JP2686810B2 - High-strength fusion splicer for constant polarization optical fiber - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an optical fiber alignment mechanism in a high-strength fusion splicer for a constant polarization optical fiber, which is non-contact with the lead-out portion of the constant polarization optical fiber. The phase matching operation can be performed smoothly and accurately without damaging the optical fiber, and the optical fiber is not damaged, enabling high-strength connection and avoiding twisting of the optical fiber during the phase matching operation. It is effective because it is adopted.

[Prior Art and Problems of the Present Invention] Since the polarization-maintaining optical fiber is a so-called panda type and has a core, a clad, and a stress applying part, when connecting these, the stress applying part is aligned outside the core alignment. Alternatively, it is necessary that the positions of the stress applying portions facing each other be shifted most from each other (for details, refer to JP-A-62-272207). In this alignment, the center lines of the cores of the optical fibers are made to coincide with each other. After that, the optical fiber is rotated to adjust the position of the stress applying portion.

The prior art as the above-mentioned constant polarization optical fiber centering mechanism is described in JP-A-62-272207. In this device, one optical fiber is positioned, and the other optical fiber is twisted by a motor to rotate about its own axis so as to be fusion-spliced to each other, and the relative phase relationship between both optical fibers is adjusted. . In this structure, the optical fiber is applied to the optical fiber in order to apply a rotational force to the optical fiber by the rotation mechanism while the bare fiber portion with the coating removed at the tip is held by the block and the fiber clamp. There is a possibility that the tip of the optical fiber does not follow the minute rotation of the rotating mechanism due to the twisting of the optical fiber due to scratches on the
In this case, automatic adjustment is difficult to perform smoothly and accurately.

For the above reasons, the present invention aims to clamp the coating portion of the optical fiber, rotate the clamping portion, and prevent the optical fiber from being scratched and the optical fiber from being twisted. To do.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the present invention, means taken for solving the problems are as follows: (a) Clamping the coating portion at the tip of the optical fiber and adjusting the position of the clamped optical fiber tip to align the cores. (2) A high-strength fusion splicing device for a polarization-maintaining optical fiber, in which the optical fiber is rotated to adjust the phase of the stress-applying part. (C) A support bracket is slidably supported in the front-rear direction on the swing arm, (d) A drive device for sliding the support bracket is provided on the swing arm, (E) The rotation drive device of the V groove base is provided on the support bracket.

[Operation] Since the V groove base fixed to the support bracket is rotatably supported by the support bracket with the center line of the optical fiber when the coating portion of the optical fiber is fitted and clamped in the V groove as a shaft center, When the groove base is rotated by the rotation drive device, the optical fiber held by the groove base rotates together with the V groove base around its own center as an axis.

At this time, since the V groove base is held by the optical fiber coating portion, the surface of the optical fiber does not come into contact with anything and is not damaged. Therefore, high strength connection is possible. Further, since the optical fiber is rotated by the rotation of the V-groove, the optical fiber is never twisted due to the rotation.

Although it is practical to provide the rotation drive mechanism by mounting it on a bracket, for example, it may be provided on a swinging arm so that even if the V groove base swings back and forth together with the support bracket, the drive gear and the V groove base are moved. The mechanism for rotating the V groove base irrespective of the displacement of the V groove base, such as maintaining the meshing relationship with the driven gear provided on the rotation shaft, can be used for solving the above problems. Such a rotation drive mechanism belongs to the equal range of the element (e).

[Examples] FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic views of a centering mechanism of a constant polarization optical fiber fusion splicer to which the present invention is applied. An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to this. .

A bracket 24 is supported by an L-shaped swing arm 14 pivotally supported on a machine body by a slide bearing 11 so as to be slidable in the axial direction of the pivot shaft. A shaft 26 of the V groove base 8 is rotatably supported on the upper end of the bracket 24 via bearings 6, 6. The axis of the shaft 26 and the axis of the V groove of the V groove base 8 are on the same axis.

Attach the phase adjustment motor 10 to the bottom of the bracket 24,
The drive gear 12 is meshed with the driven gear 7 fixed to the shaft 26 of the V groove base 8.

A front-back drive motor 17 is attached to the tip of the swing arm 14, and the helical gear 13 of the motor 17 is meshed with the helical gear of the connecting arm 16 projecting from the bracket 24.

The swinging drive mechanism of the swinging arm 14 is basically the same as that described in JP-A-62-210406,
A coarse adjustment drive is performed by the knob 21, and a fine adjustment drive is performed by the motor 19 through the gears 23 and 22, and the spindle 18 'of the micrometer head 18 is moved in the direction of arrow A to move the swing arm 14 to the pivot 15. Swing around the center. As a result, the shaft 26 of the V groove base 8 moves in the arrow X direction.

