Spiral winding type adjustable light attenuation device based on optical fiber bending loss characteristic

Abstract

The invention relates to a spiral winding type adjustable light attenuation device based on an optical fiber bending loss characteristic, and belongs to the technical field of light attenuation. The device comprises a winding shaft, a shaft disc, an inlet fixing bolt, a shaft fixing bolt, a fixing column and a magnetic attraction foot stand, and the device adjusts the attenuation size by controlling the bending winding length of an optical fiber, so that the intensity of an optical signal is controlled, the requirement for adjusting different light intensities by multiplexing a plurality of optical fibers can be met, and full-band attenuation adjustment is supported. Wherein the winding shaft is a cylinder with a uniform spiral track and a straight horizontal track and is used for winding optical fibers, and selection of the radius and the length of the winding shaft can be calculated according to a formula according to an actual loss demand range; the shaft discs are respectively arranged at two ends of the winding shaft and are used for protecting the optical fiber from being extruded and damaged and providing support for fixing the optical fiber; the inlet fixing bolts are used for ensuring that fibers at inlets at two ends of the fiber winding shaft are firm and reliable; the shaft fixing bolt is used for ensuring that the shaft fixing column compresses and compacts the optical fiber; the fixed column penetrates through the shaft disc and is embedded into the horizontal track of the winding shaft, so that the optical fiber wound on the optical fiber winding shaft is firm and reliable; the magnetic base is used for adsorbing and fixing the whole device on a cabinet or a tray. The optical attenuation device has the advantages of being small in size, low in cost, high in adjustment precision, good in stability, energy-saving, environment-friendly, capable of supporting multi-optical-fiber multiplexing adjustment and heat integration and the like, and can be widely applied to optical communication systems.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention generally relates to the field of optical attenuation technology, and specifically relates to a spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on optical fiber bending loss characteristics, which adjusts the attenuation size by controlling the winding length of the optical fiber bending to accurately adjust the intensity of the optical signal. Background Art

[0002] During the testing, debugging and actual operation of optical communication networks, if the transmitted optical signal is too strong or too weak, it will increase the crosstalk between signals, reduce the communication quality, and accelerate the aging and damage of optical components. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to flexibly and accurately adjust the intensity of the optical signal to ensure the stable operation and performance optimization of the optical communication system. In optical communication systems, adjustable optical attenuators are an important and commonly used optical device in optical communication systems, which are used to meet the needs of adjusting the intensity of optical signals in different scenarios.

[0003] At present, adjustable optical attenuators mainly include mechanical, magneto-optical, liquid crystal, MEMS, and thermo-optical or acousto-optical. Among them, the mechanical type has a low response speed, is difficult to automate, and is not conducive to integration; the magneto-optical type controls the external magnetic field by adjusting voltage or controlling current, and has a relatively complex structure; the liquid crystal type requires strong electric field interference, and its application in the field of passive devices has certain limitations; the MEMS type relies on electrical regulation, is expensive, and has a high cost of use; the thermo-optical type relies on the change of the optical properties of the material in the temperature field, and the use process is cumbersome and difficult to accurately control; the acousto-optic type relies on ultrasonic waves to act on acousto-optic crystals, and the cost of making materials is relatively high. An important point is that none of the above-mentioned adjustable optical attenuators support multiplexing, resulting in a serious waste of resources.

[0004] In summary, in order to solve the problems existing in traditional adjustable optical attenuators, meet the actual needs of optical communication systems for optical attenuators, and effectively improve resource utilization efficiency, it is of great practical significance to develop an adjustable optical attenuation device that is stable, simple, low-cost, energy-saving and environmentally friendly, thermally integrated, and supports multi-fiber multiplexing. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present invention aims to provide a spirally wound adjustable optical attenuator based on the bending loss characteristics of optical fiber, which uses the loss characteristics of the optical fiber itself to adjust the attenuation value by adjusting the length of the spirally wound optical fiber to achieve the purpose of adjusting the size of the optical power. This device can solve the problems of traditional optical attenuators such as large size, high cost, low adjustment accuracy, poor stability, and inability to be reused, and meet the needs of optical communication systems for high-performance adjustable optical attenuators.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following technical solutions:

[0007] The spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on the bending loss characteristics of optical fiber of the present invention comprises an optical fiber winding shaft, an axis disk, an optical fiber fixing bolt, an entrance fixing bolt, an axis fixing bolt, a fixing column and a magnetic fixing foot.

