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US 12,358,830 B2Granted
System and methods for processing an optical fiber preform
AssigneeCorning Incorporated
InventorsRaymond David Groh, Joseph Leroy Morse, Bradley Kent Shepard, Ian Anthony Smith, Eric Wade Thornton
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Abstract
A system and methods are described herein for preheating a preform in a preheater furnace and then transferring the preheated preform to a consolidation furnace for chemical treatment and sintering the preform into a clear glass which can be drawn into optical fiber. In addition, the preheater furnace is described herein which is configured to heat the preform per a predetermined heat-profile until the preform is uniformly heated to a temperature above 1000° C.
Claims12
A system comprising:
- a preheater furnace configured to receive a porous preform, to rotate the porous preform, and to heat the porous preform to form a preheated preform, the preheated preform having an outer surface;
- a consolidation furnace spaced apart and separate from the preheater furnace, the consolidation furnace configured to sinter the preheated preform to form a consolidated preform;
- and
- a transfer mechanism configured to transfer the preheated preform from the preheater furnace to the consolidation furnace, the transfer including removing the preheated preform with the outer surface at a first temperature from the preheater furnace and inserting the preheated preform with the outer surface at a second temperature into the consolidation furnace, the first temperature exceeding 1000° C. and the second temperature being greater than room temperature and less than the first temperature.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.