CN115343816A

CN115343816A - Optical cable, optical fiber jumper structure and method for manufacturing optical cable

Info

Publication number: CN115343816A
Application number: CN202210956376.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陆华清; 黄亚元; 田莹; 刘平
Original assignee: Everpro Technologies Wuhan Co Ltd
Current assignee: Everpro Technologies Wuhan Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-10
Filing date: 2022-08-10
Publication date: 2022-11-15

Abstract

The invention discloses an optical cable, an optical fiber jumper structure and a method for manufacturing the optical cable. The optical cable includes: a trunk cable having a stripped end and an optical fiber extension extending from the stripped end; and an oil blocking portion connected to the stripped end portion and blocking a flow of ointment in the stripped end portion along the optical fiber extension. By means of the solution according to the invention, the grease flowing along the extension of the optical fiber in the optical cable can be blocked by means of the grease-blocking portion, so that the grease is prevented from flowing out of the optical cable and contaminating other components connected to the optical cable.

Description

Optical cable, optical fiber jumper structure and method for manufacturing optical cable

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of fiber optic cables. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical cable, an optical fiber jumper structure and a method for manufacturing an optical cable.

Background

A Remote optical cable assembly is an important connection assembly in The field of optical Fiber communication at present, and generally includes a main optical cable, a Radio Remote Unit (RRU) end, and a BBU (baseband processing Unit) end connector, where one BBU can support a plurality of RRUs, and The optical cable assembly is widely applied To an FTTA (Fiber To The Antenna) system. It will be appreciated that the trunk cable serves as the main body portion of the remote cable assembly, which directly transmits optical signals and directly receives construction tension during construction wiring of the remote cable assembly. On the other hand, since the remote optical cable assembly is generally used in an outdoor environment, the ambient temperature changes greatly, so that the performance stability of the whole remote optical cable assembly is closely related to the temperature stability of the main optical cable.

Therefore, the main optical cable can be provided with a 250um optical fiber oil-filled sleeve and an external armored spiral structure from the consideration of tensile strength, cost and stability, wherein the factice in the optical fiber oil-filled sleeve can effectively improve the temperature stability of the main optical cable. However, the long term use of fiber-filled ferrules in a trunk cable can cause the grease to flow along the fiber core of the trunk cable and wick to the end of the components connected to the trunk cable. Thus, the grease in the fiber optic oil filled jacket can contaminate and eventually cause failure of the components connected to the main fiber optic cable in the long term. In view of this, the present invention requires a solution that prevents the factice from contaminating the components connected to the optical cable.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve at least one or more technical problems of the background art, the invention provides an optical cable, an optical fiber jumper structure and a method for manufacturing the optical cable. By the scheme of the invention, the oil blocking part can be connected to the stripping end part of the main cable in the optical cable so as to realize the function of blocking the factice, further block the factice from flowing along the optical fiber in the optical cable and ensure that the factice does not pollute the assembly connected with the optical cable.

In a first aspect, the present invention discloses an optical cable comprising: a trunk cable having a stripped end and an optical fiber extension extending from the stripped end; and the oil blocking part is connected with the stripping end part and is used for blocking the ointment in the stripping end part from flowing along the optical fiber extension section.

In one embodiment, the main cable further comprises an aramid extension extending from the stripped end, either outside or within the oil barrier.

In another embodiment, the method further comprises: and the fan-out pipe is provided with a hollow structure and is connected with the oil blocking part, so that the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section extend out of the hollow structure.

In yet another embodiment, further comprising: a fixing tube connected between the peeling end and the fan-out tube and forming the oil blocking portion therein.

In a second aspect, the present invention discloses an optical fiber jumper structure, the structure comprising: the optical cable as described above; and a connector connected with an end of the optical cable.

In one embodiment, the optical fiber jumper structure further comprises a heat shrink tube wrapping the connection between the end of the optical cable and the connector.

In a third aspect, the present invention discloses a method for making an optical fiber, the method comprising: stripping an end of a main cable and exposing optical fibers in the main cable while stripping to form a stripped end and an optical fiber extension extending from the stripped end; and attaching an oil blocking portion to the stripped end portion to block the flow of ointment in the stripped end portion along the fiber run.

In another embodiment, stripping off the end of the trunk cable comprises: the aramid fibers in the main cable are also exposed when the end of the main cable is stripped to form an aramid fiber extension protruding from the stripped end.

In yet another embodiment, prior to attaching the oil dam to the peel end, the method further comprises: extending the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section out of a fanout tube with a hollow structure; and connecting the oil blocking portion to the peeling end portion includes: connecting the oil blocking portion between the peeling end portion and the fan-out tube.

