JPH06148453A - Recoating device for wire - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the recoating device which substantially prevents the change in the size of a fusion spliced part from the initial outside diameter size and keeps the part less bulky even after recoating and prevents the generation of degradation in strength, etc., as far as possible. CONSTITUTION:A UV curing resin is poured into long grooves 22A, 22B of molds 2A, 2B and UV rays are passed from an irradiation hole 31A of a light shielding material 3 toward the long grooves 22A, 22B of the molds 2 at the time of recoating the fusion spliced part of optical fibers. As a result, the recoating having the outside diameter size part nearly equal to the outside diameter size before peeling of the coating is executed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for re-coating a wire material such as an optical fiber, in which the ends of the wire material are fusion-spliced together, and then the connection portion where the coating is peeled off is re-coated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For the purpose of achieving continuous lengthening of optical fibers, for example, a method of connecting optical fibers by heat fusion has been proposed and developed. Further, for this fused optical fiber, the coating at the fused portion is stripped and is in a bare state, and if it is left as it is, it causes a decrease in mechanical strength and deterioration of optical transmission characteristics, Post-treatment such as recoating is required.

Therefore, after completion of such a fusion splicing work, for example, a predetermined heat-shrinkable tube is covered on the fusion-bonded portion and then heated to be protected by a tube, or a metal is provided on the outer side and an inner side is provided. It has been performed that a fused portion is sandwiched between a pair of plates provided with an acrylic resin or the like, and the acrylic resin portion is heated and fused to protect the fused portion with a metal.

[0004]

However, in such a post-treatment method for the fused portion, the outer diameter dimension of the fusion-bonded portion is usually smaller than that of the unfused optical fiber. Since it greatly increases and becomes bulky, it causes inconvenience when performing various operations thereafter, and causes a decrease in strength or the like in a portion where the outer diameter dimension changes abruptly such as both ends of the fusion-bonded portion.
It's a problem. In particular, such a situation is remarkable when the size of the connecting portion is restricted by a submarine cable or the like, which is a serious problem.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, therefore, the present invention is such that even if the fusion-spliced portion is recoated, the outer diameter is almost the same as the original outer diameter, and it is not bulky. It is an object of the present invention to provide a wire re-covering device that prevents the occurrence of a decrease in strength as much as possible and facilitates reuse.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION That is, the invention according to claim 1 is to re-cover a wire rod by re-coating the fusion-bonded part after the tip ends of the wire rod, which have been stripped from the coating part, are fusion-bonded to each other. A device, which is integrated so as to be able to be joined so as to sandwich the vicinity of the stripped portion of the wire rod, has a long groove in the disposition portion of the wire rod peeled portion on each joint surface, and re-covers toward the long groove. UV-curable resin for injection is provided from the outside, an ultraviolet-permeable and separable mold die, and an irradiation hole through which ultraviolet rays for curing the ultraviolet-curable resin put into the long groove pass. A light-shielding member that prevents ultraviolet rays from entering and transmitting from other than the irradiation hole, and a condensing unit that condenses the ultraviolet light that passes through the irradiation hole toward the long groove that avoids the injection path. It is a thing.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a second light shielding member for preventing the incidence and transmission of ultraviolet rays is provided on the surface opposite to the installation surface of the first light shielding member having the irradiation hole of the mold, and , A concave mirror is provided at a position opposite to the irradiation hole with respect to the long groove of the mold, for reflecting and condensing ultraviolet rays passing through the irradiation hole and passing through the mold toward the long groove avoiding the injection path. It is a thing.

