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GB2215084A - Optical fibre ribbon containing cables - Google Patents

Optical fibre ribbon containing cables Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2215084A
GB2215084A GB8804179A GB8804179A GB2215084A GB 2215084 A GB2215084 A GB 2215084A GB 8804179 A GB8804179 A GB 8804179A GB 8804179 A GB8804179 A GB 8804179A GB 2215084 A GB2215084 A GB 2215084A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
cable
optical fibre
fibres
strength member
optical
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
GB8804179A
Other versions
GB8804179D0 (en
Inventor
Stuart Robert Barnes
David Delme Jones
Stephen Benger
Richard Morgan Thomas
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
STC PLC
Original Assignee
STC PLC
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by STC PLC filed Critical STC PLC
Priority to GB8804179A priority Critical patent/GB2215084A/en
Publication of GB8804179D0 publication Critical patent/GB8804179D0/en
Publication of GB2215084A publication Critical patent/GB2215084A/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

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
    • G02B6/4401—Optical cables
    • G02B6/4429—Means specially adapted for strengthening or protecting the cables
    • G02B6/44384—Means specially adapted for strengthening or protecting the cables the means comprising water blocking or hydrophobic materials
    • 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
    • G02B6/4401—Optical cables
    • G02B6/4403—Optical cables with ribbon structure
    • 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
    • G02B6/4401—Optical cables
    • G02B6/441—Optical cables built up from sub-bundles
    • G02B6/4411—Matrix structure

Landscapes

  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Ropes Or Cables (AREA)

Abstract

An optical fibre cable with a high fibre count close to the neutral bend axis is formed by an assembly of ribbon elements 1, each containing a set of optical fibres 3 in side-by-side relationship, contained in a tubular strength member 4 made of self-reinforcing polymer or extrudable glass reinforced polymer. The cable may contain whipping 2, a wrap 5 of e.g. paper or polyester aramid fibre and an outer sheath 6 of e.g. polyethylene. <IMAGE>

