RU2817585C2 - Synthetic rope or cable (embodiments) - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: electricity.

SUBSTANCE: high-strength cable with a non-steel reinforcing element is created, which is easily checked for heating and elongation, comprising a piece of core cable (10) containing at least two fibre-optic conductors (2), which (i) are arranged in a spiral and (ii) are completely enclosed in a solid flexible material. One of the fibre-optic conductors is configured to transmit Raman backscattering wavelengths, and the other fibre-optic conductor is configured to transmit Brillouin scattering wavelengths. Combination of a cable and a polling device, which can read and interpret the Raman backscatter, connected and communicated with the fibre-optic conductors capable of transmitting the Raman backscatter wavelengths, and another interrogating device, which can read and interpret Brillouin scattering, connected and interconnected with fibre-optic conductors capable of transmitting Brillouin scattering wavelengths.

EFFECT: method of determining cable elongation without using a fibre-optic conductor in a free tube configuration.

16 cl, 18 dwg

Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of cables and, in particular, to cables having a reinforcing element made from synthetic fibers belonging to a class known as superfibers. More specifically, the present invention relates to cables having a reinforcing element formed from synthetic superfiber, which are lighter than steel wire cables and designed to withstand tensile loads, capable of being wound on reels and winches and passed through pulleys and, additionally, capable of transmitting signals data and, if necessary, electricity.

State of the art

Cables having reinforcements formed from superfibers have the advantage over traditional steel wire cables in that superfiber reinforcements accumulate significantly less kinetic energy compared to steel wire cables and are therefore significantly less dangerous in the event of a sudden cliff. On the contrary, steel wire ropes act as springs that store energy, and when such a steel wire rope suddenly breaks, the ends will rebound with enormous stored energy, and can sometimes kill and maim crew members and others near the rope and damage equipment .

Therefore, it is important to replace steel wire cables with cables that use superfibers in their reinforcing elements.

Another advantage of cables that use superfibers for their reinforcing elements, compared to cables made of steel wire, is that cables with a reinforcing element made of superfibers do not rust and have less weight in both air and water, compared to cables made of steel wire. Less weight means less bulky and less expensive equipment and hardware can be used, and the absence of rust can increase service life and improve operational safety.

However, the main problem limiting the use of superfiber reinforcement cables instead of steel wire cables is that superfiber reinforcement cables are prone to catastrophic failure due to undetected permanent elongation in a particular area of the cable, since such cables those used for dynamic tasks must be protected by a shell and are therefore more difficult to verify. In addition, since they do not rust, it is difficult to determine their remaining service life. Unless it is possible to monitor the temperature inside the cable as well as the elongation (elongation is also known in the industry as “strain”) of the cable or superfiber reinforced cable, it is impossible to accurately predict the catastrophic failure of the superfiber reinforced cable. As stated above, such destruction can result in loss of life or limb, as well as equipment damage.

The above problems have limited the industry's acceptance of superfiber reinforced cables instead of steel cables. This is a problem because steel cables continue to kill and maim crew members when superfiber reinforced cables are not used.

Therefore, due to the safety and economic benefits of superfiber reinforced cables over steel cables, it is clear that there has long been a need in the industry for a cable that can continuously monitor its internal temperature and the elongation and/or creep of the cable.

Some proposed solutions to these problems have proposed forming cables with magnets located in a core located inside a synthetic reinforcing element. This concept involved using magnets to track both heating and elongation. The main problem with this concept is that testing can only be carried out on the part of the cable where the sensor equipment is located, and not on any length along the entire cable. Since it is not practical to always use remote controlled mobile devices that have sensor equipment to constantly monitor long runs of cables that may be thousands of meters long and may be underwater, or a crane cable may be constantly moving, such solutions have not found widespread use.

Those in the optical cable industry we have worked with know that in order to use optical cables to monitor elongation or deformation or heating of objects, at least two optical cables are needed, with the optical fibers embedded in and firmly in contact with the object, and where the other optical cable is in a "loose tube" configuration, meaning that the optical cable is loosely located in the tube and the tube is embedded in the object. The concept is that since the optical fiber freely located in the tube is not subject to any elongation and/or strain and/or stress, it can be accurately used to determine the elongation of the embedded fiber using methods well known in the industry, including Brillouin scattering (Brillouin scattering) readings, where such readings are compared between an optical fiber in a "loose tube" and an optical fiber attached to an object, such as a concrete structure, to determine the elongation of the attached optical fiber and thus the structure to which the fiber is attached attached. The knowledge and trend in the industry is to keep the optical fibers as straight as possible when monitoring elongation. Attempts have been made to monitor the elongation of cables with synthetic amplification elements using optical fibers located inside the cable, but all such attempts have failed. (A "loose tube" configuration for the purposes of the present invention includes any structure in which the fiber optic conductor is free to slide relative to surrounding objects, such as other components of the structure that do not form the fiber optic conductor, such as a buffer layer enclosing the optical fiber or any insulation, formed integrally with the fiber optic conductor; further, the "loose tube" configuration includes any structure where the fiber optic conductor, including a buffer and/or insulation, formed integrally with the fiber optic conductor, can slide relative to immediately surrounding objects, such as, in the case of a cable or cable, cable or cable core fiber or strand, or even other fiber optic conductors within the cable or cable).

The same applicant's previous patent publication WO 2009/142766 A2 as the present application proposes a non-steel tension-resistant data and power signal cable capable of withstanding very high loads. Unfortunately, although this invention has received some recognition, especially with regard to the conductors formed from the metal thread in the sonar cables included in the title of this invention, attempts to incorporate optical fiber/fiber optic conductors have failed because the fiber optic conductors broke the first time the cable was attempted.

In an attempt to further improve the endurance of any optical fibers included in cables according to the above publication, several years after this publication of ours we proposed other solutions described in our subsequent international publication WO 2017/149553 A1. Although these solutions markedly improved the signal resolution of the metal conductors used in the sonar cables described therein, attempts to use optical fiber/fiber optic conductors in such sonar cables also failed because the conductors were also found to break the first time the cable was used.

It is therefore clear that the long-standing need for a cable whose main purpose is to withstand high tensile loads and which allows its elongation to be remotely and automatically checked over the entire length of the cable and in any specific zone and/or section along the entire length of the cable continues to be unsatisfied.

Objectives of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a synthetic reinforcement cable design that is lighter in weight than steel wire cable and capable of withstanding typical crushing forces on reels, winches, pulleys, etc., where the cable allows for real-time monitoring and temperature inside the cable, and elongation along the entire length of the cable, as well as in any specific zone and/or length along the entire length of the cable.

Another object of the invention is to provide a synthetic reinforcement cable design that is lighter in weight than steel wire cable and is capable of withstanding typical crushing forces on reels, winches, pulleys, etc., where the cable allows for real-time monitoring and temperature within the cable, and elongation along the entire length of the cable, as well as in any specific area and/or length along the entire length of the cable where the cable contains optical fibers protected from the destructive forces encountered on reels, winches and pulleys, and synthetic reinforcing elements and, if necessary, power conductors such as coaxial cable located inside the cable core.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of producing a synthetic reinforcement cable that is lighter than steel wire cable and is capable of withstanding typical crushing forces on reels, winches, pulleys, etc., where the cable allows for real-time monitoring and the temperature inside the cable, and the elongation of the cable, as well as the load on the cable, the cable containing optical fibers and, if necessary, power conductors, such as coaxial cable, located within the cable core.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining both the temperature inside a cable and any elongation and/or deformation occurring in a synthetic reinforcement cable, as well as the load on the cable, where the cable contains optical fibers protected from the destructive forces occurring on the drums , winches and pulleys, and optionally the cable contains power conductors, such as coaxial cable, located inside the cable core.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a data cable with a synthetic fiber reinforcement capable of being spooled onto a winch under tension and hydraulic shocks applied to a fishing trawler and remaining intact for a commercially reasonable period of at least 24 calendar months. from the date of first use and, more specifically, which has a higher signal resolution and/or quality of the signal transmitted over the optical fibers contained in such data cable, compared to the previous non-steel data cables of the same applicant described in WO 2009 /142677 A2 and WO 2017/149553 A1, and, in particular, transmitting signals with sufficiently high quality and resolution, which allows the use of equipment capable of distinguishing different breeds of fish, juvenile fish and small fish.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a data transmission cable with a synthetic fiber reinforcement, capable of being wound onto a winch and remaining undamaged by elongation and water hammer, such as those affecting, for example, fishing trawlers and seismic survey vessels, in particular those having a displacement of more than 100 tons and even more than 3000 tons.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a data transmission cable with a synthetic fiber reinforcement capable of being wound onto a winch under a tension in excess of 100 kg and remaining intact for a commercially reasonable period of 24 calendar months from the date of first use on trawlers or ships. seismic surveys with a displacement of more than 20 tons.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a non-steel data cable that does not twist when released.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a cable capable of being wound around a winch under tension, having a reinforcing element formed preferably from synthetic fibers and being lighter and less prone to rebound than a cable made of steel wire, having high signal resolution and/or quality of the transmitted signal over an optical fiber embedded in the cable, capable of being wound onto winches and reels, and also, if necessary, containing power conductors such as coaxial cable located inside the cable core.

Brief description of the invention

The present invention is based on the surprising and unexpected discovery that by completely enclosing two separate fiber optic conductors, one of which is configured to transmit at least Brillouin scattering wavelengths; and the other is configured to transmit Raman (or Romanov) backscattering wavelengths; wherein each of the two individual fiber optic conductors is itself formed into a helix, thereby forming a double helix of optical fiber, and the double helix is completely enclosed in a sheath of hard flexible material, wherein the fiber optic conductors do not contact each other so as to form the core of the cable, formed by the combination of (i) two fiber optic conductors, where each of these fiber optic conductors defines a helix (and, preferably, together they define a double helix), and (ii) a solid flexible material within which the fiber optic conductors are completely enclosed, arranged in a helical manner (and, preferably, collectively defining a double helix), wherein the same rigid flexible material in which the fiber optic conductors are completely enclosed also serves to support the inner diameter of the helical shape formed by each fiber optic conductor (preferably, the same rigid flexible material forms the core around which each fiber optic helical conductor extends conductor, such rod preferably having an oval cross-section when viewed in a plane perpendicular to the long axis of the rod, but also having an oval or elliptical shape), and using the cable core as a supporting core for a (preferably hollow braided) reinforcing element formed from a polymer material and preferably formed from superfibers which are formed in a hollow braid around the cable core, and preferably where the cable core maintains the natural shape of the internal cavity of the reinforcing element when elongated, which, for example, is an elongation similar to or coincident with the operating load of the cable Surprisingly, and contrary to the knowledge of those in the industry, both temperature and cable elongation can be easily determined and monitored, and surprisingly, the resolution of information and/or data signals transmitted over one or both optical fibers is of significantly higher quality than known cable structures designed primarily for low tensile loads, as well as for transmitting data signals. In addition, by comparing the temperature monitors obtained by interrogating wavelengths transmitted by the Raman backscattering fiber and by interrogating wavelengths read by the interrogator, which are wavelengths transmitted by the Brillouin scattering fiber, one can determine the heat and elongation of optical fibers and/or predetermined sections of optical fibers. Once the elongation of an optical fiber is determined, taking into account the helical structure of the optical fiber, including the pitch of the helical structure and the inner diameter of the helical structure, the elongation of the cable containing such helical structure can be determined, which makes it possible to determine whether the elongation of the cable under a particular load is within acceptable limits, wherein the load is determined using load cells connected to the winch, drum or other equipment in which the cable is used, and if the cable elongation exceeds acceptable limits, the cable is removed from service before catastrophic failure.

