JPH11326646A - Jig for fiber holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform accurate processing for an optical fiber processing device by preventing an optical fiber from curving or bending, even if the projection length of the optical fiber supported projecting into the fiber holder is made long. SOLUTION: The isolation distance between a holder abutting wall 14, which restricts the movement to an optical fiber processing position by the optical fiber processing device 1 and the fiber holder 5 is secured by interposing and arranging the jig between the holder abutting wall 14 and fiber holder 5. Furthermore, this fiber holder jig 15 houses and positions optical fiber 11, supported projecting into the fiber holder 5 in a positioning groove 18.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a jig for a fiber holder which is used when a fiber holder supporting an optical fiber is set in an optical fiber processing apparatus to perform processing such as cutting and polishing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 3 and 4 show a conventional fiber holder jig. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes an optical fiber cutting machine as an optical fiber processing device, 2 denotes a clamp lid, 3 denotes a cutter, 4 denotes a holder storage groove, 5 denotes a fiber holder, and 6 denotes a fiber holder jig.

The fiber holder 5 includes a plate-shaped base 8, an optical fiber receiving groove 10 formed on the upper surface 9 of the base 8, and an optical fiber 11 (optical fiber core) stored in the optical fiber receiving groove 10. And a lid 12 which can be freely opened and closed to clamp between the base 8 and the base 8. When the fiber holder 5 is inserted into the holder mounting groove 4 of the optical fiber cutting machine 1, the optical fiber 11 clamped and supported by the fiber holder 5 becomes horizontal, and the portion of the optical fiber 11 protruding from the fiber holder 5 becomes The pressing plate 7 located immediately above the disk-shaped cutter 3 provided adjacent to the holder accommodating groove 4 and disposed in the vicinity of the cutter 3 is rotated in the direction of arrow A in FIG. Is pressed. The cutter 3 is driven to rotate about a horizontal axis, and cuts the optical fiber 11 pressed by the pressing plate 7.

The clamp lid 2 rotates on the cutting machine main body 13 about the rotation shaft 2a, and opens and closes the holder accommodating groove 4 opened on the cutting machine main body 13. When the clamp lid 2 is closed on the upper surface of the upper surface of the cutting machine main body 13, the clamp 2 is sucked and fixed on the cutting machine main body 13 by the magnet 2 b also serving as a spacer, and presses the fiber holder 5 housed in the holder housing groove 4. Moreover, the spring 2c attached to the clamp lid 2
Presses and holds down the fiber holder 5, thereby preventing the fiber holder 5 from being displaced or vibrating when the optical fiber 11 is cut by the cutter 3, and cutting the optical fiber 11 accurately. it can. Further, when the clamp lid 2 is opened, the spring 2c surely lifts the clamp lid 2 upward and releases it simultaneously with the release of the magnetic attraction of the magnet 2b, and the clamp lid 2 bites into the fiber holder 5 to make opening difficult. To prevent

[0005] The fiber holder jig 6 is a generally flat block made of a hard material such as metal or resin, and is housed in the holder housing groove 4 together with the fiber holder 5. The fiber holder jig 6 is sandwiched between a holder contact wall 14 protruding from an end of the holder storage groove 4 on the cutter 3 side and the fiber holder 5 stored in the holder storage groove 4. Then, the fiber holder 5 in the holder storage groove 4 is positioned at a target distance from the cutter 3 by the dimension t acting as a spacer of the fiber holder jig 6. At this time, as shown in FIG.
Optical fiber 11 clamped and held in fiber holder 5
The vicinity of the tip 11a projecting from the fiber holder 5 is cut by contact with the cutter 3 driven to rotate, so that the optical fiber 11 projecting from the fiber holder 5 has a desired projection length. The vicinity of the upper end of the cutter 3 corresponds to an optical fiber processing position where the optical fiber 11 is cut.

[0006]

In the case of the jig 6 for the fiber holder as described above, the optical fiber processing position (in the case of the optical fiber cutting machine 1, near the upper end of the cutter 3).
Although the optical fiber 11 can be accurately positioned at a target distance with respect to the optical fiber 11, but there is nothing supporting the optical fiber 11 extending from the fiber holder 5 to the cutter 3, the optical fiber 11 is bent and bent. May be disconnected. If the optical fiber 11 is bent and cut, there arises a problem that a desired connection loss cannot be obtained when the optical fiber 11 is butt-connected to another optical fiber in a later step. For this reason, in the jig 6 for a fiber holder,
There is a limit in increasing the dimension t acting as a spacer, and there is dissatisfaction that the protruding length of the optical fiber 11 from the fiber holder 5 cannot be increased. Also, in view of the above-mentioned problem, a technique has been developed that can stably and accurately cut the optical fiber 11 by the cutter 3 even when the length of the optical fiber 11 protruding from the fiber holder 5 is long. Was required.