In one embodiment, before injecting the oil blocking material into the stationary pipe, the method further comprises: defoaming the oil-resistant material; and an oil filling port is arranged on the fixed pipe, so that the oil blocking material after defoaming treatment is injected into the fixed pipe through the oil filling port.

By using the methods of the present invention described above and in the various embodiments thereof, the grease in the stripped end portion can be blocked from flowing along the fiber run by the grease barrier in the present invention, thereby preventing the grease from contaminating the components connected to the fiber optic cable. In some embodiments, the aramid fiber in the main cable is kept when the stripped end part of the main cable is stripped to form an aramid fiber extension section, and the aramid fiber extension section connecting assembly can effectively improve construction pulling force borne by the optical cable and the assembly during construction wiring by utilizing the aramid fiber extension section connecting assembly, so that the tensile force of the optical cable and the connector is increased. In addition, the fan-out pipe in the embodiment of the invention can effectively improve the anti-crushing force of the optical cable, so that the optical cable is not easy to damage during construction.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of exemplary embodiments of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings. Several embodiments of the present invention are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar or corresponding parts and in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the construction of a fiber optic cable according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional schematic view illustrating a main cable according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the construction of a fiber optic cable according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a fanout tube in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view showing an optical cable according to still another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for making a fiber optic cable according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method of connecting an oil dam to a stripped end in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

fig. 8 is a detailed flow chart illustrating a method for making a fiber optic cable according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments described herein. Additionally, the description should not be taken as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing the construction of an optical cable according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the optical cable 10 may include a main cable 100 and an oil blocking part 200. By the matching use of the main cable and the oil blocking part, the optical cable can block the factice in the main cable so as to prevent the factice from polluting components connected with the optical cable. The main cable and the oil blocking portion will be described in detail below.

In one embodiment, the main cable 100 has a stripped end 110 and a fiber extension 120 extending from the stripped end 110. In one embodiment, the main cable 100 may include optical fibers, wherein optical fibers are media used in optical fiber communication technology for transmitting information, and the main cable may perform transmission of information based on optical fibers. It is understood that, in order to prevent the main cable from being affected by the external temperature change, the main cable may be further disposed with an optical fiber oil-filled bushing (not shown in fig. 1), and the oil filling operation may be performed into the optical fiber oil-filled bushing in a vacuum state. Furthermore, the optical fiber in the main cable can be infiltrated and wrapped by injecting ointment into the optical fiber oil-filled sleeve arranged in the main cable, so that the main cable is not easily influenced by external temperature change. In addition, the optical fibers in the main cable can be prevented from being damped by injecting the ointment into the main cable, namely the ointment also has a water-blocking effect.

In some embodiments, stripped end 110 may be obtained by stripping one or both ends of main cable 100, and stripping stripped end 110 may expose optical fibers in main cable 100 to form optical fiber extension 120. It should be understood that the optical fiber extension 120 is a section of the optical fiber extending from the stripped end 110 of the main cable 100, i.e., the optical fiber extension is a part of the optical fiber, and the material, characteristics, etc. of the optical fiber extension may be the same as those of the optical fiber in the main cable. In one embodiment, the trunk cable may have two stripped ends and may be located at each end of the trunk cable. In another embodiment, the main cable may have a stripped end, which may be located at either end of the main cable.

In one embodiment, grease trap 200 may be coupled to stripped end 110 and used to trap grease in stripped end 110 from flowing along fiber span 120. As can be seen from the above, grease can be injected into the optical fiber oil-filled jacket of the main optical fiber cable to moisten the optical fiber in order to ensure the stability of the optical fiber cable. However, this can result in the ends of the components (e.g., connectors) to which the fiber optic cables are connected also being greased, which in turn can affect the performance of the components. Therefore, the grease in the optical cable can be blocked by arranging the grease blocking part, and the grease in the optical cable is prevented from infiltrating into the end part of the component connected with the optical cable. In one embodiment, two oil barriers may be provided to connect with stripped ends at both ends of the main cable, respectively. In another embodiment, an oil blocking portion may be provided to be connected to any one of the stripped end portions of both ends of the main cable. In another embodiment, fiber extensions 120 in the main cable may protrude from the interior of oil block 200, and the oil block may be connected to stripped end 110 to block the flow of grease along fiber extensions 120.