Moreover, the present invention is based on the not surprising and unexpected discovery that by suspending at least two separate fiber optic conductors within a solid flexible material, wherein at least one of the fiber optic conductors is capable of transmitting Brillouin scattering wavelengths and at least the other of the fiber optic conductors is capable of transmitting Raman backscatter wavelengths, and wherein each of the at least two individual fiber optic conductors is formed into a helix, thereby forming at least a double helix of optical fibers, wherein the helix, which is at least a double helix, is completely enclosed in a solid flexible material such that, to form a cable core formed by the combination of (i) a minimum of two fiber optic conductors, with each fiber optic conductor forming a helix, and (ii) a solid flexible material in which the fiber optic conductors are suspended (and completely enclosed), each of which is coiled, and using cable core as a supporting core for a (preferably hollow braided) reinforcing element formed from a polymeric material and preferably formed from superfibers which are formed into a hollow braid structure around the cable core and, preferably, where the cable core maintains the natural shape of the internal cavity of the reinforcing element when elongated, which, for example, is an extension similar to or coinciding with the operating load of the cable, then the temperature and extension of the cable can be easily determined and monitored and, surprisingly, the resolution of the information signals and/or data signals transmitted on one or both of the optical fibers has significantly higher quality than known cable designs designed primarily for high tensile loads, as well as for the transmission of data signals.

The present invention is further based on the surprising and unexpected discovery that a process for producing a high strength data cable which comprises the novel step of providing an additional fixation between a core containing a thermoplastic material and a fiber optic conductor(s) spiraled around the core, where such additional fixation is additional to any fixation resulting from the fact that the fiber optic conductor(s) are connected to the core by spiraling around the core, and by providing additional fixation prior to placing thermoplastic material around the combination of the fiber optic conductor(s) and the core around which the conductor is helically wound, to embed the fiber optic conductor(s) into the thermoplastic material, and/or between the core and the thermoplastic material; and by subsequently forming at least a layer of a reinforcing element shell of polymeric material around the embedded fiber optic conductor(s) spiraling around the core, a high strength data cable having very high signal quality can be obtained, satisfying a long-standing industry need.

Preferably, the core around which the fiber optic conductors are helically wound is formed from a thermoplastic material and at least the outer layer thereof is formed from a thermoplastic material, while it is also preferable that the thermoplastic material disposed around the combination of the core and the fiber optic conductors helically wound about the core is a thermoplastic material that forms a very strong bond with the thermoplastic core material and at least with the thermoplastic material forming the outer layer of the core, for example, forming a core layer with which the helically wound fiber optic conductors are in contact. Ideally and preferably, the bond formed is an inseparable bond. For example, the bond is ideally so strong that the thermoplastic material located around the combination of the core and the solid phase fiber optic conductors coiled thereon cannot be separated from the thermoplastic core material.

Even more preferably, the thermoplastic material located around the combination of the core and the fiber optic conductors helically wound around the core is a thermoplastic material that forms a very strong bond and, preferably, an inseparable bond, and with (i) the thermoplastic material forming the core and at least and especially with a thermoplastic material forming the outer layer of the core, and with (ii) fiber optic conductors and/or the outer layer and/or the outer surface of the fiber optic conductors, for example, a buffer material of insulating material or other material forming the outer layer and/or outer layer fiber optic conductors.

Thus, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a high strength data cable having a strength member and a core. This high strength data cable comprises a cable core section comprising a core and at least one fiber optic conductor having a helical shape and completely encased in a rigid flexible material. Thus, essentially the at least one fiber optic conductor is arranged helically around the core.

In one embodiment, the high-strength data cable is encased in a hard flexible material and sandwiched and/or inserted between: (a) a layer of hard flexible material comprising at least the surface of the core and, in some embodiments, the entire core from its center to the surface, and (b) a layer of hard flexible material comprising a layer that is located outside the surface of the core.

The layer of hard flexible material comprising at least the surface of the core and the layer of hard flexible material comprising the layer located outside the surface of the core have an identical composition and are permanently associated with each other, which means that in some embodiments the layer containing at least the surface the core and the layer located outside the surface of the core are made of essentially or exactly the same material.

In one embodiment of a high strength data cable: (i) a layer of hard flexible material comprising at least a core surface; (ii) a layer of hard flexible material comprising a layer located outside the surface of the core; and (iii) the outermost layer containing the fiber optic conductor are permanently connected to each other. In some embodiments, all three of these layers have identical composition and are permanently bonded to each other, which means that in some embodiments they are made of the same material or identical materials. In embodiments containing these three layers, they are all preferably permanently connected to each other.

The hard flexible layer located outside the core (i.e., surrounding the fiber optic cable) has a thickness measured from the outermost edge of the fiber optic conductor to the outer surface of this layer, and which is preferably at least four times the diameter of the optical tube (22, 22A) of the fiber optic conductor and is preferably in the range of four to two hundred optical tube diameters of the fiber optic conductor.

In a presently preferred embodiment of the invention, the high strength data cable comprises a floating screen, wherein the combination of the floating screen and the outer surface of the rigid flexible layer 3 surrounding the core and optical fibers is conformal to the wall of the inner cavity of the surrounding cable reinforcement element, and the reinforcement element is preferably a hollow braided reinforcement element. element. In some embodiments of a high strength data cable, the interface between the rigid flexible layer 3 surrounding the core and the surface of the core has a shape that is not conformal to the wall of the internal cavity of the reinforcing element. In some such embodiments, the interface between the hard flexible layer 3 surrounding the core and the surface of the core has a shape that does not have a raised portion when viewed from inside the core (eg, outward from the core).

In some embodiments, the high strength data cable comprises a plurality of fiber optic conductors, each of which is preferably completely embedded in a hard flexible material forming a core surface (or the entire core) and a hard flexible material forming a layer 3. Preferably, the outer surface of the fiber optic conductors is not in contact directly with the surface of other fiber optic conductors at any point along the length of the cable core.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for making a high strength data cable, comprising the steps of:

(i) helically winding at least one fiber optic conductor around a core containing a thermoplastic material that forms at least a surface of the core;

(ii) further, placing additional thermoplastic material around the combination of the core and at least one fiber optic conductor helically wound on the core so as to completely cover the fiber optic conductor with the thermoplastic material;

(iii) further allowing the thermoplastic material to unscrew, thereby forming a cable core (10);

(lv) then a floating screen is formed around the cable core;

(v) further, forming a braided reinforcing element containing a synthetic material located around the cable core and braided with a floating screen; then subjecting the resulting cable to tension and heat sufficient to permit permanent deformation of the thermoplastic material forming the layer without compromising the structural integrity of layer 3, while allowing the resulting cable and the reinforcing element containing the resulting cable to elongate and tighten;

(vi) further, determining that the required degree of elongation and compaction of the resulting cable and the strengthening element of the resulting cable is achieved, and then cooling the resulting cable to a temperature at which the thermoplastic material forming layer 3 cannot be plastically deformed without destroying the structural integrity of layer 3, thereby obtaining permanent elongation and compaction of the reinforcing element as well as the resulting cable and causing layer 3 in combination with the floating screen to be conformal with the wall of the internal cavity of the reinforcing element. The method for manufacturing a high-strength data cable is characterized in that it contains the following steps:

a. creating a core, preferably a core of thermoplastic material and preferably having an outer surface layer formed from a thermoplastic material and optionally containing any conductors and/or other elements within the core;

b. placing at least one or more fiber optic conductor in the form of a spiral wound on the outer surface of the core;

c. if necessary, but most preferably, the fiber optic conductors, which form a spiral around the core, are additionally fixed to the core;

d. applying additional thermoplastic material around the combination of the core and fiber optic conductors spirally wound on the core to enclose the fiber optic conductors between the core and the thermoplastic material;

e. forming a floating shield around a combination of the core, fiber optic conductors spirally wound on the core, and a thermoplastic material disposed around the combination of the core and fiber optic conductors spirally wound on the core;

f. forming a preferably braided layer of a reinforcing element shell of polymeric material around the floating screen and the elements contained within it;

g. a curable elastic adhesive, such as a multicomponent polyurethane mixture, is placed in a fluid state around the shell layer of the reinforcing element; And

h. forming a protective coating around the shell of the reinforcing member and the elastic adhesive substance, thereby forming an improved high strength lightweight fracture resistant fiber cable with high data resolution and power transmission capability of the present invention.

Most preferably, the thermoplastic core material and the additional thermoplastic material are selected to form a bond between (a) the solid phase of the additional thermoplastic material, and (b) the solid phase of the thermoplastic material forming the core and/or at least forming the outer layer of the core so strong so that the two thermoplastic materials cannot be separated. That is, they cannot be cleanly broken off from one another, but any attempt to do so will result in an uneven fracture that will not result in a structure having solely the additional thermoplastic material and/or solely a core without some of the additional thermoplastic material. Even more preferably, the additional thermoplastic material and the core thermoplastic material are the same thermoplastic material.

Even more preferably, the additional thermoplastic material forms a strong bond with the material forming the outer layer of the fiber optic conductors. Even more preferably, both the thermoplastic material forming the core and/or forming at least the surface of the core and the additional thermoplastic material form a strong bond with the material forming the outer layer of the fiber optic conductors.

