JP2009163004A - Fiber holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the workability of fiber connection by reducing a sheath covering operation and holding a protective sleeve and preventing forgetting to pass the protective sleeve.
SOLUTION: In order to hold and fusion-bond an optical fiber 11, the optical fiber 11 is coaxially positioned in a fiber holder 100 which is attached to a fusion machine with the tip portions of the optical fibers 11 arranged opposite to each other. A position restricting portion 17 and a sleeve accommodating portion 29 that can accommodate the protective sleeve 27 that is extrapolated to the optical fiber 11 and covers the fusion splicing portion are provided. The optical fiber 11 and the protective sleeve 27 can be positioned and fixed by being pressed onto the holder base 13 by individual lid members 21 and 33, respectively. The lid member 21 is preferably provided with at least anti-slip means 39 for restricting movement of the optical fiber 11.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a fiber holder that is attached to a fusing machine by holding the optical fibers and performing fusion splicing so that the front ends of the optical fibers are opposed to each other.

  In general, optical fibers are connected by fusion bonding using a fusion machine with the ends thereof butted together. Patent Documents 1 and 2 describe fiber holders that are attached to a fusion machine and hold the optical fibers and regulate the positions of the optical fibers so that the ends face each other when the optical fibers are fusion-connected.

In Patent Document 1, the tip of the optical fiber is cut by holding the optical fiber in the holder and the holder is attached to the cutting machine, and the holder is engaged with the cutting machine when the holder is attached, A technique is disclosed in which the positioning of the optical fiber in the axial direction is performed and the lead length from the holder can be made constant. In Patent Document 2, it is possible to remove the coating of the optical fiber, cut and fuse the optical fiber by simply moving the holder in a plane, simplify the structure of the fusion splicer, and open the lid. A technique is disclosed in which the coating removal part, the cutting part, and the fusion part can all be observed in an open state so that each part can be easily inspected, maintained, cleaned, and the like.
JP 9-113752 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-39161

By the way, generally, the fusion spliced portion of the optical fiber is protected by a protective sleeve. For this reason, when performing fusion splicing work, a protective sleeve is extrapolated in advance to one optical fiber before fusing (the optical fiber is inserted into the protective sleeve), and after splicing is completed, fusion splicing is performed. The connection part was covered with a protective sleeve.
However, since the conventional fiber holder does not have a protective sleeve holding function, and the protective sleeve does not enter the fiber holder, the protective sleeve is disposed on the optical fiber that is led out of the fiber holder (or outside the windshield). Then, the protective sleeve is moved onto the connecting portion after the fusion splicing. For this reason, the movement length of the protective sleeve is increased and workability is lowered. In particular, in the optical cord, in order to extrapolate the protective sleeve, the sheath jacket must be stripped for the total length of the outer lead-out portion and the holder inner portion. Reduced connection workability. In addition, since the extraneous protective sleeve cannot be held, there is a problem that the protective sleeve is displaced along the optical fiber, especially when working at a high place such as on a utility pole. Furthermore, since the conventional fiber holder has a structure for holding only the optical fiber, it has been a cause of forgetting to insert the protective sleeve.
The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and provides a fiber holder capable of reducing the sheath sheath peeling operation, holding the protective sleeve, and preventing the protective sleeve from being forgotten, and thereby connecting the fiber. The purpose is to improve the performance.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configuration.
(1) A fiber holder that is attached to a fusion machine by holding the optical fibers and fusion-bonding them so that the end portions of the optical fibers are opposed to each other.
A position restricting portion for coaxially positioning the optical fiber;
A sleeve accommodating portion that can accommodate a protective sleeve that covers the fusion spliced portion by extrapolating to an optical fiber;
A fiber holder characterized by being equipped with.

  According to this fiber holder, conventionally, at least the sheath sheath of the cord portion led out from the holder has to be peeled off for the entire length of the protective sleeve, and the amount of stripping is divided between the external lead stripping portion and the stripping portion in the holder. However, the amount of sheath covering was increased and the workability was reduced.On the other hand, by holding the cord together with the extraneous protective sleeve in the holder, the protective sleeve accommodated in the sleeve accommodating portion The length of the sheath can be reduced by the length. Further, the protective sleeve can be held on the fiber holder. Furthermore, the sleeve accommodating portion can be used as a mark indicating that the protective sleeve is passed through.

(2) The fiber holder according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber and the protective sleeve are pressed and positioned on the holder base by individual lid members.

  According to this fiber holder, when the optical fiber is connected, both the optical fiber lid member and the protective sleeve lid member are opened, the optical fiber lid member is closed and the optical fiber is gripped, and then the protective sleeve lid member is closed. The protective sleeve is gripped. As a result, it is possible to confirm the presence or absence of the protective sleeve together with the closing operation of the cover member for the protective sleeve, and to make the protective sleeve extrapolation process more difficult to forget compared to a structure in which both the optical fiber and the protective sleeve are simultaneously gripped with a single lid member. . Further, by separating the lid member, it is possible to prevent the optical fiber lid member from being moved by an external force (force caused by the movement of the protective sleeve), and to increase the positioning accuracy of the optical fiber.