Description

OPTICAL FIBRE CABLES This invention relates to a construction of optical fibre cables containing a plurality of optical fibres. Hitherto there have been two basic structures for such multi-element optical fibre cables. In one structure the fibres are stranded around a central strength member while in the other the fibres are loosely accommodated within a tubular strength member, as for instance described in United Kingdom Patent Specification No. 1461151. The use of a central strength member means that the fibres are spaced at a distance from the neutral bending axis of the cable.
Generally, in order to provide acceptable bending tolerances for the cable the individual fibres are arranged to follow helical paths around the strength member. Such paths may alternate between left-handed and right-handed. Typically the tensile modulus of the strength member is liable to be less than that of the fibres stress but its strain at breaking point is liable to be greater than that of the fibres. Allowance for these differences is typically made by including a low modulus material between the fibres and the strength members so that when the cable is stretched its fibres become more deeply embedded in the low modulus material.In the case of optical cables with optical fibres within a tubular strength member allowance for these sort of differences in tensile properties have generally been made by loosely packing the fibres within the tube so that their unstretched length is slightly longer than the corresponding length of strength member tube. Disadvantages of this approach include the fact that the loose packing militates against having a high density of fibres within the tube and also means that the fibres make no contribution to the tensile strength of the cable, notwithstanding the fact that when the fibre count is reasonably high the fibres would otherwise be capable of providing a not insignificant contribution to the total tensile strength of the cable.
The present invention is particularly concerned with a cable construction which is capable of affording a relatively high packing density of fibres within a tubular strength member and which does not inherently require the fibres to be overfed into that strength member.
According to the present invention there is provided an optical fibre cable which cable has an array of optical fibres contained within a tube of self-reinforcing polymer or extrudable glass reinforced polymer which constitutes the strength member of the cable, which array is formed of a plurality of optical fibre ribbon elements, each ribbon element consisting of a plurality of optical fibres held in side-by-side relationship by a supporting matrix.
A feature of the use of a tubular strength member made of self-reinforcing plastics (SRP) is that it can be drawn down in size during manufacture. This is also true of extrudable glass reinforced polymer (EGRP). This is significant when it is desired to create a fully-filled cable structure for instance to make it water-blocking. The facility for drawing down the size of the tube means that the filling procedure can be allowed to be partial filling in the first instance which is converted to complete filling by the drawing down procedure.
There follows a description of an optical fibre cable emboyding the invention in a preferred form. The description refers to the accompanying drawing which depicts a cut-away perspective view of a portion of the cable.
A number of ribbon elements 1 are paid off from individual rolls (not shown) and formed into a stack held in position by means of a whipping 2. Each ribbon element consists of a set of optical fibres 3 held in side-by-side relationship in a supporting matrix. The optical fibres 3 are typically silica optical fibres each possessing an internal waveguiding structure within the glass and each coated with a plastics coating to protect the surface of the glass from damage. The supporting matrix for the fibres is typically a plastics material. The ribbons are conveniently made by the method described in Published Specification No. 2181271A in which the individual fibres are passed through a dip tank containing a suitable quick drying adhesive such as the water-based acrylic copolymer marketed by Imperial Chemical Industries under the designation TEMPRO 20.
The assembly of ribbons is then provided with a surrounding extruded strength member tube 4 of self-reinforcing plastics material such as that marketed by Celanese under the designation VECTRA A900.
Particularly when it is desired to fill with a water-blocking compound (not shown) the interstices between the tapes within the strength member tube, it is convenient to extrude the tube as a loose-fit tube which is then drawn down on to the tapes thereby improving the proportion of the interstices actually filled with the water-blocking compound. On the other hand, particularly if there is minimal or no tubing down, it may be desired to employ a wrap 5, for instance of paper, polyester aramid fibre to prevent adhesion between the strength member tube and the individual tapes.
A typical 64-fibre cable is formed of eight tapes each with eight fibres fitted in a strength member tube with a bore diameter of about 2mm. (The corresponding size of bore diameter for a 12 x 12 array of fibres is just over 3mm). In order to provide this cable with sufficient strength to strain the individual fibres by less than 0.25% at a tensile loading of the cable amounting to three times the weight of a kilometer length of the cable, the wall thickness of the strength member needs to be no greater than about 2mm. For many applications however, a rather larger diameter for the cable is required, typically about 15mm. Rather than increase the wall thickness of the self-reinforcing polymer to meet this external diameter requirement, it is generally preferred to encase the strength member in an outer sheath 6 of less expensive material such as polythene. The provision of such a sheath may also be utilised to provide the cable with improved abrasion resistance properties.
A feature of this design of cable is good bend performance attributed mainly to the fact that it provides a high fibre count close to the neutral bend axis. Additionally, the processing of the self-reinforcing polymer can be arranged by suitable choice of extrusion tooling to give the appropriate choice of shear conditions and thus of melt flow conditions to produce a temperature coefficient closely matching that of the fibres themselves.

Claims (5)

CLAIMS:
1. An optical fibre cable which cable has an array of optical fibres contained within a tube of self-reinforcing polymer or extrudable glass reinforced polymer which constitutes the strength member of the cable, which array is formed of a plurality of optical fibre ribbon elements, each ribbon element consisting of a plurality of optical fibres held in side-by-side relationship by a supporting matrix.
2. An optical fibre cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein the self-reinforcing polymer tubular strength member is encased in an abrasion-resistant outer sheath.
3. An optical fibre cable as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the matrix array of optical fibres is substantially square in cross-section.
4. An optical fibre cable as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein a water blocking compound fills the interstices within the interior of the tubular strength member.
5. An optical fibre cable substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
GB8804179A 1988-02-23 1988-02-23 Optical fibre ribbon containing cables Withdrawn GB2215084A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8804179A GB2215084A (en) 1988-02-23 1988-02-23 Optical fibre ribbon containing cables

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8804179A GB2215084A (en) 1988-02-23 1988-02-23 Optical fibre ribbon containing cables

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB8804179D0 GB8804179D0 (en) 1988-03-23
GB2215084A true GB2215084A (en) 1989-09-13

Family

ID=10632206

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB8804179A Withdrawn GB2215084A (en) 1988-02-23 1988-02-23 Optical fibre ribbon containing cables

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2215084A (en)

