Patent ID: 6317542
Filing Date: 2001-11-13
Classification: G02B

Abstract:
A fiber optic cable with efficiently packaged optical fibers, comprising:a jacket extending in a longitudinal direction and defining a longitudinally extending jacket passage; anda plurality of longitudinally extending stacks of optical fiber ribbons, wherein each stack is within the jacket passage, each optical fiber ribbon comprises a laterally extending array of longitudinally extending optical fibers that are bonded together as a unit, each optical fiber ribbon comprises a pair of longitudinally extending opposite edges and a pair of opposite lateral surfaces that extend laterally between the edges, the plurality of stacks comprises a central stack that is approximately centrally located in the jacket passage and peripheral stacks positioned radially around the central stack in an end elevation view of the fiber optic cable, in the end elevation view thereof the periphery of each stack defines a first cross-dimension between a first pair of opposite sides that are defined by edges of the optical fiber ribbons of the stack, in the end elevation view thereof each stack further defines a second cross-dimension between a second pair of sides that are defined by one of the lateral surfaces of one of the optical fiber ribbons of the stack and one of the lateral surfaces of another of the optical fiber ribbons of the stack, and a difference exists between the central stack and all of the peripheral stacks of the fiber optic cable, wherein the difference is selected from the group consisting of:the first cross-dimension of the central stack is larger than the first cross-dimensions of all of the peripheral stacks of the fiber optic cable, andthe second cross-dimensions of the central stack is larger than the second cross-dimensions of all of the peripheral stacks of the fiber optic cable.