By rotating the forward / backward drive motor 17 in the forward and reverse directions, the helical gear 13 drives the connecting arm 16 provided with the helical gear, the bracket 24 is guided by the slide bearing 11 and slides in the Z direction, and the V groove base 8 Is displaced in the direction of arrow Z.

When the phase adjusting motor 10 is rotated in the forward or reverse direction, the gear 12,
The shaft 26 of the V-groove base 8 is driven via 7
The axis of rotation, that is, the axis of the V groove, is the center of rotation, and the body rotates in the forward and reverse directions.

At the time of this phase adjustment operation, the tip of the optical fiber 4 is fitted with the covered portion in the V groove of the V groove base 8 and is pressed and fixed by the clamp 3, and the positions of the core wires of the optical fibers 4 and 4 facing each other are fixed. Matching is complete. In this state, since the V-groove base 8 holding the tip of the optical fiber 4 rotates, the tip of the optical fiber 4 surely rotates by the rotation angle of the V-groove base.

Although the right-side alignment mechanism has been described above, in the left-side alignment mechanism, the swing arm 14 'is on the opposite side of the swing arm 14 and the axis of the V-groove is arrow Y- due to the swing motion. It is displaced in the Y direction. It is the same as that described in JP-A-62-210406 that the opposing optical fiber tips are aligned by the displacement in the XX direction and the displacement in the YY direction.

Since the phase is adjusted by rotating it (in the direction of arrow θ), V
The direction of the groove base and the clamp is diagonal. When the optical fiber is reversed after fusion splicing, twisting acts, which is not preferable. For this reason, the operation of removing the optical fiber from the V-groove base by fusion splicing and removing the rear clamp becomes slightly difficult. Therefore, devise a mechanism for engaging and disengaging the clamp in order to facilitate this removal operation. Is desired. An example of the clamp engagement / disengagement mechanism for this purpose will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

The clamp 3 is pivotally attached to one side of the V groove base 8 by a hinge 39, the clamp 3 is attracted by a permanent magnet 40 embedded in the V groove base, and the optical fiber 4 fitted in the V groove 42 is inserted through a pad 41. Press the clamp 3 to fix it.

An operation shaft is rotatably supported by the V groove base 8, both ends of which are projected to both sides of the V groove base 8, and an operation lever 37 is attached to the protruding end. A push-up cam 38 is fixed to the operation shaft. The push-up cam 38 is rotated by the operation lever 37 via the operation shaft, and the outer peripheral cam surface pushes up the clamp 3 against the attractive force of the permanent magnet 40 to remove the clamp for the optical fiber 4. The operation lever 37 is the V groove base 8
Since it is provided on both sides of the V groove base, the operation is easy even if the V groove base is slanted, and the clamp is pushed up only by rotating the V groove base, so the clamp release operation is extremely easy. Reference numeral 1 is an electrode rod for fusion splicing optical fibers, 2 is an optical fiber (naked), 4 is an optical fiber (with coating), and 9 is a lens of a microscope.

[Effects] Since the above-mentioned problem of the present invention is novel, solving the problem and solving the above-mentioned problems inherent in the prior art is an effect peculiar to the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are sectional views of a clamp mechanism. In the figure, 3 ... coating clamp, 4 ... optical fiber, 6 ...
Bearing, 7 …… Driven gear, 8 …… V groove stand, 10 ……
Phase adjustment motor, 11 …… Slide bearing, 12 ……
Drive gear, 13 ... Helical gear, 14, 14 '... Oscillating arm, 15 ... Axis, 16 ... Connecting arm, 17 ... Forward / backward drive motor, 18 Micro motor head, 18' ... Spindle, 19 ...... Motor, 21 …… Knob, 22,23 …… Gear, 24 …… Bracket, 37 …… Operating lever, 38 …… Upward cam, 39 …… Hinge, 40 …… Permanent magnet, 41 …… Pad, 42 ... It is a V groove.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A clamp for a coating portion at the end of an optical fiber,
A high-strength fusion splicing device for a polarization-maintaining optical fiber, which adjusts the position of the tip of the clamped optical fiber to align the core, and rotates the optical fiber to adjust the phase of the stress-applying part. The V-groove for the clamp of the part is rotatably supported on the support bracket, the support bracket is slidably supported in the front-rear direction on the swing arm, and the swing arm is provided with a drive device for sliding the support bracket. A high-strength fusion splicing device for a polarization-maintaining optical fiber, in which a V-groove rotation drive device is provided on a bracket. 2. A clamp is pivotally attached to one side of the V-groove base by a hinge, a permanent magnet is provided on the V-groove base to attract the clamp, and an operating shaft is provided on the V-groove base and both ends of the V-groove base are attached to the V-groove base. 2. The high-strength fusion splicing device for a polarization-maintaining optical fiber according to claim 1, further comprising a clamp mechanism provided on both sides with operation levers provided at both ends of the operation shaft, and a clamp push-up cam provided on the operation shaft.