Corning Incorporated

Richard R Williams

Paul Andrew Chludzinski

Lynn G Amos

Johnnie Edward Watson

John S Abbott

Heidi B Leoni

In the process of drawing optical fibers, a protective plastic coating is applied to the fiber by applying a curable liquid coating material thereto and the subsequently curing the liquid coating to a protective plastic layer. At high fiber draw speeds, air entrained with the fiber enters the liquid coating material and causes bubbles in the cured coating. The incidence of bubbles in the coating is reduced by replacing air adjacent the fiber surface with helium.

Method for coating fibers

A vaporizer for halide-free, silicon-containing liquid reactants used in producing preforms is provided. The vaporizer includes a heated, vertically-oriented expansion chamber (20) and a vertical hollow shaft (42) which extends into the chamber and has a plurality of orifices (45) at its upper end (44). Preheated reactant is supplied to the vertical shaft (42) at an elevated pressure and is sprayed onto the chamber's heated wall (22) by the orifices (45). A portion of the liquid reactant vaporizes upon entering the internal volume (24) of the chamber (20) due to the pressure drop between the inside of the shaft and the inside of the chamber. The remainder of the liquid reactant vaporizes by being heated through contact with the chamber's wall (22). Higher molecular weight species present in the raw material or generated by the vaporization process are collected in the bottom portion of the chamber where they can be periodically removed.

Vertical vaporizer for halide-free, silcon-containing compounds

Method of providing vaporized halide-free, silicon-containing compounds

A method and apparatus is provided for controlling the diameter of a coated optical waveguide fiber. The viscosity profile of the coating material is controlled by adjusting the temperature of a portion of the coating assembly based on a measurement of the diameter of the coated fiber. By controlling the viscosity profile of the coating material, the amount of coating applied to the fiber is controlled,, thereby determining the diameter of the coated fiber.

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Wilmington, NC, United States of America

Richard R Williams