JPH04314007A - Device for drawing out optical fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to automatically draw out the terminal of an optical fiber again up to the length held before processing when the terminal processing of an optical fiber is defective by providing this optical fiber drawing device with a means for moving the optical fiber held by a holding tool in the axial direction of the fiber while holding the fiber and drawing out the fiber from the holding tool. CONSTITUTION:When the holder 12 holding an optical fiber 3 whose terminal processing is defective is placed on a mounting board 51, a moving mechanism 54e starts to operate, a driving motor 54d rotates a screw spindle 54c and a mobile block 54e is moved to the mounting board (51) aide along the axial direction of the fiber 3. Then a drawing hand 53 is driven and the leading end side of the fiber 3 extended from the holder 12 is held by holding claws 53a, 53a. Then the motor 54d is revolved reversly and the screw shaft 53c allows the block 54e to recede by a prescribed distance along the axial direction in the shown arrow direction. Thereby the fiber 3 is drawn out from the holder 12 by a prescribed length.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber drawing device.

0002

[Background Art] In optical measurement of optical fiber transmission loss, etc., terminal treatments such as removing the coating from the optical fiber terminal and trimming the exposed optical fiber to a predetermined length, and optical measurement system Work such as butt connection with the measurement fiber that is optically connected to the sensor is performed manually in each process, which is complicated and inefficient, and the measurement work takes a lot of time. was.

[0003] Therefore, in order to eliminate the troublesome work of performing each process individually related to the optical measurement of optical fibers and improve work efficiency, these works are consolidated in one place and mechanically a holder array section in which a plurality of holders holding optical fibers to be measured are arranged for the purpose of processing optical fibers to be measured;
An automatic measuring device that integrates a terminal processing device, a connecting device, and a conveying device has been proposed.

[0004] This automatic measuring device grasps the holders arranged in the holder arrangement section with a conveying device and sequentially conveys them from the terminal processing device to the connection device, thereby optically connecting them to the terminal processing and optical measurement system. This automatically performs temporary butt connections with the existing measurement fiber.

[0005]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, the above-mentioned automatic measuring device automatically performs a series of processes associated with optical measurement of optical fibers. If the coating is defective, the coating has not been removed insufficiently and each optical fiber is not separated, or the length of each optical fiber is not cut uniformly, proceed to the next step. Even if the optical fiber is transported, subsequent butt connections cannot be made properly.

Therefore, when an optical fiber with a defective terminal treatment occurs, a worker waiting at the work site manually takes out the holder holding the defective fiber from a series of conveyance systems and holds it. After the optical fiber is manually pulled out to the length before end processing, the optical fiber is returned to the transport system and transported to the end processing device. Therefore, in an automatic optical fiber measuring device, if a defect occurs in the terminal processing of the optical fiber, manual labor is required each time, and it is desirable to have a countermeasure for automatic processing when a defect occurs in the terminal processing. It was rare.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is possible to automatically pull out the end of the optical fiber from the holder again to the length before processing when the end processing of the optical fiber is defective. The purpose of this invention is to provide a drawer device that is easy to use.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, an optical fiber drawing device of the present invention includes a mounting base on which a holder holding an optical fiber terminal extended by a predetermined length is mounted, and The apparatus is configured to include a pull-out means disposed near the stand, which grips the optical fiber held by the holder, moves in the axial direction of the optical fiber, and pulls out the optical fiber from the holder.

[0009]

[Operation] When a holder holding an optical fiber is attached to the mounting base, and the tip of the optical fiber extending from the holder is grasped by a pulling means and moved in the axial direction of the optical fiber, the held optical fiber is It is automatically pulled out from the holder to the pre-processing length, and is ready for terminal processing again.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIG. The drawer device 50 includes a mounting base 51 on which the holder 12 is mounted, and a drawer means 52. The mounting table 51 is a table on which the holder 12 is placed and positioned at a predetermined position, and a stopper 51a for positioning is provided at the front part.
The holder 12 holding the optical fiber 3 with a defective end treatment extended for a predetermined length is placed in contact with the stopper 51a.

The pull-out means 52 grips the optical fiber 3 held in the holder 12 and moves in the axial direction of the optical fiber 3 to pull out the optical fiber 3 against the holding force of the holder 12. 53, it has a moving mechanism 54 that supports the hand 53 and moves it in the axial direction of the optical fiber 3. The drawing hand 53 grips the distal end side of the optical fiber 3 with gripping claws 53a, 53a (one not shown). is installed on top.

