How visual inspection of fiber optic cable is conducted?

In order to check continuity in the fiber optic cable, testing is the major factor to be considered. Thus before starting up with the work in fiber optic cable plant a technician needs to check the continuity, end to end loss and lastly find solutions to the problem coming in the cable.
Usually, there three basic tests conducted for fiber optic testing:

• Visual inspection
• Loss testing
• Network testing

The first and foremost test conducted is visual inspection. Before correcting the problem one needs to see where the problem is in the cable. Thus if there are any cracks, slices, dust, dirt or chips in the cable then it can easily be determined during the visual inspection.
Three basic steps are covered under it:

• Visual tracing: During this process of testing a tracer is used. It is a pen-like instrument that has LED source or light bulb. When the tracer is attached to the fiber a light is transmitted through the core of the cable. The light emitted helps in detecting the functioning of the cable. If there is no light emitted in the tracer then it indicates that there is problem in the cable and vice-versa, if light is emitted then cable is working properly. Once you have detected that there is damage in the cable your further step is to look out for visible signs of damage like cracked links, kinks etc.
• Visual fault location: During this process visual fault locator (VFL) tool is used. Its helps in finding fault location in the cable via visible laser beam. A bright red light would be seen glowing on the area where any broken link or kink is present. This tool is very useful in finding faults in small cables, as well as near the connectors where OTDR tool is of no use. Aside these you can even use this tool to verify and optimize the pre-polished slice of cables.
• Visual connector inspection by microscope: Aside checking the kinks and broken links in the cables via fault locator, a technician also needs to check whether there is any dust, dirt or polishing defects in the cable. To inspect such problems fiber optic inspection microscopes are used. With the help of it several angles of the cable can be measured closely. Thus it is the easiest method of inspecting any problem in the fiber cable.
• Likewise for visual inspection various tools are used, same goes out with other tests (loss and network test). However, Fiber optic test equipment tools used for loss and network test are different. Thus before conducting inspection one must be sure about the tools being used for respective testing are correct.

Why it is important to clean fiber cables?

As we know fiber cables are the thin strings of glass or plastic that use light signals to transfer data from one location to another. In actual, light travels faster than electrical current. That is why fiber cables are the high used guided media used in communication networks. Fiber cables are easy susceptible to dirt, oil frequently from human hands, and other contaminations. These deposits have large effect on the rate of transferring light signals, the optical fibers are known for.

If there some hindrances materials (discussed above) present in the fiber optics connectors, light beams could not carry data signals smoothly. Therefore the path from where the light signals will pass through should be clean for better performance.

Now one may ask which part of the connectors needs cleaning. The answer is: connectors’’ ferrule. A ferrule is a ceramic, plastic or stainless steel part which gives fiber cable durability, mechanical strength and prevents it from contamination. These cylindrical shaped parts (ferrule) get contaminated from stain, dust, and debris due to continuous plugging and unplugging. As we discussed before, deposits on the ferrule will block the light track and therefore, seriously reduce the fiber cable performance.

So, it is important to clean every fiber connector prior to mating. Cleaning of fiber optic connectors involves the use of various components discussed below:

Dry cleaning method of cleaning fiber cables involves the use of cartridge, dry wipes and pocket style cleaners. Tools: Cartridge Cleaning Tools: OPTIPOP and CLETOP Pocket Style Cleaning Tools: CARDCLEANER

Reel based fiber optic cleaners are easy to use and reliable. To clean optical fiber connectors, they use 2 micrometer weaved soft cloth known as polyester cloth. On the other hand, CLETOP stick are specially designed cleaning devices come in come in 2.5mm and 1.25mm versions and are used to clean connectors joining bulkhead adapters, sleeves, and receptacles.

To carry out the task of cleaning these sticks are inserted into receptacles or bulkheads in order to make the stick contact the connector end face. Then rotate the stick and pull it back. But you cannot use the stick again for next cleaning. Another method of fiber optic cleaning involves the use of canned air duster. These air dusters are an ideal way to blow the lost dust particles from the end-face of the fiber cable connector.

Apart from variety of cleaning devices, there are numerous fiber optic testing kits available that make the task of fiber cable inspection and testing simple. For Further details just Contact Us .