Coated tape form optical fiber wire

Details Coated tape form optical fiber wire Coated tape form optical fiber wire

1994-10-31

1996-06-04

Healy, Brian

Optical waveguides

Optical transmission cable

Ribbon cable

385100, 385127, 385128, 385141, G02B 644

Patent

active

055241646

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tape form optical fiber wire. In particular, the present invention relates to a tape form optical fiber wire for fabricating a high density cable to be used as a telecommunication optical fiber cable.


DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

In these years, with the expansion of optical communication networks, requirements for a higher density of an optical fiber cable are increasing to increase a transmission capacity. Demands for tape form optical fiber wires in which plural optical fibers are arranged in parallel and coated together are increasing, since they can achieve the high density easily by laminating them. Multi-coring of the tape form optical fiber wire has been studied in various ways. To make its handling easy, a tape form optical fiber wire which can be easily split to several wires is known from, for example, Japanese Patent KOKAI Publication No. 150106/1989 and 138519/1989.
With such optical fiber wire, it is easy to increase the density, while the wire has a problem that the optical fiber is strained when an optical fiber unit having a laminated structure is bent. This is because free movement of a common coating layer and the optical fibers is limited, so that local flexural strain is generated. To solve such problem, it is known to provide a cushioning layer between the optical fiber and its protective layer as disclosed in Japanese Patent KOKAI Publication No. 134211/1985, or it is known to assemble the common coating layer and the protective layer of the optical fiber or to coat or supply a material for reducing a coefficient of friction between the common coating layer and the protective layer, so as to reduce friction between them and make slipping easy between them.
However, with the increase of the number of the core optical fibers, a coefficient of friction between the tape form optical fiber wires becomes important. Japanese Patent KOKAI Publication No. 89915/1987 proposes the provision of a layer for reducing a coefficient of friction made of a material having a small coefficient of friction such as polytetrafluoroethylene, nylon, and the like. Japanese Patent KOKAI Publication No. 98314/1987 proposes the supply of a powder having a very small particle size such as talc, talcum powder, water-absorbing powder and the like between the layers. However, since all the proposals require an extra work in addition to the formation of the common coating layer, they have decreased workability and productivity.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a tape form optical fiber wire in which no strain is generated in the optical fiber when the laminated wires are bent.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tape form optical fiber wire which is excellent in productivity.
According to the present invention, the above objects are achieved by a tape form optical fiber wire comprising at least one set of at least two optical fibers each of which has a protective coating layer and which are arranged in parallel in the same plane, said at least one set of the optical fibers being integrated by at least one common coating layer, wherein said common coating layer contains a main component of a common coating resin and a component having a poor compatibility with said main component.


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a schematic cross sectional view of one example of the tape form optical fiber wire of the present invention,
FIG. 1B is a schematic cross sectional view of another example of the tape form optical fiber wire of the present invention,
FIG. 1C is a schematic cross sectional view of a further example of the tape form optical fiber wire of the present invention,
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of an apparatus for producing the tape form optical fiber wire of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of an example of an optical fiber,
FIG. 4A shows an apparatus used for measuring a coefficient of friction in Examples, and
FIG. 4B is an enlarged view of a mandrel par

REFERENCES:
patent: 4828349 (1989-05-01), Nakasuji
patent: 4953945 (1990-09-01), Nishimura et al.
patent: 5062685 (1991-11-01), Cain et al.
patent: 5082347 (1992-01-01), Akasaka et al.

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