JPH0891705A - Wire tension stabilizing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a wire tension stabilizing device which can absorb the tension variation in high frequency. CONSTITUTION: A tension stabilizing device is equipped with a pulley 5 laid on an optical fiber core wire 2 for stabilizing tension, piezoelectric element 23, mechanical displacement amplifying mechanism 20 which has the structure in which the piezoelectric element 23 is incorporated in an elastic body block 21 having a slit and mechanically amplifies the displacement of the piezoelectric element 23 and transmits the value to the pulley 5 so that the tension of the optical fiber core wire 2 varies, pulley displacement detector 19 for detecting the displacement of the pulley 5, and a control circuit 41 which applies a driving signal to the piezoelectric element 23 so that the value of the detection signal as input which is supplied from the pulley displacement detector 19 is set within a prescribed range.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a linear member for stabilizing the feeding tension of an optical fiber core wire during the production of a multi-core tape optical fiber, or for stabilizing the winding tension of an optical fiber drawing device. The present invention relates to a tension stabilizing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At the time of manufacturing a multi-core tape optical fiber used for an optical fiber cable, it is important that the tension of the optical fiber core wire before tape formation is stabilized. Therefore, conventionally, a tension stabilizing device 1A as shown in FIG. 5 has been provided in a part of the supply device of the optical fiber core wire.
The tension stabilizing device 1A includes a pair of fixed position rotary rollers 3 and 4 on which an optical fiber core wire 2 as a filament for stabilizing the tension is laid horizontally, and the fixed position rotary rollers 3 and 4. A dancer pulley 5 placed on the optical fiber core wire 2 between them, a lever 6 rotatably supported at one end of the dancer pulley 5, and a weight 7 supported at the other end of the lever 6. The lever 6 is composed of a fulcrum 8 which supports the lever 6 in a swingable manner in the middle thereof.

Further, it is important that the tension of the optical fiber strand at the time of drawing the optical fiber is also stabilized. Therefore, conventionally, a tension stabilizing device 1B as shown in FIG. 6 has been provided. The tension stabilizing device 1B includes a pair of fixed position rotary pulleys 3 and 4 on which an optical fiber core wire 2 as a filament body for stabilizing the tension is laid horizontally, and these fixed position rotary pulleys 3 and 4. Between the dancer pulley 5 placed on the optical fiber core wire 2 between them, a linear guide (not shown) for guiding the dancer pulley 5 to move in the vertical direction, and the tension of the optical fiber core wire 2 is constant. The dancer pulley 5 is supported by a spring 9 and a damper 10 that absorbs the vibration of the dancer pulley 5 is formed.

[0004]

However, FIG.
In the tension stabilizing method using the tension stabilizing devices 1A and 1B shown in FIG. 6, since the inertia of the movable parts of these tension stabilizing devices 1A and 1B is large, it is impossible to completely eliminate the tension fluctuation. There was a problem that the tension stabilizing effect was small with respect to high tension fluctuation.

Further, such tension stabilizing devices 1A, 1
In the tension stabilizing method using B, it is necessary to install another tension meter in order to confirm whether the tension is actually stable, and there is a problem that the device becomes complicated.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a filament tension stabilizing device capable of absorbing tension fluctuation with high frequency.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a filament tension stabilizing device capable of confirming whether the tension is stable without separately installing a tension meter.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A linear member tension stabilizing device according to the present invention comprises a pulley to be hung on a linear member whose tension is to be stabilized, a piezoelectric element, and the piezoelectric element in an elastic block with slits. And a mechanical displacement amplification mechanism that mechanically amplifies the displacement of the piezoelectric element and transmits the displacement to the pulley so that the tension of the filament changes, and detects the displacement of the pulley. A pulley displacement detector,
A control circuit is provided which receives a detection signal from the pulley displacement detector and gives a drive signal to the piezoelectric element so that the value of the detection signal falls within a predetermined range.

[0009]

In general, there is a proportional relationship between the amount of displacement of a pulley on which a filament such as an optical fiber core is applied and the tension applied to the pulley. Therefore, the change in tension applied to the pulley can be known by detecting the displacement amount of the pulley with the pulley displacement detector.

Therefore, in the linear body tension stabilizing device of the present invention, for example, when the tension of the linear body decreases, the pulley displacement detector detects the decrease amount of the tension and the detection signal of the pulley displacement detector is detected. Is given to the control circuit. In the control circuit, a drive signal that the value of the detection signal of the pulley displacement detector falls within a predetermined range, in other words, the tension of the filament is stabilized, is formed and applied to the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element is driven by this drive signal, and the displacement of the piezoelectric element is amplified by the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism and transmitted to the pulley. By repeating such an operation, the tension of the filament is stabilized.

