JP3162565B2 - Method for processing excess connection length of optical cable with connector and connection box - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for processing an extra length of an optical fiber cable housed in an optical cable and having a terminal connected to an optical connector, and a connection box.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When connecting a plurality of optical fiber cores housed in two opposing optical cables by an optical connector provided at the end of the optical fiber core, an optical fiber core guided from each optical cable terminal is used. If the length to the end of the wire is extremely short, the optical fibers cannot be connected to each other, which is not preferable. In order to avoid such a situation, the connector is connected with an extra length than before.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a connection portion of a conventional optical cable. In the figure, 1 is an optical cable, 5 is an optical cable engaging portion, 6 is a connection box, 11 is an optical fiber core, 1
2 is an optical connector, 13 is an extra length storage sheet, and 14 is a winding part. The two optical cables 1 are locked by an optical cable locking section 5 and fixed to a connection box 6. A large number of optical fiber core wires 11 are drawn from the end of the optical cable 1.
The optical fiber core 11 is pulled out more than the length required for connection. An optical connector 12 is provided at the tip of the optical fiber core 11. The optical connectors 12 of the optical fiber core wires 11 drawn from the respective optical cables 1 are connected to each other. After the connection, the extra length portion is wound a plurality of times to form a winding portion 14, and the plurality of optical fiber cores 1
Each of the sheets is stored in the extra length storage sheet 13 separately. In this state, it is stored in the connection box 6.

The optical fibers 11 have low rigidity and a large number of fibers, so that the optical fibers are easily entangled with each other. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, each winding portion 14 is stored in the extra-length storage sheet 13. Thus, when it becomes necessary to access the connector connection part for some reason after the cable connection, the target connector and the optical fiber can be taken out without being entangled with other optical fibers.

However, in the above-described conventional method, an on-site work is required in which the extraly drawn optical fiber cores 11 are wound one by one and stored in the extra-length storage sheet 13.
There was a disadvantage that workability was poor.

As a surplus length processing method without using a surplus length storage sheet, for example, there is a method described in Japanese Patent Application No. 4-323279. In this method, the optical cable is fixed off-axis, the optical fiber core wire taken out of the optical cable is once turned back in the connection box, and the connector is connected substantially at the center. According to this method, one of the optical fibers is used.
Since it is not necessary to perform troublesome extra processing for one book,
Workability is improved. However, in a multi-core optical cable, 1
The connection operation must be performed for each single optical fiber core, and the extra length of the optical fiber core is easily entangled as described above. These problems remain.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and can easily process an extra length of an optical fiber core, thereby reducing the work efficiency in the operation of connecting an optical cable. It is an object of the present invention to provide a surplus length processing method and a connection box that can be improved.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an optical fiber ribbon is drawn out from each cable end of a plurality of optical cables and connected to the end of the optical fiber ribbon. After connecting the optical connectors with an extra length remaining, the connecting multi-core optical connector is fixed to a connector connector fixing member provided at a fixing position between the cable terminals. In the method, the optical fiber ribbons pulled out from the respective cable terminals are stacked and bundled so as not to be separated from each other in plurals to form an optical fiber ribbon, and each optical fiber ribbon is configured. The multi-fiber optical connectors of the optical fiber ribbons are combined for each optical fiber ribbon bundle to form one connector assembly, and the connector assemblies are connected to each other. Subsequently, the connector connector is fixed to the connector connector such that the optical fiber tape core bundle is pulled out from each of the cable terminals and crosses over the fixing position, and then reaches the fixing position in an inverted state. Characterized by being fixed to a member,
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the method for processing a connection portion excess length of an optical cable with a connector according to the first aspect, the fixed position is a substantially center position between the cable terminals. It is.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an optical fiber ribbon is pulled out from each cable end of a plurality of optical cables, and the multi-fiber optical connectors connected to the ends of the optical fiber ribbon have an extra length. In the connection box of an optical cable with a connector, the connected multi-core optical connector is fixed to a connector connector fixing member provided at a fixed position between the cable terminals after being connected. The optical fiber ribbons locked by cable locking portions provided at the ends of the connection box and pulled out from the respective cable terminals are stacked in bundles of a plurality of optical fibers and bundled so as not to be separated. The fiber ribbon bundle is configured, and the multi-fiber optical connectors of the optical fiber ribbon constituting each optical fiber ribbon are combined for each optical fiber ribbon. The connector connectors are connected to each other to form a connector connector, and the connector connector is formed by pulling out the optical fiber ribbon from each of the cable terminals. The connector connecting body fixing member is fixed to the connector connecting member fixing member so as to reach the fixing position in an inverted state after exceeding the fixing position.

