JPS63216012A - Production of optical tape type unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an adjustment-free die point by integrally coating an UV- curing resin on the assembly of optical fiber strands, and making the bus line for coating and curing stages until the resin is cured vertical. CONSTITUTION:An UV-curing resin coating device 1 and an UV irradiation furnace 2 are vertically arranged, a coating layer is applied to the optical fiber strand 3, and the bus line for coating and curing stages until the resin is cured is made vertical. Plural optical fiber strands 3 are paralleled in a plane by a concentration roller 4, and the obtained optical fiber strand assembly is integrally coated with an UV-curing resin to form an optical tape type unit 5. The center of the bus line, the point center, and the die center are arranged in a vertical line. When such an arrangement is firstly mechanically adjusted, the positional interrelation between the die and the point need not be adjusted irrespective of the feed tension and outer diameter of the optical fiber strand, and an adjustment-free die point is obtained.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a method for arranging a plurality of optical fibers in parallel in a plane,
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing an optical tape overflow unit by integrally applying a coating layer of an ultraviolet curable resin to the outer periphery.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of this type of optical tape unit.

Optical fiber strands 6 having protective layers are arranged in parallel in a plane to form an optical fiber assembly, and this optical fiber assembly is integrally coated with an ultraviolet curing resin coating 7 to form an optical tape unit 5.

A method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit having such a structure is described in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 19204/1983 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61/1989.
Several proposals have been made in JP-A No. 20011, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-20012, etc. All of these conventional manufacturing methods employ a pass line configuration with nine manufacturing steps in which an ultraviolet curable resin coating device and an ultraviolet irradiation furnace for curing the ultraviolet curable resin are arranged horizontally.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

The optical fiber strands that make up the optical tape type unit are designed to minimize residual strain after unitization, which affects the life of the optical fiber, and to reduce damage to the optical fiber strands during bus twining in the manufacturing process. 9th number, number 10f
It is necessary to supply it with I.

Conventional Optical Tape Alliance) (In the D manufacturing method, the coating equipment for UV curable resin and the UV irradiation furnace for curing the UV curable resin were placed horizontally, and the pass line of the manufacturing process was also horizontal. Since the optical fiber supplied at low tension runs in a catenary line in the pass line, it is difficult to adjust the uneven thickness of the UV-curable resin to be coated, and it is time consuming and requires a large amount of time to set the conditions. This is a major obstacle to manufacturing optical tape units at low cost using bare optical fibers.

In addition, variations in the supply tension of each supplied optical fiber strand cause differences in the catenary line shape drawn by each optical fiber strand when running in a catenary line, so that the optical fiber strands are not lined up in a plane but arranged. There is a problem of causing disturbance.

[Rounding method to solve problems]

In order to solve the conventional problems, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing this type of optical tape binding unit, in which an ultraviolet curable resin is coated on an aggregate of Hikari 71 IPA wires through a coating die point. An optical resin coating device and an ultraviolet irradiation furnace for curing the coated ultraviolet curable resin are arranged vertically, and the optical fiber is coated with an ultraviolet curable resin coating layer to form an optical tape unit. It is characterized in that the pass line of the coating and curing process of the ultraviolet curable resin until the layer is cured is configured vertically, and in particular, the coating and curing process in which the die point of the ultraviolet curable resin coating device is not adjusted. It is characterized by

[Effect]

In the present invention, by making the pass line vertical in the coating and curing process from integrally coating an aggregate of optical fiber strands with an ultraviolet curable resin to curing, the optical fiber strands can be made into several 100 pieces. Even when supplied with a very low tension, the optical fiber runs in the pass line without drawing a catenary line, and when adjusting the uneven thickness of the coating layer, the influence of catenary running can be removed and conditions can be set. It becomes easier.

By adopting a method of coating and curing the coating layer in the pass line in the perpendicular direction of the present invention, when the die and point of the ultraviolet curable resin coating device are placed in the pass line, the optical fiber Since there is no need to take into consideration the influence of a catenary line drawn while the strand is running, a configuration may be adopted in which the center of the pass line, the center of the point, and the center of the die are arranged on a vertical line. Once such an arrangement is mechanically adjusted, the dies can be easily adjusted regardless of the supply tension of the optical fiber, the weight of the optical fiber used in the optical tape unit, or the outer diameter of the optical fiber. There is no need to adjust the relative positional relationship of the points, and a non-adjustable die point can be easily realized.

In addition, normally, the tension supplied to multiple optical fibers varies due to various disturbances in the pass line and tension control is not perfect.
In the conventional manufacturing process using a horizontal pass line, the fluctuation in the tension of each optical fiber strand causes the difference in the catenary line drawn during running, and the optical fiber strand is flat in the optical tape manufacturing unit. However, by arranging the pass lines of the present invention vertically, even if the tension of each Hikari 71 IPA strand varies, it will not occur as a result of a disordered arrangement. High quality optical tape units can be manufactured. Examples will be described below based on the drawings.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the method for manufacturing an optical tape presentation unit of the present invention. 1 is an ultraviolet curable resin coating device, 2 is a ninth ultraviolet irradiation furnace for curing the coated ultraviolet curable resin, and the ultraviolet ray curable resin coating device 1 and the ultraviolet ray irradiation furnace 2 are arranged vertically to each other. The pass line of the coating/curing process from applying the coating layer to the optical fiber strand 3 to curing it is vertical. 4 is multiple optical fiber elements! ! 3 is a concentrating roller for arranging the optical fibers in parallel in a plane, and 5 is an optical tape type unit that integrally coats the optical fiber strand assembly arranged in parallel with an ultraviolet curable resin.

