JP2016001338A - Optical fiber ribbon and optical fiber cable - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical fiber ribbon capable of facilitating removal of ribbon forming material after single core separation.SOLUTION: An optical fiber ribbon includes: plural coated optical fibers 10a and 10b disposed apart in parallel with each other; and a ribbon forming material 20 which has covering portions 21a and 21b for covering an outer periphery of the plural coated optical fibers 10a and 10b and coupling portions 22a and 22b, integrally formed with the covering portions 21a and 21b, which intermittently couple the adjoining coated optical fibers 10a and 10b with each other. The covering portions 21a and 21b have openings which expose a part of a surface of the coated optical fibers 10a and 10b, and at least a part of the covering portions 21a and 21b continues in the lengthwise direction of the coated optical fibers 10a and 10b.

Description

  The present invention relates to an intermittently fixed optical fiber tape core and an optical fiber cable in which adjacent optical fibers are intermittently fixed.

  In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for higher density and smaller diameter in optical fiber cables. In order to achieve the ultimate reduction in diameter, it is more advantageous to collect single optical fiber cores than the structure of the optical fiber tape cores. However, when single-core optical fibers are assembled, there is a problem that connection workability is deteriorated, for example, a fusion splicing cannot be performed in a lump.

  In order to solve this problem, in the optical fiber tape core composed of three or more optical fiber cores in parallel, a plurality of connecting portions that connect only between the adjacent optical fiber cores are in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber core In addition, an intermittently fixed type optical fiber ribbon that is intermittently arranged two-dimensionally in the width direction has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 5).

  In addition, due to the recent expansion of FTTH (Fiber To The Home), optical fiber cable cores are often separated from a single fiber core and connected to a single fiber core. .

  When this connection work is performed, if taped material remains on the outer periphery of a single optical fiber core, the outer diameter of the optical fiber core becomes larger than the hole diameter of the mechanical splice or field assembly connector. Therefore, a situation occurs in which the holes cannot be inserted. Therefore, a step of removing the taped material on the surface of the optical fiber core after the single core separation of the optical fiber core is required.

JP 2007-279226 A JP 2003-241041 A Japanese Patent No. 4143651 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-181009 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-232297

  However, in an optical fiber ribbon in which adjacent optical fibers are separated from each other in parallel, the taped material covers the periphery of each optical fiber, and is integrated by a connecting portion of the taped material, Since the taped material covers the entire circumference of the optical fiber core after separation, it is difficult to remove the taped material even if the adhesion between the colored layer of the optical fiber core and the taped material is lowered.

  Moreover, even if a special removal tool is used, the taped material and the colored layer can be simply peeled off, but the taped material covers the entire circumference of the optical fiber core wire, so that the taped material is removed. It is difficult to remove.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber ribbon and an optical fiber cable that can easily remove the taped material after the separation of the single core.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, a plurality of optical fiber core wires that are spaced apart from each other and arranged in parallel, a covering portion that covers the outer periphery of the plurality of optical fiber core wires, and a covering portion are formed integrally. A taped material having a connecting portion for intermittently connecting adjacent optical fiber cores, and the covering portion has an opening that exposes a part of the surface of the optical fiber core wire, and at least the covering portion An optical fiber ribbon that is partially continuous in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber is provided.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, an optical fiber cable mounted with the above-described optical fiber ribbon is provided.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the optical fiber tape core wire and optical fiber cable which can remove the tape-forming material after single core separation easily can be provided.

