Optical fiber canister

Abstract

The bobbin of an optical fiber canister is constructed so that the thermal expansion coefficient of the bobbin is matched to that of the optical fiber pack wound upon the bobbin. In one embodiment, an optical fiber canister (20) has a bobbin (22) in the shape of a frustoconical shell (24) with a flange (26) at one end of the shell (24), the bobbin (22) having a slot (34) through the shell (24) and the flange (26) extending longitudinally parallel to the axis (28) of the shell (24). In another embodiment, an optical fiber canister (50) has a bobbin (52) in the shape of a frustoconical shell (54) with a flange (56) at one end of the shell (54), the bobbin (52) being formed of at least two layers (62) of structural fiber (60) material helically wound and adhesively bonded into the shape of the shell (54). The structural fiber (60) material is selected to have substantially the same thermal expansion properties as optical fiber material, and may in fact be optical fiber. The two approaches may be combined, with the structural fiber of the second embodiment being helically wound onto a slotted shell (84) such as used in the first embodiment.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.