In some embodiments, the oil-blocking material forming the oil-blocking portion may form a solid structure from the gel substance after a period of standing and cooling so that the solid structure can be used to block the flow of ointment in the main cable. In one embodiment, the grease-blocking material forming the grease-blocking portion may be an epoxy-based glue that cures upon standing for a period of time, thereby blocking grease in the cable to prevent the grease from flowing along the fiber run. Because the epoxy resin glue selected by the oil blocking part has small shrinkage, stress can not be generated on the optical fiber extending section extending out of the oil blocking part. It should be understood that the shape of the grease trap 200 is an exemplary choice for describing the cable of the present application and may be configured in any shape that will act as a barrier to grease, so that the gap created by the corners of the grease trap 200 and stripped end 110 of fig. 1 is negligible and that grease does not flow out of the cable along the gap.

While the structure of the optical cable according to the embodiment of the present invention is described above with reference to fig. 1, it is understood that the above description of the structure of the optical cable is exemplary and not restrictive, and the description of the main cable in the optical cable is also exemplary and not restrictive. To further understand the structure of the main cable in the optical cable structure, the structure of the main cable will be described in detail with reference to fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional schematic view illustrating a main cable according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, main cable 100 may include optical fibers 101. In one embodiment, the optical fibers in the main cable may include one or more. It is understood that an optical fiber is a fiber made of glass or plastic and can be used for transmission of signals in a communication process. The main cable 100 may further comprise a main sleeve 103 (e.g. an optical fiber oil filled sleeve), wherein a gel 102 is filled between the main sleeve 103 and the optical fiber 101. As further shown in fig. 2, the primary cable 100 may also include a primary armor tube 104, which may be located outside of the primary jacket 103, so that the tensile and crush forces of the cable may be effectively increased. In one embodiment, the main sheath 104 may be made of stainless steel, and the use of the main sheath 104 made of stainless steel may also provide protection against rodents and insects. In one embodiment, the main cable 100 may further include a main outer sheath 106 located at the outermost side of the main cable 100 for protecting the internal structure of the main cable, and aramid fibers 105 are filled between the main outer sheath 106 and the main armor tubes 104. In one embodiment, the aramid fiber may be a new high-tech synthetic fiber, and the aramid fiber may be used for safety protection. Since the synthetic fibers vary in diameter from 5 to 15 μm, the aramid fibers 105 may be formed of a plurality of synthetic fibers for wrapping the main sheath 104. In an application scenario, based on the characteristics of high aramid strength, high temperature resistance and the like, the aramid fibers 105 in the main cable 100 can be used as a tension member to improve the tensile strength of the main cable, and the working performance of the main cable is prevented from being influenced by the tensile strength of optical fibers in the main cable during construction and wiring.

The structure of the main cable of the embodiment of the present invention is exemplarily described above with reference to fig. 2, and thus, the structure of the main cable can be determined. It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. The structure of the optical cable according to the embodiment of the present invention will be further described with reference to fig. 3 by taking the main cable illustrated in fig. 2 as an example.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view showing the construction of an optical cable according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, the optical cable 30 may include the above-mentioned main cable 100 and the oil-blocking portion 200 shown in fig. 1, and the optical fiber 101, the grease 102, and the aramid fiber 105 in the main cable 100 shown in fig. 2 (the rest of the main cable in fig. 2 is not shown for the purpose of ensuring the structural clarity of the optical cable 30). Further, the optical cable 30 in fig. 3 may further include a fanout tube 300, an aramid extension 130, and a fixing tube 210. It is to be understood that the main cable 100 and the oil blocking portion 200 have been described in detail above with reference to fig. 1 and 2, and thus the same will not be described in detail below.

In one embodiment, main cable 100 may include an aramid extension 130 extending from stripped end 110, either outside of oil barrier 200 or from within oil barrier 200. It can be understood that the aramid extension section is a part of the aramid extending from the stripping end part, and the material, the characteristics and the like of the aramid extension section are the same as those of the aramid extension in the main cable. In one embodiment, the aramid extension 130 may be located outside the oil blocking portion 200. Specifically, since the aramid extension section is composed of a plurality of aramid fibers in a linear shape, the oil blocking portion 200 may be wrapped with the plurality of aramid fibers, so that the aramid extension section 130 is disposed outside the oil blocking portion 200. In another embodiment, the aramid extension 130 may pass out of the interior of the oil blocking portion 200. Specifically, when the oil blocking portion is provided, a part of the aramid extension segment 130 may be cast inside the oil blocking portion 200, and then the aramid extension segment 130 may penetrate out from the inside of the oil blocking portion 200. In one embodiment, the fiber optic cable may be connected to an external component (e.g., a connector) using the aramid extension 130 as a connecting portion to increase the tensile strength of the fiber optic cable to the external component. Furthermore, in order to verify that the tensile resistance of the optical cable and the external component can be improved by connecting the optical cable and the external component through the aramid fiber extension section extending from the main cable, the tensile test is carried out. Specifically, the tensile test was performed on the optical cable product according to the embodiment of the present invention and the comparative sample in this test. The optical cable product of the embodiment of the invention is based on a sample to be tested formed by connecting aramid fibers exposed from a main cable with an external component, and the comparison sample is formed by arranging a section of cut aramid fibers not provided with an optical cable between the optical cable and the external component, wherein the test data obtained by performing a tensile test are shown in the following table 1.

