting cutter for cutting an optical fiber having glass fiber or glass fiber in a coating part,
It is characterized in that a blade portion having a planar portion for bringing the blade edge into surface contact with the surface of the glass fiber when an initial scratch is applied is provided.

  According to the optical fiber cutting cutter described above, by providing the blade tip with a planar portion for bringing the glass fiber surface into surface contact, the contact area with the optical fiber when applying an initial flaw to the optical fiber is increased. . Thereby, it is not necessary to use an expensive cemented carbide blade, it is possible to apply an initial flaw by applying an inexpensive simple blade, and it is possible to reliably cut the optical fiber.

  In the optical fiber cutting cutter according to the present invention, the width of the planar portion is preferably 5 to 20 μm.

  According to the optical fiber cutting cutter described above, by setting the cutting edge width of the planar portion to 5 to 20 μm, it is possible to increase the scratching force on the optical fiber and to impart effective initial scratches.

  In the optical fiber cutting cutter according to the present invention, the surface of the planar portion is preferably surface-treated.

  According to the above-described optical fiber cutting cutter, the surface of the planar portion is subjected to a surface treatment such as DLC coating, so that the scratching force on the optical fiber can be further increased and effective initial scratches can be obtained. Can be granted.

  In the optical fiber cutting cutter according to the present invention, it is preferable that the blade portion gives an initial scratch to the surface of the glass fiber by a load of 5 to 8N.

  According to the optical fiber cutting cutter described above, the blade portion is brought into contact with the surface of the optical fiber with a load of 5 to 8N, thereby further increasing the scratching force on the optical fiber and applying an effective initial scratch. Can do.

  In the optical fiber cutting cutter according to the present invention, the optical fiber is preferably a coated optical fiber.

  According to the optical fiber cutting cutter described above, since the blade has the blade portion having the planar portion, the coated cutting in the coated optical fiber can be reliably performed, and sufficient initial scratches are imparted. It can be performed.

  In the method for cutting an optical fiber according to the present invention, it is preferable to give an initial damage to the optical fiber by using the optical fiber cutting cutter described above.

  According to the optical fiber cutting method described above, by bringing the blade portion having a planar portion at the blade edge into contact with the optical fiber, a sufficient contact area can be secured and an initial flaw can be imparted to the optical fiber. Thereby, it is not necessary to use an expensive carbide blade, and it is possible to reliably apply an initial flaw to an optical fiber by applying an inexpensive simple blade, and to reliably cut an optical fiber.

  According to the optical fiber cutting cutter and the optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a highly reliable optical fiber cutting machine that can perform reliable cutting at low cost.

1 is an external perspective view of an optical fiber cutting machine to which an optical fiber cutting cutter and an optical fiber cutting method according to an embodiment of the present invention are applied. It is the elements on larger scale of the cutter for optical fiber cutting of FIG. It is a front view of the cutter for optical fiber cutting of FIG. It is an expanded sectional view of the blade part of the cutter for optical fiber cutting of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the cutting method of the optical fiber by the optical fiber cutting machine of FIG.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 to 5 show an embodiment of an optical fiber cutting cutter and an optical fiber cutting method according to the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an optical fiber cutting cutter and an optical fiber according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of the optical fiber cutting machine in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a front view of the optical fiber cutting cutter in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of an optical fiber cutting method by the optical fiber cutting machine of FIG. 1.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the optical fiber cutting machine 10 includes an optical fiber cutting cutter 1, an upper body 11, a lower body 12, a fiber holder 13, a pair of clamps 14 and 15, a pair of pillow members 16 and 17, a blade pressure. A setting unit 18 and the like are provided. The optical fiber cutting machine 10 is a scratch vent type (vertical pressing type) cutting machine that gives initial scratches to the coated optical fiber 70.

  The optical fiber cutting cutter 1 is a so-called simple blade made of stainless steel such as SK steel (SK420 series), high-speed steel, SUS (martensite series (SUS420 series, etc.), and is formed on the lower surface of the upper body 11. It is assembled in the longitudinal direction. The fixing hole 2 provided at the base end portion is fixed to a fixed shaft 20 provided in the slide feed operation portion 19 disposed on the upper surface of the upper body 11.

