JP2785417B2 - Optical cable assembly machine - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an improvement of an optical cable aggregate.

More specifically, the present invention relates to an improvement in a disconnection prevention device including a tension control mechanism used for an optical cable collecting device and a storage accumulator.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Conventionally, an optical cable aggregate having a configuration as shown in FIG. 2 has been used.

That is, 1 is a supply reel of a center tensile member, 2 is a take-up capstan, and 3 is a winder. Also, 4
Is a supply device for twisting optical fibers or the like twisted around the central tensile strength member, and twisting is performed in a collective die of number 5.

Generally, in a cage rotating type collective machine, only the supply device 4 (hereinafter, referred to as a rotating cage) rotates and performs twisting, whereas in a winding rotary type collective machine,
The supply device 4 is stationary, and the supply reel 1, the capstan 2, and the winder 3 rotate to perform twisting.

Regardless of which structure is employed, in the optical cable collecting device, a tension control mechanism as shown in FIG. 3 is used in order to keep the supply tension of the optical fiber low and constant. .

That is, 1 is an optical fiber supply reel,
Driven by 10 motors. Reference numerals 6 and 7 denote dancer rollers, which are fixed dancer rollers in which the roller position of 7 is fixed, whereas the roller 6 is displaced (movable) without being fixed, and has a constant tension spring (shown in the figure). (Not shown), a tension of T is always applied in the direction of the arrow, so that the line tension on the optical fiber is T / 2.

The position (displacement) of the roller 6 is constantly monitored by the potentiometer 8 and this signal is taken into the CPU 9 so that the deviation from the midpoint becomes zero.
By applying feedback control to 10 motors,
The tension of the optical fiber fed from the supply device 4 is always kept constant, that is, T / 2.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In the disconnection prevention device including the optical cable collecting machine and the tension control mechanism, if a tangling occurs in the fiber feeding supply reel (bobbin) 1, the tangling is automatically detected. As a result, there was a risk of control abnormality and breaking of the optical fiber.

Therefore, as a method for detecting the entanglement of the optical fiber, 4
Continuously monitor the voltage of the two potentiometers,
When this exceeds a certain level, a method of automatically stopping the optical cable collecting machine has been tried, but unfortunately, unfortunately, when entanglement occurs, before the equipment is completely stopped, An excessive tension was applied to the optical fiber, and the possibility of disconnection was extremely high.

(Means for Solving the Problems) As a result of various studies on the above problems, the present inventor combined with the above-described tension control mechanism composed of dancer rolls, started the optical fiber emission by applying a constant tension, and started the potentiometer. The present inventors have found that the use of an accumulator having a sufficient storage line length for wire release while preventing the collective unit from being automatically stopped by a monitor signal can efficiently prevent the disconnection of the optical fiber, and have completed the present invention.

That is, the present invention provides: In an optical cable collecting machine having a structure in which feed-out tension of an optical fiber from a supply reel is constantly controlled by a dancer roller, an accumulator is provided at a predetermined position between the tension control dancer roller and the supply reel. The accumulator starts to release the optical fiber by applying a constant tension, and stops for a certain length while the monitor signal of the potentiometer provided on the dancer roller exceeds a certain level to stop the optical cable collecting machine. Provided is an optical cable collecting device in which an accumulator has a sufficient storage line length with respect to a distance. Also, the present invention is characterized in that the accumulator has a fixed roller and a movable roller for turning the optical fiber a plurality of times. Also, the present invention is characterized in that the radiation start tension of the accumulator is set to be larger than the normal feeding tension of the dancer roller.

 Further, the present invention will be specifically described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a disconnection prevention device of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1, 6 to 10 are the same tension control mechanisms as those of the conventional disconnection prevention device of FIG.

However, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, between the supply reel 1 and the dancer rollers 6 and 7,
A wire storage device such as an accumulator 11 composed of fixed rollers and movable rollers 12, 12 'is arranged.

Rolls 12 and 12 ′ constituting the accumulator 11
The optical fiber is turned a plurality (n) times around.

The 12 rollers constituting the accumulator are fixed fixed rollers, and the 12 'rollers are movable and movable rollers.

The accumulator composed of both rollers has a stroke L, and its position is usually at the far position a of the movable roller due to the tension F of a constant tension spring (not shown) with respect to the near point b of the fixed roller.

