JP2012027131A - Coated optical fiber ribbon and optical cable - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a coated optical fiber ribbon capable of easily distinguishing optical fiber strands from one another using a configuration in which adhesively fixing pieces are intermittently disposed in the lengthwise direction of the optical fiber strands to facilitate intermediate branching.SOLUTION: A coated optical fiber ribbon 10 comprises a plurality of optical fiber strands 1a to 1d arranged in parallel and adhesively fixing pieces 2 that adhesively fix the adjoining optical fiber strands to each other. The adhesively fixing pieces 2 formed in a shape representing one of a numeral, a character, a sign and a pattern are intermittently disposed in the lengthwise direction of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d. Thus, workers or the like can now distinguish the coated optical fiber ribbon 10, which intermediate branching is further facilitated.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber ribbon in which a plurality of parallel optical fibers are bonded and fixed, and an optical cable having the optical fiber ribbon.

  An optical fiber ribbon is known in which a plurality of optical fibers are arranged in parallel and these optical fibers are covered and integrated with a tape material. When such an optical fiber ribbon is used, it may be necessary to perform single-core separation not at the end of the optical fiber ribbon but at the middle of the optical fiber ribbon.

  In the operation at the time of single-core separation in such an intermediate portion, it is required to improve the branching workability while suppressing the deterioration of transmission loss. Regarding the improvement of the workability of single-core separation in the intermediate part, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a concave portion is formed in accordance with a depression between optical fibers in an optical fiber tape core wire in which parallel optical fibers are integrated with a jacket over the entire length. The formed configuration is disclosed. The optical fiber ribbon has T ≦ d + 40 μm (T is the maximum thickness of the optical fiber ribbon, d is the outer diameter of the optical fiber), and g ≦ d (g is the optical fiber tape in the recess) (Thickness of the core wire) is satisfied, and the loss increase when the optical fiber is hot-branched has a characteristic of 1.0 dB or less. Thereby, it is said that the outer cover can be easily peeled off while suppressing an increase in transmission loss during the branching operation of the optical fiber.

  However, when single-core separation is performed at the intermediate portion, if there is a hot-wire optical fiber already used for communication among a plurality of optical fibers included in the optical fiber ribbon, single-fiber separation is performed. Depending on the work to be performed, a communication failure may occur in the live optical fiber.

  For such a problem, for example, in Patent Document 2, in a configuration in which a plurality of optical fibers are arranged in parallel and the periphery thereof is covered with a tape material, a portion covered with the tape material is intermittent in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber. The structure provided in is disclosed. According to this configuration, since the portions covered with the tape material and the portions not covered with the tape material are alternately arranged in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, when performing single-core separation at the intermediate portion of the optical fiber tape In other words, the separation work can be easily performed at a portion where there is no tape material. Further, if the portion covered with the tape material is used, it is possible to perform batch connection to a connector or the like in a state where a plurality of optical fibers are integrated with the tape material.

  With respect to the optical fiber ribbon that is intermittently coated with the tape material in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber, for example, Patent Document 3 discloses various structures of the invention. In the optical fiber ribbon described in Patent Document 3, single optical fibers are arranged in parallel, and an adhesive resin is intermittently applied in the longitudinal direction between adjacent optical fibers to cure the adhesive resin. The optical fiber ribbon is obtained. As the adhesive resin, an ultraviolet curable resin or the like is used.

Japanese Patent No. 3664254 Japanese Patent No. 4049154 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-232297

  In an optical cable using an optical fiber ribbon, for example, using a spacer provided with a groove, a plurality of optical fiber ribbons are accommodated in the groove, and a presser winding is wound around the outer periphery to further remove the outermost periphery. The thing of the structure coat | covered with the coating | cover is used. In the optical cable having such a configuration, it is necessary to identify each optical fiber in order to take out one optical fiber from a plurality of optical fiber ribbons housed in one groove.

  For this reason, conventionally, a plurality of optical fibers constituting one optical fiber ribbon are colored different colors, and the combination of the optical fibers is different among the plurality of optical fiber ribbons. I am doing so. For example, in the case of an optical fiber ribbon composed of four optical fibers, the four optical fibers are colored differently in four colors, and the color of one optical fiber at a specific position in the four optical fibers is changed. The optical fiber ribbons are different from each other. The color of the optical fiber at this specific position becomes the tracer color for identifying the optical fiber ribbon. By giving such a tracer color, it is possible to identify a specific optical fiber ribbon, and further identify an optical fiber of a specific color.