TABLE 1 tensile test data

The data obtained by the tension test shows that the tension born by the optical cable product in normal work according to the embodiment of the invention all meets 300N, and the tension born by the comparative sample in normal work does not meet 300N. Further, in the tension test, a limit tension test is also performed on the sample made of the two aramid fibers, wherein the limit tension test is used for detecting the maximum tension borne by the sample before the sample is broken. As can be seen from the data of the ultimate tensile test, the ultimate tensile of the optical cable product according to the embodiment of the invention can reach more than 500N, while the ultimate tensile of the comparative sample can not reach 300N. In summary, the tensile strength of the optical cable product according to the embodiment of the present invention is higher than that of the comparative sample made of the additional aramid fiber. Therefore, the tensile force of the optical cable and the connecting assembly can be effectively improved by using the aramid fiber of the main cable in the optical cable product provided by the embodiment of the invention, and the tensile force generated by the aramid fiber of the optical cable provided by the embodiment of the invention can reach 300N.

Continuing back to fig. 3, in one embodiment, cable 30 may further include a fanout tube 300 having a hollow structure and connected to oil-blocking portion 200 such that fiber extension 120 and aramid extension 130 extend from the hollow structure thereof. In one embodiment, the aramid extension 130 located outside the oil block 200 may be threaded out of the hollow structure of the fan-out tube 300. In another embodiment, the aramid extensions 130 that exit from the interior of the oil dam 200 may exit from the hollow structure of the fan-out tube 300. In one embodiment, the fiber extensions 120 and the aramid extensions 130 protruding from the hollow structure of the fan-out tube 300 may form a jumper process end. In one embodiment, the connector may be terminated to the fan-out tube via a jumper process formed by fiber extensions and aramid extensions by a process of threading, curing, assembling, crimping, grinding, end-checking, etc., wherein the crimp uses an aramid extension from the main cable. Based on the above description, since the aramid extension section can be formed of a plurality of new high-tech synthetic fibers, the aramid extension section can form a dense structure at the stripping end and the fan-out tube, so that the uncured gel material can be prevented from overflowing to the inside of the main cable and the fan-out cable.

In one embodiment, the optical cable 30 may further include a fixing tube 210 connected between the stripped end 110 and the fan-out tube 300 and used to form an oil blocking part 200 inside thereof. In one embodiment, the stationary tube 210 may be connected to the stripped end 110 by a trunk outer jacket of the trunk cable 110 and may be connected to the fanout tube 300 by an empty tube outer jacket of the fanout tube 300. It will be appreciated that stripped end 110 is part of the main cable 100, and thus the fixation tube may be connected to the stripped end by a main outer jacket. In one embodiment, the fixing tube may be a nylon tube to have a strength suitable for forming an oil trap inside thereof. In another embodiment, the fixed pipe 210 may further include an opening 220 which may be used to inject an oil blocking material into the fixed pipe 210 so as to form an oil blocking portion inside the fixed pipe, wherein the opening 220 may be disposed anywhere in the fixed pipe as required by an oil injection operation position so that the oil blocking material may be more conveniently injected into the fixed pipe.

In one embodiment, the oil blocking material injected into the fixing tube 210 through the opening 220 may be a gel-like liquid capable of forming a solid. By way of example, the oil blocking material may be an epoxy glue, wherein the epoxy glue may be cured into a solid structure by a liquid after a predetermined time to form the oil blocking portion. In another embodiment, the length of the fixing tube 210 connected to the stripping end 110 (e.g., the length of the stripping end inserted into the fixing tube, or the length of the fixing tube inserted into the stripping end) may be one third of the length of the fixing tube 210, the length of the fixing tube 210 connected to the fan-out tube 300 (e.g., the length of the fan-out tube inserted into the fixing tube, or the length of the fixing tube inserted into the fan-out tube) may also be one third of the length of the fixing tube, and the length of the oil blocking portion 200 formed inside the fixing tube 210 may also be one third of the length of the fixing tube 210. In one embodiment, cable 30 may further include a heat shrink tube, and fixing tube 210 may be wrapped with the heat shrink tube to provide shielding of the internal structure of cable 30.

