Patent Application
20240184076
The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-070668, filed Apr. 19, 2021. The contents of this application are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The present invention relates to a conduit for laying a cable such as an optical fiber cable, and relates to a method for laying the cable.
A bundling suspension wire comprising a suspension wire and hanger members provided at predetermined intervals in suspension wire is known (e.g., see Patent Document 1). A cable through hole is formed in the hanger member, the optical drop cable is disposed in the cable through hole. When this bundling suspension wire is used for laying the optical drop cable, a guide wire is inserted through the cable through hole of each hanger member in the first place, and the optical drop cable is mounted to the guide wire. Then, the optical drop cable is pulled by the guide wire, and the optical drop cable is laid by pulling into the cable through hole.
However, according to the above bundling suspension wire, because the cable through holes are arranged at a predetermined interval, the insertion work of the guide wire becomes complicated and the workability of the laying work of the optical drop cable is deteriorated.
One or more embodiments provide a conduit and a method for easily laying the cable.
A conduit according to one or more embodiments is a conduit for laying a cable. The conduit comprises a suspension wire, a hanger that is held by the suspension wire and includes an accommodation space to accommodate the cable, and a groove that extends along an axial direction of the suspension wire. The groove includes an opening connected to the accommodation space. The opening has a width less than a maximum width of an interior of the groove.
In one or more embodiments, the suspension wire may comprise a supporting wire and a coat that coats the supporting wire. The groove may be formed in the coat so that the opening opens into the accommodation space.
In one or more embodiments, the conduit may further comprise the hangers that are spaced along the axial direction of the suspension wire. Each of the hangers may have an annular shape that forms a through hole by being connected to the coat. The cable may be inserted through the through hole.
In one or more embodiments, the hanger may be integrally formed with the coat.
In one or more embodiments, the groove may be formed continuously over an entire axial area of the suspension wire.
In one or more embodiments, the conduit may further comprise the grooves.
In one or more embodiments, a width of the opening may be a width of 80% or less of the maximum width of the interior of the groove.
In one or more embodiments, the groove may be formed in a lower portion of the coat below the supporting wire. The hanger may be connected to the lower portion of the coat below the supporting wire. The opening may be open downward.
A method for laying the cable according to one or more embodiments is a method for laying the cable using the above conduit. The method comprises a first step of connecting the cable to a first end on a thin-wire portion side in a wire-carrying member having a thin-wire portion and a thick-wire portion, a second step of inserting the wire-carrying member into the groove from a second end on a thick-wire portion side in the wire-carrying member, a third step of inserting the cable into the accommodation space by pulling the cable through the wire-carrying member while holding the thick-wire portion in the groove and positioning the thin-wire section in the accommodation space. The thin-wire portion is thinner than a width of the opening. The thick-wire portion is thicker than a width of the opening and thinner than a maximum width of the interior of the groove.
In one or more embodiments, the opening may have a width smaller than a width of the cable.
In one or more embodiments, the thin-wire portion and the thick-wire portion may be composed of mutually independent members.
According to one or more embodiments, it is possible to insert the cable to the accommodation space of the hanger by the wire-carrying member while the wire-carrying member is held in the groove whose the opening has the width less than the maximum width of the interior, the cable can be easily laid.
Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.
The conduit 1 in one or more embodiments is a member used in the overhead of the cable 100 (see
The suspension wire 10 is suspended between the utility poles or the like. As shown in
As shown in
The tubular portion 121 has a cylindrical shape which covers the outer periphery of the supporting wire 11. The neck portion 122 that is narrower than the tubular portion 121 is provided at the lower end the of tubular portion 121. This neck portion 122 extends along the axial direction (Y direction in the drawing) of the suspension wire 10 between the tubular portion 121 and the groove-formed portion 123, and connects the tubular portion 121 and the groove-formed portion 123.