  In such a configuration, in the case where the optical fiber ribbon having the intermittently coated portion as described above is applied in order to improve the single-core separation characteristic in the intermediate portion, the tracer is exposed in the portion where the optical fiber is exposed. A plurality of optical fibers of the same color exist at the same time except for the optical fibers of colors, and it becomes difficult to identify a specific optical fiber.

In such a case, an operator, etc., traces to the covering portion provided intermittently, confirms the tracer color of the optical fiber ribbon, and then selects a specific optical fiber from the target optical fiber ribbon. It is necessary to separate the single core.
However, even if the single-fiber separation operation is performed, the exposed portion of the single optical fiber and the covering portion exist in the middle portion, so that the desired optical fiber ribbon can be found. Is not easy, and there is a problem that the workability of single-core separation is reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and includes an optical fiber arranged in parallel and an adhesive fixing material that adhesively fixes adjacent optical fibers, and the adhesive fixing material is provided in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber ribbon that can be easily identified with a configuration in which the workability of the intermediate branch is improved by being provided intermittently, and an optical cable including the optical fiber ribbon.

  An optical fiber ribbon according to the present invention includes a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel and an adhesive fixing material that adhesively fixes adjacent optical fibers, and the adhesive fixing material is provided intermittently in the longitudinal direction of each optical fiber. In the optical fiber tape core wire, the adhesive fixing material is formed in a shape expressing any one of numerals, letters, symbols, and patterns. Moreover, the above-mentioned adhesive fixing material is colored in the optical fiber ribbon according to the present invention.

  Moreover, the optical cable by this invention has said optical fiber tape core wire. The optical cable according to the present invention includes a spacer having a groove for accommodating a plurality of optical fiber tape cores, and the optical fiber tape cores accommodated in the same groove are the numbers, letters, symbols, and patterns of the adhesive fixing material. The shapes expressing either of these are different from each other.

  According to the optical fiber ribbon of the present invention, the optical fiber includes an optical fiber arranged in parallel and an adhesive fixing material for adhering and fixing adjacent optical fibers, and the adhesive fixing material is intermittently provided in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber. Easy to identify optical fiber tape cores by forming the adhesive fixing material in a shape that expresses any of numbers, letters, symbols, and patterns with a configuration that improves the workability of the intermediate branch by being provided can do.

  Moreover, an optical cable can be comprised using said optical fiber tape core wire. In this optical cable, the optical fiber tape core wires housed in each groove of the spacer are made of a plurality of optical fibers housed in the grooves by differentiating the shapes expressing either numbers, characters or symbols of the adhesive fixing material. The fiber ribbon can be easily identified. Thereby, the workability of the intermediate branch can be further improved.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the optical fiber tape cable core of this invention. It is a perspective view for demonstrating the structural example of the optical fiber tape core wire of this invention further. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the optical cable which uses the optical fiber tape cable core of this invention. It is a figure explaining the structural example of the some optical fiber tape core wire accommodated in the same groove | channel of the spacer of the optical cable of this invention. It is a figure explaining the other example of the some optical fiber tape core wire accommodated in the same groove | channel of the spacer of the optical cable of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the manufacturing apparatus of the optical fiber ribbon of this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an optical fiber ribbon of the present invention, and FIG. 1 (A) is a plan view showing a part of the length of the optical fiber ribbon.
An optical fiber ribbon 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is used for the same application as the above-described conventional optical fiber ribbon, and includes a plurality of single-core optical fibers 1a to 1d arranged in parallel. And an adhesive fixing material 2 to which the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d are adhesively fixed. In this example, a configuration example of a four-fiber optical fiber ribbon is shown, but the number of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d is not limited as long as it is plural. In the following embodiment, a four-fiber optical fiber ribbon 10 will be described as an example.

In the optical fiber ribbon 10, the adhesive fixing material 2 is applied in a shape that can be identified by any of numbers, letters, symbols, and patterns. In the example of FIG. 1, the shape of the adhesive fixing material 2 represents the number “1”. Such an adhesive fixing material 2 is provided intermittently in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d. As the material of the adhesive fixing material 2, it is preferable to use an ultraviolet curable resin. Further, a fixing material other than the ultraviolet curable resin may be used.
With such a configuration, the portions covered with the adhesive fixing material 2 and the portions without the adhesive fixing material 2 are alternately arranged in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d. For this reason, when performing single-core separation at the intermediate portion of the optical fiber ribbon 10, the separation work can be easily performed at a portion without the adhesive fixing material 2.

