Optical cable and process for the manufacture thereof

Claim 2

An optical cable for carrying optical waveguides, comprising: chamber elements forming autonomous elements disposed annularly with intermediate spaces therebetween in at least one layer and which serve to receive optical waveguides, autonomous supporting elements inserted into the intermediate spaces in said at least one layer between and adjacent said autonomous chamber elements, said supporting elements extending substantially radially, and a radial extent of said supporting elements exceeding a radial extent of said autonomous chamber elements and each supporting element having two projections extending in opposite directions with the projections of each supporting element respectively extending circumferentially over adjacent chamber elements.

Claim 3

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a core member element about which said layer of chamber elements and said supporting elements are disposed annularly.

Claim 4

An optical cable as claimed in claim 2, wherein said core member element includes at least one tensile element.

Claim 5

An optical cable as claimed in claim 3, further comprising: a thickening layer applied to said tensile element.

Claim 6

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said core member element is a tube.

Claim 7

An optical cable as claimed in claim 5, further comprising: at least one optical waveguide disposed in said tube.

Claim 8

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chamber elements are of a U-shaped profile in cross-section.

Claim 9

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chamber elements include substantially rectangular openings to receive the optical waveguides.

Claim 10

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chamber elements include chamber openings directed radially outwardly.

Claim 11

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: at least one optical waveguide strip line inserted into said chamber.

Claim 12

An optical cable as claimed in claim 10, wherein said at least one optical waveguide strip line is a stack of a plurality of optical waveguide strip lines inserted into said chamber elements.

Claim 13

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chamber elements have a radial extent of at least approximately 1 mm, and an extent along a circumference of at least approximately 2 mm.

Claim 14

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said chamber elements is of a wall thickness of between approximately 0.3 mm and 1 mm.

Claim 15

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting elements is of a radial extent of that is selected substantially greater than a wall thickness of said supporting elements.

Claim 16

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting elements are of a substantially smaller wall width than an extent of said chamber elements in a circumferential direction.

Claim 17

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein a wall thickness of said supporting elements is between approximately 0.5 mm and 2 mm.

Claim 18

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein outer walls of said supporting elements touch outer walls of adjacent ones of said chamber elements.

Claim 19

An optical cable as claimed in claim 17, wherein said outer walls of said supporting elements rest against said outer walls of said adjacent chamber elements along their full length.

Claim 20

An optical cable as claimed in claim 18, wherein said supporting elements substantially fill out a region between said chamber elements.

Claim 21

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein a wall thickness of said supporting elements increases in a radially outward direction.

Claim 22

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting elements fill out only partially a region between said chamber elements.

Claim 23

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting elements are of a harder material than a material of said chamber elements.

Claim 24

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: at least one transversely extending projection on each of said supporting elements.

Claim 25

An optical cable as claimed in claim 23, wherein each of said supporting elements include two projections extending in opposite directions.

Claim 26

An optical cable as claimed in claim 24, wherein said two projections are disposed symmetrically with respect to a radial extent of said supporting elements.

Claim 27

An optical cable as claimed in claim 23, wherein said projections extend to cover openings of said chamber elements.

Claim 28

An optical cable as claimed in claim 23, wherein at least two of said projections form a continuous bridge component.

Claim 29

An optical cable as claimed in claim 23, wherein said projections abut one another in a circumferential direction.

Claim 30

An optical cable as claimed in claim 23, wherein a wall thickness of said projections is between approximately 0.5 mm and 2 mm.

Claim 31

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of layers of chamber elements and supporting elements.

Claim 32

An optical cable as claimed in claim 30, further comprising: an intermediate layer on each layer of said chamber elements and said supporting elements.

Claim 33

An optical cable as claimed in claim 30, wherein said supporting elements are designed differently in various layers.

Claim 34

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: at least one outer jacket about an external surface of said optical cable.

Claim 35

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein radially extending middle parts of said supporting elements exhibit differing mechanical properties within their cross section.

Claim 36

An optical cable as claimed in claim 1, wherein said supporting elements are fixed with said core member element at a foot regions.

Claim 37

A process for the manufacture of an optical cable, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of autonomous chamber elements, a plurality of autonomous supporting elements, each supporting element having oppositely extending projections, and a plurality of waveguide strips lines; positioning said chamber elements annularly with intermediate spaces therebetween in at least one stranding layer, inserting said optical waveguide strip lines into said chamber elements as a stack, inserting said supporting elements from outside extending radially in said spaces between and adjacent said chamber elements with one projection from each supporting element extending over each adjacent chamber element to at least partially cover said stack in said chamber element.

Claim 38

A process for the manufacture of an optical cable, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of autonomous chamber elements, a plurality of autonomous supporting elements, each supporting element having oppositely extending projections, and a plurality of waveguide strips lines; positioning said chamber elements annularly with intermediate spaces therebetween in at least one stranding layer, inserting said optical waveguide strip lines into said chamber elements as a stack, inserting said supporting elements from outside extending radially in said spaces between and adjacent said chamber elements with one projection from each supporting element extending over each adjacent chamber element to at least partially cover said stack in said chamber element.

Claim 39

A process as claimed in claim 36, further comprising the step of: applying at least one outer jacket externally to said optical cable by extrusion.