JP2013195744A - Manufacturing device and manufacturing method for optical cable - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing device and a manufacturing method for an optical cable that can mold a sheath by extrusion without press winding for prevention against winding loosening after winding a cable core with an upper winding tape in a longitudinal direction.SOLUTION: There is provided manufacture of an optical cable formed by providing an upper winding tape 7 longitudinally around an outer periphery of a cable core 2 having a plurality of optical fibers 3 bundled and then covering the outside thereof with a sheath 8 by extrusion molding. A manufacturing device 20 includes tape guide means 26 of supplying the upper winding tape to be provided around the outer periphery of the cable core longitudinally while suppressing lateral shifting, forming means 27 of winding the outer periphery of the cable core cylindrically while forming an overlap part of the upper winding tape, and extrusion molding means 28 of forming a tapered hole on an incoming side where the outer periphery of the upper winding tape wound around the outer periphery of the cable core is covered with the sheath, the sheath being provided without press winding around the outer periphery of the upper winding tape.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical cable manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method in which a plurality of optical fibers are bundled.

  As a general-purpose optical cable composed of a plurality of optical fibers, for example, a slot type optical cable as shown in FIG. 1A or a slotless type optical cable as shown in FIG. 1B is used. The slot type optical cable 1 is formed by accommodating a plurality of optical fiber cores or optical fiber tape cores 3 in a groove 4a of a slot rod 4 in which a tension member 5 such as a steel wire is embedded in the center. The optical fiber ribbon 3 accommodated in the groove 4a is held by winding the coarsely wound string 6 around the outer periphery of the slot rod 4 so as not to drop out of the groove, thereby forming the cable core 2. For example, an upper winding tape (also referred to as a presser winding tape) 7 is wound around the outer periphery of the cable core 2 vertically, and the outer surface thereof is covered with a sheath 8 by extrusion molding.

  The slotless optical cable 11 is formed by bundling a plurality of optical fiber core wires or tape core wires 13 in a bundle shape with a tape or the like to form an optical fiber wire bundle 14, and a plurality of the optical fiber wire bundles 14 are assembled. The plurality of optical fiber bundles 14 are twisted together with a buffer material 16 such as yarn to form a cable core 12. As in the case of the slot type optical cable of FIG. 1 (A), the outer periphery of the cable core 12 is wound with the upper winding tape 17 vertically attached, and its outer surface is covered with the sheath 18 together with the tension member 15. Yes.

  For the upper winding tapes 7 and 17 of the optical cables 1 and 11, for example, a nonwoven fabric made of a fiber such as polyester, polyethylene, or polypropylene is used. The upper tapes 7 and 17 prevent a plurality of bundled optical fiber cores from being separated, and when the sheaths 8 and 18 are formed by resin extrusion, the resin is on the optical fiber core surface. It is intended to protect the optical fiber core wire from heat generated during resin molding.

  Usually, the upper winding tapes 7 and 17 are wound around the outer periphery of the cable cores 2 and 12 in a horizontal winding (also referred to as a spiral winding), or are wound with a vertical attachment. For example, as shown in Patent Documents 1 and 2, various forms of winding an upper winding tape with a vertical attachment are known.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-12915 JP 2000-98200 A

When the upper tape made of fibers such as non-woven fabric is vertically attached, the tape winding is likely to come off unlike the case where the metal tape found in the manufacture of electric wires is wound vertically. For this reason, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, before winding with a sheath, coarse winding (pressing winding) is performed so that vertical tape winding does not come off.
On the other hand, when intermediate post-branching for branching the optical fiber from the middle of the optical cable is performed, it is necessary to remove the coarse winding and the upper winding tape after removing the sheath. Although the rough winding is removed with a pinch or a cutter, there is a risk of damaging the optical fiber in the cable, which is a cause of lowering work efficiency due to the necessity of careful work. Further, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, there is a method of removing a rough winding using a tear string, but it is necessary to separately provide a tear string, resulting in high cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described actual situation, and enables the sheath to be extruded without performing presser winding for preventing unwinding after winding the upper winding tape around the cable core vertically. An object is to provide an optical cable manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method.

