Optical cable plastic coating color changing feeding device and optical cable plastic coating equipment

Abstract

The optical cable coating color changing feeding device comprises a machine body and a feeding screw rod, a base is installed on the periphery of the head end of the machine body, a fixing channel in butt joint with a feeding connector is arranged on the upper side of the base, a rotating ring is installed on the periphery of the base, and the inner wall of the rotating ring is attached to the outer wall of the base; the rotating ring is provided with a plurality of movable channels which are arranged along the circumference and extend in the radial direction, bottle openings of the color masterbatch bottles are detachably connected with outer end openings of the movable channels respectively, and the color changing driver can drive the rotating ring to rotate around the axis of the rotating ring. The color masterbatch bottle located on the upper side is communicated with the interior of the machine body through the movable channel, the fixed channel and the feeding connector. Rapid color changing operation is achieved through a simple structure, and the control difficulty and the equipment investment cost are reduced. Automatic control over color changing is achieved, when color changing production is needed, manual cleaning and color changing are not needed, the color changing efficiency is improved, and scattering and waste of color masterbatch are avoided. The invention further discloses optical cable plastic coating equipment comprising the optical cable plastic coating, color changing and feeding device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of optical cable processing, and in particular to an optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device. In addition, the present invention also relates to an optical cable sheathing equipment comprising the above-mentioned optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device. Background Art

[0002] At present, in the secondary sheathing of optical fiber in optical cable products, the sheath material is mainly single-layer engineering plastic. In order to meet the requirements of optical fiber splicing and optical cable line maintenance, the optical fiber surface is color-differentiated, and the sheath that wraps the optical fiber also needs to be color-differentiated. The current color processing method for the sheath is to mix a certain proportion of masterbatch in the raw materials for the sheath, and produce colored sheaths through a melt extrusion process.

[0003] The sleeve processing production line is often equipped with a masterbatch feeding device. The screw diameter of the melt extrusion equipment of the sleeve material in the production line is relatively large. Changing the color in the sleeve production requires a lot of raw material consumption and time consumption, resulting in material waste and reduced efficiency. Specifically, the raw material of the sleeve is mainly PBT (polybutylene terephthalate). Adding masterbatch can dye the natural color PBT. When the sleeve is produced, the mixture is melted and extruded by an extruder, molded, and pulled and stretched into the required specifications. The mixing ratio of masterbatch and PBT determines the color depth of the sleeve. The commonly used masterbatch machine has only one hopper. When color change production is required, the previous color masterbatch needs to be manually released from the hopper and cleaned before adding the next color masterbatch. The operation is time-consuming and causes the masterbatch to be scattered and wasted. In addition, the feeding screw diameter of the masterbatch machine is relatively small, and the inner diameter of the barrel is generally more than one times the diameter of the screw. During the masterbatch conveying process, the screw is basically in the middle position of the masterbatch. For the color change operation process, the two colors of masterbatch are easily mixed during the rotation and advancement of the screw, resulting in an increase in the degree of color mixing of the masterbatch, thereby extending the color change production time and increasing material waste.

[0004] Therefore, how to provide a convenient color-changing optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device is a technical problem that technicians in this field currently need to solve. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a cable sheathing color changing feeding device, which can realize fast color changing operation through a simple structure, reduce the control difficulty and equipment investment cost. Another purpose of the present invention is to provide a cable sheathing equipment including the cable sheathing color changing feeding device.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides an optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device, comprising a body and a feeding screw arranged inside the body, a screw driver is installed at the head end of the body, a discharge interface for connecting to the feeding position of an extruder is arranged at the end of the body, a feeding interface is arranged on the upper side of the head end of the body, a base surrounding the axis of the body is installed on the outer periphery of the head end of the body, a fixed channel for docking with the feeding interface is arranged on the upper side of the base, a rotating ring surrounding the axis of the base is installed on the outer periphery of the base, and the The inner wall of the rotating ring fits the outer wall of the base, and the rotating ring is provided with a plurality of radially extending active channels arranged along the circumference. The bottle mouths of a plurality of masterbatch bottles are detachably connected to the outer end openings of the active channels respectively. The rotating ring also includes a color-changing driver, which can drive the rotating ring to rotate around the axis of the rotating ring so that one of the plurality of active channels rotates to the upper side and docks with the fixed channel. The masterbatch bottle located on the upper side is connected to the interior of the fuselage through the active channel, the fixed channel and the feed interface.

[0007] Preferably, a gear ring is provided on the outer periphery of the end of the rotating ring, the output shaft of the color-changing driver is connected to a transmission gear meshing with the gear ring, the axes of the gear ring and the transmission gear are parallel to the axis of the rotating ring, the color-changing driver is specifically a stepping motor, and is communicatively connected to a controller.

