Category: Fiber Optic Cable

What is Ribbon Fiber Optic Cable

Ribbon fiber optic cable is a typical fiber optic cable. Unlike beam optical cable, ribbon fiber optic cable is arranged into a strip. Ribbon fiber optic cable is a convenient solution for space and weight problems. The cable ribbons are actually coated optical fibers placed side by side, encapsulated in Mylar tape, similar to a miniature version of wire ribbons used in computer wiring. A single ribbon many contain 4, 8 or 12 optical fibers. There ribbons can be stacked up to 22 high.

Because the ribbon contains only coated optical fibers, this type of cable takes up much less space than individually buffered optical fibers. As a result, ribbon cables are denser than any other cable design. They are ideal for applications where limited space is available, such as in an existing conduit that have very little room left for an additional cable.

Fiber optic ribbon cable comes in two basic arrangements: Loose tube ribbon cable, fiber ribbons are stacked on top of one another inside a loose-buffered tube. This type of arrangement can hold several hundred fibers in close quaters. The buffer, strength members, and cable jacket carry any strain while the fiber ribbons move freely inside the buffer tube. Jacket ribbon cable looks like a regular tight-buffered cable, but it is enlongated to contain a fiber ribbon. This type of cable typically features a small amount of strength member and a ripcord to tear through the jacket.

Ribbon cables is commonly used in urban construction of circle trank cable network, the large capacity and multi-core features facilitate the jumper box crossing task in the local optical area network. Ribbon cables is rarely used in inter-provincial long distance fiber optic trunk cable.

Ribbon fiber provides definite size and weight saving, which required the connector, strippers, cleavers, and fusion splicers to be tailored to the ribbon fiber. Below is the simple steps of ribbon fusion splicing:
Ribbon fusion splicer is also called mass fusion splicers, it can splice the entire cable ribbons at on time. Ribbon splicers looks similar to single fiber splicers and work in much the same way, except the ribbons are treated as one assembly, stripped, cleaved and spliced by special tools while held in a special holder. The holder is inserted in a special stripper that uses heat to make stripping easier. After stripping, the holder is placed in a special cleaver that will cleave all 12 fibers at once. Then the fixure with all the cleaved fibers is placed in the splicing machine. When the second ribbon is prepared, the unit is set for automated splicing.

FiberStore, as one of the main fibre optic cable manufacturers provides a compact, efficient, and versatile solution to applications requiring maximum connectivity in a minimum amount of space. Our ribbon cable assemblies provide up to 72 fiber connections in a single point, reducing the physical space and labor requirement, while providing the same bandwidth capacity of a multi-fiber cable with individual fiber/connector terminations per fiber. The advantage of ultilizing ribbon fiber cables resides in the ability to achieve a much higher density in patch panel, cable routing/ducting, and device connection environments, without compromising the quality or quantity of the connection.

Get The Most Common Bare Fiber Optic Cables

In modern life, bulk fiber optic cable can carry a signal quite a distance — perhaps 60 miles (100km). On a long distance line, there is an equipment hut every 40 to 60 miles. And bulk fiber optic cables are widely used in today’s networking system.

A real fiber optic cable is made out of glass. The glass is incredibly pure so that, even though it is several miles long, light can still make it through. The glass is drawn into a very thin strand, with a thickness comparable to that of a human hair. The glass strand is then coated in two layers of plastic.

Fiber optic cable types can be single mode or multimode. Modes describe the distribution of light energy across the fiber. Light rays can travel through the wire as long as they hit the core-cladding interface at an angle less than that of the critical angle. Multifiber cable is a fiber optic cable with several optical fibers. While single-mode cable is only one fiber with a small core that only allows one mode of light to propagate. Common bulk fiber optic cable types include simplex, duplex, bare fiber, etc.

Simplex Cable – Simplex cables are fiber optic cables with a single optical fiber. Simplex cable varieties include 1.6mm & 3mm jacket sizes.They are used in applications that only require one-way data transfer. Simplex is available in single mode and multimode.

Duplex Cable – Duplex cables are fiber optic cables with two optical fibers in a single cable structure. Light is not coupled between the two fibers, typically one fiber is used to transmit signals in one direction and the other receives. They are usually set up side-by-side and can be used for applications that require simultaneous, bi-directional data transfer. Duplex fiber is available in single mode and multimode.

Bare fiber – Bare fiber refers to a fiber optic core and cladding only. The bare fiber is primarily used for connecting equipment on one end to a light source on the other. Bare fiber can be terminated, polished, or prepared for pig-tailing.

