Method for manufacturing optical fiber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11465317-B2
Application number	US-201916533897-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 7, 2019
Priority date	Aug 10, 2018
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

A method for manufacturing an optical fiber includes: a coating step of forming a first layer by applying a first ultraviolet ray curable resin composition onto a glass fiber, and then, of forming a second layer by applying a second ultraviolet ray curable resin composition onto the first layer; a first irradiation step of curing the first layer and the second layer by irradiating the first layer and the second layer with an ultraviolet ray, and of obtaining the optical fiber including a primary resin layer and a secondary resin layer; and a second irradiation step of irradiating the optical fiber with an ultraviolet ray at an illuminance of less than or equal to one tenth of an illuminance in the first irradiation step for an irradiation time of longer than or equal to 10 times an irradiation time in the first irradiation step.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing an optical fiber including a glass fiber, a primary resin layer that coats an outer circumference of the glass fiber, and a secondary resin layer that coats an outer circumference of the primary resin layer, the method comprising:
a coating step of forming a first layer by applying a first ultraviolet ray curable resin composition onto the glass fiber, and then, of forming a second layer by applying a second ultraviolet ray curable resin composition onto the first layer;
a first irradiation step of curing the first layer and the second layer by irradiating the first layer and the second layer with an ultraviolet ray, and of obtaining the optical fiber including the primary resin layer and the secondary resin layer; and
a second irradiation step of irradiating the optical fiber with an ultraviolet ray at an illuminance of less than or equal to one tenth of an illuminance in the first irradiation step for an irradiation time of longer than or equal to 10 times an irradiation time in the first irradiation step,
wherein the first irradiation step is performed in an inert gas atmosphere, and
the second irradiation step is performed in an air atmosphere.

2. The method for manufacturing an optical fiber according to claim 1 ,
wherein in the first irradiation step and the second irradiation step, ultraviolet ray light sources different from each other are used.

3. The method for manufacturing an optical fiber according to claim 2 ,
wherein in the first irradiation step, the optical fiber that is obtained is wound around a first bobbin, and
the second irradiation step is performed while the optical fiber is rewound between the first bobbin and a second bobbin.

Assignees

• Sumitomo Electric Industries

Inventors

• Iwaguchi Noriaki
• OKUYAMA Haruki
• Yamaguchi Takahisa
• Fujii Takashi

Classifications

• G02B6/02395 Primary

  Glass optical fibre with a protective coating, e.g. two layer polymer coating deposited directly on a silica cladding surface during fibre manufacture (G02B6/02052, G02B6/02057, G02B6/024, G02B6/032, G02B6/105, G02B6/14 take precedence; coating on fibre gratings G02B6/02104; multilayer core or cladding G02B6/036; reinforcing splice joints G02B6/2558; optical cables, i.e. comprising protective structures external to the protective coating such as a jacket or plural coated optical fibres G02B6/44; coating of glass to obtain optical fibres C03C25/104) · CPC title

• G02B2006/12038

  Glass (SiO2 based materials) · CPC title

• B29C35/0805 Primary

  using electromagnetic radiation · CPC title

• G02B6/4479

  Manufacturing methods of optical cables · CPC title

• G02B2006/12166

  Manufacturing methods · CPC title