JP2001218353A - Submarine repeating unit and submarine repeater - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the mounting efficiency in a submarine repeater and improve the productivity of the repeater. SOLUTION: This submarine repeater unit has a plurality of cylindrical blocks with hollow parts, which are arranged in the center axis direction. Electrical components or optical components are mounted in the hollow parts of the respective cylindrical blocks. Both the bottoms of each cylindrical block are hollowed out to form hollow parts on both the sides of a mounting wall left at the center of the block, and the electrical components or optical components are mounted on one or both sides of the mounting wall. The respective cylindrical blocks have at least cut-off flat parts on their side surfaces, and the respective cylindrical blocks are connected and fixed to each other with hinges fixed to the flat parts. Furthermorem electric wires or optical fibers are arranged on the flat parts of the submarine repeater unit. A submarine repeater is equipped with the submarine repeater units, a cylindrical housing, in which the submarine repeater units are housed and a coupling unit with which optical fibers in the submarine repeater units are connected to external optical fiber cables.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a submarine repeater unit and a submarine repeater used in a submarine repeater, and to a submarine repeater using this structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the demand for communication has increased with the spread of the Internet, and there has been an urgent need to increase the transmission capacity. There is also a high demand for a long-distance transmission system represented by an optical submarine cable system, and the transmission capacity must be expanded.

[0003] As a method for expanding the transmission capacity,
The following three methods are mentioned. The first is a method of increasing the transmission speed, the second is a method of increasing the number of wavelength multiplexes, and the third is a method of increasing the number of fiber pairs, that is, the number of systems. However, a relatively long development period is required, for example, new parts must be developed by either of the first and second methods. Therefore, as a method of expanding the transmission capacity in a short development period as compared with both methods, a method of increasing the number of third systems is effective. In the current technology, the mainstream is a transmission rate of 10 Gbit / sec, 32 multiplexed wavelengths, and 4 systems.

[0004] In an optical submarine cable system, a submarine repeater is provided to amplify an optical signal attenuated by long-distance optical transmission. The submarine repeater is generally connected to the submarine optical cable at an interval of 40 km to 60 km and laid on the seabed. The relay interval is basically determined by the system length. In order to increase the number of systems in a submarine cable system by the third method described above, it is necessary to develop a submarine repeater that can cope with this, and a unit that can cope with the increase in the number of systems is also required. Become like

Here, the structure of a conventional submarine repeater unit will be briefly described. 12 and 13 show a conventional submarine repeater unit. FIG. 12 shows a method of connecting box-shaped system units in the axial direction. FIG. 12 shows an example of four systems. FIG. 13 shows a method of vertically aligning two box-shaped system units and connecting two system units in the axial direction. FIG. 13 also shows an example of four systems.
Both structures are ultimately completed as a submarine repeater unit by insertion into a cylinder of the size indicated by the dotted line.

[0006]

In order to realize multi-systems such as six systems and eight systems with these box-shaped structures, it is necessary to further connect system units in the axial direction. However, if the length of the housing is increased in accordance with the increase in the length of the submarine repeater unit, the handleability during manufacturing and laying is deteriorated. In addition, it was difficult to manufacture eight or more systems using a conventional box-shaped system unit due to restrictions on equipment for manufacturing housing components. The component manufacturing equipment has a limitation that the case length is about 1.5 m, whereas the case length of the eight systems exceeds 1.6 mm. According to the conventional box-shaped unit, the mounting efficiency for a cylinder is about 70% in terms of volume.

[0007] The submarine repeater unit of the present invention aims to increase the mounting efficiency of the submarine repeater as compared with the conventional one.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, a submarine repeater unit and a submarine repeater of the present invention are provided.
A plurality of cylindrical blocks having a hollow portion are arranged in the central axis direction, and an electrical component or an optical component is mounted in the hollow portion of each cylindrical block. Here, the cylindrical block is hollowed out from both bottom surfaces of the cylindrical shape and has a mounting portion substantially at the center, and an electric component or an optical component is mounted on one or both surfaces of the mounting portion.

