JPH0568685B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to an improvement in a method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit in which a plurality of optical fiber wires are arranged in parallel in a plane and a protective layer is integrally provided thereon. It is.

[Prior art]

Conventionally, an optical tape type unit as shown in FIG. 3 has been known. This is the optical fiber 1,
A plurality of optical fiber wires 3 provided with a coating layer 2 made of silicone are arranged in parallel in a plane, and are integrally coated with a protective layer 4 made of nylon. However, in conventional optical tape units in which the coating layer 2 is made of silicone and the protective layer 4 is made of nylon, hydrogen is generated over time due to this combination of materials, and this changes to hydroxyl groups within the optical fiber 1. However, it is known that the transmission characteristics of the optical fiber 1 are deteriorated. In addition, the material takes time to cure, making it impossible to increase the manufacturing line speed. Therefore, there is also the problem that lower prices cannot be achieved. Therefore, various materials have been studied so far, and as a result, it has been proposed that both the covering layer 2 and the protective layer 4 be made of ultraviolet curable resin. In this way, the optical tape type unit in which the coating layer 2 and the protective layer 4 are made of ultraviolet curable resin is difficult to generate hydrogen, and
Since the curing speed of the material is fast, manufacturing costs can be reduced, which has the advantage of producing products at low prices. By the way, in the conventional method of manufacturing an optical tape type unit made of this type of ultraviolet curable resin, as shown in FIG. , 10, . . . and arranged in parallel in a plane with a guide roll 11 to form an optical fiber assembly, a material supply tank 12 supplies liquid ultraviolet curable resin to the entire optical fiber assembly. The protective layer 4 made of the ultraviolet curable resin is cured by applying ultraviolet rays using an ultraviolet lamp 14 while being formed into a tape shape using a molding die 13. After that, the protective layer 4 made of the ultraviolet curable resin is taken off and rolled up using a take-off machine 15. It is wound by a take-up machine 16. However, in this conventional manufacturing method, after forming an optical fiber assembly, the liquid ultraviolet curable resin is supplied and applied to the entire optical fiber assembly at once, so that the liquid ultraviolet curable resin is adjacent to each other. The optical fibers cannot fully penetrate into the gap between the optical fiber wires 3, 3, and remain as bubbles inside the optical tape type unit, causing appearance defects such as abnormal protrusions on the tape surface. In the case of an optical tape type unit that has a defective appearance as described above, for example, if a cable is constructed by laminating a plurality of optical tape units, when the cable is bent or The tape type unit compresses the optical tape type units adjacent above and below it, causing an increase in transmission loss of the optical fiber wire 3.

[Purpose of the invention]

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to arrange a plurality of optical fibers each having a coating layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin in parallel on a plane, and to integrally cover the optical fibers with a protective layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin. An object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method for obtaining an optical tape type unit having no appearance defects.

[Structure of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit of the present invention provides a method for manufacturing an optical tape unit of the present invention. In a method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit comprising a fiber assembly and a protective layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin integrally provided around the optical fiber assembly, the protective layer is individually pre-contained in a liquid form. The method is characterized in that a plurality of optical fiber strands coated with an ultraviolet curable resin are integrally formed into a tape shape using a molding die, and then cured by irradiation with ultraviolet rays.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit of the present invention includes bobbins 10, 10... , and aligned in parallel in a plane with guide rolls 11.
While there is still sufficient space between the optical fibers 3, the resin is supplied from the material supply tank 12 using, for example, a resin coating jig 17 with a comb-shaped cross section as shown in FIG. 2A. A liquid ultraviolet curable resin is sufficiently applied to each optical fiber strand 3 in advance. Of course, as the resin coating jig 17, a batten type jig is used as shown in FIG. The resin may be supplied and applied, and the resin may be sufficiently spread around each optical fiber strand 3 while being squeezed using this batten-shaped resin application jig 17.
Thereafter, the excess resin is removed using a molding die 13, and the whole is integrally molded to a predetermined size (for example, as shown in FIG. 3), followed by irradiation with ultraviolet light using an ultraviolet lamp 14. The liquid ultraviolet curable resin is cured to form a protective layer 4, which is then taken up by a take-up machine 15 and wound up by a wind-up machine 16.

According to the method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit of the present invention, the liquid ultraviolet curable resin is applied in advance around each optical fiber 3 by the resin coating jig 17. , molding die 1
When the optical fibers 3 are molded as shown in FIG. 3, almost no air bubbles are formed between the optical fibers 3. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an optical tape type unit that has an excellent appearance, that is, has few appearance abnormalities such as abnormal protrusions, and has good dimensional accuracy.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit of the present invention, a plurality of optical fibers each having a coating layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin are arranged in parallel in a plane, In an optical tape type unit integrally coated with a protective layer, it is possible to obtain an optical tape type unit with no appearance defects, that is, with high dimensional accuracy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus showing an embodiment of the method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit of the present invention, and FIGS. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of an optical tape type unit, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a conventional manufacturing method of an optical tape type unit. 2...Coating layer, 3...Optical tape type unit, 4
...Protective layer, 12...Material supply tank, 13...
Molding die, 14...ultraviolet lamp, 17...resin coating jig.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber assembly formed by arranging a plurality of optical fibers made of optical fibers with a coating layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin arranged in parallel in a plane, and an optical fiber assembly formed integrally around the optical fiber assembly. In the method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit having a protective layer made of an ultraviolet curable resin, the protective layer is formed by molding a plurality of optical fiber wires individually coated with a liquid ultraviolet curable resin in advance. 1. A method for manufacturing an optical tape type unit, which comprises integrally molding it into a tape shape, and then curing it by irradiating it with ultraviolet rays.