Device and method for producing glass fibers
A device and a method for producing glass fibers from preforms use a fiber furnace having heating bushes and a follow-up device for holding and feeding the preforms. The glass fibers are passed on to a drawing and sizing installation and wound as fiber bundles on take-up spools. The heating bushes are disposed in a matrix-like configuration for receiving a number of preforms. The glass fibers are provided as a band such that the glass fibers are disposed next to one another when they are received by the drawing and sizing installation. The principal matrix axes have a given offset angle in relation to one another, such that the matrix-like configuration is preferably a rhomboid-shaped configuration. A flow device creates a predetermined air flow in the heating bushes. A temperature and cooling control creates predetermined temperature profiles in the heating bushes.
1 . A device for producing optical glass fibers, comprising:
a fiber furnace having heating bushes disposed as a matrix configuration for simultaneously receiving a number of preforms;
a follow-up device configured to hold and feed the preforms into said heating bushes;
a drawing and sizing installation configured to receive glass fibers drawn from the preforms in said heating bushes such that the glass fibers lie next to one another as a band when being received by said drawing and sizing installation; and
a making-up device configured to receive the glass fibers from said drawing and sizing installation.
2 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said matrix configuration has principal matrix axes disposed at a given offset angle with respect to one another.
3 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said heating bushes are disposed such that said matrix configuration forms a rhomboid configuration.
4 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein:
said matrix configuration has matrix axes; and
said heating bushes are disposed such that respective distances between directly neighboring ones of said heating bushes on each of said matrix axes are substantially identical.
5 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said heating bushes are disposed in one plane.
6 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein each of said heating bushes has an associated one of the preforms assigned thereto.
7 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said fiber furnace has at least 110 heating bushes.
8 . The device according to claim 7 , wherein said matrix configuration has a first principal matrix axis and a second principal matrix axis, said matrix configuration has 10 of said heating bushes disposed in a direction of the first principal matrix axis and has 11 of said heating bushes disposed in a direction of the second principal matrix axis.
9 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said fiber furnace includes a temperature controller with individual controllers configured to individually control temperatures in said heating bushes.
10 . The device according to claim 9 , wherein said individual controllers have respective measuring and compensating devices for adjusting temperatures in said heating bushes in relation to temperatures in neighboring heating bushes.
11 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein:
each of said heating bushes has at least one heating element; and
each of said heating bushes has at least one diffuser provided between said at least one heating element and a respective one of the preforms for diffusing a heating radiation.
12 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein:
each of said heating bushes has a number of separately activatable heating coils; and
each of said heating bushes has at least one diffuser provided between said heating coils and a respective one of the preforms for diffusing a heating radiation.
13 . The device according to claim 11 , wherein:
said at least one diffuser includes a quartz glass tube; and
said follow-up device feeds the preforms such that a corresponding one of the preforms passes through the quartz glass tube.
14 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein each of said heating bushes has a flow device for creating a laminar air flow in a respective one of said heating bushes.
15 . The device according to claim 14 , wherein:
said flow device includes an extension part provided at a lower portion of said respective one of said heating bushes; and
said extension part has no heating elements assigned thereto.
16 . The device according to claim 11 , wherein:
each of said heating bushes has a flow device for creating a laminar air flow in a respective one of said heating bushes;
said flow device includes an extension part provided at a lower portion of said respective one of said heating bushes such that said at least one diffuser and said extension part form a one-piece element; and
said extension part has no heating elements assigned thereto.
17 . The device according to claim 14 , wherein said flow device includes at least one flow baffle disposed at an upper end of said respective one of said heating bushes such that an annular air gap with a given gap width is formed between a respective one of the preforms and said at least one flow baffle for venting air through the annular air gap.
18 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said follow-up device has a supporting plate with individual suspensions for individually receiving the preforms.
19 . The device according to claim 18 , wherein said individual suspensions on said supporting plate form a matrix configuration corresponding to said matrix configuration formed by said heating bushes.
