Designers from Perm have developed a new spool for optical fiber, which should reduce the risk of tangling and damage to the communication line on a drone. The utility model was registered on August 28.
The problem arose due to the characteristics of the optical fiber itself. It withstands significant tensile loads but poorly tolerates sharp kinks and loop formation. During transportation or operation, the free end can shift, and the connection point with the connector can be damaged.
The authors of the new design hid the optical connector inside the hollow part of the spool. A special clip mechanism is provided for its fixation. The fiber itself passes into the internal cavity through a separate tangential channel, and the transition from the outer surface is made along a radius that excludes sharp kinks.
There is also a solution for the spool itself. Its conical part ensures an orderly unwinding of turns from the end during flight. This should prevent the formation of loops and overlaps, which can cause the optical line to break.
The spool was also adapted for quick installation on a carrier: fasteners fit into corresponding grooves when rotated, so no additional fastening is required. The design is proposed to be manufactured by 3D printing from polymer.
Alexey Chadayev, head of the SPC "Ushkuynik", noted that the efficiency of "Knyaz Vandal" fiber optic drones reached 4000% — for every ruble spent, there are 4 rubles of achieved results.