In such a filament tension stabilizing device, control can be instantaneously performed by a high-speed control circuit. Therefore, it is possible to easily absorb a high-frequency tension fluctuation which is impossible by the conventional method. can do.

Further, in this filament tension stabilizing device, since the tension is measured by the pulley displacement detector, it is not necessary to install a tension meter separately.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a filament tension stabilizing device 1 according to the present invention. The filament tension stabilizing device 1 of the present embodiment has a dancer pulley 5 that is hung on an optical fiber core wire 2 as a filament to stabilize the tension. The dancer pulley 5 is rotatably supported by a rotary shaft 12 at the tip of a head member 11 made of a meandering elastic material such as steel. A horizontal arm portion 11a in the middle of the head member 11 is provided with a pair of vertical slits 13 and 14 in a left-right symmetrical manner at intervals in the horizontal direction, and the horizontal arm portions are provided at both ends of the vertical slits 13 and 14. 11
In order to form the thin-walled portions 15a, 15b, 16a, 16b at the edge of a, the thin-walled portion forming holes 17a, 17b, 18a,
18b is provided. The vertical slits 13 and 14 are connected by the horizontal slit 11b. Thin part 15b, 1
Corresponding to 6a, on the surface of the horizontal arm portion 11a, a pulley displacement detector 19 made of a strain gauge and detecting the displacement of the dancer pulley 5 is provided.

At the base end of the head member 11, an elastic block 21 such as steel, which is the main constituent of the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20, is provided.
The upper surface of is mechanically connected by welding or the like. A rectangular piezoelectric element mounting window 22 is provided in the lower right portion of the elastic block 21, and the piezoelectric element 2 is provided in the window 22.
3 is provided horizontally by fixing both ends to the parallel edges of the window 22. In addition, the elastic block 21
Is provided with L-shaped slits 24 and 25, which communicate with the lower right corner and the upper left corner of the window 22, with one of them facing upward and the other facing downward. The L-shaped slits 24 and 25 include horizontal slit portions 24a and 25a, vertical slit portions 24b and 25b orthogonal thereto, and vertical slit portions 24.
b and 25b, thin-walled portion forming holes 26 provided at both ends
a, 26b, 27a, 27b. The thin-walled portion forming holes 26a and 26b are provided near the right edge portion of the elastic block 21, so that the thin wall portions 28a and 28b are provided at the right edge portion of the elastic block 21. A crank-shaped slit 29 is provided in the elastic block 21 so that a part thereof is parallel to the vertical slit portion 25b of the L-shaped slit 25. The crank-shaped slit 29 has a horizontal slit portion 29a that is horizontally provided between the upper edge of the elastic block 21 and the window 22, and a vertical slit that extends vertically upward at the right end of the horizontal slit portion 29a. The upward slit portion 29b, the vertical downward slit portion 29c that is vertically downwardly connected to the left end of the horizontal slit portion 29a, the thin portion forming hole portion 30a provided at the upper end of the vertical upward slit portion 29b, and the thin portion. Thin-walled portion forming holes 30b, 3 provided in the vertically downward slit portion 29c corresponding to the forming hole portions 27a, 27b.
0c and are formed. Between the adjacent thin wall portion forming holes 27a and 30b, and between the adjacent thin wall portion forming holes 27
Thin portions 31a and 31b are provided between b and 30c, respectively. A horizontal slit 32 is provided from the right edge of the elastic block 21 in a direction orthogonal to the vertically upward slit portion 29b, and a thin portion forming hole 33 is formed at the left end thereof.
Is provided adjacent to the thin portion forming hole portion 30a. A thin portion 34 is provided between the thin portion forming holes 30a and 33.
Is provided. A branch slit 35 is provided in the elastic block 21 between the upper edge of the elastic block 21 and the crank slit 29. The branch slit 35
Is the upper edge of the elastic block 21 and the crank-shaped slit 2.
The horizontal slit portion 35a of the elastic block 21 and the horizontal slit portion 35a of the elastic block 21.
Upward branch slit portions 35b and 35c branched upward from the horizontal slit portion 35a on both sides of the connecting portion of the head member 11 to the upper edge, and the thin portion forming hole portion 3
0a and a thin wall portion forming hole 36a provided at the right end of the horizontal slit portion 35a, and a thin wall portion forming hole 36b provided at the left end of the horizontal slit portion 35a.
And thin-walled portion forming holes 36c and 36d provided at the upper ends of the upward branch slit portions 35b and 35c adjacent to the upper edge of the elastic block 21.
A thin wall portion 37a is provided between the thin wall portion forming hole portion 36a and the thin wall portion forming hole portion 30a, and a thin wall portion 37 is provided between the upper edge of the elastic block 21 and the thin wall portion forming hole portions 36c and 36d.
b and 37c are provided. Horizontal slit portion 35a
A horizontal slit 38 is provided from the left edge of the elastic block 21 in a direction parallel to, and a thin portion forming hole portion 39 is provided at the right end thereof adjacent to the thin portion forming hole portion 36b. A thin portion 37d is provided between the thin portion forming holes 36b and 39.

