Corning Incorporated

Nikolaos Pantelis Kladias

Chunfeng Zhou

John Michael Jewell

Robert Clark Moore

Tammy Michelle Hoffmann

Ljerka Ukrainczyk

Bruce Warren Reding

Rohit Rai

John Richard Ridge

Erling Richard Anderson

Christopher Scott Thomas

Anurag Jain

Stephen Mitchell Carlton

Yacob Mesfin Argaw

Thierry Luc Alain Dannoux

Elias Panides

Xiaoyong Wang

John Robert Saltzer, Jr

Steven Akin Dunwoody

Kochuparambil Deenamma Vargheese

Kenneth Spencer Morgan

Aravind Raghavan Rammohan

Robert Walter Nason

Yunfei Shao

Ming-Jun Li

Dale Robert Powers

Kenneth Edward Hrdina

Joel P Carberry

John Christopher Thomas

Shawn Michael O'Malley

Michael Timothy Brennan

Eric Lee Miller

Po Ki Yuen

Barada Kanta Nayak

Zheming Zheng

Stephane Poissy

Joseph Christopher Wall

David Alan Deneka

Paul Andrew Chludzinski

David A Kenney

Yulong Hong

Ravindra Kumar Akarapu

Kenneth William Roberts

Larry Gene Smith

Kathy Marie Youngbear

Chad Michael Wilcox

Bryan William Wakefield

Sumitava De

Raymond Chih Chung Hsiao

Eric Wade Thornton

Jason Roy Pace

Abhijit Rao

Shang-Pin Kwei

Edward Barry Richter

Daniel Paul Veber

Raymond Chihchung Hsiao

Jonathan Robert Greveling

Philippe Dardart

Vincent Matteo Tagliamonti

Yuanjie Jiang

Chungfeng Zhou

David Alan Kenney

John Joseph Iii Costello

An optical fiber draw furnace system including a muffle, a downfeed handle, and a downfeed handle extension portion. The downfeed handle is moveably disposed within an inner cavity of the muffle. The downfeed handle extension portion is connected to the downfeed handle and moveably disposed within the inner cavity of the muffle. Furthermore, the downfeed handle extension portion forms a first gap between an outer surface of the downfeed handle extension portion and an inner surface of the muffle, the first gap having a length in a range of about 0.001 m to about 0.2 m.

Optical fiber draw furnace system and method

A cooling device system for cooling optical fiber includes a plurality of bodies (), each body having a top surface () and an opposing bottom surface (); an opening () within each of the plurality of bodies extending from the top surface through the body to the bottom surface, wherein the opening is configured to pass an optical fiber () through the body; and one or more air outlets () within the body configured to direct air to contact the optical fiber as it passes through the opening, wherein the air flowing out of the one or more openings has an average velocity of about 20 m/s to about 350 m/s.

Methods and systems for cooling optical fiber

A fiber draw furnace includes a heated section configured to contain and heat a glass source from which an optical fiber is drawn. A lower extended muffle having a first end and a second end. A gas screen is coupled to the second end of the lower extended muffle configured to allow a gas to flow into the lower extended muffle. A reclaim cylinder is coupled to the lower extended muffle including an outer housing defining a reclaim chamber. A plurality of reclaim ports are tangentially coupled to the outer housing and an inner housing is positioned within the outer housing.

Method and apparatus for reclaiming gas in a fiber draw furnace

In some embodiments, a method for processing an optical fiber includes: drawing an optical fiber through a draw furnace, conveying the optical fiber through a flame reheating device downstream from the draw furnace, wherein the flame reheating device comprises one or more burners each comprising: a body having a top surface and an opposing bottom surface, an opening within the body extending from the top surface through the body to the bottom surface, wherein the optical fiber passes through the opening, and one or more gas outlets within the body; and igniting a flammable gas provided by the one or more gas outlets to form a flame encircling the optical fiber passing through the opening, wherein the flame heats the optical fiber by at least 100 degrees Celsius at a heating rate exceeding 10,000 degrees Celsius/second.

Methods and systems for processing optical fiber

An optical fiber forming apparatus comprises: a draw furnace comprising: (i) a muffle with an inner surface, (ii) an axial opening below the muffle, the inner surface of the muffle defining a passageway extending through the axial opening, and (iii) an upper inlet into the passageway; and a tube that extends into the passageway of the draw furnace above the axial opening, the tube having (i) an outer surface and the inner surface of the muffle surrounds the outer surface of the tube with a space separating the outer surface of the tube from the inner surface of the muffle, (ii) an inner surface that defines a second passageway extending through the tube, (iii) an inlet into the second passageway of the tube, (iii) an outlet out of the second passageway of the tube.

Optical fiber forming apparatus

An optical fiber draw system and method of operating thereof. The method includes positioning a downfeed handle for supporting an optical fiber preform within a furnace such that the downfeed handle is movable within the furnace. The method further includes operating one or more heating elements to thermally heat at least a portion of an upper muffle extension disposed within the furnace, the one or more heating elements being moveable with the downfeed handle.

