Prysmian S.p.a.

Prysmian Communication Cables and Systems Usa, LLC

Prysmian Communications Cables and Systems Usa, LLC

Ben H Wells

Ehsan Fallahmohammadi

John R Sach

Brian G Risch

Jeffrey Scott Barker

Clint Nicholaus Anderson

Grant M Davidson

John Sach

Donald Ray Parris

Ryan Truong

Gavin Lin

Glenn Falk

Martin Hanchard

Jonathan Gerald Fitz

Mauricio Silva

William E Wolfe

Grant Davidson

An exemplary optical cable includes a first type of ribbon bundles, a second type of ribbon bundles, a third type of ribbon bundles, a plurality of strength rods, and an outer jacket. Each of the first, the second, and third type of ribbon bundles includes a first, a second, a third flexible ribbon with corresponding optical fibers disposed within a ribbon bundle jacket. The first type of ribbon bundles is arranged in an interlocking pattern in a central region of the optical cable. The second type of ribbon bundles and the third type of ribbon bundles are disposed around the first type of ribbon bundles in a peripheral region of the optical cable. The outer jacket is disposed around the second and the third type of ribbon bundles, and the plurality of strength rods being at least partially embedded in the outer jacket, where the cumulative cross-sectional area of all of the strength rods in the cable divided by the cumulative cross-sectional area of all glass parts of the optical fibers in the cable is a first value less than 0.22, and where, at a temperature between −40° C. and 0° C. and at a wavelength of 1550 nm, the attenuation increase of the optical fibers in the cable relative to 25° C. is below 0.15 dB/km.

High fiber density cable with flexible optical fiber ribbons

An optical cable includes a plurality of buffer tubes and an outer jacket surrounding the plurality of buffer tubes. Each of the plurality of buffer tubes includes a buffer tube jacket surrounding a plurality of flexible ribbons. The buffer tube jacket includes a first deformable material that has undergone deformation during formation of the optical cable to conform to an irregular axial cross-sectional shape of each respective plurality of flexible ribbons. Each flexible ribbon includes a plurality of optical fibers and a first longitudinal length. For each flexible ribbon, each optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers is attached to an adjacent optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers along a bond region comprising a second longitudinal length that is less than the first longitudinal length. The cable has a fiber density between about 5.0 and about 10 fibers/mm.

High density optical cables

An optical cable includes a plurality of buffer tubes and an outer jacket surrounding the plurality of buffer tubes. Each of the plurality of buffer tubes includes a buffer tube jacket surrounding a plurality of flexible ribbons. The buffer tube jacket includes a first deformable material that has undergone permanent plastic deformation during formation of the optical cable to conform to an irregular axial cross-sectional shape of each respective plurality of flexible ribbons. Each flexible ribbon includes a plurality of optical fibers and a first longitudinal length. For each flexible ribbon, each optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers is attached to an adjacent optical fiber of the plurality of optical fibers along a bond region comprising a second longitudinal length that is less than the first longitudinal length.

An optical cable includes a plurality of deformable buffer tubes and an outer jacket surrounding the plurality of deformable buffer tubes. Each deformable buffer tube of the plurality of deformable buffer tubes includes a single flexible ribbon including a plurality of optical fibers. Each deformable buffer tube further includes an axial cross-section of the deformable buffer tube that includes the single flexible ribbon. The axial cross-section comprises an irregular shape.

The invention relates to an optical fiber ribbon assembly comprising* a plurality of adjacent optical fiber ribbons extending in a longitudinal direction and arranged in a plane, each of the optical fiber ribbons comprising a plurality of optical fibers mutually bonded by a matrix material, the fibers extending in the longitudinal direction and arranged in the plane; said plurality of adjacent ribbons forming at least one set of two adjacent ribbons having an interstice between said two adjacent ribbons and * a bonding material, forming intermittent bonds at the interstice between the two adjacent ribbons of a set, thereby bonding the two adjacent ribbons of the set. The invention also relates to a method of producing such an optical fiber ribbon assembly.

Optical fiber ribbon assembly and a method of producing the same

The present invention relates to an optical fiber ribbon, comprising a plurality of adjacent optical fiber units extending in a longitudinal direction and arranged in parallel forming an optical fiber assembly having a width, each of the optical fiber units comprising either a single fiber or a group of at most three optical fibers, preferably two optical fibers, encapsulated with a matrix material; and a plurality of successive elongated rectilinear beads of a bonding material being arranged along a length of said assembly; each of said plurality of beads being configured to form an elongated bond between two adjacent optical fiber units of the plurality of optical fiber units; wherein a first bead forming a first bond connects a first pair of adjacent optical fiber units while the successive bond formed by the successive bead, connects a further pair of adjacent optical fiber units, wherein at least one optical fiber unit of the further pair differs from the optical fiber units of the first pair; wherein at each longitudinal position of the optical fiber assembly there is at most one bond. The present invention moreover relates to a method of producing such an optical fiber ribbon.

Optical fiber ribbon and a method of producing the same

A splittable optical fiber ribbon has a decreased propensity for fiber fallout along a longitudinal split. Fibers adjacent to a split location, called border fibers, have increased bond strength between their ink-coating and a surrounding matrix material. The bond strength is increased by first partially curing an ink that covers the border fibers, coating the partially-cured fibers with a matrix material, and then substantially fully curing the ink and the matrix material substantially simultaneously. The ribbon may include one or more grooves to enhance splitting the ribbon into subsets.

Splittable optical fiber ribbons

An optical fiber cable comprising a polymeric jacket and at least one elongated buffer tube having a substantially circular cross-section and at least one optical fiber disposed within the at least one buffer tube. The optical fiber cable further comprises at least one dummy rod having a substantially non-circular cross-section, wherein the cross-sectional area of each dummy rod is at least 10% less than the cross-sectional area of the at least one elongated buffer tube along a majority of the length of the at least one dummy rod.

Optical fiber cable having dummy rods with non-circular cross-section

An optical fiber cable includes at least one buffer tube that includes a plurality of water-blocking plugs and an optical fiber. The water-blocking plugs can be spaced along the buffer tubes, substantially filling the cross-sectional space within the buffer tube not already filled by the optical fiber. The water-blocking plugs can provide a stronger bond between the optical fibers and the inner tube. This is reflected by a high normalized pullout force for the optical fiber, such as, above 5.0 N/m. Yet, the resulting fiber optic cable does not suffer from problems associated with a higher pullout force, such as attenuation.

Optical cable with dry core and dry buffer tubes

An optical fiber cable for bundled drop applications has a plurality of optical fiber sub-units stranded together in an S-Z lay configuration and a jacket surrounding and holding the sub-units in the S-Z configuration without assistance from binder threads. The jacket contacts at least some of the sub-units and has one, but preferably at least two, longitudinally disposed grooves on an external surface. With at least two grooves, the sub-units are accessed by bending the cable until the jacket buckles between the grooves, cutting the jacket at the buckle, and peeling back a portion of the jacket longitudinally between the grooves.

Bundled optical fiber cable with grooved jacket

An all-dielectric self-supporting optical fiber cable utilizes a single layer reverse oscillated lay (ROL) design and includes a fiber count of more than 288 fibers. By arranging buffer tubes in a single layer, the ADSS cable effectively isolates the tensile and thermo strain of the cable in central and outer strength members, thus preventing strain from aerial installation from impairing or otherwise inversely impacting the performance of the optical fibers. Moreover, fibers are loosely housed in bundles to permit fiber movement and further prevent strain on the fibers.

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Columbia, SC, United States of America

Ben H Wells