Tapered v-grooves for fusion splicer
AssigneeCorning Research & Development Corporation
InventorBradley Jerome Blazer
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ribbon handler device holds a twelve fiber ribbon during thermal stripping, cleaving and mass fusion splicing. The handler device includes a first body having a first array of grooves that are tapered to reduce a nominal spacing of a first set of optical fibers and a second body having a second array of grooves that are tapered to increase a nominal spacing of a second set of optical fibers such that each fiber of the first set of optical fibers aligns with a corresponding fiber of the second set of optical fibers for efficient splicing.
Claims24
A ribbon handler device for holding a twelve fiber ribbon during thermal stripping, cleaving and mass fusion splicing, the handler device comprising:
- a first body having a lower surface, an upper surface, and two side walls, wherein a first array of grooves are provided in the upper surface of the first body for receiving a first set of optical fibers;
- and
- a second body having a lower surface, an upper surface, and two side walls, wherein a second array of grooves are provided in the upper surface of the second body for receiving a second set of optical fibers,
- wherein the second set of optical fibers has a nominal fiber size that is smaller than a nominal fiber size of the first set of optical fibers, and wherein the first array of grooves are tapered to reduce a nominal spacing of the first set of optical fibers and the second array of grooves are tapered to increase a nominal spacing of the second set of optical fibers such that each fiber of the first set of optical fibers aligns with a corresponding fiber of the second set of optical fibers.
A method of splicing a first optical fiber ribbon having a first nominal spacing to a second optical fiber ribbon having a second nominal spacing different from the first nominal spacing, the method comprising:
- thermally stripping an end portion of the first optical fiber ribbon to expose a first set of optical fibers;
- thermally stripping an end portion of the second optical fiber ribbon to expose a second set of optical fibers;
- placing the first set of optical fibers into a first body of a ribbon handler device, wherein the first body of the ribbon handler device comprises a first array of grooves defined in an upper surface of the first body for receiving the first set of optical fibers;
- placing the second set of optical fibers into a second body of the ribbon handler device, wherein the second body of the ribbon handler device comprises a second array of grooves defined in an upper surface of the second body for receiving the first set of optical fibers, wherein the second set of optical fibers has a nominal fiber size that is smaller than a nominal fiber size of the first set of optical fibers, and wherein the first array of grooves are tapered to reduce a nominal spacing of the first set of optical fibers and the second array of grooves are tapered to increase a nominal spacing of the second set of optical fibers such that each exposed fiber of the first set of optical fibers aligns with a corresponding exposed fiber of the second set of optical fibers;
- and
- placing the ribbon handler device into a splice machine for completing the splicing.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.