JP3108539B2 - Optical fiber core holder for optical fiber fusion splicer - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber holder for aligning and holding optical fibers when the optical fibers are fusion-spliced by the optical fiber welding machine. It concerns the device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of a general optical fiber fusion splicer. In the figure, discharge electrodes 1a and 1b are arranged opposite to each other with an interval in the optical fiber fusion splicer, and a pair of fiber alignment blocks 2a are provided on both sides in a direction orthogonal to the direction of the discharge electrodes 1a and 1b. , 2b
Are arranged, and holder devices 3a and 3b for aligning and holding the optical fiber core wires 4a and 4b are provided outside the optical fiber core wires 4a and 4b. Each of the holder devices 3a and 3b is formed of a rectangular block, and a V groove 5 is formed on the upper surface of the block.
Optical fiber core wires 4a and 4b housed and connected in grooves 5
Are kept aligned.

On the other hand, the fiber alignment blocks 2a and 2b are also formed of rectangular blocks, and V-grooves 6 are formed on the upper surfaces of the fiber alignment blocks 2a and 2b. 7a and 7b are accommodated and arranged to face each other in an axially aligned state. In this state, by generating discharge energy between the discharge electrodes 1a and 1b, the distal ends of the optical fibers 7a and 7b are melted. In this state, one side of the optical fibers 7a, 7b is pushed in and pressed into contact with the optical fibers 7a, 7b.
Fusion welding of the two is achieved.

[0004]

As is well known, the optical fiber cores 4a and 4b are formed by coating the optical fibers 7a and 7b with a coating material. There are various sizes such as 250 μm, 400 μm, and 900 μm, for example. The optical fibers 7a and 7b are fusion spliced by holding the optical fiber core wires having different coating outer diameters in the holder devices 3a and 3b. And, as shown in FIG.
When the thick optical fiber 4 is housed in the V-groove 5 of the holder device 3, the grounding point 8 where the optical fiber 7 is grounded to the fiber alignment block 2 is a distant point, and the thin optical fiber 4 is housed in the V-groove 5. The contact point 9 when held is a close point, and the contact points 8, 9 are different.

[0005] As described above, when the optical fibers having different coating outer diameters are to be fusion-spliced, the ground points of the fiber alignment blocks 2a and 2b are different. In particular, the ground point on the thicker optical fiber side is the holder device. As the distance from the side increases, the length of the contact of the fiber alignment block in the V-groove 6 becomes short and unstable, and the connection end face of the optical fiber is slightly inclined.
Further, when the connection ends are melted due to the application of the discharge energy and are pressed and pressed, if the ground points are different, the stiffness of the optical fibers 7a and 7b is different, and the fusion-spliced optical fibers 7a and 7b are different. 7b is likely to be misaligned, and the connection loss increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber arranging block in which an optical fiber is bonded to a fiber alignment block even when the optical fibers having different coating outer diameters are fusion-spliced. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical fiber core holder device for an optical fiber fusion splicer which prevents an axial misalignment by setting a grounding point to be grounded at an optimum position and does not increase connection loss.

[0007]

The present invention is configured as follows to achieve the above object. That is, according to the present invention, the coating material on the distal end side is peeled and the optical fiber is exposed.
Holds the resulting optical fiber core with its sheath
An optical fiber core holder device and this optical fiber core holder
Placed on the side of the optical fiber
Fiber aligning the optical fiber of the held optical fiber
And the fiber alignment block
Of the broken optical fiber to the optical fiber of the connection partner
The optical fiber core holder device of the optical fiber fusion splicer having a fusion splicing part to be connected , the optical fiber core holder device holds the optical fiber of the held optical fiber core wire.
Pressing diagonally on the surface of the fiber alignment block and grounding
The arrangement relationship with the fiber array block is set
The optical fiber core holder device includes a holder block having a V-shaped groove formed on the surface for receiving and aligning and holding the optical fiber core, and a V-shaped groove having the same shape and dimensions. A holding frame provided with a housing recess capable of interchangeably and detachably housing different holder blocks interchangeably, and a V-shaped groove formed in the holder block
The size of the outer diameter of the optical fiber core held in the groove is large
Each groove has different dimensions, and the shape and dimensions of each groove
Fiber with different outer diameters
Is set to be substantially the same as the preset fiber alignment block.
It is characterized in that it has a shape and dimensions to be grounded at the ground point .

[0008]

In the present invention having the above structure, the optical fiber to be connected is accommodated in the V-shaped groove of the holder block.
The optical fibers are accommodated in the V-groove of the fiber alignment block and are arranged to face each other. At this time, when the coating outer diameter of the optical fiber to be connected is different, a holder block for holding the optical fiber on one side, for example, a holder block for holding the optical fiber with a larger coating outer diameter, is V-shaped. By replacing the holder block with a deep groove depth, the grounding point of the optical fibers on the left and right sides to be connected to the fiber alignment block and the contact length of the fiber alignment block can be optimally adjusted to be opposed to each other, In this state, the discharge energy is applied to the connection ends of the two optical fibers, so that the fusion splicing of the optical fibers is performed well.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an optical fiber core holder device for an optical fiber fusion splicer according to the present invention. The optical fiber core holder device 10 of this embodiment is constituted by a combination of a holding frame 11 and a holder block 12. The holding frame body 11 is formed by forming a housing recess 13 on the upper surface side of a rectangular block, and a magnet 14 is embedded and installed on an arbitrary inner wall surface of the housing recess 13, in this figure, a bottom surface and one side surface. I have.

