Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/44—Mechanical structures for providing tensile strength and external protection for fibres, e.g. optical transmission cables
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G02—OPTICS
  • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
  • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
  • G02B6/44—Mechanical structures for providing tensile strength and external protection for fibres, e.g. optical transmission cables
  • G02B6/4479—Manufacturing methods of optical cables
  • G02B6/4482—Code or colour marking

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an optical fiber with a covering of the cladding surrounding the fiber core from one or more plastic layers and a color coding in the form of a ring marking on or in the outer plastic layer.
• Fibers of the generic type are well known.
• a ring signature is applied to the outermost plastic sheath of the wire, for example by means of plastics curing by means of infrared radiation, but line or stripe markings made of colored plastics are also common, which are achieved by using ultraviolet radiation (UV) can be cured.
• UV ultraviolet radiation
• the fibers provided with a color coding have to be processed further, for example by inserting them into electrical or optical cables, inserting them into protective tubes made of plastic or steel, or producing fiber ribbons from such fibers, the color coding that is common today is sufficient, for example by IR ring signing does not always meet the requirements, for example with regard to abrasion resistance.
• the invention is therefore based on the object of finding a possibility of color coding which precludes an influence on the transmission properties of the fibers even when the temperature changes, or at least limits them to negligible values. Furthermore, the identification of any number of fibers should be ensured, it being necessary to ensure that the color identification applied once during the manufacturing process is retained regardless of the subsequent process steps during further processing.
• the ring signature consists of open color rings.
• the invention is based on the knowledge that the closed color rings of previous embodiments, arranged at intervals, act on the optical fiber with pressure on these discrete points, but that such a pressure load with the consequences of increased attenuation does not occur if instead of a ring signature in form closed color rings Color rings mark the fiber that are open.
• the opening angle in the color rings according to the invention can be arbitrary in itself, but for reasons of the safe keeping apart of the marked fibers it has proven to be particularly expedient if the opening of the color rings is at most 180 °, measured over the circumference of the optical fiber.
• half rings as the open color rings, or those in which the course of the open color ring is interrupted along the fiber circumference.
• the colored lacquer forming a half ring can also be represented as a dotted or dashed line.
• the open color rings are formed by the fact that the course of the color rings is interrupted at intervals along the fiber circumference.
• the open color rings formed by the interrupted course along the fiber circumference will expediently consist of a series of color dots and / or lines.
• the color rings formed by the color dots and / or lines have an opening which, measured over the circumference, is at most 180 °.
• the openings offset in the circumferential direction in the fiber direction of successive color rings, for example also in a continuation of the invention in such a way that the openings are spatially offset along a helix surrounding the fiber.
• a transparent or translucent further layer which covers the ring signature from the open color rings and extends continuously over the fiber length.
• Such a further layer namely leaves a z. B. colored half ring appear optically as a full ring.
• An optical fiber constructed according to the invention thus does not differ optically from a conventional full-ring color marking, but it has improved damping properties compared to this.
• the protection of the color coding against mechanical abrasion is guaranteed, and the smooth surface protection with a uniform outer diameter ensures problem-free processing of the labeled fiber.
• the additional layer can also be used as additional surface protection against moisture and solvents, which means that further areas of application of optical transmission technology can be developed with a fiber designed according to the invention. Since each color marking of the translucent or transparent further layer according to the invention is mechanically protected immediately after the fiber has been produced, ie before each further processing of the optical waveguide, any color combinations can also be securely applied to the fiber according to the invention for any purpose. Since the further layer covering the color coding must later consist of a transparent or translucent material for later identification of each individual fiber, it may be expedient to use clear lacquers in a continuation of the invention.
• Another, particularly advantageous variant of the invention is that when the further transparent or translucent layer is colored, for example consists of a colored lacquer. This results in a large number of further color combinations when carrying out the invention.
• Lacquers suitable for the purposes of the invention include, for example, those based on polyimides, polyesters, polyethers, polysulphones or polyurethanes.
• the lacquers for the further layer can be those which can be hardened due to infrared radiation and have therefore found their way into technology as so-called IR lacquers, and lacquers hardening by ultraviolet radiation will also be used with particular advantage , these are so-called UV varnishes, which have a higher viscosity than IR varnishes, and therefore z. B. to even out the other layer because of the underlying and applied to the coated fiber color coding are particularly suitable.
• a lacquer combination in which the open color rings consist of an IR-curing lacquer and the further layer consists of a UV-hardening lacquer has proven particularly expedient for the purposes of the invention.
• UV-curing lacquers both for the open color rings and for the additional layer.
• Another possibility is in a continuation of the invention, to replace the IR-curing and / or the UV-curing paints with solvent-based paints.
• the optical fiber provided with the further layer to be stabilized against external mechanical forces and at the same time further protected against moisture, acids and the like Invention select the thickness of the further layer in the order of 1-10 ⁇ m, preferably 3-6 ⁇ m.
• the further layer surrounds the fiber as a continuous protective layer, it is important to choose a thickness of the color layer forming this ring marking that is suitable for the purposes of the invention.
• the thickness of the color layer forming the ring signature is therefore 0.5-5 ⁇ m, preferably 1-3 ⁇ m; this leads to a particularly uniform surface quality of the optical fiber.
• this coating 4 Immediately on this coating 4 there is a color marking in the form of color rings 5 arranged at intervals and open in the circumferential direction, the material of which consists of an IR or UV-curing lacquer.
• the layer thickness of the color rings 5 is 3-4 ⁇ m in the exemplary embodiment, and the part that is left out of a full color ring according to the invention is designated by 6.
• the transparent or translucent further layer 7 is provided, which covers the fiber provided with the color coding over the entire length.
• a UV-curing lacquer based on polyimide, polysulfone or polyurethane is used as the material for this further layer 7, for example.
• the thickness of the further layer 7 is, for example, 5 ⁇ m, so that all the color rings 5 are covered and the areas 8 between each two color rings 5 are filled with the material of the further layer. Continuous mechanical protection of the color coding is achieved, the fiber has improved transmission properties, it is easily identifiable due to the visually perceptible closed color rings.
• the further layer 7 is colored or colored, for example consists of a colored lacquer.
• black or blue single or double rings 5, each in an open design made of an IR-curing lacquer, can be covered by a yellow, red or green colored, advantageously UV-curing and thus more viscous further lacquer layer 7.
• the colored single or double rings 5, which are open per se, can easily be identified as full rings, since the colored further lacquer layer 7 is at least translucent. The choice of high-contrast color combinations makes it easier to identify the marked fiber.
• the optical fiber can also be a Be plastic fiber, a layer of a UV-curing lacquer based on polyester or polyether can also be used as a further lacquer layer 7.
• FIG. 2 shows the course of the so-called temperature response when the fiber is color-coded by means of closed color rings that are common today, while, under the same measurement conditions, FIG. 3 shows the result for an optical fiber that has a color code with an open one , describes semi-circular color rings in the exemplary embodiment.
• FIGS. 2 and 3 shows a clear decrease in the attenuation in the specified temperature ranges for the optical fiber marked with open color rings according to the invention.
• color coding z. B. as half rings, which can also be shown in dotted, ie interrupted form, the immediate environment of the optical fiber is kept free of mechanical forces at the points of the "ring-shaped" marking. Forces resulting from the layer structure selected for a specific application are neutralized by the measure according to the invention.
• FIG. 4 and 5 show variations of an open Color rings according to the invention.
• the same structures are selected here, without being limited to glass fibers, namely with a fiber core 2, a jacket 3 and the so-called coating 4.
• FIG. 4 shows an open color ring 9 with a continuous color train, the opening here being approximately 100 ° to 110 °.
• Such an open color ring 9 can be identified optically under the further layer as a full ring, but compared to a color ring that actually also acts mechanically as a full ring, improved transmission properties result according to the invention.
• FIG. 5 illustrates another embodiment of the open color ring proposed according to the invention.
• the open color ring 10 here consists of a color train interrupted over the entire circumference.
• the color ring 10 is formed from a plurality of color dots and / or color lines 11 arranged one after the other at intervals in the circumferential direction.

