Commonly Used Fiber Optic Cleaners

As cleanliness of the interfaces in fiber optic networks can directly affect the transmission quality, fiber optic cleaning is a must-have process during fiber optic network installation, testing and maintenance. You should always keep it in mind. You need to clean the fiber optic interface on the test equipment and fiber optic connectors before you actually doing the test. You need to clean the fiber optic connector or interfaces regularly in your daily maintenance. Various fiber optic cleaning methods are created. No matter you use dry cleaning or wet cleaning, basic tools are needed. However, we might be confused during the selecting of the fiber optic cleaning tools, cause there are so many different kinds of fiber optic connectors, interfaces and working environments. This post is to introduce the most commonly used fiber optic cleaners for different kinds fiber optic connectors.

One-Click Fiber Optic Cleaner

One-click fiber optic cleaner is one of the most popular fiber optic cleaner which eliminate the use of alcohol or solvents. Thus, it can save time efficiently with excellent performance. I would like to call it “Click and Cleaned”. Here I will introduce how to used one click fiber optic cleaner firstly.

The following picture is the top of an one-click connector, the cleaning tip of the cleaner is covered with a guide cap for fiber optic connectors. A cover is on the top of the guide cap, which can provide protection to the cleaning tip combining with the guide cap.

If you need to clean a fiber optic connector, the guide cap plays the function of a fiber optic adapter. Insert the cleaning tip into the connector with the guide cap as shown in the following picture, and press the cleaner until you hear a click. Then a cleaning is done by fiber optic cleaner.

If you need to clean a fiber optic adapter, you should firstly remove the whole guide cap on the one-click cleaner. Then insert the cleaning tip into the adapter as shown in the following picture. Just by simple pressing, until you hear the click, a cleaning for a fiber optic adapter is done. It is very useful during test, cause the test equipment usually have an interface of adapter.

Different types of connectors might have ferrules of different sizes. Thus, there are also accordance fiber optic cleaners for various connectors. Introduces several popular one-click fiber optic cleaners for different connectors.

One-Click Cleaner for LC/MU 1.25mm Ferrules

• Price: $19.00
• Item Part Number: FS-CLK-1.25
• Package Form: One-click cleaner
• Target Use: LC, MU
• Cleaning Times: Over 800 times per unit

One-Click Cleaner for SC/ST/FC 2.5mm Ferrules

• Price: $19.00
• Item Part Number: FS-CLK-2.5
• Package Form: One-click cleaner
• Target Use: SC, ST, FC
• Cleaning Times: Over 800 times per unit

One-Click Cleaner for MTP/MPO Connector  

• Price: $48.00
• Item Part Number: CLE-MPO-600
• Package Form: One-click cleaner
• Target Use: MPO/MTP
• Cleaning Times: Over 600 times per unit

Reel-Type Fiber Optic Cleaner

Reel-type fiber optic cleaner contains a refillable lint free reel of cloth that is moved after each cleaning, always presenting a clean surface. Reel-type fiber optic cleaners come in different package forms, but most of them are cassette form.

This type of fiber optic cleaner is able to clean a wide rage of fiber optic connectors, which also avoid the using of alcohol or solvents. The following shows the basic structure of a reel-type fiber optic cleaner and its replacement tape. The cleaning with this cleaner is also very simple. Firstly depress lever to expose cleaning slot and cloth. Second, slide the connector end face gently. Third, keep connector perpendicular to cleaning surface. Then a cleaning is done.

CLE-BOX Fiber Optic Cassette Cleaner for LC/MU/SC/FC/ST/MPO/MTRJ

• Price: $21.00
• Item Part Number: FS-CLE-BOX
• Package Form: Cassette cleaner
• Target Use: LC, MU, SC, FC, ST, MPO, MTRJ
• Cleaning Times: Over 500 times per unit

Replacement Tape for CLE-BOX Fiber Optic Cassette Cleaner

• Price: $16.00
• Item Part Number: CLE-BOX-RT
• Package Form: Cassette cleaner
• Target Use: Replace tape for cassette cleaner
• Cleaning Times: Over 500 times per unit

The above mentioned fiber optic cleaners are just a small part of the cleaning product family and are generally for dry cleaning. Kindly visit FS.COM or contact sales@fs.com for more details about the wet cleaning for other fiber optic cleaning products.

