Dust cap assembly for sealing an optical fiber ferrule and methods thereof
AssigneeCorning Cable Systems LLC
InventorsZiwei Liu, Charles A. Yow, JR.
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A dust cap assembly includes a sleeve and a sealant that seals an end face portion of a fiber optic ferrule from contaminants and, upon removal, provides remedial cleaning of any foreign matter present on the ferrule when the dust cap assembly was initially installed along with methods of making the same. The sleeve of the dust cap assembly has a through bore and a distal end for receiving the sealant. Further, the sealant may optionally have advantageous mechanical and optical properties such that the dust cap assembly may function as a terminator for testing.
Claims21
A dust cap assembly for sealing a fiber optic connector assembly comprising:
- at least one fiber optic ferrule assembly including a fiber optic ferrule having at least one optical fiber therein, wherein the fiber optic ferrule assembly has a polished end face;
- a sleeve, having a proximal end and a distal end with a through bore therebetween, the sleeve being disposed on the at least one fiber optic ferrule;
- and
- a sealant at least partially disposed on the sleeve for sealing a portion of the polished end face of the fiber optic ferrule.
A method of sealing a fiber optic ferrule end face, comprising the steps of:
- providing a fiber optic connector assembly having at least one fiber optic ferrule assembly therein, the at least one fiber optic ferrule assembly having at least one fiber optic ferrule and at least one optical fiber therein, wherein the fiber optic ferrule has a polished end face thereon;
- providing a sleeve, the sleeve having a proximal end and a distal end with a through bore therebetween;
- placing the sleeve onto the fiber optic ferrule via the through bore, whereby the polished end face is proximal to the distal end;
- depositing a sealant onto the sleeve to cover a portion of the polished end face of the fiber optic ferrule and a portion of the distal end of the sleeve for sealing the fiber optic ferrule end face.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.