[0008] Preferably, the body comprises an axially extending barrel and a shell sleeved on the outer circumference of the barrel, the feeding screw is arranged in the barrel, and the base is sleeved on the outer circumference of the shell.

[0009] Preferably, the radial cross-section of the outer shell is a rectangle, the inner periphery of the radial cross-section of the base is a rectangle matching the shape of the outer shell, the outer periphery of the radial cross-section of the base is a circle, the inner periphery of the radial cross-section of the rotating ring is a circle matching the shape of the base, and the outer periphery of the radial cross-section of the rotating ring is a circle.

[0010] Preferably, the fixed channel and the movable channel are cylindrical channels, the portion of the feed interface located at the shell is a cylindrical channel, and the portion of the feed interface located at the two channels is a tapered channel that expands downward.

[0011] Preferably, the outer end of each movable channel is provided with a threaded interface matching the masterbatch bottle, and a processing plane is provided at the threaded interface.

[0012] Preferably, the end surface of the base is provided with a retaining ring and a retaining plate for axial limiting.

[0013] Preferably, the rotating ring is provided with four evenly distributed movable channels.

[0014] Preferably, the thread pitch of the feeding screw gradually increases from the head end to the tail end.

[0015] The present invention also provides an optical cable sheathing device, comprising an extruder and an optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device connected to the extruder, wherein the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device is specifically any one of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding devices described above.

[0016] The present invention provides an optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device, comprising a body and a feeding screw arranged inside the body, a screw driver is installed at the head end of the body, a discharge interface for connecting to the feeding position of an extruder is arranged at the end of the body, a feeding interface is arranged on the upper side of the head end of the body, a base surrounding the axis of the body is installed on the outer periphery of the head end of the body, a fixed channel for docking with the feeding interface is arranged on the upper side of the base, a rotating ring surrounding the axis of the base is installed on the outer periphery of the base, the inner wall of the rotating ring fits the outer wall of the base, a plurality of radially extending movable channels arranged along the circumference are arranged on the rotating ring, the bottle mouths of a plurality of masterbatch bottles are respectively detachably connected to the outer end openings of the respective movable channels, and a color-changing driver is also included, the color-changing driver can drive the rotating ring to rotate around the axis of the rotating ring, so that one of the plurality of movable channels rotates to the upper side and docks with the fixed channel, and the masterbatch bottle located on the upper side is connected to the inside of the body through the movable channel, the fixed channel and the feeding interface.

[0017] During the working process, the bottles loaded with different masterbatches are installed on the rotating ring respectively, and the color changing driver drives the rotating ring to rotate, so that one of the masterbatch bottles moves upward, and then the movable channel at the bottle mouth of the masterbatch bottle on the upper side is aligned with the fixed channel and the feed interface, and the masterbatch in the bottle passes through each channel in turn into the interior of the machine body, and then is transported to the extruder through the feeding screw for subsequent sleeve molding process.

[0018] The simple structure enables fast color change operation, reducing the difficulty of control and equipment investment cost. The color change is automatically controlled, and when color change is required, there is no need for manual cleaning and color change, which improves the color change efficiency and avoids the scattering and waste of masterbatch.

[0019] The present invention also provides an optical cable sheathing device including the above-mentioned optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device. Since the above-mentioned optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device has the above-mentioned technical effects, the above-mentioned optical cable sheathing device should also have the same technical effects, which will not be introduced in detail here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a specific embodiment of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided by the present invention;

[0021] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a radial cross-section of a base in a specific embodiment of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided by the present invention;

[0022] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a radial cross-section of a rotating ring in a specific embodiment of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided by the present invention.

[0023] Among them, there are feeding screw 1, screw driver 2, discharging interface 3, feeding interface 4, base 5, fixed channel 6, rotating ring 7, movable channel 8, masterbatch bottle 9, color changing driver 10, gear ring 11, transmission gear 12, barrel 13, housing 14, threaded interface 15, and retaining ring 16. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The core of the present invention is to provide a cable sheathing color-changing feeding device, which can realize fast color-changing operation through a simple structure, reduce the control difficulty and equipment investment cost. Another core of the present invention is to provide a cable sheathing equipment including the above-mentioned cable sheathing color-changing feeding device.

[0025] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the solution of the present invention, the present invention is further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific implementation methods.

[0026] Please refer to Figures 1 to 3, Figure 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a specific implementation of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided by the present invention; Figure 2 is a radial cross-sectional schematic diagram of a base in a specific implementation of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided by the present invention; Figure 3 is a radial cross-sectional schematic diagram of a rotating ring in a specific implementation of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided by the present invention.

