JPS6214607A - Automatic splicing device for optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To bundle optical fibers at a high speed by providing a movable arm and a clamper which catches a sleeve mounted previously on the clad of an optical fiber to be connected near its slicing part and passes and receives the optical fiber to be sliced. CONSTITUTION:An optical fiber core 4 which has a sleeve 5 mounted and is set in a supply device 6 is clamped by clampers 8 of a couple of movable arms 7 and conveyed through the rotation of the movable arms 7 to the position where it faces the clamper 14 of a clad removing device 10. The movable arms 7 stay there until the processing of the clad removing device 10 is completed, and receive and conveys the sleeve 5 after the processing to the position where the sleeve 5 faces the clamper 14 of a cutter 11. Then, the sleeve 5 is passed from the clad removing device 10 to the cutter 11 by a similar procedure. Thus, the optical fiber core 4 is conveyed to a welding device is and a reinforcing device 13 and passed and received between the respective devices and movable arms 5 through the sleeve 5.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention is an optical fiber automatic system that consistently and automatically performs end face formation, permanent splicing, and reinforcing operations of optical fiber core wires in the interconnection of optical fiber cables. This relates to connection devices.

(Prior art) Conventionally, the fusion splicing and reinforcing work of optical fiber core wires in J5 for interconnection of optical fiber cables for communication, etc., has been carried out in the case of the three-layer structure core wire shown in Fig. 5, which is currently being used extensively. The process is as shown in FIG. 6, and everything is done manually except for the automated fusion splicing process. The three-layer structure core wire has a secondary coating 1 and a primary coating 2 as a loose WJ layer.
and an optical fiber cable 3.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Condition of the cut surface when cutting the optical fiber (cutting angle).

The level of surface scratches caused when removing the primary coating 2 (irregularities, etc.) affects the loss and tensile strength after connection, and whether a low-loss, high-strength connection can be made depends largely on these operations. ing. However, although these operations traditionally use specialized tools, the important control of the blade pressure of the cutting blade, the cutting force, and the removal force of the primary coating 2 relies on the experience and intuition of each individual. However, the connection loss and strength vary depending on the operator, and it is not possible to always maintain good connection conditions.

In addition, since the loading and unloading of optical fibers into and out of each device used in each process of splicing work is carried out by the operator directly holding the optical fiber core wire by hand, it is especially necessary to use bare fiber cutters and fusion wires. When inserting the reinforcing device or removing it from the fusion splicer, the fiber end face may be nicked or the fused portion may be buckled or bent, causing damage. In this case, the process has to be restarted from the first step shown in FIG. 6, which reduces efficiency.

As described above, since most of the conventional optical fiber connection work is done manually, connection cannot always be achieved under good conditions, and the time required for connection work also varies depending on the skill level of the operator and the frequency of connection errors. For this reason, automatic optical fiber connection devices have recently been studied in order to improve connection quality and speed up connections.

On the other hand, an automatic optical fiber splicing device basically includes a plurality of dedicated processing devices that process the steps shown in FIG. 6, and transfers connecting fibers to these devices.

It is necessary to transfer the fiber core between these devices.

However, the optical fiber core has a small diameter of 1.0 m and is highly flexible, as well as having a tendency to bend. It is actually difficult to load quickly without losing 1.

Further, it is preferable that the gripping positions of the fibers in the longitudinal direction between the respective dedicated processing apparatuses are always the same, which makes it possible to fix the position of the processing tool and simplify the apparatus configuration. However, in the method of directly gripping and receiving the core wire, it is difficult to accurately adjust the gripping position due to bending, slack, etc. of the fiber.

In this way, 7. Yo1
．． :. □□, 6□16□, 7 eye 7,. The problem is how to accurately and safely transfer fibers between one transfer device.

The present invention realizes an automatic optical fiber connection device equipped with a mechanism for safely and accurately transmitting and receiving optical fibers,
It also aims at high-speed handling of optical fibers.