Further, in contrast to the prior art, and against the trend in the field of production of fracture-resistant fiber cables capable of transmitting data and electricity, with synthetic polymer reinforcing elements, i.e. from cables previously offered by the same applicants, and before performing step "g", in which a curable elastic adhesive, such as a multi-component polyurethane mixture, is placed in a fluid state around the sheath layer of the reinforcing element; and step “h”, in which a protective coating is formed around the shell of the reinforcing element and the elastic adhesive substance, the cable of the present invention obtained by the above-described steps “a”-“f” and without a protective coating around the protective shell layer and the adhesive layer adhering such the shell with a reinforcing element can be stretched in a cold state. For example, it can be stretched at a temperature low enough to avoid melting the thermoplastic material. An elongation of 15 to 80 percent of the maximum tensile strength of the reinforcement shell layer is considered beneficial. Further, the cable can now be equipped with a protective sheath, for example a braid, glued to the protective sheath of the reinforcing element with elastic adhesive. Or, alternatively and if necessary, also before steps "g", in which a curable elastic adhesive, such as a multi-component polyurethane mixture, is placed in a fluid state around the shell layer of the reinforcing element; and step "h", in which a protective coating is formed around the shell of the reinforcing element and the elastic adhesive substance, subsequent steps include hot deep extension of the cable formed in steps "a" - "f", and in the absence of a protective coating around the shell layer of the reinforcing element and of the adhesive layer that glues such a coating to the shell layer of the reinforcing element, the following operations are performed:

(i) applying the first extension to the reinforcement shell layer and thus to all elements within the reinforcement shell layer (the reinforcement shell layer and all elements within it are also known as "cable in production");

(ii) heating the cable in production according to the present invention, the heat of heating being selected to cause the thermoplastic material located within the cable in production according to the present invention to become molten, ie, semi-liquid. If necessary, and as has been experimentally determined, contrary to the prior art and against current industry trends, the heating temperature can be selected and applied so that only a portion of the core reaches the molten state, especially so that the portion of the core that is most located reaches the molten state. close to the outer part of the cable in production, and the part of the core located closer to the longitudinal central axis could not go into the melt phase. This can be achieved by controlling both the temperature and duration of heating, for example by passing the cable in production through a furnace into which thermal energy is supplied, adjusting the heat, the means of supplying heat, for example, thermal radiation with or without the injection of air or heated steam, and also the speed of movement of the cable through the furnace and the length of the furnace, until a technology and/or formula for a specific diameter and design of the cable in production is experimentally obtained, which allows only those parts of the thermoplastic in the cable that are closer to the outer part of the cable to be melted, while at the same time without melting or preventing the transition to the melt phase of those parts of the thermoplastic that are located closer to the central longitudinal axis of the cable. Thus, for example, during cable processing, the core 1 can remain solid, but the additional thermoplastic layer 3 can enter the melt phase.

(iii) stretching the reinforcement sheath layer of the cable in production so as to elongate the hollow braided reinforcement sheath layer and the structures within the hollow braided reinforcement sheath layer (such as helical optical fibers) by a predetermined amount, i.e., not an amount, which does not lead to rupture of the fiber optic conductors and which also removes the structural elongation from the sheath layer of the reinforcing element, at the same time reducing its diameter and the diameter of the cable in production.

(iv) determining whether a desired amount of elongation, preferably a predetermined amount of elongation, has been achieved in at least the shell layer of the reinforcing element.

{v) cooling the sheath layer of the reinforcing element and the elements contained therein, preferably maintaining the elongation of the sheath layer of the reinforcing element and thereby also maintaining the elongation of the elements contained therein, i.e., inside the cable in production, until until the thermoplastic material contained in the shell layer of the reinforcing element passes into the solid phase and the combination of elements contained within the shell layer of the reinforcing element takes a form that matches and adapts to the natural shape of the walls formed by the internal cavity. a hollow braided reinforcing element, and preferably, but optionally, such that the resulting optical conductors within the cooled cable in production are shortened or reduced in length by approximately 0.5% or less, but this amount may be greater;

(vi) applying any other articles or substances to the outer surface of the reinforcement shell layer, such as flowable polyurethane or other resilient adhesives; then

(vii) while the resilient adhesive is still in a fluid state (if such a material has been selected for use), forming a protective coating around the reinforcing member shell layer, and the resilient adhesive layer and/or other articles located outside the reinforcing member shell layer, thereby thereby forming an improved high resolution data transmission cable with synthetic fiber reinforcement element of the present invention.

Thus, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a synthetic rope or cable having a support core contained in an internal cavity of a hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element, the supporting core having a shape adapted to the internal cavity of the hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element, wherein the support core is enclosed in a shell within a floating screen, wherein a hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element is formed around a combination of a support core and a floating screen enclosing said core, wherein the floating screen is made of interwoven braid strands and is a hollow braided structure, and the hollow synthetic reinforcing element is made of interwoven braid strands, each braid strand forming a braided floating screen being formed from at least two fibers.

Preferably, each of the at least two fibers has a twisted structure.

Preferably, each of the at least two fibers has a flattened shape.

Preferably, all fibers forming said core formed from at least two fibers have the same laying direction.

Preferably, the cores forming the hollow braided floating screen comprise a braid angle, the cores forming the hollow braided reinforcing element comprise a braid angle, and the cores forming the floating screen comprise a braid angle that is different from the braid angle formed by the cores forming the reinforcement element.

Preferably, the braid angle of the cores forming the floating screen is further significant compared to the braid angle of the cores forming the reinforcing element.

Preferably, the braid angle of the cores forming the floating screen is less than sixty-five degrees.

Preferably, the braid angle of the cores forming the floating screen is in the range of sixty degrees to ten degrees.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a synthetic rope or cable having a support core having a shape adapted to the internal cavity of a hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element, wherein the support core is encased within a floating screen, wherein the braided synthetic reinforcing element is formed around a combination of the floating screen and a supporting core that is encased within a floating screen, wherein the floating screen is made of interwoven braid strands and is a hollow braided structure, and the hollow synthetic reinforcing element is made of interwoven braid strands, characterized in that the braid strands forming the floating screen have an angle braid, which differs from the braid angle of the braid strands that form the synthetic reinforcing element.

Preferably, the braid angle of the cores forming the floating screen is additionally large compared to the braid angle of the cores forming the reinforcing element.

Preferably, the braid angle of the cores forming the floating screen is less than sixty-five degrees.

Preferably, the braid angle of the cores forming the floating screen is in the range of sixty degrees to ten degrees.

Preferably, the braided strands forming the braided floating screen comprise a strand formed from at least two fibers.

Preferably, each of the at least two fibers has a twisted structure.

Preferably, each of the at least two fibers has a flattened shape.

Preferably, all fibers forming said core formed from at least two fibers have the same laying direction.

Thus formed, the high strength data cable of the present invention provides significantly higher quality and/or resolution of the data signal compared to known high strength data cables, which allows the use of equipment currently in development to identify the breed of fish, distinguish the size of fish, which cannot be used, for example, with known data cables, which allows fishing gear to be diverted away from non-target fish and away from young and undersized fish, thereby improving the health of fisheries resources and marine mammals and seabirds, as well as the fishing communities that depend on them, and achieving purposes of the present invention.

With the described advantages, the proposed non-steel high-strength data cable meets a long-standing need in the industry.

These and other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of drawings

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a high strength data cable in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2, 3 and 4 show manufacturing steps for forming the core 10 of a high-strength data cable according to the present invention;

Fig. 3A is a sectional view taken along line 3A of FIG. 3;

Fig. 4A is a sectional view taken along line 4A of FIG. 4;

Fig. 5 is a side view of the core 10 of FIG. 4 high strength data cables from fig. 1, wherein the helical fiber optic conductors 2 and the first reinforcing element 8 are completely enclosed in the thermoplastic material 1, 3 and therefore also completely enclosed in the core 10, as shown by the dotted lines indicating hidden objects;

Fig. 6 - section along line 6 from FIG. 1;

Fig. 7 is a side view illustrating the profile of the core 10 after completion of the heating and elongation steps of the high-strength data cable (these steps are performed before applying the outer coating 7 and the adhesive layer 6); wherein the reinforcing member shell layer 5 and the sealing shell 4 are not shown in the drawing to illustrate the core 10, and wherein parts of the fiber optic conductors 2 enclosed in the core 10 are shown in dashed lines;

Fig. 8 is a cross-section of the high-strength data cable of FIG. 1, along line 6 from FIG. 1, illustrating the different layers of high strength data cable 20, wherein the assembled high strength data cable has been heated and stretched before applying the adhesive layer 6 and the final outer coating 7;

Fig. 9 and 9A are perspective views, respectively, of an alternative high strength data cable of the present invention, showing its various layers, with coaxial cable included in core 1 and core cable 10;

FIG. 10 is a cross-section of the alternative high strength data cable of FIG. 9 and fig. 9A, along line 10 from FIG. 9 and 9A, illustrating the various layers of the finished assembled high-strength data cable 20, wherein the assembled finished high-strength data cable was subjected to heating and elongation before applying the adhesive layer 7 and the final outer coating 7;

Fig. 11 is a side view of a high-strength data cable according to the present invention, illustrating its different layers, with a section of each fiber optic conductor 2 being torn from the cable core 10, causing layer 3 and layer 1 to break, with the material of layer 1 and layer 3 bonded to an outer buffer/isolating layer of fiber optic conductors with an adhesive force sufficient to cause at least a portion of the material of layer 1 to become detached from the remainder of the material of layer 1 and remain attached to the buffer/isolating layer of fiber optic conductor 2 during and after tearing away a portion of the fiber optic conductor 2 from layer 3 and thereby from the cable core 10, thereby forming grooves in the cable core 10, which were occupied by the combination of the fiber optic conductor 2 and part of the material forming layer 1 and layer 3);

Fig. 12 is a cross-sectional view of one type of fiber optic conductor 2 used as an example in a high strength data cable according to the present invention, as viewed in a plane perpendicular to the long axis of the fiber optic conductor 2 and showing the various layers and features constituting the fiber optic conductor 2: core 41, cladding 43 and a buffer 45 (buffer 45 is also known as a “buffer layer” and/or as a “cover,” “cladding,” or “insulation”). For purposes of the present invention, the combination of core 41 and cladding 43 contained in any fiber optic conductor used to form any embodiment of the high strength data cable of the present invention forms an assembly known as an "optical tube" shown in FIG. 12 at 22. For the purposes of the present invention, the greatest width of any optical tube used in the fiber optic conductor used in forming the high strength data cable of the present invention is herein defined as the diameter of the optical tube and is determined by measuring the distance along an imaginary straight line intersecting the cross-section of the optical tube at its widest width, as shown in Fig. 12 imaginary line 33;

Fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view of another type of fiber optic conductor used as an example in the high strength data cable of the present invention, viewed in a plane perpendicular to the long axis of the fiber optic conductor, showing various layers and features of the fiber optic conductor. The fiber optic conductor shown in FIG. 13 contains the same layers and features as the fiber optic conductor of FIG. 12, including: core 41A, cladding 43A, and buffer 45 (buffer 45 is also known as a “buffer layer” and/or as a “cladding,” “cladding,” or “insulation”), except that the fiber optic conductor of FIG. 13 further includes an additional shell layer 47, which is also known as an “outer shell” and/or an “outer shell layer,” hence layer 43A is also known as an “inner shell” and/or an “inner shell layer.” For the purposes of the present invention, the "optical tube" of the fiber optic conductor of FIG. 13 and any fiber optic conductor used to form the high strength data cable of the present invention is also formed by a core and cladding combination (which in the case of the fiber optic conductor of FIG. 13 includes outer and inner cladding 43A and 47) as shown at 22A. For purposes of the present invention, the greatest width of any optical tube used in the fiber optic conductor used in forming the high strength data cable of the present invention is herein defined as the diameter of the optical tube and is determined by measuring the distance along an imaginary straight line intersecting the cross-section of the optical tube at its greatest width, as shown in fig. 13 imaginary line 33A.

Fig. 14 is a cross-sectional view of an alternative core cable according to the present invention in a plane perpendicular to the long axis of the alternative core cable.

Detailed Description of the Invention

In fig. 1 shows a high-strength data cable 20 according to the present invention, comprising: a core 1 containing a thermoplastic material connected to a first reinforcing element 8 (see also FIG. 2); at least one and preferably more fiber optic conductors 2 helically wound on the core 1 (see also FIG. 3), which can be any type of fiber optic conductor, although a single-mode fiber optic conductor has been found surprisingly preferred; an additional thermoplastic layer 3 surrounds spirally wound fiber optic conductors located between the layer 3 and the outer surface of the core 1 (see also FIG. 4); floating screen 4; layer 5 of the shell of the reinforcing element, elastic adhesive layer 6 and protective outer coating 7.

The core 1 is preferably formed from a thermoplastic material. However, the core 1 may contain metal and/or other conductors (not shown in FIG. 1) and/or other elements (not shown in FIG. 1) located within the core, such as coaxial power and/or data cable (see elements designated 21, 22 and 23 in Fig. 9, 9A, 10 and 11, which show the inner core 1 of the coaxial cable); and/or a braided copper filament conductor and/or an electromagnetic shield, as shown in the earlier publications of the same applicant mentioned above. Any portion of the core 1 not occupied by items necessary for the production and/or operation of the high strength data cable is preferably formed from a thermoplastic material. Regardless of the design of the core 1, the outer surface layer of the core 1 is formed from a thermoplastic material and has a thickness ranging from about 0.5 mm to about 4 mm, preferably from about 1.5 mm to about 4 mm, before any elongation steps.

Preferably, for all embodiments of the high strength data cable of the present invention: the core 1 has a circular cross-section (although, less preferably, it may have an oval, quasi-oval, quasi-circular or elliptical cross-section); and when the core 1 has a circular cross-section, its diameter is preferably 32 to 264 times, and preferably 40 to 64 times, the diameter of the optical tube of the fiber optic conductor used in forming the high strength data cable of the present invention. Surprisingly, such embodiments have proven to provide higher resolution of transmitted data, contrary to prior art and industry trends, as exemplified in our prior published patent applications. When the core 1 has a non-perfectly circular cross-section, the diameter of the core 1, measured as the diameter at its greatest width, is preferably within the specified ranges.

In a particularly preferred embodiment of the high strength data cable of the present invention, the core 1 is preferably directly connected to the first reinforcing element 8. This can be achieved by forming the core 1 around the first reinforcing element 8, for example by extruding a thermoplastic rod around the first reinforcing element 8 (see 2) or alternatively, extruding a thermoplastic rod to form a core 1, followed by braiding a hollow braid around the thermoplastic rod with a hollow braided multi-strand first reinforcing element 8, as can be done on a known braiding machine. It is currently preferred that the core 1 is formed around the first reinforcing element 8, as shown in FIG. 1 and 2, and that the first reinforcing element 8 is not in contact with the surface of the core 1. It is currently preferred to use a reinforcing element capable of maintaining its integrity at temperatures up to 120°C, preferably up to 200°C, and especially at temperatures up to 270°C , for example, from aramid threads or twisted polyester threads. At present, it is preferable not to form the reinforcing element from a thermoplastic material.

However, and alternatively, with reference to FIGS. 9-11, which show an alternative embodiment of the high-strength data cable of FIG. 1, where the coaxial cable assembly shown at 21, 22 and 23 is included in the core 1, when it is desired to incorporate a metal conductor into the core 1, the first reinforcing element 8 may be located within the braided metal conductor 21, and the combination of the braided metal conductor 21 and the first reinforcing element 8 can be directly connected to the core 1, preferably by extruding a thermoplastic layer 22 around the combination of the braided metal conductor 21 and the first reinforcing element 8 so as to form a rod defining the core 1. Next, the electromagnetic shield 23 can be formed around the outer surface of the thermoplastic layer 22, for example, by laying layers of copper threads in two opposite directions, and the electromagnetic shield 23 can serve as a conductor and/or conductive circuit, and then a thermoplastic layer can be formed around the electromagnetic shield to form the outer surface of the core 1.

The fiber optic conductors used to form any high strength data cable of the present invention preferably have a buffer layer located on the outside of the sheath, where such buffer layer is of sufficient thickness and formed from a sufficiently abrasion resistant material that can withstand the abrasion encountered during the manufacturing process, without departing in any position from the outer surface of the shell, and which withstands temperatures up to 200°C, more preferably 250°C and even more preferably 270°C. In addition, if such a buffer layer consists of a material that is a mixture of materials, in which one material of the mixture is the same thermoplastic material used to form layers 1 and/or 3, with polyethylene or nylon being preferred, it is currently preferred combination of silicone with thermoplastic material. An example of such a buffer layer is indicated at 45 in FIG. 12 and 13.

In fig. 5, position 19 shows the pitch of the helix of fiber optic conductors wound around the core 1. The fiber optic conductors are preferably wound around the core 1 with a pitch that is 160-480 times, preferably 336-480 times larger than the diameter of the optical tube for at least one and preferably for all fiber optic conductors formed into a high strength data cable.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, in any embodiment of the high strength data cable of the present invention, the additional thermoplastic layer 13 is preferably formed to completely cover the outer surfaces 15 of the fiber optic conductors 2 and the thermoplastic material layer 13 has a thickness selected so that when the high strength data cable is finally manufactured, the fiber optic conductors remained embedded in the thermoplastic even after the cable-core combination 10 enclosed in the sealing sheath 4 was optionally, but preferably, deformed by heat elongation as described herein to conform to and support the internal cavity of the reinforcing element 5 ( Fig. 8).

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, in any embodiment of the high strength data cable of the present invention, located around a core and fiber optic conductors helically wound on the core, the layer 3 of additional thermoplastic material has a thickness measured from the outer edge 15 of the fiber optic conductor to the surface 17 of layer 3 of the cable core 10. which is at least four times, and can be in the range of 4-66 times, the diameter of the optical tube of this fiber optic conductor. In other words, for any high-strength data cable of the present invention, preferably, the thickness of that portion of the additional thermoplastic layer 3 which is located outside the outer edge 15 of the buffer layer 45 of the fiber optic conductor forming the high-strength data cable has a thickness in the range of 4-66 diameters. optical tube of this fiber optic conductor.

The sealing shell 4 may be any layer that stops and/or substantially stops the flow of molten (ie, "semi-liquid") phases of the thermoplastic material through the shell. Although there are various possible methods for producing such a sealing sheath, preferably such a sealing sheath is formed by weaving a sheath of fibers and/or filaments having a softening point and/or a melting point higher than that of the thermoplastic material from which the core cable 10 is made, containing a core 1 and an outer thermoplastic layer 1. The currently preferred seal sheath is formed by weaving a hollow braided sheath of polyester fibers or filaments around the cable core so that the molten phases of the thermoplastic material contained within the seal sheath, in this case the thermoplastic material, from which the cable core 10 is made of, were not passed or almost not passed through the sealing sheath. Those skilled in the cable and wire industry are aware that when forming a protective braided sheath and/or covering intended to serve as a barrier, the braid angle of the threads forming the protective sheath is 65 degrees or more, and especially in the range of 65 to 85 degrees, and that the greater the braid angle, the more impervious the formed braided braid and/or coating becomes.

However, it has surprisingly been discovered that increased durability of the finished data cable of the present invention is provided by forming a braided seal jacket where the angle of the threads and/or fibers forming the seal jacket is less than 65 degrees and, more preferably, 60-10 degrees. However, while not currently preferred, the braid angle of the seal sheath may be greater than 60 degrees, but is not currently preferred (it should be understood that the "braid angle" of the braided sheath and/or braided reinforcement is the angle between ( i) one strand of braid coming off the spool of the braiding machine, and (ii) the longitudinal axis of the finished braided structure. For example, as shown in FIG. 9A, the braid angle of the hollow braided reinforcement element 5 is the angle between (i) an imaginary straight line 71, which coaxial with the long dimension of the braided threads 73 forming the reinforcing element 5, and with an imaginary straight line 75 coaxial with the finished formed braided reinforcing element 5).

Moreover, it has surprisingly been discovered that when the seal jacket is formed from fibers or strands, the service life of the data cable of the present invention is increased when each core forming the braided seal jacket is a strand formed from at least two fibers and each fiber has twisted structure, and when the degree of twist is such that the fiber is easily compressed into a flattened state (i.e., its width is greater than its height and/or convexity) when braid strands formed from at least two fibers are pressed against layer 3 of the cable core 10 during the formation of the braided seal jacket around the layer 3. Tapered or tape or film strands and/or fibers can be used to form each braided strand to form the seal jacket 4, provided the above angular range is maintained. Surprisingly, and in contrast to the prior art, it has been found that the durability of the seal sheath and hence the cable itself is increased when the braid angle of the braided seal sheath does not coincide with the braid angle of the reinforcing element 5, and when the braid angle of the seal sheath exceeds the braid angle of the reinforcing element 5. However, less preferably, the two braid angles may be the same, or the seal jacket braid angle may be smaller, but this is not currently preferred.

