Method and apparatus for processing edge surfaces of optical fibers, and method and apparatus for fusion splicing optical fibers
First Claim
1. An optical fiber edge surface processing method comprising:
- capturing a transmitted-light image of end portions of two optical fibers placed facing each other, and extracting, based on a brightness distribution in said transmitted-light image, edge surface information of each of said two optical fibers to be spliced together;
selecting a discharge condition corresponding to said edge surface information from among a plurality of discharge conditions prestored in a storage means; and
melting the splicing edge surfaces of said two optical fibers in accordance with said selected discharge condition, and thereby shaping said splicing edge surfaces.
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Abstract
An optical fiber edge surface processing method has the steps of capturing a transmitted-light image of end portions of two optical fibers placed facing each other, and extracting, based on a brightness distribution in the transmitted-light image, edge surface information of each of the two optical fibers to be spliced together; selecting a discharge condition corresponding to the edge surface information from among a plurality of discharge conditions prestored in a storage unit; and melting the splicing edge surfaces of the two optical fibers in accordance with the selected discharge condition, and thereby shaping the splicing edge surfaces. With this method, splice loss can be reduced in a simple manner, even when the edge surface angle of each optical fiber, or the relative edge surface angle between the two optical fibers, or the amount of chipping at the splicing cross section of each optical fiber, is large.
13 Citations
11 Claims
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1. An optical fiber edge surface processing method comprising:
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capturing a transmitted-light image of end portions of two optical fibers placed facing each other, and extracting, based on a brightness distribution in said transmitted-light image, edge surface information of each of said two optical fibers to be spliced together;
selecting a discharge condition corresponding to said edge surface information from among a plurality of discharge conditions prestored in a storage means; and
melting the splicing edge surfaces of said two optical fibers in accordance with said selected discharge condition, and thereby shaping said splicing edge surfaces. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An optical fiber edge surface processing apparatus comprising:
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image capturing means for capturing a transmitted-light image of end portions of two optical fibers;
information extracting means for extracting edge surface information of each of said two optical fibers based on a brightness distribution in said transmitted-light image;
storage means for prestoring a plurality of discharge conditions;
selecting means for selecting a discharge condition corresponding to said edge surface information from among said plurality of discharge conditions; and
processing means for melting the splicing edge surfaces of said two optical fibers in accordance with said discharge condition selected by said selecting means, and thereby shaping said splicing edge surfaces.
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9. An optical fiber fusion splicing method for fusion splicing two optical fibers together, comprising:
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capturing a transmitted-light image of end portions of said two optical fibers placed facing each other, and extracting, based on a brightness distribution in said transmitted-light image, edge surface information of each of said two optical fibers to be spliced together;
selecting a splicing condition corresponding to said edge surface information from among a plurality of splicing conditions prestored in a storage means; and
producing a preliminary arc discharge in accordance with said selected splicing condition, thereby melting and shaping the splicing edge surfaces of said two optical fibers.
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10. An optical fiber fusion splicing method for fusion splicing two optical fibers together, comprising:
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capturing a transmitted-light image of end portions of said two optical fibers placed facing each other, and extracting, based on a brightness distribution in said transmitted-light image, edge surface information of each of said two optical fibers to be spliced together;
selecting a splicing condition corresponding to said edge surface information from among a plurality of splicing conditions prestored in a storage means; and
producing a cleaning arc discharge in accordance with said selected splicing condition, thereby melting and shaping the splicing edge surfaces of said two optical fibers.
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11. An optical fiber fusion splicing apparatus for fusion splicing two optical fibers together, comprising:
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image capturing means for capturing a transmitted-light image of end portions of said two optical fibers;
information extracting means for extracting edge surface information of each of said two optical fibers based on a brightness distribution in said transmitted-light image;
storage means for prestoring a plurality of splicing conditions;
selecting means for selecting a splicing condition corresponding to said edge surface information from among said plurality of splicing conditions;
discharging means for producing an arc discharge to be applied to the splicing edge surfaces of said two optical fibers; and
control means for controlling the amount of discharge energy of said arc discharge in accordance with said splicing condition selected by said selecting means.
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Specification