Hello everyone!
Today, I will finish explaining underground optical cable installation. In this last article, I will explain microcables, microducts, and microteaching.
Microcables are a new generation of optical cables. This type of optical cable is a loose tube cable. They are characterized by a very high density of packaging, ie small dimensions, and weight. Microcables use band insensitive fibers, whose fibers are densely packed. The diameter of these optical fibers with buffer coating is 200 microns or less compared to conventional fiber (about 250 microns). Microcables are used in both indoor and outdoor applications. They are very popular, especially in outdoor applications. The example of a microcable, we can see in figure 1.
Figure 1. Microcable
For outdoor applications, micro cables are installed in microducts by blowing or jetting, in microteaching. Microtrenching uses machines for cutting slots on the road surface. The advantages are speed, efficiency, less road damage, etc. We can see microtrenching in the next figure.
Figure 2. Microtrenching
Typically, a micro-trench can have from 20 mm to 60 mm wide and 300 mm to 500 mm deep. It depends on the type of road and the existing services. Micro-trenches are usually near the edge of the road (as we can see in figure 2.).
Figure 3. Micro-trench
Microducts are made of HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene). These types of pipes are installed as bundles in larger ducts in microtrench. There are different variants of packaging microducts. It is recommended that bundles be identified with colored binders in accordance with standard EIA/TIA-598B.
We can see all of these in the next three figures. In figure 4, we can see the example of microduct bundle – 7 way, with microcable. Figure 5 shows us color coding. Microduct color code is 1. blue, 2. orange, 3. green, 4. brown, 5. slate, 6. white, and 7. red. And the last figure, we can see microduct bundle variations.
Figure 4. Microducts
Figure 5. Color coding
Figure 6. Microduct bundle variations
This is all about underground optical cable installation.
For more information, please click:
Underground optical cable installation (1)
Underground optical cable installation (2)
Underground optical cable installation (3)
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Underground optical cable installation (5)
Thank you!
