How To Make Fiber Optic Cable?

Although fiber optic cable is still more expensive than other types of cable, it's favored for today's high-speed data communications because it eliminates the problems of twisted-pair cable, such as near-end crosstalk (NEXT), electromagnetic interference (EIVII), and security breaches.

• FIBER OPTIC CABLE ADVANTAGES OVER COPPER:

• SPEED: Fiber optic networks operate at high speeds - up into the gigabits

• BANDWIDTH: large carrying capacity

• DISTANCE: Signals can be transmitted further without needing to be "refreshed" or strengthened.

• RESISTANCE: Greater resistance to electromagnetic noise such as radios, motors or other nearby cables.

• MAINTENANCE: Fiber optic cables costs much less to maintain.

• TWO BASIC CABLE DESIGN

Loose-tube cable, used in the majority of outside-plant installations.

In a loose-tube cable design, color-coded plastic buffer tubes house and protect optical fibers. A gel filling compound impedes water penetration. Excess fiber length (relative to buffer tube length) insulates fibers from stresses of installation and environmental loading. Buffer tubes are stranded around a dielectric or steel central member, which serves as an anti-buckling element.

The cable core, typically surrounded by aramid yarn, is the primary tensile strength member. The outer polyethylene jacket is extruded over the core. If armoring is required, a corrugated steel tape is formed around a single jacketed cable with an additional jacket extruded over the armor.

Loose-tube cables typically are used for outside-plant installation in aerial, duct and direct-buried applications.

Tight-buffered cable, primarily used inside buildings.

With tight-buffered cable designs, the buffering material is in direct contat with the fiber. This design is suited for "jumper cables" which connect outside plant cables to terminal equipment, and also for linking various devices in a premises network.

Multi-fiber, tight-buffered cables often are used for intra-building, risers, general building and plenum applications.

The tight-buffered design provides a rugged cable structure to protect individual fibers during handling, routing and connectorization. Yarn strength members keep the tensile load away from the fiber.

• INDOOR CABLE OR OUTDOOR CABLE

The major difference between indoor and outdoor fiber optic cable is water blocking. Any conduit is someday likely to get moisture in it. Outdoor cables are designed to protect the fibers from years of exposure to moisture. Indoor cables are what we call "tight-buffered" cables, where the glass fiber has a primary coating and secondary buffer coatings that enlarge each fiber to 900 microns—about 1mm or 1/25-inch, to make fiber easier to work with.

Indoor Fiber Optic Cable

Usually, indoor cables include simplex and zipcord, distribution cables and breakout cables. Simplex fiber optic cables are one fiber, tight-buffered (coated with a 900 micron buffer over the primary buffer coating) with Kevlar (aramid fiber) strength members and jacketed for indoor use. The jacket is typically 3mm (1/8 in.) diameter. Zipcord is simply two of these jointed with a thin web. It’s used mostly for patch cord and backplane applications, but zipcord can also be used for desktop connections.

Distribution fiber optic cables contain several tight-buffered fibers bundled under the same jacket with Kevlar strength members and sometimes fiberglass rob reinforcement to stiffen the cable and prevent kinking. These cables are small in size, and used for short, dry conduit runs, riser and plenum applications. The fibers are double buffered and can be directly terminated, but because their fibers are not individually reinforced, these cables need to be broken out with a “breakout box” or terminated inside a patch panel or junction box. The distribution cable is the most popular cable for indoor use.

Breakout fiber optic cables are made of several simplex cables bundled together inside a common jacket for convenience in pulling and ruggedness. This is a strong, rugged design, but is larger and more expensive than the distribution cables. They are suitable for conduit runs, riser and plenum applications, and ideal for industrial applications where ruggedness is important or in a location where only one or two pieces of equipment need to be connected.

Outdoor Fiber Optic Cable

Fiber optic cable in outdoor applications require more protection from water ingress, vermin and other conditions encountered underground. Outdoor cables need increased strength for greater pulling distances. Generally, fiber optic cables installed in outdoor applications contain loose tube fiber optic cable, ribbon fiber optic cable, armored fiber optic cable and aerial fiber optic cable.

Loose tube fiber optic cables are composed of several fibers together inside a small plastic tube, which are in turn wound around a central strength member and jacketed, providing a small, high fiber count cable. They are suitable for outside plant trunking applications because they can be made with loose tubes filled with gel or water absorbent powder to prevent harm to the fibers from water. Since the fibers have only a thin buffer coating, they must be carefully handled and protected to prevent damage. They can be used in conduits, strung overhead or buried directly into the ground.

Ribbon fiber optic cables offer the highest packing density as all the fibers are laid out in rows, typically of 12 fibers, and laid on top of each other. In this way, 144 fibers only have a cross section of about 1/4 inch or 6mm. Some cable designs use a slotted core with up to 6 of these 144 fiber ribbon assemblies for 864 fibers in one cable. Because they are outside plant cables, they are gel-filled for water blocking.

Armored fiber optic cables are installed by direct burial in areas where rodents are a problem. Usually they have metal armored between two jackets to prevent rodent penetration. This means the cable is conductive, so it must be grounded properly. It is best to choose armored fiber optic cable when use cable directly buried outdoor. Aerial fiber optic cables can be lashed to a messenger or another cable (common in CATV) or have metal or aramid strength members to make them self-supporting. Aerial cables are for outside installation on poles.

Fiber Optic Cable Jackets: PVC (OFNR), OFNP, or LSZH

Fiber optic cable jackets can provide strength, integrity and overall protection of the fiber member. PVC is widely used as a cable jacket for many applications—computers, communications, low-voltage wiring, etc. PVC can potentially be dangerous in a fire situation, releasing heavy smoke and hydrogen chloride gas, which can be irritating to humans and corrosive to electronic devices. OFNP, or plenum jackets, are suitable for use in plenum environments such as drop-ceilings or raised floors. Many data centers and server rooms have requirements for plenum-rated cables. LSZH is a jacket made from special compounds which give off very little smoke and no toxic halogenic compounds when burned.

• OPTIC FIBER CABLE MANUFACTURING PROCESS

•  EQUIPMENT REQUIRED TO PRODUCE OPTICAL FIBER CABLES

Fiber coloring & rewinding machine→for fiber coloring of twelve colors

TZ-EP30 PVC extruder machine production line→ for tight buffering of twelve colors

Aramid Yarn(Kevlar) Stranding machine→for Kevlar filling/stranding 

TZ-EP50 PVC extruder machine production line→For loose tube PBT extrusion

SZ stranding machine→For loose tube SZ stranding

TZ-EP90 PVC extruder machine production line→For cable outer jacket sheathing with online corrugating/tapping/jelley filling etc

TZ-RS2500 Take-up re-spooling machine→For semi-finished or finished cable re-spooling purpose