(3) The fiber holder according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lid member is provided with at least anti-slip means for restricting movement of the optical fiber.

  According to this fiber holder, when the optical fiber lid member is closed, the optical fiber is gripped by the optical fiber lid member through the anti-slip means so as not to move, and the positioning accuracy of the optical fiber can be improved.

  According to the fiber holder according to the present invention, since the protective sleeve for covering the fusion splicing portion is provided, the length of the protective sleeve to be accommodated in the sleeve accommodating portion is determined. Can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to reduce the sheath covering work and improve the fiber connection workability. Further, since the protective sleeve can be held by the fiber holder, it is possible to prevent the protective sleeve from slipping down along the optical fiber particularly when working at a high place such as on a utility pole. Furthermore, forgetting to pass the protective sleeve can be prevented by the presence of the sleeve accommodating portion.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a fiber holder according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 is a perspective view in which a cover member of a fiber holder according to the present invention is opened, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the fiber holder shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view in which the cover member of the fiber holder shown in FIG. It is. In this embodiment, a tape core wire is illustrated and described as an optical fiber.
The fiber holder 100 according to the present embodiment is attached to a later-described fusing machine with the optical fibers 11 held opposite to each other so as to hold and fusion-bond the optical fibers 11. The fiber holder 100 has a flat rectangular parallelepiped holder base 13 made of a resin material or the like. A position restricting portion 17 for positioning the optical fiber 11 coaxially with the counterpart optical fiber is formed on the upper surface of the holder base 13, and the position restricting portion 17 is fitted in the optical fiber 11 inwardly at two locations in the axial direction. Has a pair of substantially V-shaped grooved plate portions 19a and 19b. In the optical fiber 11 positioned on the grooved plate portions 19 a and 19 b of the position restricting portion 17, the connection distal end portion 11 a protrudes from the front end side (right end side in FIG. 1) of the holder base 13.

  The holder base 13 is provided with an optical fiber lid member 21, and the optical fiber lid member 21 is hinged to the side of the holder base 13 by a rotation support shaft 23 fitted into the side of the holder base 13. The position restricting portion 17 is covered as shown in FIG. The optical fiber lid member 21 has a substantially flat plate shape that covers the holder base 13, and a gripping portion 25 for projecting fingers when opening and closing is provided on one side thereof. When the optical fiber lid member 21 is closed, the optical fiber lid member 21 is locked to the holder base 13 by a locking portion (not shown) and presses the optical fiber 11 to restrict the movement of the optical fiber 11.

  A concave groove-shaped sleeve accommodating portion 29 is formed on the upper surface of the holder base 13 to accommodate a part of one end side of the protective sleeve 27 that is externally attached to the optical fiber 11. Opened on the end side (left end side in FIG. 1).

Here, the protective sleeve 27 will be described.
The protective sleeve 27 includes a heat-shrinkable tube 31 and a mandrel and an adhesive tube (not shown) inserted through the heat-shrinkable tube 31. When the heat-shrinkable tube 31 is heated to a predetermined temperature by a heater, the heat-shrinkable tube 31 is in a state of being in close contact with the inserted mandrel. The mandrel is a solid round bar and is inserted into the heat shrinkable tube 31 as a reinforcing mandrel. As the mandrel, steel wire, glass or the like is used. The adhesive tube is an adhesive tube inserted into the heat shrinkable tube 31 in a form vertically attached to the mandrel, and is softened by heating when the heat shrinkable tube 31 is heat-shrinked. It becomes an adhesive that fills the gap.

  The holder base 13 is provided with a protective sleeve lid member 33, and the protective sleeve lid member 33 is hinged to the side of the holder base 13 by a rotation support shaft 35 fitted into the side of the holder base 13. As shown in FIG. 3, the sleeve accommodating portion 29 is covered by a rotation operation with the rotation support shaft 35 as the rotation center. The protective sleeve lid member 33 has a substantially flat plate shape that covers the holder base 13, and a gripping portion 37 that projects a finger at the time of opening / closing operation projects from one side portion thereof. When closed, the protective sleeve lid member 33 is locked to the sleeve accommodating portion 29 by a locking portion (not shown), and presses the protective sleeve 27 to restrict dropping.

