JPH04287004A - Production of optical fiber working type device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To decrease the number of the joint parts of optical fibers and to greatly improve the workability, etc., of the production operations thereof. CONSTITUTION:The method for producing the optical fiber working type device with which the central parts of a pair of the juxtaposed optical fibers are fused to each other is constituted by crimping the parts which overlap on each other and are formed by turning back one piece of the continuous optical fiber 1 on both sides in the longitudinal direction, heating the central parts to fuse and stretch these parts and measuring the quantity of the light entering from one end of the optical fiber, and returning through the turned back parts of the optical fiber to obtain the prescribed light quantity.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an optical fiber processing device in which the central portions of a pair of optical fibers placed side by side are fused together.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when manufacturing an optical fiber processed device (hereinafter referred to as an optical fiber device) such as a multiplexing/demultiplexing device in which the intermediate portions of two optical fibers arranged in parallel are fused, the process shown in FIG. Like, optical fiber (51a, 51b)
Two optical fibers are arranged side by side and both sides of the intermediate portion thereof are sandwiched, and the center of the intermediate portion is heated with a burner 52 to fuse and draw the optical fibers (so-called fused and drawn method). At this time, both ends of the optical fiber on one side (left side in the figure) in the drawing direction are provided with a light source 53,
54, the ends of both optical fibers on the other side (right side in the figure) are connected to power meters 55 and 56, and optical fibers 57 with connectors are connected to the power meters 55 and 56.
Connect each via and monitor (measure) the received light power.
While producing optical fiber devices with desired properties.

[0003] These four optical fiber ends and the optical fiber end of the connector-equipped optical fiber 57 are usually directly connected in a fiber-to-fiber butt format (four connection parts indicated by X in FIG. 5). .

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, joining optical fibers is time-consuming, and in particular, in the conventional manufacturing method, there are as many as four joints, so it is difficult to perform the joining when manufacturing optical fiber devices. It consumes a lot of time and effort. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing an optical fiber processed device that reduces the number of optical fiber joints and alleviates the above-mentioned disadvantages of the conventional method, while also ensuring performance equal to or better than that of the conventional method. .

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the method for manufacturing an optical fiber processed device according to the present invention involves folding back one continuous optical fiber and forming parallel overlapping portions on both sides in the longitudinal direction. In addition to holding the optical fiber in place and heating the central part to fuse and stretch it, the amount of light that enters from one end of the optical fiber and returns via the folded part of the optical fiber is measured to obtain a predetermined amount of light. Features.

[0006]

[Function] Since the optical fiber processed device is manufactured by folding one continuous optical fiber and using the parallel overlapping portions, the number of optical fiber joints is reduced by at least half. This significantly improves the workability of this manufacturing operation.

[0007]

[Embodiments] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Components that are (or may be) common to various related devices of the conventional system shown in FIG. 5 are given the same reference numerals, and The explanation will be omitted. Figure 1 shows the first aspect of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a system diagram schematically showing the connection relationship between an optical fiber and related devices during fusion processing of an optical fiber processing type device in the embodiment.

Referring to the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a long optical fiber wound into a coil, one end of which is connected to a light source 53 with a connector, the other end of which is pulled out and looped after a predetermined length. It can be folded back and stacked on top of each other. The free end thereof is butted against the end face of the optical fiber 57 with a connector connected to the power meter 55, and is connected by, for example, a splice (location indicated by X in the figure).

As can be understood from the above description, in the system configuration of this embodiment, the optical fiber 1 only needs to be connected (splice) at one location when manufacturing an optical fiber processed device (heat-stretching). The workability of the entire work can be dramatically improved. Next, FIG. 2 showing the second embodiment
Referring to , in this embodiment, instead of the coiled optical fiber 1 as shown in FIG. 1, an optical fiber 11 cut to a predetermined length is folded into two loops and stacked in parallel. . Incidentally, since the same parts are used in the third and fourth embodiments described below, the same reference numbers are given to them.

One end of the optical fiber 11 is connected to a light source 53 via an optical isolator 13, and the other end is connected to a power meter 55 via an optical fiber 57 with a connector. Therefore, in this embodiment, the optical isolator 13
As a result of eliminating the return light, monitoring accuracy can be improved. Furthermore, since the optical fiber 11 (splice) can be spliced at only two locations at both ends (locations indicated by X in the figure), the burden of the splicing work is halved compared to the conventional method.

Next, referring to FIG. 3 showing a third embodiment, in this embodiment, unlike the first and second embodiments, nothing is connected to the other end of the optical fiber 11. Instead, a half mirror 15 to which a power meter 55 is connected is inserted between one end of the optical fiber 11 and the light source 53. That is, it is configured such that the optical power that is combined and transmitted through the fused and stretched portion of the optical fiber 11 and returned to the light source side during the fusion processing can be monitored by the power meter 55 via the half mirror 15. Therefore, it will be understood that in this embodiment, the optical fiber 11 is connected to only one place, and the work load is greatly reduced.

By the way, with this configuration, a situation may occur in which the accuracy of optical power measurement cannot be stably maintained, so it is conceivable to connect another power meter to the other end of the optical fiber 11. This is nothing but the fourth embodiment, and its schematic configuration is shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the optical fiber 11
Another power meter 56 is connected to the other end via an optical fiber 57 with a connector. Although the number of optical fiber connection points is increased by one compared to the third embodiment, the monitoring accuracy is improved accordingly.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention, the number of optical fiber joints can be reduced by at least half, thereby dramatically improving workability in manufacturing optical fiber processing type devices.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a connection type between an optical fiber and related equipment during manufacturing of an optical fiber processed device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram similar to FIG. 1 of a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram similar to FIG. 1 of a third embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram similar to FIG. 1 of a fourth embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional connection format.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 11...Optical fiber 52...burner 53, 54...Light source 55, 56...Power meter

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A method for manufacturing an optical fiber processed device in which central portions of a pair of optical fibers placed side by side are fused to each other, in which a continuous optical fiber (1, 11) is folded back and the portion overlaps in parallel. is held on both sides in the longitudinal direction, and the central part is heated to fuse and stretch the optical fiber, and the amount of light that enters from one end of the optical fiber and returns via the folded part of the optical fiber is measured to obtain a predetermined amount of light. A method of manufacturing an optical fiber processed device.