Further, the cylindrical block has a flat portion cut off at least on a side surface thereof, and the cylindrical blocks are connected and fixed to each other by a hinge fixed to the flat portion. Further, in the above-mentioned submarine repeater unit, an electric wiring or an optical fiber is arranged on a plane portion.

A submarine repeater according to the present invention includes the above-described submarine repeater unit, a cylindrical housing for housing the submarine repeater unit, an optical fiber in the submarine repeater unit, and an external optical fiber cable. And a coupling part for connection.

That is, the submarine repeater unit according to the present invention divides one system mounting into an electric component block and an optical component block, and mounts the components on each of the cylindrical blocks each having a cylindrical shape. The cylindrical block has a shape in which two opposite sides of a circular portion are cut off, and a plate for connecting the cylindrical block has the same arc cross section as the cut-off shape. By combining these, the submarine repeater unit has a completely cylindrical shape.

The system unit before assembling the submarine repeater unit is characterized in that it has a structure in which a hinge is attached to a connecting portion of a cylindrical block. Thereby, the opening and closing work can be facilitated.

[0013]

Next, a submarine repeater unit according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the overall structure of a submarine repeater to which the submarine repeater unit of the present invention is applied will be described. FIG.
FIG. 2 is an external view of a submarine repeater connected to a submarine optical cable, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the submarine repeater. As shown in FIG. 1, the submarine repeater includes a cylindrical portion serving as a main body of the submarine repeater 1 and a coupling 3. The submarine repeater 1 is connected to the submarine optical cable 2 by a coupling 3, and is put into the sea in this state and laid on the seabed.

As shown in FIG. 2, the main body is a housing 4
The submarine repeater unit 6 is housed in the inside, and is fixed to the housing by the fixing unit 7. A cushioning material 8 is arranged between the housing 4 and the unit 6. As a means for fixing the housing and the repeater unit, a structure for fixing both ends of the repeater unit 6 is used. Rubber or metal spring is used as a material of the fixing portion 7. A cushioning material 8 is provided between the housing 4 and the repeater unit 6 to reduce vibrations and shocks applied during transportation and laying. The buffer material 8 also serves as a heat conduction path from the submarine repeater unit 6 to the housing 4 using a metal material. After inserting the repeater unit 6, both ends of the housing 4 are closed by the end face plate 5, and the inside is sealed.

The submarine repeater unit of the present invention is intended to be applied to the above-described submarine repeater unit inserted into the cylindrical casing. Generally, it is considered that the unit shape to be inserted into the cylindrical housing is preferably a cylindrical shape, and most of the submarine repeater units have a cylindrical shape.

The submarine repeater housing adopts a cylindrical structure so as to withstand high water pressure on the seabed. As the housing material, a beryllium copper alloy having excellent seawater corrosion resistance is used. The size of the housing is about 250 mm in diameter,
The length is generally about 1 m, and the length varies depending on the number of systems mounted inside.

As for the shape of the system unit constituting the submarine repeater unit, when the conventional box shape is compared with the circular shape of the present invention, the mounting efficiency of the present invention is superior. Therefore, expansion to a large number of systems such as six systems and eight systems is possible.

Next, the submarine repeater unit of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a submarine repeater system to which the submarine repeater unit is applied. In an optical submarine cable system, there is one fiber pair consisting of one upstream fiber and one downstream fiber.
The submarine repeater unit basically has the same component configuration and performance for both the upper and lower lines. For example, a submarine repeater unit consisting of four systems is commonly referred to as a four-system submarine repeater unit. Hereinafter, in the description of the present embodiment, a part configuring one system is referred to as a “system unit”.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a general system unit when four excitation laser diodes are used. In order to make the mounting structure block easier to understand, the direction of the main signal is reversed. It is drawn.

