JPH02247520A - Method for taking up optical fiber in line - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent optical fiber from twisting caused by the coating layer of the optical fiber and to perfectly take up the optical fiber in line by heating the optional transit point of the optical fiber between the feeding and the take-up thereof to 100 deg.C or more, passing the optical fiber through the heated point and taking up it. CONSTITUTION:The optical fiber 1 is heated by hot air or the like at the transit point of the optical fiber 1, for example, between a tension device 13 and a take-up device 14. Thus, the twisting of the optical fiber which is the main cause that the optical fiber is not perfectly taken up because the surface of the coating layer of the optical fiber 1, that means, the surface of nylon and ultraviolet curing type resin is made soft is prevented from occurring. As the result, a coil which is perfectly taken up in line can be formed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a method for aligning and winding optical fibers when producing an optical fiber coil used for, for example, an optical fiber gyro.

(Prior Art) Optical fibers were initially developed as optical transmission media, but as various optical technologies have progressed, they have come to be used as optical element materials with various functions.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a typical optical fiber coil as an element using optical fibers, in which optical fibers (1) are wound in alignment around a bobbin (2).

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of such a winding method.

As shown in the drawing, the optical fiber (1) fed out from the supply device (11) passes through the guide roller (12), where the tension becomes zero, and then tension is added by the tension device (13). , the bobbin (
14b). (+4a) is the winding device (14)
This is the traverse arm.

(Problems to be Solved) The conventional optical fiber winding method described above is a repurposed method of winding a metal wire such as a thin enameled crotch wire, and is not necessarily suitable for optical fibers.

That is, in an optical fiber coil, it is desirable that the optical fibers forming the coil are wound in a so-called aligned manner, that is, the optical fibers are wound in an orderly manner so that they are in equal contact with each other, and it is also necessary that the optical fibers be tension-wound. be. This is because when lateral pressure or minute dents are applied to the optical fiber, optical loss increases at that part, and this deterioration of characteristics cannot be ignored when the optical fiber coil is used in a gyro or the like. However, the structure of optical fiber is that it has a coating layer of nylon, ultraviolet curable resin, etc. on the glass fiber, and although this coating layer is minute,
Fluctuations in the outer diameter, non-circularity, etc. are unavoidable and cause twisting in the optical fiber.

This twisting makes it difficult to wind several hundred meters of optical fiber in an aligned manner using conventional winding methods with hesitant tension, resulting in compression of the optical fibers, slight bending, or unwinding. Therefore, there was a problem that the characteristics of the optical fiber coil were impaired.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention provides a method for aligning and winding optical fibers that solves the above-mentioned problems. The purpose is to heat the optical fiber to 100°C or higher, pass through that point, and wind the optical fiber.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic explanatory diagram of a specific example of the alignment winding method of the present invention, and the same symbols as in FIG. 3 represent the same parts.

As in the past, the optical fiber (1) fed out from the supply device (11) passes through the guide roller (12), the tension becomes zero, and then tension is added by the tension device (13), and the optical fiber (1) is sent to the winding device. The optical fiber (1) is wound onto the bobbin (14b) by the optical fiber (I4), but between the tension device (13), which is the passing point of the optical fiber (1), and the winding device (14), there is a heating device (15) such as a thermal blower. The optical fiber (+) is passed through it, and the bobbin (
14b).

(Function) In the optical fiber alignment and winding method of the present invention described above, the optical fiber (1) passes through a point, for example, a tension device i!
(13) and the winding device (14), the optical fiber (1)
Optical fiber (
1) The surface of the coating layer, that is, the surface of the nylon and ultraviolet curable resin, is softened, and the twist of the optical fiber, which is the main cause of incomplete aligned winding, is released, forming a perfectly aligned coil. becomes possible.

(Example) In order to confirm the effect of heating described above, a comparative experiment was conducted between the winding method of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 and the conventional winding method shown in FIG. 3.

The bobbin used for winding has an outer diameter of 50II at the winding part.
IIlφ, length 15111 m, outer diameter 0.15 coated with ultraviolet curable resin as the optical fiber coating material used.
■It is a small diameter optical fiber of mφ. Using these same materials, a tension of 20. The optical fiber was wound using the two methods described above. Line speed is 10 min/min. Furthermore, in the method of the present invention,
A thermal blower was placed between the tension device and the winding device, and the temperature at the point where the optical fiber passed was set to 150°C.

FIG. 4 is a graph of measurement results of loss wavelength characteristics of optical fiber coils wound using the two methods described above. As can be seen from the figure, the coil (B) produced by the conventional method is
The loss is clearly large, and the coil produced by the method of the present invention shows almost no deterioration in loss.

(Effects of the Invention) According to the method for aligned winding of optical fibers of the present invention described above, an arbitrary passing point of the optical fiber is heated to 100°C or more, and the optical fiber is passed through that point and wound. This method is extremely effective in producing optical fiber fills, since the twist caused by the coating layer of the fiber is released, allowing perfectly aligned winding.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a specific example of the method for aligning and winding optical fibers according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an optical fiber coil. FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a conventional optical fiber winding method. FIG. 4 is a graph of measurement results of loss wavelength characteristics of optical fiber coils wound by the method of the present invention and the conventional method. 1... Optical fiber, 11... Optical fiber supply device,
+2...Guide, roller 13...Tension device, I
4... Winding device. 15... Heating device. Teibu Sanzu Bride 3 Medanzu Kun & (Pm)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) When winding the optical fiber onto a bobbin, the optical fiber is heated to a temperature of 100° C. or higher at any passing point from the time the optical fiber is fed out to the time it is wound, and the optical fiber is wound by passing through that point. A method for aligning and winding optical fiber.