The structural schematic diagram of the optical cable according to another embodiment of the present invention is exemplarily described in detail above with reference to fig. 3. It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the length of the connection between the fixing tube and the peeling end, the length of the connection between the fixing tube and the fan-out tube, or the like may not be limited to one third of the above, and may be adjusted as necessary. To further understand the structure of the fan-out tube described above herein, the structure of the fan-out tube in a fiber optic cable will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

Fig. 4 is a schematic sectional view illustrating a fanout tube according to an embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment, fanout tube 300 may include fanout armor tube 301 and bare tube outer jacket 302. In one embodiment, fan-out armor tube 301, which is located inside fan-out tube 300, may be effective to improve cable crush force. In one embodiment, the fan-out armor tube 301 may be stainless steel and a stainless steel based fan-out armor tube 301 may increase the crush force of the fan-out tube 300. In one application scenario, the fan-out armor tube 301 may serve as a support member for the fan-out tube to support the fan-out tube, and may further enable the fan-out tube to have a hollow structure so that the optical fiber extension and the aramid extension may pass through the inside of the fan-out tube. In one embodiment, an empty pipe outer jacket 302 is positioned outside the fanout armor pipe 301 for protecting the fanout armor pipe 301. In one application scenario, the hollow-tube outer jacket 302 may serve as a connecting structure to connect the fanout tube with the stationary tube. In another application scenario, the fanout tube 300 may also serve as a connection end for an optical cable to connect to external components.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the construction of an optical cable according to still another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, cable 50 includes stripped end 110, fan-out tube 300, and heat shrink tube 230. It will be appreciated that the stripped end 110 and fan-out tube 300 have been described in detail above in connection with fig. 1-4, and therefore the same will not be described in detail below. In one embodiment, heat shrink tubing 230 may be located outside of the fixation tubing and may be used to wrap the fixation tubing. In another embodiment, the length of the heat shrinkable tube 230 is greater than the length of the fixing tube, so as to ensure that the heat shrinkable tube 230 can completely cover the fixing tube after heat shrinkage and to cover the internal structure of the fixing tube from the appearance.

As described in detail with reference to fig. 1 to 5, the optical cable according to the embodiment of the present invention has a structure that the grease in the optical cable having an oil-filled structure is blocked from flowing along the optical fiber extension by disposing the oil blocking portion at the stripped end of the optical cable, so that the grease is effectively blocked from contaminating the components connected to the optical cable, thereby prolonging the service life of the optical cable. Furthermore, the trunk cable and the fan-out pipe with aramid fibers are used in the embodiment of the invention, so that the tensile force and the flattening force of the optical cable can be effectively improved, and the optical cable is not easy to damage during construction and wiring. In addition, the aramid fiber carried by the main cable is used for connecting the connector in the embodiment of the invention, so that the tensile strength of the connector and the main cable can be effectively improved.

In a second aspect of the invention, there is also provided a fibre optic jumper structure which may include a fibre optic cable and connector according to any of figures 1 to 5. The structure of the optical cable has been described in detail in the foregoing with reference to the structures shown in fig. 1 to 5, and will not be described in detail below.

In one embodiment, the connector may be connected to an end of a fiber optic cable, where the end may be a fanout tube of the fiber optic cable. In another embodiment, the connector may be connected to one or both ends of the fiber optic cable. In one embodiment, the connector may be connected to the end of the optical cable using a jumper prepared end formed from fiber and aramid extensions that pass through the fan-out tube hollow structure to form a fiber jumper structure. In one embodiment, the connector may be a unitary connector for increasing the pulling force of the connection with the end of the fiber optic cable. In one embodiment, the optical fiber jumper structure further includes a heat shrink tube that may wrap around a connection of the end of the fiber optic cable with the connector to visually cover a connection portion of the end of the fiber optic cable with the connector. In another embodiment, a heat shrink tube may be wrapped around the connection portion of the fan-out tube and connector of the fiber optic cable.

In a third aspect of the invention, a method for making an optical cable is provided. As will be described in connection with fig. 6. FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for making a fiber optic cable according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 6, method 600 may include: at step S602, an end of a main cable is stripped and optical fibers in the main cable are exposed during stripping to form a stripped end and an optical fiber extension extending therefrom. In one embodiment, one end of the trunk cable may be stripped so that one stripped end and one fiber run may be formed. In another embodiment, both ends of the main cable may be stripped so that two stripped ends and two fiber spans may be formed. In another embodiment, the grease attached to the fiber span may be cleaned with an organic solvent to ensure that the surface of the fiber span is free of grease residue.

In one embodiment, the aramid fiber in the main cable can also be exposed when the end of the main cable is stripped to form an aramid fiber extension protruding from the stripped end. In one embodiment, one end of the main cable may be stripped to expose the aramid in the main cable to form an aramid extension extending from one stripped end. In another embodiment, the main cable may be stripped at both ends to expose the aramid fiber in the main cable to form aramid fiber extensions extending from both stripped ends.

