Apparatus for cooling an optical fiber to be resin coated
US5897682A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 27, 1996 |
| Grant date | Apr 27, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 27, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02P40/57
- WIPO fieldMaterials, metallurgy
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A coated optical fiber is produced by the steps of cooling through a cooling assembly an optical fiber obtained by drawing, heating and spinning an optical fiber base material and thereafter coating the optical fiber with a resin wherein a gas mixture including an He gas and possible ambient air is sucked out of the cooling assembly and purified to collect the He gas to be a recovery gas of He which is to be recycled to the cooling assembly together with a pure He gas, but the gas mixture sucked out of the cooling assembly is compressed and stored until the gas mixture reaches a predetermined pressure or more and then purified when it reaches the predetermined pressure while the compressed gas mixture is returned to an upstream side of a compressor which serves to compress the gas mixture so that the flow quantity of gas suction varies in accordance with the flow of He gas supplied to the cooling assembly whereby the gas mixture from the cooling assembly is prevented from lowering an He gas concentration of the gas mixture.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.