Why Not Consider Splice-On Connector for Field-Termination?

There is no question that the demand for network capacity is accelerating dramatically as data traffic has proliferated. Hence, a great amount of optical fibers are deployed in the field in order to cope up with the requirements. Which inevitably exerts more work stress when polishing and terminating these massive fibers. Field-installable splice-on connectors, which can be terminated at the end of the cable in field by fusion splicing, can resolve this issue. This article will shed light on the functions and benefits of splice-on connector, and explain why we should consider it seriously.

What Is Splice-On Connector?

A splice-on connector uses a fusion splicer to permanently join a fiber stub inside the connector with a fiber cable. The splice is protected within the boot of the connector. Splice-on connector features a factory pre-polished ferrule that eliminates the need for polishing and adhesives so they can be crimped in the field. Splice-on connectors significantly enhance the effectiveness of the termination and installation, which allow for unsurpassed performance and flexibility in the field. Moreover, splice-on connectors are easily assembled that requires minimal skill or training, and it presents the same high quality as the factory terminated one.

The diagram above typically illustrates the SC type of the field-installable splice-on connector. It generally consists of 8 parts. In addition to stub, which is a ferrule with a short fiber, and heat shrinkable sleeve, all housing parts are almost the same design as the standard connector.

How to Assemble Splice-On Connector?

The process for splice-on connector assembly is fairly easy, and SC or LC version simply has the same procedures. Here we take SC splice-on connector for example, just follow these steps:

Why to Consider Splice-On Connector?

Splice-on connectors generally expand our options for field-termination, technicians nowadays incline to embrace the splice-on connector for OSP environment, data center installation and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) networks. Here are six reasons why we should consider splice-on connector to network.

Fewer Components and Material Required

With a splice-on connector, the pigtail is eliminated since the fiber stub inside the connector is permanently joined with a fiber cable. The splice is protected within the connector boot. There is no need for splice tray, slack management of fiber strands, or other accessory.

Better Insertion Loss and Return Loss

Splice-on connector has better performance on insertion loss and return loss when compared with mechanical splice. By utilizing a fusion splicer, a splice-on connector creates a continuous connection in the glass by “welding” cores together. Which results in robust performance at the splice.

Installation Flexibility

Splice-on connector gives installer much more flexibility by combining fusion splicing with a field-installable connector. It allows you to run drop cables to an end-user, cut the length you need and then attach the splice-on connector and plug it in, with no shorts or excess slack. Splice-on connector makes it possible to achieve durable, high-performance connection with the same amount of time it takes to complete a mechanical splice.

Well-Suited for Outdoor Environments

Most splice-on connector can be used in outdoor environments, providing permanent, robust connections in outdoor enclosures. They can remain stable through a wide range of temperatures and other harsh conditions.

Notification for Successful Splice

When technician successfully completes the splicing task, most fusion splicer can notify them. This decrease the chance for installer skill that is required for mechanical splicing, making it easy to use splice-on connectors regardless of you are a beginner or expert.

Significantly Decreased Price

The cost of fusion splicing tools once has stood in the way for the spread of fusion splicing. However, the industry has experienced significant decreases in splice prices in recent years. One can even choose to rent those devices if needed. Fusion splicing gains in much popularity that enables more installers to benefit from splice-on connectors for deployments.

Conclusion

Splice-on connectors simply combine the quality of fusion splicing with the ease of a field-installable connector. It enables technicians to realize greater efficiency and improve fiber management especially in tight space and high density environments. They have been extensively used in FTTx networks, cable TV backbone networks, outside plant and MDU FTTP cabling, as well as data center installation and connector restoration in the field. So why not consider splice-on connectors for your project?

Source: http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/consider-splice-on-connector-field.html

How to Install Splice Protection Sleeve in Splice Holder?

Fusion splicing offers a simplified and convenient way to achieve fiber optic connectivity. Providing a rather consistent and low loss mating of fiber optic stands, fusion splicing is preferred by many installers as an efficient method to connect fibers together. Fragile as the fiber joint is, it is easily impacted by stress and outside force. Hence, a splice protection sleeve should be necessarily used to safeguard the fiber splice in field and factory operations. We will present several common types of splice protection sleeve here, and try to explain how to install it in splice holder.

Splice Protection Sleeve Description

Generally speaking, splice protection sleeve is typically used to protect fiber joint in the fiber optic fusion splicing work. It basically consists of three parts: a hot melt type adhesive inner tube and a strength member, enclosed in a cross-linked, polyethylene heat shrinkable outer tube. The design ensures consistent and reliable protection of spliced fiber, and secures fiber alignment from damage during shipping, handing and installation. Here we introduce the commonly used splice protection sleeve for you.

