JPH08220396A - Optical fiber tape indicating identification symbol - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To make it possible to indicate the right and left and many tape numbers and to automatically read these tape numbers by machines by indicating the tape numbers by a binary method consisting of color combinations and forming taped coatings of colorless UV curing resin. CONSTITUTION: The coating of the first fiber at the left ends of all tapes are colored blue and the coatings of the other three fibers of the first tape 11 are colorless. As a result, a 0 is indicated by the binary method. The coating of the first fiber at the outer right end of the second tape 12 is coated with pink and the coatings of the other two fibers at the center are colorless. As a result, a 1 is indicated by the binary method. Further, the coating of the third fiber from the left of the third tape 13 is pink and the coatings of the other two fibers are colorless. As a result, a 2 is indicated by the binary method. Henceforce, the fourth tape 14 and the fifth tape 15 are also indicated by the binary method. The indication symbols are the indications coloring the fiber coatings and are, therefore, indicated on the tape surface through the colorless UV curing resins.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber tape on which an identification code is displayed, which simplifies and facilitates the display of the identification code and displays left and right by using two or three types of dyeing lines. And a large number of tape numbers can be displayed, and the coincidence of both optical fiber tapes to be connected to each other can be automatically confirmed by a fusion splicer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Spinning of wires such as optical fibers, wire coating,
A series of processes such as curing treatment of wire coating, tape formation, curing treatment of taped coating, etc. is done in a series of production line, and the winding device at the end of this production line winds up the finished tape, An identification symbol (for example, "1-3", which means No. 3 tape of No. 1 unit) is printed at regular intervals on the covering surface of the tape by a printing device arranged behind the covering device (Fig. 4). reference). This printing is performed by intermittently printing the tape flowing at a constant speed at a constant time interval. The above-mentioned printing is generally an ink dot method or a jet ejection method, but in any case, a large number of dots (dots) are used to display characters and symbols. Or printed from top to bottom. This printing speed is fast and one character or symbol can be printed in an instant, but since the tape speed is high, for example, when "1-3" is printed, the characters are distorted and printing spots are generated as shown in FIG. . Since the speed of the tape is high, it causes distortion of printed characters and symbols and uneven printing.Therefore, if the speed of the tape is reduced, distortion of printing can be prevented. Since the tapes are arranged, if the tape speed is reduced, the productivity of the manufacturing line is significantly reduced. Therefore, it is impossible to reduce the tape speed due to the convenience of printing.
In addition, even if the tape feeding speed can be made extremely high in view of the capability of the manufacturing line, if the printing condition cannot be put to practical use because the tape feeding speed is too high, the printing condition is There is no choice but to slow down to the point where it can be put to practical use. Also, it is known that the tape coating is colored and the tape number is displayed by color coding as one of the methods that does not rely on printing, but since the display does not directly display the number, this One of the drawbacks of this is that the information that can be identified is limited and that the left and right sides of the tape cannot be identified. The above-mentioned display by printing has a great advantage that a lot of different information can be displayed as compared with the display by coloring the tape and color-coding, and the cost for display is low as compared with the color-coded display. In addition to the above problems associated with speeding up tape, the characters and symbols printed on the tape surface become smaller and smaller as the tape becomes thinner. Is becoming more difficult. The above problem is caused by reading the unit number and the tape number by the character and symbol, and matching the tapes to be connected to each other by using the character and symbol as the display. Therefore,
As long as the display using letters and symbols is adopted, this problem cannot be fundamentally solved, and the shape of the letters is inconsistent. It is not possible to finally check the consistency of the tapes that should be connected to each other. Also,
Since these display means do not have the function of displaying the left and right sides of the tape, it is difficult to identify the tapes. Therefore, when the tape is turned upside down, there is a problem that the right and left are mistaken and a connection error occurs.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is intended to solve the above-mentioned problems, and for that reason, it is possible to provide a certain clear indication regardless of the tape speed, and to provide the indication on the tape. Has a function to display the left and right of
It is an object of the invention to devise a display method that enables display of right and left and a large number of tape numbers by two or three types of coloring, and can be automatically read by a machine. .