The excitation laser diode 9 is connected to the control circuit 1
0, the main signal attenuated by the excitation light entering from the front and rear of the erbium (Er) doped fiber 11 is optically amplified. A filter 12 is provided for equalizing the gain of the multiplexed wavelength after the amplification of the main signal light.

The structure of the mounting structure is as follows.
The circuit 9 and the control circuit 10 are divided into two parts as electric component blocks, and the other parts as optical component blocks. The optical component block includes an Er-doped fiber 11, a filter 12, an optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 13 for multiplexing / demultiplexing the pump light into the main signal light, an optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 14, and an optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 15.

FIG. 4 is an external view showing the configuration of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention. The electric component cylindrical block 16 and the optical component cylindrical block 17 have a shape in which two opposite sides of a circular portion of a block having a circular cylinder are cut off. The cut-off portion is used as a space for attaching a plate that plays a role of connecting a system unit in a unit described later.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the structure of each block of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the cross section of each block has a structure cut out from both sides so as to form an H shape, and an electric component and an optical component are mounted in the cut out portion. A hinge 18 is attached to one side of the cut-off portion.

In the electric component block, a circuit for controlling the excitation laser diode 20 is divided into two parts, and the excitation laser diode is provided on both sides.
Two diode 20 and a printed circuit board 21 of a control circuit are mounted. Electrical parts cylindrical block 16
Therefore, there are many components that generate heat, such as transistors, ICs, excitation laser diodes, etc., and some components become less reliable due to a rise in temperature. Metals have been used to enhance this. Aluminum is used as a metal having good cutting workability and heat dissipation.

In the optical component cylindrical block 17, one side has E
An r-doped fiber 22 is mounted, and an optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 23 is
An optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 24, an optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 25, and a filter 26 are mounted. Fiber connection between the components is also performed in this block, and a groove 19 that can accommodate the extra fiber length is provided on the outer periphery of the component mounting portion.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention. The above-described submarine repeater units are arranged in the axial direction, and a plate 27 is attached to the cut-off portion, and the units are connected by mechanical means (for example, screwing and fixing). The cross-sectional shape of the plate 27 has an arc shape that fits the two cut-off sides of the block, and serves to make the unit shape a perfect cylinder in addition to the connection function. A space is formed by grooves cut out in the axial direction on the opposite surface of the arc shape of the plate 17 and serves as a wiring route for fibers and power supply lines. In the present embodiment, the space 28 is used for fiber wiring, and the space 29 is used for power supply line wiring.

Next, the procedure for assembling the submarine repeater unit will be described.

FIG. 7 shows a procedure for assembling the submarine repeater unit. Since the electric component block and the optical component block are independent of each other, they can be assembled in parallel. Next, in assembling the system unit, the above-described hinge is attached to the cylindrical block for the electrical component and the cylindrical block for the optical component, and the fiber is connected.

In the system unit test, the excitation laser
The output of the diode must be adjusted. The main content of this adjustment work is to select a resistor in the control circuit and perform soldering so as to meet a target specification. Although the adjustment work of the control circuit on the opposite side to the optical component block is easy, the adjustment work of the optical component cylindrical block side is performed by overlapping the electric component cylindrical block using a hinge as shown in FIG. 16 and the optical component block 17 are opened so as to open the shell. After the adjustment work, the blocks are closed as before, and the system unit is completed.
The completed system units are arranged in the axial direction, and the system units are fixed by the above-mentioned plate 27 and the wiring between the fiber and the power supply line is performed.

Next, another embodiment of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention will be described.

The configuration of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 described above is a configuration for accommodating a generally required minimum repeater. Therefore, when adding a new function such as a monitoring control function, a device for performing these functions is required, and the number of components to be mounted increases.

Even when it becomes necessary to add components as described above, according to the unit of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 9, one optical component cylindrical block is added and three blocks are added. Can constitute a system unit. By attaching hinges 34 between the blocks, it is possible to freely open and close as shown in FIG.