[0008] 1. Fiber winding shaft: As the core component of this device, it is used to wind and fix the optical fiber. The fiber winding shaft is a cylinder with an equidistant spiral track. The radius, pitch and length can be selected according to the formula based on the actual loss requirements; the spiral track of the shaft is used to embed the optical fiber to achieve firm winding; there is a straight horizontal track on the shaft, which is used to place a slender fiber fixing column to press the wound optical fiber, and its position is on the opposite side of the entrance of the spiral track on the shaft (180 degrees).

[0009] 2. Shaft disk: used to protect the optical fiber on the winding shaft from being squeezed and to provide support for fixing the optical fiber; the shaft disk is a flat cylinder with a certain thickness, fixed at both ends of the optical fiber winding shaft; the two shaft disks each have a vertical optical fiber winding entrance, which is connected to the entrance of the spiral track of the winding shaft, so that the optical fiber can smoothly pass through the winding entrance into the spiral track; the two shaft disks each have a fixed column penetration hole (elliptical), which is connected to the horizontal track on the winding shaft, and is used for the optical fiber fixing column to pass through the horizontal track to compact the optical fiber.

[0010] 3. Entrance fixing bolt: used to ensure that the optical fiber passing through the entrance of the winding shaft is firm and reliable; there is a fixing bolt on each of the two shaft discs, which is rotated and tightened to support the optical fiber, thereby fixing the optical fiber at the entrance of the spiral track.

[0011] 4. Shaft fixing bolt: It is used to tighten the fixing column to make the wound optical fiber firm and not loose. There is a spring inside the bolt. By pulling up the bolt, the fixing column can smoothly pass through the hole to reach the hole of the shaft disc at the other end. The other side is pulled up in the same way and then lowered to fix. The two bolts have a downward force to press the fixing column, thereby tightening the entire optical fiber on the winding shaft.

[0012] 5. Fixed column: used to fix the optical fiber wound on the optical fiber winding shaft, and its position is on the opposite side of the spiral track entrance (180 degrees); the column is a round and slender column with concave points on both sides (the length is roughly the same as the winding shaft), which runs through the shaft disk horizontally and is embedded in parallel with the horizontal track of the optical fiber winding shaft, so as to play the role of fixing the wound optical fiber as a whole; the concave points on both sides of the column are used for the fixing bolts on the side of the shaft disk to embed and tighten and fix, so as to help the column better compact the wound optical fiber.

[0013] 6. Magnetic fixing feet: Located at both ends of the device, there are two magnetic feet that can adsorb the entire device on metal containers such as cabinets or trays.

[0014] The working principle based on the optical fiber bending loss characteristics is as follows:

[0015] When the optical fiber is wound on the spiral winding shaft, the optical signal will be lost during the transmission process due to the bending of the optical fiber. The magnitude of this loss is closely related to the bending degree of the optical fiber. By adjusting the number of turns of the optical fiber on the spiral winding shaft, thereby changing the bending degree of the optical fiber, the light attenuation can be adjusted. In this device, winding shafts of different radii can be selected according to the actual attenuation requirement range, and the attenuation range is calculated according to parameters such as radius, pitch and thread height. It can support the full-band working wavelength, and the insertion loss is extremely small, below 0.01dB.

[0016] According to Marcuse's theoretical formula for optical fiber bending loss and the spiral formula, after the optical fiber is bent, the relationship between its output and input optical powers is as follows.

[0017]

[0018] and are the output optical power and input optical power respectively, is the bending loss coefficient, R is the radius of the winding axis cylinder, h is the pitch (i.e. the spacing of the threads), and H is the height of the threads or the height of the wound optical fiber.

[0019] Specifically, when the winding length of the optical fiber is longer, the loss of the optical signal increases and the optical attenuation increases; conversely, when the winding length of the optical fiber is shorter, the loss of the optical signal decreases and the optical attenuation decreases.

[0020] In summary, this patented technical solution realizes an adjustable optical attenuation device with high precision, high stability and low cost through reasonable structural design and working principle based on the bending loss characteristics of optical fiber, providing strong technical support for the development of optical communication systems.

[0021] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0022] 1. Small size and high flexibility. The light attenuation device of the present invention adopts a compact spiral winding structure, and the overall size of the device is small, which does not take up too much space. At the same time, the magnetic suction function of the base of the device is convenient for placement on the inner wall, outer wall, tray and other metal objects of indoor or outdoor cabinets or chassis.

[0023] 2. High-precision optical attenuation adjustment. The optical attenuation device of the present invention adjusts the optical attenuation by controlling the number of turns of the optical fiber. The required attenuation value can be accurately calculated according to the radius of the winding shaft, the pitch and the height (or number of turns) of the wound optical fiber, and the number of turns of the optical fiber can be flexibly selected according to the required attenuation value.