  In the fiber holder 100 according to the present embodiment, the optical fiber 11 and the protective sleeve 27 are pressed and positioned on the holder base 13 by the individual optical fiber lid member 21 and the protective sleeve lid member 33, respectively. When the optical fiber 11 is connected, both the optical fiber lid member 21 and the protective sleeve lid member 33 are opened to place the optical fiber 11, the optical fiber lid member 21 is closed and the optical fiber 11 is gripped, and then the protective sleeve. The protective sleeve 27 is gripped by closing the lid member 33 for use. Thereby, the presence or absence of the protective sleeve 27 can be confirmed together with the closing operation of the protective sleeve lid member 33, and the protective sleeve extrapolation step is performed as compared with a structure in which both the optical fiber 11 and the protective sleeve 27 are simultaneously grasped by a single lid member. It can be even more difficult to forget. Further, by separating the lid member, it is possible to prevent the optical fiber lid member 21 from being moved by an external force (force caused by the movement of the protective sleeve 27), and to increase the positioning accuracy of the optical fiber 11.

  Of the optical fiber lid member 21 and the protective sleeve lid member 33, at least the optical fiber lid member 21 is provided with a non-slip means 39 for restricting the movement of the optical fiber 11. As the anti-slip means 39, for example, abrasive paper (such as “Trizact (trade name)” manufactured by 3M) can be suitably used. By sticking the non-slip means 39, when the optical fiber lid member 21 is closed, the optical fiber 11 is immovably held by the optical fiber lid member 21 via the anti-slip means 39, and the optical fiber 11 The positioning accuracy can be improved.

  The anti-slip means 39 may be attached to the protective sleeve contact surface of the protective sleeve lid member 33. If the non-slip means 39 is attached to the protective sleeve lid member 33, the retention of the protective sleeve 27 can be improved.

  The optical fiber lid member 21 and the protective sleeve lid member 33 may be formed of a transparent material. When the optical fiber lid member 21 and the protective sleeve lid member 33 are formed of a transparent material in this manner, the optical fiber 11 and the protective sleeve 27 that are accommodated without opening the lid member are visually confirmed in the positioning state and the accommodation state. It becomes possible to do.

  When the fiber holder 100 is attached to a later-described fusing machine for fusing and connecting a local counterpart optical fiber, the connection tip 11a extending from the holder base 13 is positioned at the fusing position as it is. It has become.

Next, an embodiment of a fusion machine using the fiber holder 100 will be described.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a fusion machine equipped with the fiber holder shown in FIG.
The fusion machine 51 is an apparatus for fusion-splicing the optical fibers 11 and 11A at the site where the construction of the optical fiber facility is performed. This fusing machine 51 attaches the optical fiber 11 together with the fiber holder 100 to attach the holder mounting portion 53 for positioning at the fusion position and the counterpart optical fiber 11A together with the counterpart fiber holder 65. A holder mounting portion 61 for positioning at a fusion position, a fusion processing portion 55 for fusing and connecting the optical fibers 11 and 11A positioned at the holder mounting portions 53 and 61 and having their ends abutted with each other; An optical fiber 11 fusion-bonded by the processing unit 55 and a heat-shrink processing unit 57 for heat-shrinking the protective sleeve 27 covering the outer periphery of the fusion-bonded part of the counterpart optical fiber 11A with a heater are provided.

  The fusion processing unit 55 is usually provided on the upper surface of the apparatus covered by the opening / closing cover 59. The fusion processing section 55 positions the holder mounting section 61 for setting the local counterpart optical fiber 11A and the connection tip section 11a of the optical fiber 11 set on the holder mounting section 53 and extending from the fiber holder 100. A groove member 63, a V-groove member 67 for positioning the tip position of the optical fiber 11A extending from the counterpart fiber holder 65 set in the holder mounting portion 61, and the pair of V-groove members 63, 67 are disposed. And an electrode 69 for fusing the butted fibers together by electric discharge.

  The V-groove member 63 for positioning the optical fiber 11 and the V-groove member 67 for positioning the counterpart optical fiber 11A are dimensioned so as to support and position the optical fiber 11 and the counterpart optical fiber 11A in a straight line. .

Next, a method for fusion-connecting optical fibers using the fiber holder 100 and the fusion machine 51 will be described.
In order to fuse and connect the optical fiber 11 and the counterpart optical fiber 11 </ b> A, first, the counterpart optical fiber 11 </ b> A is attached to the holder attachment portion 61 using the counterpart fiber holder 65.

  The optical fiber 11 holds the protective sleeve 27 in an extrapolated state and a part of the protective sleeve 27 accommodated in the fiber holder 100. Next, the fiber holder 100 is set on the holder mounting portion 53. In the fusion processing unit 55, the optical fiber 11 positioned on the fiber holder 100 mounted on the holder mounting unit 53 and the counterpart optical fiber positioned on the counterpart fiber holder 65 mounted on the holder mounting unit 61. 11A is fusion spliced.