[0007] The above-mentioned problems are not limited to the optical fiber cutting machine.
The same applies to various types of optical fiber processing equipment such as an optical connector mounting tool for inserting the optical fiber 11 supported by the optical connector 11 into the optical connector. Problems such as a decrease in machining accuracy due to bending of the eleventh cannot be avoided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and provides a jig for a fiber holder capable of preventing bending of an optical fiber supported in a protruding state on a fiber holder and improving processing accuracy by an optical fiber processing device. It is intended to provide.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention comprises a rigid main body, and elastic members fixed on both sides of the main body. A positioning groove for storing and positioning the optical fiber is formed, and can be taken out together with a fiber holder supporting the optical fiber into a holder storing groove provided in an optical fiber processing device for performing processing such as cutting on the optical fiber. Stored, by contacting the fiber holder in the holder storage groove, a holder contact wall that regulates the movement of the optical fiber processing device in the direction of the optical fiber processing position,
By being interposed between the fiber holder and the fiber holder, the main body ensures a separation distance between the holder contact wall and the fiber holder, and the elastic body fits in the holder storage groove. The fiber is stably stored in the holder storage groove by being combined, and furthermore, the optical fiber supported in a protruding state by the fiber holder is stored and positioned in the positioning groove. A holder jig is a means for solving the above-mentioned problem.

The fiber holder jig is housed in the holder housing groove such that the main body is brought into contact with the holder abutting wall. At this time, the elastic portions fixed on both sides of the main body are brought into pressure contact with the inner walls of the holder storage grooves on both sides of the holder abutting wall, and are fitted into the holder storage grooves. The tool is stably stored in the holder storage groove. Therefore, when the fiber holder accommodated in the holder accommodating groove is brought into contact with the main body and the main body is sandwiched between the main body and the holder abutting wall, the fiber holder is provided in the main body of the fiber holder jig. The fiber holder is separated from the optical fiber processing position by the optical fiber processing device by the dimension, and the jig for the fiber holder functions as a spacer for setting the separation distance of the fiber holder from the optical fiber processing position. Therefore, the distance of the fiber holder from the optical fiber processing position can be adjusted only by replacing the fiber holder housed in the holder housing groove and changing the dimensions of the main body, and processing the optical fiber supported by the fiber holder. The position can be easily adjusted. The optical fiber supported in the protruding state by the fiber holder is positioned in the optical fiber processing position of the optical fiber processing equipment by being housed in the positioning groove of the fiber holder jig. Even if the protrusion length is increased, bending or the like can be prevented. Therefore, the optical fiber can be accurately processed at the optical fiber processing position. Various configurations such as a V-groove, a U-groove, and a circular groove can be adopted as the positioning groove.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a fiber holder jig according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. In the present embodiment, an example of application to the optical fiber cutting machine 1 will be described as an optical fiber processing device. In the drawings, the same components as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals,
The description will be simplified.

In FIG. 1, a fiber holder jig 15 according to the present embodiment includes a main body 16 formed in a block shape from a material having sufficient rigidity, such as metal or resin, and two opposing sides of the main body 16. Elastic members 17, 17 fixed to the holder housing groove 4.
Are held so as to be able to be taken out at a target position in the holder housing groove 4 (near the holder abutting wall 14) so as to abut on both side walls 4a, 4a. Here, the fiber holder jig 1
5 is an elastic body 1 made of an elastically deformable material such as rubber.
Since the fiber holders 7 and 17 are slightly elastically deformed and are dimensioned to be accommodated in the holder accommodating groove 4, the fiber holder jig 15 accommodated in the holder accommodating groove 4 has the side walls 4a and 4a.
a, and is stably accommodated without any displacement.

The center of the upper surface 16a of the main body 16 has a V
A positioning groove 18 as a groove is formed. The positioning groove 18 has a contact surface 19 that is in contact with the holder contact wall 14.
And a contact surface 20 (see FIG. 2) formed on the opposite side to the contact surface 19. As shown in FIG. 1, a jig 1 for a fiber holder is
When the holder 5 is housed, the positioning groove 18 extends in the direction corresponding to the direction in which the fiber holder 5 housed in the holder housing groove 4 moves forward and backward with respect to the cutter 3.

