JPS6356609A - Clad removing method for tape type optical fiber core - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the handling of tape type optical fiber cores by dividing a common clad layer into an upper and a lower part about the array surface of element wires of terminal parts of the cores, and applying a tensile force to two common clad pieces and separating the clad layers so that a crack in the side face of the common clad layer extends in the lengthwise direction of the optical fiber element wires. CONSTITUTION:The upper part of the common clad layer 3 about the optical element wires 1 is separated as a clad piece 31 from a clad piece 32 which is the remaining clad layer. The plural optical fiber element wires 1 and clad pieces 31 and 32 which are separated at the tip part are clamped between rollers 61 and 62, and the clad pieces 31 and 32 which are formed by opening the end part of the common clad layer 3 are fixed to the surfaces of the rollers 61 and 62, which are then rotated as shown by arrows 71 and 72 to remove the common clad. Consequently, the angles alpha and beta between the clad pieces 31 and 32 and optical fiber element wires at the part where the crack extend are held extremely small, so the separation of the clad pieces 31 and 32 is easily carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a novel method for removing coating from a tape-shaped optical fiber core, which can be advantageously used in high-density optical communications.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION With recent advances in information and communication technology, the demand for faster signal transmission is increasing. Practical use of optical communication technology is an example of the realization of such high-speed signal transmission technology. That is, optical signal transmission has the advantages of communication technology, such as realizing high-speed transmission due to the characteristics of light itself, and that the optical fiber serving as the transmission path is lightweight and is less affected by magnetic fields, electric fields, etc. However, even if such optical fiber transmission lines are similar, there still remains a demand for transmission of a larger amount of signals, and in response to this, various improvements have been proposed for optical fibers for signal transmission.

One of the products that was developed based on this background is tape-shaped optical fiber. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the tape-shaped optical fiber core is constructed by integrally forming an optical fiber 1, which is an optical waveguide, with a common coating layer 3, and is easy to handle and can transmit high-density signals. This is attracting attention as something that can be achieved. In addition, each of the optical fiber strands 1 is coated with a protective coating layer 2 in order to maintain its mechanical strength etc.
It is equipped with

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the above-described tape-shaped optical fiber core, the common coating layer 3 is removed and the optical fiber 1 is
It may be necessary to separate the

In such cases, the following two methods have conventionally been used.

As shown in FIG. 7, the first method is to cut the common coating layer 3 of the tape-shaped optical fiber core using a cutting tool A such as a knife or cutter, and then separate the divided common coating layer 3. This is a method to remove it.

The second method, as shown in FIG. 8, is to use the optical fiber 1 as a so-called "tear string" to tear the common coating layer 3.

However, in the first method, when cutting into the common coating layer with a knife, the protective coating layer of each internal optical fiber strand is also damaged, making the exposed optical fiber unusable. There were many cases where I would put it away. This is because each optical fiber strand cannot maintain practical strength without its protective coating layer.

Furthermore, in the second method, excessive force is applied to the optical fiber, which often results in damage to the protective coating layer or breakage or breakage of the optical fiber itself.

As described above, in the past, there was no suitable method for removing the coating layer from tape-shaped optical fiber cores, and it required a high level of skill to remove the common coating layer without damaging the protective coating of the optical fiber. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for completely removing a common coating layer without damaging the protective coating layer of each optical fiber.

In order to solve the problem, according to the present invention, a plurality of optical fiber strands each having a protective coating layer are arranged in parallel on the same plane, and the plurality of optical fiber strands are covered with a common coating layer. hold together,
A method for removing the common coating layer of a tape-shaped optical fiber coated wire without adhesion between each of the protective coating layers and the common coating layer, the method comprising: removing an optical fiber element at an end portion of the tape-shaped coated optical fiber; The common covering layer is divided vertically with respect to the wire arrangement plane, and the common covering layer is divided into two common covering pieces so that the cracks on the side surfaces of the common covering layer thus formed extend in the length direction of the optical fiber strands. A method for removing the coating from a tape-shaped optical fiber core is provided, which is characterized in that a common coating layer is separated by applying a tensile force.

Operation As described above, in the method according to the present invention, the common coating layer is divided into two parts and a tensile force is applied to the common coating layers to tear the common coating layer. Mostly the coating pieces work together. Therefore,
There is no chance of damaging or breaking the internal optical fiber.

In the method according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. Let β° be the angle between the direction of action of
It is desirable to pull the common covering pieces 31, 32 in opposite directions while maintaining 0°. This is because Figure 1 etc.)
As shown in Fig. 2, for example, if the covering piece 31 is pulled in a direction such that the angle α or β becomes an angle of 90 degrees or more, the covering piece 31 will be torn off, or the common covering layer will be seated at the end of the crack. This is because the direction of extension of the cracks in the common coating layer changes, and as a result, the coating pieces often break off, making it impossible to remove the common coating layer over a desired length.

Embodiment FIG. 2 conceptually shows the operation when actually carrying out the method according to the present invention. That is, first, the common covering layer 3,
The upper part of the optical fiber 1 is separated from the optical fiber 1 and the remaining common coating layer 32 as a covering piece 31, and then the plurality of optical fibers 1 and the covering piece 32 are separated. separated.

Further, FIG. 3 shows the concept of implementing the coating removal method according to the present invention using an instrument.

