JPH0217082B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Summary of the Invention] A continuous long plastic tube is slit in the length direction, and then a tape-shaped optical fiber is laminated, and a plurality of single-filament optical fibers are slit from the slit into plastic. This is a manufacturing method for a slit plastic tube storage type multi-fiber optical fiber unit in which the plastic tube is continuously inserted and stored in a tube.The plastic tube is fed out from a feeding machine, is taken up by a pulling machine, the supply tension is reduced, and the fiber is slit by a cutter. It is characterized by slitting and inserting the optical fiber into the plastic tube in one continuous process, by guiding the plastic tube to the insertion position with a screwdriver, and then pulling it with a pulling machine after insertion, thereby stabilizing the pulling tension during slitting. .

[Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a multi-core optical fiber unit housed in a slit plastic tube, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a slit in a plastic tube and stacking and inserting a tape-shaped optical fiber in one continuous step.

[Conventional technology]

An optical fiber unit in which a plurality of optical fibers are housed in a tube can easily constitute a high-density multi-core optical fiber cable by taking advantage of the small diameter of the optical fibers. Based on the structure of this high-density multi-core optical fiber cable, small-diameter multi-core high-density optical fiber cables are being developed, mainly for subscriber optical fiber cables.

FIGS. 3a to 3c are diagrams illustrating an example of the configuration of a multi-core optical fiber cable housed in a slit plastic tube. As shown in FIG. 3a, a tape-shaped optical fiber core wire, in which a plurality of optical fibers 1 are arranged in parallel and a protective coating 2 is applied thereto, in this example, a 5-fiber tape core wire 3 is shown in FIG. 3b. As shown, a 20-fiber slit plastic tube housing type optical fiber unit 6 is known, in which a plurality of fibers, four in this example, are stacked and housed in a slit plastic tube 4. The slit plastic tube-housed optical fiber units 6 are arranged and assembled, for example, around the tension member 7 at the center of the cable, as shown in FIG. 3c, to form a multicore high-density optical fiber cable. In FIG. 3b, 5 is a slit for inserting the tape core wire into the tube, and 5' is a groove formed in the inner circumferential wall facing the slit 5 to an arbitrary depth if necessary.

Conventionally, in the manufacturing method of a slit plastic tube storage type optical fiber unit, as shown in the outline of the manufacturing process in FIG. A slit is opened in the tube slit insertion part 14', and the optical fiber is fed out from the slit from the optical fiber winding bobbin 13 of the optical fiber feeding machine 12. In this example, the slit plastic is made by stacking four five-fiber tape cores 3. Insert into the tube to form a 20-fiber slit plastic tube storage type optical fiber unit 6,
While being taken up by a take-up machine 15, it is wound up by a winding machine 16.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventional manufacturing of a multi-core optical fiber unit housed in a slit plastic tube involves supplying a pre-slit plastic tube, opening the slit, and releasing a plurality of optical fibers or a plurality of tape-shaped optical fiber cores from the slit. The conventional method was to insert and store the plastic tube into a plastic tube, which caused the following problems.

First, it is difficult to maintain the slit position of the slit plastic tube fed from a fixed plastic tube feeder at the same position when the slit plastic tube is slit in advance and then wound. When opening the part of the slit, a force is required to resist the twisting force of the plastic tube as the unrolled plastic tube is twisted, and the frictional resistance at the insertion position is combined with the resistance for opening the slit part. However, due to the characteristics of the resulting optical fiber cable, the quality of the resulting optical fiber cable is unstable. There's a problem.

Second, when installing fiber optic cables,
When branching an optical fiber cable in the middle of a laid line, it was desired to be able to easily take out the optical fiber stored in the plastic tube. In plastic tubes with slits, it is difficult to open the slits due to the elasticity of the plastic, creating problems in branching operations.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to solve the conventional problems, the manufacturing method of the present invention involves slitting a continuous long plastic tube in the length direction, then laminating tape-shaped optical fibers, or stacking a plurality of single optical fibers. The plastic tube is continuously inserted into the plastic tube slit in the length direction, and in particular, the plastic tube slitting process involves slitting a point on the outer circumference of the plastic tube, and simultaneously inserting the plastic tube at a point on the outer circumference of the slit plastic tube. It is characterized by forming slit grooves at an arbitrary depth on the opposing inner walls. Further, in the step of laminating the tape-shaped optical fibers or inserting a plurality of single-fiber optical fibers into the plastic tube, the plastic tube is guided to the insertion position by a turn sheave, and the plastic tube is taken up before the insertion. The tension of the plastic tube supply at the time of slitting is reduced by taking it off with a taking machine, and the slit plastic tube is removed by taking up the formed optical fiber unit with a taking machine after the insertion. It is characterized by including stabilization of the take-up tension at the time.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, by slitting one point on the outer circumference of a plastic tube in one continuous step, forming a slit groove on the inner peripheral wall opposite to the slit, and inserting an optical fiber,
It is possible to manufacture a multi-core optical fiber unit housed in a slit plastic tube with stable quality and a high value-added cable structure in use. Examples will be described below based on the drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the manufacturing process of a multi-core optical fiber unit housed in a slit plastic tube according to the present invention.