An optical cable manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method according to the present invention is an optical cable manufacturing method in which an upper winding tape is vertically applied to the outer periphery of a cable core in which a plurality of optical fibers are bundled, and the outside is covered with a sheath by extrusion molding. . The manufacturing apparatus includes tape guide means for supplying the upper winding tape vertically attached to the outer periphery of the cable core while suppressing twisting and lateral deviation, and forming the overlapping portion on the upper winding tape on the outer periphery of the cable core to form a cylindrical shape. And an extrusion molding means having a taper hole on the inlet side that covers the sheath on the outer periphery of the upper winding tape wound around the outer periphery of the cable core, and the sheath is applied without winding the presser winding around the outer periphery of the upper tape. And
The above forming means includes at least a eye plate having a six-shaped guide hole that forms a tape vertical overlap portion and a guide hole for overlapping the tape vertical overlap portion into a cylindrical shape. And a plate.

  According to the present invention, when the upper winding tape is wound vertically on the cable core of the optical cable, the upper winding tape can be covered with a sheath by extrusion without performing presser winding to suppress the winding of the upper winding tape. As a result, when removing the sheath and branching the optical fiber in the middle, the work of removing the presser winding on the upper winding tape, which is troublesome, is eliminated, and workability can be improved.

It is a figure which shows an example of the optical cable manufactured by this invention. It is a figure explaining the outline of the manufacturing apparatus of this invention, and a manufacturing method. It is a figure which shows an example of the tape guide means used by this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the forming means used by this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the extrusion molding means used by this invention.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of an optical cable manufactured by a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method according to the present invention. FIG. 1A shows an example of a slot type optical cable, and FIG. 1B shows an example of a slotless type optical cable. In the figure, 1 and 11 are optical cables, 2 and 12 are cable cores, 3 and 13 are optical fibers, 4 is a slot rod, 4a is a groove, 5 and 15 are tension members, 6 is a coarse winding string, and 7 and 17 are upper windings. Tapes 8 and 18 are sheaths, 14 is an optical fiber bundle, and 16 is a buffer material.

  A slot-type optical cable 1 shown in FIG. 1 (A) is an optical cable that is often used as an optical cable for a trunk line, and a tension member (also called a tensile body) 5 such as a steel wire is embedded and integrated at the center, and a plurality of optical cables 1 are provided on the outer periphery. It is constituted by a slot rod (also referred to as a spacer rod) 4 made of a plastic material provided with a groove 4a. The groove 4a of the slot rod 4 is formed in a spiral shape or an SZ shape. In the groove 4a, a plurality of optical fiber cores or a tape-like optical fiber core (hereinafter, including a tape core wire) is simply an optical fiber. 3) is accommodated.

  In a state where the optical fiber 3 is accommodated in the groove 4a, the coarsely wound string 6 is wound around the outer periphery of the slot rod 4, and the optical fiber 3 accommodated in the groove 4a is held so as not to drop off. In addition, when the groove | channel 4a is helical shape, the rough winding string 6 may be abbreviate | omitted. In the present invention, a state where a plurality of optical fibers 3 are held by the slot rod 4 will be referred to as a cable core 2 and will be described.

  On the outer periphery of the cable core 2, an upper winding tape (sometimes referred to as a presser winding tape) 7 is wound vertically. The upper tape 7 holds the optical fiber 3 accommodated in the groove 4a so that it does not jump out, and is used for contact with the sheath 8, a heat insulating layer at the time of molding, or water stopping in the optical cable. A water-absorbing agent can be added to function as a water-absorbing layer. Further, although the upper winding tape 7 may be wound in a horizontal winding, in the present invention, an optical cable having a configuration in which it is vertically wound in the cable longitudinal direction is an object. And the sheath 8 is extrusion-molded on the outer periphery of the vertically attached upper winding tape 7 without performing presser winding to suppress the unwinding of the tape winding, and the winding of the upper winding tape 7 is fixed.

  The slotless optical cable 11 shown in FIG. 1B is also an optical cable used as an optical cable for a trunk line, and a plurality of optical fibers 13 are bundled with a tape or the like to form an optical fiber bundle 14, and this optical fiber bundle A cable core 12 is formed by gathering a plurality of 14 and twisting them together with a buffer material 16 in which yarns or the like are bundled so that the outer shape becomes circular. On the outer periphery of the cable core 12, the upper winding tape 17 is wound vertically along with the slot-like optical cable.

