JPH0220807A - Connector for optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a high-accuracy connection by providing a rocking mechanism which positions a magnifier and an ultraviolet-ray irradiating device selectively above the abutting part for an optical fiber. CONSTITUTION:The end surface of the connection end part of the optical fiber is made to abut by a holding mechanism 7 and while the press-contacting force is held constant, the abutting completed state is held and this abutting part is magnified and displayed through the magnifier 8. Further, the magnifier 8 and ultraviolet-ray irradiating device 9 are replaced by the rocking mechanism 10 to irradiate the abutting part of the optical fiber with ultraviolet rays and thus an ultraviolet-ray setting type adhesive is set to connect the abutting part of the optical fiber. Consequently, its position shift is suppressed to make the connection with high accuracy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an optical fiber connecting device, and in particular, a connection that is suitably used when connecting ends of optical fibers using an ultraviolet curing adhesive. It is related to the device.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, for example, the following method has been cited as a means for connecting fibers at the time of replacing optical fibers.

That is, by holding the end faces of the connecting ends of the optical fibers in a state where they are butted against each other, applying an ultraviolet curing adhesive to this butting part, and then curing this adhesive by irradiating it with ultraviolet rays. , a method of connecting the ends of the optical fibers.

This method has an advantage over a connection method in which the end faces of optical fibers are pressed together using a coupler or the like, in that the end face polishing work is omitted and the work can be simplified.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Incidentally, when optical fibers are connected using an ultraviolet curable adhesive, although the above-mentioned advantages can be obtained, the following problems remain.

In other words, it is necessary to align the axes of the connecting ends of both optical fibers to be connected with high precision, and to maintain the above-mentioned positional relationship until the adhesive is completely cured by irradiating the adhesive with ultraviolet rays. This is a problem that must be addressed.

In particular, when such connection work is performed on-site, it is difficult to ensure alignment accuracy, and a worker must be present until the adhesive is completely cured, which reduces work efficiency. This tends to lead to deterioration and prolongation of the construction period.

Therefore, in the past, there has been a desire to deal with such problems, and the present invention aims to solve the problems that remain in the conventional art.

Means for Solving the Problems U] The present invention provides an optical fiber connecting device that can effectively solve the above-mentioned problems.
A connecting device used when connecting the connecting ends of optical fibers using an ultraviolet curing adhesive, and a holding mechanism that grips a pair of optical fibers to be connected and abuts the connecting ends against each other. a magnifying glass for enlarging and displaying the abutting portion of the optical fibers, an ultraviolet irradiator for irradiating the abutting portion of the optical fibers with ultraviolet rays, and selectively placing the magnifying glass and the ultraviolet irradiator above the abutting portion of the optical fibers. It is characterized by comprising a swinging mechanism located at.

[Function] The optical fiber connection device according to the present invention abuts the end surfaces of the connection ends of the optical fibers using the holding mechanism, maintains this abutment state while keeping the pressure contact constant, and also maintains this abutment state by keeping the abutment force constant. Enlarge the display using a magnifying glass to facilitate confirmation and adjustment of the butting state.

Also, by using the swinging mechanism, the magnifying glass and the ultraviolet irradiator are exchanged and the abutting portions of the optical fibers are irradiated with ultraviolet rays, thereby curing the ultraviolet curing adhesive and connecting the abutting portions of the optical fibers. During this bonding operation, the tip fiber is held in a state where alignment is completed by the holding mechanism, thereby suppressing misalignment.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

First, the connector for the optical fiber F, which is also used in this embodiment, will be explained based on FIGS. 1 to 3.

Reference numeral 1 in FIGS. 1 to 3 indicates a connector used for connecting the optical fiber F, which includes a base body 2 having a rectangular planar shape, and a lid body 3 attached to one surface of this base body 2. A guide groove 4 is formed on the surface of the base body 2 over the entire length thereof.

This guide groove 4 has a connecting portion 4a at an approximately intermediate portion in its length direction, a portion continuous to both ends of this connecting portion 4a as a guide portion 4b, and a portion continuous to these guide portions 4b. The connecting portion 4a, the guide portion 4b, and the holding portion 4c are formed so as to be approximately line symmetrical with respect to the intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction of the base body 2. There is.

As shown in FIG. 2, the connecting portion 4a has four rectangular sections, and has two guide sleeves 5 inside, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The internal dimensions of the connecting portion 4a are set so that the guide sleeves 5 are installed in parallel and accommodated without shifting in the longitudinal and radial directions.