Next, at step S604, an oil block may be attached to the stripped end to block the flow of grease in the stripped end along the fiber run. In one embodiment, the fiber extension may protrude from inside the oil dam to attach the oil dam to the stripped end. In one embodiment, the oil blocking material forming the oil blocking portion may be an epoxy glue such that the optical fiber extension may protrude inside the epoxy glue, thereby allowing the epoxy glue to be attached to the stripped end portion. In one embodiment, the aramid extensions protruding from the stripped ends may protrude from inside the oil barrier. In another embodiment, the aramid extensions protruding from the stripped ends may be located outside the oil barrier so as to wrap the oil barrier.

In one embodiment, before the oil blocking part is connected to the stripping end part, the method further comprises the step of extending the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section out of the fanout tube with a hollow structure. In one embodiment, the optical fiber extension protruding from the inside of the oil blocking portion and the aramid extension protruding from the inside of the oil blocking portion may be protruded from the fanout tube having a hollow structure. In another embodiment, the light extension section extending from the inside of the oil blocking portion and the aramid fiber extension section wrapping the oil blocking portion may extend from the fanout tube having a hollow structure. In one embodiment, the fiber and aramid extensions extending from the fanout tube can be cut to a predetermined length so that the predetermined length can be used to form a jumper process end so that the fiber optic cable can be connected to outside components.

Having described the method for manufacturing an optical cable by way of example, in order to further understand the method for manufacturing an optical cable according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method for connecting the oil blocking portion and the stripped end portion will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 7. As will be appreciated from the following description, the method 700 may be an embodied expression of the step S604 described in conjunction with fig. 6, and will be described in detail below.

As shown in fig. 7, method 700 includes: at step S702, a fixed tube may be connected between the stripped end and the fan-out tube. It will be appreciated that the mounting tube may be provided in any length and may have two ends connected to the stripper end and the fanout tube, respectively. In one embodiment, one end of the fixing tube may be connected to the stripping end at one inwardly extending third, and the other end of the fixing tube may be connected to the fanout tube at one inwardly extending third, so that uniform tensile strength is generated among the fixing tube, the stripping end and the fanout tube, and thus the tensile strength of the entire cable may be improved. Next, at step S704, an oil blocking material may be injected into the fixed pipe to form an oil blocking portion within the fixed pipe. In one embodiment, an oil injection port may be provided on the fixed pipe so that the oil blocking material forming the oil blocking portion is injected into the fixed pipe through the oil injection port.

In one embodiment, the oil filling port may be an opening provided on the fixed pipe, and the oil blocking material may be injected into the fixed pipe through the opening. In another embodiment, the number of the oil filling ports may be set to one or more. In yet another embodiment, a connecting pipe may be provided at the oil filler port so that the oil filler port on the fixed pipe can be connected to the device for storing the oil-blocking material through the connecting pipe. In one embodiment, the oil-blocking material may be defoamed before being injected into the fixed pipe. It should be understood that in the embodiment of the present invention, the defoaming treatment may be performed before the oil-blocking material is injected into the fixed pipe, or may be performed after the oil-blocking material is injected into the fixed pipe, for example, by pressurizing, vacuumizing, or the like the fixed pipe.

In one embodiment, the oil blocking material forming the oil blocking portion may be an epoxy glue, and the epoxy glue may be defoamed before the oil blocking material forms the oil blocking portion. It is understood that since the core of the optical fiber is mainly composed of silica glass, which is a brittle material, the compressive strength is good, but the tensile strength is small. Therefore, it is necessary to process the optical fiber into an optical cable with corresponding mechanical properties to ensure that the optical fiber is not damaged by external force and is broken during the processes of laying, installation, use and maintenance, so as to ensure the smoothness of the network.

However, the epoxy resin glue as the oil blocking material generates bubbles therein during the manufacturing or transportation process, so that the oil blocking portion formed by the epoxy resin glue also generates bubbles, and the bubbles generate different degrees of stress to the optical fiber extending section extending from the inside of the oil blocking portion. The continuous stressing of the fiber spans by the bubbles may cause the fiber spans to break as the cable is operated over extended periods of time. According to the oil blocking part formed after defoaming treatment in the embodiment of the invention, the pressure of the air bubbles possibly existing in the oil blocking part on the optical fiber extension section can be effectively avoided, so that the service life of the optical cable manufactured by the method in the embodiment of the invention can be effectively prolonged, and the adverse effect and the safety risk caused by the air bubbles in the epoxy resin glue can be eliminated.

