JPH04314003A - Method for processing terminal of optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily handle the cutting work of an optical fiber, to attain proper cutting and to easily treat waste generated optical fiber by removing a coating while leaving a non-removed part on the end of an optical fiber terminal and then executing other terminal processing. CONSTITUTION:Coating removing processing for removing a coating 3 by a required length while leaving a non-removed part 1a on the terminal of a multi- core fiber 1 and exposing plural optical fibers 2 to the removed part is executed as a 1st terminal processing out of plural kinds of terminal processing for the fiber 1. In this status, cleaning processing for wiping the plural exposed optical fibers 2 with cloth dipped into alchole is executed. Then cutting processing or the like for cutting off the plural exposed optical fibers 2 while leaving them only by a prescribed length is executed to obtain the multi-core fiber 1 exposing the plural optical fibers 2 of the prescribed length on its terminal. Since the optical fibers 2 are collected by the non-removed part 1a, they can easily be handled in the terminal processing work.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber terminal processing method.

0002

[Prior Art and Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Some optical fibers have a protective coating made of, for example, synthetic resin on the surface of the bare optical fiber. When inspecting or optically connecting to other optical fibers or optical equipment, etc., at the terminal of the optical fiber, remove the coating, clean the exposed optical fiber, and clean the exposed optical fiber at the terminal. Multiple types of terminal treatments are performed, such as cutting to a predetermined length.

Conventionally, when performing such terminal processing, the coating at the terminal portion of the optical fiber is completely removed, and then the exposed optical fiber is subjected to terminal processing such as cleaning and cutting to a predetermined length. Therefore, in a multi-core fiber made up of a plurality of optical fibers, such as a tape fiber, the terminal portions of each optical fiber are separated. Therefore, when cutting, unless the operator straightens the multiple optical fibers at the end parallel to each other and clamps them to a cutting jig, etc., each optical fiber cannot be cut perpendicular to the axial direction, and the end This was a major problem in mechanizing the process.

[0004] Furthermore, the above-mentioned optical fiber terminal treatment generates optical fiber waste consisting of optical fiber waste and removed coating waste. Consists of materials. For this reason, when cleaning the optical fiber waste generated by terminal processing, it is difficult to find the fiber waste because it is transparent, and when cleaning and removing it with a vacuum cleaner, it remains without being suctioned. There was a problem that cleaning was troublesome.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and is easy to handle in the cutting operation of the optical fiber in the terminal processing of the optical fiber, allows for proper cutting, and makes it possible to dispose of the generated optical fiber waste. The purpose of this invention is to provide a simple optical fiber terminal processing method.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an optical fiber terminal processing method in which a plurality of types of terminal processing are performed on the terminal of an optical fiber in which a coating is applied to the bare optical fiber. In this method, the coating is removed leaving an unremoved portion at the end of the optical fiber, and then other end treatments are performed.

[0007]

[Effect] When a non-removed portion of the coating is left at the end of the optical fiber terminal, in the case of a multi-core fiber, this non-removed portion is divided into multiple optical fibers separated into individual optical fibers by removing the coating. The optical fiber strands are integrated together with the rigidity of the plurality of optical fiber strands in the exposed portion. For this reason, there is no need to straighten the multiple optical fibers that are separated at the end parallel to each other during cutting work in the terminal processing of multi-core fibers, and the handling is easy. Appropriate cutting perpendicular to can be performed.

[0008]Furthermore, the optical fiber waste generated when the optical fiber is terminated, regardless of whether it is a multi-core or single-core fiber, remains at the end of the optical fiber without removing the coating. Not only can it be easily distinguished from debris, but the increase in volume exceeds the increase in weight compared to the case of only bare optical fibers, and it can be easily sucked up with a vacuum cleaner.

[0009]

Embodiment An embodiment in which the method of the present invention is applied to a multicore fiber will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. As shown in FIG. 1, the multi-core fiber 1 is a tape core in which a plurality of optical fibers 2 are collectively covered with a synthetic resin coating 3, and the plurality of optical fibers 2 are covered within the coating 3. They are arranged in parallel at predetermined intervals.

In the method of the present invention, a plurality of types of terminal treatments of the multi-core fiber 1 are performed as follows. First, as a first terminal treatment, as shown in FIG. 2, a desired length of the coating 3 is removed leaving an unremoved portion 1a at the end of the multi-core fiber 1, and a plurality of optical fiber elements are inserted into this removed portion. A coating removal process was performed to expose line 2.

In this state, a cleaning treatment was performed by wiping the exposed plurality of optical fiber strands 2 with a cloth soaked in alcohol. Thereafter, a cutting process is performed to leave a predetermined length of the exposed optical fiber strands 2, and the multi-core fiber 1 shown in FIG. I got it.

During these terminal treatments such as cleaning and cutting, the multi-core fiber 1 was separated into individual parts where the coating 3 was removed and a plurality of optical fiber strands 2 were exposed. However, the multicore fiber 1 has a coating 3 at the end.
The non-removed portion 1a remained, and since the exposed portion of the optical fiber strand 2 was short and rigid, the plurality of separated optical fiber strands 2 were gathered together by the non-removed portion 1a.

[0013] Therefore, the multi-core fiber 1 is very easy to handle in each terminal processing operation. Particularly, in the cutting process of cutting the plurality of optical fiber strands 2, there is no need to forcibly straighten the plurality of separated optical fiber strands 2 to be parallel, and the cutting operation using a cutting jig is also simple. Furthermore, when each cut optical fiber strand 2 was observed, it was found that it was cut perpendicularly to the axial direction, and the cut surface was also smooth.

Furthermore, when cleaning the work site, the optical fiber waste generated by the above-mentioned terminal treatment can be easily distinguished from other waste, and when the work site is cleaned with a vacuum cleaner,
Optical fiber debris was suctioned and removed without leaking, and it was easy to dispose of during cleaning work. Although the above embodiments have been described with respect to the case where the optical fiber is a multi-core fiber, it goes without saying that the method of the present invention can also be applied to a single-core fiber. However, in the case of a single-core fiber, the advantages in terms of ease of finding optical fiber debris and cleaning due to the unremoved portion of the coating are greater than the advantages in terms of terminal processing work.

[0015]

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, according to the method of the present invention, since the unremoved portion of the coating is left at the end of the optical fiber, it is easy to handle the optical fiber in the cutting operation, and it is possible to Not only can it be cut, but the resulting optical fiber waste can be disposed of very easily. Furthermore, according to the method of the present invention, it becomes easy to handle the optical fiber during terminal processing, so it is also possible to mechanize the terminal processing of the optical fiber.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a multicore fiber to which the method of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the multi-core fiber of FIG. 1 with the coating removed leaving an unremoved portion at the end.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the multi-core fiber of FIG. 1 which has been terminal-treated and cut at the exposed bare optical fiber portion.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Multicore fiber 1a Unremoved part 2　　　Optical fiber wire 3 Coating

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1. An optical fiber termination method in which a plurality of types of termination treatments are applied to the terminal of an optical fiber whose bare optical fiber is coated, the coating being removed while leaving an unremoved portion at the end of the optical fiber terminal. 1. An optical fiber terminal processing method, which comprises performing other terminal processing after this.