Fiber Protection Sleeve Secures Your Fusion Splices

Fiber optic splicing, especially fusion splicing, has become increasingly important for OSP (outside plant) deployment. The process is by joining the two fiber ends to create longer cable runs. As we know, spliced bare fibers are fragile to be easily breakable. Therefore, a good protection for the spliced fibers during fiber optic splicing is extremely necessary. Luckily, a small component named fiber protection sleeve perfectly solves the issue. It acts like a strong coat for the fiber splices to prevent unpredictable fractures. This post will take you to understand the basic knowledge about fiber protection sleeve.

Construction of Fiber Protection Sleeve

Generally speaking, a fiber protection sleeve consists three parts. The first part is the inner tube made by hot-meltable adhesive. This material can encapsulates the fusion splice joint and provides vibration damping and an environmental seal so as to protect the fiber from damage and contaminants. The second part is a reinforcing strength member outside the inner tube. The strength member can be made of stainless steel, ceramic or non-metallic. It offers extra rigidity to prevent misalignment, micro bending or breakage of the fiber. The third part is the heat-shrinkable outer tube made of cross-linked polyolefin. This tube provides an instant shrink-force and drives the adhesive liner into all areas of the splice and excludes all the air. The following picture shows the structure of a fiber protection sleeve.

How Does It Work?

When the fibers are melt during the fusion splicing, technician will use the sleeve on the melt point as a protection. Once the hot-meltable adhesive tube touches the melted fiber, it also melts to tightly wrap the fiber joint for the filling and sealing functions. Likewise, when the heat-shrinkable tube is heated, it shrinks to wrap the fiber joint, strength member and hot-meltable tube to form a unity preventing moisture and increasing fiber joint’s strength.

Two Types of Fiber Protection Sleeve

Single Fiber Protection Sleeve

This kind of protection sleeve is used for single fibers. Its strength member adopts the stainless steel needles to reduce fiber damage. Typical lengths are 40 mm and 60 mm. The sleeve color is selective, but most people would choose the transparent tube for better inspection of the fiber status.

Ribbon Fiber Protection Sleeve

The ribbon type is to protect ribbon splices of multiple fiber counts. Ceramic strength member is used to support the splices. Fiber counts in a ribbon sleeve vary from 2 to 12 fibers. The length of the sleeve is usually 40 mm. If stronger protection is required, you can choose the ribbon protection sleeves with double ceramic strength members.

Be Aware of These Precautions

While utilizing the fiber protection sleeves, there are some important precautions for operators to know. The benefits of the precautions are about avoiding unnecessary loss and securing the fiber for a long-term use.

• Point 1, do not leave air bubbles in the protection tube. This ensures the long-term reliability of the fiber splices.
• Point 2, the tension applied to the fiber should be uniform so that the fiber can stay straight in the protective sleeve.
• Point 3, the tension applied to the fiber should not be too large in case fiber cracks increase.
• Point 4, try to avoid fiber twisting. Because this may cause micro-bending and unnecessary fiber loss.
• Point 5, do not release the tension until the heat-shrinkable tube is completely shrunk, cooled and shaped. This can avoid the uneven heating which leads to fiber bending.

Conclusion

Fiber optic protection sleeve is usually used during the process of fiber optic splicing. Although the sleeve is very small, it provides great support for the fiber joint. Single fiber protection sleeve and ribbon fiber protection sleeve are two common types in the market. All the above are available in FS.COM. If you are interested, please visit the website for more information.

source:http://www.fiber-optical-networking.com/fiber-protection-sleeve-secures-fusion-splices.html

Introduction to Fiber Optic Splicing

During the actual operation of fiber cables, fiber optic splicing is often needed to achieve the connection between optic fibers. To be specific, fiber optic splicing is a process to combine the ends of optic fibers together. And only one end of each individual fiber is required. There are mainly two types splicing methods: the mechanical splicing and the fusion splicing. The article will introduce these two splicing methods and their particular steps of splicing.

What Is Mechanical Splicing?

Mechanical splicing is using the alignment devices to hold two fiber ends in a precisely aligned position. This enables the light to pass freely through one fiber to another fiber. In this method, the joint is not permanent. Two fibers can still be split after the signal transmission. Mechanical splicing has a low initial investment but costs more for each splice.

What Is Fusion Splicing?

Fusion splicing is using the professional machine to joint two optical fibers ends together. The splicing machine will hold the fibers to align them in a precised position, then using heat or electric arc to fuse or weld glass ends together. This enables the permanent connection between two optic fibers for a continuous light transmission. Fusion splicing needs a much higher initial investment but costs less for each splice than mechanical splicing. In addition, this method is more precised than mechanical splicing, which produces lower loss and less back reflection due to the seamless fusion splice points.

Four Steps of Mechanical Splicing:

1. You need to prepare the fiber by peeling off the outer coatings, jackets, tubes, etc. to just expose the bare fiber. And you much keep the cleanliness of fiber in case of failing the later transmission.

2. You need to cleave the fiber.

3. You need to joint the fibers mechanically with no heat. Just connecting the ends of fiber together inside the mechanical splice unit and the device will help couple the light between two fibers.

4. You need to protect the fiber during the light transmission. Typically, the completed mechanical has its own protection for the splice.

Four Steps of Fusion Splicing:

1. The same as mechanical splicing, you need to strip the outer materials to show the bare fiber. And cleanliness is also required as an important preparation.

2. You need to cleave the fiber. A much more precised cleave is essential to the fusion splice. The cleaved end must be smooth and perpendicular to the fiber axis for a proper splice.

3. You need to splice the fiber with heat. Manual or automatic alignment can be chosen according to the device you are using. A more accurate splice can be achieved if you use a more expensive equipment. Once properly align the fusion splicer unit then you can use an electrical arc to melt the fibers, and permanently weld the two fiber ends together.

4. You need to protect the fiber from bending and tensile forces. By adopting the heat shrink tubing, silicone gel and mechanical crimp protectors can prevent the fiber from breakage.

Conclusion

Fiber optic splicing is important for fiber connections. Two different methods of mechanical splicing and fusion splicing are usually used for splicing. In order to complete the splicing process, many professional tools are required. For example, fiber optic cleavers is deployed for the cleaving step. Fusion splicers is deployed for the fusion splicing method to connect the fibers and optical fiber aligners is deployed for the alignment to enable the light transmission. Fiberstore provides all the above equipment. For more information, please visit the official website at FS.COM.

The article originates from http://www.chinacablesbuy.com/introduction-to-fiber-optic-splicing.html.