US-12619039-B2 - Optical fiber combiner with a heat sink and method of dissipating heat using same in a vacuum

US12619039B2US 12619039 B2US12619039 B2US 12619039B2US-12619039-B2

Abstract

An optical fiber combiner includes optical fiber components including a predetermined area and a refractive index portion formed on the predetermined area; a housing including a channel with the optical fiber components disposed through, fastening members for fastening the optical fiber components, and a cover for sealing the channel; and a conductive material disposed in the channel. In response to laser beams impinging on the optical fiber components, heat is generated by the refractive index portion, the heat is absorbed by the conductive material, and the heat is further transferred to the housing and the cover by thermal conduction for dissipation.

Inventors

YU-HSIANG LIN
Chin-Feng Su

Assignees

YU-HSIANG LIN
Chin-Feng Su

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20231017

Claims (1)

1 . An optical fiber combiner, comprising: a plurality of optical fiber components including a predetermined area and a refractive index portion formed on the predetermined area; a housing including a channel with the optical fiber components disposed through, a plurality of fastening members for fastening the optical fiber components, and a cover for sealing the channel; and a conductive material disposed in the channel; wherein the conductive material is a predetermined conductive material capable of releasing gas in a vacuum of equal to or less than 10 −5 tor and the predetermined conductive material is configured to evaporate at a condensation percentage less than 5 wt %; wherein the fastening members are made of a predetermined material capable of releasing gas in a vacuum of equal to or less than 10 −5 tor and the predetermined material is configured to evaporate at a condensation percentage less than 5 wt %; and wherein the refractive index portion is formed of a material having a refractive index less than 1.45 and an infrared wavelength of 800 nm to 1600 nm.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to heat sinks for an optical fiber and more particularly to a sealed optical fiber combiner filled with a conductive material as a heat sink and a method of dissipating heat from optical fiber components in the optical fiber combiner using the heat sink in a vacuum. 2. Description of Related Art An optical fiber is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths than electrical cables. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss. In addition, fibers are immune to electromagnetic interference, a problem from which metal wires suffer. Fibers are also used for illumination and imaging. Specially designed fibers are also used for a variety of other applications, such as optical fiber sensors and fiber lasers. Different from conventional optical fiber applications, optical fiber components need to withstand light energy loads and need to be equipped with a heat dissipation mechanism. Otherwise, the optical fiber components will fail due to high temperatures, resulting in damage to the optical fiber system. Referring to FIG. 1, it shows the encapsulation of a conventional optical fiber combiner which comprises an aluminum heat sink 11, a glass substrate 12 mounted in the heat sink 11, an optical fiber component 13 disposed through the heat sink 11, a glass cover 14 mounted on the heat sink 11, and a cover member 15 disposed on both the heat sink 11 and the glass cover 14. In an atmospheric environment, heat generated by the optical fiber component 13 can be sufficiently dissipated by means of thermal convention, by means of thermal radiation through the glass substrate 12 and the glass cover 14, and by means of thermal conduction through the heat sink 11 and the cover member 15. However, convection is impossible in a vacuum (e.g., low altitude orbit or devices operating in a vacuum) due to devoid of air. As such, heat may quickly accumulate on the optical fiber component 13, thereby damaging the optical fiber component 13. Thus, the need for improvement still exists. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is therefore one object of the invention to provide an optical fiber combiner comprising a plurality of optical fiber components including a predetermined area and a refractive index portion formed on the predetermined area; a housing including a channel with the optical fiber components disposed through, a plurality of fastening members for fastening the optical fiber components, and a cover for sealing the channel; and a conductive material disposed in the channel. The invention has the following advantages and benefits in comparison with the conventional art: The invention is applicable to a vacuum because there is no convection in a vacuum. In response to laser beams impinging on the optical fiber components, heat is generated by the low refractive index portion. The unwanted heat is absorbed by the conductive material and the heat is in turn transferred to the housing and the cover by thermal conduction. As a result, the heat is dissipated. This has the advantage of prolonging the useful life of the optical fiber combiner. In addition to the heat dissipation by thermal conduction, the heat is dissipated by thermal radiation from both the housing and the cover because they are formed of a material having an excellent thermal radiation capability. In a vacuum of equal to or less than 10−5 tor, the invention can operate for a long time and maintain optical output characteristics without damaging the optical fiber components. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional optical fiber combiner; FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of an optical fiber combiner with a heat sink and method of dissipating heat using same in a vacuum according to the invention; FIG. 3 is a top view of FIG. 2; FIG. 4 is a chart of the conventional optical fiber combiner versus the optical fiber combiner of the invention in terms of temperature change and time; and FIG. 5 is a table tabulating the conventional optical fiber combiner and the optical fiber combiner of the invention in terms of operations in an atmospheric environment and a vacuum. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to FIGS. 2 to 5, an optical fiber combiner with a heat sink and method of dissipating heat using same in a vacuum in accordance with the invention comprises a plurality of optical fiber components 2 and a housing 3 as detailed below. The optical fiber components 2 are disposed in the housing 3. A predetermined area 21 of the optical fiber component 2 is c