Single Fiber Splice Protection Sleeve

Single fiber splice protection sleeve is often with 40mm or 60mm length, whereas 45mm sleeve is specifically provided by some vendors. It is designed to offer simple, convenient and highly reliable ways to protect and reinforce single fiber splice. The highly transparent tube of single fiber splice sleeve allows for direct view of the inside joint part, which facilitates regular inspection and maintenance.

Ribbon Fiber Splice Protection Sleeve

Ribbon fiber splice protection sleeve is used to protect mass fusion splices of ribbons. Different from single fiber splice protection sleeve, it is capable of accommodating multiple fiber splices, ranging from 2, 4, 8, and up to 12 spliced fibers. The tubes of ribbon fiber splice protection sleeve are clear to allow viewing of the fiber during and after splicing. The entire assembly is designed to ensure that all members maintain perfect alignment during handling and shrinking.

Considerations Before Installing Splice Protection Sleeve

Before installing the splice sleeve to the splice holder, do not forget to carefully inspect the finished sleeve. Basically there may exist the following common problems.

1. Debris inside the sleeve, which can cause an attenuation increase or fiber break. The solution is to thoroughly clean the fiber before sliding on the sleeve and to store the sleeves in a plastic bag to prevent debris from entering the splice protection sleeve during storage.

2. Improper tension on the fiber. Fail to maintain tension on the fiber during the heat shrink process my cause non-parallel fibers that result in an attenuation increase or broken fibers. So it is essential to maintain tension on the fibers when placing into the tube heater, and avoid twisting the fiber when placing or removing from the heater.

3. Cable gel or grease inside sleeve. This may have a similar effect on the fibers as solid debris and may cause bending of the fibers in a relatively short span. The solution is to thoroughly clean the fiber before sliding on the sleeve, and to not touch the fibers once they have been properly cleaned.

4. Sleeve splitting when heated. This happens due to improper tube heater settings or because the sleeve suffered a cut or puncture before being heated. This can be avoided by ensuring correct tube heater settings and by keeping the splice protection sleeve in the plastic bag until ready for use.

Method to Install Splice Protection Sleeve in Splice Holder

The spliced fibers are always stored in a splice sleeve holding apparatus of splice trays. The holders can be foam or plastic depending on the construction and dimensions of the splice tray. In this part, we offer you a proper way to achieve safe and successful installation.

Correct Installation Method

The strength member inside the splice protection sleeve is designed to provide protection during installation and removal from splice holders. To this end, one could insert the spliced fiber into a holder with the strength member in the down position. Which means it is the strength member, not the fiber, that should be installed firstly into the target holder position. This minimizes contact of the fiber and facilitates remove a splice sleeve whenever necessary.

Incorrect Installation Method

Never install the fiber prior to the strength member or put the fiber and strength member parallel to the base of the fiber holder. This would exert excess stress to the fiber, splice protection sleeve and the fiber holder as well. The consequence is increased insertion loss of the fiber.

Conclusion

Small as it might be, splice protection sleeve provides robust and reliable protection to fiber splice in fusion splicing work. Appropriate installation of splice protection sleeve ensures optimum performance and accessibility when placed in splice holders and trays. And do remember to visually inspect the splice protection sleeve before seating them in holders.

Source: http://www.fiber-optic-solutions.com/install-splice-protection-sleeve-holder.html

Tips for Fiber Splicing and Termination

Fiber cable for premises applications comes in many varieties of construction. When terminating or splicing these cables, the cable ends must be prepared to provide access to the fiber. Needless to say, fiber cable termination and splicing is a rather vital part of the whole cable installation process. This article will offer you a reference guide to delivery smooth and efficient fiber splicing and termination.

Fiber Cable Termination

Let’s start with illustrating various methodologies for optical fiber termination. Each has benefits and drawbacks, including the skill level required. Most methods are available for all connector styles. As with other connectivity components, procedures are rather component specific. Installers should refer to the applicable procedures.

NOTE: Bear in mind that there is a difference in the tolerance between single-mode fibers (SMF) and multimode fibers (MMF) mechanical connectors. You may use SMF connectors on MMF, but you may not use MMF connectors on SMF.