In some embodiments, the defoaming treatment performed on the oil-blocking material may include one of centrifugal defoaming, vacuum defoaming, pressure defoaming, negative pressure defoaming, high temperature defoaming, and the like. In a specific embodiment, the epoxy glue may be defoamed by a high speed defoaming machine to eliminate bubbles, wherein the principle of the high speed defoaming machine is to separate the bubbles in the epoxy glue by centrifugal force by means of centrifugal defoaming, and the epoxy glue may be acted on by the high speed defoaming machine with, for example, 3000 rpm, for example, 10 minutes, so that the bubbles in the epoxy glue may be eliminated. In one embodiment, the high-speed defoaming machine can be connected with the oil filling port of the fixed pipe through a connecting pipe so as to form a closed channel, so that the defoamed oil blocking material is isolated from air before entering the fixed pipe.

As described above, it is understood that the working life of the optical cable including the oil blocking portion formed of the epoxy resin based glue subjected to the defoaming treatment is significantly increased as compared with the optical cable including the oil blocking portion formed of the epoxy resin based glue not subjected to the defoaming treatment after the defoaming treatment. Further, for describing the effect generated by the deaeration treatment in detail, the working life of the optical cable after the deaeration treatment can be greatly prolonged by detecting the optical loss increase value of the optical fiber. Specifically, the study objects of the experiment may include an optical cable subjected to deaeration treatment (i.e., a deaeration group) and an optical cable not subjected to deaeration treatment (i.e., a non-deaeration group), and other parameters such as the lengths and input wavelengths of the two groups of study objects need to be kept consistent, so that the two groups of measured optical cables may be connected by using an optical power meter, and optical power values of optical signals of the light-emitting device after being transmitted in the two groups of measured optical cables are measured after the two groups of optical cables operate for half a year, and the optical power values are subtracted from the light-emitting values of the light-emitting device after being obtained, so as to obtain the attenuation values of the optical fibers. Therefore, the obtained attenuation values of the two groups of tested cables and the light emitting values of the light emitting devices can be further used for calculating the light loss increase values of the two groups of tested cables. The measured and calculated increase in optical loss after half a year of operation for both cables is shown in table 2 below.

TABLE 2 optical loss increase table for optical fiber

As can be seen from Table 1, the optical loss of the deaerated group was increased by 0 to 5%, and the optical loss of the non-deaerated group was increased by 10 to 15%. Obviously, from experimental data, it is known that the increase value of the optical fiber loss of the optical cable without being defoamed is greatly increased in the same time compared with the optical cable with being defoamed, and thus it can be proved that the service life of the optical cable without being defoamed is shorter in a long-term working process.

To further understand the method for making a fiber optic cable according to an embodiment of the present invention, an exemplary description will be given in detail below with reference to fig. 8. Fig. 8 is a detailed flow chart illustrating a method for making a fiber optic cable according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 8, method 800 may include: at step S802, a trunk outer sheath of a predetermined length is stripped at the stripped end of the trunk cable, and aramid fibers and trunk armor pipes of a predetermined length in the trunk cable are exposed. Next, at step S804, a predetermined length of the primary armor tube is twisted off using a armor stripper to expose a predetermined length of the primary sleeve and leave a predetermined length of aramid to form an aramid extension. Furthermore, a stripping pliers is used for stripping a trunk sleeve with a preset length to expose an optical fiber with a preset length in the trunk cable, so that an optical fiber extension section can be obtained. Then, in step S806, the grease attached to the optical fiber extension is cleaned by using an organic solvent to ensure that no grease remains on the surface of the optical fiber extension. After the above-described step S806 is executed, the flow advances to a step S808.

In step S808, the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section are inserted through a nylon tube (i.e., a fixing tube), and the nylon tube is connected to the trunk outer sheath in the trunk cable in an embedded manner, and the trunk outer sheath can be inserted into one third of one end of the nylon tube. Then, in step S810, after the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section pass through the nylon tube, the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section may continue to pass through the fan-out armor tube inside the fan-out tube after passing through the nylon tube, and the outer jacket of the blank tube outside the fan-out tube is nested and linked with one third of the length of the other end of the nylon tube. Meanwhile, the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section penetrate out of the fanout armor pipe for a preset length. From the above steps, through step S808 and step S810, the nylon tube can form three parts, namely an input section, a glue filling section and an output section, and the lengths of the three parts respectively account for one third of the length of the nylon tube, wherein the input section is a part of the nylon tube in nested connection with the trunk outer sheath, and the output section is a part of the nylon tube in nested connection with the empty tube outer sheath. Further, since the nylon tube functions to form the oil blocking portion, the potting segment is a portion of the nylon tube for receiving the oil blocking material to form the oil blocking portion.