  As in the example of FIG. 1 (A), the upper winding tape 17 holds the bundled and assembled optical fibers 13 so as not to be separated, and is in contact with the sheath 18 or a heat insulating layer at the time of molding, Alternatively, a water-absorbing agent can be applied to stop the water into the optical cable and function as a water-absorbing layer. Further, although the upper winding tape 17 may be wound in a horizontal winding, in the present invention, an optical cable having a configuration in which the upper winding tape 17 is vertically wound in the cable longitudinal direction is an object. The sheath 18 is extruded on the outer periphery of the vertically attached upper winding tape 17 without performing presser winding to suppress the tape winding deviation, and the winding of the upper winding tape 17 is fixed.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a production line for the slot-type optical cable 1. In the figure, 20 is a manufacturing device, 21 is a slot capstan, 22 is an optical fiber supply bobbin, 23 is a concentrator, 24 is a coarsely wound string supply bobbin, 25 is an upper tape supply bobbin, 26 is a tape guide device, and 27 is forming. 28, an extrusion molding apparatus, 29 a cooling apparatus, and 30 a cable capstan. The other reference numerals are the same as those used in the description of FIG.

  In manufacturing the slot type optical cable 1, first, the slot rod 4 is sent out onto the production line by the slot capstan 21, and at the same time, the optical fiber 3 is fed out from the plurality of optical fiber supply drums 22. The plurality of optical fibers 3 are collected by the concentrator 23, and the optical fibers 3 are accommodated in the grooves of the slot rod 4. Next, the coarsely wound string 6 is unwound from the coarsely wound string supply bobbin 24 and wound around the outer periphery of the slot rod 4 to prevent the optical fiber 3 from dropping from the slot rod 4.

On the outer periphery of the cable core 2 in which the optical fiber is accommodated in the slot rod 4 and the coarsely wound string 6 is wound, the upper winding tape 7 is fed from the upper winding tape supply bobbin 25 and vertically attached through the tape guide device 26.
The upper winding tape 7 vertically attached to the cable core 2 is wound around the outer periphery of the cable core 2 in a cylindrical shape by the forming device 27.

Next, the sheath 8 is extruded by the extrusion molding device 28 on the outer surface in a state where the upper winding tape 7 is wound, so that the cable is covered.
Thereafter, the extruded sheath 8 is cooled and hardened by the cooling device 29 to form the optical cable 1. The optical cable 1 is taken up by a cable capstan 30 and wound on a winding bobbin (not shown).

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the tape guide device 26 that guides the upper winding tape 7. The upper winding tape 7 is twisted by forming wound around the cable core 2. When the upper winding tape 7 is twisted, tape breakage or the like occurs, and the shape of the cable core 2 collapses, preventing predetermined forming. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the upper tape 7 is not twisted by being sandwiched between a pair of holding plates 31 and 32, and pins 33 are arranged on both sides. Thus, the upper winding tape 7 is guided to the side surface of the cable core 2 so as not to swing left and right as indicated by arrows.
Note that the tape guide device 26 only has to guide the upper tape 7 so that the shape and position thereof do not fluctuate due to twisting or lateral shaking of the upper winding tape 7, and the vertical and horizontal fluctuations as shown in FIG. It may be of a simple shape that regulates.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a forming device 27 that continuously winds the upper winding tape 7 vertically around the outer periphery of the cable core 2. The forming device 27 is preferably arranged as close as possible to an extrusion molding device 28 described later.
The forming device 27 can be formed by at least two eye plates 34 and 35, for example. In this case, a 6-shaped guide hole 34 a through which the cable core 2 is passed is formed in the first eye plate 34 on the inlet side, and a circular guide is formed on the second eye plate 35 on the outlet side. A hole 35a is formed. The first eye plate 34 and the second eye plate 35 are connected by a connecting member 36 so as not to move relative to each other, and supported so as not to move in the longitudinal direction of the cable core 2.

When the upper tape 7 passes through the 6-shaped guide hole 34 a of the first eye plate 34, the upper tape 7 is formed so that the overlapping portion 7 a vertically attached to the tape forms an overlapping portion. Next, the upper winding tape 7 is formed so that the upper and lower overlapping portions of the overlapping portion 7 a are in close contact with each other by passing through the circular guide hole 35 a of the second eye plate 35.
Note that the number of eye plates is not limited to two, and more eye plates can be used for smoother forming. In addition, the center of the eye plate can be easily set by self-aligning by making the cable core 2 self-support so that the eye plate does not move in the longitudinal direction.
In addition, as a forming device for the upper winding tape 7, a taper-shaped tube body may be used.

  FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of an extrusion molding apparatus 28 that covers the outer periphery of the upper winding tape 7 wound vertically with a sheath. The extrusion apparatus 28 includes a nipple (also referred to as a point) 37 and a die 38, and a sheath resin material 39 is extruded to form the sheath 8. The cable core 2 around which the upper tape 7 is wound passes through the through hole 37a of the nipple 37, and is covered with a sheath 8 having a predetermined outer diameter by a forming hole of the die 38.

  In the present invention, in particular, the inlet side of the through hole of the nipple 37 is formed by the tapered hole 37b. The upper winding tape 7 that has passed through the eye plate 35 of the forming device 27 described above is kept in a wound state by the forming, but since the material of the upper winding tape 7 is a non-metallic resin or fiber material, the winding is performed. Easy to understand. Therefore, even if the eye plate 35 of the forming device 27 is as close as possible to the nipple 37, the taper hole 37b is provided on the inlet side of the nipple 37 so that the tape winding is corrected and the upper winding tape 7 is overlapped. Make the overlapping of parts smooth. The angle θ of the tapered hole 37b is preferably about 30 ° to 60 °.

  According to the manufacturing apparatus and the manufacturing method described above, it is possible to form a sheath without applying presser winding to the upper tape attached vertically on the cable core, and manufacturing an optical cable having no presser winding on the outer periphery of the upper tape. can do. As a result, it is possible to easily remove the upper winding tape at the intermediate rear branch of the optical cable and to improve the workability.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,11 ... Optical cable, 2,12 ... Cable core, 3,13 ... Optical fiber, 4 ... Slot rod, 4a ... Groove, 5,15 ... Tension member, 6 ... Coarse winding string, 7, 17 ... Upper winding tape, 7a ... Stacking part, 8, 18 ... Sheath, 14 ... Optical fiber bundle, 16 ... Buffer material, 20 ... Manufacturing equipment, 21 ... Slot capstan, 22 ... Optical fiber supply bobbin, 23 ... Concentrator, 24 ... Coarse winding string supply Bobbin, 25 ... Upper winding tape supply bobbin, 26 ... Tape guide device, 27 ... Forming device, 28 ... Extrusion device, 29 ... Cooling device, 30 ... Cable capstan, 31, 32 ... Holding plate, 33 ... Pin, 34 ... First eye plate, 34a ... 6-shaped guide hole, 35 ... Second eye plate, 35a ... Circular guide hole, 36 ... Connecting member, 37 ... Nipple, 38 ... Die, 39 ... Sheath tree Wood.

Claims (3)

An apparatus for manufacturing an optical cable, in which an upper winding tape is wound vertically on the outer periphery of a cable core in which a plurality of optical fibers are bundled, and the outside is covered with a sheath by extrusion molding,
Tape guide means for supplying twisted and lateral displacement of the upper winding tape vertically attached to the outer periphery of the cable core;
Forming means for forming an overlapping portion on the upper tape on the outer periphery of the cable core and winding it in a cylindrical shape,
An optical cable manufacturing apparatus comprising: an extrusion molding means having a taper hole on an incoming line side covering the sheath on an outer periphery of the upper winding tape wound around an outer periphery of the cable core.   The forming means includes a eye plate having at least a six-shaped guide hole that forms an overlapping portion of the tape vertically attached, and a eye plate having a guide hole for overlapping the tape vertically overlapping portion to form a cylinder. The optical cable manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: A method of manufacturing an optical cable in which an upper winding tape is wound vertically on the outer periphery of a cable core in which a plurality of optical fibers are bundled, and the outside is covered with a sheath by extrusion molding,
By supplying the upper winding tape to the outer periphery of the cable core while suppressing twisting and lateral displacement of the upper winding tape by the tape guide means,
Then, after forming the overlapping portion on the upper winding tape around the outer periphery of the cable core by forming means and winding it in a cylindrical shape,
An optical cable manufacturing method characterized in that the sheath is covered with an extruding means having a taper hole on the incoming line side without winding a presser winding around the outer periphery of the upper tape wound around the outer periphery of the cable core.

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