[0010]

According to the present invention, the optical fiber ribbons pulled out from the plurality of optical cables are processed as an optical fiber ribbon bundle in which a plurality of optical fibers are laminated, so that the optical fiber ribbon bundles to be extra-length processed are processed. The rigidity of the optical fiber tape increases twice as many as the number of laminated optical fiber ribbons, and the number of bundles of the optical fiber tapes to be processed extra decreases according to the number of laminated optical fibers. As a result, as compared with the case where each optical fiber ribbon is processed one by one as in the conventional method,
The fear of entanglement is greatly reduced. Further, there is no need to separately store the sheet in the extra-length storage sheet, and the workability can be improved. Further, since the connection is performed for each connector combined body, the work of connecting the connectors can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, the optical fiber ribbon pulled out from the optical cable, after exceeding the fixed position of the connector connector located between the respective cable terminals, is reversed and returned, and provided at the fixed position of the connector connector. Since it is fixed to the connector connector fixing member, a sufficient extra length can be taken. In addition, variations in length between the optical fiber ribbons can be absorbed by adjusting the reversal position of the optical fiber ribbons.

By setting the position where the connector connecting member fixing member is provided substantially at the center of each cable terminal, the same extra space for securing the extra length from each cable terminal to the connector connecting member fixing member is secured. be able to.

The above-mentioned excess length processing method can be performed by using a connection box having a connector connector fixing member for fixing the connector connector. That is, the optical fiber ribbon is reversed after exceeding the fixing position of the connector connector fixing member, and the connector coupling members provided for each optical fiber tape ribbon are connected and fixed to the connector connector fixing member. . Thereby, workability can be improved as described above. Further, since the connector connector can be fixed to the connector connector fixing member in an orderly manner, when it becomes necessary to access the connector connector at a later date, the target connector and the optical fiber ribbon are connected to another optical fiber. It can be taken out without being entangled with the fiber ribbon.

[0013]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a connecting portion of an optical cable with a connector according to the present invention. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 2 is an optical fiber tape bundle, 3 is a connector assembly, 4 is a connector connector fixing member, and 7 is an intermediate member. The two optical cables 1 are locked by an optical cable locking section 5 and fixed to a connection box 6. In FIG. 1, the terminal portion of the optical cable 1 is locked, but the cable terminal is projected into the connection box 6,
The optical cable 1 may be configured to be locked midway.
Although the two optical cables 1 are arranged coaxially in FIG. 1, they may be arranged off-axis.

A large number of optical fiber ribbons are drawn from the terminal of the optical cable 1. The optical fiber ribbon is pulled out more than the length required for connection. This optical fiber tape is laminated every plural sheets,
The optical fiber ribbon bundle 2 is constituted. As a method of bundling the optical fiber tape cores, for example, a method of bundling optical fiber tapes at regular intervals using a heat-shrinkable tube can be used. However, any method may be used as long as the bundled tape cores are not separated.

At the end of the optical fiber ribbon 2, a connector connector 3 is provided. The connector assembly 3 is a combination of a multi-core optical connector provided at the end of each optical fiber tape core constituting the optical fiber tape core bundle 2. The connector combination 3 of the optical fiber ribbon 2 pulled out from each optical cable 1
They are connected via an intermediate member 7. The connected connector assembly 3 is fixed to the connector connector fixing member 4 as a connector connector. At this time, the optical fiber ribbon core bundle 2 connected to the connector connector is disposed so as to pass once from the cable terminal to the side of the connector connector fixing member 4, invert and reach the connector connector fixing member 4.

The space between the connector connector fixing member 4 and the cable end of the optical cable 1 is an area where the optical fiber ribbon bundle 2 pulled out from the other optical cable 1 is folded back. By arranging the connector connector fixing member 4 substantially at the center of the connection box 6, it is possible to provide a substantially equal space for the optical cable 1 to be folded.
However, the position of the connector connector fixing member 4 is not limited to this. For example, the connector connector fixing member 4 can be arranged close to one of the cable terminals.

In connection work of the optical cable 1, the optical cable is locked to the connection box 6 by the optical cable locking part 5, the optical fiber tape core bundle 2 is taken out, and the connector assembly of the optical fiber tape core bundle 2 to be connected. 3 are connected to each other. Then, after the connector connectors 3 are connected to each other, the connector connector is rotated by a half turn so that the connector connector fixing member 4 is rotated.
Should be fixed to. By such a simple operation, each optical fiber can be connected, and the excess length processing of each optical fiber ribbon can be performed. Therefore, conventionally,
Compared to performing extra length processing for each optical fiber,
Workability can be remarkably improved.