The moving mechanism 54 includes support brackets 54a, which are installed at predetermined intervals in the axial direction of the optical fiber 3;
54b, a screw shaft 54c made of a ball screw rotatably spanned between the support brackets 54a and 54b, a drive motor 54d provided adjacent to the support bracket 54a and rotatably driving the screw shaft 54c, and a drive motor 54d provided on the screw shaft 54c. It has a moving block 54e that is moved in the axial direction of the optical fiber 3 by rotation of the screw shaft 54c.

A reflective laser sensor 55 is provided above the moving mechanism 54 to detect the length of the optical fiber 3 and control it to a predetermined length. The drawing device 50 of this embodiment is configured as described above, and when the holder 12 holding the optical fiber 3 with a defective terminal treatment is placed on the mounting base 51, the moving mechanism 54 starts operating and the drive motor 54d rotates the screw shaft 54c, and the moving block 54
e moves toward the mounting table 51 along the axial direction of the optical fiber 3.

Next, the pull-out hand 53 is operated and grips the tip end side of the optical fiber 3 extending from the holder 12 with the gripping claw 5.
3a and 53a. Next, the drive motor 54
d is reversed, and the screw shaft 54c causes the moving block 54e to retreat a predetermined distance along the axial direction of the optical fiber 3 in the direction of the arrow. Thereby, the optical fiber 3 is pulled out from the holder 12 by a predetermined length.

[0015] Thus, when the laser sensor 55 detects that the optical fiber 3 has been pulled out for a predetermined length, the grip of the optical fiber 3 by the pull-out hand 53 is released. Therefore, if this drawing device 50 is integrated into an automatic measuring device, if the end treatment of the optical fiber 3 is defective, the optical fiber 3 can be pulled out again for a predetermined length to the state before the end treatment. This makes it possible to automate each processing operation associated with optical measurement of the optical fiber 3.

Next, another embodiment of the drawing device according to the present invention using a rodless cylinder as the drawing means will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 8. The optical fiber drawing device 1 has a mounting table 10, a drawing means 20, a cutting means 30, and a moving means 40, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the mounting table 10 is placed on a support frame 11 erected on one side in the longitudinal direction of the installation table 2, and has mounting walls 13 on both sides in the width direction on which the holder 12 is mounted.
13 are provided. Here, the holder 12 is made by connecting two magnetic metal plates in a hinge shape and holds the optical fiber 3 by magnetic force. 3 extends from the end of the holder 12 by the length when it is cut in the terminal treatment in the previous step, and the tip is separated into a plurality of optical fiber strands 3a. Each mounting wall 13 has an inner upper portion tapered so that the holder 12 can be smoothly mounted by a transport device (not shown). Each of the mounting bases 10 has a stopper 14 for the holder 12 at the front, and a biasing arm 15 at the rear that pushes the rear of the mounted holder 12 and urges it forward.
is rotatably provided, and a push cylinder 16 for pushing the lower part of the urging arm 15 is installed on the lower surface.

The pulling means 20 grips the optical fiber 3 held in the holder 12, moves in the axial direction of the optical fiber 3, and pulls out the optical fiber 3 from the holder 12 against the holding force of the magnetic force. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a pickup head (hereinafter referred to as "head") 21, a support stand 22 that supports the head 21, and an installation stand 2 that supports the support stand 22.
A rodless cylinder (hereinafter referred to as "
23 (referred to as "cylinder").

The head 21 grips the distal end side of the optical fiber 3 with a pair of gripping claws 21a, 21a.
A pair of gripping claws 21a, 21a are driven by a cylinder (not shown). The support stand 22 is installed on the slider 23e of the cylinder 23, and a mounting stand 22a is attached to the rear surface on the support frame 11 side. A box 24 is placed there.

The cylinder 23 connects the support base 22 to the head 21.
It is moved along the longitudinal direction of the installation base 2 along with the
Cylinder tube 23 between end covers 23a and 23b
c, guide shafts 23d, 23d are spanned over, and a slider 23e is slidably supported by these tubes 23c and shafts 23d, 23d. The cutting means 30 cuts the optical fiber 3 drawn out from the holder 12 by the drawing means 20 at a predetermined position, and as shown in FIGS. 33 and a cutter 34, the clamping member 3
2 and the cutter 34 are connected to guide plates 35 arranged above and below.
, 36 so as to be slidable.

