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US 4,727,237 AGranted
Pyrolysis coated optical fiber splices: apparatus and method
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorChristopher A. Schantz
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A splicing apparatus includes a chamber which serves as a locus of functional convergence for a fiber holder, a laser and a viewing system. This arrangement permits several procedural steps, including a splicing operation and a hermetic coating operation to be performed using a single thermal laser heat source and without significantly disturbing the fibers between operations. The apparatus and the method practiced yield a splice which is comparable in optical, mechanical and physical properties to the original cable. Thus, for example, hermetically sealed optical fiber cables suitable for oil-well logging can be manufactured by splicing together the more limited cable lengths available using drawing techniques alone.
Claims40
A splicing apparatus comprising:
- alignment means for holding two fiber leads in opposition within spatial region and axially coaligning said leads, said alignment means being adjustable to control the separation of said leads;
- fusion means for fusing said leads together to form a spliced fiber;
- heating means for heating a splice-including segment of a spliced fiber relative to a surrounding gas;
- a reactant gas source;
- another gas source;
- and
- gas flow means for introduction of gas into said spatial region, evacuation of gas from said spatial region, and for mixing of gases prior to introduction into said spatial region, said gas flow means being in communication with said gas sources, said gas flow means including controls for controlling the flow of gases from each of said source to said spatial region.
4 more elements
A splicer for optical fibers comprising:
- a splicing chamber, said chamber having a first port for receiving first and second fiber leads;
- a translation stage arranged for three-dimensional movement relative to said chamber;
- first holder means for positioning a first fiber lead within said chamber and at a fixed position relative to said chamber;
- second holder means for positioning a second fiber lead within said chamber so that the end of said second fiber lead is in opposition to the end of said first fiber lead, said second holder means being rigidly disposed relative to said translation stage so that said fiber leads can be coaligned and controllably spaced by operation of said translation stage;
- thermal laser means for delivering a laser beam capable of significantly heating an optical fiber, said thermal laser means including means for bringing a laser beam to a focus within said chamber:
- laser alignment means for moving said laser relative to said chamber so that the focus of said thermal laser can be positioned with respect to said fiber leads, said laser alignment means including motorized means for moving fiber leads positioned by said first and second holding means longitudinally of said fiber leads with respect to the focus of said thermal laser means;
- a reactant gas source for supplying reactant gas;
- alternative gas source means for supplying gases other than said reactant gas;
- gas handling means in communication with said reactant and alternative gas sources and said chamber for selectively mixing gases from said sources, selectively introducing gas mixtures into said chamber, and evacuating gases from said chamber;
- sealing means for sealing said chamber so that gases introduced by said gas handling means can flow through said chamber under a pressure different from the ambient pressure external to said chamber;
- and
- means for concurrently activating said thermal laser source and said motorized means of said laser alignment means so that said fiber leads can be heated along lengths thereof, and so that a length of spliced fiber can be hermetically sealed along a length being translated with respect to the thermal laser beam of said thermal laser source while surrounded by flowing reactant gas introduced from said reactant gas source via said gas handling means.
9 more elements
A method of providing a coated spliced optical fiber comprising the steps of:
- aligning two fiber leads so that their ends are opposed;
- fusing the two ends together so as to define a spliced fiber with a splice location, said fiber defining a longitudinal direction;
- surrounding a segment of said spliced fiber including said splice location with a reactant gas capable of coating a heated optical fiber;
- and
- heating said spliced fiber so as to cause a coating to form on said segment.
2 more elements
A method of splicing two optical fiber cable leads, said method comprising the steps of:
- locating two longitudinally extending fiber cables, each with a respective lead to be spliced, each fiber cable lead having a generally circular cross section defining a radial direction generally orthogonal to the direction of longitudinal extent of the respective lead at said cross section, each lead having plural longitudinally extending components, including, in radially outward order, an optical fiber, a hermetic seal radially surrounding said fiber, and a buffer radially surrounding said hermetic seal;
- for each cable, cleaving the lead to be spliced through the respective buffer so as to define a substantially flat end surface of the respective fiber, said surface extending substantially orthogonally to the longitudinal direction defined by the respective fiber at the location at which cleaving is performed;
- for each cable, immersing the lead to be spliced in a liquid which shrinks the respective buffer relative to the respective fiber, a sufficient length of the respective fiber being immersed so that upon shrinkage an end piece of hermetically sealed cladding protrudes from said buffer an longitudinal extent at least equal to twice the diameter of the cladding;
- for each fiber, mounting the lead in a respective clamp positioned near the end of the fiber;
- inserting the respective clamps into a chamber so that the fiber ends to be spliced are opposed and spaced from one another;
- sealing said chamber;
- determining whether said leads are coaligned. and, if not, coaligning the fiber leads;
- for each fiber, heating the lead end with a laser so as to render the end slightly convex;
- for each fiber, moving the fiber with respect to a laser beam so that a portion of said hermetic seal is removed at the end of the respective lead so that said cladding extends longitudinally at least one cladding diameter beyond the remaining hermetic seal;
- fusion splicing said fiber leads to yield a spliced fiber including a splice location;
- moving said spliced fiber with respect to a laser beam so as to minimize by thermal fusion surface dust on the surface of the exposed cladding about said splice location;
- introducing reactant gas into said chamber, said reactant gas being selected so that it can deposit a hermetic seal on a heated cladding;
- moving said spliced fiber relative to a laser beam so that a hermetic seal is deposited on the exposed portion of said cladding so that the hermetic seal so deposited is integral with said remaining portions of said hermetic seals;
- purging said reactant gas from said chamber;
- removing said spliced fiber from said chamber;
- and
- applying a protective buffer over said splice position so that the applied protective buffer overlaps the remaining portions of the buffers of the original fiber leads.
14 more elements
A fiber splicing apparatus comprising:
- first clamping means for holding an end of a first fiber;
- second clamping means for holding an end of a second fiber;
- adjustment means for varying the relative positions of said first clamping means and said second clamping means such that said ends of said first fiber and said second fiber are juxtaposed;
- gas flow means for controlling flow and contents of a gas surrounding said ends;
- and
- means for fusing said ends of said first fiber and said second fiber together.
3 more elements
A method comprising:
- clamping an end of a first fiber;
- clamping an end of a second fiber;
- adjusting the clamped ends until they are juxtaposed;
- fusing said ends together to formed a spliced fiber with a splice location;
- surrounding said splice location with a reactant gas;
- and
- heating said spliced fiber at said splice location so that said fiber causes said reactant gas to coat said spliced fiber at said splice location.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.