JPS6015922B2 - Coated optical fiber stripping tool - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a tool for stripping a coated optical fiber, such as a reinforced coated optical fiber, in which a longitudinally spliced fiber material is interposed in a coating layer around the outer periphery of the optical fiber.

A general reinforced coated optical fiber has a cross-sectional structure illustrated in FIG. 1, and this coated optical fiber is manufactured as follows.

That is, on the outer periphery of the optical fiber 1 on which the primary coating layer 2 is formed, fiber materials 4, 4, 4, such as glass fiber or carbon fiber, impregnated with the thermosetting resin 3... . This results in excellent mechanical and temperature characteristics.

However, in the coated optical fiber described above, the mechanical properties of the coating layer 5 are too high, so that the stripping operation cannot be performed smoothly when connecting the optical fibers, and the optical fiber 1 may be accidentally broken or the stripping cutting tool may be used. This causes various problems such as premature wear and tear.

In view of these problems, the present invention provides a tool that allows the above-mentioned coating layer to be stripped easily and without failure.The specific structure of the tool will be explained below with reference to the illustrated embodiment.

In FIGS. 2 to 4, the base body 6 consists of a front side part 7 and a rear side part 8 which are adjacent to each other. The front side part 6 in the above has a drawing space 9 for the coated optical fiber therein, and furthermore, the front side part 7 has a tapered outer diameter from the rear end to the middle, and an outer diameter from the middle to the front end. It has a circular shape with a small diameter, and therefore, this front side part 7 has a structure in which a tapered part 7' and a small cylindrical part 7'' are integrated.The front end of this front side part 7, The intersection with the inner circumferential surface forming the above-mentioned pull-through space 9 serves as a knife edge 10.

On the other hand, the rear side section 8 has a plate shape that is thinner than the tapered section 7' of the front side section 7 described above, and its upper surface serves as a presentation surface 11 for the coated optical fiber.

Further, on the holding surface 11, guide surfaces 13a and 13b where the inner space 12 gradually becomes smaller toward the lead-through space 9 are provided.
is formed. In the case shown, the guide surface 13a,
13b is formed by the arcuate inner circumferential surfaces of raised parts 14a and 14b which are formed by raising a part of the clamping surface 11 into a trapezoidal fan shape, and the guide space 12 is formed between the opposing parts of both guide surfaces 13a and 13b.
It becomes.

Of course, the minimum width of the guide space 12 that is continuous with the rear end of the guide space 9 is that the guide space 9 has a circular cross section.
The outer diameter of the lead-through space 9 is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the coated optical fiber.

Note that when the coated optical fiber has a rectangular cross-section, the passage space 9 also has a rectangular cross-section.

A competitive pusher piece 15 is provided at a predetermined location on the base body 6 described above, and this pusher piece 15 has a fixed end 15' at one end, and a fixed end 15' at one end.
Ikebata is free plane 15^.

This pushing piece 15 has its fixed end 15' connected to the raised portion 14a.
, 14b and screw the same end 15' with the screw 16,
It is attached to the base 6 by gluing at 16,
In this state, the free end 15r of the pusher piece 15
It extends upward, and the relative distance between the free end 15r and the clamping surface 11 is also maintained. In addition, the following examples can be given regarding the materials of the base body 6 and the pusher piece 15, and other embodiments.

First, regarding the base body 6, it is preferable that the base body 6 is made of metal, FRP, ceramic, etc., which has appropriate hardness and mechanical strength. Other than that, it is preferable that only the cylindrical portion 7'' in the front side portion 7 has such mechanical strength.

For example, the base body 6 without the knotted portion 7'' is made of plastic, and a metal tube having a pull-through space 9 and also serving as the cylindrical portion 7r is inserted into the front side portion 7 of the base body 6 from the tapered portion 7'. It's okay.

On the other hand, in the above, the cylindrical portion 7'' itself may be omitted.

Further, the guide surfaces 13a and 13b forming the guide space 12 may have a linear tapered surface instead of an arc shape, and the inner periphery of the rear end of the lead-through space 9 may be expanded into a tapered shape to form the above-mentioned guide surface, It may be used as a guide space, and in such a case, a flexible pusher piece 15 is attached to the upper surface of the tapered portion 7'.

Regarding the push piece 15, it may be made of a single piece of metal with spring properties, or a single piece of flexible rubber or plastic. One of the bonding members 15a is made of a plate-shaped metal spring material, and the other bonding material 15b is made of rubber.
It is best to use a plastic sheet material.

Next, a coated optical fiber (see Fig. 1) is prepared using the tool of the present invention.
An example of peeling will be explained with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8, in which the coated optical fiber is designated by the symbol A.

In this stripping example, the end of the coated optical fiber A is first drawn through the space 9 along the direction of the arrow in the figure as shown in FIG. Guide surfaces 13a and 13b forming guide space 12
This is done by

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the end of the coated optical fiber A is bent in the direction of the arrow in the figure to crush the coating layer 5. As a result, cracks 17 are formed in the coating layer 5 in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber as shown in FIG. 7, and the coating layer 5 has at least two coating lobes 5', 5'... becomes.

Next, while the pusher piece 15 is undone in the direction of the arrow x in the figure, the pusher piece 15 and the clamping surface 11 of the rear side portion 8 prevent the coated optical fiber A from shifting, and then each coated tear strip 5',5'...
. . . is peeled off from the outer periphery of the optical fiber 1 while growing the crack 17, and further each coating tear strip 5', 5',
. . . is bent in the direction of the arrow y in FIG. The pieces 5' and 5' are cut.

Incidentally, in this cutting, the knife edge 10 hardly bites into the covering tear strips 5', 5', so the cutting can also be said to be a breakage due to bending.

Incidentally, during the above-mentioned peeling work, the operation shown in FIG. 5 and the operation shown in FIG. 6 can be performed by rearranging the front and back.

Further, the operation of generating a crack 17 at the end of the coated optical fiber can be easily performed by bending the end along the guide surface 13a or 13b.

As explained above, according to the stripping tool which is a feature of the present invention, operations such as setting the tool compatible with the coated optical fiber, destroying the coating layer, and removing it can all be performed with simple operations. Therefore, a predetermined peeling operation can be performed efficiently while avoiding operational errors such as optical fiber breakage.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a coated optical fiber, Fig. 2 is a plan view showing one embodiment of the tool of the present invention, Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the same tool, Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the same tool, and Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the same tool. 5 to 8 are explanatory diagrams showing examples of peeling using the same tool. 6... Base body, 7... Front side part, 7'... Narrow part, 7''... Cylindrical part, 8... Rear side part, 9... ... Suitable pulling space, 11... Holding surface, 12... Guide space, 13a, 13b...
... Guide surface, 15 ... Pressing piece, 15a, 15b
・・・・・・Passion village. Figure 'Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure a

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. The base body has a front side portion having an internal passage space for the coated optical fiber, and a rear side portion having a clamping surface for the coated optical fiber on the upper surface, which are adjacent to each other. A method for stripping a coated optical fiber, characterized in that the clamping surface is formed with a guide surface whose guide space gradually becomes smaller toward the drawing-through space, and the base body is provided with a pushing piece that faces the clamping surface. tool. 2. The coated optical fiber stripping tool according to claim 1, wherein the front side of the base body has a tapered outer shape from the rear end to the middle, and a small circular outer shape from the middle to the front end. . 3. The coated optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein the pressing piece is made of two laminated materials, one of which is made of a spring material and the other of which is made of a polymeric material. Peeling tool.