Optical fiber cable

Abstract

An optical communication cable is provided. The optical communication cable includes a cable jacket forming a central bore, a plurality of subunits having subunit sheaths, and a furcation plug coupled to the cable jacket, wherein the cable jacket defines an outer surface of the optical communication cable on an upstream side of the furcation plug and the plurality of subunits extend beyond the central bore and are exposed on a downstream side of the furcation plug such that the subunit sheaths define the outer surface of the optical communication cable. A plurality of connectors are coupled to the downstream ends of the plurality of subunits.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An optical communication cable comprising:
 a cable jacket forming a central bore;   a plurality of subunits, each subunit having a subunit sheath surrounding a plurality of optical fibers;   a furcation plug coupled to the cable jacket, wherein the cable jacket defines an outer surface of the optical communication cable on an upstream side of the furcation plug and the plurality of subunits extend beyond the central bore and are exposed on a downstream side of the furcation plug such that the subunit sheaths define the outer surface of the optical communication cable on the downstream side of the furcation plug; and   a plurality of connectors, wherein each connector is coupled to a downstream end of the corresponding subunit.   
     
     
         2 . The optical communication cable of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of optical fibers includes optical fiber ribbons. 
     
     
         3 . The optical communication cable of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the cable jacket or the subunit sheath comprise particles of intumescent material. 
     
     
         4 . The optical communication cable of  claim 3 , wherein the intumescent material is embedded in the cable jacket or subunit sheath to form an intumescent layer that coats an inner surface of the cable jacket or the subunit sheath. 
     
     
         5 . The optical communication cable of  claim 3 , wherein the intumescent material includes sodium silicates, graphite, or a exolit material. 
     
     
         6 . The optical communication cable of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the cable jacket or the subunit sheath comprise a fire resistant material. 
     
     
         7 . The optical communication cable of  claim 6 , wherein both the cable jacket and the subunit sheath comprise a fire resistant material. 
     
     
         8 . The optical communication cable of  claim 6 , wherein one of the cable jacket or the subunit sheath comprise a non-fire resistant material. 
     
     
         9 . The optical communication cable of  claim 6 , wherein the fire resistant material is a fire resistant polyethylene, polypropylene, or polyvinyl chloride. 
     
     
         10 . The optical communication cable of  claim 1 , further comprising yarn strands coupled to the furcation plug. 
     
     
         11 . The optical communication cable of  claim 10 , wherein an adhesive material couples the yarn strands to the furcation plug. 
     
     
         12 . The optical communication of  claim 1 , further comprising subunit yarn strands coupled to the connectors. 
     
     
         13 . The optical communication cable of  claim 12 , wherein a length of the subunit yarn strands relative to a length of the subunits acts to evenly distribute tension with the subunits and connectors.