20 . The device according to claim 18 , wherein each of said individual suspensions has a vacuum connection for connecting each respective one of the preforms to a central vacuum system.
21 . The device according to claim 18 , wherein:
said follow-up device includes a geared motor, a threaded spindle and a guide; and
said geared motor is configured to selectively drive and brake said supporting plate via said threaded spindle and said guide for advancing the preforms.
22 . The device according to claim 18 , wherein said supporting plate is configured to be manually movable into a service position.
23 . The device according to claim 18 , wherein said supporting plate is configured to be automatically movable into a service position.
24 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said fiber furnace has a flow collar disposed at an output end of said heating bushes for creating an air cushion for a delayed cooling of the glass fibers.
25 . The device according to claim 1 , including a cooling zone provided downstream of said fiber furnace for cooling the glass fibers.
26 . The device according to claim 25 , wherein said cooling zone includes a funnel disposed upstream of said drawing and sizing installation such that the glass fibers are passed through said funnel.
27 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said drawing and sizing installation includes a first size roller and a second size roller disposed such that glass fibers from a first half of said fiber furnace pass over said first size roller and glass fibers from a second half of said fiber furnace pass over said second size roller.
28 . The device according to claim 2 , wherein said drawing and sizing installation includes size rollers disposed at a given angle in relation to the principal matrix axes.
29 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein said fiber furnace is configured to receive preforms for producing multicomponent glass fibers.
30 . A method for producing glass fibers, the method which comprises:
introducing, with a follow-up device, preforms into heating bushes of a fiber furnace;
producing glass fibers from the preforms by drawing the glass fibers with a given constant diameter from the heating bushes;
providing the heating bushes as a configuration that ensures that the glass fibers are drawn without crossing and touching one another;
cooling the glass fibers in a predetermined manner in a cooling zone downstream of the fiber furnace; and
passing the glass fibers via a drawing installation to a making-up device.
31 . The method according to claim 30 , which comprises drawing each of the preforms with a controlled temperature profile in an associated one of the heating bushes.
32 . The method according to claim 30 , which comprises:
holding the preforms with a supporting plate of the follow-up device; and
drawing each of the preforms with a controlled advancement of the supporting plate.
33 . The method according to claim 30 , which comprises cooling the glass fibers over a given temperature profile.
34 . The method according to claim 30 , which comprises uniformly wetting the glass fibers with a sizing agent by rolling the glass fibers as a band over size rollers of a sizing installation provided downstream from the cooling zone.
35 . The method according to claim 30 , which comprises drawing each of the glass fibers at a substantially identical drawing rate by using a drawing-off roller.
36 . The method according to claim 32 , which comprises controlling a drawing rate of a drawing-off roller and an advancement of the supporting plate by using an electronic data processing installation.
37 . The method according to claim 30 , which comprises controlling temperatures in the heating bushes by using an electronic data processing installation.
38 . The method according to claim 30 , which comprises making up, with the making-up device, the glass fibers without causing any reactions on devices upstream of the making-up device.
39 . A heating bush configuration, comprising:
a heating bush configured to receive a preform; and
said heating bush having a heating element and a diffuser provided between said heating element and the preform for diffusing a heating radiation.
40 . The heating bush configuration according to claim 39 , wherein said heating element includes separately activatable heating coils.
41 . The heating bush configuration according to claim 39 , wherein said diffuser includes a quartz glass tube disposed such that the preform is passed through said quartz glass tube.
42 . The heating bush configuration according to claim 39 , wherein said heating bush has a flow device for creating a laminar air flow in said heating bush.
43 . The heating bush configuration according to claim 42 , wherein said flow device includes an extension part provided at a lower portion of said heating bush, and said extension part has no heating element assigned thereto.
44 . The heating bush configuration according to claim 43 , wherein said diffuser and said extension part form a one-piece element.
45 . The heating bush configuration according to claim 42 , wherein said flow device includes at least one flow baffle disposed at an upper end of said heating bush such that an annular air gap with a given gap width is formed between the preform and said at least one flow baffle for venting air through the annular air gap.