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The measures taken to solve the above problems are constituted by the following elements (a) to (c). (A) The coating of the strand on the left end of the tape was colored with a specific color, and the coating of some of the other strands was colored with a color other than the above-mentioned color, and (b) was colored with the above-mentioned other color. The tape number is displayed by a binary method by combining the strands with other uncolored strands, and (c) the taped coating is a non-colored UV curable resin. In addition, the other non-colored strands may have a color other than the specific color and a color other than the other colors.

[0005]

[Operation] Since the display symbol is a display in which the strand coating is colored, through the uncolored UV curable resin, the identification display is displayed as a large number of parallel parallel bars on the tape surface.
Therefore, no matter how fast the tape speed is, the display is not disturbed, and the display is made in a constant and clear manner. Then, for example, if the strands colored with the color "blue" are arranged at the left end in a unified manner, the left and right of the tape can be identified by this "blue" display. Further, since any one of the strands other than the left end is colored and the number is displayed in the binary system by the combination of this and the uncolored strand, the tape number can be identified.
For example, the unit number is displayed by associating the colors with the order of blue, green, purple, yellow, and red, and changing the color of the wire at the left end to blue, green, purple, yellow, and red. be able to. As for the n-core tape, the leftmost one is colored with, for example, "blue", and the outer (n-1) one is selectively colored with "pink". Since the numerical value is displayed with,

[Equation 1] The number of pieces can be displayed. For example, in the case of 4-fiber tape

[Equation 2] Therefore, eight tape numbers can be displayed. Therefore, for example, for a cable of 6 units and 8 four-core tape by coloring with 6 specific colors and coloring with pink, the unit number and the right and left of the tape,
The tape number and can be displayed. Like this, 2
Since the information such as the unit number, the right and left of the tape, and the tape number is displayed by using the color, the tape connecting operator should read the information such as the unit number, the tape number, and the left and right of the tape, and connect the tapes to each other. Can be selected, and the tape number can be read from the binary display by the combination of a plurality of parallel bar lines to visually confirm the consistency of both tapes to be connected to each other. That is, even if the individual numbers of the unit numbers and tape numbers displayed by a plurality of parallel bars are not recognized, the matching of the above displays and the matching of both tapes to be connected to each other by visually recognizing the mismatch You can check the discrepancy. Since this confirmation is extremely mechanical, this pattern can be recognized by the automatic reader installed in the tape splicing machine, and therefore, it is necessary to mechanically and reliably check the operator's mistake in confirming the consistency of the tape. You can
Further, since the display with a plurality of parallel bar lines is a bar display along the longitudinal direction of the tape, the display at the cut end does not change no matter which position the tape is cut. Therefore, when the tape is attached to the connecting machine, the reading by the automatic reader is accurately performed regardless of the cutting position. Since the above-mentioned "other colors" are colors selected for color-coded display, they also include intermediate colors suitable for color-coded display such as pink and yellow green.

[0006]