Landscapes

• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Optical Fibers, Optical Fiber Cores, And Optical Fiber Bundles (AREA)
• Surface Treatment Of Glass Fibres Or Filaments (AREA)
• Light Guides In General And Applications Therefor (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=7766899

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (18)

Families Citing this family (29)

Citations (1)

Family Cites Families (18)

• 1995
  • 1995-07-15 DE DE19525816A patent/DE19525816A1/de not_active Ceased
• 1996
  • 1996-03-09 NZ NZ303978A patent/NZ303978A/xx unknown
  • 1996-03-09 PL PL96324498A patent/PL324498A1/xx unknown
  • 1996-03-09 CA CA002227311A patent/CA2227311A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 1996-03-09 JP JP9506198A patent/JPH11513130A/ja active Pending
  • 1996-03-09 RU RU98102858/28A patent/RU2158945C2/ru active
  • 1996-03-09 CZ CZ9845A patent/CZ4598A3/cs unknown
  • 1996-03-09 SI SI9620074A patent/SI9620074A/sl unknown
  • 1996-03-09 BR BR9609564A patent/BR9609564A/pt not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1996-03-09 EP EP96907415A patent/EP0839334A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 1996-03-09 KR KR1019970709831A patent/KR19990028513A/ko not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1996-03-09 CN CN96195560A patent/CN1191025A/zh active Pending
  • 1996-03-09 US US08/983,107 patent/US6404972B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1996-03-09 HU HU9901441A patent/HUP9901441A2/hu unknown
  • 1996-03-09 WO PCT/EP1996/001022 patent/WO1997004343A1/de not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 1996-03-09 SK SK43-98A patent/SK4398A3/sk unknown
  • 1996-03-09 AU AU51054/96A patent/AU702849B2/en not_active Ceased
• 1998
  • 1998-01-14 NO NO980169A patent/NO980169L/no not_active Application Discontinuation

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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