A fiber optic cable assembly comprises: a cable jacket; optical fibers carried within the cable jacket and extending beyond a first end of the cable jacket; a furcation body positioned on the first end of the cable jacket such that the optical fibers extend beyond the furcation body; and a pulling grip assembly having a proximal end selectively secured to the furcation body, a distal end opposite the proximal end, and an interior that contains fiber end sections. The interior of the pulling grip assembly is sealed off from an exterior of the cable assembly to provide sealed protection for the fiber end sections. The pulling grip assembly may include one or more air intake devices (e.g., cap or diaphragm) to harness energy from pressurized air used in a jetting process and thereby make it easier to pull the cable assembly through ducts.

The present disclosure relates to method for underground installation of a pre-ducted optical fiber cable assembly. The method includes a first step of drilling a first pilot bore from a second manhole to a first manhole. In addition, the method includes a second step of pulling the pre-ducted optical fiber cable assembly. Further, the method includes a third step of drilling a second pilot bore from a third manhole to the second manhole. Furthermore, the method includes a fourth step of pulling the pre-ducted optical fiber cable assembly from the second manhole to the third manhole. Moreover, the method of underground installation of the pre-ducted optical fiber cable assembly eliminates the need for blowing the pre-ducted optical fiber cable assembly with a cable blowing machine.

The disclosure provides optical fiber cable manufacturing equipment including a collective core portion including a plurality of optical fibers, a metal tape disposed outside the collective core portion, and a sheath portion disposed outside the metal tape, the optical fiber cable manufacturing equipment including: a pre-bonding portion configured to pre-bond the metal tape to the outside of the collective core portion; a first coating portion disposed behind the pre-bonding portion to coat a first adhesive over at least part of both ends of the metal tape; a bonding portion disposed behind the pre-bonding portion to bond the metal tape to the outside of the collective core portion with the both ends of the metal tape overlapping each other; a second coating portion disposed behind the bonding portion to coat a second adhesive over the outside of the metal tape; and a sheath fabrication portion disposed behind the second coating portion to cover the collective core portion to which the metal tape is bonded, with a sheath, wherein an upper portion of the collective core portion to which the metal tape is bonded is heated before the collective core portion to which the metal tape is bonded enters the second coating portion, wherein the second adhesive is coated only over a lower portion of the collected core portion to which the metal tape is bonded in the second coating portion, wherein a melting point of the first adhesive is higher than a melting point of the first adhesive.

An optical fiber cable may include a cable jacket, a rigid tensile reinforcement member centered within the cable jacket, and a plurality of partially bonded optical fiber ribbons around the rigid tensile reinforcement member. The optical fiber cable does not include any buffer tubes but may include a cushioning layer adjacent the ribbons.

An optical fiber cable having reduced surface friction may include a low-friction, fire retardant cable jacket structure. The cable jacket structure may include a thicker, highly fire-retardant cable jacket, and a thinner, low-friction skin layer formed over the cable jacket.

Disclosed is an opto-electric cable including one or more electrical conductors. Each conductor includes an electrically conductive core and an electrically insulating layer surrounding it. The cable also includes an optical unit embedded within one of the electrically conductive cores. The optical unit includes at least two optical fibers and a single buffer jointly surrounding all the optical fibers. Each optical fiber includes a core, a cladding and a coating. Since all the optical fibers of the optical unit are jointly surrounded—and protected—by a single buffer, an optical unit with a reduced size is obtained. This allows reducing the cross section of the electrical conductor in which the optical unit is arranged. In particular, electrical conductors with cross section lower than 10 mm.sup.2 are obtained.

Cables having buffer elements formed with two-dimensional fillers are described. A cable may include at least one optical fiber, and a buffer element may be formed around the at least one optical fiber. The buffer element may be formed from a material that includes a polypropylene-containing polymeric resin, a filler added to the polymeric resin that includes a plurality of two-dimensional particles, and an amphiphilic compatabilizer. A jacket may be formed around the at least one optical fiber and the buffer element.

An optical cable includes a plurality of buffer tubes, each of the buffer tubes includes a flexible ribbon, the flexible ribbon including a plurality of optical fibers, the flexible ribbon being wrapped with a finished tape.

A guidewire including an optical fiber containing three fiber cores, each supporting a strain-sensing fiber Bragg grating (FBG) is described. The three FBGs are susceptible to changes in strain so that axial and lateral force vectors imparted to the FBGs can be ascertained. An optical connector detachably connects the guidewire optic fiber to a proximal optical fiber. The proximal optical fiber in turn is connected to a controller, which in addition to ascertaining the axial and lateral force vectors imparted to each of the FBGs, is programmed to calculate the spatial orientation of the guidewire as it is advanced through the vasculature. This capability is extremely useful for positioning the guidewire at a body site of interest prior to performing a medical procedure. A temperature-sensing FBG is used to compensate for changes in the ambient temperature.

A rollable optical fiber ribbon utilizing low attenuation, bend insensitive fibers and cables incorporating such rollable ribbons are provided. The optical fibers are supported by a ribbon body, and the ribbon body is formed from a flexible material such that the optical fibers are reversibly movable from an unrolled position to a rolled position. The optical fibers have a large mode filed diameter, such as ≥9 microns at 1310 nm facilitating low attenuation splicing/connectorization. The optical fibers are also highly bend insensitive, such as having a macrobend loss of ≤0.5 dB/turn at 1550 nm for a mandrel diameter of 15 mm.