To provide an apparatus and a method for manufacturing an optical fiber strand that can suppress the intrusion of outside air into the inner space of a heating furnace and a large variation of a local gas flow in the inner space of the heating furnace.
The apparatus is configured to include a sealing device 11 for suppressing the intrusion of outside air into the inner space of a heating furnace 100 in a state in which an optical fiber preform 9 is inserted thereinto on an opening 10a of the heating furnace sealed with an inert gas. The sealing device 11 is in contact with the outer peripheral surface of the optical fiber preform 9 and includes, along the longitudinal direction of the optical fiber preform 9, a first seal member 111, a second seal member 112 and a third seal member 113 that demarcate it into three sections of a first section 110a to a third sections 110c. The apparatus supplies the inert gas to the inner space of the heating furnace 100 and the third section 110c, controls the entire amount of flows of the inert gas to be kept substantially constant, and melts and draws the optical fiber preform 9 while moving it in its longitudinal direction so that a neck part 9b does not simultaneously stride from the first section 110a to the third section 110c.
| JP2009062265A | 2009-03-26 | |||
| JP2006131427A | 2006-05-25 |
Tadashi Takahashi
Takashi Watanabe
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