  The upper body 11 has a base end portion rotatably connected to a base end portion of the lower body 12 via a pivot 21, and a distal end portion is separated from a distal end portion of the lower body 12 by a return spring (not shown). Always biased in the direction. In the upper body 11, a pressing member 22 disposed to face the clamps 14 and 15 is assembled on the upper side of the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 via a blade pressure spring 23. The blade pressure spring 23 sets the pressing force of the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 against the coated optical fiber 70 to, for example, 5N to 8N.

  The fiber holder 13 is formed so as to protrude from the side of the lower body 12 and includes a fiber pressing portion 24 that can be opened and closed. The fiber holder 13 opens the fiber pressing portion 24 and places the coated optical fiber 70 to be cut on the upper surface, and then closes the fiber pressing portion 24. Accordingly, the coated optical fiber 70 is disposed in the cutting processing unit 25 formed at the distal end portion of the lower body 12.

  The clamps 14 and 15 are assembled to both sides of the cutting processing unit 25 of the lower body 12, respectively. The clamps 14 and 15 have predetermined cut portions 71 of the coated optical fiber 70 supported by the fiber holder 13 at the respective central positions, and the pressing member 22 of the upper body 11 is pressed from above. As a result, the clamps 14 and 15 support the cut portion 71 of the coated optical fiber 70 by applying bending tension via the blade pressure spring 23.

Each of the pillow members 16 and 17 is formed in a V-block shape having V-shaped optical fiber holding grooves 28 and 29, and has a cutter relief groove 30 between them. The optical fiber holding grooves 28 and 29 have an opening angle of 60 to 90 degrees, for example. The pillow members 16 and 17 are arranged side by side between the clamps 14 and 15. For this reason, the cut portion 71 of the coated optical fiber 70 supported by the clamps 14 and 15 is held in the optical fiber holding grooves 28 and 29.
Moreover, the pillow members 16 and 17 hold | maintain the drag force when the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 is pushed forward from above, and give bending tension at the time of fiber cutting.

  The blade pressure setting unit 18 is an urging means using an urging spring (not shown), and is assembled to the lower part of the pillow members 16 and 17. The blade pressure setting unit 18 arbitrarily sets an initial scratch amount by the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 in order to press the pillow members 16 and 17 through the biasing spring. The blade pressure setting unit 18 sets the blade pressure in cooperation with the blade pressure spring 23 of the pressing member 22.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 has a flat planar portion 20 formed at the cutting edge. Note that the planar portion 20 may be formed in a curved surface shape instead of a flat shape. Moreover, the surface roughness of the blade part 4 of the cutter 1 for cutting an optical fiber is set to Ra 0.5 μm to 1.0 μm.

  The coated optical fiber 70 has a glass fiber 72 as a core material, the outer periphery of which is coated with a resin primary coating portion 73, and the primary coating portion 73 is also coated with a resin secondary coating portion 74. The glass fiber 72 is, for example, φ125 μm, the primary coating portion 73 is, for example, φ180 to 200 μm, and the secondary coating portion 74 is, for example, φ250 μm.

  The cutter relief groove 30 disposed between the pillow members 16 and 17 is used to appropriately apply the blade pressure of the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 to the coated optical fiber 70, and the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 is coated. A function of preventing contact with members other than the optical fiber 70 is provided.

  If the cutter relief groove 30 is too shallow, the fiber cannot be cut sufficiently, so that the fiber is not cut. On the other hand, if it is too deep, bending force is applied to the fiber cross section, resulting in end face defects (lip / chip). For this reason, the cutter relief groove 30 has a groove width of 1 mm and a groove depth of 0.3 mm to 0.7 mm when the width of the pillow members 16 and 17 is 4 mm, for example.