Although the intermediate member 7 is used to connect the connector combination 3 shown in FIG. 1, it is possible to connect using the connector combination 3 of the same shape by adopting such a configuration. it can. Of course, the connector combination 3 may be configured as a male / female structure and connected without using the intermediate member 7.

In the above-described connection box, a case where two optical cables are connected has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention can be applied to connection of three or more optical cables. For example, the present invention can be used when a multi-core optical cable is branched into two optical cables having a smaller number of cores.

Next, the surplus length processing of the present invention will be described based on a specific example. As the optical cable 1, a 1600-core optical cable composed of 100 16-core optical fiber ribbons was used. A 16-fiber optical connector is attached to the tip of each optical fiber ribbon. Here, an optical fiber tape core bundle was formed by laminating five optical fiber tape core wires, and a connector combined body was formed by laminating five 16-fiber optical connectors and capable of connecting 80 cores at a time. As a result,
The number of connector assemblies is twenty. The connection between the 20 connector connectors is performed, and the optical fiber ribbon is passed over the connector connector fixing member as shown in FIG. 1 and then reversed, and the connector connector is connected to the connector connector fixing member. Fixed. At this time, due to the rigidity of the optical fiber for 80 cores, the optical fiber tape core bundle was able to carry out the extra length processing work without being entangled with other fiber bundles at all. The working time required for connecting the 1600 optical fiber cable in this specific example was about 2 hours. FIG.
If the conventional method described using
As for the connection time of the 00-fiber optical cable, it took a long time for extra processing, and it took about 10 hours. From this specific example, it was confirmed that, according to the present invention, the workability of cable connection and excess length processing was significantly improved.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the rigidity is increased by bundling the optical fiber tape core wires, and a plurality of multi-core fibers are collectively connected by connecting the connector combined bodies. By connecting the connectors at the same time and using a simple method of simply folding back the bundle of optical fiber ribbons as the extra length processing method, the effect of improving the workability of optical cable connection and extra length processing is improved. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing one embodiment of a connecting portion of an optical cable with a connector of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of a connection portion of a conventional optical cable.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical cable 2 Optical fiber ribbon core bundle 3 Connector combination 4 Connector combination fixing member 5 Optical cable locking part 6 Connection box 7 Intermediate member 11 Optical fiber core 12 Optical connector 13 Extra length storage sheet 14 Winding part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Michito Matsumoto 1-6-1, Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Yasuo Ishino 1-1-6, Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation Examiner Eiichi Yoshida (56) References JP-A-3-245109 (JP, A) JP-A-5-11107 (JP, U) JP-A-60-133408 (JP, U) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 6/00 G02B 6/38

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] An optical fiber ribbon is pulled out from each cable end of a plurality of optical cables, and after connecting the multi-core optical connectors connected to the ends of the optical fiber ribbon with an extra length remaining, In the method for processing a connection portion excess length of an optical cable with a connector for fixing a connected multi-core optical connector to a connector connector fixing member provided at a fixed position between the cable terminals, the light extracted from each of the cable terminals A plurality of optical fiber ribbons are laminated and bundled so as not to be separated to form an optical fiber ribbon, and a multi-core optical connector of the optical fiber ribbon constituting each optical fiber ribbon is connected to each optical fiber. Each of the fiber tape core bundles is combined to form one connector joint, and the connector joints are connected to each other to form a connector joint. A connector, wherein the connector is fixed to the connector connecting member fixing member so as to reach the fixing position in a state where the optical fiber tape bundle is pulled out from each of the cable ends and passed over the fixing position and then turned over. For processing excess length of connection part of optical cable with cable. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the fixed position is a substantially central position between the cable terminals. 3. After the optical fiber ribbon is pulled out from each cable end of the plurality of optical cables, and the multi-fiber optical connectors connected to the ends of the optical fiber ribbon are connected with an extra length remaining. In a connection box of an optical cable with a connector, the connected multi-core optical connector is fixed to a connector connector fixing member provided at a fixed position between the respective cable terminals, wherein the optical cable is provided at an end of the connection box. The optical fiber ribbons locked by the provided cable locking portion and pulled out from each of the cable terminals are stacked so as to be stacked on a plurality of sheets and bundled so as not to be separated, thereby forming an optical fiber tape core bundle. The multi-core optical connectors of the optical fiber ribbons constituting each of the optical fiber ribbons are combined into one connector for each optical fiber ribbon. The connector connectors are connected to each other to form a connector connector, and the connector connector is such that the optical fiber tape core bundle is pulled out from each of the cable terminals and exceeds the fixing position. A connection box for an optical cable with a connector, wherein the connection box is fixed to the connector connection member fixing member so as to reach the fixing position in an inverted state after the connection.