Fiber optic ribbon cable and ribbon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9389382-B2
Application number	US-201414459624-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 14, 2014
Priority date	Jun 3, 2014
Publication date	Jul 12, 2016
Grant date	Jul 12, 2016

Abstract

A fiber optic ribbon cable includes a jacket having a cavity and a stack of fiber optic ribbons in the cavity. Each of the fiber optic ribbons includes optical fibers arranged side-by-side with one another and bound to one another with a common matrix in bound sections of the respective fiber optic ribbon. Each fiber optic ribbon additionally has loose sections thereof where the optical fibers of the respective fiber optic ribbon are loose and unbound. The bound sections are spaced apart from one another and separated from one another by the loose sections, while matrix of each of the bound sections contiguously extends across each of the optical fibers of the fiber optic ribbon. Bound sections of adjoining fiber optic ribbons of the stack are at least partially non-overlapping one another as arranged in the stack, which facilitates flexibility and compactness of the stack.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fiber optic ribbon cable comprising a jacket, having a cavity defined therein, and a stack of fiber optic ribbons located in the cavity, wherein:
each of the fiber optic ribbons comprises optical fibers arranged side-by-side with one another and bound to one another with a common matrix in bound sections of the respective fiber optic ribbon,
each fiber optic ribbon additionally has loose sections thereof where the optical fibers of the respective fiber optic ribbon are loose and unbound,
matrix of each of the bound sections contiguously extends across each of the optical fibers of the fiber optic ribbon;
the bound sections are spaced apart from one another and separated from one another by the loose sections; and
bound sections of adjoining fiber optic ribbons of the stack are at least partially non-overlapping one another as arranged in the stack, thereby facilitating flexibility and compactness of the stack.

2. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the optical fibers of the fiber optic ribbon are arranged in the same order relative to one another in each bound section.

3. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the stack of fiber optic ribbons has more loose optical fibers than optical fibers bound to one another within a 10 meter section of the fiber optic ribbon cable.

4. The cable of claim 1 , wherein bound sections of adjoining fiber optic ribbons of the stack are completely non-overlapping one another as arranged in the stack.

5. The cable of claim 1 , wherein an average length of the loose sections of each of the fiber optic ribbons are at least twice an average length of the bound sections thereof.

6. The cable of claim 1 , wherein the jacket is formed from a flame-retardant material.

7. The cable of claim 6 , wherein the jacket comprises at least one of aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide.

8. The cable of claim 6 , further comprising a tape surrounding the stack of fiber optic ribbons, and wherein the tape is a flame-retardant tape.

9. A fiber optic ribbon cable, comprising:
a jacket having a cavity defined therein; and
a stack of fiber optic ribbons located in the cavity,
wherein each of the fiber optic ribbons comprises optical fibers arranged side-by-side with one another and bound to one another with a common matrix in bound sections of the respective fiber optic ribbon,
wherein each fiber optic ribbon additionally has loose sections thereof free of the common matrix,
wherein matrix of each of the bound sections contiguously extends in a generally transverse direction across each of the optical fibers of the fiber optic ribbon;
wherein the bound sections are spaced apart from one another and separated from one another by the loose sections; and
wherein the stack of fiber optic ribbons has more loose optical fibers than optical fibers bound to one another within a 10 meter section of fiber optic ribbon cable, whereby the optical fibers of the loose sections are configured to move to lower stress positions within the cavity when the fiber optic ribbon cable is in bending.

10. The cable of claim 9 , wherein the optical fibers of the fiber optic ribbon are arranged in the same order relative to one another in each bound section.

11. The cable of claim 9 , wherein the jacket is formed from a flame-retardant material.

12. The cable of claim 11 , wherein the jacket comprises at least one of aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide, the fiber optic ribbon cable further comprising a tape surrounding the stack of fiber optic ribbons.

13. The cable of claim 12 , wherein the tape is a flame-retardant tape.

14. The cable of claim 9 , wherein the bound sections of adjoining fiber optic ribbons of the stack are at least partially non-overlapping one another as arranged in the stack.

15. A fiber optic ribbon cable, comprising:
a jacket having a cavity defined therein;
strength members embedded in walls of the jacket, wherein the strength members are positioned on opposing sides of the cavity such that the strength members impart a bend preference to the jacket where bending of a free end of a 15 cm cantilevered section of the jacket about a preferential bend axis thereof, extending generally between the strength members and orthogonal to a lengthwise axis of the fiber optic cable, requires a greater bending moment to achieve a deflection of 15° than does bending the jacket about a non-preferential bend axis that is orthogonal to both the preferential bend axis and the lengthwise axis; and
a fiber optic ribbon comprising optical fibers arranged side-by-side with one another and bound to one another with a common matrix in bound sections thereof,
wherein the fiber optic ribbon has loose sections thereof where the optical fibers are loose and unbound,
wherein matrix of each of the bound sections contiguously extends across each of the optical fibers of the fiber optic ribbon;
wherein the bound sections are spaced apart from one another and separated from one another by the loose sections,
wherein the loose sections are spaced apart from one another and separated from one another by the bound sections;
wherein the bound sections of the fiber optic ribbon each have a bend preference and wherein the fiber optic ribbons are positioned in the cavity such that a preferential bend axis of the bound sections is within 15° of parallel with the preferential bend axis of the jacket.

16. The cable of claim 15 , wherein the fiber optic ribbon is one of a plurality of such fiber optic ribbons in a stack located in the cavity, and wherein bound sections of adjoining fiber optic ribbons of the stack are at least partially non-overlapping one another.

17. The cable of claim 15 , wherein the optical fibers of the fiber optic ribbon are arranged in the same order relative to one another in each bound section.

18. The cable of claim 15 , wherein the stack of fiber optic ribbons has more loose optical fibers than optical fibers bound to one another within a 10 meter section of the fiber optic ribbon cable.

19. The cable of claim 15 , wherein the jacket is formed from a flame-retardant material.

20. The cable of claim 19 , further comprising a tape surrounding the fiber optic ribbon, and wherein the tape is a flame-retardant tape.

Assignees

• Corning Optical Comm Llc

Inventors

• Blazer Bradley Jerome
• Slan Kimberly Dawn

Classifications

• G02B6/4433

  Double reinforcement laying in straight line with optical transmission element · CPC title

• G02B6/4403 Primary

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

• G02B6/4432

  with fibre reinforcements · CPC title

• G02B6/4405

  with longitudinally spaced waveguide clamping (G02B6/4429, G02B6/4439, G02B6/4479 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/44715

  Fan-out devices · CPC title