Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

A cable includes an optical fiber, a buffer tube having the optical fiber arranged therein, and a thermoset material for connecting the optical fiber to the buffer tube. The thermoset material will not melt or appreciably soften and will maintain basic elastomeric flexibility in a temperature range of -40 to 70 degrees Celsius. The thermoset material may be a flame-retardant silicone elastomer, base and curing agent, as well as a liquid rubber molded compound, which is not flame-retardant. The thermoset material allows for fiber helix movement as the cable expands and contracts from -40 to +70 degrees Celsius, and is cyclically placed for connecting the optical fiber to the buffer tube at intervals of about every 1/2 meter, as well as at intervals of about every 10 meters. The cable is an indoor/outdoor flame retardant cable also having a fiberglass yarn matrix and a jacket, wherein either the buffer tube, the fiberglass yarn matrix, the jacket, or a combination thereof, is made from an optimal blend of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and flame retardant polyvinyl chloride (FRPVC). The indoor/outdoor flame retardant cable may have trace amounts of water swellable powder particles sprinkled on the optical fiber arranged inside the buffer tube.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim