JPH05229736A - Continuous winding method for covered optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out switching-over of winding of a covered optical fiber from a fully wound bobbin to an empty bobbin stably even at high linear speed without producing breakage of the covered optical fiber when the covered optical fiber is shifted from the fully wound bobbin to a dead turn drum section. CONSTITUTION:In order continue winding of a covered optical fiber by switching over it to the other empty bobbin without stopping its running when a bobbin 23A fully winds up a covered optical fiber during its winding operation, the rotational speed of a fully wound bobbin 23A is lowered instantaneously to produce a sag is the covered optical fiber 51 within a range that a capture claw 21A can catch it when the covered optical fiber 51 is shifted to a dead turn drum section beyond a flange section 19A from above the fully wound bobbin 23A.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for continuously winding a coated optical fiber obtained by coating a drawn optical fiber on a plurality of bobbins without stopping the traveling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A coated optical fiber is manufactured by drawing an optical fiber preform to form an optical fiber and then applying a protective coating on the outer peripheral surface thereof. Conventionally, a coated optical fiber manufactured from one optical fiber preform has been wound around one bobbin.

However, recently, since the size of the optical fiber preform has become large and the length of the coated optical fiber which can be manufactured from one optical fiber preform has become long, one bobbin cannot be wound up, Even if it is wound up, the number of cases where it is too heavy and hinders handling is increasing.

Therefore, when the coated optical fiber manufactured from one optical fiber preform is wound on the bobbin, when the winding amount of one bobbin reaches the full winding, the traveling of the coated optical fiber is stopped. Instead, a winding device for switching to another empty bobbin for winding is adopted.

In this type of winding device, a plurality of bobbins are arranged in parallel, and each bobbin is provided on one side with a flange portion having a catching claw for the coated optical fiber and a dead winding barrel portion of the coated optical fiber. Has become. When switching the coated optical fiber running with this device from bobbin to bobbin,
When the winding amount of one bobbin reaches full winding, first shift the coated optical fiber from the full winding bobbin to the dead winding barrel side, catch it with the catching claw, and then overrun the flange part to waste. Wind the required number of times around the winding barrel, then
An operation is performed in which the coated optical fiber is captured by the catching claw on the empty bobbin side, and at the same time, the coated optical fiber is cut between the catching claw and the waste winding barrel portion to start winding on the empty bobbin.

This operation is carried out in order to prevent the coated optical fiber (product) wound on the fully wound bobbin from being shocked when the coated optical fiber is moved from the fully wound bobbin to the empty bobbin. is there.

[0007]

However, in the conventional method, when the coated optical fiber is shifted from the full-winding bobbin to the side of the dead winding body, the coated optical fiber is broken, and the full-winding bobbin moves to the empty bobbin. Sometimes failed to switch. This tendency increases as the linear velocity increases. Specifically, if the linear velocity is about 100 to 200 m / min,
There is almost no failure in switching, but if the linear velocity becomes higher than that, the probability of failure increases as the linear velocity increases.

[0008]

When the coated optical fiber is shifted from the fully wound bobbin to the dead winding barrel side, the coated optical fiber is disconnected because a catching claw rotating at a high speed captures the coated optical fiber. It is considered that the shock sometimes momentarily applies excessive tension to the coated optical fiber. In view of this, the present invention instantaneously reduces the rotation speed of the full-winding bobbin when the coated optical fiber is shifted from the full-winding bobbin over the flange to the dead-winding barrel to catch the claw on the coated optical fiber. The feature is that it causes tarumi in a range that can be captured.

[0009]

By doing so, when the capturing claw catches the coated optical fiber, the coated optical fiber is in a state of no tension, so that the coated optical fiber is not subjected to excessive strength, and the coated optical fiber is broken. Will not do.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of a continuous winding device for coated optical fibers. Reference numeral 11 is a cage, and 2 is placed in the cage 11.
Book shafts 13A and 13B are rotatably supported by bearings 15A and 15B. The ends of the shafts 13A and 13B have dead winding drum portions 17A and 17B and a flange portion 19 respectively.
A and 19B are fixed, and bobbins 23A and 23B are detachably attached to the ends of the flange portions 19A and 19B. In addition, coated optical fiber catching claws 21A and 21B are attached to the flange portions 19A and 19B. Shaft 13A, 13
B are the motors 25A and 25 installed in the cage 11, respectively.
B and belts 27A and 27B are driven to rotate.

Air cylinders 29A, 29B are provided between the two shafts 13A, 13B for shifting the coated optical fiber.
Arms 31A and 31B operated by are installed. Guide pins 33A and 33B of the coated optical fiber are provided at the tips of the arms 31A and 31B.

The cage 11 is rotatably supported by rollers 37 installed on a cage table 35, and is rotationally driven by a motor 39 and a belt 41. In FIG. 1, for convenience of illustration, two bobbins 23A and 23B are provided.
2 are arranged above and below, but in an actual operating state, as shown in FIG. 2, the two bobbins 23A and 23B are arranged front and rear with respect to the traveling direction of the coated optical fiber 51 (the front is a little When the coated optical fiber is switched, the cage 11 is rotated clockwise in FIG. 2 so that the two bobbins 23A and 23B are switched back and forth as shown in FIG.

