JPH06258530A - Device for forcibly feeding and laying optical fiber cable - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the device for forcibly feeding and laying an optical fiber cable which can forcibly feed the optical fiber cable while pushing the optical fiber cable into a small-diameter pipeline with suitable pushing-in force and does not generate kink and buckling in the optical fiber cable. CONSTITUTION:The small-diameter pipeline 28 is connected to the front of a feed head 27 and the rear thereof is provided with a pressure gas seal 24. The optical fiber cable 20 is introduced therein. A high-pressure gas is taken in from a gas press feed port 26 and is admitted from a gas outflow port 25 provided at a cylindrical pipeline 23 into the small-diameter pipeline 28. The optical fiber cables 20 is pushed into the small-diameter pipeline 28 by means of three pairs of driving rollers 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b which are synchronously rotated by an interlocking mechanism. The kink and buckling of the optical fiber cable are prevented by interposing the cylindrical pipelines 21, 22, 23.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber cable pressure laying apparatus used for laying an optical fiber cable for communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a method of laying a fiber optic cable under pressure by using the pressure and flow of gas in a pipe line that has been laid in advance. At that time, as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 22921/1990, a driving roller is used to push an optical fiber cable into a small diameter pipe line to be laid, and a pressurized gas is used to push the optical fiber. The cable is pumped.

FIG. 5 is a mechanical diagram of a conventional drive roller. In the figure, 1a and 1b are drive rollers, 4a and 4b are roller shafts, 7 is a bearing, 9a and 9b are spur gears, 13 is a drive motor, and 15 is a coupling. Drive rollers 1a, 1
b is made of an elastic material such as rubber, and has a semicircular groove that forms a passage portion of the optical fiber cable in the center of the outer peripheral surface, and the pair oppose each other to sandwich the optical fiber cable in the groove. There is. Spur gears 9a, 9 are provided on the roller shafts 4a, 4b.
b is fixed and supported by a bearing 7 using a bearing or the like. On the roller shaft 4a of the one driving roller 1a,
The drive motor 13 is connected via the coupling 15. When the drive motor 13 rotates, one drive roller 1a is rotationally driven, and the other drive roller 1b is rotationally driven in the opposite direction by the spur gears 9a and 9b. Therefore, the optical fiber cable sandwiched between the grooves can be driven.

However, if only a pair of driving rollers are used, the driving force for the optical fiber cable is insufficient, and slippage occurs between the optical fiber cable and the driving roller, which tends to result in a state where installation is impossible. .

In order to compensate for this lack of driving force, it is possible to employ a method of increasing the driving force by arranging two or more driving units in tandem as shown in FIG. Figure 8
As shown in FIG. 5, the delivery capability can be increased by using a plurality of pairs of drive rollers.

FIG. 6 is an arrangement diagram for explaining a problem when a plurality of pairs of drive rollers are used. In the figure, 1a,
1b, 2a, 2b, 3a and 3b are drive rollers, 20 is an optical fiber cable, and 21 is a cylindrical conduit. If the drive rollers are not synchronized well, for example, the drive rollers 1a,
If the rotation speed of 1b is too high, the optical fiber cable 20 becomes too loose, and the optical fiber cable causes a kink as shown in 20a. In order to prevent this, it is conceivable to arrange a cylindrical conduit 21 in the passage of the optical fiber cable 20 to restrict the traveling of the optical fiber cable 20, but with respect to the rotation speed of the drive rollers 3a, 3b. When the rotational speeds of the drive rollers 2a and 2b are high, simply arranging the cylindrical conduit 21 causes buckling of the optical fiber cable 20 as shown in 20b. Although not shown, for example, if the rotation speeds of the drive rollers 1a and 1b are slower than the rotation speeds of the drive rollers 2a and 2b, excessive tension is applied to the optical fiber cable 20 between the drive rollers.

It has also been found that the positional relationship between the drive roller and the pressure gas seal also has an unfavorable effect on the optical fiber cable. As shown in FIG. 7, from the outside of the pressure gas seal 22, the drive rollers 1a, 1b, 2
a, 2b, 3a, 3b, the optical fiber cable 2
When the tension of the optical fiber cable decreases when 0 is pushed in, the optical fiber cable 20 between the drive rollers 3a and 3b at the final stage and the pressure gas seal 24 becomes 20c.
Buckling may occur as shown in.