[0008]

When the fusion spliced portion of the optical fiber is recoated, UV curing resin is poured into the long groove of the mold and at the same time, ultraviolet rays are irradiated from the irradiation hole of the light shielding member toward the long groove of the mold. In other words, by arranging the irradiation hole at an appropriate position, the irradiation area of the mold is limited to only the long groove that avoids the injection path through which the resin flows from the outside toward the long groove. As a result, it is possible to prevent the UV curable resin remaining in the injection path reaching the long groove from solidifying, and to easily perform the cleaning operation of the injection path when the mold is reused for the next re-coating operation.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an optical fiber recoating apparatus according to the present invention.
It comprises a clamper 1, a mold 2, and a light blocking member 3. In the figure, reference numeral 4 denotes an optical fiber, and the bare portions of the left and right optical fibers 4A and 4B which are stripped of coating, that is, the portions to be recoated later (hereinafter referred to as stripping portions) 41A and 41B, respectively. The tip is fused and connected to form a single piece.

The clamper 1 has a connected optical fiber 4
The peeling portions 41A and 41B of A and 4B are fixed and held in a non-contact state, and the pair of left and right clampers 1A and
1B.

Since the mold 2 holds the optical fibers 4A and 4B between the clampers 1A and 1B so as to include at least the peeling portions 41A and 41B, a pair of upper and lower moldable molds 2A and a lower mold can be joined. 2B, which is made of a material that allows ultraviolet rays to freely pass therethrough, such as transparent quartz in this embodiment, and is formed in a flat plate shape. The upper and lower mold dies 2A, 2B are joined to each other at the joint surfaces 21A,
21B is subjected to mirror finishing by highly precise processing to suppress the occurrence of irregularities as much as possible.

Further, at least the central portion of each of the joining surfaces 21A and 21B, which is the region where the peeling portions 41A and 41B are disposed, has a full width from one end to the other end, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the grooves 22A and 22B have a width approximately the same as the outer diameter of the coated optical fiber and have a semicircular shape. .

Further, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the upper mold 2B penetrates from the upper surface to the bonding surface (lower surface) 21B, and an ultraviolet curable resin (hereinafter referred to as UV resin) 9
Is provided with a passage 23B through which the UV resin that has passed through the passage 23B and reached the joining surface (upper surface) 21A of the lower mold 2A is provided with the long groove 22.
An injection path 24B is engraved to flow into A and 22B.

The upper and lower mold dies 2A, 2
As shown in FIG.
A and 22B are aligned with each other, as shown in FIG. 1, the light shielding member 3 is screwed and integrated with a screw 31 as shown in FIG. 1, and the upper and lower molds 2A and 2B are fixed by a retainer 6A and a retainer lid 6B. It is designed to let you.

The light shielding member 3 allows ultraviolet rays to pass from the outside toward the long grooves 22A and 22B in order to cure the UV resin filled in the long grooves 22A and 22B. In this embodiment, the lower light shielding member is used. The first light blocking member 3A and the upper light blocking member (second light blocking member) 3B are configured as a pair.

In this embodiment, the lower light shielding member 3A
In order to irradiate ultraviolet rays (UV) from the bottom, as shown in FIG. 5, a slit-shaped irradiation hole 31 penetrating from the lower surface to the upper surface.
A is just the long groove 2 of the lower (upper) mold 2A (2B)
The openings are formed at positions corresponding to 2A and 22B. The dimension of the irradiation hole 31A in the lateral direction is determined by the long groove 22A.
By making the dimension of (22B) as small as possible in the same direction, even if the UV resin 9 remains in the injection path 24B, it is configured so that it is not irradiated with ultraviolet light. Although the injection path is provided as a lateral groove in this embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this and may be a vertical groove provided in the vertical direction.

Further, in the upper light shielding member 3B of this embodiment,
As shown in FIG. 3, the ultraviolet rays that have passed through the molds 2A and 2B pass to a position corresponding to the irradiation hole 31A of the lower light shielding member 3A, and serve as a light collecting means on the lower surface side of the pressing lid 6B described below. An irradiation hole 31B for opening the concave mirror 7 is provided.