The displacement of the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20, which is obtained by amplifying the displacement of the piezoelectric element 23, is detected at the upper edge of the elastic block 21 corresponding to the thin portions 37b and 37c of the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20. Mechanical displacement amplification mechanism displacement detectors 40 each including a strain gauge are provided.

The output signals of the pulley displacement detector 19 and the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism displacement detector 40 described above are supplied to the control circuit 41. The control circuit 41
The piezoelectric element 2 receives the detection signal from the pulley displacement detector 19 so that the value of the detection signal falls within a predetermined range.
A drive signal is given to the No. 3. The output signal of the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism displacement detector 40 is used for the control circuit 41 to monitor the amplified displacement of the elastic block 21.

In such a filament tension stabilizing device, a change in the tension of the optical fiber core wire 2 as a filament for stabilizing the tension appears as a displacement of the pulley 5, so that the pulley 5 is
Is detected by the pulley displacement detector 19. The detection signal from the pulley displacement detector 19 is input to the control circuit 41. The control circuit 41 receives the detection signal from the pulley displacement detector 19 as an input and gives a drive signal to the piezoelectric element 23 so that the value of the detection signal falls within a predetermined range. Piezoelectric element 2
3 expands and contracts depending on the magnitude of the voltage of the drive signal. The stroke of the piezoelectric element 23 is about 10 μm. The displacement due to expansion and contraction of the piezoelectric element 23 is mechanically amplified by the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20. That is, when the piezoelectric element 23 expands, the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20 moves to the position shown in FIG.
As shown in (A), the head member 11 is deformed and lowered, and the tension of the optical fiber core wire 2 increases by the amount of displacement of the head member 11. Further, when the piezoelectric element 23 contracts, the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20 deforms as shown in FIG. 2B and the head member 11 is raised, and the tension of the optical fiber core wire 2 decreases by the displacement amount of the head member 11. To do. The mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20 deforms in this way because the slit 2 is formed in the elastic block 21 of the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20.
4, 25, 29, 32, 35, 38 are provided, and the thin portions forming holes 26a, 26b, 27a, 27b, 30 are formed in these slits 24, 25, 29, 32, 35, 38.
a, 30b, 30c, 30d, 33, 36a, 36b,
By providing 36c, 36d, and 39, the thin portion 28
a, 28b, 31a, 31b, 34, 37a, 37b,
37c is formed, and these thin portions 28a, 28b, 31 are formed.
This is because the elastic block 21 is deformed around a, 31b, 34, 37a, 37b, 37c. With such a mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20, the displacement amount of the piezoelectric element 23 can be amplified about 10 times. In particular, such a mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20 constitutes a parallel spring so that it moves only in the direction in which displacement is required and does not move in other directions, and it is also integrated as a whole. Therefore, there is an advantage that inevitable problems do not occur in the combination of conventional mechanical elements (spring, linear motion guide, etc.) such as rattling and hysteresis.

Such control is repeatedly performed so that the value of the detection signal from the pulley displacement detector 19 falls within a predetermined range, in other words, the tension of the optical fiber core wire 2 becomes constant. Control is performed by the circuit 41. Since such control can be instantaneously performed by the control circuit 41 including a high-speed electronic circuit, it absorbs a high-frequency tension fluctuation which cannot be achieved by the conventional filament tension stabilizing device. be able to. In addition, in this linear tension stabilizing device, the tension is simultaneously measured by the pulley displacement detector 19, so it is not necessary to install a tension meter separately.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to an optical fiber tape manufacturing apparatus. In this optical fiber tape manufacturing apparatus, a plurality of optical fiber core wires 2 are supplied from a supply 42, and these optical fiber core wires 2 are respectively shown in a conventional type tension stabilizing device 1A shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. Striatal tension stabilizing device 43 of the present embodiment
And a plurality of guide pulleys 44, and are supplied to the tape coating die 45 at a predetermined interval so that the tape coating die collectively applies the tape-shaped coating to the optical fiber tape 46. Is formed, and the optical fiber tape 46 is wound by a winder 47.

In this case, the tension fluctuation of the optical fiber core wire 2 has been ± 30 gf (high-frequency component of 10 Hz or more) in the past, but by using the filament tension stabilizing device 43 of this embodiment, It became less than 5gf.