The structure of a 250um coated bare fiber cable:

Core (9um for standard single mode fibers, 50um or 62.5um for multimode fibers),
Cladding (125um),
Coating (soft plastic, 250um is the most popular, sometimes 400um is also used).

Bare unjacketed fibre cable is perfect for effect lighting and can be integrated into any ceiling, wall, bar front and other design applications. Bare fiber cable should only be used in applications where the fiber can be installed without the danger of scratching or damaging the fiber cable and where future protaction is not required.

Jacketed solid core fiber cable is integrally sheathed with PVC to provide mechanical protection. They are suitable for direct embedment in mortar, soil or sand beds as long as care is taken to avoid crushing, scratching, cutting or kinking of the cable.

FiberStore, as a leading provider of optical fiber cables for over 8 years, supplies bare fiber cables from Corning company. The corning optical cable is OFNR-rated, UV-resistant, fully waterblocked indoor/outdoor cables. These cables with water blocking technology eliminates the need for traditional flooding compound, providing more efficient and craft-friendly cable preparation. Available in 62.5µm, 50µm, Single mode, Multimode and hybrid versions.

What Should You Know about Low-Smoke Zero Halogen Cables

Halogen is a nonmetallic elements such as fluorine, chlorine, iodine or bromine. It is generally used as flame inhibitors in many plastics, including PVC that goes into cable insulation and electronic products. Halogens are a group of chemical elements including iodine, bromine, fluorine, astatine, and chlorine. When these elements are exposed to fire, they form hazardous gases which are harmful to harm the eyes, nose, lungs, and throat.

LSZH is a material category used to classify cable insulation. LSZH (Low Smoke Zero Halogen) cable insulation is made of materials designed to give of reduced smoke and no halogen when exposed to fire. When combined with other fire deterrents and control practices, Zero Halogen Cables can help reduce fire related casualties and property destruction. These cables will also don’t give off hazardous gas/acids or toxic smoke when exposed to fire.

LSZH cables decrease the extent of smoke produced through fire and is normally used in inadequately ventilated areas, for instance, airplane and some areas that people may be affected by smoke and toxic fumes.

Beside the halogen free features, LSZH cable also has lighter weight, this is convenient especially if the cables are run overhead in a dropped ceiling. At the same time, the impact of halogen free cables will also be lower if there is a fire because there are fewer toxic chemicals involved.

Many different Fiber Optic Cable suppliers are now making low-smoke, zero-halogen cables. And it is currently widely used in Europe and elsewhere in the world contains halogens. The European market is demanding that cables used in LANs. WANs, etc. Meet LSZH specification. The IEC 60332-1 governs the Flame Retardant Grade specifications in reference to LSZH cable.

Essentially the compound used in manufacturing cables meeting the above specifications reduces the amount of dangerous/poisonous gases in case of fire. The main difference in specifications between IEC 60332-1 versus UL 5181, UL 1666 and UL 910 is that the cable under the IEC specifications continue to burn while still emitting very low gases. UL specs demand that the flame be extinguished, but it can still be emit poisonous/dangerous gases.

Most safety advocates are calling for the used of LSZH cables, especially for the plenum space. Review your local building codes to determine if you must use LSZH cable. Non-LSZH cables will produce corrosive acids if they are exposed to water when burned; such acids may theoretically further endanger equipment.

How to Choose Fibre Optic Cable Manufacturers

If you get a fiber optic cabling project on hand, you must know what fiber optic equipment is needed. Use structured fiber optic cables and cabling components are very important. Cabling is the foundation of your network, if the cabling fails, nothing else will matter. For a given grade or category of cabling, you’ll see a range of price, but the highest prices don’t necessarily mean the highest quality. Buy based on the manufacturer’s reputation and proven performance is essential, here comes the title of this article how to choose fibre optic manufacturers, see some tips on this regarding this question.

fibre optic cable manufacturer

Reasonable price
Price is the first factor that we should take into consideration. Price of fiber optic products is commonly higher than other industrial products.Take fiber optic cable for example, price of fiber optic cable is calculated by meter & foot. The minimal length of fiber optic cables is 3 meters, larger projects may need thousands of meters, which will result in a huge cost on fiber cables. When buying online, you will see most fiber optic cable vendors list the fiber optic cable price per foot, you can compare three or more store to choose the most proper one.