Source: http://www.fiber-optic-tutorial.com/commonly-used-fiber-optic-cleaners.html

MPO/MTP Connector – Multi-fiber Connector for High Port Density

In today's transmission networks, small and multi-fiber connectors are replacing larger, older styles connectors for space saving. For example, the SC connector is gradually being replaced by its small version LC connector which allows more fiber ports per unit of rack space. To save space, multi-fiber connector is also a good solution, like MTP/MPO connectors. MTP/MPO connector allows more fiber ports per unit of rack space and also satisfies parallel optical interconnections' needs for multi-fiber connection. This article is to introduce MPO/MTP connectors in details.

MPO Connector & MTP Connector

MPO is short for the industry acronym—"multi-fiber push on". The MPO connector is a multi-fiber connector which is most commonly defined by two documents: IEC-61754-7 (the commonly sited standard for MPO connectors internationally) and EIA/TIA-604-5 (also known as FOCIS 5, is the most common standard sited for in the US). MPO connectors are based on MT ferrule which can provide quick and reliable high performance interconnections up to 4, 12, 24 or more and are usually used with ribbon fiber cables. The following picture shows diagram of MPO connectors, 12-fold (left) and 24-fold (right). The fibers for sending and receiving are colorcoded, red and green, respectively.

MTP stands for "Multifiber Termination Push-on" connector and it is designed by USConec and built around the MT ferrule. MTP connector is a high performance MPO connector designated for better mechanical and optical performance and is in complete compliance with all MPO connector standards. Some main improvements of MTP connector are as following:

• The MTP connector housing is removable;
• The MTP connector offers ferrule float to improve mechanical performance;
• The MTP connector uses tightly held tolerance stainless steel guide pin tips with an elliptical shape;
• The MTP connector has a metal pin clamp with features for centering the push spring;
• The MTP connector spring design maximizes ribbon clearance for twelve fiber and multifiber ribbon applications to prevent fiber damage;
• The MTP connector is offered with four standard variations of strain relief boots to meet a wide array of applications.

Application of MPO/MTP Connector

As mentioned, MPO/MPT connectors are compatible ribbon fiber connectors. MPO/MTP connectors cannot be field terminated, thus MTP/MPO connector is usually assembled with fiber optic cable. MTP/MPO fiber optic cable is one of the most popular MTP/MPO fiber optic cable assemblies, which are now being widely used in data center to provide quick and reliable operation during signal transmission. MPO/MTP connectors can be found in the following ap=-[poikjhnb lications:

• Gigabit Ethernet
• CATV and Multimedia
• Active Device Interface
• Premise installations
• Optical Switch interframe connections
• Interconnection for O/E modules
• Telecommunication Networks
• Industrial & Medical, etc.

MPO/MTP Connector Selection Guide

The structure of MPO/MTP connector is a little complicated. The picture above shows the components of a MPO connector. With the drive of market requests. Various types of MPO/MTP connectors are being provided. Some basic aspects should be considered during the selection of a MPO/MTP connector are as following.

First is pin option. MPO/MTP connectors have male and female design. (as showed in the picture on the left) Male connectors have two guide pins and female connectors do not. Alignment between mating ferrules of MPO/MTP connectors is accomplished using two precision guide pins that are pre-installed into the designated male connector. Second is fiber count: MPO/MTP connector could provide 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 36, 64 or more interconnections, among which 12 and 24 are the most popular MPO/MTP connectors. In addition, like other fiber optic connectors, the selection of a MPO/MTP connectors should also consider fiber type and simplex or duplex design.

MPO/MTP Connector is a popular multi-fiber connector for high port density. It can offer ideal solution to set up high-performance data networks with the advantages of time saving and cost saving. As an important technology during migration to 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet, MTP/MPO connector is now being adopted by more and more data centers.

Note: this article is originally published in my blog (http://www.fiber-optic-cable-sale.com/), which is updated weekly. For more pictures in details about this article and knowledge about optical communication, you can follow this blog.

How Much Do You Know About LC Connector

Fiber optic connectors are used to the mechanical and optical means for cross connecting fibers. Fiber optic connectors can also be used to join fiber cables to transmitters or receivers. There have been many types of connectors developed for fiber cable. Single mode networks have used FC or SC connectors in about the same proportion as ST and SC in multimode installations. But LC connector with smaller size and higher performance has become popular and the connector choice for optical transceivers for systems operating at gigabit speeds. The following text gives a detailed introduction of LC connector.

History of LC Connector

LC stands for Lucent Connector, as the LC connector was developed by Lucent Technologies as a response to the need by their primary customers, the telcos, for a small, low insertion loss connector. Then the LC design was standardized in EIA/TIA-604-10 and is offered by other manufacturers.