FIG. 4 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to an optical fiber drawing device. In this optical fiber drawing apparatus, the resin coating device 49 coats one or more layers of resin on the optical fiber element wire 2a obtained by drawing the optical fiber preform 48, and the coating resin is cured by the resin curing device 50. As a result, the optical fiber core wire 2 is obtained. The optical fiber core wire 2 is provided with the filament tension stabilizing device 43 of this embodiment, the guide pulley 44, the take-up capstan 51, and the conventional type tension shown in FIG. Winding machine 47 through stabilizing device 1B
It is designed to be wound up in.

In the case of drawing an optical fiber, since the optical fiber wire 2a is soft, a piezoelectric element 23 having a long stroke (100 μm) is used to increase the amplification factor of the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 20 by about 50 times. ing. As a result, as compared with the case where the filament tension stabilizing device 43 of the present embodiment is not used, the fluctuation range of the tension becomes 1/10 and the drawing speed can be doubled.

A summary of the preferred embodiments of the invention disclosed herein is as follows.

(1) A pulley that can be applied to a linear member for stabilizing tension, a head member that is made of an elastic material such as a meandering steel and rotatably supports the pulley, and a piezoelectric element. A structure in which the piezoelectric element is incorporated in an elastic block with slits, and the displacement of the piezoelectric element is mechanically amplified to change the tension of the linear member to the pulley via the head member. A mechanical displacement amplifying mechanism for transmitting the above, a pulley displacement detector for detecting the displacement of the pulley, and a detection signal from the pulley displacement detector as an input, so that the value of the detection signal falls within a predetermined range. A filament tension stabilizing device comprising a control circuit for supplying a drive signal to an element.

(2) In the mechanical displacement amplifying mechanism, the piezoelectric element is incorporated in the piezoelectric element mounting window of the elastic block, and the displacement of the piezoelectric element is mechanically amplified in one direction in the elastic block. A plurality of slits, a plurality of thin-walled portion forming holes continuously provided to the slits, a thin-walled portion formed between adjacent thin-walled portion forming holes, and the thin-walled portion forming hole. The filamentous tension stabilizing device according to claim 1, characterized in that a thin-walled portion provided between the elastic block and the edge surface is provided.

[0026]

The filament tension stabilizing device according to the present invention comprises:
When the tension of the filament changes, the pulley displacement detector detects the amount of change in the tension, and the detection signal of the pulley displacement detector is given to the control circuit, and the control circuit detects the detection signal of the pulley displacement detector. Drive signal to drive the piezoelectric element so that the value of is within a predetermined range, and the displacement of this piezoelectric element is amplified by the mechanical displacement amplification mechanism and transmitted to the pulley. The tension of can be stabilized.

In particular, in the filament tension stabilizing device of the present invention, control can be instantaneously performed by a high-speed control circuit, which facilitates high-frequency tension fluctuations that were impossible with conventional methods. Can be absorbed into.

Further, in this filament tension stabilizing device, since the tension is measured by the pulley displacement detector, it is not necessary to install a tension meter separately, and the device can be simplified.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an embodiment of a filament tension stabilizing device according to the present invention.

2A and 2B are explanatory views showing a displacement operation of a mechanical displacement amplifying mechanism used in the filament tension stabilizing device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of an optical fiber tape manufacturing apparatus using the filament tension stabilizing device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of an optical fiber drawing apparatus using the filament tension stabilizing device of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of one conventional tension stabilizing device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of another conventional tension stabilizing device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 1A, 1B Tension stabilizing device 2 Optical fiber core wire as a linear body 3, 4 Fixed position rotating roller 5 Dancer pulley 6 Lever 7 Weight 8 Support point 9 Spring 10 Damper 11 Head member 11a Horizontal arm part 12 Rotating shaft 13 , 14 Vertical slits 15a, 15b, 16a, 16b Thin-walled portions 17a, 17b, 18a, 18b Thin-walled portion forming holes 19 Pulley displacement detector 20 Mechanical displacement amplification mechanism 21 Elastic block 22 Piezoelectric element mounting window 23 Piezoelectric element 24, 25 , 29, 32, 35, 38 slits 26a, 26b, 27a, 27b, 30a, 30b, 3
0c, 30d, 33, 36a, 36b, 36c, 36
d, 39 Thin-walled portion forming holes 28a, 28b, 31a, 31b, 34, 37a, 37
b, 37c Thin portion 40 Mechanical displacement amplification mechanism Displacement detector 41 Control circuit

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A structure in which a pulley, which is hung on a linear member whose tension is to be stabilized, a piezoelectric element, and the piezoelectric element are incorporated in an elastic block having slits, and the displacement of the piezoelectric element is mechanically performed. A mechanical displacement amplifying mechanism that amplifies and transmits to the pulley so that the tension of the filament changes, and a pulley displacement detector that detects displacement of the pulley,
A linear body tension stabilizing device comprising a control circuit which receives a detection signal from the pulley displacement detector and gives a drive signal to the piezoelectric element so that the value of the detection signal falls within a predetermined range.