METHOD AND DEVICE FOR WELDING AND CONNECTING MULTIFIBER OPTICAL CABLE

PURPOSE:To obtain the optical fibers of a low connection loss by setting a pushing speed in such a manner that the average value of individual loss when the optical fibers are pushed at a prescribed speed in the spacing between the end faces of said fibers attains a min. value. CONSTITUTION:The end faces of the optical fibers 1, 2 are preheated by electrodes 3, 4 to slightly melt the end faces in a preheating stage. The molten optical fibers shape the end faces uniformly by surface tension and, therefore, the incompleteness of the end faces is eliminated. The fibers are then pushed at the pushing speed V1 while the optical fibers on one side are heated to the optical fibers on the other. Such a pushing speed as to minimize the connection loss is various with the spacing between fibers. The connection loss can, therefore, be calculated if the relations between the spacing and the connection loss as well as the pushing speed are previously stored in a memory. The pushing speed is, therefore so specified as to minimize the connection loss by previously determining the max. permissible range.