Optical fiber cable with reinforcement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11353669-B2
Application number	US-201815903184-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2018
Priority date	Oct 18, 2013
Publication date	Jun 7, 2022
Grant date	Jun 7, 2022

Abstract

An optical communication cable includes a cable jacket formed from a first material, a plurality of core elements located within the cable jacket, and an armor layer surrounding the plurality of core elements within the cable jacket, wherein the armor layer is a multi-piece layer having a first armor segment extending a portion of the distance around the plurality of core elements and a second armor segment extending a portion of the distance around the plurality of core elements, wherein a first lateral edge of the first armor segment is adjacent a first lateral edge of the second armor segment and a second lateral edge of the first armor segment is adjacent a second lateral edge of the second armor segment such that the combination of the first armor segment and the second armor segment completely surround the plurality of core elements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An optical communication cable comprising:
a cable jacket formed from a first material;
a plurality of core elements located within the cable jacket; and
an armor layer surrounding the plurality of core elements within the cable jacket, wherein the armor layer is a multi-piece layer comprising:
a first armor segment extending a portion of the distance around the plurality of core elements, the first armor segment having a first lateral edge and an opposing second lateral edge; and
a second armor segment extending a portion of the distance around the plurality of core elements, the second armor segment having a first lateral edge and an opposing second lateral edge;
wherein the first lateral edge of the first armor segment is adjacent the first lateral edge of the second armor segment and the second lateral edge of the first armor segment is adjacent the second lateral edge of the second armor segment such that the combination of the first armor segment and the second armor segment completely surround the plurality of core elements.

2. The optical communication cable of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of core elements comprises a single buffer tube.

3. The optical communication cable of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of core elements further comprises a stack of fiber optic ribbons surrounded by the single buffer tube.

4. The optical communication cable of claim 1 , wherein the first lateral edge of the first armor segment is coupled to the first lateral edge of the second armor segment and the second lateral edge of the first armor segment is coupled to the second lateral edge of the second armor segment.

5. The optical communication cable of claim 1 , further comprising a first elongate strength member and a second elongate strength member embedded within the first material of the cable.

6. The optical communication cable of claim 5 , wherein the first elongate strength member and the second elongate strength member act to couple the first armor segment and the second armor segment to form the armor layer.

7. The optical communication of claim 6 , wherein the first elongate strength member comprises a first pair of elongate strength members and the second elongate strength member comprises a second pair of elongate strength members.

8. The optical communication cable of claim 7 , wherein the first elongate strength member and the second elongate strength member are glass-reinforced plastic rods.

9. The optical communications cable of claim 3 , further comprising a water-blocking layer surrounding the stack of fiber optic ribbons.

10. The optical communication cable of claim 9 , wherein the water-blocking layer comprises a water-blocking tape, foam or gel.

11. The optical communication cable of claim 1 , wherein the cable jacket comprises at least one access feature for opening the cable jacket to access the elongate optical transmission element.

12. The optical communication cable of claim 11 , wherein the access feature comprises a coextruded material with low bonding relative to the first material of the cable jacket.

13. The optical communication cable of claim 11 , wherein the first lateral edge of the first armor segment overlaps the first lateral edge of the second armor segment to define a first overlap section and the second lateral edge of the first armor segment overlaps the second lateral edge of the second armor segment to define a second overlap section, and wherein the at least one access feature is aligned in a radial direction with the first overlap section or the second overlap section.

14. The optical communication cable of claim 11 , wherein the access feature is a ripcord embedded in the first material of the cable jacket.

15. The optical communication cable of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of core elements comprise:
an elongate central strength member; and
a plurality of elongate optical transmission elements wrapped around the elongate central strength member such that a portion of the length of the plurality of wrapped elongate optical transmission elements form a spiral pattern around the elongate central strength member;
a film formed from an extruded second material, the film surrounding the plurality of elongate optical transmission elements and providing an inwardly directed force on to the plurality of elongate optical transmission elements such that the film acts to maintain the spiral pattern of the elongate optical transmission elements, wherein
the armor layer is wrapped around the film such that an inner surface of the armor layer is bonded to an outer surface of the film such that the armor layer remains bound to the film upon opening of the cable jacket to expose the optical transmission elements within the cable.

16. The optical communication cable of claim 15 , wherein the extruded first material is different than the extruded second material, wherein at least one of the plurality of optical transmission elements includes a buffer tube surrounding an optical fiber, wherein the spiral pattern is an S-Z stranding pattern.

17. The optical communication cable of claim 16 , wherein an outer surface of the armor layer is bonded to the inner surface of the cable jacket, wherein the inner surface of the armor layer is bonded to the outer surface of the film by at least one of a bonding agent and a thermally activated bond, wherein the outer surface of the armor layer is bonded to the inner surface of the cable jacket by at least one of a bonding agent and a thermally activated bond.

18. The optical communication cable of claim 17 , wherein the extruded first material is a polyethylene material and the extruded second material is at least one of a polyethylene material and a polyester material, wherein the armor layer is formed from a corrugated metal material.

Assignees

• Corning Optical Communications LLC

Inventors

• Blazer Bradley Jerome
• Gimblet Michael John
• Greenwood Iii Julian Latelle
• Lail Jason Clay
• Mcalpine Warren Welborn
• Mozdy Eric John

Classifications

• G02B6/443 Primary

  Protective covering · CPC title

• G02B6/4431 Primary

  with provision in the protective covering, e.g. weak line, for gaining access to one or more fibres, e.g. for branching or tapping (break-out terminations G02B6/4471) · CPC title

• G02B6/4413

  Helical structure · CPC title

• G02B6/4434

  Central member to take up tensile loads · CPC title

• G02B6/4432

  with fibre reinforcements · CPC title