Coating forming device of optical fiber

Details Coating forming device of optical fiber Coating forming device of optical fiber

2001-08-01

2004-03-23

Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)

Coating apparatus

With means to apply electrical and/or radiant energy to work...

Radiant heating

C118S050100, C118S420000, C118S663000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06709518

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a coating forming device of an optical fiber used when a new coating is formed in e.g., a coating removing portion of an optical fiber core wire, etc.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
An optical fiber core wire formed by arranging a coating on the outer circumferential side of an optical fiber is widely used in fields of optical communication, optical measurement, etc. When optical fiber core wires are connected to each other, the coating of a connecting portion is conventionally stripped and e.g., its coating removing portion is nipped by a connecting member and the optical fiber core wires are connected to each other. Further, similar to the above case, after the coating is stripped, the coating removing portion is connected by melting attachment connection, and its connection portion is coated with a thermal contraction tube.
In recent years, for example, as communication capacity in the optical communication field is enlarged, etc., a device and an apparatus for mounting optical parts at high density have been developed. Therefore, after the optical fiber core wire is connected, the coating of the connection portion is regenerated on trial, and a recoater as a coating forming device for regenerating the coating in the above coating removing portion of the optical fiber core wire has been noticed. If the coating of the coating removing portion of the optical fiber core wire is regenerated, an outer shape size of the connecting portion can be greatly reduced in comparison with a case in which the connecting member and the thermal contraction tube are arranged in the above connecting portion.
FIG. 8
typically shows an example of a conventional recoater in an attaching state of an optical fiber core wire
3
. In this figure, a coating removing portion
4
is a coating forming portion of an optical fiber. The coating removing portion
4
is generally arranged within a resin injecting die
10
for injecting resin for coating formation, and is constructed such that ultraviolet light hardening resin in a liquid shape is injected to the resin injecting die
10
.
The recoater has a light source
2
and a light receiver
5
such as a photodiode, etc. The light source
2
irradiates ultraviolet light to the resin for coating formation molded (concretely injected to the resin injecting die
10
) to the coating removing portion
4
. The light receiver
5
receives the ultraviolet light irradiated from the light source
2
to the resin for coating formation, and detects intensity of the ultraviolet light. The light receiver
5
is connected to an optical output controller
1
. The optical output controller
1
feedback-controls an optical output of the above light source
2
on the basis of the ultraviolet light intensity detected by the light receiver
5
. The above resin for coating formation is hardened by the ultraviolet light from the light source
2
so that a coating is regenerated in the coating removing portion
4
.
For example, the optical output of the light source
2
and a function of the light receiver
5
are influenced by a circumferential temperature, etc. However, such an influence due to an environment is not considered in the conventional recoater. Therefore, there is a case in which no optical output of the light source
2
is precisely controlled by the optical output controller
1
, and e.g., the optical output of the light source
2
is too weak to regenerate the coating.
The present invention is made to solve the above conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a coating forming device of an optical fiber able to precisely control the output of a light source for ultraviolet light irradiation at any time in the formation of a coating using ultraviolet light hardening resin in a coating forming portion of an optical fiber so that the coating can be precisely formed at any time.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the above object, the present invention has the following construction as a means for solving the problem. Namely, the present invention resides in a coating forming device of an optical fiber characterized in that the coating forming device comprises a light source for irradiating ultraviolet light to resin for coating formation molded to a coating forming portion of the optical fiber; a light receiver for receiving the ultraviolet light irradiated from the light source to the resin for coating formation and detecting intensity of the ultraviolet light; an environmental sensor for detecting environmental information including at least the temperature of a coating formation working area; and an optical output controller for feedback-controlling an optical output of said light source on the basis of the environmental information detected by the environmental sensor, the ultraviolet light intensity detected by said light receiver, and control data for controlling the optical output of said light source based on the ultraviolet light intensity and said environmental information.
In one embodiment mode example of the present invention, at least the temperature sensor of the environmental sensor is arranged on one or both sides of a light source arranging area and a light receiver arranging area.
In another aspect of the present invention, an ultraviolet light transmitting filter is arranged on an irradiating face side of the light source, and means for controlling the output of the light source in a direction for compensating light transmitting temperature dependence of this ultraviolet light transmitting filter is arranged.
Further, means for correcting a radiating spectrum distribution of the light source in conformity with a change in temperature dependence of a radiating spectrum distribution of the ultraviolet light transmitting filter may be also arranged.
Further, in another aspect of the present invention, the environmental sensor includes a sensor for detecting the environmental information for directly or indirectly judging generation of dew condensation, and a dew condensation generation judging section for judging the generation of dew condensation on the basis of a signal of this sensor, and a warning section for giving a warning of the generation of dew condensation by receiving judging results of the generation of dew condensation from this dew condensation generation judging section are arranged.
In the present invention, since the environmental sensor for detecting the environmental information including temperature is arranged, the environmental information of a coating formation working area can be detected by this environmental sensor. The optical output of the light source is feedback-controlled by the optical output controller on the basis of this environmental information, the ultraviolet light intensity detected by the above light receiver, and the control data for controlling the optical output of the above light source based on the ultraviolet light intensity and the above environmental information.
Accordingly, in the present invention, the optical output of the light source is precisely controlled in accordance with the above environmental information, and a coating can be precisely formed in the optical fiber at any time.


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