Pigtail Splicing: This method involves splicing a factory-made assembly onto the end of the cable. The assembly consists of a short piece of cable, pre-terminated on one end with the connector of choice. The advantage is that the connectors are pre-installed. The non-terminated end is spliced (typically fusion) to the cable.

No Polish Connectors: It is similar to pigtail splicing, minus the short piece of cable and using a mechanical splice rather than fusion. The connector actually contains a mechanical splice designed to mate with the fiber of the installed cable. The advantage is that the connector end face does not require field polishing.

Heat-Cured Termination: This method utilizes a heat-cured epoxy to secure the connector to the cable end. The installed fiber terminates at the connector end face and must be field polished.

Crimp Termination: This one utilizes a mechanical crimp or compression to secure the connector to the cable end. The installed fiber terminates at the connector end face and must be field polished.

Guide for Fiber Cable Termination

Following are the steps for terminating fiber cables:

Step One: Verify that the correct termination components have been selected, compatible with both the fiber and the connecting hardware.

Step Two: Arrange the wiring scheme and organize cable by destination (rack, panel, etc.). If desired, optical fiber cable may be dressed or combed for a neat appearance

Step Three: Trim the cable length to reach the termination point without putting the cable under stress or violating the bend radius. Be sure to maintain cable identification.

Step Four: Follow the connectivity hardware manufacturer’s instructions for installing the termination hardware/connectors.

• Beware of anything crushing or excessively bending fibers or tubes.
• Properly bond and ground any cables with metallic components.
• If using a pigtail, protect all splices with a splice sleeve and suitable splice enclosure.

Step Five: Loosely bundle all exposed cable, preferably with hook-and-loop style straps.

Step Six: Clear out the work area.

Fiber Cable Splicing

In general, splices are best avoided. And it often can be avoided due to the relatively short distances typical of premises networks. If splices are required, fusion splices (see details here) are recommended due to lower attenuation. However, mechanical splices are allowed. All fusion splices should be protected by a splice sleeve. All splices should be housed in a splice tray. All outdoor splices should be stored in an environmentally suitable splice closure.

Although there are common standards to ensure interoperability between cable and hardware, many hardware features are manufacturer specific. Therefore, the following steps should be used in conjunction with the instructions/guidelines relevant to the fiber splicing solution being employed.

Steps of Fiber Splicing

Step One: Verify that the correct fiber splicing method has been chosen, making sure that the tools and hardware facilitate the method to be used. There are some factors to consider when calculating splice and closure size.

• Cable construction
• Cable fiber count
• Splice type
• Splice location

Step Two: The space needs of the splice closure, the working space, and the cable pathway leading to the splice are important factors that need to be considered. The cable should not be bent so that it twists or violates the minimum bend radius.

Step Three: Use safety precautions to set up the splicing area using ladders or scaffolding, where required.

Step Four: Install a support structure for the splice if necessary. Sustain the proper bending radius of the cable, and keep room for the appropriate splice closure.

Step Five: Install the closure as the closure manufacturer’s instructions, and perform the splice with the splice/splicer manufacturer’s instructions, including but not limited to the following:

• Cable preparation – often the cable manufacturer’s guidelines and closure manufacturer’s guidelines must both be referenced to achieve the proper procedures and measurements.
• Secure all cables to prevent movement relative to the closure.
• Properly bond and ground any cables with metallic components.
• Provide sufficient fiber length inside the closure. Consider both current access and possible future changes. Balance fiber length on both sides of the splice to aid in neat fiber storage.
• Protect all splices with a splice sleeve and store all splices and slack fiber in a splice tray.
• Label the splice per the customer specification and update as-built drawings as necessary.

Step Six: Clear out the work area.

Conclusion

The process of fiber splicing and termination can be more complex in real-case practice. The guide for fiber splicing and termination offered in the article is considered feasible and convenient. I hope you could benefit from this.

Originally published: http://www.fiber-optic-solutions.com/tips-fiber-splicing-termination.html

An Overview of Fiber Optic Splicing

It is generally accepted that splicing is often required to create a continuous optical path for optical pulses from one fiber length to another. Thus, relevant skills and knowledge of fiber optic splicing methods have become increasingly essential to any company or fiber optic technician specialized in telecommunication or LAN and networking projects. Under some circumstances, fiber optic cables may need to be spliced together to ensure better performance, such as to achieve a connection of a certain length, or just to repair a broken cable. For example, the maximum lengths of a fiber optic cable is up to about 5 km, then two fiber optic cable need to be spliced together to achieve 10km lengths of data transmission. This article aims to describe some basic elements related to optical fiber splicing thus to provide useful information about it.