[0024] 3. The manufacturing cost is relatively low. The optical attenuation device of the present invention is environmentally friendly and low-consumption, does not require additional energy supply, and only realizes optical attenuation adjustment through the bending loss of the optical fiber. It has a simple structure, light weight, low manufacturing cost, and a long service life and good stability.

[0025] 4. Improve the convenience of operation. The light attenuation can be adjusted by a simple spiral winding method. The operation is convenient and anyone can easily operate it. During the adjustment process, you can combine the network management or optical power meter for real-time monitoring, intuitively see the changes in the light attenuation, and adjust to the required light attenuation value more accurately.

[0026] 5. Support thermal integration and multiplexing. Support plug-free thermal integration, while overcoming the drawback of existing optical attenuators that cannot be reused. This device supports winding two optical fibers from both ends to achieve high-precision multiplexing. It also supports overlapping winding of multiple optical fibers from both ends to achieve the adjustment requirements of different attenuation values ​​of multiple optical fibers within a certain error range. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] Figure 1 It is a structural diagram of the device of the present invention.

[0029] Figure 2 , Figure 3 It is a front structural diagram of the shaft disk portion of the device of the present invention. The shaft fixing bolt 4 and the spring 4-1 form an elastic pulling and releasing structure, so that the inserted fixing column can be pressed and compacted.

[0030] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the use of the present invention in an optical terminal device. The optical fibers for transmission and reception are respectively wound on the device of the invention in different lengths as required, thereby achieving the purpose of adjusting the intensity of the optical signal.

[0031] Figure 5 , Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of Example 1, showing the use of the device of the present invention to adjust the intensity of the optical signal in one optical fiber.

[0032] Figure 7 1 is a schematic diagram of Example 2, showing the use of the device of the present invention to adjust the intensity of optical signals in two optical fibers.

[0033] Figure 8 3 is a schematic diagram of Example 3, showing the use of the device of the present invention to adjust the intensity of optical signals in multiple optical fibers.

[0034] Among them: 1. winding shaft, 1-1. spiral track, 1-2. fixed column track, 2. shaft disk (2-1. fixed column penetration hole, 2-2. optical fiber winding entrance), 3. entrance fixing bolt, 4. shaft fixing bolt (4-1. spring), 5. fixed column, 6. foot (6-1. magnet). In addition, A, B, C, D represent optical fibers, and the optical fibers in the present invention refer to optical fibers suitable for winding, such as pigtails and jumpers.

[0035] like Figure 1 As shown, the spiral winding type adjustable optical attenuation device based on the bending loss characteristics of optical fiber of the present invention comprises a winding shaft 1 (with a spiral track 1-1 and a fixed column track 1-2 on the winding shaft), a shaft disc 2 (with a fixed column insertion hole 2-1 and a winding entrance 2-2 on the shaft disc), an entrance fixing bolt 3, a shaft fixing bolt 4 (spring 4-1), a fixed column 5, and a fixed foot 6 (magnet 6-1); the characteristic is that the winding shaft is a cylinder with a uniform spiral track 1-1 and a fixed column track 1-2 with a horizontal straight line, 1-1 is used to embed the winding optical fiber, 1-2 is used to embed the fixed column, and the radius of the winding shaft and The length can be selected according to the formula calculated based on the actual loss requirement range; the shaft disc 2 is a flat cylinder, located at both ends of the winding shaft, used to protect the optical fiber from being squeezed and provide support for fixing the optical fiber; the entrance fixing bolt 3 is used to ensure that the optical fiber at the optical fiber winding entrance 2-2 is firm and reliable; the shaft fixing bolt 4 is used to ensure that the shaft fixing column presses and compacts the optical fiber to ensure that the optical fiber can be wound on the shaft at any length; the fixing column 5 passes through the fixing column penetration hole 2-1 of the shaft disc and is embedded in the horizontal track of the winding shaft 1, pressing the optical fiber wound on the optical fiber winding shaft 1 firmly and reliably; the magnetic foot 6 is used to adsorb and fix the entire device on a cabinet or tray. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The specific embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0038] Example 1: Figure 5 , Figure 6 As shown, when it is necessary to adjust the optical power of an optical fiber, the optical fiber is introduced from the winding entrance 2-2 on the left side of the device of the present invention, and the entrance fixing bolt 3 is tightened to make the optical fiber at the entrance firm and reliable. Then, the optical fiber is embedded and wound along the spiral track 1-1 on the optical fiber winding shaft 1. After winding a certain number of turns according to the required optical power value, the fixing column 5 is passed through the fixing column penetration hole 2-1 at both ends of the shaft disk, so that the fixing column 5 is embedded in the fixing column track 1-2, and then the shaft fixing bolt 4 is used to press and compact the optical fiber through the fixing column 5. Finally, the fixing foot 6 is used to firmly fix the entire device on a metal container such as a cabinet or a tray.