[0027] The specific embodiment of the present invention provides a color-changing feeding device for optical cable sheathing, comprising a fuselage and a feeding screw 1 arranged inside the fuselage, wherein the axis of the fuselage and the axis of the feeding screw 1 are both arranged horizontally, and a screw driver 2 is installed at the head end of the fuselage, and the screw driver 2 is connected to the head end of the feeding screw 1, and drives the feeding screw 1 to rotate, so that the material in the fuselage moves from the head end to the end. Further, a discharge interface 3 is provided at the end of the fuselage, and the discharge interface 3 is used to connect the feeding position of the extruder. At the same time, a feeding interface 4 is provided on the upper side of the head end of the fuselage, and a base 5 around the axis of the fuselage is installed on the outer periphery of the head end of the fuselage, and a fixed channel 6 is provided on the upper side of the base 5, and the fixed channel 6 is connected to the feeding interface 4, and a rotating ring 7 around the axis of the base 5 is installed on the outer periphery of the base 5, and the inner wall of the rotating ring 7 is in contact with the outer wall of the base 5, and the axis of the base 5 and the axis of the rotating ring 7 are both arranged horizontally parallel to the axis of the fuselage. The rotating ring 7 is provided with a plurality of radially extending movable channels 8 arranged along the circumference, and the bottle mouths of a plurality of masterbatch bottles 9 are detachably connected to the outer end openings of the movable channels 8. A color-changing driver 10 is also included, which can drive the rotating ring 7 to rotate around the axis of the rotating ring 7, so that one of the plurality of movable channels 8 rotates to the upper side and docks with the fixed channel 6, and the masterbatch bottle located on the upper side is connected to the interior of the machine body through the movable channel 8, the fixed channel 6 and the feed interface 4.

[0028] During operation, the bottles loaded with different masterbatches are respectively installed on the rotating ring 7, and the color-changing driver 10 drives the rotating ring 7 to rotate, so that one of the masterbatch bottles 9 moves upward, and then the active channel 8 at the bottle mouth of the masterbatch bottle 9 on the upper side is aligned with the fixed channel 6 and the feed interface 4, and the masterbatch in the bottle passes through the active channel 8, the fixed channel 6 and the feed interface 4 in turn into the interior of the machine body, and then the screw driver 2 drives the feeding screw 1 to rotate, and the masterbatch is transported to the extruder through the feeding screw 1 for subsequent sleeve molding process. When it is necessary to switch to different colors, the color-changing driver 10 drives the rotating ring 7 to rotate, so that another masterbatch bottle 9 moves upward, and then the active channel 8 at the bottle mouth of the masterbatch bottle 9 on the upper side is aligned with the fixed channel 6 and the feed interface 4, and the masterbatch in the bottle passes through the active channel 8, the fixed channel 6 and the feed interface 4 in turn into the interior of the machine body, completing the color change.

[0029] The simple structure enables fast color change operation, reducing the control difficulty and equipment investment cost. The color change is automatically controlled, and when color change is required, there is no need for manual cleaning and color change, which improves the color change efficiency and avoids the scattering and waste of masterbatch.

[0030] In the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided in the specific embodiment of the present invention, in order to realize the smooth rotation of the rotating ring 7, a corresponding transmission device needs to be set, and a gear ring 11 is set on the outer periphery of the end of the rotating ring 7. The output shaft of the color-changing driver 10 is connected to a transmission gear 12 meshing with the gear ring 11. The axes of the gear ring 11 and the transmission gear 12 are parallel to the axis of the rotating ring 7. The color-changing driver 10 is specifically a stepping motor and is connected to the controller for communication. During the working process, when it is necessary to change the color, the controller controls the stepping motor to start, and then the transmission gear 12 drives the rotating ring 7 with the gear ring 11 to rotate to realize the color-changing operation. The material of the rotating ring 7 is preferably nylon, and the masterbatch bottle 9 is a wide-mouth bottle of transparent engineering plastics, preferably an acid- and alkali-resistant polypropylene packaging bottle with a volume of 1 liter, to reduce the overall weight of the device and facilitate production, installation and maintenance.

[0031] The color-changing driver 10 may also be made of pneumatic rotary cylinders and other components, and the rotating ring 7 may also be made of other materials, all of which are within the scope of protection of the present invention. The color-changing driver may be controlled by a PLC (programmable logic controller), and automatic color-changing operation may be realized by linkage with a production line control system.

