JPS61124905A - Fusion reinforcing member - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent an optical fiber and an adhesive from protruding from a reinforcing member in reinforcement by fusion and to attain size reduction and improve the operability in the reinforcement by forming a groove for storing a tape core in at least one member, storing the optical fiber in the groove, and reinforcing it by fusion. CONSTITUTION:The fusion connection part of the optical fiber is stored in the groove 7 while placed on the adhesive 9, an upper member 3 and a lower member 5 are stacked one over the other, and then the reinforcing member 1 is heated so that adhesives 9 and 11 fuse; and the fused adhesive 13 is filled in optical fibers 15 to reinforce the connection part. At this time, the optical fibers 15 and adhesive 13 are stored in the groove 7, so they never protrudes breadthwise. The bottom part 7a of the groove 7 swells at the center part, so the adhesive 9 at this swelling part and the adhesive 11 which contacts it begin to fuse and adhere firstly during the heating and then fuse and adhere gradually toward both end parts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a fusion reinforcing member for reinforcing a fusion spliced portion of an optical fiber, particularly a tape core coated with a plurality of optical fibers.

[Prior art] In general, the connection of tape cores in which multiple optical fibers are collectively coated is performed by multi-fiber batch fusion, which connects multiple optical fibers at the same time, from the viewpoints of low loss, high reliability, and workability. The subjunctive method is used.

This connection method is performed as follows. That is, the sixth
The figure is a cross-sectional view of a tape fiber 107 in which a plurality of optical fibers 103 (here, five) coated with a primary coating 101 are collectively coated with a secondary coating 105.
After removing the primary coating 101 of No. 07 using a tape core sheath remover, a plurality of optical fibers are cut at once into a predetermined length using a multi-fiber finger cutter. The plurality of optical fibers 103 cut at once in this manner are fusion spliced at once using a multi-fiber batch fusion splicing device equipped with a mechanism for electrical discharge heating at a uniform temperature. It should be noted that since the end faces of each of the optical fibers 103 that are cut at once are usually uneven by several micrometers, this multi-fiber batch fusion splicing apparatus lacks a mechanism for correcting this unevenness.

Connected like this! The strength of the fusion spliced part of an optical fiber is significantly lower than that of other parts of the optical fiber, so it is necessary to reinforce the spliced part.

Therefore, a reinforcing member as shown in FIG. 7 is used. That is, this is a hot-melt adhesive 109 on opposite surfaces.
Two members (ceramic glass plates) 111 coated with
The fusion spliced portion of the optical fiber 103 is sandwiched between the members 113, and each member 111.
Heat 113. By this heating, the hot melt adhesive 109
The adhesive 109 is melted, and the areas between the joints of the optical fibers 103 are filled with the melted adhesive 109, thereby reinforcing the joints.

However, when the adhesive 109 is filled between the optical fiber connection parts, the filling pressure causes the optical fiber 103 to
indicates an expansion in the width direction of the tape fiber 107, and this expansion width is about 1.5 times that of the tape fiber 107, so the two members 111° and 113 include the expansion width of the optical fiber 103. Since it has to be large and wide, it is an obstacle to miniaturizing the connection part.
In particular, if the tape fiber 107 is reinforced without being placed in the center of the two members 111 and 113 in the width direction (direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction), the optical fiber 103 will spread as shown in FIG. There is a risk that a part of the reinforcing material may protrude from the reinforcing member, and if it protrudes, the reliability of the connection will be significantly reduced, and the fusion splicing will need to be repeated again, which may reduce work efficiency. Become.

[Object of the Invention] This invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and provides a fusion reinforcing member for reinforcing a fusion spliced portion of an optical fiber, which is miniaturized and improves workability during reinforcement. The purpose is to provide a fusion reinforcing member.

[Structure of the Invention] In order to achieve this object, the present invention sandwiches a fusion spliced part of a tape core wire, which covers a plurality of optical fibers at once, between two members, and then heats and pressurizes the two parts. In the fusion reinforcing member for reinforcing the two members by melting hot-melt adhesive provided on each member, at least one of the members is provided with a groove for accommodating the fusion spliced portion of the tape core wire.

