Fiber curing apparatus with at least two fiber-coating curing stages separated by a cooling stage and method therefor

摘要

The present invention provides a coated fiber curing apparatus and method, comprising two fiber-coated cured stages separated by a cooling stage. One of the two fiber coating curing stages provides a partially cured coated fiber in response to the coated fiber. The other of the two fiber coating curing stages provides the cured coated fiber in response to the cooled cured coating fiber. The cooling stage is disposed between the two fiber coating curing stages and provides cooled partially hardened coated fibers in response to the partially cured coated fibers. In operation, the present invention does not seek to prevent the heating of the coating during the curing process on the fiber drawing towers. Rather, the present invention relates to a process for producing a cured product by irradiating a coating material on a fiber to cause a curing reaction, then actively removing heat generated during most of the curing process and irradiating the material again to complete the reaction at the fastest possible rate . One advantage of the present invention is that curing of the coated fibers can be achieved to a sufficient degree with less UV lamps than is necessary in known prior art devices.