When cutting the optical fiber 11 using the fiber holder jig 15, the contact surface 19 of the fiber holder jig 15 housed in the holder housing groove 4 is changed to the holder abutting wall 14.
The fiber holder 5 housed in the holder housing groove 4 is moved in the direction of the cutter 3 to abut the abutting surface 20 of the main body 16 of the fiber holder jig 15. Accordingly, the fiber holder 5 is positioned away from the holder contact wall 14 by the effective dimension L (dimension between the contact surfaces 19 and 20) of the main body 16. In the fiber holder 5,
Since the optical fiber 11 is clamped and supported, and the optical fiber 11 has a sufficient protruding length from the fiber holder 5, the fiber holder 5 moved in the holder storage groove 4 is attached to the fiber holder jig. When the optical fiber 1 is brought into contact with the optical fiber 1
1 is stored so as to penetrate into the positioning groove 18 of the fiber holder jig 15, and reaches the optical fiber processing position by the cutter 3. The main body 16 is preferably formed of a material having high corrosion resistance such as stainless steel, thereby preventing an error in the effective dimension L due to rust or the like.

The optical fiber 11 can be cut by driving the pressing plate 7 and pressing the optical fiber 11 against the cutter 3 that is being driven to rotate. The projected size of the cut optical fiber 11 from the fiber holder 5 is longer by the effective dimension L of the main body 16 than when the cut is performed without using the fiber holder jig 15. Therefore, when a jig for a fiber holder having a main body part having a different effective dimension L is employed, the protruding length of the optical fiber 11 from the fiber holder 5 can be adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the optical fiber 11 is cut, the optical fiber 11 is positioned by being housed in the positioning groove 18, so that even if the optical fiber 11 comes into contact with the cutter 3, a positional shift may occur. And bends between the cutter 3 and the fiber holder 5 are also prevented.
Can be cut accurately. Further, even when a jig for a fiber holder having a large effective dimension of the main body is applied to increase the protruding length of the optical fiber 11 from the fiber holder 5, the separation distance from the cutter 3 to the fiber holder 5 increases. Accompanying this, the optical fiber 11 extending from the cutter 3 to the fiber holder 5 also becomes longer. However, by storing the optical fiber 11 in the positioning groove 18, displacement and bending are prevented. Therefore, the intended cutting can be performed, the intended cut surface can be stably obtained, and the processing accuracy is improved. Therefore, even when the protruding length of the optical fiber 11 from the fiber holder 5 is lengthened, accurate cutting can be performed, and the desired protruding length can be accurately obtained in the optical fiber 11, and the target cut surface is stable. Is obtained.

The positioning groove 18 is formed on the upper surface 16 of the main body.
Since the taper shape gradually narrows as going downward from “a”, and the opening amount of the main body upper surface 16a is increased, the insertion of the optical fiber 11 into the positioning groove 18 is easy. Further, the optical fiber 11 supported by the fiber holder 5 in a protruding state can be inserted from a portion of the positioning groove 18 opened to the contact surface 20.

When the cutting of the optical fiber 11 is completed by the optical fiber cutting machine 1, the fiber holder 5 is placed in the optical fiber 1
While supporting 1, the optical fiber 11 is sequentially transferred to an optical fiber processing device such as a coating remover and a polishing machine (not shown), and the tip of the optical fiber 11 is subjected to a purpose processing such as coating removal and polishing. In each optical fiber processing equipment such as a coating remover and a polishing machine, the optical fiber 11 supported by the fiber holder 5 is stored in the holder storage groove provided in each optical fiber processing equipment. Is positioned at the optical fiber processing position. Here, similarly to the optical fiber cutting machine 1, for each optical fiber processing device such as a coating remover and a polishing machine, the use / non-use of the fiber holder jig is selected, and the fiber holder applied to the holder storage groove is used. The processing position of the optical fiber 11 can be easily adjusted by selecting the jig for use (selecting the effective size of the main body).

After the ends of the optical fiber 11 are processed so as to be butt-connected, for example, as an optical fiber processing device, the fiber holder 5 is transferred to a holder accommodating groove of an optical connector mounting tool for supporting the optical connector.
Is moved toward the optical connector supported by the connector support base, so that the optical fiber 11 is connected to the optical connector (specifically, a ferrule or an optical fiber previously inserted in the ferrule and the optical fiber 11). Mechanism).
In this case, too, by selecting whether to use the fiber holder jig or not, and by selecting the fiber holder jig to be applied to the holder storage groove (selecting the effective dimensions of the main body),
The length of insertion of the optical fiber 11 into the optical connector can be easily adjusted.