[Embodiment 1] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a front view of the fusion reinforcing member 1, and FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1. That is, 2 constituting the fusion reinforcing member 1
Of the two members, the upper part @3 in the figure has a flat plate shape,
The lower member 5 has a groove 7 in the longitudinal direction so as to have a concave cross section.
is formed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom surface 7a of the groove 7 has a raised central portion, and is sloped from the central portion toward both ends. These two members 3.5 are made of ceramic glass, and as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the lengths in both the width direction and the length direction are approximately the same. A hot melt adhesive (hereinafter referred to as adhesive) 9 is provided in the groove 7 of the lower member 5 along the slope of the bottom surface 7a, and a hot melt adhesive (hereinafter referred to as adhesive) 9 is provided in the groove 7 of the upper member 3. A hot melt adhesive (hereinafter referred to as adhesive) 11 is also provided.

Then, the fusion spliced portion of the optical fiber explained in the conventional example is placed on the adhesive 9 and stored in the groove 7, and after overlapping the upper member 3 and the lower member 5, the adhesive is bonded. Agent 9,1
The reinforcing member 1 is heated with a heat source such that the reinforcing member 1 is melted. This heating melts the adhesive 9.degree. 11, and as shown in FIG. 3, the molten adhesive 13 is filled between the optical fibers 15, thereby reinforcing the connection portion. At this time, optical fiber 1
5 and the adhesive 13 are stored in the groove 7, so that they do not protrude in the width direction (left and right direction in FIG. 3).

In addition, since the bottom part 7a of the groove 7 has a raised central part, when heated, the adhesive 9 in this raised part and the adhesive 11 in contact with it start melting and adhering first, and the two ends of each contacting part are bonded together. The adhesives 9 and 11 melt and adhere to each other toward the sides. Therefore, during melt bonding, the air layer between the adhesives 9 and 11 is removed to both left and right ends in Figure 2, so air bubbles do not enter the reinforcing part and reduce the reliability of the reinforcing part. do not have.

4 and 5 show other embodiments.

In this embodiment, the same components as in the previous embodiment are given the same reference numerals to simplify the explanation. That is, in this embodiment, the length of the upper member 3 in the left-right direction in FIG. This is so that you can get into it. Further, the bulge at the center in the longitudinal direction is provided on the upper member 3 side, and the bottom 7a of the groove 7 of the lower member 5 is flat. Other configurations and operations are similar to those of the previous embodiment.

Note that this invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. For example, the bulge in the central portion in the longitudinal direction may be provided on at least one of the upper and lower members 3.5. Further, each member 3.5 is not necessarily made of ceramic glass, and a member having a coefficient of linear expansion comparable to that of the optical fiber 15 may be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, in the fusion reinforcing member for reinforcing the fusion spliced portion of a tape core cable in which a plurality of optical fibers are collectively coated, by pressing and heating the two members. , a groove is provided in at least one of the members to accommodate the tape core wire, and the optical fiber is housed in this groove for fusion reinforcement, so that the optical fiber and I
It is possible to prevent the I@ agent from protruding from the reinforcing member, and since there is no fear of this protruding, the reinforcing member can be made smaller in the width direction. As a result, it is possible to improve workability and reliability.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 3 relate to one embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is a front view of the fusion reinforcing member, FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1, and FIG.
The figure is a sectional view of the fusion reinforcing member after fusion reinforcing the optical fiber, FIG. 4 is a front view of the fusion reinforcing member of another embodiment, and FIG.
The figure is a side view of Figure 4, Figures 6 to 8 relate to the conventional example, Figure 6 is a cross-sectional view of the optical fiber, and Figure 7 is a perspective view showing the state in which the optical fiber is placed on the fusion reinforcing member. 8 are plan views showing a state in which a part of the optical fiber protrudes from the reinforcing member after fusion reinforcement. (Explanation of symbols representing main parts of drawings) 1...Fusion reinforcing member 3...Upper side member 5
...Lower side member 7...Groove 9.11...
Hot melt adhesive 15...Optical fiber 11th floor
121W13 Figure 4WJ Figure 5

Claims (1)

[Claims] The fusion spliced part of the tape core wire, which covers multiple optical fibers at once, is sandwiched between two members, and then heated while applying pressure to melt the hot-melt adhesive provided on each of these two members and reinforce it. A fusion reinforcing member, characterized in that at least one of the members is provided with a groove for accommodating a fusion spliced portion of the tape core wire.