Plastic Optical Fiber Ribbon Mountain-Valley Coating Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing plastic optical fiber ribbons with thinly formed collective coatings face misalignment issues when connecting multiple core wires to V grooves, leading to inefficiencies in positioning.
Innovation Solution
A plastic optical fiber ribbon with parallelly arranged fibers and a collective coating that has a mountain-valley shape on its outer surface, featuring a central angle of 30 to 80° and a Young's modulus of at least 400 MPa, allowing for improved alignment and torsion resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a collective coating is thinly formed to enable collective connection of multiple plastic optical fibers, then the flexibility and handling property are improved, but misalignment occurs between the center axes of V grooves and the center axes of the optical fibers during positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The collective coating is formed with a mountain-valley shape having a specific curvature radius (30-80° central angle) that matches the V groove geometry. This curved surface design enables the optical fibers to naturally align with the V grooves during positioning, eliminating misalignment issues while maintaining thin coating thickness for flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention optimizes the curvature radius parameter of the collective coating to fall within 30-80° (central angle θ). By controlling this geometric parameter, the coating provides both the flexibility needed for handling and the precise alignment capability required for accurate positioning on V grooves.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a collective coating is formed to integrate multiple plastic optical fibers, then the collective connection capability is improved, but the positioning time increases due to misalignment
Solution Approach 1:
The mountain-valley shaped collective coating with optimized curvature radius enables automatic alignment with V grooves during placement. This geometric matching eliminates the need for time-consuming manual positioning adjustments, reducing positioning time while maintaining collective connection capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The specific curvature radius design allows the optical fiber ribbon to self-align with the V grooves through its geometric shape alone. The mountain-valley configuration naturally guides the fibers into correct positions without requiring external positioning mechanisms or manual intervention, thereby reducing positioning time.
Data Source
AI summary
A plastic optical fiber ribbon excellent in efficiency for positioning to V grooves is provided. The ribbon contains plural plastic optical fibers integrated by a collective coating and arranged so that their center axes are parallel to one another in the same plane. At least one outer surface in the thickness direction of the ribbon has a mountain-valley shape following the outer surfaces of the plastic optical fibers, in which an inclined portion is present where the thickness of the collective coating gradually increases in a direction from the peak toward the valley of the mountain, and in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the ribbon, a central angle of the sector formed by connecting an arc from the apex of the mountain to the starting point of the inclined portion and a center of the plastic optical fiber is from 30 to 80°.