These guide sleeves 5 are formed of glass into a cylindrical shape, and have through holes 5 formed inside.
The inner diameter a is approximately the same as the outer diameter of the optical fiber F.

Therefore, each guide sleeve 5 holds both optical fibers F on the same axis when the optical fibers F are inserted from both ends of the through hole 5a.

The guide portion 4b is formed into a groove, and as shown in FIG. It is supported at two points to hold it in place.

These guide portions 4b, connection portions 4a, and
The shape of the guide sleeve 5 is based on the center line of the strand Fa inserted into the guide portion 4b (the center line of the optical fiber F),
The shape, dimensions, and mutual positional relationship are set so that the center line of the through hole 5a of the guide sleeve 5 attached to the connecting portion 4a coincides with the center line.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the holding portion 4c has a flat two-core tape core Fb constructed by covering two of the strands Fa with a covering material. It is formed into a rectangular cross-sectional shape so that it can be inserted to the extent that no displacement occurs.

The guide sleeve 5 and the guide groove 4 are filled with an ultraviolet curing adhesive, and the lid 3 is made of a transparent body through which ultraviolet rays can pass.

Next, a connection device of this embodiment in which such a connection tool 1 is used will be explained based on FIG. 4.

The connecting device of this embodiment, indicated by the reference numeral 6 in FIG. A magnifying glass 8 for enlarging display, an ultraviolet irradiator 9 for irradiating ultraviolet rays to the abutting portions of the optical fibers F, and selectively positioning these magnifying glass 8 and the ultraviolet irradiator 9 above the abutting portions of the optical fibers F. Each of these components is mounted on a flat base 11.

More specifically, the holding mechanism 7 includes a pair of guide bars 12 for positioning the connector 1 by contacting both longitudinal sides of the base 2 of the connector 1, and a pair of guide bars 12 for positioning the connector 1.
a plurality of pressing pieces I3 that are swingably attached to one of the connecting tools 1 and press the upper surface of the connecting tool 1;
Explosive means 14 arranged on an extension line of both lengthwise ends of
It is composed of.

This resilient means 14 includes a guide member 15 fixed to the base 11 and a guide bar 12 attached to the guide member 15.
A press rod 16 is inserted between the press rod 16 and the guide member 15 so that the press rod 16 is slidably inserted along an axis parallel to the guide bar 12 .
an elastic member (path shown in the figure) that bounces toward the side; and an operating member 17 rotatably connected to one end of the suppression rod 16 (the end located inside the guide member 15). It is made up of.

The guide member 15 has a guide groove 15a extending in the sliding direction of the pressing rod 16, and a guide groove 15a that is continuous with the end of the guide groove 15a on the side away from the guide bar 12 and is perpendicular to the id groove 15a. A locking groove 15b is formed.

An engaging protrusion 18, which is integrally provided on the operating member 17, is slidably engaged with the guide groove 15a and the locking groove 15b. 1
5b, the resilient member is held in the most compressed state.

Furthermore, a clamp 19 is attached to the other end of the pressing rod 16 to detachably support the tape core wire Fb.

The magnifying glass 8 has a support shaft 20 protruding from the base 11.
The guide sleeve 5 is attached to the guide sleeve 5 through a rotary tube 21 through a rotary tube 21, and the rotation of the rotary tube 21 causes the guide sleeve 5 to face above the approximately middle portion of the guide sleeve 5 attached to the connecting tool l attached to the holding mechanism 7. It is designed to be able to be pivoted between a position where the connector is connected to the connector l and a position where it is spaced apart from the connector l.

In this embodiment, the support shaft 20 and the rotary cylinder 21 constitute the swing mechanism IO.

Further, a projector 22 is connected to the magnifying glass 8, and when the magnifying glass 8 is positioned above the connecting device l, the intermediate portion of the guide sleeve 5, that is, the connecting portion of the optical fiber F It is designed to irradiate light.

The ultraviolet irradiator 9 is integrally attached to the rotary tube 21 similarly to the magnifying glass 8, and is spaced apart from the magnifying glass 8 by a predetermined angle around the axis of the rotary tube 21. .

Therefore, by rotating the rotary tube 21 of the swing mechanism IO, the magnifying glass 8 and the ultraviolet irradiator 9 can be selectively positioned above the connector 1 supported by the holding mechanism 7. It is done like this.