When it is desired to implement an additional but not preferred embodiment of the high strength data cable of the present invention, forming this high strength data cable by omitting the steps of heating the cable until the thermoplastic material in the core 1 and/or layer 3 reaches the melt phase, which is contrary to the prior art and trends in the industry, the sealing shell may not be formed and thus the sealing shell is not required in such embodiments, which also differs from the prior art and industry trends.

The reinforcing member shell layer 5 is preferably formed from superfibers such as high modulus polyethylene, and when thermal elongation of a high strength data cable at the phase transition temperature of a thermoplastic material is selected, it is preferably formed by a 24-core braiding machine so as to produce a 24-core braided layer 5 of the reinforcing element shell, especially, for example, a braid of a "2x24" design, even more preferably a braid of a "3x24" design. The 24-strand hollow structure for the reinforcing member is not in accordance with the prior art and industry trends where 12-strand braiding machines are used to produce a 12-strand braided layer 5 of the reinforcing member shell. If a decision is made to heat and elongate the high-strength data cable of the present invention, this step is carried out before applying the elastic adhesive layer 6 and the outer covering 7, and is carried out so that the combination of the outer layer 3 of the cable-core 10 and the sealing sheath 4 surrounding the cable - core 10 was deformed to adapt to the internal cavity of the hollow braided reinforcing element (and the cable core 10 received a wavy profile when viewed in plan, see Fig. 7), but most preferably without deforming the layer of thermoplastic material on the outer part of the core 1 and around which fiber optic conductors are helically wound (see FIG. 8), which can be determined by forming the outer thermoplastic material layer of the core 1 from a material of a different color than the color of the thermoplastic material layer 3, and determining whether or not their interface is deformed as a result of heating and elongation . The goal is to remove structural elongation and cause densification of the reinforcing element without deforming the core 1, which differs from the prior art and industry trend, as exemplified by our previous patent applications where fiber optic conductors were pressed into the core 1 as a result of elongation steps and/or heating and elongation.

The resilient adhesive layer 6 is a polyurethane, for example a polyurethane mixture of two or more components, which is preferably applied while in a fluid state to the outer surface of the reinforcement shell layer immediately before forming the protective coating 7 around the reinforcement shell layer. As a result, the elastic adhesive layer 6 connects the shell layer of the reinforcing element with the protective coating.

Production processes

The method for producing a high-strength data cable according to the present invention comprises the steps of:

(a) Step 1: A flexible core 1 is created from a rigid material (see FIG. 2), and preferably the core 1 is connected to a first reinforcing element 8 located inside and at the center of the core 1, as shown in FIG. 1 and 2. The core 1 contains a flexible hard thermoplastic material and, when it does not contain other elements besides the first reinforcing element 8, and preferably in addition to the first reinforcing element 8 contains only a flexible hard thermoplastic material (the first reinforcing element 8 itself is ideally formed made of non-thermoplastic material as described above). The core 1 preferably has the shape of a cable and/or rod of circular cross-section or the shape of an elongated object of circular cross-section when viewed in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the core 1. It is important whichever elements are optionally included in the core 1, such as, for example, metal conductor of electricity, the core 1 has an outer surface formed from a flexible solid thermoplastic material.

(b) Step 2: At least one or more optical fiber conductors 2 are placed in a spiral around the outer surface of the core (see FIG. 3). This step may be performed by a winding machine, for example, a machine that rotates around a central point with one or more spools, or reel, where each spool has a fiber optic conductor wound on it. A flexible core 1, for example, wound from a supply reel and wound onto a take-up reel, preferably with guides holding the core 1 through the central winding point of the winding machine, extending along the central axis of the winding machine. Care is taken to ensure that the fiber optic conductors are unwound from the bobbins and/or reels in a direction perpendicular or at least nearly perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the bobbins and/or reels, so that no rotation is transmitted to the fiber optic conductors. The fiber optic conductors, and thus the reels and/or bobbins, are spaced equally apart from each other (see FIG. 3A) and the fiber optic conductors are wound and placed on the thermoplastic surface of the core 1 (see also FIG. 3A). For example, if four fiber optic conductors are used, there are four reels and/or reels spaced 90 degrees apart. If three fiber optic conductors are used, there are three reels and/or bobbins spaced 120 degrees apart. If two fiber optic conductors are used, there are two reels and/or bobbins separated by 180 degrees. When only one fiber optic conductor is used to form the high-strength data cable of the present invention, it is preferable that a core and/or thread and/or a non-fiber optic conductor fiber is also helically arranged on the core 1, using the same location and using the same equipment that would be used to wind a second fiber optic conductor if one were used, which results in a spiral winding of the fiber optic conductor and the non-fiber optic conductor filament, which may also be a filament of thermoplastic material or, for example, polyester. Even more preferably, if only one fiber optic conductor is used, then two cores and/or threads and/or fibers are wound around the core 1 in a spiral, where these three elements, for example, one fiber optic conductor and two cores and/or threads and/or fibers, which are not fiber optic conductors, and spaced 120 degrees apart, while they are wound on the core 1 with the same equipment and methods that are used to wind three fiber optic conductors on the core 1. In this case, the two cores and/or threads and/or fibers can be made of a thermoplastic material, for example polyester.

(c) Step 3: If necessary, but most preferably, additionally fix the spiral wound fiber optic conductors to the core.

(d) Step 4: Apply additional thermoplastic material 3 around the combination of core 1 and fiber optic conductors 2 spirally wound around core 1 to enclose the fiber optic conductors between core 1 and thermoplastic material 3 (see 4), and allow additional thermoplastic material 3 to cure , thereby completely enclosing the spirally wound fiber optic conductors within a rigid flexible material formed as a rod and/or cable, thereby forming a cable core 10 (see also FIG. 5). For the thermoplastic core 1 and layer 3, polyethylene and various forms of polyethylene can be used. This step may be performed by positioning, after the aforementioned central winding point, an extrusion head that extrudes flowable thermoplastic material around a combination of the core 1 and anything connected to the core 1, such as any fiber optic conductors helically wound on the core 1 and any strands and/or fibers and/or filaments helically wound onto the core 1 (for example, when only one or, in some cases, two fiber optic conductors are used), and pull and/or otherwise pass the “cable” formed by such combination through the extrusion head, extruding (preferably under pressure) thermoplastic material to form layer 3, preferably selecting a temperature of the molten thermoplastic material, extrusion pressure and time that will soften (but not liquefy) the surface of the thermoplastic outer portion of the core 1, and applying sufficient pressure so that partially press the fiber optic conductors into the outer thermoplastic surface of the outer portion of core 1 so that they “seat” into the surface of core 1, then allow the thermoplastic material forming layer 3 to cure (continuing feeding of core 1), thereby forming the finished cable core 10.

The further description of the core cable 10 will be made with reference to FIGS. 5 is a side view of the manufacturing phase of a core cable 10 of the most preferred embodiment of the high strength data cable of the present invention (e.g., the core cable produced in steps 1-4, especially the mandatory steps 1, 2, and 4, and preferably , including step 3), and before enclosing the core cable in either a sealing screen or a reinforcing element and, specifically, before any selected extension steps, wherein the thermoplastic material forming the core 1 and the additional thermoplastic material forming the cable core layer 3 are on are not shown except for the peripheral outline of the thermoplastic material forming the layer 3 so that the helical fiber optic conductors 2 completely immersed in the cured solid thermoplastic material are visible. Although in FIG. Figure 5 shows three fiber optic conductors, one is often preferred, but any number needed can be used. Accordingly, in FIG. 5 shows a core cable 10 containing a fiber optic conductor 2 extending in a spiral and completely encased in a flexible solid material.

After a description of the cable core 10 obtained in steps 1-4, a description of the subsequent production steps follows.

(e) Step 5: If necessary, and if hot extension is required to be applied to the high strength data cable after adding a reinforcing element, the next step is to form a sealing sheath 4 (see FIG. 6) around the cable core 10 (preferably directly around the additional thermoplastic material , forming a layer 3 located around the combination of the core 1 and fiber optic conductors 2, spirally wound on the core).

(f) Step 6: Preferably a braided reinforcement shell layer 5 is formed from a polymeric material around a thermoplastic material layer 3 (see FIG. 1) or, an additional step of forming around the sealing screen layer 3 4 has been performed, then the reinforcement shell layer is formed around the sealing screen and, therefore, around the extent of all products contained within the sealing shell; while ensuring the integrity of the fiber optic conductors, thereby forming the high strength data cable of the present invention.

The preferred structure of the reinforcing element sheath layer is a hollow braided structure, preferably containing an equal number of S and Z strands forming a hollow braid, where each main strand of the braid is preferably flattened in shape. Each such braid strand preferably has a width at least twice its height, especially in the formed shell layer of the hollow braided reinforcement element. Each such braid strand preferably also consists of several fibers. Preferably, each such braid strand is composed of two fibers, wherein each fiber is not of a braided or parallel laid construction, but is preferably of a twisted/laid construction, especially with a long twist and/or a loose twist in accordance with industry loose twist standards for fibers of high modulus polyethylene or other selected fibers. It is important and preferable that each such fiber has a fairly loose design, i.e. twisted/laid sufficiently loosely so that the braiding stress generated by the braiding device deforms each such fiber into a flattened shape, the width of which is greater than its height, in the finished shell layer of the hollow braided reinforcement element. Thus, the braid strands take on a flattened shape, with a width to height ratio greater than two to one. That is, since each strand of the braid constituting the sheath layer of the reinforcing element contains a minimum of two fibers, and since each such fiber has the same height and width as other such fibers forming a single strand of braid, and since each such fiber has a greater width, than the height after the braiding process, the finished braid strand is formed from a minimum of two fibers, such strand, when extended, must have and/or define a flattened shape, having a greater width compared to its height and its width being twice the height or more.