When such a situation occurs, not only the pumping operation becomes unstable, but also the optical fiber cable may be damaged.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to press-feed an optical fiber cable into a small-diameter conduit while pressing it with a suitable pressing force. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber cable pumping and laying device that does not cause kinking or buckling of the fiber cable.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a gas pressure is applied to a small-diameter conduit while driving and sending out an optical fiber cable by sandwiching the optical fiber cable with a driving roller. In the pressure-feeding apparatus for the optical fiber cable to be pressure-fed by using the flow and the flow, a plurality of driving rollers are arranged at positions close to each other in the feeding direction of the optical fiber cable by not more than twice their diameters to drive the plurality of stages. It is characterized in that the rollers are connected from a single drive source using an interlocking mechanism so that the delivery speeds of the drive rollers are synchronized.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the optical fiber cable pressure feeding and laying device according to the first aspect, the drive rollers of each stage are formed of a pair of elastic rollers sandwiching each other. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the optical fiber cable pressure laying apparatus according to the first or second aspect, among the optical fiber cable passage portions, between the drive rollers of each stage, and , The outer diameter of the optical fiber cable between 1.2 and 1.
It is characterized in that a cylindrical conduit having an inner diameter of 8 times is provided.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the optical fiber cable pressure feeding and laying device according to the first to third aspects, the interlocking mechanism for synchronizing the drive rollers is a spur gear and an intermediate gear directly connected to the drive rollers. According to the invention described in claim 5, in the optical fiber cable pressure feeding and laying device according to claims 1 to 4, the drive roller group is for passing the optical fiber cable. It is characterized in that it is installed between the pressure-feeding gas seal and the small diameter pipe to be installed.

[0013]

According to the invention as set forth in claim 1, a plurality of driving rollers are arranged at positions close to each other in the feeding direction of the optical fiber cable by not more than twice its diameter, and a plurality of driving rollers are provided. By connecting from a single drive source using an interlocking mechanism and synchronizing the delivery speed by the drive roller, even if the delivery speed of the optical fiber cable fluctuates due to the change in the pumping state due to gas, all drive Since the rollers can be reliably synchronized, kinks due to slack in the optical fiber cable between the drive rollers and between the drive rollers and the small diameter pipe due to uneven feed rates and damage due to severe bending are prevented. can do.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the drive rollers of each stage are composed of a pair of elastic rollers sandwiching each other, slip is unlikely to occur between the drive roller and the optical fiber cable. A suitable driving force can be applied.

According to the invention described in claim 3, in the optical fiber cable passage portion, between the drive rollers of each stage, and between the drive roller of the final stage and the small diameter pipe line to be installed,
By providing the cylindrical conduits each having an inner diameter 1.2 to 1.8 times the outer diameter of the optical fiber cable, even if the drive roller on the outlet side slips and the optical fiber cable tries to bend. However, due to the cylindrical conduit having a sufficiently small clearance, there is no room for bending, so damage to the optical fiber cable can be prevented.

According to the invention described in claim 4, since the interlocking mechanism for synchronizing the drive rollers is composed of the spur gear and the intermediate gear directly connected to the drive rollers, the simple mechanism ensures reliable synchronization. Can be taken.

The pressure gas seal provided so as to prevent the pressure-fed gas from leaking from the entrance portion of the optical fiber cable naturally serves as the passage resistance of the optical fiber cable, and in general, the optical fiber cable can be passed through the small diameter conduit earlier and further. This resistance increases when you try to lay it in. When the pressure gas seal is located downstream of the drive roller group, the optical fiber cable is likely to buckle between the pressure gas seal and the drive roller. According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the drive roller group is installed between the pressure-feeding gas seal for passing the optical fiber cable and the small diameter pipe line to be installed,
Since the optical fiber cable is kept in the pulled state regardless of the resistance, the buckling of the cable does not occur, and the damage of the optical fiber cable can be prevented.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an arrangement view of drive rollers in an optical fiber cable pressure feeding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1b, 2b and 3b are drive rollers, 4b and 5
b, 6b are roller shafts, 7 is a bearing, 8b, 9, 10b,
Reference numerals 11 and 12b are spur gears, 13 is a drive motor, 14 is a speed reducer, and 15 is a coupling. In this figure, the optical fiber cable is transferred from the drive roller 1b side to the drive roller 3b side. Only the lower side of the drive roller is shown.

