Effect of Furnace Thermal Configuration on Optical Fiber Heating and Drawing

Abstract

ABSTRACT The thermal configuration of the draw furnace, which involves the wall temperature profile, the temperature level, and the length of the heated zone, is an important aspect in high-speed optical fiber manufacture. This article presents a computational study on the effect of the furnace thermal configuration on the draw process and on physical quantities such as velocity and temperature difference across the preform/fiber, tension, and neck-down profile. Considering a cylindrical graphite furnace, the study solves a conjugate problem, which involves both the moving silica glass rod or fiber and the inert gases in the furnace. The flow and heat transfer in the two regions is linked due to the boundary conditions at the surface of the glass. Force balance conditions are used to determine the neck-down profile. A fairly versatile finite-difference numerical scheme is employed to consider different temperature distributions along the furnace wall, as well as a range of heating-region lengths. Besides the flow and thermal transport, the tension in the fiber and thermally induced defects that affect fiber quality are also calculated. A range of fiber draw speeds is also considered, and the effect on the variables that determine the fiber characteristics is studied.