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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

International Heat Transfer Conference 12
August, 18-23, 2002, Grenoble, France

Thermal design of draw furnace in optical fiber manufacturing

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC12.3620
7 pages

Abstract

An optimal design of the draw furnace is desirable to meet the need of high-volume production in the optical fiber industry. This paper investigates optical fiber drawing at high draw speeds in a cylindrical graphite furnace. A conjugate problem involving the glass and the purge gases is considered. The transport in the two regions is coupled through the boundary conditions at the free glass surface. The neckdown profile of the preform at steady state is determined by a force balance,using an iterative numerical scheme. The effects of the thermal configuration for a graphite draw furnace are investigated for fixed preform and fiber diameters. Various temperature distributions along the furnace wall are considered to investigate the thermal and flow transport within the furnace. For the purposes of comparison, two moderate draw speeds, 5 m/s and 15 m/s,are used. The dependence of the preform/fiber characteristics on the furnace thermal configuration is determined.