JPS59189302A - Parts for arraying optical fibers - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To form an optical fiber bundle in which six pieces of optical fibers are in tight contact with each other around one optical fiber with good accuracy by bringing ten pieces of optical fibers into tight contact with each other in a regular triangular shape by means of an arraying jig thereby constituting the optical fiber bundle. CONSTITUTION:An arraying jig 9 is worked into a regular triangular shape and ten pieces of optical fibers 6, 7, 8 are inserted into said part and are retained by a fixing plate 10. The ten fibers 6, 7, 8 are consequently arranged into the regular triangular shape along the jig 9. There are the six fibers 7 for input connecting to the central fiber 6 for output, among the ten fibers 6, 7, 8, and the dummy fibers 8 position respectively at the vertexes of the triangular shape. If the fibers 6, 7 except the fibers 8 are used, the fibers 6, 7 are adhered and fixed in tight contact with each other and therefore the optical fiber bundle is adequately used as a 1X6 optical switch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to an optical fiber alignment component used in optical communication components such as optical switches.

Conventional configurations and their problems In recent years, with the practical use of optical communications, optical switches have been used for time division multiplex communications and the like, and 1×6 multi-branch switches in particular have many uses. An optical fiber bundle is required to construct this 1×6 optical switch.

The optical fiber bundle and 1×6 optical switch as described above will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 on page 2 shows the cross-sectional configuration of a conventional 1x6 switch;
The figure shows a cross-sectional view of an optical fiber bundle. In Figure 1, 1
2 is a utility optical fiber, 2 is an input optical fiber, 3 is a rod lens, 4 is a reflecting mirror, and 5 is a rotating shaft. The optical fibers 1 and 2 are then bundled as shown in FIG. 2, and the optical fiber bundle is glued to a rod lens 3. The light emitted from the optical fiber 1 is converted into parallel light by the rod lens 3 and then reflected by the reflecting mirror 4. Since this reflecting mirror 4 is tilted, the reflected light is passed through the rod lens 3 to the optical fiber 2.
is incident on the Further, the reflecting mirror 4 is fixed to the rotating shaft 5 of the motor.

The operation of the optical switch and optical fiber bundle configured as described above will be explained below.

First, the light emitted from the optical fiber 1 is converted into parallel light by the rod lens 3, then reflected by the reflective mirror 4 fixed to the rotating shaft 5 with an inclination, and passes through the rod lens 3 again to the optical fiber 2. incident.

Therefore, since the reflecting mirror 4 rotates together with the rotating shaft 5, the light output from the optical fiber 1 is coupled to any one of the optical fibers 3, -0-82. Now, if you try to bundle several optical fibers of the same diameter around one optical fiber,
There are six optical fibers surrounding and in contact with one central optical fiber, and their shape is as shown in FIG. Therefore, in order for the light output from the optical fiber 1 to be coupled to all of the optical fibers 2 in the same way, the outer periphery of the optical fiber 2 needs to be in contact with the outer periphery of the optical fiber 1. Therefore,
The original fibers 1 and 2 are bundled with a thread so that seven fibers are lined up as shown in FIG.

However, the structure of the optical fiber bundle in which the optical fibers are bundled with a thread as described above has the drawback that the six surrounding optical fibers 2 are not necessarily in contact with the central optical fiber 1. .

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks, and provides an optical fiber aligning component for forming an optical fiber bundle for an optical switch.

Structure of the Invention In order to achieve this object, the optical fiber of the present invention
9-189302 (2) The alignment component is composed of 10 optical fibers and an alignment jig that bundles them into an equilateral triangle. This configuration allows the alignment of six optical fibers to be centered on one optical fiber. This means that it can be brought into close contact with the outer periphery.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings, taking a 1×6 switch as an example.

FIG. 3 shows an optical fiber alignment component in one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional view thereof. Third
4, 6 is an output optical fiber, 7 is an input optical fiber in contact with the outer periphery of the optical fiber 6, 8 is a dummy optical fiber, 9 is an alignment jig, 1o is a fixing plate, and 11 is a rod lens. It is. And 10 optical fibers 6.7
.

The operation of the optical fiber alignment component configured as described above will be described below.

51"-'" First, the alignment jig 9 is processed into an equilateral triangle, and 10 optical fibers 6.7, 8'i are inserted into this part, and the fixing plate 1 is inserted.
Press o. Therefore, 10 optical fibers 6.7
, 8 are arranged in an equilateral triangle along the alignment jig 9. Here, 1
Among the zero optical fibers 6.7°8, there are six input optical fibers 7 that are in contact with the central output optical fiber 6, and the dummy optical fibers 8 are located at the vertices of the triangle.

Therefore, when the optical fibers 6.7 are used without the optical fiber 8, the optical fibers 6.7 are tightly bonded and fixed, making it suitable as an optical fiber bundle for a 1.times.6 optical switch.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by using 10 optical fibers and an alignment jig that bundles them into a square shape, 6
It is possible to form an optical fiber bundle in which the optical fibers are closely connected around one optical fiber.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the optical fiber aligning component of the present invention is capable of aligning six optical fibers around one optical fiber by providing an aligning tool for bundling them into an equilateral triangle when forming an optical fiber bundle. An optical fiber bundle in which optical fibers are closely attached can be formed with high precision, which has great practical effects.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional optical fiber alignment component, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the optical fiber bundle shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an optical fiber alignment component in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the optical fiber alignment component in FIG. 3. 6... Output optical fiber, 7... Input optical fiber, 8... Dummy optical fiber, 9
・・・・・・Alignment jig. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person No. 1
Figure 3 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] an alignment jig for bundling ten optical fibers and one optical fiber into an equilateral triangle; characterized in that the light distribution fibers form an optical fiber bundle closely aligned in an equilateral triangle by the alignment jig; Parts for aligning optical fibers.