Similarly, even when it becomes necessary to increase the output of the submarine repeater, the excitation laser diode is set to 6
One or more electric blocks may be added as shown in FIG.

In the above-described embodiment, the system unit is constituted by two or three blocks. However, the present invention is not limited to the number of blocks, and is not limited to four.
It can be increased to five.

According to the submarine repeater unit of the present invention, the case length is about 930 mm for 6 systems and about 11 for 8 systems.
As a result, the mounting efficiency can be greatly improved as compared with the conventional structure.

[0038]

As described above, in the submarine repeater unit of the present invention, a plurality of cylindrical cylindrical blocks each having a hollow portion are arranged in the center axis direction, and electric components are respectively provided in the hollow portions of the cylindrical blocks. Alternatively, an optical component is mounted. Here, the cylindrical block is hollowed out from both bottom surfaces of the cylindrical shape and has a mounting portion substantially at the center, and an electric component or an optical component is mounted on one or both surfaces of the mounting portion.

In particular, by making the component mounting block circular, the mounting efficiency can be improved as compared with the conventional box-shaped structure. When compared simply with the mounting volume, the unit according to the present invention improves about 30%. By improving the mounting efficiency, the unit length can be shortened by about 30% as compared with the conventional case, and the housing length can also be shortened.

Since the housing is shortened, it is possible to expect a reduction in the housing price and an improvement in handling performance during assembly and installation. In the conventional structure, four systems are mainly used, but the mounting efficiency is increased, so that the system can be easily expanded to six or eight systems.

Further, by connecting the blocks with the hinges in the system unit, the workability of assembly and adjustment can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view in which a submarine repeater and a submarine optical cable are connected.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the submarine repeater of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a submarine repeater system to which the submarine repeater unit of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is an external view showing a configuration of a submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of each block of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an assembling procedure of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an open / closed state of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a view showing a connected state of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a connection state of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a view showing a connected state of the submarine repeater unit of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing the structure of a conventional submarine repeater unit.

FIG. 13 is a view showing the structure of a conventional submarine repeater unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Submarine repeater 2 Submarine optical cable 3 Coupling 4 Housing 5 End face plate 6 Submarine repeater unit 7 Fixed part 8 Buffer material 9 Excitation laser diode 10 Control circuit 11 Er-doped fiber 12 Filter 13 Optical coupling Demultiplexer 14 Optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 15 Optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 16 Electrical component cylindrical block 17 Optical component cylindrical block 18 Hinge 19 Groove 20 Excitation laser diode 21 Printed wiring board 22 Er-doped fiber 23 Optical multiplexer / demultiplexer Device 24 optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 25 optical multiplexer / demultiplexer 26 filter 27 plate 28 space 29 space 30 fiber 31 electric component cylindrical block 32 optical component cylindrical block A 33 optical component cylindrical block B 34 hinge 35 electric component cylindrical block A 36 Electrical component cylindrical block B 37 Optical component cylindrical block 38 Hinge

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of cylindrical cylindrical blocks each having a hollow portion are arranged in a central axis direction, and an electrical component or an optical component is mounted in the hollow portion of each of the cylindrical blocks. Submarine repeater unit. 2. The cylindrical block is hollowed out from both bottom surfaces of the cylindrical shape and has a hollow shape with a mounting portion left at a substantially central portion. The electric component or the optical component is mounted on one or both surfaces of the mounting portion. The submarine repeater unit according to claim 1, wherein 3. The cylindrical block has a flat part cut off at least on a side surface thereof, and the cylindrical blocks are connected and fixed to each other by a hinge fixed to the flat part. Item 1
Or the submarine repeater unit according to claim 2. 4. The submarine repeater unit according to claim 1, wherein an electric wiring or an optical fiber is disposed on the plane portion. 5. The submarine repeater unit according to any one of claims 1 to 4, a cylindrical housing that houses the submarine repeater unit, and A submarine repeater, comprising: a coupling unit for connecting a certain optical fiber to an external optical fiber cable.