However, the operation for connecting the destination fiber F using the connecting device 6 of this embodiment configured as described above will be described as follows.

First, a predetermined amount of UV-curable adhesive is applied or filled into the guide groove 4 of the base 2 of the connecting tool 1, and the connecting portion 3a of the guide groove 4 is also filled with the same UV-curable adhesive. Attach the guide sleeve 5.

Further, a predetermined length of the coating material is removed from the end of the tape fiber Fb to be connected to expose the strand Fa, and further, a predetermined length of the coating material of the strand Fa is removed to expose a predetermined length of the optical fiber F. I'll keep it.

The exposed length of this optical fiber F and strand Fa is determined by the guide groove 4.
It is set in consideration of the length of the connecting portion 3a and the guide portion 3b.

Next, after positioning the strand Fa in the guide portion 3b and positioning the optical fiber F so that it is coaxial with the through hole 5 of the guide sleeve 5, the optical fiber F is
An ultraviolet curable adhesive is applied to the surfaces of the wires Pa and the tape core wires Fb, and then the lid 3 is attached to the surface of the base 2.

After the connecting tool 1 temporarily assembled in this way is positioned between both guide bars 12 of the holding mechanism 7, the suppressing piece 13 is rotated to press the upper surface of the connecting tool 1, thereby causing the connecting tool to l is fixed to the base 11.

Next, the operating member 17 of the holding mechanism 7 is operated to engage the engaging protrusion 18 with the locking groove 15b formed in the guide member I5, thereby fixing the pressing rods 16 in the direction in which they are separated from each other. At the same time, the tape core wire Fb, which has been pulled out from both ends of the connector l, is gripped by the clamp 19 attached to the suppression rod 16.

From this state, the operating member 17 is operated again to move the engaging protrusion 18 from the locking groove 15b to the guide tM15a.

By this operation, both the pressing rods 16 and the clamp 19 are moved by the elastic member installed in the guide member 15.
is moved towards the fitting l.

Due to such movement of both clamps 19, each tape core wire Fb held by these clamps 19 is connected to the connecting tool l.
As a result, each strand Pa is guided by the guide portion 3b and slid toward the guide sleeve 5, and is exposed from each tip thereof. The optical fibers F are each inserted into the through hole 5a of the guide sleeve 5, and abutted against each other at approximately the midpoint in the length direction of the through hole 5a.

In such an operation, the strands Fa and the tape core F
The optical fibers F are guided by the guide portions 3b and the holding portions 3c of the guide groove 4, and are held between the base body 2 and the lid body 3, so that each optical fiber F is smoothly moved. It is inserted into the guide sleeve 5 quickly and reliably.

Furthermore, since the amount of expansion and contraction of the elastic member is almost uniquely set, the optical fibers F in the abutted state are abutted against each other under a predetermined pressing force.

Next, the swinging mechanism 1O moves the magnifying glass 8 to a position above the substantially middle portion of the guide sleeve 5, and the light projector 22 illuminates the connecting portion of the optical fiber F.

Here, since the lid body 3 and the guide sleeve 5 are formed of a transparent body, the internal optical fiber F
It becomes possible to see through the abutting portion, and by looking through the magnifying glass 8, the condition of the abutting portion can be confirmed.

Therefore, if the abutting condition is poor, adjustment is performed again by operating the operating member 17 to obtain a preferable abutting condition.

After confirming the abutting state or completing the adjustment, the swing mechanism 10 positions the ultraviolet irradiator 9 instead of the magnifying glass 8 above the abutting portion, and emits ultraviolet light toward the abutting portion. irradiate.

Since the lid 3 and the guide sleeve 5 are made of transparent materials, the irradiated ultraviolet rays pass through them and harden the adhesive within the guide sleeve 5.

As a result, the optical fibers F inserted into each guide sleeve 5 are connected to each other.

During such a connection operation, the alignment between the optical fibers F is almost automatically performed, and the confirmation and adjustment can be easily performed.
Together with the holding action of the optical fiber F, a reliable connection is achieved without causing any displacement of the optical fiber F.

In addition, since the optical fiber F is held securely during ultraviolet irradiation, workers cannot perform other tasks after setting the irradiation until the time when the irradiation is completed. Therefore, the construction time can be shortened.

In particular, it is extremely effective in connection work in the field.

On the other hand, after the connection of the butt portions of the optical fibers F is completed, the tape fibers F are connected to each clamp 19.
At the same time as releasing the grip on the connecting member I, the respective suppressing pieces 13 are rotated to release the pressure on the connecting tool I by these suppressing pieces 13, and the connecting tool I is separated from the connecting device 6.

