FBA Presents – How Far Can We Push Bend Insensitive Fiber

If we look at the history of optical fiber specifically the designs of the glass itself and how it’s been protected, we can see a significant evolution from those very first fibers produced in the late 70s early 80s that required a super delicate environment in which to perform over time both cable and glass designers improved their products and designs. One of the biggest changes was when bend insensitive fiber was developed this allowed several applications and handling characteristics to be improved.

We will investigate the benefits and pitfalls of the bend insensitive optical fiber. Specifically, how this will change our concept of handling the fiber, our concept of how to design the cables that contain the fiber, termination practices, and overall installation changes. The advent of more bend insensitive fiber gave rise to several application changes cable design changes as well as installation and termination practices. While all of these are pluses just like adding up tolerances in a mechanical design sometimes, we find that we stack our tolerances all in the same direction and while everything is within spec the product fails. We will look at how all the benefits have been taken advantage of by the various stages in cable design installation and termination and where they may or may not cause a problem. In general bend insensitive fiber has allowed a much broader manufacturing envelope to be used. But are we coming closer to a failure edge than we recognize, that is the question.

Presented by:

Wayne Kachmar
Owner and President, Technical Horsepower Consulting
Optical Cable Technical Expert at Fiber Optic Center, Inc.