Method and apparatus for low-speed, high-throughput fiber drawing using coiled fiber loops

An apparatus for continuously drawing fibers comprising a conveyer-drawing structure comprising at least two conveyer-drawing members for conveying and simultaneous drawing of the fiber,

• wherein the conveyer-drawing members are disposed about a central axis, which is parallel to a direction of conveying, and have receiving ends for receiving the fiber and delivery ends for delivering the fiber, and both the receiving and delivery ends are spaced along the central axis,
• wherein the delivery ends are spaced further from the central axis than the receiving ends,
• wherein the drawing apparatus is constructed and arranged for feeding the fiber to the drawing apparatus, laying the fiber continuously into coiled loops on the receiving ends of the conveyer-drawing members, taking off continuously the leading fiber loops from the delivery ends of the conveyer-drawing members, and conveying the fiber from the drawing apparatus at an outlet speed Voutlet,
• wherein the conveyer-drawing members draw the fiber in the form of the coiled loops at a draw temperature and speed by expanding a circumference of the fiber loops while conveying the fiber loops along the central axis from the receiving ends to the delivery ends, a layer comprising the coiled fiber loops being formed on the conveyer-drawing members,
• wherein the fiber drawing apparatus is constructed and arranged to provide a ratio of fiber outlet speed Voutlet to a fiber speed (Vfiber)max greater than 1 to 1, fiber speed (Vfiber)max being the highest value of a linear speed of fiber points along the fiber axis in the process of drawing,
• wherein the conveyer-drawing members have both the receiving and delivery ends supported,
• wherein the conveyer-drawing members lie in plane with the central axis and are positioned at divergence angle α with respect to the central axis.