[Means for solving problems]

The automatic optical fiber splicing device of the present invention has dedicated processing equipment for end face shaping, permanent connection, and connection reinforcement of optical fibers to be spliced, and the optical fibers to be spliced are transferred between these dedicated processing equipments. , an optical fiber automatic splicing device that automatically connects optical fibers to be connected, a movable arm that moves between the optical fiber transfer parts of each of the dedicated processing devices, and an optical fiber transfer device between the movable arm and each of the dedicated processing devices; Each of the parts is equipped with a gripping tool for grasping a sleeve 5Q mounted in advance on the outer cover near the connecting part of the optical fiber to be connected, and for transferring and receiving the optical fiber to be connected. It is said that

[Effect]

The automatic optical fiber splicing device according to the present invention attaches a sleeve from above the jacket in advance near the joint of optical fibers to be connected to each other, and transfers and receives the optical fibers by gripping the sleeve. Connect automatically.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

FIG. 1 and FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) represent configuration examples of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 4 denotes an optical fiber, and a sleeve 5 is previously mounted on the outer sheath near the connecting portion. This sleeve 5 is made of magnetic material. Its specific configuration will be described later. The optical fiber cores 4 to which the sleeves 5 are attached are housed in the fiber supply device 6, and the pairs to be connected to each other face each other. The fiber supply device 6 sequentially supplies the optical fiber cores 4 to a gripper 8 at the tip of a movable arm 7 located above the fiber supply device 6 . The gripper 8 of the movable arm 7 is configured to capture the sleeve 5 of the optical fiber core 4 by magnetic force, and the movable arm 7 itself is rotated by a drive motor 9 in the direction of the arrow in the figure. It has become.

A covering removal device 10 (for example, 5
IEICE, National Conference + IQ2215), Cutting device 11 (e.g. 2231), Fusing device 12 (e.g. Patent application 1983-2.08335.6O-26589)
, and a reinforcing device 13 are provided. The coating removal device 10 automatically removes the coating from the connecting portion of the optical fiber coated wire 4, and the sleeve 5 of the optical fiber coated wire 4 is removed by a magnetic knife at the optical fiber transfer section of the device 10. A grasping tool 14 is provided. The cutter 11 automatically cuts the connection part of the optical fiber core 4, and a coating removal device 10 is installed at the fiber transfer part.
A gripper 14 similar to that in is provided. The fusion splicing device 12 automatically fusion splices the connecting portions of a pair of optical fiber cores 4 facing each other, and the optical fiber transfer portion is also provided with a grip similar to that in the coating removal device 10. A tool 14 is provided.

The reinforcing device 13 is constructed by attaching a pair of reinforcing devices 15a and 15b from above and below to the connecting portion of the optical fiber cores 4 that are connected to each other by the fusion ft device 12 in the previous stage, and bonding them under heat and pressure. The reinforcing parts 15a and 15b automatically reinforce the connection part.The reinforcing belts 15a and 15b move on a pair of upper and lower rotating belts 16a and 16b that rotate in opposite directions, and rotate by 8 degrees. Belts 16a, 16
In the inner part of b, there is a heat compression bonding part 17 that fixes the reinforcement m15a, 15b. Rotating belts 18 are provided on the left and right sides of the lower rotating bell l-16b, respectively. This rotating belt 18 is rotated by a drive roller 19 in the same direction as the lower rotating belt 16b.

Each of the left and right rotating belts 18 is provided with a gripping tool 1 similar to that in the coating removal device 10 described above.
4 are provided. The gripping tool 14 is a rotating belt 16a.
, 16b and are provided at equal intervals with the reinforcing devices 15a, 15b.

Next, the operation will be explained.

The optical fiber core 4, which is inserted into the supply device 6 with the sleeve 5 attached by the operator, is gripped by the grippers 8 of a pair of movable arms 7 waiting at the outlet of the supply device 6, and then the movable arms 7, it is transferred to a position facing the gripping tool 14 of the coating removal device 10. Then, the movable arm 7 stops once and hands the sleeve 5 to the gripper 14 of the coating removal device 10. The movable arm 7 waits as it is until the processing in the coating removal device 10 is completed, and after that processing, it receives the sleeve 5 and transfers it to the next cutter 1.
1 to a position facing the first gripping tool 14. Then, the sleeve 5 is transferred to and from the cutting device 11 using the same procedure for the coating device 10. In this way, the fusing device 12. The optical fibers 4 are sequentially transferred to the reinforcing devices 13, and the optical fibers 4 are transferred between each device and the movable arm 7 via the sleeves 5. After the movable arm 7 hands over the sleeve 5 to the reinforcing device 13, it returns to the supply device 6 again, grips the sleeve 5, and starts the next process.

The reinforcing device receives and takes the sleeve 5 from the movable arm 7, and at the same time, it sandwiches the connecting portion between the optical fiber cores 4 between the reinforcing devices 15a and 15b. Then, each rotating belt 16a, 16b, 18 travels a predetermined distance and stops until the next gripper PA14 picks up a new sleeve 5. In this way, the rotating belts 16a, 16b, and 18 repeatedly run and stop in synchronization with the rotation period of the movable arm 7. During this time, the reinforcing devices 15a and 15b are completely fixed by the heating pressing section 17, and the optical fiber core 4
It is also discharged to the outside. In this way, reinforcement is completed.