Next, the flow advances to step S812. At step S812, an oil blocking material, such as epoxy glue, is poured into the glue filling section in the nylon tube through the opening on the nylon tube, and the glue filling section is filled with the epoxy glue, and after waiting for a predetermined time, the epoxy glue may be cured to form an oil blocking portion. Specifically, the epoxy resin glue is full at the input section, the glue filling section and the output section, so that the main cable, the fan-out pipe and the nylon pipe are fully fixed to form a structure for blocking the ointment in the optical cable from flowing along the optical fiber extension section. Then, in step S814, after the epoxy resin glue in the glue filling section in the nylon tube is cured, the heat shrink tube is sleeved outside the nylon tube, and the length of the heat shrink tube is greater than that of the nylon tube, so that the heat shrink tube after heat shrinkage can completely cover the nylon tube, and the heat shrink tube can cover the inner structure of the nylon tube in appearance. To this end, the structure of the optical cable can be manufactured according to the method in the embodiment of the invention.

Further, after the optical cable structure in the embodiment of the present invention is obtained in the above steps, the optical fiber jumper structure in the embodiment of the present invention is obtained. According to the embodiment of the invention, the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section which penetrate out of the fan-out tube in the obtained optical cable structure can be cut to the preset length to form the jumper wire processing end, and the heat shrink tube can be arranged on the fan-out tube sleeve. And then connecting the connector to the fan-out tube by using the obtained jumper wire processing end through fiber penetrating, curing, assembling, crimping, grinding, end detecting and other process ends, wherein aramid fiber carried by the optical cable is fixedly used for crimping so as to improve the tensile resistance of the connector joint. Then, the heat-shrinkable tube sleeved on the fan-out tube can be thermally shrunk to the tail end of the connector to form a jumper wire semi-finished product, and the qualified semi-finished product in the jumper wire semi-finished product is used as an optical fiber jumper wire finished product through a testing procedure.

It should be understood that the possible terms "first" or "second" etc. in the claims, the description and the drawings of the present disclosure are used for distinguishing different objects, and are not used for describing a specific order. The terms "comprises" and "comprising," when used in the specification and claims of this disclosure, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It is also to be understood that the terminology used in the description of the invention herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting of the invention disclosed. As used in the specification and claims of this disclosure, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should be further understood that the term "and/or" as used in this disclosure and claims refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items and includes such combinations.

Although the embodiments of the present invention are described above, the descriptions are only examples adopted for understanding the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope and application scenarios of the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An optical cable, comprising:

a trunk cable having a stripped end and an optical fiber extension extending from the stripped end; and

an oil blocking portion connected to the stripped end portion and blocking a flow of ointment in the stripped end portion along the optical fiber extension.

2. The fiber optic cable of claim 1, wherein the main cable further comprises an aramid extension extending from the stripped end, either outside of the oil barrier or within the oil barrier.

3. The fiber optic cable of claim 2, further comprising:

and the fanout pipe is provided with a hollow structure and is connected with the oil blocking part, so that the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section extend out of the hollow structure.

4. The fiber optic cable of claim 3, further comprising: and a fixing pipe connected between the peeling end and the fan-out pipe and forming the oil blocking portion therein.

5. An optical fiber jumper structure, comprising:

the fiber optic cable of any one of claims 1-4; and

a connector connected with an end of the optical cable.

6. The optical fiber jumper structure of claim 5, further comprising:

and the heat shrink tube is wrapped at the joint of the end part of the optical cable and the connector.

7. A method for making a fiber optic cable, comprising:

stripping an end of a main cable and exposing optical fibers in the main cable while stripping to form a stripped end and an optical fiber extension extending from the stripped end; and

an oil blocking portion is attached to the stripped end portion to block the flow of grease in the stripped end portion along the fiber run.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein stripping the end of the trunk cable comprises:

the aramid fibers in the main cable are also exposed when the end of the main cable is stripped to form an aramid fiber extension extending from the stripped end.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein prior to attaching the oil dam to the stripped end, the method further comprises:

extending the optical fiber extension section and the aramid fiber extension section out of a fanout tube with a hollow structure; and

attaching an oil dam to the peel tip includes:

connecting the oil blocking portion between the peeling end portion and the fan-out tube; and

and injecting an oil blocking material into the fixed pipe to form the oil blocking part in the fixed pipe.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein prior to injecting the oil-blocking material into the stationary pipe, the method further comprises:

defoaming the oil-resistant material; and

and an oil filling port is arranged on the fixed pipe, so that the oil blocking material subjected to defoaming treatment is injected into the fixed pipe through the oil filling port.