Hello everyone!
Today, I continue to write about optical cables. Now, the topic is tight buffer cables.
Tight buffer cables are used mainly in indoor applications. These cables are flexible and easy for indoor installation. As I said in the last article, the tight buffer cables can be divided in the next groups:
simplex,
zipcord,
distribution and
breakout cables.
Simplex
Simplex cables are usually patch cord cables. They can be SM or MM, but most often they are SM. They are available in different lengths (1, 1.5, 2, 3, ..., 30, 50, ... m) and with different optical connectors (SC, LC, FC, etc). Simplex cables have single fiber with primary buffer coating (900 um) with Kevlar (aramid fiber) and jacket (diameter is about 3 mm). These cables have a wide application (data centers or headend, ODN and premises networks). In the next figure, we can see this type of optical cable.
Figure 1. Simplex – patch cord with LC/APC connectors
Zipcord
Zipcord is composed of two simplex cables. This type of optical cable has 2 optical fibers. They are usually MM fibers, with different optical connectors (SC, LC, etc) and there are different lengths such as simplex cables. These cables are used in headends or data centers. Figure 2. shows the zipcord.
Figure 2. Zip cord
Distribution cables
This cable contains a large number of optical fibers, with very little protection. It is very light and flexible, so it is suitable for indoor applications. We can see the distribution cable in figure 3.
Figure 3. Distribution cable
They have, usually, optical fibers with a primary buffer coating (900 um buffered fibers) with Kevlar and a jacket. These are most often cables with 12 or 24 fibers. They are used in buildings as vertical cables. Optical connectors cannot be flattened directly, splice cassettes are required.
Breakout cables
Breakout cables are cables with additional protection for each fiber. Each fiber in the cable is an individual simplex cable. These cables are larger in diameter and weight than distribution cables. They are used as vertical and horizontal cables in the buildings, industry and they are also used in systems where we want direct installation of optical connectors without a splice cassette.
Figure 4. Breakout cable
This is the end of this article. I will continue to write about this theme in the next article >> Optical cables (3): Loose tube cables.
Thank you!