Cited By (16)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2258319A (en) * 1991-07-30 1993-02-03 Northern Telecom Europ Ltd Optical fibre cable
EP0541198A1 (en) * 1991-10-30 1993-05-12 AT&T Corp. Steam-resistant cable such as steam-resistant optical fiber cable
FR2722029A1 (en) * 1994-07-01 1996-01-05 Alcatel Cable Composite electrical supply and optical fibre cable for telecommunications or domestic applications
US5771321A (en) * 1996-01-04 1998-06-23 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Micromechanical optical switch and flat panel display
US6097866A (en) * 1998-05-01 2000-08-01 Alcatel Optical fiber ribbon
WO2001029602A1 (en) * 1999-10-20 2001-04-26 Scc Special Communication Cables Gmbh & Co. Kg Fibre-optic cable, comprising several fibre-optic strands located in an exterior jacket
US6317542B1 (en) 1999-09-15 2001-11-13 Lucent Technologies, Inc. Fiber optic cables with multiple stacks of optical fiber ribbons
US6321013B1 (en) 1999-09-15 2001-11-20 Lucent Technologies, Inc. Stacks of optical fiber ribbons closely bound by respective buffer encasements, associated methods, and associated fiber optic cables
US6404962B1 (en) * 1999-09-15 2002-06-11 Fitel Usa Corp. Groups of optical fibers closely bound by easily removable buffer encasements, and associated fiber optic cables
US6714713B2 (en) 2002-03-15 2004-03-30 Corning Cable Systems Llc Optical fiber having a low-shrink buffer layer and methods of manufacturing the same
US6909829B2 (en) 2002-03-28 2005-06-21 Corning Cable Systems Llc Buffered optical fiber ribbon
US7466888B2 (en) 2006-09-12 2008-12-16 Draka Comteq Bv Filler ribbons for ribbon stack
CN108780200A (en) * 2016-03-18 2018-11-09 康普技术有限责任公司 Fiber optic cables are fanned out to pipeline configuration, component and method
EP3693776A1 (en) * 2019-02-11 2020-08-12 Sterlite Technologies Limited Optical fibre ribbon and optical fibre cables thereof
US11543613B2 (en) 2014-10-27 2023-01-03 Commscope Technologies Llc Fiber optic cable with flexible conduit
US11579394B2 (en) 2016-10-13 2023-02-14 Commscope Technologies Llc Fiber optic breakout transition assembly incorporating epoxy plug and cable strain relief

Citations (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4078853A (en) * 1976-02-25 1978-03-14 Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated Optical communication cable
US4110001A (en) * 1977-01-05 1978-08-29 General Cable Corporation Optical fiber cable construction
US4146302A (en) * 1975-06-02 1979-03-27 General Cable Corporation Construction of cable made of optical fibres
GB2106266A (en) * 1981-09-21 1983-04-07 Western Electric Co Sheathed optical fiber cable
US4446686A (en) * 1982-09-02 1984-05-08 At&T Technologies, Inc. Methods of and apparatus for controlling core-to-sheath length ratio in lightguide fiber cable and cable produced by the methods
US4487641A (en) * 1983-11-15 1984-12-11 At&T Technologies, Inc. Methods of and apparatus for making a rodent and lighting protective cable sheath system
WO1985000689A1 (en) * 1983-07-29 1985-02-14 American Telephone & Telegraph Company Flame-resistant plenum cable and methods of making
EP0136913A2 (en) * 1983-10-05 1985-04-10 International Standard Electric Corporation Dielectric optical cable
US4557560A (en) * 1983-11-15 1985-12-10 At&T Technologies, Inc. Rodent and lightning protective sheath system for cables
EP0165632A2 (en) * 1984-05-23 1985-12-27 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Optical flat type cable, method of manufacturing same, and an optical cable composed of several flat type cables
EP0192570A1 (en) * 1985-02-21 1986-08-27 Georges Le Noane Composite strength members and method for their manufacture
GB2185828A (en) * 1986-01-29 1987-07-29 Bicc Plc Optical cable comprising non- metallic reinforced plastics tube