  In addition, by coloring the adhesive fixing material 2 at this time, the adhesive fixing material 2 can be more easily identified, thereby improving the workability of the intermediate branching. The coloring of the adhesive fixing material 2 is not essential and is one of the embodiments according to the present invention. However, when an originally transparent material such as an ultraviolet curable resin is used, it is more visible by coloring it. And the workability of the intermediate branch can be improved.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view for further explaining the configuration of the optical fiber ribbon 10. In the optical fiber ribbon 10, four optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d are arranged in parallel on a plane, and these four optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d are integrally fixed by an adhesive fixing material 2. . The optical fiber 1a includes a glass portion 11a made of a core and a clad, and a surrounding coating layer 12a. The coating layer 12a is colored to enable identification of the optical fiber 1a. The covering layer 12a may have a two-layer structure and may be colored on the outer periphery. The configuration of the other optical fiber strands 1b to 1d is the same, and each of the optical fiber strands 1b, 1c, and 1d includes glass portions 11b, 11c, and 11d and coating layers 12b, 12c, and 12d, respectively.

The adhesive fixing material 2 is intermittently provided in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d. Each adhesive fixing material 2 is formed in the shape which shows a number, a character, a symbol, a pattern, etc., and the shape is repeatedly given repeatedly. Thereby, in the optical fiber ribbon 10, the first region where the adhesive fixing material 2 is formed and the second region where the adhesive fixing material 2 is not formed alternately exist along the longitudinal direction. .
The adhesive fixing material 2 may be provided not only on one surface side of the optical fiber ribbon 10 but also on the opposite surface. In this case, the shape of the adhesive fixing material 2 is all the same, and the optical fiber ribbon 10 can be identified from any adhesive fixing material 2.

  The length in the longitudinal direction of each of the first region and the second region is preferably 10 to 300 mm, for example. If the first area is shorter than 10 mm, the adhesive fixing material 2 may be divided inadvertently. If the first area is longer than 300 mm, single-core separation is not easy. Further, when the second region is shorter than 10 mm, the single-core separation is not easy, and when the second region is longer than 300 mm, the adhesive fixing material 2 may be divided unexpectedly.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an optical cable using the optical fiber ribbon of the present invention. The optical cable 100 has a spacer 102 having a tension member 101 as a center. The spacer 102 is provided with a plurality of grooves 103, and the optical fiber ribbon 10 is accommodated in each of the grooves 103. A presser winding 104 is wound around the outer periphery of the spacer 102, and the outer cover 105 is covered on the outer periphery.

  Each of the optical fiber ribbons 10 is formed by aligning the plurality of optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d described above and fixing the adjacent optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d with the adhesive fixing material 2. In one embodiment of the optical cable according to the present invention, in order to facilitate identification of the plurality of optical fiber ribbons 10 having an intermediate branching configuration, the shape of the adhesive fixing material 2 is changed to numbers, letters, symbols, patterns. It shall represent one of the following. Moreover, the adhesive fixing material 2 can be colored to improve visibility.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a plurality of optical fiber ribbons housed in the same groove of the spacer of the optical cable. Here, it is assumed that five optical fiber ribbons 10 are accommodated in the same groove of the spacer. The number of optical fiber ribbons housed in the same groove of the spacer is not limited to five and can be set as appropriate.
Each optical fiber ribbon 10 has four optical fiber strands 1a to 1d integrated in parallel, and an adhesive fixing material 2 is intermittently provided in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d. ing. Thereby, the part to which the adhesive fixing material 2 is provided and the part to which the adhesive fixing material 2 is not provided are alternately arranged in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d.

The optical fiber strands 1a to 1d constituting the optical fiber ribbon 10 are colored with different colors, and the color of the optical fiber strand 1a used as a tracer is different between the optical fiber ribbons 10. ing.
For example, among the four optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d of each optical fiber ribbon 10, the color of the optical fiber 1 a disposed at one end is mutually changed for each optical fiber ribbon 10. Use different tracer colors. The tracer colors are, for example, blue, yellow, green, red, and purple for the five optical fiber ribbons 10, respectively. The colors of the second to fourth optical fiber strands 1b to 1d are made common to all the optical fiber ribbons 10 as white, brown, and ash in order.