The cut cylinder 31 pushes the clamping member 32 in the width direction of the installation base 2, and is connected to the moving means 4 described later.
A fiber sensor 37 for confirming the introduction of the optical fiber 3 into the gap C, which will be described later, is provided on the bracket 31a installed on the slide table 43 of 0 and attached to the rear. The clamping members 32 and 33 clamp the optical fiber 3 pulled out from the holder 12 by the pulling means 20, and as shown in FIG. Friction member 32 such as rubber
a is attached, and is biased toward the clamping wall 33a of the clamping member 33 by a biasing spring 38 interposed between the cutting cylinder 31 and the clamping member 33. As shown in FIG. 6, the clamping member 33 is an L-shaped member fixed on the guide plate 36 when viewed from the side, and includes a clamping wall 33a rising upward, the clamping member 32, and the cutter 3.
4, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 8, a gap C is formed into which the optical fiber 3 is introduced during cutting.

The cutter 34 is connected to the tip of the rod 31b of the cut cylinder 31, and cuts the optical fiber 3 held by the holding members 32 and 33 in a shearing manner between it and the holding wall 33a. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the upper and lower surfaces and both side surfaces are in contact with guide plates 35, 36 and clamping members 32, 33 so that the forward movement of the cylinder 31 is smoothly guided.

The moving means 40 moves the cutting means 30 up and down as well as in the width direction of the installation table 2, as shown in FIG.
And as shown in FIG. 7, a lifting cylinder 41, a lifting platform 42
and a slide table 43. The elevating cylinder 41 is erected approximately at the center of the installation base 2, and raises and lowers the elevating base 42 to a predetermined position.

The elevating table 42 is connected to the rod 41a of the cylinder 41 at the lower part of the bottom wall 42a, has side walls 42b and 42c extending in the width direction, and is a member having a concave shape in side view with both sides in the width direction open. A drive motor 44 is installed horizontally on the side wall 42b. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a bracket 45 is attached to the side wall 42b, and position confirmation sensors 46, 46 (one not shown) are provided on this bracket 45 at a predetermined interval in the width direction. There is. Each sensor 46 detects the movement position of the slide table 43 in the width direction, which will be described later, and based on this detected position, the table 43
The operation of a drive motor 44 is controlled.

[0024] The drive motor 44 is connected to the slide table 43.
side walls 42b, 42c.
The rotating shaft 44a is installed between the rotating shafts 44a and 44a.
A gear 44b is attached to 4a. Moreover, cross rollers 42d, 42d for guiding the movement of the slide table 43 are attached to the inner sides of the side walls 42b, 42c of the lifting platform 42.

Furthermore, the lifting platform 42 is shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 7.
As shown in FIG. 2, the elevating cylinder 41 of the installation table 2 is surrounded by a support wall 47 erected, and its vertical movement is guided by a plurality of cross rollers 48 provided on the support wall 47. Here, the support wall 47 has an opening 4 at the top of each wall surface.
7a is formed. The slide table 43 has a rack gear 43a attached to its lower surface in the width direction, and is slidably installed on the upper part of the lifting table 42 via cross rollers 42d, 42d. Thereby, the slide table 43 is moved to the gear 44 that meshes with the rack gear 43a.
b, the cutting means 30 is moved in the width direction to the position of the optical fiber 3 drawn out by the drawing means 20 while being guided by the cross rollers 42d, 42d.

The drawer device 1 of the present invention is constructed as described above and is used in the following manner. The illustrated state of the drawer device 1 is the initial state before operation. First, there is a case where the end processing of the optical fiber 3 in the end processing device in the previous process is defective, and the optical fiber 3 is not separated into a plurality of strands 3a, or the plurality of optical fibers 3a are not cut uniformly, etc. , a transport device (not shown) moves the holder 12 holding the poorly processed optical fiber 3.
is transported to the drawer device 1, and the mounting wall 13 of the mounting table 10,
It will be installed between 13 and 13.