What Is Fiber Optic Splicing

Just as the name indicates, fiber optic splicing serves as a method to join two optical fiber together due to some necessary reasons. Fiber optic splicing typically lead to lower light loss and back reflection than termination, making it a relatively preferred method when the transmission distances are too long for a single length of fiber or when one have to joint two different types of cable together, such as a 48-fiber cable to four 12-fiber cables. Besides, splicing is also used to restore or repair fiber optic cables when a buried cable is accidentally broken or damaged.

The Types of Fiber Optic Splicing

Basically, there exist two fiber interconnection methods: one is fusion splicing and the other is mechanical splicing. If you are just beginning to splice fiber, you might need to look at your long-term goals in this field in order to choose which technique best fits your economic and performance expectations.

Fusion splicing remains to be one of the most widely adopted permanent technique to joint optical fibers, which contains the process of fusing or welding two fibers together usually by an electric arc. The popularity of this kind of splicing method is resulted from the lowest loss and least reflection it offers. Moreover, it also provides the strongest and most reliable joint between two fibers. Fusion splicing can be achieved by a specialized equipment called fusion splicer that generally involves two functions: aligning the fibers and then melting them together.

Mechanical splicing, on the other hand, is simply aligned and designed to hold in place by a self-contained assembly. Two fibers are not permanently joined, just precisely held together to enable light to pass from one fiber into the other. Mechanical splicing are especially popular for fast, temporary restoration or for splicing multimode fibers in a premises installation. Meanwhile, they are also used as temporary splices for testing bare fibers with OTDRs or OLTSs.

Mechanical splices generally have higher loss and greater reflection than fusion splices, but they do not need an expensive machine to fulfill the splicing tasks. All needed are just a simple cleaver and some cable preparation tools. Sometimes, a visual fault locator(VFL) may help to optimize some types of splices.

The Procedures of Fiber Optic Splicing
Both of fusion splicing and mechanical splicing consist of four basic steps, and for the first two steps, these two splicing methods are relatively the same. They only differ from each other in the last two steps.

Four basic steps to achieve a proper fusion splicing:

Step 1: Preparing the fiber- Striping the protective coatings, jackets, tubes, strength members, etc. leaving only the bare fiber and keeping it clean.

Step 2: Cleaving the fiber-Using a good fiber cleaver is essential to ensure a successful fusion splice. The cleaved end must be mirror-smooth and perpendicular to the fiber axis to obtain a proper splice.

Step 3: Fusing the fiber-Two steps involves in this step: alignment and heating. Alignment can be manual or automatic depending on what equipment you have. Once properly aligned the fusion splicer unit then uses an electrical arc to melt the fibers, permanently welding the two fiber ends together.

Step 4: Protecting the fiber-Protecting the fiber from bending and tensile forces will ensure the splice not break during normal handling. A typical fusion splice has a tensile strength between 0.5 and 1.5 lbs and will not break during normal handling but it still requires protection from excessive bending and pulling forces. Using heat shrink tubing, silicone gel and/or mechanical crimp protectors will protect the splice from outside elements and breakage.

Four basic steps to complete a mechanical splicing:

Step 1: Preparing the fiber -Striping the protective coatings, jackets, tubes, strength members, etc. leaving only the bare fiber and keeping it clean.

Step 2: Cleaving the fiber-The process is identical to the cleaving for fusion splicing but the cleave precision is not as critical.

Step 3: Mechanically join the fibers-No heat is needed in this method. Simply position the fiber ends together inside the mechanical splice unit. The index matching gel inside the mechanical splice apparatus will help couple the light from one fiber end to the other. Older apparatus will have an epoxy rather than the index matching gel holding the cores together.

Step 4: Protecting the fiber-The completed mechanical splice provides its own protection for the splice.

Conclusion

From what discussed above, we can figure out that these two types of fiber optic splicing methods obtain their advantages and drawbacks. Whether to fusion splicing or mechanical splicing in fact depend greatly on several elements, such as transmission distance, signal loss and reflection requirements. For most telecommunication and CATV companies, they incline to invest in fusion splicing for their long haul single-mode network. While in terms of shorter, local cable runs, they still prefer mechanical splicing. However, since signal loss and reflection are minor concerns for most LAN applications, either of these two methods can be equally employed in the LAN industry.

First published: http://www.china-cable-suppliers.com/an-overview-of-fiber-optic-splicing.html