In the present invention, when the voltage monitored by the potentiometer 8 exceeds a certain level, it is determined that the voltage is entangled with the optical fiber, and the collective unit itself is automatically stopped.

(Operation) (i) In FIG. 1, if the monitor signal of the potentiometer 8 exceeds a certain level when the optical fiber is entangled, the collective machine is automatically stopped.
In a typical set machine, in order to have a rotating member, the inertia (ine r tia) is large, it is generally difficult to suddenly stop, equipment for up to a complete stop, a certain length l is the stopping distance Is necessary.

Therefore, in the present invention, by making the storage line length 2 nL of the accumulator 11 sufficiently large with respect to l,
The structure is such that excessive tension is not applied until the equipment stops completely.

That is, the accumulator in the collective unit starts to emit the optical fiber by applying a constant tension, and while the monitor signal of the potentiometer provided on the dancer roller exceeds a certain level and stops the collective unit for the optical cable,
The accumulator has a sufficient storage line length (2 nL) for a stop distance of a fixed length (l) (claim 1).

(Ii) As the accumulator of the present invention, a wire storage device having an arbitrary structure can be applied as long as the wire can be stored at a certain length, but is typically composed of at least one kind of a combination of a fixed roller and a movable roller. Around the roller, there is a groove for turning the optical fiber one or more times (a plurality of times) (claim 2).

(Iii) In the tension control mechanism shown in FIG. 1, assuming that the tension of the constant tension spring of the dancer roller 6 is T, the optical fiber is turned once, so that the optical fiber tension is always constant.
Controlled at T / 2.

On the other hand, the movable roller 12 'of the accumulator has a constant tension spring (not shown) having a tension F. Here, since the optical fiber is turned a plurality of times (n), in order for the accumulator 11 to start releasing, Optical fiber tension is F /
Must be greater than 2n.

Therefore, in the present invention, it is necessary that the radiation starting tension of the accumulator is set to be larger than the normal feeding tension of the dancer roller (claim 3).

In short, F and n are set so that the accumulator operating tension (radial tension) = F / 2n is slightly larger than the normal tension of the optical fiber = T / 2.

With this setting, the optical fiber feeding device (collector) shown in FIG. 1 has a tension control function substantially similar to that of the conventional configuration shown in FIG.

(Examples) The present invention will be specifically described by the following examples, which do not limit the scope of the present invention.

With the supply tension of the optical fiber = 70 g and the operating tension of the accumulator = 80 g, the disconnection prevention device having the structure shown in FIG. To rotate this.

In addition, for the optical fiber, an experiment was performed after intentionally making an entanglement.

As a result, almost 100% disconnection of the optical fiber could be avoided by employing the disconnection prevention mechanism of the present invention.

The reliability of the portion of the sample optical fiber used in this experiment, such as a tensile test, was evaluated, but no deterioration in strength was observed.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, in the present invention, (i) an automatic stop function of the collective machine by monitoring the potentiometer voltage, (ii) a sufficiently low operating tension F / 2n and a sufficiently long storage wire Long 2n
By combining the accumulator with L, a complete optical fiber entanglement disconnection prevention device can be obtained.

This is a very effective means in that the reliability of the assembling process of a cable having an extremely long cable length such as an optical submarine cable can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a disconnection prevention device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the structure of a general optical cable assembling machine. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a disconnection prevention mechanism using a conventional constant tension supply mechanism. 1; supply reel 2: take-up capstan 3: take-up machine 4: optical fiber twisting supply device 5: collective die 6: fixed dancer roller 7: movable dancer roller 8: potentiometer 9: CPU device 10: motor 11: Accumulator 12: Fixed roller 12 ': Movable roller

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An optical cable collecting machine having a structure in which a feed-out tension of an optical fiber from a supply reel is constantly feedback-controlled by a dancer roller, wherein an accumulator is provided at a predetermined position between the tension control dancer roller and the supply reel. Then, the accumulator starts to emit the optical fiber by applying a constant tension, and a stop distance of a certain length while the monitor signal of the potentiometer provided on the dancer roller exceeds a certain level to stop the optical cable collecting machine. The accumulator has a sufficient storage wire length for the optical cable. 2. The optical cable collecting machine according to claim 1, wherein said accumulator has a fixed roller and a movable roller for turning the optical fiber a plurality of times. 3. The optical cable collecting machine according to claim 1, wherein a radiation starting tension of the accumulator is set to be larger than a normal feeding tension of the dancer roller.