Ofs Fitel, LLC

Furukawa Electric North America, Inc.

Jack Ledbetter

Peter A Weimann

Richard Norris

Timothy Goddard

Swati Neogi

Antony Shacklady

A long span ADSS fiber optic cable has an outer jacket, a central tension rod member, and gel-free buffer tubes stranded around the rod member. Each tube is made of a flexible material having a determined elastic modulus, and optical fibers are contained in each tube with a water absorbent material. Water blocking yarns fill voids between the buffer tubes and surround the tubes. An inner jacket envelops the tubes and the yarns, and additional yarns are provided between the inner and the outer cable jackets. The elastic modulus of the buffer tubes is sufficiently high so that the cable sustains a compressive load of at least 220 N/cm over ten minutes with not more than a 0.1 dB increase in attenuation in any fiber. The rod member and the yarns enable the cable to span a distance of approximately 500 to 1050 feet in a NESC Heavy Load district.

Long span all dielectric self-supporting (ADSS) fiber optic cable

A water blocking configuration for a low temperature, dry loose tube fiber optic cable includes one or more flexible buffer tubes each having a passage sized to contain one or more optical fibers. A single yarn is disposed in the passage of each buffer tube, and the yarn has a denier of not more than 1500. The yarn is coated with particles of a water absorbent material having a size distribution of between zero and not more than 160 microns. A dry loose tube fiber optic cable having the disclosed configuration meets the Telcordia GR 20 (Issue 2) industry standard with respect to water penetration, change of fiber attenuation, and fiber tensile strength at a low temperature of &#x2212;60 degrees C.

Low temperature dry loose tube fiber optic cable

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Carrollton, GA, United States of America

Jack Ledbetter