A multi-electrode system comprises a fiber support configured to hold at least one optical fiber and a set of electrodes disposed about the at least one optical fiber and configured to generate arcs between adjacent electrodes to generate a substantially uniform heated field to a circumferential out
A multi-electrode system comprises a fiber support configured to hold at least one optical fiber and a set of electrodes disposed about the at least one optical fiber and configured to generate arcs between adjacent electrodes to generate a substantially uniform heated field to a circumferential outer surface of the at least one optical fiber. The electrodes can be disposed in at least a partial vacuum.
대표청구항▼
What is claimed is: 1. A multi-electrode system comprises: a support configured to hold at least one optical fiber; and at least three electrodes disposed about the at least one optical fiber when the at least one optical fiber is held by the support, the at least three electrodes configured to pro
What is claimed is: 1. A multi-electrode system comprises: a support configured to hold at least one optical fiber; and at least three electrodes disposed about the at least one optical fiber when the at least one optical fiber is held by the support, the at least three electrodes configured to produce a substantially uniform heated field around an outer surface of the at least one optical fiber, wherein a first arc is generated between a first electrode and a second electrode and a second arc is generated between the second electrode and a third electrode. 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one optical fiber is at least one large diameter optical fiber having a diameter of at least about 125 microns. 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrodes are disposed at uniform angles about the at least one optical fiber. 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the arcs are plasma arcs and the heated field is a heated plasma field. 5. The system of claim 1, further comprising: a controller configured to control the output of the electrodes using one or more of pulse width modulation, ion injection, and feedback control. 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of at least three electrodes is three electrodes. 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of at least three electrodes lie in a plane that is substantially perpendicular to the at least one optical fiber. 8. The system of claim 1, wherein at least two of the set of at least three electrodes lie in different planes. 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the substantially uniform heated field generates a fiber surface temperature of at least about 1600° C. 10. The system of claim 1, wherein the substantially uniform heated field generates a fiber surface temperature of at least about 3000° C. 11. The system of claim 1, wherein the substantially uniform heated field generates a fiber surface temperature in the range of about 25° C. to about 900° C. for stripping optical fibers. 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrodes are disposed in a partial or complete vacuum. 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the electrodes are disposed in a 22″ to 24″ Hg gauge vacuum, 200 to 150 torr absolute. 14. The system of claim 12, wherein the partial vacuum is an oxygen enriched partial vacuum with plasma at a temperature of not more than about 400° C. 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the uniform heated field is a plasma field having a temperature of at least about 65° C. 16. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to strip the at least one optical fiber. 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the system is configured to strip the at least one optical fiber by ionic oxidation. 18. The system of claim 1, wherein the electrodes are held by an electrode support configured to adjust the distances of the electrodes relative to the at least one optical fiber. 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the electrode support is configured to automatically adjust the distances of the electrodes to the at least one optical fiber as a function of a diameter of the at least one optical fiber. 20. The system of claim 18, wherein the electrode support is configured to automatically adjust the distances of the electrodes to the at least one optical fiber as a function of whether the at least one fiber is to be stripped or spliced. 21. The system of claim 1, wherein the arcs arc turned on in a rotating phase sequence. 22. The system of claim 21, wherein the frequency used for turning on the arcs is sufficiently high that thermal time constants of the at least one optical fiber and surrounding air are substantially longer than the oscillation period of the arcs. 23. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more transformers configured to provide voltages to the electrodes to generate the arcs. 24. The system of claim 23, further comprising one or more current providers configured to provide controlled current waveforms to the one or more transformers to provide the voltages. 25. The system of claim 24, wherein the controlled current waveforms include two dead-bands in the range of about 1% to 49% of a period of a cycle of the waveforms, wherein there is substantially no current flow through the transformer primary in each of the two dead-bands. 26. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one optical fiber is a plurality of optical fibers. 