METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TENSILE TESTING AND RETHREADING OPTICAL FIBER DURING FIBER DRAW

摘要

A method and apparatus for automatic threading and winding of optical fiber onto various components in a fiber draw system, as well as methods and apparatus for conducting online tensile screening of optical fiber at high speeds. In a preferred embodiment, the fiber is tensile tested during fiber draw and wound directly onto a shipping spool (15) to be shipped to a customer. The tensile stress can be imparted to the fiber during the draw process by feeding the fiber through a screener capstan (12), which works in conjunction with another capstan to impart the desired tensile stress to the fiber during the draw process. Another aspect is a method and apparatus (10) for threading or rethreading of a moving length of fiber through a fiber dra w or fiber testing process, in which fiber is wound onto a spool, comprising activating an aspirator (16) to obtain the fiber at a first location and moving said aspirator in at least two dimensions to thereby move the fiber t o a second location and thread the fiber through or onto at least one componen t in the fiber draw or testing process.