COIL WINDING MACHINERY FOR INTERFEROMETRIC FIBER OPTIC GYRO MANUFACTURABILITY

INTERFEROMETRIC FIBER OPTIC GYRO (IFOG) OPTICAL FIBER COIL WINDINGS ARE PRECISION LEVEL WINDING BETWEEN FLANGES. TO MAKE THESE WINDINGS INSENSITIVE TO THERMAL GRADIENTS ACROSS THE WOUND PACK, THE INNERMOST WOUND LAYERS IS AT THE CENTER OF THE MEASUREMENT PATH FIBER COIL. ALTERNATE PAIRS OF SUBSEQUENT LAYERS ARE DRAWN FROM LENGTHS OF FIBER ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE CENTER INNERMOST LAYER. THIS ARRANGEMENT CAUSES ANY THERMAL GRADIENT PRESENT IN THE COIL STRUCTURE TO BE SYMMETRICAL ABOUT THE CENTER OF THE FIBER LOOP, WITH THE RESULT THAT MEASUREMENT ERRORS FROM THE TWO HALVES OF THE LOOP CANCEL ONE ANOTHER. ALTHOUGH THE PRINCIPLE IS SOUND, SUCH WINDINGS ARE DIFFICULT TO REALIZE IN PRACTICE, BECAUSE THE ALTERNATING LAYER PAIR GEOMETRY TRENDS TO INTRODUCE WINDING FLAWS WHICH DEGRADE PRECISION AND MAKE RELIABLE PRODUCTION OF THE WINDING DIFFICULT. OPTELECOM HAS DEVISED PROPRIETARY METHODS OF LEVEL WINDING BETWEEN FLANGES WHICH FACILITATE MAINTAINING THE REQUIRED PRECISION. WE PROPOSE TO SHOW HOW THESE PROPRIETARY WINDING TECHNIQUES WILL LEAD TO A LOW MANUFACTURING COST IFOG COIL WINDING IMPLEMENTATION. IN PHASE I, WE PROPOSE TO DEMONSTRATE THE WINDING IMPLEMENTATION USING PROTOTYPE MACHINERY. IN PHASE II, WE PLAN TO DEVELOP A WINDING MACHINE CAPABLE OF MAKING 1,000 COILS PER YEAR.