The groove-formed portion 123 is provided at the lower end of the neck portion 122. The upper surface 123a of the groove-formed portion 123 is connected to the lower end of the neck portion 122. The groove-formed portion 123 has a curved plate shape so as to protrude toward the supporting wire 11 side, and extends along the axial direction of the suspension wire 10 in the same manner as the neck portion 122. As shown in
The groove 13 that is recessed toward the suspension wire 10 side is formed in the lower surface 123b. The groove 13 is formed in the lower portion of the coat 12 below the supporting wire 11. This groove 13 is used to insert the wire-carrying rod 201 that pulls the cable 100 (refer to
The position of the groove 13 is not limited thereto. The groove 13 is where the wire-carrying rod 201 is inserted. Thus, the groove 13 should be at least above the existing cable to prevent the cable 100 being pulled by the wire-carrying rod 201 from getting under the existing cable when the additional cable 100 is laid. Specifically, the groove 13 may be formed at a position shifted from the central axis of the suspension wire 10. Alternatively, when the groove-formed portion 123 constitutes the upper half of the annulus consisting of the groove-formed portion 123 and the hanger 20, the groove 13 may be formed at any position on the inner peripheral surface of the groove-formed portion 123.
As shown in
As shown in
When the conduit 1 is used for laying the cable, as described later, the wire-carrying member 200 comprising the wire-carrying rod 201 and the wire-carrying cord 202 thinner than the wire-carrying rod 201 is used for inserting the cable 100 to the interior of the conduit 1. The width W1 of the opening 131 of one or more embodiments is smaller than the diameter D1 of the wire-carrying rod 201 (W1<D1), is greater than the diameter D2 of the wire-carrying cord 202 (W1>D2). On the other hand, the maximum width W2 of the interior 132 is greater than or equal to the diameter D1 of the wire-carrying rod 201 (W2≥D1) and greater than or equal to the diameter D2 of the wire-carrying cord 202 (W2>D2). That is, the groove 13 can hold the wire-carrying rod 201, but the wire-carrying cord 202 is shaped so as to fall out of the groove 13.
The width W1 of the opening 131 may be 80% or less of the maximum width W2 of the interior 132 (W1≤0.8*W2) and 50% to 60% of the maximum width W2 of the interior 132 (0.5*W2≤W1≤0.6*W2).
At both ends in the width direction (X direction in the Figures) of the groove-formed portion 123, the hangers 20 are disposed. The hangers 20 are connected to the lower portion of the coat 12 below the supporting wire 11. The hangers 20 are arranged at predetermined intervals along the axial direction of the suspension wire 10. The hanger 20 is made of the same material as the groove-formed portion 123, and is integrally formed with the groove-formed portion 123.
The hanger 20 has a partially missing annular-shaped, a through-hole 30 is formed by connecting the coat 12 in the missing portion. The cable 100 such as the optical fiber cable is inserted into the through-hole 30 of the hanger 20, is supported on the inner peripheral surface 31 of the through-hole 30. Further, the groove 13 communicates with the through-holes 30 by being open to the through-holes 30. The through-holes 30 in one or more embodiments corresponds to an example of “accommodation space” in one or more embodiments.
The hanger 20 of one or more embodiments has a circular ring shape. However, the shape is not particularly limited thereto. For example, the hanger 20 may have a polygonal ring shape including a rectangular or may have an elliptical ring shape. Further, in one or more embodiments, the shape of the through-hole 30 is a circular shape following the shapes of the coat 12 and the hanger 20 but is not limited thereto. The shape of the through-hole 30 may be a polygonal shape or elliptical shape including a rectangular.
Here, an example of the method for producing the conduit 1 will be described. The conduit 1 of one or more embodiments can be produced by extrusion molding. In this extrusion molding, an extrusion molding machine can be used. This extrusion molding machine comprises at least a die portion in which a hole having the same cross-sectional shape as the resin member to be manufactured is formed, a supply unit for supplying a resin to the die portion, a shutter provided on the resin discharge side of the die portion. In one or more embodiments, a die including a first hole having the same cross-sectional shape as the coat 12 and a second hole connected to the first hole and having the same cross-sectional shape as the hanger 20 is used as the die portion. Further, as the shutter, a shutter having a function of opening and closing the second hole for discharging the resin serving as the hanger 20 is used.
In this extrusion molding machine, first, the supporting wire 11 is fed to the die portion. Then, by discharging the supporting wire 11 and the resin from the first and second holes at the same time while supplying the resin from the supply unit to the die portion, the tubular portion 121 coated around the supporting wire 11, the neck portion 122, and the groove-formed portion 123, and the hangers 20 are extruded. During this extrusion molding, the second hole is closed by the shutter at predetermined cycles to dam up the resin in the second hole, thereby the conduit 1 with the hangers 20 intermittently arranged can be formed.
