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US 7,842,340 B2Granted
Fibre coating method and apparatus
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications plc
InventorsPhilip A Barker, Christopher Fisk, Raymond P Smith
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AssigneeBritish Telecommunications plc
InventorsPhilip A Barker, Christopher Fisk, Raymond P Smith
Estimating the term…
A fiber unit coating apparatus includes a chamber into which an uncured resin coated fiber unit is passed. Microspheres mixed with air are fed into the chamber via ducts and apertures. As a result rapid and even application of the microspheres can be achieved, and the system allows controllable application of the microspheres by varying the rate of flow of the air/microsphere mixture. Positive pressure chambers are provided to prevent the microspheres from blocking the inlet and outlet points where the fiber unit enters and leaves the chamber.
Apparatus for coating a fibre unit with particulate matter, the apparatus comprising:
A method of coating a fibre unit with particulate matter, said method comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.
Spraying: onto continuous fibres
Coating: general methods of coating; Devices therefor
Coatings containing composite materials: containing particles, fibres or flakes, e.g. in a continuous phase
Chemical composition of glasses, glazes or vitreous enamels
About 2 months of term left · ends 20 Dec 2026 (estimated)
1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a fibre coating method and apparatus in particular for coating optical fibres.
2. Related Art
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the figures of which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of components of a fibre coating system;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a fibre coating unit according to a first embodiment;
The materials, apparatus components and processes for advancing and coating optical fibres will be well-known to the skilled person and are described in overview only here, with reference to FIG. 1. The apparatus which is designated generally 10 includes an optical fibre unit 12 comprising either single fibre or a bundle of fibres drawn from a drum (off-line operation) or formed directly (on-line operation) upstream (not shown). The fibre is drawn in the direction designated by arrow A. One or more directional rollers 14 are provided such that the direction of the drawing of the fibre unit 12 can be easily controlled. The fibre passes through a resin coating element 16 and from there into a micro sphere coating unit 18 in which the fibre unit is coated with microspheres. An electrostatic gun (not shown) may be associated with the coating unit 18 to charge the microspheres and hence improve their attraction to the fibre unit 12. In addition positive pressure chambers are preferably placed at the fibre inlet and outlet of the coating unit 18 to prevent leakage of the microspheres. A range of alternative micro sphere coating units 18 are described below in more detail and form the basis of the present invention.
The coated fibre unit 12 then passes into a UV curing unit 20 and from there to any appropriate downstream treatment units.
Although the fibre unit 12 is shown being coated in a vertical orientation, dependent on the coating regime imposed at the coating unit 18, it can equally run horizontally during the coating process with the provision of appropriate directional rollers 14.