Various embodiments disclosed relate to a method for bending a glass substrate. The method includes actuating at least one heat shield to a first position at least partially covering an edge portion of a first major surface of the glass substrate. The method further includes heating the glass substrate. The method further includes actuating the at least one heat shield to a second position at least partially uncovering the edge portion of the glass substrate.

Assemblies and methods for bending glass

A process and system for forming a curved glass article from a sheet of glass material is provided. The process and system includes supporting a glass sheet on a shaping frame and then heating the sheet of glass material while supported by the shaping frame such that the central region of the sheet of glass material deforms into an open central cavity of the bending frame. The process and/or system are configured such that a steep, localized temperature differential is formed in the region adjacent the outer edge of the glass sheet during the heating stage of the shaping process.

Process and system for forming curved glass via differential heating of edge region

Vaporizers and systems for vaporizing liquid precursor for forming glass optical fiber preforms are provided. The vaporizer includes an expansion chamber at least partially enclosed by a side wall, the expansion chamber comprising an upper end and a lower end with the side wall disposed between the upper end and the lower end. The vaporizer further includes a closed-loop liquid delivery conduit positioned in the expansion chamber proximate to the upper end of the expansion chamber, wherein the closed-loop liquid delivery conduit comprises a plurality of nozzles oriented to direct a spray of liquid precursor onto an inner surface of the side wall. Further, the vaporizer includes at least one supply conduit positioned proximate the upper end of the expansion chamber and coupled to the closed-loop liquid delivery conduit, and a vapor delivery outlet coupled to the expansion chamber and configured to direct vaporized liquid precursor from the expansion chamber.

Vaporizers and apparatuses for forming glass optical fiber preforms comprising the same

A method of processing an optical fiber includes drawing the optical fiber from a heated glass source, reheating the optical fiber, and cooling the optical fiber under vacuum at a cooling rate less than the cooling rate of the optical fiber in air at 25&#xb0; C. and 1 atm. Cooling the optical fiber under vacuum is conducted after reheating the optical fiber. Cooling the optical fiber under vacuum reduces the rate of heat transfer from the optical fiber, which may enable further relaxation of the glass and reduction in the fictive temperature of the optical fiber. A system for processing an optical fiber includes a furnace containing a fiber preform, a first positioner, a reheating device, and a treatment device downstream of the reheating device, the treatment device operable to cool the optical fiber under vacuum to reduce the rate of heat transfer from the optical fiber.

Vacuum slow cooling device for optical fiber draw

A furnace system includes a muffle defining a furnace cavity. A lower heater is coupled to the muffle and is configured to create a hot zone within the furnace cavity having a temperature of about 1900&#xb0; C. or greater. An upper muffle extension is positioned above the muffle and defines a handle cavity. A downfeed handle is positioned within the handle cavity such that a gap is defined between an outer surface of the downfeed handle and an inner surface of the upper muffle extension. An upper heater is thermally coupled to the upper muffle extension and configured to heat the gap. A gas screen is positioned in the upper muffle extension and is configured to inject a process gas into the handle cavity.

Method and apparatus for suppressing flow instabilities in an optical fiber draw system

A system for processing optical fiber includes a draw furnace, a fiber conveyance pathway extending between an upstream end positioned at the draw furnace and a downstream end positioned opposite the upstream end, where optical fiber is conveyed along the fiber conveyance pathway from the upstream end to the downstream end in a fiber conveyance direction, a muffle in communication with the draw furnace and positioned downstream of the draw furnace, a second cooling device annularly surrounding the fiber conveyance pathway downstream from the draw furnace, the second cooling device including one or more second cooling device heating elements and a first cooling device positioned between the draw furnace and the second cooling device, wherein the first cooling device directs a fluid to contact the optical fiber.

A system and method for processing an optical fiber includes a treatment device disposed downstream of a furnace and including a treating zone. The treating zone includes a fiber inlet and fiber outlet and is configured to cool the optical fiber at a reduced pressure below ambient pressure and at a slow cooling rate less than an ambient cooling rate. A nozzle assembly is disposed at one or more of the fiber inlet, the fiber outlet, upstream of the treating zone, and downstream of the treating zone. The nozzle assembly includes multiple baffle plates defining a number of nozzle chambers, each nozzle chamber having a nozzle chamber pressure, wherein each baffle plate includes an orifice having a predetermined effective orifice diameter through which the optical fiber passes. Each nozzle chamber is configured to sequentially change a nozzle chamber pressure between the reduced pressure and ambient pressure.

Systems and methods for processing an optical fiber

A method of producing an optical fiber is provided that includes the steps of flowing a first gas into an optical fiber draw furnace. The first gas is passed through a heated section configured to contain and heat a glass source from which the optical fiber is drawn, passing the first gas through a muffle which defines a capture chamber. A portion of the first gas is removed through at least one reclaim port operatively coupled to the capture chamber. A second gas flows into a gas screen at a rate configured to substantially recover a pressure drop associated with removing the portion of the first gas.

Gas reclamation system for optical fiber production

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Horseheads, NY, United States of America

Nikolaos Pantelis Kladias