[0039] Example 2: Figure 7As shown, the device can also adjust the optical power of the two optical fibers A and B at the same time. The A optical fiber is introduced from the winding entrance 2-2 on the left side of the device of the present invention, and the B optical fiber is introduced from the winding entrance 2-2 on the right side of the device of the present invention, and the entrance fixing bolts 3 are tightened to make the optical fibers at the entrances at both ends firm and reliable. According to actual needs, after the two optical fibers A and B are each wound a certain number of times, the fixing column 5 is passed through the fixing column penetration holes 2-1 at both ends of the shaft disk, so that the fixing column 5 enters the fixing column track 1-2, and then the shaft fixing bolts 4 are used to press and compact the two optical fibers A and B through the fixing column 5.

[0040] Example 3: Figure 8 As shown, the device also supports simultaneous optical power adjustment of multiple optical fibers such as A, B, C, and D. A, C, or more optical fibers are introduced from the winding entrance 2-2 on the left side of the device of the present invention, and multiple optical fibers such as B, D are introduced from the winding entrance 2-2 on the right side of the device of the present invention, and the entrance fixing bolts 3 are tightened to make all optical fibers at the entrances at both ends firm and reliable. According to actual needs, after the A, B, C, and D optical fibers are each wound a certain number of times, the fixing column 5 is passed through the fixing column penetration holes 2-1 at both ends of the shaft disk, so that the fixing column 5 enters the fixing column track 1-2, and then the shaft fixing bolts 4 are used to press and compact the A, B, C, and D optical fibers through the fixing column 5.

[0041] The technical principle of the present invention is described above in combination with the specific embodiments, which are only preferred implementations of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and all technical solutions under the idea of ​​the present invention belong to the protection scope of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can think of other specific implementations of the present invention without creative work, and these methods will fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on the bending loss characteristics of an optical fiber, comprising a winding shaft (1), a shaft disc (2), an entrance fixing bolt (3), a shaft fixing bolt (4), a fixing column (5) and a foot seat (6). The characteristics are: The optical fiber adjusts the optical power by winding, and the winding shaft (1) is provided with a uniform spiral track (1-1) with equal spacing and a fixed column track (1-2) that runs through the winding shaft (1) in a horizontal straight line; two oblate cylindrical shaft discs (2) are located at both ends of the winding shaft, and each shaft disc (2) has a fixed column insertion hole (2-1) and an optical fiber winding entrance (2-2); there is an entrance fixing bolt (3) on the front of the shaft disc (2) outside the winding entrance (2-2), and there is an shaft fixing bolt (4) and a spring (4-1) on the side of the shaft disc; the fixing column (5) is embedded in the fixing column track (1-2) through the fixing column insertion hole (2-1), and together plays the role of fixing the optical fiber. The magnetic fixing foot (6) is used to adsorb and fix the entire device on a metal container such as a cabinet or a tray.

2. The spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on optical fiber bending loss characteristics according to claim 1, characterized in that: The winding shaft (1) and the fixing column (5) are made of light, wear-resistant materials with smooth surfaces, and the shaft disc (2) and the foot seat (6) are made of corrosion-resistant, high-strength materials.

3. The spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on optical fiber bending loss characteristics according to claim 1, characterized in that: The fixed footrest (6) has a magnet and is fixed by magnetic attraction.

4. The spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on optical fiber bending loss characteristics according to claim 1, characterized in that: The device of the present invention supports plug-free thermal integration and supports simultaneous adjustment of optical powers of multiple optical fibers with different values.

5. The spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on optical fiber bending loss characteristics according to claim 1, characterized in that: The shaft fixing bolt (4) and the spring (4-1) on the shaft disc (2) of the device of the present invention form an elastic pulling and releasing structure, which can reliably embed the fixing column (5) into the fixing column track (1-2) to press and compact the optical fiber.

6. The spirally wound adjustable optical attenuation device based on optical fiber bending loss characteristics according to claim 1, characterized in that: The length and radius of the cylindrical winding shaft (1) and the pitch of the spiral track (1-1) are variable and can be designed according to a formula in combination with the actual required range of attenuation. The attenuation value of each winding turn is a specific value, thereby achieving precise adjustment.

Images