Patent ID: 9052490
Filing Date: 2015-06-09
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
1. For an optical fiber handling system in which a matrix of optical fiber strands are disposed in a configuration requiring interconnections having different path lengths between a fixed configuration of parallel strands intercepting a first plane and variable length interconnections to changeable positions along a second two-dimensional plane, a rotatable reel system for enabling the interconnections in the two-dimensional plane to be varied while maintaining tension and more than a minimum radius of curvature on the optical fiber that is being reconfigured, wherein the rotatable reel system comprises: a reel body having a central axis and a tangential input for a fixed length optical fiber unit at one level and a tangential output for a variable length section of the optical fiber unit at a different, proximate (second) level, the reel body being configured to confine the fiber to a greater than minimum curvature about its central axis; the handling system further comprising an extended length, non-rigid low friction covering about the optical fiber and a longitudinal spring element of selected diameter adjacent and coextensive with the optical fiber within the covering; the reel body also including an outer rotatable wall about its central axis disposed at the second level plane, and the optical fiber being wrapped in adjacent turns within the outer wall and extending to both the input and output while being biased toward the outer wall by the spring within the covering; the reel including a planar surface substantially normal to the central axis and coupled to and rotating with the outer wall, the length of optical fiber being disposed helically in the second level plane internally within the outer wall and coupled into the tangential output in the covering, wherein the spring-biased turns of the optical fiber in the reel body form against the outer wall in a path extending to the tangential input to provide a tensioned fiber circuit of variable length but greater than a minimum radius of curvature.