Next, a specific example of the structure of the sleeve 5 will be explained.

As for the structure of the sleeve 5, there are two types: a disposable type, which is worn as is after the optical fiber connection and is useful for fixing the connection part during storage, and a retrieval type, which is recovered after the connection.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show different disposable configuration examples, in which the optical fiber core 4 is held down by a holding part 5a, and
The holding part 5a is fixed by a fixing pin 5C. In the case of FIG. 3, the state in which the presser part 5a is fixed is represented by a chain line in FIG. 3(b). In these cases, the sleeve 5 itself can be attached by setting the optical fiber core 4 in the V-groove 5b and pushing the holding part 5a in. Also, by using plastic etc. as the material, the sleeve 5 itself can be attached, and the weight can be reduced by using plastic etc. can be achieved.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of a retrieval type, which is attached to the optical fiber core 4 by a combination of a sleeve main body 5d having spring properties in the opening/closing direction and a fixing hook 5e. The surface 5f gripped by the movable arm 7 and each processing device is separated by a distance t1t with the dividing surface as a boundary. Sleeve 5 after reinforcement
When removing it, apply force from the outside to the tip 5g of the fixing hook 5e to open the fixing hook 5e and divide it.

By the way, the predetermined length of the sleeve 5 and the fiber holding force depend on the degree of curl (mainly bending curl) remaining in the fiber, but the length should be approximately 20 to 30M and the holding force should be about 1K9. For example, the positional deviation of the fiber tip at about 5 mts from the sleeve 5 is within ±100 μm or less, and there is no problem when loading each processing device or at W6.

In this way, with this device J5, the operator only needs to attach the sleeve 5 to the optical fiber core 4 to be connected and insert it into the supply device 6, and all subsequent operations are automatically processed. Also,
In this device, the optical fiber coated wire 4, which is small in diameter, fragile, and highly flexible, is transferred and loaded into each processing device by grasping the sleeve 5 attached to the optical fiber coated wire 4.
The delivery and reception of the nine-fiber core wire 4 becomes safe and reliable.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the automatic optical fiber splicing device of the present invention allows an operator to connect an optical fiber by gripping a pre-installed sleeve without directly gripping the tip of the optical fiber, which is small in diameter, fragile, and highly flexible. Line transfer.

Since the device loads the optical fiber, it is possible to transport and load it safely and securely without causing any damage to the optical fiber.
1. You can actually do it. Moreover, does it include the gripping tool? The fiber transfer/receiving structure can be simplified, making it suitable for high-speed handling of optical fibers.

Furthermore, the handling of optical fibers with sleeves attached can be directly applied to automatic assembly of optical components (connectors, LD modules, etc.) using optical fibers, and has a wide range of applications.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 4 represent embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2<a) is a side view of a first configuration example of the sleeve. Figure (b) is a sectional view taken along line A-A' in Figure (a), Figure 3 (a) is a side view of the second configuration example of the sleeve, Figure (b) is A-A' in Figure (a). -A' line sectional view, Figure 4 (a) is a side view of the third configuration example of the sleeve, Figure 4 (b) is a Δ-A' line sectional view of Figure 4 (a),
c) is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-8' in figure (a), figure (d) is a side view of the sleeve in the open state, and figure (e) is the same figure (C) in the closed state of the sleeve. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of an optical fiber core, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the work process when the six optical fibers shown in FIG. 5 are connected manually. 4...Optical fiber core wire, 5...Sleeve, 7...Movable arm, 8...Gripper, 10...Coating removal Device, 11... Cutting device, 12... Fusion device, 13... Reinforcement device, 14... Gripping tool.

Claims (1)

[Claims] We have dedicated processing equipment for end face shaping, permanent connection, and joint reinforcement of optical fibers to be connected, and we transfer optical fibers between these dedicated processing equipment to automatically connect optical fibers to be connected. The automatic optical fiber connecting device includes a movable arm that moves between the optical fiber transfer sections of each of the dedicated processing devices, and a movable arm that moves between the optical fiber transfer sections of each of the dedicated processing devices, and an optical fiber connection device that is provided in each of the movable arm and the optical fiber transfer section of each of the dedicated processing devices to be connected. 1. An automatic optical fiber splicing device comprising: a gripping tool for gripping a sleeve mounted in advance on a jacket near a splicing portion of an optical fiber and transferring an optical fiber to be spliced.