The lower and upper light shielding members 3A and 3B
Is made of a material that absorbs the ultraviolet rays or is coated with a reflective film (for example, a dielectric multilayer film) that reflects the ultraviolet rays in order to prevent the ultraviolet rays from entering and transmitting from other than the irradiation holes 31A and 31B. It is composed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the concave mirror 7 passes through the irradiation hole 31B after passing through the irradiation hole 31A, the ultraviolet rays emitted from the light source 8, the lower and upper mold dies 21A and 21B. What does do reflect the long grooves 22A, 2
2B and has a shape as shown in FIG. 7 in this embodiment, and the length in the longitudinal direction is the peeling portion 4.
1A and 41B having substantially the same overall length (A) and a predetermined curvature are used.

In this embodiment, the concave mirror 7 is pressed to hold the lid 6.
Although it is attached to B, it is not particularly limited to this.
For example, a cylindrical lens or the like having a light condensing function may be provided on the optical path of the mold before transmission, so that the ultraviolet rays are converged toward the long groove.

Therefore, according to this embodiment, the ultraviolet rays (UV) emitted from the light source 8 are irradiated by the irradiation holes 3 of the lower light shielding member 3A.
After passing through 1A, a part of the light enters and is refracted by the lower mold 2A and is transmitted therethrough directly to the long grooves 22A, 2A.
It is incident on the UV resin 9 in 2B and is solidified.

Further, a part of the ultraviolet rays passing through the lower mold 2A is transmitted through the upper mold 2B and then reflected by the concave mirror 7 and is incident and refracted on the upper mold 2B, and then just inside the long grooves 22A and 22B. It is incident on the UV resin 9 and is solidified.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the fusion spliced portion of the optical fiber is recoated, the UV curable resin is poured into the long groove of the mold and the irradiation hole of the light shielding member is used. It is designed to pass ultraviolet rays toward the long groove of the mold, in other words, by arranging the irradiation hole at an appropriate position, the irradiation area of the mold is limited to only the long groove avoiding the injection path. As a result, it is possible to recoat the coating to an outer diameter that is approximately the same as the outer diameter before peeling, and a portion that causes a decrease in strength due to the reason that the outer diameter is extremely different is formed. There is no fear of

Moreover, since only the long groove is irradiated, the resin remaining in the portion of the mold such as the injection path other than the long groove is not solidified and can be easily removed by cleaning. It can be easily reused without the need for troublesome cleaning work such as removing resin that persistently remains and adheres in the passage leading to the long groove.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a recoating device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a long groove of the device.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the device.

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the vicinity of a long groove of a mold of the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the device.

FIG. 6 is an operation diagram showing a concave mirror which serves as a light converging unit of the apparatus.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a concave mirror.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 clamper 2 mold type 3 light-shielding member 3A lower light-shielding member (first light-shielding member) 3B upper light-shielding member (second light-shielding member) 4 optical fiber (wire material) 7 concave mirror (light-collecting means) 22A, 22B long groove 24B injection path 31A irradiation Holes 41A, 41B peeling part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wire rod re-coating device for re-coating a fusion-bonded portion after fusion-splicing the tip end portions of the wire rod which have been peeled off, and sandwiching the vicinity of the peeled-off portion of the wire rod. In this way, it is integrated so that it can be joined freely, and a long groove is provided in the disposition portion of the wire rod peeling portion on each joining surface, and an injection path for pouring the UV coating resin for recoating from the outside toward the long groove is provided. It has a mold that can transmit ultraviolet rays and is separable, and an irradiation hole through which the ultraviolet rays for curing the ultraviolet curable resin put into the long groove pass, and the ultraviolet rays enter and transmit from other than this irradiation hole. A re-covering device for a wire rod, comprising: a light-shielding member that prevents the above-mentioned phenomenon; and a condensing unit that condenses ultraviolet rays that pass through the irradiation hole toward a long groove that avoids the injection path. 2. A second light shielding member for preventing the incidence and transmission of ultraviolet rays is provided on the surface opposite to the surface where the first light shielding member having the irradiation hole of the mold is installed, and the long groove of the mold is used as a reference. As a result, a concave mirror is provided at a position opposite to the irradiation hole for reflecting and condensing ultraviolet rays passing through the irradiation hole and passing through the mold toward the long groove avoiding the injection path. 1. The wire rod recoating device according to 1.