[0032] Specifically, the body includes an axially extending barrel 13 and a shell 14 sleeved on the outer circumference of the barrel 13 , the feeding screw 1 is arranged in the barrel 13 , and the base 5 is sleeved on the outer circumference of the shell 14 .

[0033] Furthermore, the radial cross section of the housing 14 is rectangular, the inner periphery of the radial cross section of the base 5 is a rectangle matching the shape of the housing 14, the outer periphery of the radial cross section of the base 5 is circular, the inner periphery of the radial cross section of the rotating ring 7 is a circle matching the shape of the base 5, and the outer periphery of the radial cross section of the rotating ring 7 is circular. The housing 14 and the base 5 are positioned circumferentially by the rectangular structure, so that the base 5 is fixed on the housing 14, and further, the automatic rotation of the rotating ring 7 is achieved by the circular structure.

[0034] In the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided in the specific embodiment of the present invention, the fixed channel 6 and the movable channel 8 are cylindrical channels, the portion of the feed interface 4 located at the housing 14 is a cylindrical channel, and the portion of the feed interface 4 located at the two passages is a tapered channel that expands downward. The cone angle is preferably 120°, which reduces the pushing resistance of the feed screw 1 and can increase the feeding speed of the masterbatch.

[0035] Preferably, each active channel 8 is provided with a threaded interface 15 at its outer end, and the masterbatch bottle 9 is provided with an external thread matching the threaded interface 15 at its bottle mouth, and a processing plane is provided at the threaded interface 15 to facilitate loading and unloading of the bottle. Of course, other connection methods, such as snap-on connection, etc., may also be used.

[0036] The end surface of the base 5 is provided with an axially limited retaining ring 16 and a retaining plate, which can limit the axial deviation of the rotating ring 7. The inner wall of the base 5 matches the outer shell 14, which is used to fix the base 5 on the outer shell 14. At the same time, the feed interface 4 matches the fixed channel 6 to ensure smooth feeding of the masterbatch.

[0037] The number of masterbatch bottles 9 can be adjusted according to the number of colors required, and a corresponding number of active channels 8 are set on the rotating ring 7. In the first embodiment, the rotating ring 7 is provided with four evenly distributed active channels 8, the angle between adjacent active channels 8 is 90 degrees, and four masterbatch bottles 9 are correspondingly provided. In the second embodiment, the rotating ring 7 is provided with six evenly distributed active channels 8, the angle between adjacent active channels 8 is 60 degrees, and six masterbatch bottles 9 are correspondingly provided. Two, three or more masterbatch bottles 9 can also be installed according to the situation, all within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0038] The specific working process is: by controlling the color-changing driver 10, adjust the position of the rotating ring 7 so that one of the threaded interfaces 15 is aligned with the feed interface 4, and set the starting position in the PLC. Fill the masterbatch bottle 9 with masterbatch, install it at the threaded interface 15 at the lower position of the rotating ring 7 and tighten it to ensure that the masterbatch does not scatter. The color-changing driver 10 controls the rotating ring 7 to rotate 90° or 180°, and the bottle filled with masterbatch can be rotated to the highest position. Under the action of gravity, the masterbatch enters the barrel 13, and then enters the feed port of the extruder under the push of the feeding screw 1.

[0039] On the basis of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided in the above-mentioned specific embodiments, the thread pitch of the feeding screw 1 gradually increases from the head end to the tail end. That is, the feeding screw 1 is a pressure reducing screw, and its outer diameter matches the inner diameter of the barrel 13, which is intended to change the filling degree of the masterbatch in each section of the screw and change the movement mode of the masterbatch. When the masterbatch enters the screw groove of the feeding screw 1 from the bottle through the feed interface 4 under the action of gravity, since the screw groove width in the area of ​​the feed interface 4 is relatively small, the masterbatch is fully filled in the screw groove. As the feeding screw 1 rotates, the masterbatch moves toward the discharge interface 3 under the push of the feeding screw 1. Subsequently, as the screw groove width of the feeding screw 1 gradually increases, the screw groove capacity also increases, the filling degree of the masterbatch in the screw groove decreases, and under the action of gravity, it is close to the bottom position of the barrel 13, and is output from the discharge interface 3 under the joint action of the screw vanes and the inner wall of the barrel 13. The advantage of such a feeding screw 1 is that during the color changing operation of the masterbatch, the mixing length of masterbatches of different colors is reduced. The thread pitch of the feeding screw 1 increases gradually, the thread pitch is the smallest at the position corresponding to the feed interface 4, and the thread pitch is the largest near the discharge interface 3. The most optimized thread pitch at the end position is 1 to 1.5 times the thread pitch at the head end position.