The plastic tube 5 is fed out from the tape feeding machine 9. Generally, the plastic tube 5 is long, so when the plastic tube 5 is fed out from the large tube winding bobbin 11, a certain amount of tension is applied to the plastic tube 5 due to the frictional resistance of various parts of the machine groove during feeding. , the plastic tube 5 is picked up by the auxiliary pulling machine 10, and the plastic tube 5 is transferred to the tube slit insertion section 14.
send in. By this process, the actual plastic tube 5 in the tube slit insertion part 14 is
The tension can be reduced. The auxiliary drawing machine 10 may be removed if the stretching of the plastic tube 5 fed and fed from the tube feeding machine is not a problem. In FIG. 1, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 4 indicate the same parts. Reference numeral 4 indicates a slit plastic tube, 19 a cutter die section, 20 a turn sheave section, 21 an optical fiber insertion section, 22 a guide die, 17 a winding guide roller, and 18 a winding bobbin.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating details of the tube slit insertion section 14. The plastic tube 5 fed out from the tube feeder 9 is slit by a cutting die section 19 to form a slit plastic tube 4. The cutter die portion 19 is a cutter die 19 held by a cutter die holder 191.
2 is equipped with a cutter 193 held by a cutter holder 194 installed inside, and the cutter 193 is attached to the adjuster groove 1.
95, the depth of the slit made in the plastic tube 5 can be changed as appropriate. The slits are not limited to one location, and at the same time, the slit grooves 5' shown in FIG. 3b described above may be formed or cut out at an arbitrary depth on the opposing inner circumferential walls. The inner diameter of the cutter die 192 is the cutter die 192.
To account for the expansion of the outer diameter of the plastic tube 5 due to the blade 93, it is necessary to increase the diameter from the middle.

The slit plastic tube 4 that has passed through the cutter die 192 is bent at the turn sheave part 20, which is composed of a turn sheave 201 with a sheave rubber lining 202 on the bottom of the groove, which is driven by a sheave drive motor 203, so that the slit part can be easily opened. and 5 constituting the optical fiber insertion section 21
The insertion guide tube 211 for inserting the core tape cable core 3 can be easily inserted into the slit portion of the slit tube 4. Since bending force acts on the insertion guide tube 211 inserted into the slit plastic tube 4 from the slit part, by attaching the insertion guide tube support plate 213 to the insertion guide tube holder 212 that holds the insertion guide tube 211, In addition to preventing bending force acting on the insertion guide tube 211,
The slit of the slit plastic tube 4 can be opened and closed smoothly.

Furthermore, when the plastic tube 5 is slit continuously online, the tension applied to the plastic tube 5 naturally increases. It is effective because it can reduce the stretching of the plastic tube 5, stably slit the plastic tube 5, and insert the optical fiber.Furthermore, the sheave rubber lining 202 applied to the groove bottom of the turn sheave 201 makes this effect even greater. . The five-fiber tape core wire 3 is guided by the insertion guide tube 211 and stably and smoothly inserted into the slit plastic tube 4.

A certain tension is applied to the slit plastic tube 4 due to the resistance when making the slit and the resistance due to the opening of the slit portion of the slit plastic tube when inserting the tape core wire into the slit. The slit plastic tube that is delivered from the tube slit insertion section is in a stretched state. Furthermore, since the above-mentioned resistance is accompanied by fluctuations, which are various conditions, the slit plastic tube repeatedly expands and contracts like rubber, so in order to prevent this, the slit plastic tube is pulled as close as possible to the outlet of the tube slit insertion part 14. It is necessary to place machine 15.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the manufacturing method of the present invention, in one continuous step, one point on the outer circumference of the plastic tube is slit, a slit groove is formed on the inner peripheral wall opposite to the slit, and an optical fiber is inserted. By doing this, it is possible to manufacture a multi-core optical fiber unit housed in a slit plastic tube with stable quality and a high value-added cable structure in use.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the manufacturing process of a multi-core optical fiber unit housed in a slit plastic tube according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a detailed explanatory diagram of the tube slit insertion part of the present invention, and FIGS. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the structure of a stowable multi-fiber optical fiber cable. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the manufacturing process of a conventional slit plastic tube stowable multi-fiber optical fiber unit. 1... Optical fiber bare wire, 2... Protective coating, 3... 5-fiber tape core, 4... slit plastic tube, 5... slit, 5'... groove, 6... 20-fiber slit plastic tube storage type optical fiber unit, 7... Tension member, 9... Tube feeding machine, 10... Auxiliary pulling machine, 11... Tube winding bobbin, 12... Optical fiber feeding machine, 13... Optical fiber winding bobbin, 14, 14'... Tube slit insertion part, 15 ... Take-up machine, 16... Winding machine, 17... Winding guide roller, 18... Winding bobbin, 19... Cutting die part, 191... Cutting die holder, 192... Cutting die, 193... Cutting blade, 194... Cutting holder, 195... Adjustment mechanism, 20...Turn sheave part,
201... Turn sheave, 202... Sheave rubber lining, 21... Optical fiber insertion portion, 211... Insertion guide tube, 212... Insertion guide tube holder, 213... Insertion guide tube support plate, 22
...Guide die.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method in which tape-shaped optical fibers are laminated or a plurality of single-fiber optical fibers are successively inserted and stored in a plastic tube formed by slitting a continuous long plastic tube in the length direction. In the method for manufacturing a multi-core optical fiber unit, the step of slitting the plastic tube includes slitting a point on the outer periphery of the plastic tube, and slitting a slit to an arbitrary depth on the inner peripheral wall opposite to the slit point on the outer periphery of the plastic tube. The step of laminating the tape-shaped optical fibers or inserting a plurality of single-fiber optical fibers into the plastic tube includes guiding the plastic tube to an insertion position by a turn sheave; The plastic tube supply tension at the time of slitting is reduced by pulling the plastic tube with a pulling machine at the stage before the insertion, and the formed optical fiber unit containing the slit plastic tube is pulled by the pulling machine at the stage after the insertion. A method for manufacturing a multi-core optical fiber unit housed in a slit plastic tube, characterized in that the pulling tension at the time of slitting the plastic tube is stabilized by removing the plastic tube.