The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 30, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 17, 1998
Kristian Engberg, Sollentuna, SE;
Hjalmar Hesselbom, Huddinge, SE;
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ), Stockholm, SE;
Abstract
An optical fiber flexfoil includes optical fibers adhesively bonded between two flexfoils laminated to each other. A surface of a base flexible plastic sheet is coated with a pressure sensitive adhesive, and optical fibers are bonded to the sheet by the adhesive. A top foil having a similar coating is placed on top of the base foil contacting the optical fibers, air located between the foils is removed, and the foils are pressed against each other only by the adhesive coatings. The adhesive is selected to have a low glass transition temperature such as below −50° C., and to exhibit visco-elastic characteristics in the temperature range within which the flexfoil is to be used. The lamination of the foils is made at temperatures at the upper limit of the operational range using only moderate pressures. This gives low mechanical stresses on the fibers in the pressing operation. The fibers are not entirely rigidly fixed to the foils allowing them to move a little when bending the flexfoil, so that rather sharp bends of the flexfoil can be made. Also, microbends formed in the lamination process can relax and thus be eliminated, producing a low attenuation in the optical fibers