Fusion or Mechanical: Which Is the Best Splicing Method?

by www.fiber-mart.com

When splicing together two lengths of fiber optic cabling, you have to choose between the two known methods - fusion splicing and mechanical splicing - which both essentially produce the same result - a secure connection between two formerly separate lengths of fiber.

 

However, how do you choose between them? Is one method better than the other? Well, in this article, we take a closer look at both, to provide some clarity on the subject. By reading to the end, you’ll know what the pros and cons are of each, how each connection is created and you’ll be in a better position to make a considered decision. 

 

So, without any further delay, let’s begin.

 

Defining Mechanical & Fusion Splicing

 

The ultimate goal of cable splicing is to create a secure connection between two or more sections of fiber in a way that allows the optical signal to pass through with minimal loss. As we mentioned already, both mechanical and fusion splicing achieve this goal, but they do so in very different ways. 

 

Fusion Splicing

 

Firstly, fusion splicing involves melting the two sections of fiber permanently together. This is achieved with an electrical device aptly known as a fusion splicer, and it’s something that not only melts the two parts together with an electric arc, but it is also able to align the fiber to create a good connection precisely.

 

Mechanical Splicing

 

One of the main differences with mechanical splicing is that it doesn’t permanently join the fibers together, instead of locking and aligning the pieces together with a screw mechanism. This method requires no heat or electricity at all.

 

The Fusion Splicing Steps

 

Figure 2: fusion splicer showing fiber positioning

 

With both mechanical and fusion splicing techniques, there are four distinct steps to the process. The first two steps for each are almost identical, but the final two are where the differences lie. 

 

Fusion Splicing Step 1 - Preparation

 

To prepare the fiber for splicing, you need to strip away the jacket or sheath that surrounds the internal glass fiber. You’ll be left with bare glass when you’re finished, which should then be cleaned with an alcoholic wipe.

 

Fusion Splicing Step 2 - Cleaving

 

The next step involves cleaving the fiber, which shouldn’t be confused with cutting. Cleaving means that the fiber should be lightly scored and then flexed until it naturally breaks. To create a sound connection, you need a good, clean, smooth cleave that’s perpendicular to the fiber it’s being connected to in the fusion splicer.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FUSION SPLICING, PATCH CONNECTIONS

by www.fiber-mart.com

Insertion loss is one of those fiber-optic challenges that follows all network engineers, no matter where they're working. Whenever you have a connection of one fiber to another, you will incur insertion loss.

 

This is the ninth in a fiber-mart.com blog series, entitled The A-B-Cs of Cable Management.Our Product Manager defines insertion loss and demonstrates the difference between loss on patch connections and fiber splices.

 

Insertion loss and light budgets are problems every engineer works with and figures out solutions for.

 

Insertion loss, expressed in decibels (dB), is the loss of signal power resulting from the insertion of a device in a transmission line or optical fiber.

 

The increasing number of fiber connections on hyperscale fiber networks is pushing insertion loss into the priority zone for engineers.

 

More connections mean higher rates of insertion loss, and higher rates of insertion loss mean trouble on your network.

 

And then there's the difference between patch connections and fusion splices.

 

FUSION SPLICING VS. PATCH CONNECTIONS

Patch connections will have increased insertion loss.

 

Typically, the loss for a patch connection ranges from 0.05dB to 0.2dB. This may seem like a large amount of signal loss, but patch connections carry the advantage of not being permanent. Technicians can use this advantage for:

 

Service

Troubleshooting

Cross-connections

Redundancy

These are great advantages, even though you have the larger amounts of insertion loss.

 

Fusion splice connections offer their own set of advantages. Instead of 0.05dB to 0.2dB of loss with a patch connection, a fusion splice normally incurs only between 0.05dB and 0.1dB of loss.

 

While you have the advantages of less loss with a fusion splice, there is one large drawback. The connection is permanent … well, sort of.

 

Yes, you can cut a splice and re-terminate in the field, but this is much more labor intensive than unplugging even the tiniest LC connector. Splicing has its place, but so does a patch connection.

 

SOLVE THE INSERTION LOSS PUZZLE ON YOUR NETWORK

Most modern telecom, enterprise, government or CATV networks have more than just patch and splice terminations to worry about.

 

Our customers deal with passive optical devices that incur insertion loss all over their networks. Telecom engineers worry about devices like splitters, CPRI monitoring and TAPs. CATV engineers face concerns about WDM devices and splitters.

 

These different networks employ devices that have inherent insertion loss.

 

As a technician or an engineer, it is your duty to work with your colleagues and suppliers to develop the loss budgets for your network. There are many ways you can reduce the loss in your network, such as:

 

1.Cleaning and maintaining your patch connection’s end faces

2.Using high-quality passive optical devices that have low insertion loss characteristics

3.Implementing ULL connectors that have substantially less theoretical insertion loss characteristics than standard connectors

4.Ensuring you are not creating situations where micro bends, micro fractures and macro bends can hurt your signal strength

 

At fiber-mart.com, we pride ourselves in our ability to work with our customers to provide high-quality solutions that will reduce the insertion loss of your network and pad your loss budgets. Our high-quality passive optical devices, cables with ULL connectors and our WaveTrax fiber raceway product line are all methods you can employ to reduce the amount of light loss in your network.