Next, an example of an optical tape unit manufactured using the manufacturing method of the present invention in which the pass line of the coating and curing process shown in FIG. 1 is vertical will be described.

The manufactured optical tape shop unit is made by applying a protective layer made of ultraviolet curable resin to a multimode optical fiber with a diameter of 125jImφ, and arranging five optical fiber strands with a diameter CL 3 mm'l in parallel in a plane. The ultraviolet curable resin was coated and cured in a configuration in which the pass line of the ultraviolet curable resin coating and curing process according to the present invention shown in FIG. 1 was vertical.

In the manufactured optical tape unit, the change in optical transmission loss due to unitization is *α05dE/ at the measurement wavelength t5s1+s.
Temperature characteristics range from -40°C to +80°C.
In the range of 0C, the fluctuation range at measurement wavelength t3μ is ±105
dB/9 m or less. This change in transmission loss has characteristics comparable to those of optical tape overflow units manufactured using the prior art.

On the other hand, when the cross section of the optical tape type unit manufactured according to the present invention was randomly observed at 10 points in the length direction, it was found that the alignment disorder of the optical fiber strands was 1t, la on average.
It was confirmed that the average temperature of the optical tape unit manufactured on the conventional horizontal pass line was suppressed to about 1/2 of the average temperature of 2 [L4J11m10]. The method for evaluating the arrangement disorder of the optical tape unit is to select the two furthest distances in the vertical direction in the vertical cross section of the optical tape unit 5 shown in Figure G3.
Evaluation was made based on the actual optical fiber strand spacing aK.

In addition, when an optical tape unit similar to the above was manufactured by introducing a non-adjustable die point in which the center of the die coincided with the center of the point into the manufacturing line with the configuration shown in FIG. 1 according to the present invention, it was found that Since thickness adjustment is no longer necessary, the amount of Hikari 71 IPA 1g line used for conditioning in the unitization process has been reduced to about 1/6 compared to the case of manufacturing with a conventional horizontal pass line. As a result, it was confirmed that with the manufacturing method of the present invention, an optical tape type unit can be manufactured at a lower cost than conventional methods, especially since it is possible to achieve temperature control at the die point without having to adjust the temperature.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating another embodiment of the method for manufacturing an optical tape play unit according to the present invention. The same reference numerals as in FIG. 1 indicate the same parts. This example is a manufacturing method in which the positional relationship between the ultraviolet curable resin coating device 1 and the ultraviolet ray irradiation furnace 2 is changed, and the pass line of the coating and curing process is set on a vertical line from bottom to top. An optical tape unit according to this example was manufactured under the same conditions as the example shown in Fig. 1, and changes in transmission loss and disordered arrangement of optical fibers were observed, and almost the same results were obtained. 9. Further no vrivim
When a similar optical tape source unit was manufactured by introducing the die point of It has been confirmed that this can be reduced to about 1/6 compared to the case where

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an optical tape folding unit, in which an ultraviolet curable resin coating device for unitizing the unit and an ultraviolet ray irradiation furnace for curing the coating are arranged vertically, and the coating layer is coated and By carrying out the curing process along the vertical pass line, the following effect can be obtained since the optical fiber element wire can be prevented from moving in a suspended line while traveling along the pass line.

l It is easy to adjust the thickness unevenness of the coating layer when rounding the unit. Since the dice points of the adjustment panel can be put to practical use, the amount of optical fiber strands needed to set the conditions required in the unitization process can be reduced, reducing the price of the optical tape shop unit.

(2) The arrangement of the optical fibers in the vertical section of the optical tape unit can be suppressed to a smaller extent than in the original tape unit manufactured by the conventional horizontal pass line manufacturing method, resulting in improved quality.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 and 2 are diagrams each explaining an embodiment of the method for manufacturing an optical tape unit of the present invention, Figure N3 is a diagram explaining a fli method for disarrangement of the optical tape unit, and Figure 4 is a diagram explaining an example of the method for manufacturing an optical tape unit of the present invention. It is a sectional view of a tape warming unit. 1... Ultraviolet curable resin coating device 2... Ultraviolet ray irradiation furnace 3.6... Optical fiber strand 4... Concentrator roller 5... Optical tape type unit 7... Ultraviolet curable resin coating

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An optical tape type unit having an optical fiber assembly in which a plurality of optical fiber strands each having a protective layer are arranged in a plane, and a coating layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin that integrally covers the optical fiber assembly. In the manufacturing method, an ultraviolet curable resin coating device for coating the optical fiber strand with the ultraviolet curable resin via a coating die point, and an ultraviolet ray irradiation furnace for curing the coated ultraviolet curable resin are installed vertically. A coating and curing step of the ultraviolet curable resin, from forming an optical tape type unit by applying a coating layer of an ultraviolet curable resin to the aggregate of the optical fiber strands to curing the coating layer. A method of manufacturing an optical tape type unit, characterized in that the path line of the unit has a vertical configuration. (2) A coating in which the die point of the ultraviolet curable resin coating device that coats the ultraviolet curable resin is non-adjustable;
Claim 1, characterized in that it consists of a curing step.
A method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit as described in Section 1.