It is a top view which shows an example of the optical fiber tape cable core which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the AA cut surface of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows an example of the optical fiber tape cable core which concerns on embodiment of this invention. Fig.4 (a) is sectional drawing perpendicular | vertical to the longitudinal direction at the time of single fiber separation of the optical fiber tape cable core which concerns on a comparative example. FIG.4 (b) is sectional drawing following FIG.4 (a) at the time of single core separation of the optical fiber tape cable core which concerns on a comparative example. It is sectional drawing perpendicular | vertical to the longitudinal direction at the time of single fiber separation of the optical fiber tape core wire concerning embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing following FIG. 5 at the time of single fiber separation of the optical fiber tape core wire concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a table | surface showing the cross-section exposure angle which concerns on 3rd Example of embodiment of this invention, and the frequency | count of coating removal. It is sectional drawing perpendicular | vertical to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber ribbon based on other embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing perpendicular | vertical to the longitudinal direction at the time of single fiber separation of the optical fiber tape cable core which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following description of the drawings, the same or similar parts are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals. However, it should be noted that the drawings are schematic, and the relationship between the thickness and the planar dimensions, the ratio of the thickness of each layer, and the like are different from the actual ones. Therefore, specific thicknesses and dimensions should be determined in consideration of the following description. Moreover, it is a matter of course that portions having different dimensional relationships and ratios are included between the drawings.

  Further, the embodiments described below exemplify apparatuses and methods for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the technical idea of the present invention includes the material, shape, structure, The layout is not specified as follows. The technical idea of the present invention can be variously modified within the scope of the claims.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an optical fiber ribbon according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality (four cores) of optical fiber cores 10a to 10d extending in parallel and spaced apart from each other, and a plurality of optical fibers. Covering portions 21a to 21d that cover the outer circumferences of the fiber cores 10a to 10d, and connecting portions 22a to 22f that are formed integrally with the cover portions 21a to 21d and intermittently connect the adjacent optical fiber cores 10a to 10d. A taped material (outer jacket) 20 having In addition, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted in FIG. 1, the coating | coated parts 21a-21d of the tape forming material 20 have an opening part so that a part of surface of optical fiber core wire 10a-10d may be exposed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b include cores 11a and 11b and clads 12a and 12b made of quartz glass, and coating layers 13a and 13b made of ultraviolet curable resin covering the outer circumferences of the clads 12a and 12b. The coating layers 13a and 13b have colored layers 14a and 14b made of an ultraviolet curable resin that cover the outer periphery of the coating layers 13a and 13b, respectively. The optical fiber cores 10c and 10d shown in FIG. 1 also have the same structure as the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b. Hereinafter, description will be given focusing on the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b.

  As a material for the tape forming material 20, a thermoplastic resin, a thermosetting resin, or the like can be used in addition to an ultraviolet curable resin such as urethane acrylate or epoxy acrylate. The thickness of the connecting portion 22a of the tape forming material 20 may be thicker or thinner than the thickness of the covering portions 21a and 21b. The thickness of the connecting portion 22a is about 1 μm to 120 μm, and the thickness of the covering portions 21a and 21b is about 1 μm to 15 μm.

  2 and 3, the covering portions 21a and 21b of the taped material 20 have openings 31 to 35 so as to expose part of the surfaces of the colored layers 14a and 14b of the optical fiber core wires 10a and 10b. Have The shape, size, arrangement pattern, number, etc. of the openings 31 to 35 are not particularly limited.

  2 and 3, the openings 31 to 35 are shown to be provided irregularly, but may be provided regularly. For example, openings may be provided linearly or spirally at regular intervals in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the pattern which the opening part in the longitudinal direction per optical fiber core wire shows is one or more places for every coating removal length (for example, 5 cm) after single core separation.

  Further, the openings 31 to 35 may be provided on one side of the surface of the covering parts 21a and 21b, and provided on both sides in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b so as not to be biased on one side. May be.

  Further, the angle (cross-section exposure angle) θ at which the surfaces of the optical fiber core wires 10a and 10b are exposed by the openings 31 to 35 is preferably as large as possible from the viewpoint of reducing the number of coating removal after the single-core separation. The cross-section exposure angle θ is preferably 15 ° or more. If the cross-section exposure angle θ is 15 ° or more, the number of coating removal after single-core separation can be remarkably reduced. Further, the cross-sectional exposure angle θ is preferably 270 ° or less in order to ensure the separation strength of the connecting portion 22a. Note that the cross-sectional exposure angle θ is an angle formed by two straight lines connecting the centers of the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b and the ends of the openings 31 to 35 in a portion where the openings 31 to 35 are widest in the circumferential direction. And

  The covering portions 21a and 21b are not interrupted in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b, and at least a part of the covering portions 21a and 21b is continuous in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber core wires 10a and 10b. In other words, in any cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b, a part or all of the surface of the colored layers 14a and 14b is covered with the covering portions 21a and 21b.

