Design and performance of nonmetallic waterproof optical fiber cable using water-absorbent polymer

Author

Kukita, Shigezou ; Nakai, Takashi ; Hayashi, Akira ; Koga, Hiroaki

Author_Institution

Transmission Syst. Lab., NTT, Ibaraki, Japan

Volume

7

Issue

4

fYear

1989

fDate

4/1/1989 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

740

Lastpage

746

Abstract

A nonmetallic optical fiber cable waterproofed with absorbent polymer was developed. Methods are proposed for evaluating the reliability of absorbent polymer in order to apply it as a waterproofing material, and a type of polyacrylic acid is selected. In addition, a waterproofing design is established based on a theoretical estimate of the water penetration length in the cable space. Among other findings, it was shown that the optical fiber loss of water-penetrated cable increases due to freezing. The allowable penetration length of waterproof cables can be determined so as to suppress this loss increase. Cables manufactured using this new design and absorbent polymer showed performance sufficient for practical application.<>

Keywords

optical cables; optical design techniques; optical fibres; optical losses; optical testing; polymers; nonmetallic waterproof optical fiber cable; optical fiber loss; polyacrylic acid; water penetration length; water-absorbent polymer; water-penetrated cable; Estimation theory; Manufacturing; Materials reliability; Optical design; Optical fiber cables; Optical fiber losses; Optical fibers; Optical losses; Optical materials; Optical polymers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.19105

Filename

19105