MXPA97001029A - Tool for fusing optimal fibers - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a tool for providing energy for heating optical fibers within a splice element, characterized in that it comprises: a housing, a means for releasably securing a splice element within a housing chamber; over the housing to be in register with the splice element and provide an electrical current to the splice element, when the splice element is secured within the housing for heating the ends of the optical fibers placed inside the splice element.

Description

TOOL FOR FUSING OPTICAL FIBERS FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a tool for providing energy for heating and fusing the adjacent ends of two optical fibers and, more particularly, to a tool that can be held by hand, for fusing optical fibers alone or in combination with a block of fibers. splice by fusion.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED REQUESTS This application is a continuation in part of the application serial number 08 / 266,205, filed on June 27, 1994 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE CONTACT OF OPTICAL FIBERS, the teachings of which are fully incorporated into the present by reference. That application also relates to the co-pending application entitled FUSIÓN SPLICING BLOCK, filed concurrently with the present in the name of the present applicants, the eik-ßßftanzas REF: 23979 of which are also fully incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the optical fiber technique, much additional effort has been devoted to devices for jointly fusing the ends of two optical fibers in a manner that ensures adequate optical performance of the resulting optical line. The teachings of the following related art are incorporated herein by reference, where applicable. Fusion elements are known in the art, usually in the form of sleeves, which have a built-in heating means, for example, electrodes and adapted to accommodate two exposed ends of a pair of fibers to be fused, the ends being They arrange along a line of passage. The use of these sleeves needs, of course, to apply a voltage supply to the lead terminals of the electrodes. An example of this sleeve with incorporated electrodes is disclosed in US Patent No. 4,598,974 to Munn.

US Patent No. 4,319,902 to Hensel discloses a device for joining the ends of optical fibers by placing the terminal parts in vacuum-operated mandrels. The mandrels are forced together by means of piezoelectric elements that are operated by the power supply and a welding arc between the mandrels. U.S. Patent No. 4,372,768 to Zucker et al. Discloses a method of splicing optical fibers using an apparatus that also employs vacuum chucks, a fusion splicing block, an integrating cylinder and a radiometer means to provide an indication of the position of the ends of the fiber. Szanto et al., In the Patent No. 5,002,351, proposes a fusion splicer that offers a base member with an arc region, a fastening member and a vibration arrangement. The clamping member includes three fingers, each capable of imposing a different bypass force to accommodate fibers of different size.

In North American Patents Nos. 4,199,223 and 5,146,527, different fiber splicing devices are still described. None of the devices of the prior art offers the possibility of releasably retaining a sleeve, or other joint element having integral electrodes and adapted to retain the ends of optical fibers to be spliced in axial arrangement, and supplying power of fusion to the contact area of the ends through the electrode means of the splice element. Also, none of the references of the prior art teach a tool adapted to retain and supply fusion energy to disposable, fiber fusion splice elements, i? cheap Accordingly, there is a need for a simple and compact, preferably portable, device to releasably secure a splice element and to provide fusion energy to the fiber end which is fused through the electrodes of the splice elements.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided a tool for providing power to heat the opposite ends of a pair of optical fibers to the point of fusing the ends together, the tool comprising: a housing, preferably made of a size to be portable, means for releasably securing a splice element within the housing, splice element adapted to accommodate the opposite ends of the optical fibers in an axial relationship, and, means for providing power such as an electrical current to the element. of splice to heat these opposite ends of fiber. According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided a tool for fusing the opposite ends of a pair of optical fibers, the tool comprising: a housing; means within the housing for releasably securing a sleeve having a heating element and an inner and forming splice chamber for receiving a first and a second fiber optic end such that the longitudinal axis of the sleeve defines a passing line when the sleeve is secured inside the housing; means for retaining the end portion of the pair of optical fibers in an axial relationship, such that the longitudinal axis of the ends of the fiber is located substantially along the line of passage when the end portions of the fibers are retained; and a means for providing power such as an electric current (energy) to the portions of the sleeve, so that the heating element can fuse together the opposite ends of the fibers. In yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a tool for fusing optical fibers within a splice element comprising a retention member having a central opening that includes an axial alignment means for aligning the opposite ends of a pair. of optical fibers, the splice element including means for applying heat to the opposite ends of the optical fibers to fuse them in an intermediate position in the opening, the tool comprising: a housing for receiving the splice element; means for releasably securing the splice element with the housing; and a means associated with the housing for providing an electrical current to the splice element when the splice element is secured within the housing for fusing the optical fibers. In still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a tool, preferably made of portable size, for fusing the opposite ends of a pair of optical fibers, the tool comprising: a housing; a replaceable splice element having a heating element for applying heat to the ends of the optical fibers; means for releasably securing the replaceable splice within the housing; and a means for providing power such as an electric current to the heating element of the splice element to fuse the ends of the optical fibers. Any of the above aspects of the invention can also be provided with the means for indicating the relative position of the opposite ends of the fibers to be fused. Also any of the above defined embodiments of the invention may also be provided with a means for controlling the contact force of the ends of the optical fibers using methods and the apparatus as taught in the copending application previously presented, identified above. All embodiments of the invention are adapted for use with fusion splice blocks of the identified type of the co-pending application filed concurrently with the present and identified above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described in greater detail by means of the following description to be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, not drawn to scale, in which Figure 1 is a partially oblique part-spaced view of the preferred embodiment of the tool comprising the present invention.