In one or more embodiments, although only one groove 13 is formed in the groove-formed portion 123, but is not limited thereto, a plurality of the grooves 13 may be formed.
Next, the method for laying the cable by using the conduit in the first example is described.
First, the wire-carrying member 200 as shown in
The diameter D1 of the wire-carrying cord 202 is smaller than the diameter D1 of the wire-carrying rod 201. The wire-carrying rod 201 in one or more embodiments corresponds to an example of “a thick-wire portion” in one or more embodiments. The wire-carrying cord 202 in one or more embodiments corresponds to an example of “a thin-wire” in one or more embodiments.
Next, the cable 100 is connect to the third end 200a of the wire-carrying cord 202 of the wire-carrying member 200 (the first step). In one or more embodiments, the cable 100 is connected to the wire-carrying cord 202 by binding the wire-carrying cord 202 to the cable 100. The connecting method of the cable 100 and the wire-carrying cord 202 is not limited thereto. For example, the cable 100 may be connected to the wire-carrying cord 202 by fastening with an adhesive tape or a fixture.
Next, the fourth end 200b on the wire-carrying rod 201 side of the wire-carrying member 200 is inserted, the wire-carrying member 200 is inserted into the groove 13 (second step). In one or more embodiments, the fourth end 200b of the wire-carrying member 200 is inserted from the first end 123c of conduit 1 to groove 13. As noted above, since the diameter D1 of the wire-carrying rod 201 is greater than the width W1 (refer to
Next, the wire-carrying cord 202 connected to the wire-carrying rod 201 is drawn into the through-holes 30 by further pushing the wire-carrying rod 201 inserted into the groove 13 toward the second end 123d side of conduit 1. As described above, the diameter D2 of the wire-carrying cord 202 is smaller than the width W1 (refer to
Next, as shown in
Then, the wire-carrying rod 201 is continuously towed toward the second end 123d of the conduit 1, the cable 100 is inserted into all of the through-holes 30 (third step). As described above, the cable 100 can be laid.
According to the conduit 1 and the method for laying the cable in the above embodiments, the wire-carrying cord 202 falls out of the openings 131 of the groove 13 and is accommodated in the through-holes 30 only by inserting the wire-carrying rod 201 into the groove 13. Therefore, the wire-carrying rod 201 and the wire-carrying cord 202 are not caught by the hangers 20 that are intermittently disposed, the wire-carrying cord 201 can easily inserted into all of the through-holes 30. Therefore, the cable 100 can be inserted into all of the through-holes 30 by towing the cable 100 connected to the wire-carrying cord 202 with the wire-carrying cord 202. Thus, since the wire-carrying member 200 can be easily inserted into the through-holes 30, the cable 100 can be easily laid.
In addition, after the first cable laying work, an additional laying work to lay additional cables may be performed. In the conventional conduit, the clearances of the through-holes are narrowed by the existing cable, this may prevent the wire-carrying member from being inserted in the additional laying work. In contrast, in one or more embodiments, when the wire-carrying rod 201 is inserted into the groove 13 provided on the top of the through-holes 30, since the existing cable is present in the through-hole 30 of the hangers 20 but is not present in groove 13, the insertion of the wire-carrying rod 201 by the existing cable is not inhibited.
Also, a work to take some cables from the multiple cables laid and branch the some cables in different directions may performed. When performing this work, according to the conduit 1 in the above embodiments, it is possible to easily take out the cables from between the hangers 20. In addition, if conduit 1 is suspended in advance at the branch and the conduit 1 is used to suspend the cables to be branched, the branch work can be easily performed.
Further, in one or more embodiments, since the groove 13 is formed over the entire axial direction of the suspension wire 10, the wire-carrying rod 202 can easily inserted from the first end portion 123d to the second end portion 123c of conduit 1, the workability of the laying work of the cable 100 can be improved.
