Hello, everyone!
Today, I will continue to explain fusion splicing. In this article, I will explain the preparation of optical fiber for splicing.
Before splicing optical fibers, three processes are required: strip, clean and cleaver.
With the help of a fiber stripper, the primary buffer coating is removed, this should be done carefully so as not to damage the optical fiber. There are different fiber strippers. In figure 1, we can see a three-hole fiber stripper.
Figure 1. Three-hole fiber stripper
In this type of fiber stripper, we can strip optical fiber which is diameter 600 – 900 um, 250 nm and 125 um. We can see this process in the next figure.
Figure 2. Using a fiber stripper
After that, the optical fibers are cleaned with 98 % alcohol or some special liquid and wipes. This is also a very important process because the presence of impurities can affect the quality of the splice.
Figure 3. Using some special liquid and wipes for cleaning optical fiber
Finally, an optical cleaver is used for cleaving optical fibers. It is very important that the fiber is cut at a 90-degree angle. The next figure shows fiber cleaver (figure 4). We can see all elements of fiber cleaver.
Figure 4. Fiber cleaver
There are different fiber cleavers, you should always choose better-quality regardless of the price. The speed of operation and the quality of the splice depend on the precision of the optical fiber cutting. Figure 5. shows the blades of the fiber cleaver. The blade on the fiber cleaver should be turned after a while, as you can see in the picture there are a number of positions. Failure to do so will result in poor optical fiber cutting.
Figure 5. Blades of fiber cleaver
After this, the optical fiber is ready for fusion splicing. The optical fibers are placed in the holders of the fusion splice. The fusion splicing program starts. The appropriate fusion splicing program is selected. On the display, we can see the fibers, how the positioning, splicing, and evaluation of the splice quality are performed.
Fibers that are badly cut will be rejected. That is why good fiber preparation is important.
Figure 6. On the right side a bad optical fiber
Automatic splicing is mainly used, where only the prepared optical fibers are inserted, and the fusion splicer performs automatic positioning, splicing and splice estimation.
This is the end of this article. I will continue to write about this topic in the next article >> Fusion splicing (5).
Thank you!
