Fiber optic cable furcation unit
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorGair D. Brown
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A low cost rugged sealed fiber optic cable furcation unit is provided. The urcation unit has an outer heat shrink tube which encloses a protective tube. Within the protective tube, a spacer/fiber guide is located along with a sealant material. When installed and sealed, the sealed furcation unit includes fiber ends and cables. The furcation unit allows loose tube fiber optic cables or tube ducts within Air Blown Fiber (AEF) cables to be furcated into multiple single fiber cables. The furcation unit is compatible with both 250 micrometer and 500 micrometer coated optical fibers. The furcation unit is also compatible with common single fiber optical connectors and splices.
Claims30
An assembly, including:
- a structure that contains a plurality of optical fibers;
- a furcation tube assembly that includes a plurality of loose tube optical fiber cables, wherein the plurality of optical fibers are coupled to respective ones of the plurality of loose tube optical fiber cables;
- and,
- a heat shrink tube that joins the structure and the furcation tube assembly.
A method, including the steps of:
- providing a structure that contains a plurality of optical fibers;
- providing a furcation tube assembly that includes a plurality of loose tube optical fiber cables;
- joining the structure and the furcation tube assembly with a heat shrink tube;
- and,
- coupling the plurality of optical fibers to respective ones of the plurality of loose tube optical fiber cables.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.