Semi-tight optical fiber unit
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An optical fiber unit, comprising:
- an optical fiber including a central glass fiber surrounded by a protective coating;
an anti-adhesive coating surrounding said optical fiber, said anti-adhesive coating being at least partially bonded to said protective coating of said optical fiber; and
a buffer tube surrounding said optical fiber and said anti-adhesive coating to define a radial intermediate space between said anti-adhesive coating and said buffer tube;
wherein said anti-adhesive coating and said buffer tube are separated by an average radial clearance of at least about three microns; and
wherein the radial intermediate space between said anti-adhesive coating and said buffer tube is substantially free of material.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed is a dry, semi-tight optical fiber unit that includes one or more optical fibers positioned within a buffer tube. A protective coating is provided upon the surface of the optical fibers, and an anti-adhesive coating is substantially bonded to the protective coating. One or more of these optical fiber units may be included in an optical cable. Also disclosed is a method for efficiently producing such an optical fiber unit.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. An optical fiber unit, comprising:
-
an optical fiber including a central glass fiber surrounded by a protective coating; an anti-adhesive coating surrounding said optical fiber, said anti-adhesive coating being at least partially bonded to said protective coating of said optical fiber; and a buffer tube surrounding said optical fiber and said anti-adhesive coating to define a radial intermediate space between said anti-adhesive coating and said buffer tube; wherein said anti-adhesive coating and said buffer tube are separated by an average radial clearance of at least about three microns; and wherein the radial intermediate space between said anti-adhesive coating and said buffer tube is substantially free of material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A dry, semi-tight optical fiber unit that is free of greases or gels, comprising:
-
an optical fiber having a central glass fiber surrounded by a protective coating; an anti-adhesive coating surrounding said optical fiber, said anti-adhesive coating being substantially bonded to said protective coating of said optical fiber; and a buffer tube surrounding said optical fiber and said anti-adhesive coating in a way that defines an annular free space, the average radial clearance between said anti-adhesive coating and said buffer tube being between about three microns and 100 microns. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. An optical fiber unit, comprising:
-
a buffer tube; an optical fiber bundle positioned entirely within said buffer tube, said optical fiber bundle comprising a plurality of optical fibers, each said optical fiber including a central glass fiber surrounded by a protective coating, wherein one or more said optical fibers are individually surrounded by an anti-adhesive coating, each said anti-adhesive coating being at least partially bonded to said protective coating of its respective optical fiber; wherein said buffer tube surrounds said optical fiber bundle to define a radial intermediate free space that is substantially devoid of material; and wherein an average radial clearance of at least about 100 microns separates said optical fiber bundle and said buffer tube if said optical fiber bundle is centrally positioned within said buffer tube in a way that minimizes the cross-sectional area of the optical fiber bundle and thereby maximizes the radial intermediate free space. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
-
Specification