High reliability armored termination/epoxy gland

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9696509-B2
Application number	US-201214347099-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2012
Priority date	Sep 26, 2011
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

An armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal which connects a fiber optic cable—the fiber optic cable including one or more armor wires and one or more cable tubes—to a pressure housing, the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal including: an armored termination which locks the one or more armor wires in a conical cavity; sealing paths which block water from traveling in the interstitial space between the one or more armor wires and the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing; and fiber feed-through tubes which block water from traveling in the interior of the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal which connects a fiber optic cable comprising one or more armor wires and one or more cable tubes to a pressure housing, the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal comprising:
an armored termination which locks the one or more armor wires in a conical cavity, the conical cavity comprising a conically-shaped void space within the armored cable termination/fiber optic seal, the armored termination further comprising a wedge cone comprising one or more tube paths which allow one or more cable tubes to pass through and a cone-shaped surface which one or more armor wires may be wrapped around;
sealing paths which block water from traveling in an interstitial space between the one or more armor wires and the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing; and
one or more fiber feed-through tubes which block water from traveling in an interior of the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing.

2. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , wherein:
the one or more cable tubes comprises a plurality of cable tubes, and
each of the plurality of cable tubes is isolated within the armored cable termination/fiberoptic seal which prevents an increase in pressure due to a breach in one of the plurality of cable tubes from affecting pressure levels in unbreached cable tubes.

3. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , wherein an exterior of the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal and a portion of the fiber optic cable is covered by an overmold.

4. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 3 , wherein overmold is one of among polyurethane and polyethylene.

5. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 3 , further comprising an adhesive which secures the overmold to the exterior of the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal.

6. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 5 , further comprising potting flow channels which allow the adhesive which secures the overmold to the exterior of the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal to enter the interior of the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal.

7. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , further comprising an adhesive which joins a plurality of armor wires to the wedge cone to create an armor-wire adhesive composite.

8. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 7 , wherein the armor wire-adhesive composite provides a connection between the fiber optic cable and the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal which is stronger than the break strength of the fiber optic cable.

9. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 7 , wherein the conical cavity comprises one or more channels which allow the adhesive forming the armor-wire adhesive composite to enter and reduce potential for rotation of the armor-wire-adhesive composite and the fiber optic cable.

10. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 7 , further comprising a ground lug terminal which provides a connection to the one or more armor wires to create electrical continuity between the armor wires, the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal, and the pressure housing.

11. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , further comprising a spacer which forms a void space between the spacer and the conical cavity, wherein the one or more cable tubes are routed through holes in the spacer and the sealing paths comprise an adhesive in the void space between the spacer and the conical cavity.

12. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 11 , wherein the spacer comprises a cap portion made of a material which bonds to the adhesive in the void space between the spacer and the conical cavity.

13. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 11 , further comprising a first O-ring surrounding the spacer which blocks water from traveling into the pressure housing.

14. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , wherein the sealing paths further comprise elastomeric tubing applied over the one or more cable tubes to form a band seal.

15. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , wherein the scaling paths comprise one or more Morrison seals which independently seal each of the one or more cable tubes.

16. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , further comprising a termination body,
wherein the one or more fiber feed-through tubes are attached to the termination body by a threaded connection.

17. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 16 , wherein the fiber feed-through tubes are attached to the termination body by a removable connection which allows access to window strip cladding from optical fiber during assembly.

18. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 16 , wherein the fiber feed-through tubes comprise an inner bore geometry which minimizes strain forces applied to optical fiber when subjected to differential external forces.

19. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 16 , further comprising a second O-ring surrounding the termination body which blocks water from traveling into the pressure housing.

20. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 16 , further comprising a threaded retaining ring which retains the termination body within the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal.

21. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , wherein the one or more fiber feed-through tubes are filled with a water-resistant adhesive.

22. The armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal of claim 1 , wherein the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal is scalable to accommodate cable tubes of varying diameters.

23. A method of attaching a fiber optic cable comprising one or more armor wires and one or more cable tubes to a pressure housing, the method comprising:
cutting the fiber optic cable;
attaching the fiber optic cable to an armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal comprising:
an armored termination which locks the one or more armor wires in a conical cavity, the conical cavity comprising a conically-shaped void space within the armored cable termination/fiber optic seal, the armored termination further comprising a wedge cone comprising one or more tube paths which allow one or more cable tubes to pass through and a cone-shaped surface which one or more armor wires may be wrapped around;
sealing paths which block water from traveling in an interstitial space between the one or more armor wires and the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing; and
one or more fiber feed-through tubes which block water from traveling in an interior of the one or more cable tubes into the pressure housing; and attaching the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal to a pressure housing.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein:
the one or more cable tubes comprises a plurality of cable tubes, and
each of the plurality of cable tubes is isolated within the armored cable termination/fiber optic seal which prevents an increase in pressure due to a breach in one of the plurality of cable tubes from affecting the pressure level in an unbreached cable tubes.

25. The method of claim 23 , further comprising covering the armored cable termination/fiber-optic seal and a portion of the fiber optic cable with an overmold.

26. The meth

Assignees

• Afl Telecommunications Llc

Inventors

• Kimbrell Eddie
• Toth John
• Lichoulas Ted
• Guzzo Lou

Classifications

• G02B6/443 Primary

  Protective covering · CPC title

• G02B6/4428 Primary

  Penetrator systems in pressure-resistant devices · CPC title

• G02B6/4486

  Protective covering · CPC title

• Y10T29/49826

  Assembling or joining · CPC title