[0040] The decompression feeding screw can reduce the mixing length of different color masterbatches during the color change process, reducing the loss due to the scrapping of the masterbatch. Compared with the equal pitch small screw, the new screw feeding control is more precise and can improve the color stability of the product.

[0041] On the basis of the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device provided in the above-mentioned specific embodiments, different positioning marks can be set on the outer wall of the masterbatch bottle 9, and a detector can be installed outside the shell 14. In the process of the rotating ring 7 driving the multiple masterbatch bottles 9 to rotate, the position of the masterbatch bottle 9 can be obtained through the detector to ensure that the masterbatch bottle 9 moves into place and is accurately positioned, so that the active channel 8 can be aligned with the fixed channel 6. At the same time, due to the different positioning marks on each bottle body, the conductive masterbatch bottle 9 can be determined by the detector, and the color of the masterbatch entering the fuselage can be clearly determined. Of course, other positioning determination methods can also be used, such as installing a visual camera outside the shell 14 to achieve the positioning and color determination of the masterbatch bottle 9 by taking pictures.

[0042] In addition to the above-mentioned optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device, a specific embodiment of the present invention also provides an optical cable sheathing equipment including the above-mentioned optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device. The structures of other parts of the optical cable sheathing equipment please refer to the prior art and will not be repeated herein.

[0043] The above is a detailed introduction to the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device and the optical cable sheathing equipment provided by the present invention. This article uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method of the present invention and its core idea. It should be pointed out that for ordinary technicians in this technical field, without departing from the principles of the present invention, the present invention can also be improved and modified in a number of ways, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the scope of protection of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. An optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a body and a feeding screw (1) arranged inside the body, a screw driver (2) being installed at the head end of the body, a discharge interface (3) for connecting to the feeding position of an extruder being installed at the tail end of the body, a feeding interface (4) being installed at the upper side of the head end of the body, a base (5) surrounding the axis of the body being installed at the outer periphery of the head end of the body, a fixing channel (6) for docking with the feeding interface (4) being installed at the upper side of the base (5), a rotating ring (7) surrounding the axis of the base (5) being installed at the outer periphery of the base (5), the inner wall of the rotating ring (7) being in contact with the outer wall of the base (5), and the rotating ring (7) being in contact with the outer wall of the base (5). The movable ring (7) is provided with a plurality of radially extending movable channels (8) arranged along the circumference, and the bottle mouths of a plurality of masterbatch bottles (9) are detachably connected to the outer end openings of the movable channels (8). The movable ring (7) also includes a color change driver (10), which is capable of driving the rotating ring (7) to rotate around the axis of the rotating ring (7) so that one of the plurality of movable channels (8) rotates to the upper side and docks with the fixed channel (6), and the masterbatch bottle (9) located on the upper side is connected to the interior of the machine body through the movable channel (8), the fixed channel (6) and the feed interface (4).

2. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A gear ring (11) is arranged on the outer periphery of the end of the rotating ring (7); an output shaft of the color-changing driver (10) is connected to a transmission gear (12) meshing with the gear ring (11); axes of the gear ring (11) and the transmission gear (12) are parallel to the axis of the rotating ring (7); the color-changing driver (10) is specifically a stepping motor and is communicatively connected to a controller.

3. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The body comprises an axially extending barrel (13) and a shell (14) sleeved on the outer circumference of the barrel (13); the feeding screw (1) is arranged inside the barrel (13); and the base (5) is sleeved on the outer circumference of the shell (14).

4. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The radial cross-section of the housing (14) is rectangular, the inner circumference of the radial cross-section of the base (5) is a rectangle matching the shape of the housing (14), the outer circumference of the radial cross-section of the base (5) is circular, the inner circumference of the radial cross-section of the rotating ring (7) is a circle matching the shape of the base (5), and the outer circumference of the radial cross-section of the rotating ring (7) is circular.

5. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to claim 4, characterized in that: The fixed channel (6) and the movable channel (8) are cylindrical channels, the portion of the feed interface (4) located in the housing (14) is a cylindrical channel, and the portion of the feed interface (4) located in the two channels is a tapered channel that expands downward.

6. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The outer end of each movable channel (8) is provided with a threaded interface (15) matching the masterbatch bottle (9), and a processing plane is provided at the threaded interface (15).

7. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The end surface of the base (5) is provided with an axially limiting retaining ring (16) and a retaining sheet.

8. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The rotating ring (7) is provided with four evenly distributed movable channels (8).

9. The optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The thread pitch of the feeding screw (1) gradually increases from the head end to the tail end.

10. An optical cable sheathing device, characterized in that: It comprises an extruder and an optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device connected to the extruder, wherein the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device is specifically the optical cable sheathing color-changing feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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