Apparatus for forming a sheath over an elongate member, extruder system and method of manufacturing a fiber optic cable
AssigneeCorning Cable Systems LLC
InventorsHorst Knoch, Gerhard Merbach, Allen M. Miller, Gunter Wunsch
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and a method for forming a sheath over an elongate member comprises an extruder that has an output to supply a melt material having a temperature. A heat exchanger connected downstream the output of the extruder removes heat from the melt material in a controlled manner. An elongate member, which may be a cable core, is supplied to a crosshead that is connected downstream the heat exchanger to surround the elongate member with a sheath of the melt material.
Claims19
An apparatus for forming a sheath over an elongate member, comprising:
- an extruder having an output to supply a melt material having a temperature;
- a heat exchanger connected downstream the output of the extruder to remove heat from the melt material in a controlled manner to lower the temperature of the melt material passing through the heat exchanger before the melt material contacts an elongate member;
- and
- a crosshead connected downstream the heat exchanger to provide the elongate member comprising at least one optical fiber, with an extruded tubular sheath comprised of the melt material that surrounds the elongate member.
An apparatus for forming a sheath over an elongate member, comprising:
- an extruder having an output to supply a melt material having a temperature;
- a heat exchanger connected downstream the output of the extruder to one of add heat to and remove heat from the melt material in a controlled manner;
- a crosshead connected downstream the heat exchanger to provide an elongate member with a sheath that surrounds the elongate member;
- a closed first loop for a heat exchange medium coupled to the heat exchanger to one of add heat to or remove heat from the heat exchanger, said closed first loop being designed to achieve a temperature of the heat exchange medium within a predetermined range;
- and
- another loop of another heat exchanger medium thermally coupled to the first loop.
An apparatus for extruding a jacket over an elongate optical fiber core, comprising:
- an extruder to supply a polymer material at an elevated temperature, before the polymer material contacts an elongate optical fiber core;
- a crosshead;
- and
- a cooling system, said cooling system being connected between said extruder and said crosshead to supply said crosshead with the polymer material at a less elevated temperature, wherein said crosshead is designed to receive the elongate optical fiber core and dispose a tubular jacket made from the polymer material over said elongate optical fiber core.
An extruder system, comprising:
- an extruder to provide a melt material at a temperature;
- a heat exchanger coupled downstream the extruder to remove thermal energy from said melt material before said melt material contacts an elongate member;
- a supply reel to supply the elongate member comprising at least one optical fiber;
- and
- a tool designed to receive the elongate member and coupled downstream said heat exchanger to provide the elongate member with an extruded tubular sheath comprised of said melt material surrounding the elongate member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.