Illuminable transmission cable

• US 9,628,898 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2015
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Corning Incorporated
• Inventors: Crossland, Carl Edgar, Genier, Michael Lucien, Tyagi, Vineet
• Primary Examiner(s): Alavi, Ali
• Application Number:
  US14/702,005
• Publication Number:
  US 20150332810A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• CPC Class Codes: F21V 33/0056 Audio equipment, e.g. music instruments, radios or speakers
• CPC Class Codes: F21W 2131/30 Lighting for domestic or personal use
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/001 the light being emitted along at least a portion of the lateral surface of the fibre
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02 Optical fibres with cladding with or without a coating
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02052 comprising optical elements other than gratings, e.g. filters comprising gratings G02B6/02057
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/02395 Glass optical fibre with a protective coating, e.g. two layer polymer coating deposited directly on a silica cladding surface during fibre manufacture G02B6/02052, G02B6/02057, G02B6/024, G02B6/032, G02B6/105, G02B6/14 take precedence; coating on fibre gratings G02B6/02104; multilayer core or cladding G02B6/036; reinforcing splice joints G02B6/2558; optical cables, i.e. comprising protective structures external to the protective coating such as a jacket or plural coated optical fibres G02B6/44; coating of glass to obtain optical fibres C03C25/104
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/028 with core or cladding having graded refractive index G02B6/02033, G02B6/02295 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4416 Heterogeneous cables
• CPC Class Codes: H01B 11/22 Cables including at least one electrical conductor together with optical fibres
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1033 Cables or cables storage, e.g. cable reels cord reels per se H02G11/02; arrangements for storing and repeatedly paying-out and re-storing lengths of conductors or cables B65H75/34; extensible conductors or cables, e.g. self-coiling cords H01B7/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1091 Details not provided for in groups H04R1/1008 - H04R1/1083
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/0335 Earpiece support, e.g. headbands or neckrests for monophonic headphones H04R1/105

Abstract

An illuminable transmission cable includes an electrical conductor, a light-diffusing fiber having a glass core and a cladding, at least one of the glass core and a core-cladding interface having a plurality of scattering structures. The light-diffusing fiber is configured to optically couple with a light source which emits light into the light-diffusing fiber. The scattering structures are configured to scatter the emitted light and output the emitted light along at least a portion of a sidewall of the light-diffusing fiber. A light transmissive jacket surrounds the electrical conductor and the light-diffusing fiber.

Claims

1. An illuminable transmission cable, comprising:

an electrical conductor;

a light-diffusing fiber having a glass core and a cladding, at least one of the glass core and a core-cladding interface having a plurality of scattering structures, wherein the light-diffusing fiber is configured to optically couple with a light source which emits light into the light-diffusing fiber, wherein the scattering structures are configured to scatter the emitted light and output the emitted light along at least a portion of a sidewall of the light-diffusing fiber; and

a light transmissive jacket surrounding the electrical conductor and the light-diffusing fiber.

2. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 1, wherein the electrical conductor is configured to transmit electrical audio signals to an audio speaker assembly.

3. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 1, wherein the scattering structures have a diameter between about 10 nanometers and about 1 micron.

4. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 3, wherein the scattering structures comprise gas filled voids.

5. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 4, wherein the light-diffusing fiber has a scattering-induced attenuation of the emitted light greater than about 50 dB/km.

6. An illuminable transmission cable system, comprising:

a light-diffusing fiber defining a first end and a second end and a sidewall extending between the first and second ends;

a first light source coupled to the first end of the light-diffusing fiber and a second light source coupled to the second end of the light-diffusing fiber, the first and second light sources configured to emit light into the respective first and second ends of the light-diffusing fiber, wherein the emitted light is output along a sidewall of the light-diffusing fiber;

a first conductive strip positioned on an exterior of the fiber; and

a second conductive strip positioned on the exterior of the fiber, wherein the first and second conductive strips extend the length of the fiber and conduct electrical power to the second light source.

7. The illuminable transmission cable system of claim 6, wherein a connection point is electrically coupled with the first and second conductive strips, the connection point being configured to move relative to the light-diffusing fiber.

8. The illuminable transmission cable system of claim 6, wherein the first and second conductive strips comprise a transparent conductive material and have an angular position on the fiber with respect to one another of between about 2°

and about 180°

.

9. The illuminable transmission cable system of claim 6, wherein the light-diffusing fiber comprises a plurality of scattering structures within the fiber.

10. The illuminable transmission cable system of claim 6, wherein the scattering structures have a diameter ranging from about 10 nanometers to about 1 micron.

11. An illuminable transmission cable, comprising:

a transmission medium positioned within a transmission jacket;

a light-diffusing fiber configured to receive light emitted from a light source, the light-diffusing fiber positioned within a fiber jacket and configured to diffuse the emitted light along a length of the light-diffusing fiber; and

a cable jacket surrounding the transmission medium and the light-diffusing fiber, wherein the cable jacket is transmissive to the diffused emitted light by the light-diffusing fiber.

12. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 11, wherein the transmission jacket is transmissive to the emitted light.

13. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 12, wherein the transmission medium comprises an electrical conductor comprising a metal, wherein the metal is configured to reflect the emitted light from the light-diffusing fiber toward the cable jacket.

14. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 11, wherein the transmission jacket comprises a photoluminescent material.

15. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 11, further comprising:

an optical reflector positioned around the transmission medium, the optical reflector configured to reflect the emitted light from the light-diffusing fiber toward the cable jacket, further wherein the transmission medium is an optical fiber.

16. The illuminable transmission cable of claim 11, the light-diffusing fiber comprising a plurality of scattering structures having a diameter of about 10 nanometers to about 1 micron.

17. A method of operating an illuminable transmission cable, comprising the steps:

providing a light source configured to emit light;

providing a single light-diffusing fiber optically coupled to the light source to receive the emitted light, the light-diffusing fiber comprising a plurality of scattering structures disposed along a length of the light-diffusing fiber configured to scatter the emitted light;

transmitting an optical signal along the light-diffusing fiber; and

controlling an electronic device with the signal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting the optical signal comprises modulating a frequency at which the light source emits light to create a signal.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

providing a second light source, wherein the second light source is configured to transmit the optical signal at a wavelength different than the emitted light.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the optical signal comprises an audio signal for a speaker assembly and the plurality of scattering structures are configured to not substantially scatter the optical signal.