Apparatus and method for winding tail section of optical fiber cable onto a spool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11434100-B2
Application number	US-202117174447-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2021
Priority date	Aug 21, 2018
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

Embodiments of a method of collecting a tail section of a long product, such as an optical fiber cable, are provided. In the method, a lead wire from a tail spool is unwound, and the lead wire is fed through a flange of a main spool. The tail spool and the main spool have a common rotation axis. The lead wire is attached to the long product. The tail spool is rotated while holding the main spool stationary so as to wind the lead wire and the tail section onto the tail spool. The rotation of the tail spool is stopped, and the main spool and the tail spool are rotated together so as to wind the long product onto the main spool. Also provided are embodiments of a winding apparatus using the tail spool and a tail reel that includes the tail spool and a drive mechanism.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of collecting a tail section of a long product, comprising the steps of:
unwinding a lead wire from a tail spool;
feeding the lead wire through a flange of a main spool, the tail spool and the main spool having at least substantially aligned rotation axes;
attaching the lead wire to the long product;
rotating the tail spool while holding the main spool substantially stationary so as to wind the lead wire and the tail section of the long product onto the tail spool;
stopping or reducing rotation of the tail spool; and
rotating the main spool and the tail spool together so as to wind the long product onto the main spool.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the long product is an optical fiber cable.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tail section comprises the first 0.5 m to 15 m of the long product.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of rotating the tail spool comprises engaging a drive wheel with an outer flange of the tail spool.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of counting a number of rotations of the tail spool, and wherein the step of stopping rotating of the tail spool comprises stopping rotating of the tail spool when a predetermined number of rotations of the tail spool has been reached.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein, after the long product is wound onto the main spool, the method further comprises removing the tail section from the main spool and attaching the tail section to the flange of the main spool.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein, after the long product is wound onto the main spool, the method further comprises securing the tail spool containing the tail section to the main spool.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein, after the first rotating step, the tail section is wound between a flange of the tail spool and the flange of the main spool.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of rotating the main spool and the tail spool together further comprises locking rotation of the tail spool to the main spool.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tail spool and the main spool have a common rotation axis.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of rotating the main spool and the tail spool together comprises rotating the main spool and the tail spool at substantially the same rotational rate.

12. A winding apparatus, comprising:
a first upright leg;
a second upright leg spatially disposed from the first upright leg;
a first pintle extending from the first upright leg towards the second upright leg;
a second pintle extending from the second upright leg towards the first upright leg, the first pintle and the second pintle defining an axis of rotation;
a main spool carried on the first pintle and on the second pintle and configured for rotation about the axis of rotation;
a tail spool carried on the second pintle and configured for rotation about the axis of rotation; and
a controller configured to cause rotation of the tail spool independent of the main spool to take up a tail section of an optical fiber cable and to cause rotation of the main spool to take up windings of the optical fiber cable.

13. The winding apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a first drive wheel controlled by the controller, the first drive wheel configured to drive rotation of the tail spool.

14. The winding apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the first drive wheel resides on a mount configured to translate into contact with the tail spool to drive rotation of the tail spool and out of contact with the tail spool to stop driving rotation of the tail spool.

15. The winding apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the tail spool comprises an outer flange having a first diameter and a drum having a second diameter, the second diameter being less than the first diameter;
wherein the main spool comprises a first flange, a second flange, and a central barrel disposed between the first flange and the second flange, the first flange and the second flange having a third diameter and the central barrel having a fourth diameter less than the third diameter; and
wherein the drum of the tail spool is disposed between outer flange of the tail spool and the second flange of the main spool.

16. The winding apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller automatically switches between causing rotation of the tail spool and causing rotation of the main spool after the tail spool has taken up the tail section.

17. The winding apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to count the number of rotations of the tail spool and to stop the tail spool from rotating independently of the main spool when a predetermined number of rotations of the tail spool has been reached.

Assignees

• Corning Res & Dev Corp

Inventors

• Bednarczyk David Andrew
• Hite Korey Shad
• Reilly Randall Thomas
• Teets Gregory Bryan
• Thornton Ryan Neal

Classifications

• B65H2701/32

  Optical fibres or optical cables · CPC title

• B65H65/00

  Securing material to cores or formers (arrangements for securing ends of material to cores, formers, supports or holders, e.g. reels, B65H75/28) · CPC title

• B65H54/42

  in which the package, core, or former is rotated by frictional contact of its periphery with a driving surface · CPC title

• B65H54/343 Primary

  when starting winding on an empty bobbin · CPC title

• G02B6/4486

  Protective covering · CPC title