The holder block 12 made of a magnetic material has a size such that it can be removably fitted into the receiving recess 13 of the holding frame 11, and a V-shaped groove 15 is formed on the upper surface of the block. ing. In this embodiment, the holder block 12 is a plurality prepared, each of the holder block 12 is formed with a groove 15 which is different from the depth t _1, a plurality of types different in shape and size of the groove 15 The holder block 12 is detachably accommodated in the accommodation recess 13 with compatibility. In addition,
In the figure, reference numeral 16 denotes a gap.

In the apparatus of this embodiment, when performing fusion splicing of optical fiber core wires having the same coating outer diameter, the holder blocks 12 having the same groove depth are accommodated in the holding frame bodies 11 on both the left and right sides. The optical fibers of the left and right optical fiber cores are grounded at equal ground points of the fiber alignment blocks 2a and 2b by accommodating and holding the optical fiber cores in the grooves 15 of the block 12 so as to be aligned. V of 2b
The groove 5 is accommodated in the groove 5 with an optimum contact length and is aligned and maintained, and a good fusion splicing without axial misalignment is achieved.

Further, when performing fusion splicing of optical fiber core wires having different coating outer diameters, one or both of the holder blocks 12 housed in the left and right holding frame bodies 11 are replaced with ones having different groove depths. Then, the shape of the groove 15 of the holder block 12 is adjusted such that the ground point and the ground length at which the optical fibers on both sides are grounded to the fiber alignment blocks 2a and 2b are optimized, and the optical fibers are fusion spliced. A low-loss fusion splicing without axial misalignment is achieved even in optical fibers having different coating outer diameters.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can adopt various embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, the groove 15 is provided only on the upper surface side of the holder block 12, but as shown in FIG. 2, the groove 15b having a different groove depth from the upper surface side groove 15a also on the bottom surface side of the holder block 12. May be provided so that the holder block 12 can be used upside down.

Also, as shown in FIG.
The V-shaped groove 15 formed on the upper surface of the groove 12 is formed as an inclined groove in which the groove depth is changed in the length direction, and a plurality of holder blocks 12 having different inclination angles of the inclined groove are prepared. The holder block of the inclined groove corresponding to the outer diameter of the coated wire may be housed in the holding frame body 11 to perform fusion splicing of the optical fiber. Also, in the case of FIG.
Similarly, an inclined groove having an inclined angle different from that of the upper surface side may be formed on the bottom surface side, so that the holder block can be used upside down.

[0015]

According to the present invention, a plurality of holder blocks having different shapes and sizes of V-shaped grooves are interchangeably interchangeably detachably mountable in the accommodating recess of the holding frame body. Even if the outer diameters of the core wires are different from each other, it is possible to select and use a holder block with a groove that has the shape and dimensions that match the outer diameter of the core wires. Regardless of this, the grounding position of the optical fiber with respect to the fiber alignment block and the grounding length can be adjusted optimally, thereby eliminating the problem of axial misalignment due to the difference in the coating outer diameter and reducing the loss. The fusion splicing of the optical fiber core wire becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a main part configuration diagram showing one embodiment of an optical fiber core holder device in an optical fiber fusion splicer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration explanatory view of an optical fiber core holder device of another embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a configuration explanatory view of an optical fiber core holder device of still another embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an optical fiber core holder device of a conventional optical fiber fusion splicer in an optical fiber core wire alignment holding state.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a fusion splicing region of the optical fiber fusion splicer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2, 2a, 2b Fiber alignment block 4, 4a, 4b Optical fiber core 7, 7, 7a, 7b Optical fiber 10 Holder device 11 Holding frame 12 Holder block 15, 15a, 15b Groove

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. The coating material on the tip side is peeled off to form an optical fiber.
The optical fiber core with the exposed bar
Holding optical fiber core holder device and this optical fiber core
The optical fiber core holder device is located next to the fiber holder device.
The optical fiber of the optical fiber core held by the device
Fiber alignment block and this fiber alignment block
Connect the tip of the aligned optical fiber to the other optical fiber
Optical fiber fusion machine having a fusion splicing part for fusion splicing
In the above optical fiber core holder device, the optical fiber core holder device may include an optical fiber of the held optical fiber core wire.
Press the fiber against the surface of the fiber alignment block diagonally.
The arrangement relationship with the fiber array block is
The optical fiber core holder device is provided with a holder block having a V-shaped groove formed on the surface for receiving and aligning and holding an optical fiber core, and a shape and dimension of the V-shaped groove. And a holding frame provided with an accommodating recess capable of interchangeably and removably accommodating different holder blocks with interchangeability, and a V-shape formed in the holder block.
The shape and shape of the groove are outside the optical fiber core held in the groove.
Different dimensions depending on the size of the diameter, and the shape and dimensions of each groove
Are the optical fibers of optical fibers with different outer diameters held in each groove.
The fiber is set to approximately the preset value of the fiber alignment block.
An optical fiber core holder device for an optical fiber fusion splicer, wherein the optical fiber core is configured to be grounded at the same ground point .