Using condition monitoring to predict furnace decay during the optical fibre drawing process

The drawing furnace plays an important role in the drawing process of optical fibres. The condition of the drawing furnace influences the melting of silica in the heating zone which, in turn, affects many properties of the optical fibre such as attenuation fibre diameter and strength, By investigating the changes of some parameters during the furnace lifetime, it was found that the drawing tension in the bare fibre increases during the furnace lifetime and the drawing speed fluctuates when furnace decay is serious. Monitoring the combined changes of these parameters is a promising method to predict the decay of the furnace.