  As shown in FIG.3 and FIG.4, the cutter 1 for optical fiber cutting has length L30-50mm and thickness T0.1-0.5mm, for example. A fixing hole 2 is formed at one end of the main body 3 having a flat plate shape, and a flat planar portion 20 is formed at the tip of the blade 4 of the cutting edge. A surface treatment layer 31 is applied to the cutting edge including the planar portion 20. The planar portion 20 has a cutting edge width of 5 to 20 μm, preferably 7 to 18 μm. Note that the blade edge angle when both sides of the planar portion 20 are extended in the blade edge direction is preferably 0 ° or more and 30 ° or less, and the thinner the blade edge, the easier it is to tear the coating.

  The surface treatment layer 31 is a surface treatment such as a DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coat, a titanium coat (titanium nitride, titanium carbonitride, titanium / aluminum / nitride, etc.), for example, 0.1 μm to 1. The film thickness is set to 0 μm.

  Next, an optical fiber cutting method using the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, the coated optical fiber 70 is placed on the clamps 14 and 15 of the cutting processing unit 25 of the lower body 12 by the fiber holder 13, and the coated light is put in the optical fiber holding grooves 28 and 29 of the pillow members 16 and 17. The fiber 70 is held.

  Next, when the upper body 11 is pushed downward against the return spring, the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 is directed downward while being inserted into the cutter relief groove 30 between the pillow members 16 and 17. Is pushed forward. The fiber clamping force at this time is set to 1 to 4 N, for example, by the blade pressure spring 23 of the pressing member 22.

As the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 advances, the coated optical fiber 1 is pressed downward by the planar portion 20 of the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 toward the tops of the optical fiber holding grooves 28 and 29. It is pushed and moved. Thereby, the planar portion 20 of the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 bites into the secondary covering portion 74 of the coated optical fiber 70.
Then, a cut 75 is made in the radial direction from the secondary covering portion 74 to the primary covering portion 73, and the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 is further pressed. Thereby, an initial flaw (cut portion) 71 having a depth of about 1 μm, for example, is applied to a part of the outer peripheral portion of the glass fiber 72.

  Next, when the pillow members 16 and 17 are raised by the blade pressure setting unit 18, bending stress is applied to the coated optical fiber 70 in which the initial scratch 71 is applied to the glass fiber 72. Thereby, the glass fiber 72 is cut at the cutting portion 71 together with the secondary covering portion 74 and the primary covering portion 73.

  The coated optical fiber 70 cut in this way is accommodated in a housing (not shown), and then coupled to a ferrule (not shown) in which a short fiber (not shown) is accommodated, whereby the optical fiber is optically coupled to the short fiber. Are connected to form an optical connector.

  As described above, according to the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 of the present embodiment, the coated optical fiber 70 when the initial scratch 71 is applied to the coated optical fiber 70 by having the planar portion 20 at the cutting edge. Increases the contact area. Therefore, by bringing a large contact area into contact with the coated optical fiber 70, it is not necessary to use an expensive cemented carbide blade, and it is possible to perform reliable cutting by applying an inexpensive simple blade and applying an initial scratch. Can do.

Moreover, by setting the cutting edge width of the planar portion 20 to 5 to 20 μm, it is possible to increase the scratching force on the coated optical fiber 70 and to provide an effective initial scratch 71.
Further, by using the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 on which the surface treatment layer 31 of DLC coating is applied on the surface of the planar portion 20, the scratching force on the coated optical fiber 70 can be increased and effective initial scratches can be achieved. Can be granted.

  Further, by bringing the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 into contact with the coated optical fiber 70 with a load of 5 to 8 N by the blade pressure spring 23, the scratching force on the coated optical fiber 70 is increased and effective initial scratches are made. Can be granted.

(Example)
Next, the Example performed in order to confirm the effect of the cutter for optical fiber cutting of this invention and the cutting method of an optical fiber is described.

[Measurement of pressure dependence of cutting tension 1]
As an example, an optical fiber cutting cutter was prepared in which a DLC coat was processed to provide a planar portion on the blade edge. As Comparative Example 1, an optical fiber cutting cutter that has not been treated with DLC coating, and as Comparative Example 2, an optical fiber cutting cutter that has been treated with DLC coating and is not provided with a planar portion is prepared. The pressure dependence measurement of was investigated.