[Examples] Next, examples will be described with reference to FIGS. In the case of a slot type cable, for example, a plurality of optical fiber tapes 1 are stacked and mounted on a large number of slots 3 provided in a core 2 as shown in FIG. Each tape group mounted in each slot 3 is referred to as a 1st unit and a 2nd unit, and the tapes mounted in each unit are referred to as a 1st tape and a 2nd tape, for example, from the top. The tape on the uppermost layer is called the No. 1 tape of the No. 3 unit, and this designation and the indication displayed on the surface of each tape coincide with each other. Each tape 1 has a large number of optical fiber strands, where the leftmost optical fiber strand is a and the rightmost optical fiber strand is d when the surface 4 of the optical fiber tape is up. When connecting the tape, the optical fiber strand a must be connected to the optical fiber strand a of another tape. If the front and back are connected in reverse, the optical fiber strand a is connected to the optical fiber strand d of another tape. Since this embodiment is a four-core tape, four tapes a, b, c, and d are arranged in a horizontal row on each tape. Further, in FIG. 2, five four-core tapes installed in the No. 1 unit are shown in a laminated state, but all the tapes (No. 1 to No. 5 tapes) of the No. 1 wire at the left end are shown. The coating is colored blue, and the coatings of the other three strands of the No. 1 tape 11 are uncolored. This gives 0 in binary
Is represented. Further, the coating of the 1st strand at the outer right end of the 2nd tape 12 is covered with pink, and the coating of the other 2 central strands is uncolored. This represents 1 in the binary system. Furthermore, the coating of the third wire from the left of the third tape 13 is pink, and the coating of the other two wires is uncolored. This represents 2 in the binary system. Further, the coating of the third and fourth strands of the No. 4 tape 14 is colored pink and the coating of the second strand is uncolored.
This represents 3 in binary. Further, the coating of the second strand of the No. 5 tape 15 is colored pink and the coating of the other strands is uncolored. This gives 4 in binary
Is represented. As described above, the numbers of the five tapes 0 to 4 are displayed. This combination of colored strands

[Table 1] And the arrangement of the colored strands of each tape is shown in (3-1) to (3-5) of FIG.

[Table 1] For the 2nd unit, the coloring of the 1st strand at the left end may be unified to "green" according to the above order.
In some cases, the display of the unit number is omitted and only the tape number is displayed by the parallel bar lines, and there is no problem in practical use. In this case, the coating of the first strand at the left end of all the units may be unified to one type of arbitrary specific color.

[0007]

[Effects] The above-mentioned object of the present invention is novel. Therefore, it is the effect peculiar to the present invention in itself that the new problems are solved and the problems in the prior art are solved. That is, the leftmost strand of the fiber strand of the optical fiber ribbon and any other strand are colored to obtain two types of color rods (the other uncolored strands are , In the case of colors other than the specific color and colors other than the other colors, three types of bar lines) are displayed along the longitudinal direction of the tape on the tape surface, and a combination of a plurality of bar lines is used. Displays the numerical value in the base system, the unit number by color coding and the binary system display,
Since the tape number information is displayed on the surface of the optical fiber tape, it is possible to accurately represent a certain symbol regardless of the size of the tape speed in the manufacturing process, and the display is not distorted or broken. Absent. Even when the tape is thin and the width of the surface is extremely small, the display symbol is extremely simple, so it is easy and easy to read,
Do not accidentally read the symbol. Furthermore, since the tape number symbol can be read by the binary notation,
Since this can be read by an automatic reader provided in the connecting machine and the consistency of the tapes connected to each other can be mechanically checked, the consistency of the tapes can be surely guaranteed. Further, since the number 8 tape can be displayed by one kind of coloring, the number of kinds of color-coded wires can be reduced as much as possible, and therefore the cost of coloring the coating of the wires can be significantly reduced. This is a great advantage of the present invention.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a slot type optical fiber cable.

FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of FIG.

3 is a plan view of each optical fiber ribbon of FIG. 2. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Optical fiber tape 2 ... Core 3 ... Slot 4 ... Surface of optical fiber tape 11 ... 1st tape 12 ... 2nd tape 13 ... 3rd tape 14 ...・ 4th tape 15 ・ ・ ・ 5th tape a ・ ・ ・ left end optical fiber element wire b, c ・ ・ ・ element wire d ・ ・ ・ right end optical fiber element wire

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Hideyuki Iwata 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber tape core in which an optical fiber core wire is coated with a UV curable resin to form an optical fiber element wire, and a large number of optical fiber element wires are laterally arranged and covered with a UV curable resin to form a tape. In the wire, the coating of the strand at the left end of the tape is colored with a specific color, some coatings of other strands are colored with a color other than the specific color, and the strand is colored with the above other color. An optical fiber tape in which the binary tape number is displayed in combination with other uncolored elemental wires, and the identification mark that the taped coating is uncolored UV curable resin is displayed. 2. An optical fiber tape having an identification mark according to claim 1, wherein the other non-colored strands have a color other than the specific color and a color other than the other colors.