JP2015086124A - Method of manufacturing optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of optimally controlling coating removal force for a glass fiber coated with a protective coating layer in a step of rewinding the glass fiber.SOLUTION: A method of manufacturing an optical fiber 1 includes a step of rewinding the optical fiber 1 having a protective coating layer around another reel 17 after winding the optical fiber 1 around a supply reel 11, and the optical fiber 1 is placed in an atmosphere of much moisture. Specifically, coating removal force is optimally controlled by a method using a nozzle 19 spraying water over the optical fiber 1 in the step of rewinding the optical fiber around another take-up reel 17.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber manufacturing method including a step of winding a resin-coated optical fiber around a reel and then rewinding it to another reel.

  An optical fiber is usually obtained by drawing an optical fiber preform while heating and melting it. The glass fiber immediately after being drawn from the optical fiber preform is coated with a resin and cured in a curing furnace, whereby a protective coating layer is applied to reinforce the mechanical strength. An optical fiber to which a protective coating layer has been applied may be provided with a coating layer for further increasing the strength or a colored coating may be formed by applying a colored paint, depending on the form of use.

  The optical fiber to which the protective coating layer is applied is temporarily wound on a reel, and rewinding is performed in order to adjust the length of the optical fiber and to divide the optical fiber into a predetermined length.

  Regarding a rewinding device used for rewinding an optical fiber, for example, in Patent Document 1, in an apparatus for rewinding an optical fiber wound on a feeding bobbin to a winding bobbin, the tension of the optical fiber being rewinded is measured, A rewinding device is disclosed in which the winding torque can be controlled by the measured tension value.

  An optical fiber with a protective coating layer is required to have a certain range of adhesion between the glass fiber and the protective coating layer in order to prevent an increase in transmission loss and facilitate the handling of the optical fiber. It is done. For example, an optical fiber core described in Patent Document 2 is disclosed as an optical fiber having an adhesive force between a glass fiber and a coating layer of 20 g / cm width or more.

Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-18063 JP 2004-341297 A

  In the optical fiber provided with the protective coating layer as described above, the coating removal force indicating the adhesion between the glass fiber and the protective coating layer needs to be within a certain optimum range. If the coating removal force is too great, it is difficult to remove the coating when the protective coating layer is removed from the optical fiber core or the like to expose the glass fiber. On the other hand, if the coating removal force is too small, the glass fiber tends to protrude from the protective coating, resulting in poor so-called pistoning characteristics.

  As described above, in the optical fiber manufacturing process, the optical fiber in which the optical fiber preform is drawn and coated with the protective coating layer is subjected to rewinding so as to be divided into a predetermined length. No technique has been disclosed so far that optimizes the conditions in the rewinding process so that the coating removal force of the optical fiber can be controlled to an appropriate level.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described actual circumstances, and is an optical fiber manufacturing method in which the coating removal force of an optical fiber obtained by coating a glass fiber with a protective coating layer can be optimally controlled in an optical fiber rewinding process. Regarding the method.

  An optical fiber manufacturing method according to the present invention is a method of manufacturing an optical fiber including a step of winding an optical fiber having a protective coating layer on a reel, and then rewinding the optical fiber to another reel. In the method of manufacturing the optical fiber, the optical fiber is placed in a moisture-rich atmosphere in the step of rewinding.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the manufacturing method of the optical fiber which enabled it to control optimally the coating removal force of the optical fiber which coat | covered the protective coating layer on the glass fiber in the rewinding process of an optical fiber can be provided.

It is a figure explaining an example of the rewinding apparatus of the optical fiber which applies the manufacturing method of the optical fiber by this invention. It is a table | surface which shows the coating removal force in the Example of the optical fiber rewinded with the rewinding apparatus which adjusted the moisture content in a chamber.

First, embodiments of the present invention will be listed and described.
(1) The invention relating to the optical fiber tape core manufacturing apparatus according to the present application is a method for manufacturing an optical fiber including a step of winding an optical fiber having a protective coating layer on a reel and then winding the optical fiber on another reel. The method of manufacturing an optical fiber, wherein the optical fiber is placed in a moisture-rich atmosphere in the step of rewinding the optical fiber to another reel. This makes it possible to optimally control the coating removal force of the optical fiber obtained by coating the glass fiber with the protective coating layer in the optical fiber rewinding process.

(2) It is preferable that the amount of moisture in the air in the chamber containing the other reel is 16 g / m ³ or more. As a result, the coating removal force of the optical fiber can be controlled stably and optimally.

  (3) It is preferable to improve the coating removal power of the optical fiber by placing the optical fiber in a moisture-rich atmosphere.

  (4) It is preferable to spray water on the optical fiber in the step of rewinding the optical fiber to another reel.

[Details of the embodiment of the present invention]
Specific examples of the manufacturing apparatus and the manufacturing method of the optical fiber ribbon according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to these illustrations, is shown by the claim, and includes all the changes within the meaning and range equivalent to a claim.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of an optical fiber rewinding apparatus to which an optical fiber manufacturing method according to the present invention is applied.
An optical fiber 1 that has been drawn by a drawing device, covered with a protective coating layer made of resin, and further provided with a secondary coating or a colored layer as required is wound around a supply reel 11. Then, the rewinding apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 performs the rewinding while adjusting the scale. As an example, the optical fiber 1 is formed by coating a glass fiber of 125 μmφ with a primary coating layer and a secondary coating layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin, and further coating a colored layer with an ultraviolet curable ink on the outermost periphery to a thickness of 250 μmφ. Things can be applied.