A covering piece 3 is formed by sandwiching a plurality of optical fiber strands 1 and covering pieces 31 and 32 separated at their tips between rollers 61 and 62, and opening the end of the common covering layer 3.
After fixing 1.32 to the surface of rollers 61 and 62, respectively,
Rotating each roller 61,62 in the direction of arrow 7172 removes the common coating. In this embodiment, the angles (α and β shown in FIG. 1) between the coating pieces 31 and 32 and the optical fiber 1 at the portion where the crack extends are always kept small, so that the method according to the present invention can be carried out. This can be easily achieved.

FIG. 4 explains another operation of the coating removal method according to the present invention, in which the tape-shaped optical fiber core is once held in a U-shape, and the coating piece 3 separated from the optical fiber strand 1 is removed.
1 in the direction of arrow 51, the crack formed at the end of the common coating layer is extended in the length direction of the tape-shaped optical fiber core. In this method, for example, the covering piece 31 is held in the right hand, the plurality of optical fiber strands 1 and the covering piece 32 are held in the left hand,
By holding the uncoated portion of the tape-shaped optical fiber between the fingers of the left hand so that it can be moved, and pulling each coated piece in the directions 51 and 52, it is extremely easy to remove the equipment, etc. It can be implemented without using.

Further, similar to the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, it can be carried out more easily and reliably by a device using a pair of rollers or the like.

FIG. 5 again shows the method according to the invention carried out using a knife-shaped coating separation device 8.

That is, the separating device 8 is inserted between the coating piece 31 of the common coating layer 3 that is open at the end of the tape-shaped optical fiber coated wire and other members, and the separating device 8 is inserted along the optical fiber 1 as indicated by the arrow 9. By moving in the direction, the covering piece 31 is separated from the tape-shaped optical fiber core wire.

Note that when the common coating layer is removed by the method described above, the common coating layer may occasionally be removed from the fibers located at both ends of the plurality of optical fibers, as shown in FIG. Fragment B may remain. However, the remaining fragments can be easily separated from the optical fiber with a nail or the like, so they do not actually pose any problem.

By implementing the method according to the invention in this way,
The optical fiber 1 can be taken out without damaging it.

The method described above was carried out on a tape-shaped optical fiber core prepared as follows.

That is, a glass fiber for optical transmission with a diameter of 125 μm was coated with an ultraviolet curable resin (Desolite 950YO75, manufactured by Japan Synthetic Rubber Co., Ltd.) to a diameter of 200 μm, and then an ultraviolet curable resin (manufactured by Japan Synthetic Rubber Co., Ltd., Five optical fibers coated with Desolai) 950Y100) to a diameter of 250 μm are arranged in parallel, and a common coating layer made of ultraviolet curable resin (also Desolai) 950Y100) is used to create a fiber with a width of 1.33 mm and a thickness of 0.
．． A 33 mm tape-shaped optical fiber core was prepared.

When the common coating layer was removed from this tape-shaped optical fiber according to the various embodiments described above, it was possible to take out the optical fiber without damaging it at all.

Note that a small paper knife was used as the coating layer separation device.

Effects of the Invention As detailed above, tape-shaped optical fiber cores, which have many advantages but have problems such as requiring a high degree of skill to handle them, can be made easier by the method according to the present invention. Expansion of optical communication technology,
Furthermore, the practical application of mass information transmission can be promoted.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1(a) is a diagram showing the concept of the coating removal method for a tape-shaped optical fiber core according to the present invention, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for supplementary explanation of the concept of a coating removal method for a tape-shaped optical fiber according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing one embodiment of the coating removal method for a tape-shaped optical fiber core according to the present invention, and 3rd rgJ is a diagram showing another embodiment of the coating removal method for a tape-shaped optical fiber core according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing still another embodiment of the coating removal method for a tape-shaped optical fiber core according to the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a general configuration of a tape-shaped optical fiber core, and FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a general configuration of a tape-shaped optical fiber core. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another conventional method for removing the coating from a tape-shaped optical fiber; FIG. , illustrating the morphology of common cover layer debris remaining after removal of the common cover layer in accordance with the present invention; (Main reference numbers and reference symbols) 1. Optical fiber strand, 2. Protective coating layer, 3. Common coating layer, 8. Coating removal device, 9. Traveling direction of coating removal device, 61. 62...Roller, A...Knife,

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) A plurality of optical fiber strands each having a protective coating layer are arranged in parallel on the same plane, the plurality of optical fiber strands are held together by a common coating layer, and each of the protective coating layers and A method for removing the common coating layer of a tape-shaped optical fiber core without adhesion between the common coating layer and the common coating layer, the method comprising: dividing the common covering layer into upper and lower parts by applying a tensile force to the two common covering pieces so that the cracks on the side surfaces of the common covering layer thus formed are extended in the length direction of the optical fiber strands. A method for removing coating from a tape-shaped optical fiber, the method comprising separating a common coating layer. (2) The tape according to claim 1, characterized in that the common covering piece is separated so that the angle between the tensile force acting on the common covering piece and the optical fiber strand maintains an acute angle. Method for removing coating from shaped optical fiber. (3) After sandwiching the tape-shaped optical fiber core between a pair of rollers and fixing the ends of the common coating layer to the surfaces of the rollers, the rollers 3. The method for removing a coating from a tape-shaped optical fiber core according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the common coating layer is separated by rotating. (4) The separation operation of the common covering piece is performed by inserting a knife-like instrument into a crack formed in the common covering layer. The method for removing the coating from the tape-shaped optical fiber core described above.