The drive rollers 1b, 2b, 2c are made of an elastic material such as rubber, and have a semicircular groove forming a passage portion of the optical fiber cable at the center of the outer peripheral surface. The roller shafts 4b, 5b, 6b include spur gears 8b, 10b, 12
b is fixed and supported by bearings 7 using bearings and the like. The spur gears 8b, 10b, 12b have the same number of teeth, for example, 60. Spur gears 8b, 10b,
The number of teeth of the spur gears 9 and 11 arranged in the middle of 12b is 30, for example. Therefore, the spur gears 8b, 1
0b and 12b all have the same rotation direction, and the rotation speeds are completely the same. The distance between the roller shafts 4b and 5b and the distance L between the drive roller shafts 5b and 6b satisfy the relationship of D <L ≦ 2D, where D is the diameter of the drive roller.

A drive motor 13 is attached to the rotary shaft of the spur gear 9.
Are connected via a speed reducer 14 and a coupling 15. Therefore, when the drive motor 13 rotates,
The drive rollers 1b, 2b, 2c rotate in the same direction at the same rotation speed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the drive rollers 1a, 2a, 3b are arranged so that the drive rollers 1a, 2a, 3a are opposed to each other, and the roller shafts 4a, 5a, 6a have spur gears. 8a, 10a, 12a are fixed and mesh with spur gears 8b, 10b, 12b, respectively. Number of teeth of spur gears 8a, 10a, 12a and spur gears 8b, 10
The numbers of teeth of b and 12b are equal.

As described above, the spur gears 8b, 10b, 1
When one drive roller 1b, 2b, 3b is rotationally driven by 2b, the other drive roller 1a, 2a, 3a
Are rotationally driven by the spur gears 8a, 10a and 12a at the same rotational speed synchronized in the opposite direction. Therefore, the optical fiber cable sandwiched between the grooves can be driven by the three pairs of drive rollers. The logarithm of the drive roller described above,
The number of teeth of the spur gear is an example, and the number of teeth is not limited to this. However, a plurality of drive roller pairs are provided. As a result, it is possible to prevent insufficient driving force, or to prevent overtension or loosening. Further, the drive mechanism of each drive roller is not limited to the spur gear, and an appropriate interlocking mechanism such as a chain mechanism can be used.

As will be described later, cylindrical pipe lines are arranged between the drive rollers of each stage and between the drive roller of the final stage and the thin pipe line to be installed.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a feed head according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1a, 1b, 2a, 2
b, 3a and 3b are drive rollers, 20 is an optical fiber cable, 21, 22 and 23 are cylindrical conduits, 24 is a pressure gas seal, 25 is a gas outlet, 26 is a gas inlet, 27 is a feed head, 28 Is a small diameter conduit. A small-diameter conduit 28 is connected to the front of the feed head 27, and behind the feed head 27,
The optical fiber cable 2 is provided with a pressure gas seal 24.
0 is introduced. Further, a high pressure gas, for example, compressed air is taken into the internal chamber of the feed head 27 from the gas pressure inlet 26. The high-pressure gas taken in from the gas outlet 25 provided in the cylindrical pipe 23 to the small-diameter pipe 28.
Is flowed in. It is preferable that a plurality of gas outlets 25 be provided and symmetrically arranged in the same cross section of the cylindrical conduit 23.

In this embodiment, the optical fiber cable 20
Are three pairs of drive rollers 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a,
As described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the driving force is applied to the front side by 3b and is pushed into the small diameter conduit 28. Between the drive rollers 1a, 1b and 2a, 2b, and between the drive rollers 2a, 2b and 3a, 3b, the cylindrical conduit 2 is provided.
1, 22 are provided. In addition, the drive rollers 3a, 3
A cylindrical conduit 23 is also provided between b and the small diameter conduit. As shown in FIG. 4, the inner diameter R of the cylindrical conduits 21, 22, 23 is selected within the range of 1.2d ≦ R ≦ 1.8d with respect to the outer diameter d of the optical fiber cable 20. Cylindrical conduits 21, 22, 23
Has an inner diameter R of 1.2 of the outer diameter d of the optical fiber cable 20.
If it is less than twice, the frictional force between the optical fiber cable 20 and the inner walls of the cylindrical conduits 21, 22, 23 increases, and the driving force becomes small. Also, the cylindrical pipe lines 21, 22, 2
The inner diameter R of 3 is the outer diameter d of the optical fiber cable 20.
This is because if it is more than 8 times, the optical fiber cable 20 is likely to cause kinks and buckling in the cylindrical conduits 21, 22 and 23.

