Undersea telecommunications cable
US6496629B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 1, 1999 |
| Grant date | Dec 17, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 1, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG02B6/44384
- WIPO fieldOptics
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An undersea telecommunications cable comprises a buffer tube which protects a plurality of optical fibers disposed therein from externally applied forces. To this end, the buffer tube contains a thixotropic, water blocking gel that has a viscosity and a critical yield shear stress sufficient to couple, upon application of a tensile load capable of producing up to a 0.8% strain in the cable, tensile forces from the buffer tube to the optical fibers to thereby induce strain in the fibers that is proportional to that induced in the tube, without preventing the return of the optical fibers to a substantially unstrained condition upon the removal of such tensile load. Should it become necessary to repair a section of the undersea cable as by retrieving it from the sea bed and inserting a spliced segment, existing sections of the fiber will be sufficiently protected from any damage which might otherwise have been caused during the cable retreival and recovery operation.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.