  As a result, in the example, the target breaking tension of 0.2 kgf to 0.3 kgf could be obtained in the range of the blade pressure of 4.5 N to 5.3 N under certain conditions. On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1 and Comparative Example 2, the blade pressure could not be lowered below 0.4 N, and the target breaking tension of 0.2 kgf to 0.3 kgf could not be achieved.

[Measurement of pressure dependence of cutting tension 2]
As an example, an optical fiber cutting cutter was prepared in which a DLC coat was processed in the same manner as described above and a planar portion was provided on the blade edge. As a comparative example, an optical fiber cutting cutter in which a DLC coat was processed and a blade-like portion was not provided was prepared, and the pressure dependency measurement of the cutting tension was examined.

  As a result, in both the comparative example and the example, the fiber breaking tension becomes constant when the blade pressure exceeds a certain value. In the example, the target breaking tension (0.2 kgf to 0.3 kgf) could be obtained with a blade pressure of 5 to 8N. On the other hand, in the comparative example, when the blade pressure was 5N to 8N, the breaking tension was as large as 0.4 kgf to 0.5 kgf, and could not be lowered to the target breaking tension of 0.2 kgf to 0.3 kgf.

[Measurement of correlation between cutting edge width and fiber breaking tension]
As an example, an optical fiber cutting cutter with a DLC coating having a thickness of 0.5 μm was prepared. As a comparative example, an optical fiber cutting cutter treated with a DLC coating with a thickness of 0.1 μm was prepared, and the correlation between the blade width and the fiber breaking tension was examined.

  As a result, it was found that the edge width for obtaining the target breaking tension (0.2 kgf to 0.3 kgf) was 7 μm to 18 μm in the comparative example in which the film thickness of the DLC coat was 0.1 μm. At this time, when the cutting edge width is 20 μm or more, the coated optical fiber may not be cut.

  Further, when the film thickness of the DLC coat is 0.5 μm of the example compared to 0.1 μm of the comparative example, the scratching force tends to increase, and the allowable cutting edge width is considered to be about 22 μm. Further, when the film thickness of the DLC coat was 1 μm, cracks and peeling occurred due to the internal stress of the DLC coat, and the coating could not be performed. Therefore, the film thickness of the DLC coat is preferably 0.5 μm to 1.0 μm.

From the above results, as the optical fiber cutting cutter 1, the cutting edge width of the planar portion 20 of the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 is set to 5 μm to 20 μm, preferably 7 μm to 18 μm. Moreover, the film thickness of the surface treatment layer 31 which is a DLC coat is set to 0.5 μm to 1.0 μm, and the surface roughness is set to Ra 0.5 μm to 1.0 μm.
Further, as a method of cutting an optical fiber by the optical fiber cutting machine 10, it is best to set the pressing force of the optical fiber cutting cutter 1 against the coated optical fiber 70 to 5N to 8N and the fiber clamping force to 1N to 4N. It turned out to be. Thereby, reliable cutting can be performed using an inexpensive simple blade without using an expensive carbide blade.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimension, numerical value, form, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and are not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber cutting cutter 3 Main-body part 4 Blade part 10 Optical fiber cutting machine 20 Planar part 22 Press member 23 Blade pressure spring 31 Surface treatment layer (surface treatment)
70 coated optical fiber (optical fiber)
71 Initial scratch (cut)
72 glass fiber

Claims (6)

An optical fiber cutting cutter for cutting an optical fiber having glass fiber or glass fiber in a coating part,
A cutter for cutting an optical fiber, comprising a blade portion having a planar portion for bringing the blade edge into surface contact with the surface of the glass fiber when applying an initial scratch.   The optical fiber cutting cutter according to claim 1, wherein the planar portion has a width of 5 to 20 μm.   3. The optical fiber cutting cutter according to claim 1, wherein the surface of the planar portion is surface-treated.   The optical blade cutting cutter according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the blade portion imparts initial scratches to the surface of the glass fiber by a load of 5 to 8N.   The optical fiber cutting cutter according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the optical fiber is a coated optical fiber. An optical fiber cutting method comprising applying an initial flaw to an optical fiber using the optical fiber cutting cutter according to claim 1.

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