Next, if necessary, the guide sleeve 5 of the connecting tool l
By irradiating the other parts with ultraviolet rays and curing the adhesive between the base 2 and the lid 3, the strands Fa and the tape core wire Fb are fixed to the base 2 and the lid 3,
The base body 2 and the lid body 3 are fixed.

In such an operation, since the connection of the butt part of the optical fiber F, which is the most important part, has already been completed, there is no risk of affecting this part. Moreover, by this operation, strands Fa and tape core wires Pb
is fixed, so the optical fiber F is fixed after close reading.
External force does not directly act on the connection part, and the strength of the connection part is ensured sufficiently.

It should be noted that the shapes and dimensions of each component shown in the above embodiments are merely examples, and can be variously changed based on the type of optical fiber F to be applied, design requirements, etc.

For example, in the embodiment described above, an example was shown in which a connecting tool having a special structure was used, but it is not necessary to use such a connecting tool, and it is possible to simply guide only the tip fiber F to the base 11. It can also be implemented by providing a member formed of a structure or material that can transmit ultraviolet rays, and by using the aforementioned guide sleeve 5 and providing a mechanism to hold this guide sleeve 5. is also possible.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the two-core tape cable as shown in the embodiment, but can of course be applied to a single-core tape cable or three or more core tape cables.

[Effect of the invention 1 As explained above, the optical fiber connecting device according to the present invention is a connecting device used when connecting the connecting ends of optical fibers using an ultraviolet curing adhesive, a holding mechanism that grips a pair of optical fibers and abuts their connection ends against each other; a magnifying glass that magnifies and displays the abutting portion of the optical fibers; and an ultraviolet irradiator that irradiates the abutting portion of the optical fibers with ultraviolet rays. The present invention is characterized by comprising a swinging mechanism for selectively positioning the magnifying glass and the ultraviolet irradiator above the abutting portion of the optical fibers, and provides the following excellent effects.

The holding mechanism abuts the end surfaces of the optical fiber connection ends and maintains this abutment state while keeping the pressure constant, and prevents misalignment of the optical fiber and the abutted portion even when the adhesive is cured with an ultraviolet irradiator. can be suppressed and high-precision connections can be made.

Furthermore, since the optical fiber is held securely during such connection operations, there is no need for workers to monitor the process until the adhesive has completely cured, thereby improving workability and making the work easier. Time can be shortened.

Further, by enlarging and displaying the abutting portion using a magnifying glass, the abutting state can be easily confirmed and adjusted, thereby further increasing the connection accuracy.

In addition, by using a swing mechanism to replace the magnifying glass and the ultraviolet irradiator independently from the holding action of the optical fiber, unnecessary external force is applied to the abutting part of the tip fiber when moving from the above-mentioned confirmation operation to the ultraviolet irradiation operation. This also enables highly accurate connection by suppressing the effects of

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 1 to 3 show an optical fiber connector used in one embodiment, FIG. 1 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III--III in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of one embodiment. 1... Connection tool, 3... Lid, 5... Guide sleeve, 7... Holding mechanism, 9... Ultraviolet irradiator , 11... Base, 13... Pressing piece, 15... Guide member, 15b... Locking groove, 17... Operating member, 19 ... Clamp, 21 ... Rotating tube, F ... Optical fiber Fb ... Tape core wire. 2... Base body, 4... Guide groove, 6... Connecting device, 8... Magnifying glass, lO... Rocking mechanism, 12... Guide bar 14... Resilient means, 15a... Guide groove, 16... Pressing rod, 18... Engaging protrusion, 20. ... Support shaft, 22 ... Floodlight, Fa ... Element wire,

Claims (1)

[Claims] A connecting device (6) used when connecting the connecting ends of optical fibers (F) using an ultraviolet curing adhesive, which grips a pair of optical fibers (F) to be connected and connects them. Retention mechanism (7) that abuts the ends against each other
), a magnifying glass (8) for enlarging and displaying the abutting portion of the optical fiber (F), an ultraviolet irradiator (9) for irradiating the abutting portion of the optical fiber (F) with ultraviolet rays, and these magnifying glasses (8). and a swinging mechanism (10) for selectively positioning an ultraviolet irradiator (9) and an ultraviolet irradiator (9) above the abutting portion of the optical fiber (F).