Environmental sealing for fiber optic cable assemblies
AssigneeAmphenol Corporation
InventorRitch Allen Selfridge
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fiber optic cable is terminated to a ferrule in a conventional fashion, polished and completed as would ordinarily be done, but the entire assembly or at least the termination/connector portion is coated with a conformal coating such as MIL-I-46058 XY conformal coating, also known as Parylene. The conformal coating provides an effective moisture barrier without restricting the flexibility of the cable. In addition, the conformal coating protects the polished connector/terminus interface, in case of a butt joint connection, protecting it from damage prior to installation, at which time the conformal coating on the mating face can easily be peeled off because of the polished condition of the mating face.
Claims17
A method of protecting optical fibers following termination, comprising the steps of:
- preparing a fiber for termination by stripping protective layers of a fiber optic cable to expose at least a portion of the fiber, inserting the fiber into a termination device, completing termination of the fiber to the termination device, and conformally coating the completed termination to environmentally seal portions of the fiber that have been exposed during the step of stripping protective layers from the fiber optic cable.
An environmentally sealed fiber optic termination, comprising:
- at least one optical fiber from which protective layers have been removed in preparation for termination, and which have been inserted into a termination device to form a completed termination, and
- a conformal coating on the completed termination.
A fiber optic coupling arrangement, including a housing in which is installed at least one completed termination, said completed termination comprising:
- at least one optical fiber from which protective layers have been removed in preparation for termination, and which have been inserted into a termination device to form a completed termination, and
- a conformal coating on the completed termination.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.