Burner design for particle generation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10562804-B2
Application number	US-201715455776-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2017
Priority date	Mar 18, 2016
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

A method of producing bi-modal particles includes the steps of igniting a first precursor gas using a primary burner thereby producing a first plurality of particles of a first size, fluidly transporting the first plurality of particles down a particle tube, igniting a second precursor gas using a secondary burner thereby producing a second plurality of particles of a second size, flowing the second plurality of particles into the first plurality of particles, and capturing the first and second plurality of particles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of producing bi-modal particles, comprising the steps:
igniting a first precursor gas using a primary burner coupled to a first particle tube thereby producing a first plurality of particles of a first size;
fluidly transporting the first plurality of particles down the first particle tube;
igniting a second precursor gas using a secondary burner positioned within a second particle tube thereby producing a second plurality of particles of a second size, smaller than the first size;
fluidly transporting the second plurality of particles down the second particle tube;
flowing the second plurality of particles into the first plurality of particles in the first particle tube; and
capturing the first and second plurality of particles.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of particles comprise SiO 2 and exhibit a particle D50 diameter of greater than about 25 nm and the second plurality of particles comprise SiO 2 and exhibit a particle D50 diameter of less than about 25 nm.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second precursor gas comprises diatomic hydrogen and an organic siloxane.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of igniting the first precursor gas results in the first plurality of particles being formed at a higher temperature than the ignition of the second precursor gas forms the second plurality of particles at.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first plurality of particles is formed at a temperature greater than about 1800° C. and the second plurality of particles is formed at a temperature of less than about 1500° C.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps:
controlling the flow rate of the second precursor gas using a controller in electrical communication with a sensor; and
supplying the second precursor gas to the secondary burner.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps:
passing a carrier gas through the primary burner; and
generating gas turbulence to the carrier gas.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps:
supplying the second precursor gas to a precursor tube; and
passing an inert gas around the precursor tube to form a shield around the second precursor gas.

9. A method of forming an optical fiber, comprising the steps:
igniting a first gas using a primary burner coupled to a first particle tube thereby producing a first plurality of particles of a first size;
igniting a second gas using a secondary burner positioned within a second particle tube thereby producing a second plurality of particles of a second size, smaller than the first size;
flowing the second plurality of particles from the second particle tube into the first plurality of particles in the first particle tube;
capturing the first and second plurality of particles; and
pressing the first and second plurality of particles into an optical fiber preform.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps:
consolidating the optical fiber preform; and
drawing an optical fiber from the optical fiber preform.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein a flow rate of the second gas to a precursor tube is controlled using a gas flow restrictor such that the second plurality of particles spend less than about 10 seconds above a temperature of about 1300° C.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second plurality of particles exhibit a surface area of at least about 225 m 2 /g.

13. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second plurality of particles exhibit a surface area of at least about 350 m 2 /g.

14. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second gas comprises a combustible gas and an organic siloxane.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Cook Laura Beth
• Fekety Curtis Robert
• Gu Yunfeng
• Powers Dale Robert
• Thomas Christopher Scott
• Vemury Srinivas
• Xia Fei
• Zhou Chunfeng

Classifications

• C03B2207/50

  Multiple burner arrangements · CPC title

• C03B2207/36

  Fuel or oxidant details, e.g. flow rate, flow rate ratio, fuel additives · CPC title

• C03B37/01406 Primary

  Deposition reactors therefor · CPC title

• C03B19/1423

  Reactant deposition burners · CPC title

• C03B19/1407

  Deposition reactors therefor · CPC title