Then, the push cylinder 16 operates to press the lower part of the biasing arm 15, pushing the rear part of the holder 12 forward and bringing it into contact with the stopper 14. Thereby, the holder 12 is positioned at a predetermined position on the mounting base 10. Next, the pulling means 20 is activated to grip the distal end side of the optical fiber 3 by the set of gripping claws 21a, 21a of the head 21, and then the cylinder 23 is activated to pull the slider 23e through the cylinder tube 23c and the guide shaft 23d. 23d toward the end cover 23a side. As a result, the head 21 moves together with the support base 22 in the longitudinal direction of the installation base 2, which is the axial direction of the optical fiber 3, and is held by the holder 12 against the holding force of the magnetic force, as shown in FIG. The optical fiber 3 is pulled out to a predetermined length.

When the optical fiber 3 has been pulled out from the holder 12, the moving means 40 is activated and the bracket 45
A drive motor 44 whose operation is controlled by position confirmation sensors 46 and 46 provided in the slide table 43 moves the slide table 43 a predetermined distance in the width direction toward the pull-out means 20 side. Thereby, the cutting means 30 is moved directly below the optical fiber 3 pulled out from the holder 12.

Next, the lifting cylinder 41 is operated to raise the lifting table 42, and the optical fiber 3 is introduced into the gap C formed between the clamping wall 33a of the cutting means 40, the clamping member 32, and the cutter 34. Ru. The introduction of the optical fiber 3 into the gap C is confirmed by the fiber sensor 37. After that, the cutting means 30 is activated, and the cutting cylinder 31
The rod 31b is fed out, and the cutter 34 is inserted into the clamping member 3.
2 and are pushed out toward the clamping wall 33a of the clamping member 33. As a result, due to the biasing force from the biasing spring 38,
After the optical fiber 3 is clamped by the friction member 32a and the clamping wall 33a, the cutter 34 is further pushed out, and the optical fiber 3 is sheared and cut between the clamping wall 33a.

[0030] In this way, the optical fiber 3 is cut back to the state before the termination process, and it becomes possible to retry the termination process. Here, as shown in FIG.
and is housed in a waste box 24 located directly below the cutting means 30. In this way, the drawing device 1 which has completed the processing work of the optical fiber 3 is operated in the opposite manner to that described above.
The mounting base 10, the pulling means 20, the cutting means 30, and the moving means 40 are returned to their original initial states. Further, the optical fiber 3 that has been pulled out to the length before the end treatment is conveyed to the end treatment device by a transport device (not shown) together with the holder 12 holding the optical fiber 3, and the end treatment is performed again.

[0031]

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, according to the optical fiber drawing device of the present invention, even if an optical fiber with a defective end treatment occurs, it can be easily pulled out to the length before the end treatment. If it is incorporated into an automatic measuring device, terminal processing, butt connection with a measuring fiber for optical measurement, etc. can be automatically performed. Therefore, if the termination of the optical fiber is defective, the optical fiber held in the holder can be pulled out to its original length and the termination can be automatically retried without the need for human intervention. , it has excellent effects such as further improving processing efficiency in automatic measurement of optical fibers.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an optical fiber drawing device of the present invention, and is a schematic configuration diagram of the drawing device.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the optical fiber drawing device of the present invention, and is a side view showing a state in which the optical fiber is drawn out.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the drawer device of FIG. 2 in an initial state.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the drawer device of FIG. 3, seen from the left side.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V-V of the drawer device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along VI-VI of the drawer device shown in FIG. 3;

[Fig. 7] VII-VI in the drawer device shown in Fig. 4
It is an I sectional view.

FIG. 8 is a sectional plan view of a main part showing a cutting means.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Optical fiber extraction device 3
Optical fiber 10 Mounting base 12 Holder (holder) 20 Pulling means 21 Head 21a Gripping claw 23 Cylinder 30 Cutting means 31 Cut cylinder 32 Clamping member 33 Clamping member 34 Cutter 40 Moving means 41 Lifting cylinder 42 Lifting table 43 Slide table 43a Rack gear 44 Drive motor 44a Rotating shaft 44b Gear 50 Drawing device 51 Mounting base 52 Drawing means 53 Drawing hand 54 Moving mechanism

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A mounting base for attaching a holder holding an optical fiber terminal extended for a predetermined length, and a mounting base disposed near the mounting base for gripping the optical fiber held by the holder to attach the optical fiber. an optical fiber drawing device, comprising a drawing device that moves in the axial direction of the holder and pulls out the optical fiber from the holder.