And in this embodiment, the adhesive fixing material 2 is formed in the shape showing either a number, a character, a symbol, or a pattern. At this time, the optical fiber tape core wires 10 housed in the same groove of the spacer are made to have different shapes of the adhesive fixing material 2.
In the example of FIG. 4, the adhesive fixing material 2 representing the numbers “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”, and “5” is respectively applied to the five optical fiber ribbons 10. Yes. Thereby, the operator of the middle branch can identify the optical fiber ribbon 10 by checking the adhesive fixing material 2. And the optical fiber strand of a desired color can be easily taken out from the identified optical fiber ribbon 10.

  As other examples of the adhesive fixing material 2, it may be possible to express Roman numerals, for example, or to be able to be identified using simple characters or symbols such as ◯, X, and Δ. Further, identification may be made by a pattern such as a stripe or a lattice.

  Further, by coloring the adhesive fixing material 2, the adhesive fixing material 2 can be more easily identified. The color can be a common color (for example, black) for all the optical fiber ribbons 10. Alternatively, each optical fiber ribbon 10 may be colored with a different color.

  With the optical cable having such a configuration, workers and the like can easily find the adhesive fixing material 2 provided intermittently on the optical fiber ribbon 10, and the numbers, characters, The optical fiber ribbon 10 can be easily identified by a symbol, pattern, or the like. Thereby, the workability of the intermediate branch can be further improved. In this example, since the optical fiber strand 1a colored in the tracer color is included for each optical fiber tape core wire 10, the identification of the optical fiber tape core wire 10 and the identified optical fiber tape core wire 10 The desired optical fiber can be taken out more reliably and easily.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining another example of a plurality of optical fiber ribbons housed in the same groove of the spacer of the optical cable. In each of the optical fiber ribbons 10 of this example, portions to which the adhesive fixing material 2 is applied and portions to which the adhesive fixing material 2 is not applied are alternately arranged as in the above example. In this embodiment, the color combinations of the optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d constituting the optical fiber ribbon 10 are common to all the optical fiber ribbons 10. In this example, in all the optical fiber ribbons 10, the colors of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d are sequentially blue, white, brown, and ash.
As in the example of FIG. 4 described above, the adhesive fixing material 2 has different shapes expressing any of numbers, characters, symbols, and patterns. In this example, the five optical fiber ribbons 10 are respectively provided with adhesive fixing materials 2 representing numbers “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”, and “5”.

  Furthermore, also in this example, the adhesive fixing material 2 can be identified more easily by coloring the adhesive fixing material 2. The color can be a common color (for example, black) for all the optical fiber ribbons 10. Alternatively, each optical fiber ribbon 10 may be colored with a different color.

With the optical cable 100 having such a configuration, an operator such as an intermediate branch can easily find the adhesive fixing material 2 provided intermittently on the optical fiber ribbon 10 and is expressed by the adhesive fixing material 2. The optical fiber ribbon 10 can be easily identified by numbers, letters, symbols, patterns, and the like. Thereby, the workability of the intermediate branch can be further improved.
In this example, the combination of colors of the optical fiber strands 1 a of the optical fiber ribbon 10 is made common, but the identification of the optical fiber ribbon 10 can be made by the shape of the adhesive fixing material 2. In this case, it is possible to rationalize the manufacturing process by sharing the color combinations of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d.

  Next, the manufacturing process of the optical fiber ribbon 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. The optical fiber ribbon 10 according to the present invention is not limited in its manufacturing method, and an adhesive fixing material 2 for adhering and fixing a plurality of parallel optical fibers is intermittently provided in the longitudinal direction of each optical fiber. It is only necessary to obtain the adhesive fixing material 2 provided with numbers, letters, symbols, patterns, etc. Here, an example of the manufacturing method of the optical fiber ribbon 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The supply device 110 is provided with reels 111 to 114 around which the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d are wound. In addition, dancer rollers 115 to 118 and a guide roller 119 for guiding the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d fed from the reels 111 to 114 are provided.

  The four optical fiber strands 1a to 1d are fed out from the reels 111 to 114, and the tension is adjusted by the dancer rollers 115 to 118, respectively. Each of the optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d is guided by the guide roller 119 and sent to the concentrating roller 120. The four optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d that are collected by the collecting roller 120 and arranged in parallel are sent to the coating device 130.