  Then, after forming the fusion splicing portion, the optical fiber 11 and the counterpart optical fiber 11A are taken out from the fiber holder 100 and the counterpart fiber holder 65, and the protective sleeve 27 is placed on the fusion splicing portion. Further, the protective sleeve 27 covering the fusion splicing portion is transferred to the heat shrinkage processing portion 57, the heat shrinkable tube 31 of the protective sleeve 27 is heated and shrunk, and the heat shrinkable tube 31 shrinks the fusion splicing portion. Reinforce and complete the connection between the optical fibers.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a fiber holder according to a modification including one lid member, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view in which the lid member of the fiber holder shown in FIG. 5 is closed.
In the previous embodiment, the configuration in which the optical fiber 11 and the protective sleeve 27 are pressed and positioned by the individual optical fiber lid member 21 and the protective sleeve lid member 33 has been described, but according to the present invention. The fiber holder may be one that presses the optical fiber 11 and the protective sleeve 27 with a single lid member 71 to be positioned and fixed as in the modification shown in FIGS. According to the fiber holder 100A provided with such a single lid member 71, the positioning and fixing of the optical fiber 11 and the protective sleeve 27 can be performed by a single opening / closing operation of the lid member 71. Is possible. Further, since the lid member 71 and the lid member opening / closing structure can be made single, the manufacturing cost can be reduced. Furthermore, the sleeve accommodating portion 29A can be formed long, and the structure of the position restricting portion 17 can be simplified by omitting the grooved plate portion 19b.

  In the above-described fiber holders 100 and 100A, the work can be performed while the protective sleeve 27 is held closest, and the movement length of the protective sleeve 27 after the fusion splicing can be reduced. In particular, in the case of an optical cord, conventionally, at least the sheath sheath of the cord portion led out from the holder has to be peeled off for the entire length of the protective sleeve, and the amount of stripping is divided between the outside lead stripping portion and the stripping portion in the holder. However, workability is reduced due to an increase in the amount of sheath covering, and by gripping the cord together with the extraneous protection sleeve 27 in the holder 100, 100A, the sleeve accommodating portion 29, The amount of sheath covering can be reduced by the length L (see FIG. 2) of the protective sleeve 27 accommodated in 29A. Further, the protective sleeve 27 can be held by the fiber holders 100 and 100A. Furthermore, the sleeve accommodating portions 29 and 29A can be used as a mark indicating that the protective sleeve is passed through.

  Therefore, according to the fiber holder 100, 100A configured as described above, since the sleeve accommodating portions 29, 29A for accommodating the protective sleeve 27 for covering the fusion splicing portion are provided, the protective sleeve 27 is held close to the work. It is possible to improve the workability by reducing the moving length of the protective sleeve 27 after the fusion splicing. In particular, in the connection of the optical cord, the sheath covering amount can be reduced by the length L of the protective sleeve 27 accommodated in the sleeve accommodating portions 29 and 29A. As a result, it is possible to reduce the sheath covering work and improve the fiber connection workability. In addition, since the protective sleeve 27 can be held by the fiber holders 100 and 100A, the protective sleeve 27 can be prevented from slipping down along the optical fiber 11 particularly when working at a high place such as on a utility pole. Furthermore, forgetting to pass the protective sleeve 27 can be prevented by the presence of the sleeve accommodating portions 29 and 29A.

  Of course, the fiber holder according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, the lid member has a spring member attached to the rotation support shaft and is always biased in the opening direction, and locks a locking portion (not shown) to the holder base when it is closed. If comprised in this way, since the cover member is provided in the open state beforehand, it can accommodate an optical fiber and a protection sleeve easily at the time of high place work, such as on a utility pole, and makes the work of fiber connection favorable. be able to.

It is the perspective view which open | released the cover member of the fiber holder which concerns on this invention. It is a top view of the fiber holder shown in FIG. It is the perspective view which closed the lid member of the fiber holder shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a fusion machine equipped with the fiber holder shown in FIG. 1. It is a perspective view of a fiber holder concerning a modification provided with one lid member. It is the perspective view which closed the lid member of the fiber holder shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Optical fiber 11a Fiber front-end | tip 13 Holder base | substrate 17 Position control part 21 Optical fiber cover member 27 Protection sleeve 29 Sleeve accommodating part 33 Protection sleeve cover member 39 Non-slip means 51 Fusion machine 100 Fiber holder

Claims (3)

A fiber holder that is attached to the fusion machine by holding the optical fibers in order to hold and fusion-bond them with the tip portions of the optical fibers facing each other,
A position restricting portion for coaxially positioning the optical fiber;
A sleeve accommodating portion that can accommodate a protective sleeve that covers the fusion spliced portion by extrapolating to an optical fiber;
A fiber holder characterized by being equipped with.   2. The fiber holder according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber and the protective sleeve are pressed and positioned on a holder base by individual lid members.   The fiber holder according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the lid member is provided with at least anti-slip means for restricting movement of the optical fiber.

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