27. A multi-electrode system comprises: a fiber support configured to hold at least one optical fiber; and a set of three or more electrodes disposed in at least a partial vacuum to be distributed about the at least one optical fiber when held by the support, wherein the electrodes are configured to generate plasma arcs between adjacent electrodes to produce a substantially uniform heated plasma field around an outer surface of the at least one optical fiber, and the multi-electrode system is configured to perform a fiber stripping operation when the partial vacuum is an oxygen enriched partial vacuum with plasma at a temperature of about 400° C. or less, wherein one of the three or more electrodes is grounded. 28. A multi-electrode system, comprising: a fiber support configured to hold at least one optical fiber; and three electrodes disposed in at least a partial vacuum to be distributed about the at least one optical fiber when held by the support, wherein the three electrodes are configured to generate plasma arcs between adjacent electrodes to produce a substantially uniform heated plasma field around an outer surface of the at least one optical fiber, and the multi-electrode system is configured to perform a fiber stripping operation when the partial vacuum is an oxygen enriched partial vacuum with plasma at a temperature of about 400° C. or less; and a set of transformers configured to provide voltages to the three electrodes to generate the plasma arcs and one or more current providers configured to provide three controlled current waveforms to the set of transformers to generate the voltages, each waveform being 120 degrees out of phase from the other two waveforms. 29. The system of claim 27, wherein the plasma arcs are turned on in a rotating phase sequence, having a frequency sufficient to maintain a substantially constant and evenly heated plasma field. 30. A method of generating a substantially uniform heated plasma field about at least one optical fiber comprises: maintaining the at least one optical fiber in a relatively fixed position and distributing at least three electrodes around the at least one optical fiber; and generating a first plasma arc between a first electrode and a second electrode and generating a second plasma arc between the second electrode and a third electrode to produce a substantially uniform heated plasma field around the at least one optical fiber. 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the at least three electrodes are three electrodes. 32. The method of claim 31, wherein the three electrodes are disposed in at least a partial vacuum. 33. The method of claim 30, wherein one of the three electrodes is grounded. 34. The method of claim 30, wherein each of the three electrodes is driven by a waveform that is 120 degrees out of phase with waveforms driving the other two electrodes. 35. A method of generating a substantially uniform heated plasma field about at least one optical fiber comprises: maintaining the at least one optical fiber in a relatively fixed position and distributing at least two electrodes about the at least one optical fiber; generating plasma arcs between the at least two electrodes disposed in at least a partial vacuum, wherein the plasma arcs produce a substantially uniform heated plasma field around an outer surface of the at least one optical fiber; and performing a fiber stripping operation when the partial vacuum is an oxygen enriched partial vacuum with plasma at a temperature of about 400° C. or less. 36. A multi-electrode system comprises: a support configured to hold at least one optical fiber; and at least three electrodes disposed proximate to the at least one optical fiber when the at least one optical fiber is held by the support, the at least three electrodes configured to generate arcs between pairs of adjacent electrodes to produce a substantially uniform heated field around an outer surface of the at least one optical fiber, wherein a first arc is generated between a first pair of electrodes and a second arc is generated between a second pair of electrodes that includes an electrode from the first pair of electrodes. 37. The system of claim 36, further comprising at least a partial vacuum within which the set of at least three electrodes is disposed. 38. The system of claim 1, wherein the substantially uniform heated field generates a fiber surface temperature of about 1200° C. plus or minus 100° C. for a fiber splicing operation. 39. A multi-electrode system comprises: a support configured to hold at least one optical fiber; and a set of at least three electrodes disposed about the at least one optical fiber when held by the support, the electrodes configured to generate arcs between adjacent electrodes to produce a substantially uniform heated field about an outer surface of the at least one optical fiber, wherein the electrodes are disposed in a partial or complete vacuum, wherein the partial vacuum is an oxygen enriched partial vacuum with plasma at a temperature of not more than about 400° C. 40. The system of claim 1, wherein one of the at least three electrodes is grounded. 41. The system of claim 30, wherein the at least one optical fiber is a plurality of optical fibers. 42. The system of claim 36, wherein one of the at least three electrodes is grounded.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (6)
Kohanzadeh Youssef (Corning NY) Smith Roy E. (Horseheads NY), Method and apparatus for splicing optical fibers.
Kasuu, Osamu; Nakamura, Motonori; Sano, Tomomi; Moriya, Tomomi; Kayou, Shinji, Method for fusion splicing optical fibers and apparatus for heating spliced part by arc.
Sykora, Craig R.; Onstott, James R.; Anderson, Mark T.; Schardt, Craig R.; Donalds, Lawrence J.; Chiareli, Alessandra O., Optical fiber fusion splice having a controlled mode field diameter expansion match.
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