In contrast to the prior art and industry trends, the high strength data cable of the present invention can be used in the state in which it is in step 6 described above, preferably after applying a protective sheath which is adhered to the reinforcing member by a layer of resilient adhesive. However, this is not preferred. Most preferably, and in contrast to the prior art and industry trends, a high strength data cable formed by the method comprising steps 1-6 (and in the absence of an adhesive layer 6 and an outer covering 7) is further processed in the steps where a high strength cable is subjected to transmitting data to heat sufficient to preferably deform the thermoplastic layer 3 and not cause a phase change of the thermoplastic core material 1, and even more preferably, and also unlike prior art and industry trends, also not cause a phase change of the thermoplastic material forming layer 3 and/or a high-strength data cable (for example, such as to prevent the thermoplastic material from undergoing a phase transition from a solid phase to a melt phase and/or to a liquid phase), in combination with the steps of stretching the cable by a predetermined amount in order to constantly lengthen and constantly shrink the shell layer of the reinforcing element and the cable core 10, especially so. to reduce both its diameter and the diameter and/or the average thickness of the entire high-strength data cable (without adhesive layer 6 and outer covering 7), after which the high-strength data cable (without adhesive layer 6 and outer covering 7) is cooled, preferably maintaining sufficient elongation cable to maintain its elongation and compaction, so that the combination of the outer part of the thermoplastic layer 3 and the sealing shell 4 takes a shape corresponding to the natural surface of the wall of the inner cavity of the hollow braided reinforcing element, maintaining a predetermined amount of elongation and compaction, so as to constantly lengthen and constantly reduce the diameter of the cable . Contrary to prior art and industry trends, exemplified by the same applicant's previous patent applications, the amount of heat, elongation and time in one preferred embodiment are preferably selected to cause the combination of thermoplastic layer 3 and sealing shell 4 to deform so that they take the natural shape of the cavity wall of the hollow braided reinforcing element 5, while (i) not displacing the fiber optic conductors 2, (ii) preventing the fiber optic conductors 2 from displacing the core material 1 from its position before the heating and elongation steps compared to the position after heating and elongation, and (iii) preventing the fiber optic conductors from intertwining with the core 1 compared to their position relative to the core 1 before the heating and elongation steps.

The next step in the production of the high strength data cable of the present invention may then be the step of applying a protective coating 7 to the sheath layer of the reinforcing element, which is preferably adhered to the sheath layer of the reinforcing element with a layer 6 of elastic adhesive.

Thus formed, the high strength data cable of the present invention provides significantly higher quality and/or resolution of the data signal compared to known high strength data cables, thereby allowing the use of equipment currently in development but not capable of rock and size identification fish, thereby preventing the targeting of fishing gear to non-target fish species, juvenile fish and small fish, thereby improving the health of fish resources and the marine mammals, birds and fishing communities that depend on them, and achieving the objectives of the present invention.

It is surprising and unexpected that by combining the steps of, firstly, creating additional fixation between the core and optical fibers spirally wound on the core, i.e., fixation exceeding that obtained by spirally winding optical fibers on core 1, with subsequent steps, second, applying additional thermoplastic material 3 to completely coat the helical optical fibers 2 with thermoplastic material, where the thermoplastic material of the core 1 also forms the surface of the core 1 is compatible and forms an intimate and preferably inseparable bond with the thermoplastic material used to form the additional thermoplastic material layer 3 and is preferably the same material as the thermoplastic material of layer 3, after which the thermoplastic material of layer 3 is allowed to harden and/or cool, thereby forming the cable core 10, after which a polymer shell layer of the reinforcing element is formed, preferably from high modulus fibers polyethylene, around the soya 3 (and, if necessary, the sealing sheath), then even without thermal elongation at temperatures sufficient for the core 1 and/or layer 3 to reach the melt phase, a high-strength data cable with excellent signal resolution is formed.

The key step of providing additional fixation between the core 1 and the fiber optic conductors 2 helically wound on the core 1 can be performed by any suitable method that allows the fiber optic conductors to resist sliding along the core 1 and, especially, by any suitable method that stops the fiber optic conductor from sliding along the core 1 and/or holds the originally formed helical wound fiber optic conductors so that the helical wound fiber optic conductors do not change their position in further processing steps, but is not limited to the step of applying additional thermoplastic material 3 around the fiber optic conductors to completely cover the fiber optic conductors with the thermoplastic material.

In other words, the fixation between the fiber optic conductors and the core around which they are wound is enhanced to provide resistance to sliding along the core and/or change in the shape of the helix of the fiber optic conductors, which becomes greater than provided by simply arranging the fiber optic conductors in a helix around the core.

Examples include:

1. applying a sticky substance, such as an adhesive, to the outer surface of the core before winding the fiber optic conductors onto the core in a spiral manner. The sticky substance can be applied by passing the core through a bath of a sticky substance that does not dry too quickly, or by spraying or brushing such a substance onto the core. This substance must be compatible with the melt phases of the thermoplastic material selected for the thermoplastic core and for the additional thermoplastic material forming layer 3.

2. attaching the fiber optic conductors into place on the core on which they are wound using double-sided adhesive tape.

3. heating the fiber optic conductors before winding them onto the core so that the combination of their temperature and the tension of the fiber optic conductors as they are wound onto the core causes the fiber optic conductors to displace some of the material on the surface of the core and create a recessed path, such as a groove, on the surface of the core in which the at least part of the width of each fiber optic conductor.

4. heating the core, or at least the surface of the core, before winding the fiber optic conductors onto the core, such that the combination of their temperature and the tension of the fiber optic conductors as they are wound onto the core causes the fiber optic conductors to displace some of the material on the surface of the core and create a recessed track, such as a groove, on the surface of the core. , which contains at least part of the width of each fiber optic conductor.

5. spraying or otherwise applying an adhesive to the fiber optic conductors before they are wound onto the core so that the fiber optic conductors adhere to the core and resist movement along the length of the core.

6. spraying or otherwise applying an adhesive to the combination of fiber optic conductors and core after the fiber optic conductors have been wound onto the core so that the fiber optic conductors adhere to the core and resist movement along the length of the core.

7. The currently preferred method of additional fixation of the core and fiber optic conductors spirally wound on the core consists of passing the core with fiber optic conductors already spirally wound on it through a heating element in which heat, for example, thermal radiation, is applied at a temperature and with irradiation time sufficient to excite the (preferably thermoplastic) core surface, then allow the core and fiber optic conductor combination to cool to a lower temperature than the heating element, especially the temperature at which the thermoplastic material becomes solid, after which additional thermoplastic material is applied the material around the combination of the core and the fiber optic conductors spirally wound onto the core.

After the step of providing additional fixation between the fiber optic conductors helically wound on the core and the core, it is preferable to carry out the step of applying additional thermoplastic material forming a layer 3 around the combination of the core 1 and the fiber optic conductors helically wound on the core. To carry out this step, it has surprisingly been found that it is preferable to use extrusion of the type known as pressure extrusion. Once the additional thermoplastic material forming layer 3 has been applied to completely enclose the fiber optic conductors in the thermoplastic layer 3, with the thermoplastic on at least the surface of the core 1, the next step is to form a sealing shell around the thermoplastic layer 3, followed by The manufacturing steps described above form a reinforcing element shell layer, an elastic adhesive layer and a protective shell.

Alternative core options

In fig. 14 shows a cross-section of an alternative cable core 110 of the present invention in a plane perpendicular to the long axis of the alternative cable core 110. As shown in the drawing, the alternative cable core 110 includes a variant of the cable core 10 that includes a coaxial cable 111 located within the cable core 10, and further comprises a plurality of additional conductors 112, enclosed in a hard flexible material 114, preferably a hard flexible thermoplastic material, which is preferably the same material from which the layer 3 of the cable core 10 is formed. As shown in the drawing, the outside extending from the core cable 10 are a plurality of additional conductors 112. Most preferably, a seal sheath 4 is formed around the core cable 10, and most preferably, these multiple additional conductors 112 are located outside the core cable 10 and outside the seal sheath 4 that covers the core cable 10. These multiple additional conductors 112 are preferably laid in parallel around the cable core 10, but they can also be twisted.

The currently preferred method of forming the alternative cable core 110 comprises the following steps:

A) create a finished cable core 10 in the manner described above and covered with a sealing sheath 4.

B) create multiple rods 116, where each rod contains a conductor 112 enclosed in a hard flexible material 114, which is preferably the same thermoplastic material that forms the layer 3, and each rod 116 is covered with a sealing jacket 117, where the sealing shell 117 is preferably formed from tightly woven polymer fibers and/or filaments, which are preferably woven into a hollow braid, but this can be any layer that stops and/or substantially stops the flow of molten (or "semi-liquid") thermoplastic material through such a sealing shell.

C) placing the desired number of rods 116, preferably in parallel, around the cable core 10, thereby forming an alternative cable core 110, and

D) placing a seal jacket 4A around the cable core 110, where the seal jacket 4A is preferably formed from tightly woven polyester fibers and/or filaments that are preferably woven into a hollow braid, but it can be any layer that stops and/or substantially stops the flow of molten (or "semi-liquid") thermoplastic material through such a sealing shell.

Although the rods 116 can have any cross-sectional shape, it is presently preferred that the rods 116 themselves be formed with a tapered cross-sectional shape 118 (as viewed in a plane perpendicular to the long axis of the rod 116), such as a truncated wedge shape, to facilitate parallel laying of the rods. around the core cable 10.

Preferably, each conductor 112 is attached to a reinforcing element (not shown) before being enclosed in a sheath and/or another layer of thermoplastic material, for example attached to a high modulus polyethylene or aramid thread and/or fiber, for example molded into a hollow braided sheath of copper and /or other metal threads around the reinforcing element, where such reinforcing element preferably has a higher softening point and/or degeneration temperature compared to the rigid flexible material 114.

After molding the sealing sheath 4A around the outer surface of the alternative cable core 110, the remainder of the manufacturing process described above is performed after molding the sealing sheath 4 around the cable core 10 so as to obtain an alternative cable of the present invention that can be used, for example , like a cable connecting floating vessels to a tethered balloon used as a sail for such a vessel.