Since the coated optical fiber is wound around the bobbin 23A or 23B in an aligned manner, the entire cage 11 traverses left and right. This traverse is a cage table 35
It is carried out by a screw shaft 43 that is screwed into the motor and a motor 45 that drives the screw shaft 43 to rotate.

Next, the operation of the winding device for switching the coated optical fiber from one bobbin to the other bobbin will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the coated optical fiber 51 is wound around one bobbin 23A, and when it is almost fully wound, the cage 11 rotates and the fully wound bobbin 23A moves backward as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. ,
The empty bobbin 23B is positioned in the front. At this time, the guide pins 33A and 33B are at positions as shown in FIG. 4, and the coated optical fiber 51 is inserted between them.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5, the arm 31A retracts, and the coated optical fiber 51 wound around the bobbin 23A is shifted to the dead winding barrel 17A side. As a result, the coated optical fiber 51 is captured by the capture claw 21A, and then the flange portion
Overcoming 19A, it becomes possible to wind around the waste winding drum 17A.

When the number of windings around the dead winding drum portion 17A reaches a predetermined number, the arm 31B is then retracted as shown in FIG.
As a result, the coated optical fiber 51 wound around the waste winding barrel portion 17A comes to pass through the path as shown in FIG. 6, and the empty bobbin already rotating at the coated optical fiber winding speed.
It is captured by the capture claw 21B of the flange portion 19B on the 23B side. Therefore, the coated optical fiber 51 includes the waste winding drum portion 17A and the catching claw 21.
Torn between B (may be cut with a cutter)
At the same time, winding on the empty bobbin 23B is started. As described above, the coated optical fiber is switched from the fully wound bobbin 23A to the empty bobbin 23B.

The present invention shifts the coated optical fiber 51 from the fully wound bobbin 23A to the dead winding barrel portion 17A in such continuous winding, that is, from the state of FIG. 4 to the state of FIG. Bobbin 23A
Is instantaneously reduced to cause the coated optical fiber 51 to momentarily generate a tarmi as shown by a dotted line in FIG.

If this tarmi is too large, the catch claws 21
Since the coated optical fiber 51 cannot be captured by A, the capture claw 21A must be of a size that can be captured. According to the high-speed camera, it has been found that this tarmi is most effective when it is generated within a range of 90 ° in the rotational direction from the position where the coated optical fiber 51 is wound, as shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows a change in the rotation speed of the full-winding bobbin 23A when a tarmi is generated in the coated optical fiber. At some point (for example, when a command to move the guide pin 33A is issued)
From the above, the rotation speed n _{1 up} to that time is held for a fixed time T ₁ , then it is reduced to the rotation speed n ₂ which causes tarmi in the coated optical fiber, and it is held for a fixed time T ₂ , and then the dead winding rotation speed. The pattern is to increase to n ₃ and maintain the speed. T ₁ and T ₂ are set to optimum values depending on the linear velocity. For example, T ₁ is 100 msec, T ₂
Is on the order of 20 msec.

Next, Table 1 shows the results obtained by winding the coated optical fiber by the method of the present invention and the conventional method and examining the success rate at bobbin switching. The number of switching tests at each linear velocity is 10. The outer diameter of the coated optical fiber is 250 μm, and the tension of the coated optical fiber during winding is 40 g. As is clear from Table 1, according to the present invention, bobbin switching during continuous winding can be stably performed even at a high linear velocity.

[0021]

[Table 1]

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the coated optical fiber is shifted from the full-winding bobbin to the dead-winding barrel side, the coated optical fiber is not broken, so that the full-winding bobbin can be removed. Switching to an empty bobbin can be stably performed even at a high linear velocity, and there is a remarkable effect in improving the product yield and productivity of the coated optical fiber.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a coated optical fiber continuous winding device.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state in which the coated optical fiber is wound around one bobbin in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state in which the coated optical fiber is switched from one bobbin to the other bobbin in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the state of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the next step of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the next step of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing a change in rotation speed of a fully wound bobbin.

[Explanation of symbols]

 17A, 17B: Waste winding body part 19A, 19B: Flange part 21A, 21B: Capture claw 23A, 23B: Bobbin 51: Coated optical fiber

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of bobbins are arranged in parallel, and a flange portion having a catching claw for a coated optical fiber is provided on one side of each bobbin.
In order to continue the winding by switching to another empty bobbin without stopping the traveling of the coated optical fiber when the bobbin being wound is fully wound, the first coating After shifting the optical fiber from the full winding bobbin to the dead winding barrel side, after catching it with the catching claw, overcoming the flange part and winding it around the dead winding barrel for the required number of times, then capturing the coated optical fiber on the empty bobbin side In the continuous winding method of the coated optical fiber which is caught by the claw and started to be wound on the empty bobbin, when the coated optical fiber is moved from the full-wound bobbin over the flange to the dead winding barrel. In addition, the rotation speed of the full-winding bobbin is instantaneously reduced to cause a talmi in the coated optical fiber in a range that can be captured by the capture claw. METHOD Ri.