By providing the cylindrical conduits 21, 22 and 23 and pushing the optical fiber cable 20 into the small diameter conduit,
The optical fiber cable 20 has the drive rollers 3a, 3 on the exit side.
Even if it slips at b, it is possible to prevent the optical fiber cable 20 from being kinked or severely bent.

Further, the drive rollers 1a, 1b, 2a, 2
In order to suppress the occurrence of slips at b, 3a, 3b,
As described in FIG. 2, for the optical fiber cable,
A pair of drive rollers is provided, and both rollers are driven via a spur gear directly connected to each drive roller so that the drive force can be applied from both drive rollers.

Further, the pressure gas seal 24, which serves as a resistance for sending out the optical fiber cable 20, is attached to the drive roller 1a,
The drive rollers 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3 are arranged by being arranged on the upstream side of 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b.
Since it is possible to make a tension between the a and 3b and the pressure gas seal 24, it is possible to further prevent the optical fiber cable from being kinked or severely bent.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the roller feed speeds can be reliably synchronized, and a simpler transmission mechanism can be constructed by combining spur gears. Further, by providing a narrow cylindrical pipe line between the driving rollers, and by arranging a seal for the pressure-feeding gas on the upstream side of the optical fiber cable, there has been a problem when the pressure-feeding by the gas of the conventional optical fiber cable is laid.
It is possible to prevent cable kinks and cable damage due to severe bending, and more stable cable laying becomes possible.

Further, the driving force for sending out the optical fiber cable is increased, and it becomes possible to lay at a higher speed and a longer distance by using the gas pressure feeding method, and there is an effect that the laying environment of the optical cable becomes wider.

[Brief description of drawings]

[Figure 1]

FIG. 2 is a layout diagram of drive rollers in the optical fiber cable pressure-feeding device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Fig. 3]

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a feed head according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a mechanical diagram of a conventional drive roller.

FIG. 6,

FIG. 7 is an arrangement diagram for explaining a problem when a plurality of pairs of drive rollers are used.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a delivery capability for a drive roller pair.

[Explanation of Codes] 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b Drive roller 4a, 4b, 5a, 5b, 6a, 6b Roller shaft 7 Bearing 8a, 8b, 9, 10a, 10b, 11, 12a, 12
b spur gear 13 drive motor 14 speed reducer 15 coupling 20 optical fiber cable 21, 22, 23 cylindrical conduit 24 pressure gas seal 25 gas outlet 26 gas pressure inlet 27 feedhead 28 small diameter conduit

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber cable pressure-feeding apparatus for pressure-feeding by using gas pressure and flow in a small diameter pipe while driving and sending out the optical fiber cable by sandwiching the optical fiber cable with a drive roller, A plurality of driving rollers are arranged at positions close to each other in the direction of sending out the optical fiber cable by not more than twice the diameter thereof, and the driving rollers of a plurality of stages are connected from a single driving source using an interlocking mechanism,
An optical fiber cable pressure feeding and laying device characterized in that the feeding speeds of the driving rollers are synchronized. 2. The optical fiber cable pressure feeding and laying device according to claim 1, wherein the drive rollers of each stage are made up of a pair of elastic rollers sandwiching each other. 3. The outer diameter of the optical fiber cable is 1. between the drive rollers at each stage and between the drive roller at the final stage and the thin diameter pipe line to be installed in the optical fiber cable passage portion. The pressure fiber laying device for an optical fiber cable according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a cylindrical pipe line having an inner diameter of 2 to 1.8 times is provided. 4. An interlocking mechanism for synchronizing the drive rollers,
4. The optical fiber cable pressure laying device according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber cable is composed of a spur gear directly connected to the drive roller and an intermediate gear. 5. The optical fiber cable pressure feed according to claim 1, wherein the drive roller group is installed between the pressure feed gas seal for passing the optical fiber cable and the thin diameter pipe line to be installed. Installation equipment.