Methods of application

As shown in FIG. 11, to use a data cable with elongation and temperature indication, it must be connected to an interrogator or other device, such as a sonar, which requires exposing the fiber optic conductors. This can preferably be done by first removing parts of the covering 7, the adhesive layer 6, the reinforcing element 5 and the sealing sheath 4 so that the cable core 10 protrudes and/or extends beyond the surface 44 formed by the cut edges of the covering, the adhesive layer, the reinforcing element and sealing shell; secondly, by heating the outer surface of the layer 3 of the protruding portion of the cable core 10 (preferably by heating its distal end 51), for example, by directing steam or hot air from an air gun to a specific fiber optic conductor visible through the previously transparent thermoplastic layer 3 forming the outer the surface of the core cable 10 for a sufficient period of time to soften the thermoplastic material in direct contact with the selected fiber optic conductor; after which the fiber-optic conductor is removed from layer 3, for example, with needle-nose pliers or tongs, then the fiber-optic conductor is grabbed by its distal end 61, after which the selected fiber-optic conductor is carefully torn outward from the softened thermoplastic layer 3 of the cable-core 10, then a pause is made and the next area is heated a thermoplastic layer 10 of the cable core 10, which is located outside the remaining embedded parts of the selected fiber optic conductor; then continue to pull the selected fiber optic conductor from the core cable 10 until sufficient length of the fiber optic conductor is exposed, and pull it away from the core cable 10 so that it can be spliced with another fiber optic conductor that connects the fiber optic conductor included in the high-strength cable data transmission with other fiber optic conductors connected to the equipment. When the data cable also includes a coaxial cable or power conductor, these also protrude from the core cable, as shown in FIG. 11 to be available for connection to other equipment.

Methods of application

A method of using an embodiment of the present invention which includes the use of Brillouin scattering and inverse Raman scattering to determine the heating and elongation of certain predetermined zones and/or sections of the length of the cable core and thereby the cable, comprises the steps of using an appropriate interrogating device and/or interrogating devices for reading Brillouin scattering and/or inverse Raman scattering and then, when Brillouin scattering is used, the position on the optical fiber at which the disturbance and/or anomaly occurs, by known means; and to determine the temperature in this zone(s) and/or along sections of length, using Raman backscattering, also using known means; further, using the temperature value obtained from the Raman backscatter interpretation to confirm the elongation of the optical fiber transmitting Brillouin scattering in this predetermined area and/or length along the length of the cable; then the found elongation of the optical fiber is used to determine the elongation in this predetermined zone and/or along the length of the helical structure formed by the optical fiber in a way that can be determined mathematically, taking into account the diameter of the optical fiber forming the helical structure, as well as the pitch of the helical structures and its internal diameter, thereby determining the elongation of the cable itself in this predetermined zone and/or along the length of the cable since the elongation of the helical structure is equal to the elongation of the finished cable in any particular zone and/or along the length of the cable, thereby allowing monitoring of the cable without the need in remote sensors and/or remotely controlled mobile devices along the entire length of the cable and allowing you to determine whether to continue or stop using the cable.

To determine cable elongation in industrial applications without first calibrating the finished cable itself, Raman backscattering and Brillouin scattering light energy is monitored during cable operation; the obtained Brillouin scattering data is correlated with a database that indicates what the elongation of the optical fiber transmitting Brillouin scattering is at specific temperatures and/or temperature ranges for such read wavelengths, thereby determining the elongation of the Brillouin scattering optical fiber for a particular temperature determined by monitoring and Raman backscatter readings; Next, the found elongation of the Brillouin scattering optical fiber is used to determine the elongation of the helical structure formed by the Brillouin scattering optical fiber, which can be determined mathematically, taking into account the diameter of the optical fiber 2, the elongation of the optical fiber 2 forming the helical structure, the pitch of the helical structure and its internal diameter , thereby determining the elongation of the helix structure itself, which determines the elongation of the finished cable, allowing the elongation of the finished cable to be monitored and determined without the need for monitoring water and/or air temperature and allowing one to determine whether to continue or discontinue use of the cable before catastrophic failure.

Methods for determining cable heating and elongation

In some cases, it may be necessary to verify the accuracy of calibrations performed by manufacturers and/or suppliers of optical fibers used for Raman backscatter and Brillouin scattering sensing, or to determine how, if any, such calibration data has changed during the production of the cables of the present invention. In such a case, a portion of the finished cable having an optical fiber for sensing Brillouin scattering and Raman backscattering can be experimentally calibrated by exposing the finished cable to a predetermined temperature range and extending the cable with different elongation values at each temperature, and determining the Brillouin scattering and Raman backscatter values. Raman backscattering where the cable is held at each specific predetermined temperature and at each particular elongation value, thereby either calibrating or verifying the accuracy of the calibration performed by the manufacturer and/or supplier for the Raman backscatter temperature determination and for the Brillouin elongation determination .

In more detail, when it is desired and desirable to experimentally determine the correlation between cable elongation and temperature and Brillouin and Raman backscattering exponents, the elongation and temperature-indicating fiber cable method of the present invention comprises the steps of (i) subjecting a predetermined length of the finished cable to exposure to a range of predetermined temperatures within a predetermined range of cable elongation values, (ii) reading the wavelengths returned and transmitted through the fiber optics for Brillouin scattering, and reading the Raman backscattering in at least one of the optical fibers for each specific combination of the specific temperature value and the magnitude of the specific elongation; (iii) recording the readings, thereby forming a database that correlates the Brillouin wavelength readings and the Raman backscatter readings for a particular cable formed in accordance with the present invention when that cable is at a particular temperature and a particular elongation. Although a length of cable can be subjected to both heating and elongation at the same time, because of the importance of ensuring that all portions of a length of cable reach a specific temperature, it is currently preferable to expose the cable to each specific temperature, without much elongation, until the cable has definitely reached a specific temperature at all sections of the cable section and then subject the cable to sufficient elongation to obtain the required elongation. For example, a cable may first be exposed to a particular temperature for a sufficient period of time such that a section of cable is confident of reaching a particular temperature over its entire length, which can be determined by probing the cable with temperature probes when the cable is not subjected to extreme elongation; the cable is then extended until it receives a specific extension; then, transmit light energy with a certain wavelength along the optical fibers for Brillouin scattering and read the light signals that travel along the entire length of the optical fiber and those that return at the initial end of the optical fiber (for example, those that return as a result of Brillouin scattering), and also transmit light energy through an optical fiber that allows for Raman backscatter reading; record light energies and/or wavelengths, thereby creating a database that contains the correlation of Raman backscatter readings with specific temperatures, as well as the correlation of specific light energies and/or wavelengths for a specific optical fiber with Brillouin scattering in a particular cable design , being under a certain elongation and at a certain temperature. Finally, the industrial cable is used by monitoring the temperature from the Raman backscatter and Brillouin scattering readings, and correlating the temperature values confirmed by the Raman backscatter readings with the wavelength values confirmed by the Brillouin scattering optical fiber readings to determine cable elongation for specific lengths waves corresponding to specific areas of the cable (it is known to use Brillouin scattering to determine where along the length of an optical fiber a received Brillouin wavelength originates, i.e., how far from the interrogator is the position where the received wavelength originates, which is the main value of using scattering Brillouin). Thus, the fiber cable capable of transmitting data and with elongation and heat indication of the present invention is suitable for monitoring both cable temperature, elongation and/or strain in specific zones and/or length sections along the entire length of the cable. By comparing elongation and/or deformation values to the permissible limits at certain loads, for certain loads determined by load cells, it is possible to determine the relative integrity of the superfiber reinforcement element and decide whether to continue or terminate the cable's service before catastrophic failure occurs. .

To accurately measure the elongation of a section of cable length by placing a fiber optic conductor capable of transmitting Raman backscatter wavelengths in a spiral shape and firmly fixed within the cable under test, instead of a "loose tube" configuration (a "loose tube" configuration includes any design where the fiber optic conductor, including its buffer and insulation, formed integrally with the fiber optic conductor, can slide relative to objects immediately adjacent to it, such as, in the case of a cable or rope, the fiber or strand of the cable or rope core, or even other fiber optic conductors in the cable or rope) in combinations with a separate other fiber optic conductor that can be used to read Brillouin scattering and where this separate other fiber optic conductor is also in a spiral shape and firmly fixed within the cable being tested, instead of a "loose tube" configuration, and then using the thermal readings from the optical fiber with Raman backscattering in calculations with readings from an optical fiber capable of transmitting Brillouin scattering to obtain elongation values of an optical fiber with Brillouin scattering, which differs from the prior art and industry trends, and surprisingly allows for monitoring of heating and/or elongation.

In addition, placing an optical fiber capable of transmitting Raman backscatter in a helical form and firmly attached to the core within the cable being monitored, rather than in a "loose tube" configuration and/or other configuration allowing sliding relative to other cable components, in combination with a separate optical fiber suitable for sensing Brillouin scattering, and where this separate optical fiber is also arranged in a helical shape and firmly attached to the core within the cable being monitored, and suspending and/or completely enclosing both optical fibers in a helical shape and firmly attached to the core and within core formed from a solid flexible material within the load-carrying cable, and using heating values obtained by interpreting Raman backscatter readings in combination with data obtained from Brillouin scattering to be able to calculate the elongation of the optical fiber carrying the Brillouin scattering wavelengths, and then mathematically calculate, given the helical shape of the optical fiber carrying Brillouin scattering wavelengths, the elongation of the helical structure formed by such fiber in the controlled region of the cable and thereby confirm the elongation of the cable, differs from the prior art and industry trends and, unexpectedly allows you to monitor heating and/or cable elongation.

By determining the elongation of the cable and/or the predetermined zone and/or length along the cable length using the methods described above, the tensile load on the cable/or the predetermined zone and/or length along the cable length can be calculated. This can be done by correlating the elongation values with a database that correlates the percentage elongation values for a particular cable design with various tensile loads on the cable. Thus, knowing either the cable elongation or the load on it, another value can be determined. Therefore, by calculating the cable elongation, either for the cable as a whole, or for a specific zone and/or a specific length along the cable length, the load on the cable can be determined.

Industrial applicability

The data cable according to the present invention can be used as a crane rope/cable, as a deep sea rope/cable, as a bow sonar cable, and can also be used to connect and communicate with a sonar, and if it contains a metal power conductor 21, to supply supplies power to sonars located in other areas of the trawl, in addition to the bow sonar, and can, for example, be used as a cable for sonars installed in the middle part of the trawl, or on the codend or winder of the trawl bag. The data cable can also be used with a trawl warp drum and serve two purposes: serve as a trawler warp and a bow sonar cable, and thus communicate with the bow sonar or other device in the fishing gear through the trawl warp, instead of a separate bow sonar cable.