Patent Citations (12)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US4146302A (en) * 1975-06-02 1979-03-27 General Cable Corporation Construction of cable made of optical fibres
US4078853A (en) * 1976-02-25 1978-03-14 Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated Optical communication cable
US4110001A (en) * 1977-01-05 1978-08-29 General Cable Corporation Optical fiber cable construction
GB2106266A (en) * 1981-09-21 1983-04-07 Western Electric Co Sheathed optical fiber cable
US4446686A (en) * 1982-09-02 1984-05-08 At&T Technologies, Inc. Methods of and apparatus for controlling core-to-sheath length ratio in lightguide fiber cable and cable produced by the methods
WO1985000689A1 (en) * 1983-07-29 1985-02-14 American Telephone & Telegraph Company Flame-resistant plenum cable and methods of making
EP0136913A2 (en) * 1983-10-05 1985-04-10 International Standard Electric Corporation Dielectric optical cable
US4487641A (en) * 1983-11-15 1984-12-11 At&T Technologies, Inc. Methods of and apparatus for making a rodent and lighting protective cable sheath system
US4557560A (en) * 1983-11-15 1985-12-10 At&T Technologies, Inc. Rodent and lightning protective sheath system for cables
EP0165632A2 (en) * 1984-05-23 1985-12-27 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Optical flat type cable, method of manufacturing same, and an optical cable composed of several flat type cables
EP0192570A1 (en) * 1985-02-21 1986-08-27 Georges Le Noane Composite strength members and method for their manufacture
GB2185828A (en) * 1986-01-29 1987-07-29 Bicc Plc Optical cable comprising non- metallic reinforced plastics tube

Cited By (21)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2258319A (en) * 1991-07-30 1993-02-03 Northern Telecom Europ Ltd Optical fibre cable
GB2258319B (en) * 1991-07-30 1995-01-18 Northern Telecom Europ Ltd Optical fibre cabler comprising optical fibre ribbon
EP0541198A1 (en) * 1991-10-30 1993-05-12 AT&T Corp. Steam-resistant cable such as steam-resistant optical fiber cable
FR2722029A1 (en) * 1994-07-01 1996-01-05 Alcatel Cable Composite electrical supply and optical fibre cable for telecommunications or domestic applications
US5771321A (en) * 1996-01-04 1998-06-23 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Micromechanical optical switch and flat panel display
US6097866A (en) * 1998-05-01 2000-08-01 Alcatel Optical fiber ribbon
US6317542B1 (en) 1999-09-15 2001-11-13 Lucent Technologies, Inc. Fiber optic cables with multiple stacks of optical fiber ribbons
US6321013B1 (en) 1999-09-15 2001-11-20 Lucent Technologies, Inc. Stacks of optical fiber ribbons closely bound by respective buffer encasements, associated methods, and associated fiber optic cables
US6404962B1 (en) * 1999-09-15 2002-06-11 Fitel Usa Corp. Groups of optical fibers closely bound by easily removable buffer encasements, and associated fiber optic cables
WO2001029602A1 (en) * 1999-10-20 2001-04-26 Scc Special Communication Cables Gmbh & Co. Kg Fibre-optic cable, comprising several fibre-optic strands located in an exterior jacket
US6714713B2 (en) 2002-03-15 2004-03-30 Corning Cable Systems Llc Optical fiber having a low-shrink buffer layer and methods of manufacturing the same
US6876807B2 (en) 2002-03-15 2005-04-05 Corning Cable Systems Llc Optical fiber having a low-shrink buffer layer and methods of manufacturing the same
US6909829B2 (en) 2002-03-28 2005-06-21 Corning Cable Systems Llc Buffered optical fiber ribbon
US7466888B2 (en) 2006-09-12 2008-12-16 Draka Comteq Bv Filler ribbons for ribbon stack
US11543613B2 (en) 2014-10-27 2023-01-03 Commscope Technologies Llc Fiber optic cable with flexible conduit
US12066676B2 (en) 2014-10-27 2024-08-20 Commscope Technologies Llc Fiber optic cable with flexible conduit
CN108780200A (en) * 2016-03-18 2018-11-09 康普技术有限责任公司 Fiber optic cables are fanned out to pipeline configuration, component and method
CN108780200B (en) * 2016-03-18 2021-05-07 康普技术有限责任公司 Fiber optic cable fanout duct structures, components and methods
US11579394B2 (en) 2016-10-13 2023-02-14 Commscope Technologies Llc Fiber optic breakout transition assembly incorporating epoxy plug and cable strain relief
US11994733B2 (en) 2016-10-13 2024-05-28 Commscope Technologies Llc Fiber optic breakout transition assembly incorporating epoxy plug and cable strain relief
EP3693776A1 (en) * 2019-02-11 2020-08-12 Sterlite Technologies Limited Optical fibre ribbon and optical fibre cables thereof

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB8804179D0 (en) 1988-03-23

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Legal Events

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WAP Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1)