  In the coating device 130, an ultraviolet curable resin is applied as a material of the adhesive fixing material 2 around the four optical fiber strands 1 a to 1 d that are in close contact with each other on one plane. Here, in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber strands 1a to 1d, portions to which the ultraviolet curable resin is applied and portions to which the ultraviolet curable resin is not applied are alternately formed. The ultraviolet curable resin is held in the resin tank 140 and supplied to the coating device 130.

As the coating device 130, a dispenser, an inkjet head, or the like can be used. The ultraviolet curable resin having a predetermined shape can be applied to predetermined positions of the traveling optical fiber wires 1a to 1d by extruding the ultraviolet curable resin from the dispenser. In this case, the shape of the tip nozzle of the dispenser is designed according to the desired shape of the adhesive fixing material 2 applied. Alternatively, a desired shape of the adhesive fixing material 2 may be obtained by a dispenser having a plurality of nozzles. Also in the case of an inkjet head, a desired shape of the adhesive fixing material 2 is obtained by the nozzle shape of the inkjet head and the arrangement of a plurality of nozzles.
When the ultraviolet curable resin is intermittently supplied from the dispenser or the inkjet head, the ultraviolet curable resin can be intermittently applied to the surfaces of the traveling optical fiber wires 1a to 1d.

  The four optical fiber strands 1a to 1d to which the ultraviolet curable resin is applied by the coating apparatus 130 are irradiated with ultraviolet rays by the ultraviolet irradiation furnace 150, and the ultraviolet curable resin is cured. Then, the cured ultraviolet curable resin becomes the adhesive fixing material 2, and the four-fiber optical fiber ribbon 10 is manufactured. The optical fiber ribbon 10 is further fed to a winding device 190 via a guide roller 160, a feeding capstan 170, and a winding tension control dancer roller 180. In the winding device 190, the optical fiber ribbon 10 is wound around the reel 192 through the guide roller 191.

  As the ultraviolet curable resin used for the adhesive fixing material 2, for example, a urethane acrylate resin is used. As the ultraviolet curable resin, for example, a resin having a Young's modulus of about 200 MPa to 1000 MPa (more preferably 400 Mpa to 1000 Mpa) and a breaking strength of about 3.0 MPa to 6.0 MPa is used. If the Young's modulus of the adhesive fixing material 2 is smaller than 200 MPa, the transmission loss tends to increase when subjected to a lateral pressure, and the surface tends to be sticky. On the other hand, when the Young's modulus of the adhesive fixing material 2 is greater than 1000 MPa, the shrinkage stress when the adhesive fixing material 2 is cured is large, and transmission loss is likely to increase.

  Further, if the breaking strength of the adhesive fixing material 2 is less than 3.0 MPa, the adhesive fixing material 2 is easily broken when subjected to distortion, and is easily damaged such as breaking of the optical fiber ribbon when the optical cable is manufactured or laid. On the other hand, when the breaking strength of the adhesive fixing material 2 is larger than 6.0 MPa, the adhesive fixing material 2 becomes strong and it becomes difficult to separate the optical fiber tape core wire 10 from a single core.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d ... Optical fiber strand, 2 ... Adhesive fixing material, 10 ... Optical fiber tape core wire, 11a ... Glass part, 11b ... Glass part, 12a ... Covering layer, 12b ... Covering layer, 100 ... Optical cable DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Tension member 102 ... Spacer 103 ... Groove 104 ... Press winding 105 ... Outer cover 111-114 ... Reel 115-118 ... Dancer roller 119 ... Guide roller 120 ... Concentration roller 130 ... Coating device DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 140 ... Resin tank, 150 ... Ultraviolet irradiation furnace, 160 ... Guide roller, 170 ... Capstan, 180 ... Tension control dancer roller, 190 ... Winding device, 191 ... Guide roller, 192 ... Reel.

Claims (4)

  An optical fiber ribbon comprising a plurality of optical fibers arranged in parallel and an adhesive fixing material for adhering and fixing adjacent optical fibers, wherein the adhesive fixing material is provided intermittently in the longitudinal direction of each optical fiber. And the said adhesive fixing material is formed in the shape expressing either a number, a character, a symbol, or a pattern, The optical fiber tape cable core characterized by the above-mentioned.   The optical fiber tape core wire according to claim 1, wherein the adhesive fixing material is colored.   An optical cable comprising the optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1.   A spacer having a groove for storing a plurality of the optical fiber ribbons, wherein the optical fiber ribbon accommodated in the same groove is one of the numbers, letters, symbols, and patterns of the adhesive fixing material. The optical cable according to claim 3, wherein shapes expressing the different are mutually different.

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