Figure 2 is an oblique view of an alternative mode of the tool »; Figure 3 is an enlarged side view of the chamber of the tool of Figure 1 showing the ejection mechanism; Figure 4 is an enlarged view of the carrier of the electrode block of Figure 1; Y Figure 5 is an enlarged view of the bottom part of the chamber of Figure 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION An exemplary portable tool of the present invention is generally designated as "10 in Figure 1. The tool has a housing 12, fixed thereto, with a cover 14 articulated with hinge. The housing 12 has a chamber 16 sized to accommodate, with a loose fit, a carrier 18 of the electrode block which is shown in greater detail in FIG.

Figure 4. The carrier 18 offers a V-groove 20 for accommodating the opposite ends of two optical fibers to be fused together, not shown in the drawing. The V-groove is a part of the fiber through-line when the carrier 18 of the electrode block with the fibers is placed in the housing 12. The carrier 18 has a ceramic block 22 having a V-groove 23 and is integrated into the carrier such that the V-groove 20 of the electrode carrier is aligned with the V-groove 23 of the ceramic electrode block 22. Ceramic block 22 is the subject of the co-pending US patent application identified above. A viewing cavity 25 is provided in the electrode block 22 and positioned to allow viewing of the opposite ends of the two optical fibers when placed on the carrier 18 of the electrode block. The carrier 18 of the electrode block is provided with four depressions 24 in the upper corners, the depressions serving to allow the holder 18 to be retained in the housing 12 of the tool 10. The chamber 16 is provided with four clamps 26 which placed to couple the four depressions 24 when the carrier 18 of the electrode block is placed in the chamber 16 > thus retaining the block holder 18 in the chamber 16, as best shown in Figure 3. It can be seen that the block holder is placed in position by forcing it between the spring clips 26. As shown in Figure 4, the electrode block 22 has two electrodes 27 with their tips extending into the viewing cavity 25 where the opposite fibers are placed prior to fusion. The cover 14 is provided with retaining clamps 28 formed for example as leaf springs, its position on the cover which is such to be aligned with and retaining the end portions of the two fibers to be fused when the block carrier 18 of electrode with the fibers is placed in the chamber 16 and closed in the cover 14. The chamber additionally has notches 30 positioned to be aligned with the line of fiber passage as defined above. In addition, two fiber advancing manipulators 32 are mounted on the tool 10 along the line of passage on both sides of the chamber 16. The manipulators have mandrels to immobilize the respective portions of the fiber therein and serve to advance the ends of the fiber towards each other. Each manipulator 32 has a base member 38 and a movable carriage 33, the position of which relative to the site, along the line of passage, can be controlled with the knobs 34. The manipulators 32 and the carriages 33 are adoptable for the use in combination with methods and apparatuses for controlling the contact force of the ends of the optical fibers as set out in the previous co-pending application referred to above. As illustrated in more detail in the Figure 5, a heat conductive plate 36 serving as a heat sink is provided at the bottom of the chamber 16. In addition, two electrical contacts 38 are mounted in the chamber 16, the contacts 38 which are connected to an electrical power source, not shown, and are placed to be in electrical contact with the electrodes of the ceramic electrode block 22. A viewing hole 35 is provided between the electrical contacts 38. The hole 35 is in alignment with the viewing cavity 25 when the carrier 18 of the electrode block is placed in the chamber 16. As mentioned above, the chamber 16 is dimensioned to accommodate the carrier 18 of the electrode block. When the carrier 18 is placed in the chamber 16 with the cover 14 closed, the V-grooves in the carrier 18 of the block, the electrode block 22, the notches 30 and the manipulators 32 are in alignment along the line of step of the fiber. The tool 10 has an ejection means (Figure 3) exemplified by an ejector pin 29 that is manually activated, via a hinge mounted on the bottom of the chamber 16, by the push button 37, to eject the block carrier 18 from electrode of the chamber when the fusion ends of the fibers ends. To inspect the relative position of the two opposite ends of the fibers before melting, the tool 10 has a LCD display screen 39, the design and operation of which is known in the art.

Alternatively, indications in the form of control lights can be provided to allow visual control of the fusion process of fiber placement. In operation, the carrier 18 of the electrode block is placed in the chamber 16 and the respective ends of a pair of fibers are placed in the carriages 33 of the manipulators 32 and in the V-grooves of the carrier 18 of the block and the block 22 of electrode. The ends are brought into close proximity by the operation of the knobs 34 of the manipulators 32. The position of the ends is inspected by the LCD display screen. When the fibers are placed, an electrical current is supplied to the contacts 38 of the electrodes from a power supply known in the art to create an arc between the tips of the electrode contacts 27 of the electrode block 22 and fuse together the ends of the two fibers. Subsequently, the cover 14 is opened and activated to the ejection mechanism to eject the carrier with the spliced pair of fibers. Depending on the type of splice element (sleeve or a flat, open element), they can remain either with the fused fibers, kept in the portable tool or can be discarded. It is an advantage of this embodiment that the splice element having the integral electrodes can be discarded after one or a few fusion operations without the need to clean the electrodes which is usually the case with prior art devices.

In another embodiment of the tool of the invention as illustrated in Figure 2, the tool 40 has a chamber 42 that is sized to accommodate a fiber splice sleeve 44. The sleeve 44 has a hole for inserting two opposite ends of optical fibers 47 to be fused (not shown) and two built-in electrodes (not shown). The electrode contacts 46 are mounted in the chamber 42 to be in electrical contact with the electrodes of the sleeve 44. The tool has two clamps 48, 50 in axial alignment with the sleeve 44 when they are placed in the chamber 42. The clamps can be moving along the longitudinal axis of the sleeve 44 for advancing the ends of the fibers towards one another. The movement of the clamps is controlled with manual rollers 52. The tool 40 is provided with status indications 54 and with a sleeve ejection means similar to that in the tool 10 of Figure 1 as shown in the drawings. Various modifications and combinations of the features described above can be made to those skilled in the art and these modifications and modifications as well as equivalents are proposed to form part of the present invention which are defined by appended claims.

It is noted that in relation to date, the best method known by the applicant to carry out the present invention, the conventional one for the manufacture of the objects that it refers. Having described the invention, the following is claimed as property:

Claims (16)

1. A tool for providing energy for heating optical fibers within a splice element, characterized in that it comprises: a housing; means for releasably securing a splice element within a housing chamber; and means for providing an electrical current to the splice element when the splice element is secured within the housing for heating the ends of the optical fibers placed within the tool.

2. A tool for providing heat to optical fibers according to claim 1, characterized in that the means for providing electric current is electrically connected to a pair of electrodes placed adjacent to a melting cavity inside the splice element, when the splice element is insure inside the accommodation.

3. A tool for providing energy for heating optical fibers according to claim 2, characterized in that the housing includes a means for ejecting the splicing element, the means operable when the means for releasably securing the element is in a position of liberation.

4. A tool for providing energy for heating optical fibers according to claim 2, characterized in that it also comprises a means for relatively moving the ends of the optical fibers towards or away from one another, the medium that is placed on either side of an element. splice that is secured inside the camera.

5. A tool for fusing optical fibers, characterized in that it comprises: a housing; means within the housing for releasably securing a sleeve forming an inner splice chamber for receiving the ends of a first optical fiber and a second optical fiber such that a longitudinal axis of the sleeve is located along the line of step when the sleeve is secured; means for retaining the end portions of the first and second optical fibers in alignment, such that the longitudinal axes of the ends of the fibers are located substantially along the line of passage when the fibers are retained; means for providing an electric current to portions of the sleeve, so that a heating element inside the hot sleeve fuses the first and second optical fibers together.

6. A tool for fusing optical fibers within a splice element, which includes a retention member having a central opening that includes an axial alignment means, for alignment of the opposite ends of the pair of optical fibers, the splice element that includes a means for applying heat to the opposite ends of the optical fibers to fuse them in an intermediate position in the opening, the tool is characterized in that it comprises: a housing having a chamber for receiving the splice element; means for releasably securing the splice element within the chamber; and a means within the housing for providing an electrical current to the splice element when it is secured within the chamber to fuse the optical fibers.

7. A tool for fusing optical fibers, characterized in that it comprises: a replaceable splice element for use in splicing optical fibers; accommodation; means between the housing for releasably securing the replaceable splice element to the housing; means for providing an electric current to portions of the splice element, so that a heating element inside the sleeve heats and fuses together the first and second optical fibers.

8. The tool according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises a means for retaining the end portions of the first and second optical fibers in alignment such that the longitudinal axes of the ends of the fibers substantially along a line of passage when the fibers are retained.

9. A tool according to claim 6, characterized in that it comprises indications that relate to a merged state.

10. A tool according to claim 5, characterized in that it comprises a means for advancing the optical fibers relatively towards each other. »*

11. A tool according to claim 5, characterized in that the replaceable splice element includes a pair of electrodes, and wherein the tool includes at least two conductive contact portions each to make electrical contact with at least one of the electrodes, when the splice element is secured inside the housing.

12. A tool according to claim 11, characterized in that it further comprises means for expelling the splicing element from the tool when it is secured inside the housing.

13. The tool according to claim 10, characterized in that the means for advancing the optical fibers relatively towards each other includes a pair of manually operable members, each connected to a fiber optic clamping block in the housing along the line in passing to hold and advance relatively the optical fibers in response to the movement of the manually operable members.

14. The tool according to claim 11, characterized in that the means for providing electric current includes a power supply connected to at least two connection contact portions and to an energy source.

15. The tool according to claim 9, characterized in that the indications comprise a human-readable signal device for generating a human-readable signal of a level of electric current.

16. The tool according to claim 15, characterized in that the human readable signal device is a plurality of light emitting members.