In the second example, the point (1): the groove is formed in that the tubular portion of the coat, and the point (2): the hangers are directly connected to the tubular portion are different from the first example, but the other configurations are the same as the first example. Hereinafter, the tubular portion 121B and the hangers 20B of the second example will be described by focusing on a difference from the first example. The same reference numerals will be given to the same components as those of the first example and a description thereof will be omitted.
As shown in
In this tubular portion 121B, the hangers 20B are disposed at predetermined intervals along the axial direction of the suspension wire 10. The hanger 20B has a partially missing annulus, the missing portion is smaller than the missing portion of the first example. Then, the missing parts are joined to the tubular portion 121B to form the through-hole 30. The hangers 20B of the second example are produced by extrusion or the like apart from the suspension wire 10B. Then, in the field where the cable 100 is laid, the produced hangers are bonded to the suspension wire 10B by ultrasonic bonding or the like. The suspension wire 10B and the hangers 20B are produced separately, so that the conduit 1B can be transported in the state where the suspension wire 10B and the hangers 20B are separated, the conduit 1B can be easily transported. The hangers 20B may be joined to the suspension wire 10B at the plant where the suspension wire 10B and the hangers 20B are manufactured. Alternatively, the suspension wire 10B and the hangers 20B may be formed integrally by the extrusion molding method described in the first example.
Also when the cable is laid by using the conduit 1B in the second example, it is possible to use the same procedure as in the first example. Therefore, as in the first example, the cable can be easily laid.
Although the disclosure has been described with respect to only a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that various other embodiments may be devised without departing from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
For example, in the above embodiments, the plurality of hanger 20,20B are arranged at equal intervals, but not limited thereto. The intervals between the respective hangers 20, 20B may be different from each other.
Further, the groove 13 may not be formed over the entire axial area of the suspension wire 10. For example, in the first example, the groove 13 may be not directly formed in the groove-formed portion 123, cylindrical portions in which the groove 13 is formed may be disposed in the lower surface of the groove-formed portion 123 of the coat 12 so that the cylindrical portions protrude downward, and these cylindrical portions may be intermittently arranged in the axial direction of the suspension wire 10. Alternatively, the cylindrical portions may be made of a separate member independent of the coat 12, the cylindrical portions may be joined to the coat 12.
Alternatively, in the second example, the protruding portions protruding downward may be disposed in the tubular portion 131B of the coat 12B, the groove 13 may be formed in each of the protruding portions, and these protruding portions may be intermittently arranged in the axial direction of the suspension wire 10. Alternatively, the protruding portions may be made of a separate member independent of the coat 12, the protruding portions may be joined to the coat 12.
Alternatively, the groove 13 may be formed at a position where a worker can insert or remove the wire-carrying rod 201 from the vicinity of the first or second end 123c, 123d. For example, the groove 13 is not formed on the first and second ends 123c, 123d, and may be formed over the entire central portion except for the first and second ends 123c, 123d.
In the coat 12 of the first example, the neck portion 122 may be omitted, and the groove-formed portion 123 may be directly connected to the tubular portion 121.
Further, in the second example, instead of the hangers 20B, the spiral hanger having a helical shape having the ends may be suspended on the suspension wire 10B. In this case, the cable 100 is accommodated in the spiral hanger.
Further, in the above method for laying the cable, after the first step of connecting the cable 100 to the third end 200a of the wire-carrying cord 202 side of the wire-carrying member 200, the second step of inserting the fourth end 200b of the wire-carrying rod 201 side of the wire-carrying member 200 to the groove 13, but is not limited thereto. For example, after inserting the wire-carrying rod 201 to the groove 13 (second step), the wire-carrying cord 202 may be connected to the wire-carrying rod 201 (first step). Alternatively, while inserting the wire-carrying rod 201 to the groove 13 (second step), the wire-carrying cord 202 may be connected to the wire-carrying rod 201 (first step). That is, the second step may be performed before the first step, or the first step and the second step may be performed simultaneously.
In addition, in the above method for laying the cable, the wire-carrying member 200 is composed of mutually independent members but is not limited thereto. For example, the wire-carrying member may be a single linear member with the thick-linear portion and the thin-linear portion integrally formed with the thick-linear portion.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-070668 | Apr 2021 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2022/008769 | 3/2/2022 | WO |
