Reinforcing sleeve, reinforcing structure of spliced portion of optical fiber

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022229237-A1
Application number	US-202217578531-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 19, 2022
Priority date	Jan 19, 2021
Publication date	Jul 21, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A reinforcing sleeve is a member for collectively reinforcing spliced portions of a plurality of optical fiber core wires disposed side by side. The reinforcing sleeve includes a heat-shrinkable tube, a heat-meltable member, a tension member, and so on. The heat shrinkable tube is a cylindrical member having an approximately circular cross section. The tension member and the heat-meltable member are inserted into the heat-shrinkable tube. The heat-meltable member is disposed on an upper part of the tension member. Also, an optical fiber dispersion portion is formed on a surface of the tension member on a side of the heat-meltable member in a cross section perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the reinforcing sleeve. The optical fiber dispersion portion includes an inclined portion that is formed so as to separate away from the heat-meltable member as being closer to an end portion of a width direction in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tension member.

First claim

1 . A reinforcing sleeve for collectively reinforcing spliced portions of a plurality of optical fiber core wires disposed side by side, the reinforcing sleeve comprising:
a heat-shrinkable tube; a heat-meltable member; and a tension member, the heat-meltable member and the tension member being inserted into the heat shrinkable tube, wherein the tension member includes an optical fiber dispersion portion formed at least at a part of a longitudinal direction of the tension member on a surface of the tension member on a side of the heat-meltable member; the optical fiber dispersion portion includes an inclined portion that is formed so as to separate away from the heat-meltable member as being closer to an end portion of a width direction in a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tension member; and at least a part of the inclined portion includes an angle changing portion at which an angle of inclination changes.

2 . The reinforcing sleeve according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical fiber dispersion portion includes a linearly-shaped inclined portion that separates away from the heat-meltable member as being closer to the end portion of the width direction in the cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the tension member.

3 . The reinforcing sleeve according to claim 1 , wherein
a flat portion is formed at a substantially center portion of the width direction of the tension member.

4 . The reinforcing sleeve according to claim 1 , wherein
a convex portion protruding upward is formed at a substantially center portion of the width direction of the tension member.

5 . The reinforcing sleeve according to claim 1 , wherein
a groove is formed on at least a part of the surface of the tension member on the side of the heat-meltable member.

6 . The reinforcing sleeve according to claim 1 , wherein
the optical fiber dispersion portion is not formed in a predetermined range at a substantially center portion of the longitudinal direction of the tension member, and a height position of the tension member on the side of the heat-meltable member at the optical fiber dispersion portion is higher than a height position of the tension member on the side of the heat-meltable member in the predetermined range at the substantially center portion of the longitudinal direction of the tension member.

7 . The reinforcing sleeve according to claim 1 , wherein
the tension member is plate shaped; and the tension member is elastically deformable so that shrinking force of the heat-shrinkable tube can deform the tension member into a convex shape protruding toward the heat-meltable member.

8 . The reinforcing sleeve according to claim 7 , wherein
the tension member comprises a first tension member having a plate shape and a second tension member that is disposed on a side of the first tension member being opposite to the heat-meltable member, and the second tension member is in a protruding shape protruding toward the first tension member.

9 . A reinforcing structure of a spliced portion of an optical fiber using the reinforcing sleeve according to claim 1 , wherein the heat-meltable member covers the spliced portion of optical fiber ribbons, each of the optical fiber ribbons comprising a plurality of optical fiber core wires that are placed side by side and bonded to each other at intervals in a longitudinal direction of the optical fiber ribbons.

10 . The reinforcing structure of the spliced portion of the optical fiber according to claim 9 , wherein the number of the plurality of optical fiber core wires forming each of the optical fiber ribbons is 12 or more.

11 . The reinforcing structure of the spliced portion of the optical fiber according to claim 9 , wherein a pitch between the plurality of optical fiber core wires is 200 μm or less.

12 . The reinforcing structure of the spliced portion of the optical fiber according to claim 9 , wherein an outer diameter of a glass fiber of each of the plurality of optical fiber core wires is 110 μm or less.

13 . The reinforcing structure of the spliced portion of the optical fiber according to claim 9 , wherein an outer diameter of each of the plurality of optical fiber core wires is 200 μm or less.

Assignees

• Furukawa Electric Co Ltd

Inventors

• Akiyama Tomohiro
• Tanabe Akio

Classifications

• G02B6/4403

  with ribbon structure (G02B6/4429, G02B6/4439, G02B6/4479 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/02395

  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

• G02B6/2558 Primary

  Reinforcement of splice joint · CPC title

• G02B6/4408

  Groove structures in support members to decrease or harmonise transmission losses in ribbon cables · CPC title