The Era of Fusion Splicing Is Coming

by Fiber-MART.COM

As fiber deployment has become mainstream, splicing has naturally crossed from the outside plant (OSP) world into the enterprise and even the data center environment. Fusion splicing involves the use of localized heat to melt together or fuse the ends of two optical fibers. The preparation process involves removing the protective coating from each fiber, precise cleaving, and inspection of the fiber end-faces. Fusion splicing has been around for several decades, and it’s a trusted method for permanently fusing together the ends of two optical fibers to realize a specific length or to repair a broken fiber link. However, due to the high costs of fusion splicers, it has not been actively used by many people. But these years some improvements in optical technology have been changing this status. Besides, the continued demand for increased bandwidth also spread the application of fusion splicing.

 

New Price of Fusion Splicers

Fusion splicers costs have been one of the biggest obstacles to a broad adoption of fusion splicing. In recent years, significant decreases in splicer prices has accelerated the popularity of fusion splicing. Today’s fusion splicers range in cost from $7,000 to $40,000. The highest-priced units are designed for specialty optical fibers, such as polarization-maintaining fibers used in the production of high-end non-electrical sensors. The lower-end fusion splicers, in the $7,000 to $10,000 range, are primarily single-fiber fixed V-groove type devices. The popular core alignment splicers range between $17,000 and $19,000, well below the $30,000 price of 20 years ago. The prices have dropped dramatically due to more efficient manufacturing, and volume is up because fiber is no longer a voodoo science and more people are working in that arena. Recently, more and more fiber being deployed closer to the customer premise with higher splice-loss budgets, which results in a greater participation of customers who are purchasing lower-end splicers to accomplish their jobs.

 

More Cost-effective Cable Solutions

The first and primary use of splicing in the telecommunications industry is to link fibers together in underground or aerial outside-plant fiber installations. It used to be very common to do fusion splicing at the building entrance to transition from outdoor-rated to indoor-rated cable, because the NEC (National Electrical Code) specifies that outdoor-rated cable can only come 50 feet into a building due to its flame rating. The advent of plenum-rated indoor/outdoor cable has driven that transition splicing to a minimum. But that’s not to say that fusion splicing in the premise isn’t going on.

 

Longer distances in the outside plant could mean that sticking with standard outdoor-rated cable and fusion splicing at the building entrance could be the more economical choice. If it’s a short run between building A and B, it makes sense to use newer indoor/outdoor cable and come right into the crossconnect. However, because indoor/outdoor cables are generally more expensive, if it’s a longer run with lower fiber counts between buildings, it could ultimately be cheaper to buy outdoor-rated cable and fusion splice to transition to indoor-rated cable, even with the additional cost of splice materials and housing.

 

As fiber to the home (FTTH) applications continue to grow around the globe, it is another situation that may call for fusion splicing. If you want to achieve longer distance in a FTTH application, you have to either fusion splice or do an interconnect. However, an interconnect can introduce 0.75dB of loss while the fusion splice is typically less than 0.02dB. Therefore, the easiest way to minimize the amount of loss on a FTTH circuit is to bring the individual fibers from each workstation back to the closet and then splice to a higher-fiber-count cable. This approach also enables centralizing electronics for more efficient port utilization. In FTTH applications, fusion splicing is now being used to install connectors for customer drop cables using new splice-on connector technology and drop cable fusion splicer.

 

FTTH drop cable fusion splicer

 

A Popular Option for Data Centers

A significant increase in the number of applications supported by data centers has resulted in more cables and connections than ever, making available space a foremost concern. As a result, higher-density solutions like MTP/MPO connectors and multi-fiber cables that take up less pathway space than running individual duplex cables become more popular.

 

Since few manufacturers offer field-installable MTP/MPO connectors, many data center managers are selecting either multi-fiber trunk cables with MTP/MPOs factory-terminated on each end, or fusion splicing to pre-terminated MTP/MPO or multi-fiber LC pigtails. When you select trunk cables with connectors on each end, data center managers often specify lengths a little bit longer because they can’t always predict exact distances between equipment and they don’t want to be short. However, they then have to deal with excess slack. When there are thousands of connections, that slack can create a lot of congestion and limit proper air flow and cooling. One alternative is to purchase a multi-fiber pigtail and then splice to a multi-fiber cable.

 

Inside the data center and in the enterprise LAN, 12-fiber MPO connectors provide a convenient method to support higher 40G and 100G bandwidth. Instead of fusing one fiber at a time, another type of fusion splicing which is called ribbon/mass fusion splicing is used. Ribbon/mass fusion splicing can fuse up to all 12 fibers in one ribbon at once, which offers the opportunity to significantly reduce termination labor by up to 75% with only a modest increase in tooling cost. Many of today’s cables with high fiber count involve subunits of 12 fibers each that can be quickly ribbonized. Splicing those fibers individually is very time consuming, however, ribbon/mass fusion splicers splice entire ribbons simultaneously. Ribbon/mass fusion splicer technology has been around for decades and now is available in handheld models.

 

Conclusion

Fusion splicing provides permanent low-loss connections that are performed quickly and easily, which are definite advantages over competing technologies. In addition, current fusion splicers are designed to provide enhanced features and high-quality performance, and be very affordable at the same time. Fiberstore provides various types and uses of fusion splicers with high quality and low price. For more information, please feel free to contact us at sales@fiber-mart.com.