As described above, when the use or non-use of the fiber holder jig 15 is selected, or when the fiber holder jig having the main body of the target size is selected and used, the optical fiber supported by the fiber holder 5 can be used. The processing position by the optical fiber processing device of No. 11 can be easily adjusted. This effect is not limited to the optical fiber cutting machine 1 and the optical connector mounting tool, but can be similarly obtained for various optical fiber processing devices that perform coating removal, polishing, and the like. In the cutting step, in each processing step such as polishing after the cutting, it is also possible to transfer the fiber holder jig together with the fiber holder 5 between optical fiber processing devices. If the storage position of the fiber holder jig is constant with respect to the processing position of the optical fiber processing equipment, the optical fiber 11 can be easily moved by moving the fiber holder 5 and the fiber holder jig together. Can be positioned. Moreover, the optical fiber processing equipment in each processing step does not need to be provided with a separate function for adjusting the position of the fiber holder 5 and the like. It can be handled at a small cost.

The jig for a fiber holder according to the present invention comprises:
The configuration is not limited to the configuration described in the embodiment, for example, a structure in which the main body is fixed by being embedded in the elastic body,
Various configurations can be adopted, such as a structure in which elastic parts of separate parts are fixed to both sides of the main body so as to face each other. Needless to say, this fiber holder jig can also be applied to various types of optical fiber processing equipment other than the optical fiber cutting machine 1 and the optical connector mounting tool. The fiber holder is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various configurations such as a configuration in which the optical fiber is fixed by a method other than the clamp can be adopted.

[0022]

As described above, according to the fiber holder jig of the present invention, the fiber holder is housed together with the fiber holder in the holder housing groove of the optical fiber processing apparatus, and the space between the holder contact wall and the fiber holder is provided. By simply selecting the dimensions of the main body, the processing position of the optical fiber supported by the fiber holder in a protruding state by the optical fiber processing device can be easily adjusted. In addition, this jig for a fiber holder has a simple configuration,
Since the cost can be reduced, the processing position of the optical fiber can be easily adjusted with a small cost. Furthermore, since the optical fiber supported in the protruding state by the fiber holder is housed in the positioning groove and positioned, misalignment or bending during processing by the optical fiber processing equipment can be prevented, and optical fiber processing by the optical fiber processing equipment Accuracy can be improved. Accordingly, even when the length of the optical fiber protruding from the fiber holder is long, the optical fiber can be accurately processed, and an excellent effect that the protruding length of the optical fiber can be increased is achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of a fiber holder jig of the present invention, and is a perspective view showing an example of application to an optical fiber cutting machine as an optical fiber processing device.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a storage state of the fiber holder jig of FIG. 1 in a holder storage groove of the optical fiber cutting machine.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a conventional example of a fiber holder jig, showing an example of application to an optical fiber cutting machine.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a storage state of the fiber holder jig of FIG. 3 in a holder storage groove of the optical fiber cutting machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical fiber processing equipment (optical fiber cutting machine), 4 ... Holder storage groove, 5 ... Fiber holder, 11 ... Optical fiber (optical fiber core wire), 14 ... Holder contact wall, 15 ... Fiber holder jig, 16: body part, 16a: upper surface, 17
... elastic body part, 18 ... positioning groove.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber (11) is provided on a top surface (16a) of a main body having a rigid main body (16) and elastic members (17) fixed on both sides of the main body. A positioning groove (18) for positioning the optical fiber is formed. The optical fiber is supported in a holder storage groove (4) provided in an optical fiber processing device (1) for performing processing such as cutting on the optical fiber. A holder abutting wall (5) that is housed so as to be taken out together with the fiber holder (5) and abuts against the fiber holder in the holder housing groove to restrict movement of the optical fiber processing apparatus in the direction of the optical fiber processing position. 14)
By being interposed between the fiber holder and the fiber holder, the main body ensures a separation distance between the holder contact wall and the fiber holder, and the elastic body fits in the holder storage groove. The fiber is stably stored in the holder storage groove by being combined, and furthermore, the optical fiber supported in a protruding state by the fiber holder is stored and positioned in the positioning groove. Jig for holder (15).