  Here, a comparative example will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). As shown in FIG. 4 (a), adjacent optical fiber cores 101 are separated from each other in parallel, and are integrated by a taped material comprising a covering portion 102 and a connecting portion 103 that cover the optical fiber core wire 101. As shown in FIG. 4B, the tape core wire is cut at the connecting portion 103 when a single core is separated. As a result, since the covering portion 102 of the taped material covers the entire circumference of the optical fiber core wire 101, the covering portion 102 can be removed even if the adhesion between the surface of the optical fiber core wire 101 and the covering portion 102 is lowered. Have difficulty.

  On the other hand, according to the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the covering portions 21a and 21b of the taped material 20 are separated in advance before the single core separation. Are provided with openings 31 to 35 to expose part of the surfaces of the colored layers 14a and 14b of the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, after the connecting portion 22a is cut at the time of single core separation, the covering portions 21a and 21b are covered with the removal tools having polishing paper or brush portions, and the openings 31 to 35 are covered as starting points. The portions 21a and 21b are easily peeled off, and the covering portions 21a and 21b can be easily removed as shown in FIG.

(Manufacturing method of optical fiber ribbon)
As an example of the manufacturing method of the optical fiber ribbon according to the embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of optical fibers 10a to 10d are advanced in parallel, and an ultraviolet curable resin is applied to a predetermined position. Thereafter, the ultraviolet curable resin is cured by irradiating ultraviolet rays, and the connecting portions 22a to 22f for intermittently fixing the adjacent optical fiber cores 10a to 10d and the covering portions 21a to 21d covering the optical fiber core wires 10a to 10d. Form.

  Here, the opening parts 31-35 can be formed in the coating | coated parts 21a-21d by adjusting the supply amount of the ultraviolet curable resin apply | coated to the optical fiber core wires 10a-10d.

  Further, the shape, size, arrangement pattern, number, etc. of the openings 31 to 35 are adjusted by adjusting the supply amount of the ultraviolet curable resin applied to the optical fiber cores 10a to 10d, and adjusting the shape of the coating die or shutter. Can be appropriately controlled.

(First embodiment)
As a first example, using a colored optical fiber core having a diameter of 250 μm, four cores provided with openings so as to expose a part of the colored layer of the colored optical fiber core in the covering portion of the taped material. An intermittently fixed type optical fiber ribbon (sample A) was prepared. Further, as a comparative example, a four-fiber intermittently fixed type optical fiber tape core (sample B) was produced in which the covering portion of the taped material covers the entire circumference without exposing the colored layer of the colored optical fiber core.

  Single-core separation of the produced samples A and B was performed. After the single-core separation, the number of times of squeezing until the taped material could be removed was measured by squeezing the optical fiber core with polishing paper (manufactured by Koyo Co., Ltd., Micropolynet sheet WA-600 (particle size 20 μm)).

  As a result of the measurement, it was found that the sample A was 3 times and the sample B was 15 times, and the sample A was easier to remove the taped material than the sample B.

(Second embodiment)
Alcohol is applied to the same abrasive paper as in the first example, and the taped material is removed after single-core separation for samples A and B as in the first example until the taped material can be removed. The number of creaking was measured.

  As a result of the measurement, in Sample A, the number of times of squeezing the optical fiber core wire was reduced by about 12 on average from Sample B. This is presumably because alcohol entered and swollen from the portion where the colored layer was exposed due to part of the coating part being separated during single-core separation, and the colored layer and the coating part were more easily separated.