Advantages of LC Connector

There are solid reasons that the LC is the preferred connector for high-performance network. From the appearance, LC connect is like a mini size of SC connector. LC connector borrows split-sleeve construction and a cylindrical ferrule (usually ceramic) from SC connector. LC connector has a push-and-latch design providing pull-proof stability in system rack mounts. The picture below shows the appearance of SC connector and LC connector.

The ferrule size of LC connector is 1.25 mm which is half the size of SC connector ferrule—2.5 mm. LC connector is rated for 500 mating cycles and its typical insertion loss is 0.25 dB. An interesting feature of the LC is that, in some designs, the ferrule can be “tuned” or rotated with a special tool after it has been assembled. This offers a considerable performance advantage. The design and performance of LC connector address the need for high density and low insertion loss.

Application of LC Connector

LC connector can be found in many places for termination and connection, especially SFP transceivers for gigabit transmission. For example, the optic interfaces of Cisco SFP transceivers are all LC connectors. Some other applications are as following:

• Telecommunication networks
• Local area networks
• Data processing networks
• Cable television
• Fiber-to-the-home
• Premises distribution

LC Connector Selection Guide

To meet the needs of market, there are various types of LC connectors provided now. During the selection of LC connector, transmission media should be the first factor to consider. LC connector favors single mode fiber optic cable. But it can also be used with multimode fiber optic cable. Signals sometimes are transferred over simplex fiber optic cable and sometime duplex fiber optic cable. Thus, LC connector has both simplex and duplex design. The picture above shows an APC simplex LC connector on the left and a UPC duplex LC connector on the right. Some other factors like polishing style (APC or UPC), hole size and cable diameter should not be ignored. For more details about LC connectors, you can visit Fiberstore which provides various LC connectors with high performance and low price.

Note: this article is originally published in my blog (http://www.fiber-optic-cable-sale.com/), which is updated weekly. For more pictures in details about this article and knowledge about optical communication, you can follow this blog.

Introduction of PC, UPC and APC Connector

When we choosing a LC connectors, you might hear descriptions like LC UPC polished fiber optic connector, or LC APC fiber optic connector. Or when you are choosing a ST fiber optic patch cable, you can find the description like ST/PC multimode fiber optic patch cable. What do PC, UPC, APC stand for? The following text will give the explanations.

PC (physical contact), UPC (ultra physical contact) and APC (angle physical contact) are the polish style of ferrules inside the fiber optic connectors. Unlike copper cables with copper wire in the connectors as connection media, fiber optic connectors are with ceramic ferrules for connection. The picture above shows the ferrule in fiber optic connector. Different fiber optic connectors has different ferrule size and length. Also their polish style might be different.

To better understand the why we have PC, UPC and APC, let’s start with the original fiber optic connector which has a flat-surface and is also known as flat connector (showed in the following picture). When two flat fiber connectors are mated, an air gap naturally forms between the two surfaces from small imperfections in the flat surfaces. The back reflection in flat connectors is about -14 dB or roughly 4%. To solve this problem, the PC connectors came into being.

In the PC connector, the two fibers meet, as they do with the flat connector, but the end faces are polished to be slightly curved or spherical. This eliminates the air gap and forces the fibers into contact. The back reflection is about -40 dB. The following picture shows two end faces of PC connectors.

UPC connector, usually has a blue-colored body, is an improvement to the PC connector with a better surface finish (as showed in the following picture) by an extended polishing. The back reflection of UPC connector is about -55 dB which lower than that of a standard PC connector. UPC connectors are often used in digital, CATV and telephony systems.

PC and UPC connectors have reliable, low insertion losses. However, their back reflection depends on the surface finish of the fiber. The better the fiber gain structure, the lower the back reflection. If the PC and UPC connectors are continually mated and remated, back reflection will degrade. An APC connector won’t have such problem. Its back reflection does not degrade with repeated matings.

APC connector usually has a green body with an end-face still curved but are angled at an industry-standard 8 degrees (showed in the above picture) which allows for even tight connections and smaller end-face radii. Thus any light that is redirected back towards the source is actually reflected out into the fiber cladding, again by virtue of the 8 degree angled end-face. APC ferrules offer return losses of -65dB. Some applications that are more sensitive to return loss than others that call for APC connectors, like FTTx and Radio Frequency (RF) applications. APC connectors are also commonly used in passive optical applfications due to the fact that many of these systems also use RF signals to deliver video.

PC, UPC or APC, which should be the choice of fiber optic connector? The answer is it depends. Choosing the appropriate connector for a fiber network depends on things such as, network design and function. This article is originally published in my blog （http://www.fiber-optic-cable-sale.com/）which is update weekly. You can follow this blog for more about optical communication