The data cable of the present invention can also serve as a high-strength data cable for trawler warps, and thus for communication with a bow sonar or other device in fishing gear, through the trawler warp, rather than through a separate, improved high-definition anti-crushing fiber cable. , and it can also be used as a tow rope, deep-sea winch wire, crane wire, seismic cable, deep-sea mooring line, downhole cable, ROV cable, seismic cable, or as a load-bearing data and/or power transmission cable. When used as a borehole cable, it is considered useful to make a final outer covering of stranded steel wire to armor the cable. However, for most other applications, the braided cover described above will be most useful. When used as a seismic cable or as a crane cable, or in any application requiring resistance to heat, including downhole cable, it is beneficial for the reinforcing member to be formed as a hollow braided structure of 24 strands, which is different from the prior art. and industry trends, with the most useful being a 2x24 strand design, or even more preferably a 3x24 strand design, where each of the 24 strands is formed from sheathed aramid filament or high modulus polyethylene or fluoroplastic or polyester, after whereby these strands are woven into a hollow 24-strand braided reinforcing element having at least a 2x24-core 3x24-core structure. When a cable is applied where heat resistance is required, heat detection, extension detection or breakage detection, or detection of the area of the cable responsible for failure of any of the data and/or power transmission functions of the cable is considered useful in order for an improved high strength lightweight crush resistant The fiber cable of the present invention with high data resolution and power transmission capability contained optical fibers that can be used in surveys in which Brillouin scattering and/or Raman backscattering wavelengths are read and interpreted, and especially optical fibers capable of accurately transmitting interpreted Brillouin scattering and/or Raman backscattering wavelengths to enable monitoring of optical fiber elongation and/or heating in any region along the optical fiber length. Thus, by transmitting light through optical fibers in a manner that allows Brillouin scattering and/or Raman backscattering to be read, and by interpreting the Brillouin scattering and/or Raman backscattering wavelengths using a suitable interrogation device, it is possible to determine the elongation and/or heating of specific regions of the monitored optical fiber and can therefore determine the elongation of the cable reinforcement element as well as the temperature at specific positions along the cable length. In this way, it is possible to determine the integrity of the cable reinforcing element and determine whether the cable is suitable for continued operation or whether it is better to take it out of service and replace it. It is important that previous attempts to use Brillouin scattering and/or Raman backscattering wavelengths to monitor elongation and/or heating of optical fibers in any region along the length of optical fibers and/or cable containing optical fibers have failed and are not described in the prior art a structure of a data cable according to the present invention and a method for manufacturing it. Importantly, it has long been the industry belief that bending of fiber optic conductors contained in any type of cable, including but not limited to yachting cables, should be minimized when such fiber optic conductors are used to monitor the heating and/or elongation of the fiber optic conductors and the cable containing them. Contrary to prior art and industry trends, as well as industry conventional wisdom, a fiber optic conductor formed into a helix and used to form a cable core as described above is capable of transmitting high resolution data signals. The fact that the cable of the present invention functions in this manner is contrary to conventional wisdom in the industry.

Other industrial applications of the present invention are in the formation of high strength ropes and cables with synthetic reinforcements having molded support cores, where such ropes and cables are subjected to heat elongation to eliminate structural elongation, to seal the reinforcement and the cable itself, and when the materials used allow to form a reinforcing element, to deform the fibers in the reinforcing element so that all fibers of the reinforcing element bear the load.

The currently preferred method of forming a high-strength synthetic reinforcement cable according to the present invention comprises the following steps: creating a core 1 containing a thermoplastic, for example, a rod 1 of thermoplastic material (the rod may or may not contain conductors or other elements); then forming a sealing shell 4 around this core, using the new features of the present invention to form such a sealing shell; whereupon a hollow braided reinforcement element is formed around the combination of the core and sealing sheath (where the hollow braided reinforcement element may be formed from main braid strands made of high modulus aramid polyethylene, or where each braided strand contains a central strand or thread or other aramid cord covered a sheath made of high-modulus polyethylene or other material), thereby boosting the cable; after which steps are performed in which the cable is heated to a temperature at which the thermoplastic core material does not soften and/or melt, i.e. becomes "semi-liquid" but not liquid, and stretch the cable (preferably with a controlled elongation or extensions) until a predetermined and/or required amount of elongation of the reinforcing element and, therefore, the entire cable is achieved and until the required compaction (reduction in overall width) of the cable and the reinforcing element while the thermoplastic material core is softened and/or melted; then cooling the cable until the thermoplastic core material hardens, while maintaining sufficient elongation to maintain a predetermined and/or desired amount of cable elongation; In this case, the method is characterized by the presence of a choice of stages of forming the sealing shell, which individually or in combination includes the following stages, in which:

a) forming a braided sealing sheath, where the braiding angle of the cores and/or fibers forming the sealing sheath is less than 65° and, more specifically, in the range of 60° to 10°.

b) forming a braided sealing sheath, where each core of the sheath is a core formed from at least two fibers.

c) forming a braided seal jacket, wherein each strand forming the braided seal jacket is a strand formed from at least two fibers and each of the fibers has a twisted structure.

d) forming a braided seal jacket, wherein each strand forming the braided seal jacket is a strand formed from at least two fibers and where each fiber has a twisted structure, and where the laying direction is the same for all fibers forming the core.

e) forming a braided seal jacket, wherein each strand of the braid forming the seal jacket is formed from at least two fibers, and where each of the fibers has a twisted structure and where the twist ratio is such that the fiber is easily flattened (i.e., has a width , greater than the height and/or relief) when the braided strands formed from at least two fibers are pressed against the core during the formation of the braided sealing shell of the core.

Thus, according to the present invention: a high-strength synthetic rope and/or cable has a supporting core 1, having a shape adaptable to the internal cavity of the hollow braided reinforcing element 5, then the core 1 is covered with a sealing sheath 4; a braided sealing member 5 is formed around a combination of a core and a sealing shell that covers the core; the sealing shell is formed from interwoven strands and has a hollow braid design; the reinforcing element is formed from braided strands and has a hollow braid design; in this case, the high-strength synthetic rope and/or cable is characterized in that the conductors forming the sealing sheath are located at a braid angle, which (i) differs from the angle of the braid formed by the conductors making up the reinforcing element and (ii) where the braid angle of the conductors forming the sealing sheath , has a larger value compared to the angle of the braid of the cores forming the reinforcing element.

Additionally:

a) the strands and/or fibers forming the braided sealing sheath are arranged at an angle of less than 65° and more preferably in the range of 60° to 10°.

b) each core of the sheath is a core formed from at least two fibers.

c) each strand forming the braided sealing sheath is a strand formed from at least two fibers and each of the fibers has a twisted structure.

d) each strand forming the braided sealing sheath is a strand formed from at least two fibers and where each fiber has a twisted structure, and where the direction of laying is the same for all fibers forming the strand.

e) each strand of the braid forming the sealing sheath is formed from at least two fibers, and where each of the fibers is easily flattened (i.e., has a width greater than its height and/or relief) around the core.

Additionally, according to the present invention: the high-strength synthetic rope and/or cable has a support core 1 having a shape adapted to the internal cavity of the hollow braided reinforcement element 5, the core 1 is covered with a sealing sheath 4, the braided reinforcement element 5 is formed around a combination of the core and the sealing sheath, covering the core; the sealing shell is formed from braided strands and has a hollow braided structure; and the reinforcing member is formed from braided strands and has a hollow braided structure; high-strength synthetic rope and/or cable is characterized in that the strands forming a braided sealing sheath are formed from at least two fibers, and each of the fibers has a twisted structure, and where the fiber has a flattened shape (i.e., has a greater width than its height and/or relief) around the core. (Any of the above new sealing jacket design features also apply to this cable and/or cable).

Although the present invention has been described in terms of the presently preferred embodiment, it should be understood that this description is purely illustrative and should not be construed in a limiting sense. Therefore, without departing from the inventive idea and scope of the invention, various modifications and substitutions and/or alternative uses of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims should be construed to cover all changes, substitutions or alternative uses falling within the inventive concept and scope of the invention.

Claims (16)

1. A synthetic rope or cable having a supporting core (1) contained in the internal cavity of a hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element (5), and the supporting core (1) has a shape adapted to the internal cavity of the hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element (5), with wherein the support core (1) is encased within a floating screen (4), wherein a hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element (5) is formed around a combination of the support core and a floating screen enclosing said core, wherein the floating screen is made of interwoven braided strands and is a hollow braided structure, and the hollow synthetic reinforcing element is made of interlaced braid strands, characterized in that each braid strand forming a braided floating screen is formed from at least two fibers. 2. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 1, characterized in that each of at least two fibers has a twisted structure. 3. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each of at least two fibers has a flattened shape. 4. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that all the fibers forming the specified core, formed from at least two fibers, have the same laying direction. 5. Synthetic rope or cable according to any one of paragraphs. 1-4, characterized in that the cores forming a hollow braided floating screen contain a braid angle, the cores forming a hollow braided reinforcing element contain a braid angle, and the cores forming a floating screen contain a braid angle that is different from the braid angle formed veins forming a reinforcing element. 6. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 5, characterized in that the braid angle of the cores forming the floating screen is additionally of greater importance compared to the braid angle of the cores forming the reinforcing element. 7. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the angle of the braid of the cores forming the floating screen is less than sixty-five degrees. 8. Synthetic rope or cable according to any one of paragraphs. 5-7, characterized in that the angle of the braid of the cores forming the floating screen is in the range from sixty degrees to ten degrees. 9. A synthetic rope or cable having a support core (1) having a shape adapted to the internal cavity of a hollow braided synthetic reinforcing element (5), wherein the support core (1) is encased inside a floating screen (4), wherein the braided synthetic a reinforcing element (5) is formed around a combination of a floating screen and a support core, which is encased within a floating screen, the floating screen being made of interwoven braid strands and being a hollow braided structure, and the hollow synthetic reinforcing element being made of interwoven braid strands, characterized in that that the braid strands forming the floating screen have a braid angle that is different from the braid angle of the braid strands forming the synthetic reinforcing element. 10. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 9, characterized in that the angle of the braid of the cores forming the floating screen is additionally greater than the angle of the braid of the cores forming the reinforcing element. 11. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the angle of the braid of the cores forming the floating screen is less than sixty-five degrees. 12. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the angle of the braid of the cores forming the floating screen is in the range from sixty degrees to ten degrees. 13. Synthetic rope or cable according to any one of paragraphs. 9-12, characterized in that the braided cores forming a braided floating screen contain a core formed from at least two fibers. 14. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 13, characterized in that each of the at least two fibers has a twisted structure. 15. Synthetic rope or cable according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that each of at least two fibers has a flattened shape. 16. Synthetic rope or cable according to any one of paragraphs. 13-15, characterized in that all the fibers forming said core, formed from at least two fibers, have the same laying direction.