(Third embodiment)
Sample A similar to the first example was prepared by changing the exposure angle (cross-section exposure angle) of the opening of the covering portion to 90 ° and 15 °, and sample B (similar to the first example) In addition, the number of times of coating removal of the tape material was measured after the single core separation. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, it can be seen that the wider the cross-section exposure angle, the smaller the number of times the tape material is removed. In particular, it can be seen that if the exposure angle is 15 ° or more, the number of times of coating removal of the tape material is drastically reduced.

(Other embodiments)
As described above, the present invention has been described according to the embodiment. However, it should not be understood that the description and drawings constituting a part of this disclosure limit the present invention. From this disclosure, various alternative embodiments, examples and operational techniques will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

  For example, although four optical fiber ribbons have been described in the embodiment of the present invention, the number of the optical fibers constituting the optical fiber ribbon is not particularly limited. Further, the size and type of the optical fiber core wire are not particularly limited. For example, the structure without the colored layers 14a and 14b of the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b may be used. Moreover, the pitch and arrangement | positioning position of connection part 22a-22f are not specifically limited.

  Further, the outer periphery of the optical fiber cores 10a to 10d is surrounded by a buffer material such as jelly and yarn, and the optical fiber core wires 10a to 10d are collectively covered with a coating layer together with the buffer material, so that an optical fiber cable can be obtained. Good. The optical fiber ribbon and the optical fiber cable of the present invention are used for information communication and can be applied to all kinds of optical fibers such as a single mode fiber and a dispersion shifted fiber.

  3 shows the case where the surfaces of the covering portions 21a and 21b covering the optical fiber cores 10a and 10b are uniformly flat, but the surfaces of the covering portions 21a and 21b are not uniform as shown in FIG. It may have irregularities.

  Further, FIG. 5 shows a case where the connecting portion 22a between the covering portions 21a and 21b is cut at the time of single-core separation, but as shown in FIG. 9, the thickness of the connecting portion 22a and the thickness of the covering portions 21a and 21b. Due to the positions of the openings 31 and 32, etc., a part of the covering portion 21a may be cut without cutting the connecting portion 22a during single-core separation.

  As described above, the present invention naturally includes various embodiments not described herein. Therefore, the technical scope of the present invention is defined only by the invention specifying matters according to the scope of claims reasonable from the above description.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10a-10d ... Optical fiber core wire 11a, 11b ... Core 12a, 12b ... Cladding 13a, 13b ... Covering layer 14a, 14b ... Colored layer 20 ... Tape forming material 21a-21d ... Covering part 22a-22f ... Connecting part 31-35 …Aperture

Claims (7)

A plurality of optical fiber cores arranged in parallel spaced apart from each other;
Covering the outer periphery of each of the plurality of optical fiber cores, and connecting the cover portions that are separated from each other, and the cover portions that are integrally formed with the cover portion and that cover the adjacent optical fiber core wires. A taped material having a portion,
The thickness of the connecting portion is smaller than the thickness of the optical fiber core wire including the covering portion,
The covering portion has an opening that exposes a part of the surface of the optical fiber core, and at least a portion of the covering portion is continuous in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber core;
One or more openings per 5 cm in the longitudinal direction are formed at one or more openings in the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber core. The optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1,
The thickness of the said connection part is smaller than the diameter of the said optical fiber core wire, The optical fiber tape core wire characterized by the above-mentioned. The optical fiber ribbon according to claim 1 or 2,
The thickness of the connecting portion is 1 μm to 120 μm. An optical fiber ribbon according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The said connection part is formed between the said optical fiber core wires, The optical fiber tape core wire characterized by the above-mentioned. An optical fiber ribbon according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The optical fiber tape core wire, wherein the tape forming material is formed of an ultraviolet curable resin. An optical fiber ribbon according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A cross-section exposure angle θ of the opening is not less than 15 ° and not more than 270 °.   An optical fiber cable, wherein the optical fiber ribbon according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is mounted.

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