  In the rewinding device 10, the optical fiber 1 is unwound from the supply reel 11, and is supplied to a capstan / proof test device 14 in which a capstan belt 13 is disposed, via conveying rollers 12 a to 12 d. In the capstan / proof test apparatus 14, a proof load 15 having a predetermined size is loaded, and a proof test (strength screening test) is performed. Then, the optical fiber 1 passes through the dancer roller storage device 16 and is transported by the transport rollers 12e and 12f and wound around the take-up reel 17. The take-up reel 17 corresponds to another reel of the present invention.

In the embodiment according to the present invention, the covering removal force can be increased by placing the optical fiber 1 in an atmosphere rich in moisture in the rewinding process of the optical fiber. In this case, it is possible to improve the coating removal power by placing an optical fiber that is a defective product with a small coating removal force in a moisture-rich atmosphere. Can be. An atmosphere with a lot of moisture means a case where the amount of moisture in the air is 16 g / cm ³ or more.

  In order to realize this, in the configuration example of the rewinding device 10 in FIG. 1, the take-up reel 17 is installed in the chamber 18, and the optical fiber 1 that travels toward the take-up reel 17 inside the chamber 18. A nozzle 19 for spraying water is provided. Although the take-up reel 17 is installed in a take-up device (not shown), the entire take-up device can be installed inside the chamber 18. The nozzle 19 supplies moisture from a moisture supply device (not shown) and sprays moisture from the tip of the nozzle 19. As a result, the coating removal force of the optical fiber can be increased, and the optical fiber having a coating removal force in an appropriate range can be manufactured by improving the coating removal force of the optical fiber originally having a small coating removal force. It becomes like this.

At this time, the moisture content in the air inside the chamber 18 is set to 16 g / m ³ or more. In order to keep the air moisture content inside the chamber at a predetermined level, the opening 18a of the chamber 18 is preferably made as small as possible. At this time, it is preferable to keep the traveling path of the optical fiber 1 entering the chamber 18 as constant as possible using a transport roller or the like. The amount of moisture in the air in the chamber 18 is monitored, and the amount of spray from the nozzle 19 is adjusted to control the amount of moisture in the air to be maintained.
As a result, the coating removal force of the optical fiber can be controlled more stably and optimally.

(Example)
FIG. 2 is a table showing the coating removal force in an example of an optical fiber that has been rewound by a rewinder that adjusts the amount of water in the chamber.
Using the rewinding device 10 shown in FIG. 1, the temperature and humidity (the amount of moisture in the air) inside the chamber 18 were changed to rewind the optical fabric, and the coating removal force of the optical fiber 1 after the rewinding was measured. In the optical fiber samples of No. 1 to No. 3, the manufacturing conditions for drawing the glass base material and covering the protective coating were all the same. The amount of moisture in the air was calculated from the temperature and humidity measured inside the take-up reel 17 in the chamber 18 and the amount of saturated water vapor. The coating removal force was measured by a measurement method specified in Telcordia GR-20. At this time, the pulling and removing force was 250 to 918 g, which was evaluated as a good level A, and the one less than 250 g was evaluated as a defective level B.

As shown in FIG. 1, in Examples No. 1 and No. 2 in which the moisture content in the air was 16 g / m 3 or more, a good coating removal force was obtained. On the other hand, in Comparative Example No. 3 in which the moisture content in the air was smaller than 16 g / m 3, the coating removal force was insufficient and was at a defective level.
Thus, in the step of rewinding the optical fiber to another reel, water is sprayed on the optical fiber, and the moisture content in the air in the take-up reel chamber is set to 16 g / m ³ (humidity 70%) or more at 25 ° C. Thus, the coating removal force of the optical fiber in which the protective coating layer was coated on the glass fiber could be optimally controlled in the glass fiber rewinding process.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical fiber, 10 ... Rewinding device, 11 ... Supply reel, 12a-12f ... Conveyance roller, 13 ... Capstan belt, 14 ... Proof test device, 15 ... Proof load, 16 ... Dancer roller storage device, 17 ... Take-up reel, 18 ... chamber, 18a ... opening, 19 ... nozzle.

Claims (4)

An optical fiber manufacturing method comprising a step of winding an optical fiber having a protective coating layer on a reel and then rewinding to another reel,
A method of manufacturing an optical fiber, wherein the optical fiber is placed in a moisture-rich atmosphere in the step of rewinding the optical fiber to another reel. The method of manufacturing an optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the moisture content in the air in the chamber containing the other reel is 16 g / m ³ or more.   The method of manufacturing an optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber is removed from the atmosphere in a moisture-rich atmosphere to improve the coating removal force of the optical fiber.   The method of manufacturing an optical fiber according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein water is sprayed on the optical fiber in the step of rewinding the optical fiber to another reel.

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