Excellent quality
Most expensive prices do not mean the best quality, that’s true, while the cheapest is more likely sacrifice to quality. So it is hard to judge the quality of fiber optic cable just by how much of the seller priced them. You need to do something by yourself now, check out the customer reviews on the products. Good vendors are willing to open the review functions online if they are confident with their products, so find out several such web-store and compare the satisfaction, although this cannot include all, it’s helpful for reference!
If you have enough time and patience, you are also suggested buying a small sample before placing a big order.

Technical supports & Good customer service
Customer service is another important point that determine your fiber optic cable manufacturer is good or not. Power company always invests huge to build professional technical supports and
customer service teams, which are also the software of a company. Make some inquiries before buying, on general issues or technique issues, you will soon check out their service level, it is necessary to do the test before buying other than after-sales.

Warranty policy
It is well known that stuff bought online should be guaranteed, otherwise, you will lose you money easily. The warranty period of the products is varied from different sellers.Take fibre optic cable manufacturers for example, some vendors guarantee weeks, or months of the exchange of refund. Some are one or two year, which is very usual. But if you see a company that gives you a lifetime warranty, why not choose the lifetime warranty one to the years or month ones? The longer their warranty period is, the more reliable their products would be. No one is willing to pay more than the earned after sale, only if the quality is unbeatable enough!

Reputation of the supplier
Last but not the least, check the reputation of your possible fiber optic cable supplier is also important, this is especially necessary when doing purchase online. Enter the name of your supplier like “FiberStore” in Google, you will see many informations related to this company, check this informations about their social network account, forum talking topics, products reviews, or even the latest news or activities, the general impressions of this company will form on your mind.

Above only listed several typical aspect that you need to take to judge your fiber optic cable suppliers, some other points are also important if you want to rigorous decision on where to buy fiber optic cable, keeps an eye on the new products updating frequency of the supplier, their custom capability for your special requirement. Powerful fibre optic cable manufacturers always keeping research and develop new products and keep pace with the latest industrial technologies!

Facts Of Fiber Optic Cables

People have really enjoyed the power and the flexibility of fiber optic cabling all around the world. Fiber optic cabling is  becoming the fastest, smartest and most flexible way to enable large amounts of digital data to be transmitted and received. These long thin strands of cable have revolutionized the way our phone, television and information systems work. Without these cables, we wouldn’t have high speed broadband internet. Fiber optic cables are inexpensive, flexible and do not take much power to run. These advantages have made them a popular favorite among many communication companies. The only problem is, many people still know little about fiber optic cabling technology.

Here are some fiber optic cabling facts:

Fiber optic cables have a history – The technology surrounding fiber optics has been around since the 1870’s. The first introduction of actual fiber optic cabling started showing up in the 1950’s. This is a technology rooted in solid history.

Fiber optic cables use light – There is no electrical current being passed through fiber optic cabling, only light. Because of this, there is no heat and no heat means no burning and no fire hazards. During normal use, fiber optics are the safest option for data transmission.

Fiber optic cables are fast – Data can be transmitted through fiber optic cabling faster than traditional cabling due to increased capacity. Right now, commercial uses of fiber optic cabling can transmit 10-80 Gigabits per second over just one channel. According to reports, the current record is 15.5 Terabits per second over a distance of 7,000km. To put that into perspective, that’s the equivalent of 10.3 million DSL connections.

Fiber optic cables have many uses – From the traditional use of data transmission, fiber optics have grown in their use. Now, they are used with gun sights, imaging optics, spectroscopy, supply low levels of power, signs, art and even artificial Christmas trees.

Fiber optic cables have various types – Two main types of cables are multi-mode optical fibers and single-mode optical fibers. A multi-mode optical fiber has a larger core (≥ 50 micrometers), allowing less precise, cheaper transmitters and receivers to connect to it as well as cheaper connectors. There is also large core optical fiber(common 100 micrometers or even 400 micrometers). There are also Simplex cable and Duplex cable.

Simplex Cable– There is a single strand of fiber which is surrounded by a Single strand of fiber surrounded by a 900 um buffer after that a layer of Kevlar and lastly the outer jacket. It is generally available in 2mm or 3mm in plenum or riser jacket. Plenum is stronger while riser cable is more flexible.

Duplex Cable– The concurrent operation of a circuit in both directions within data communications is known as full duplex. The system is called half duplex when it is capable of sending only one transmission at a time. Two single strands are attached at the center surrounded by a 900 um buffer, and then comes a Kevlar jacket and finally the outer jacket.

Other types of fiber optic cables are loose tube cable and tight buffered cable, distribution cable, ribbon cable, breakout cable, waterproof cables for moisture environment, etc.