With the construction and development of FTTH, the requirements for the simplicity and efficiency of optical fiber termination are getting higher and higher. The quick connection just has this feature, and the number of quick connections has also greatly increased. Classification: Quick connectors are generally divided into two categories: mechanical type and heat capacity type, and machinery is divided into embedded type and straight-through type.
Embedded fiber optic quick connector
The pre-embedded optical fiber quick connection is to embed a section of optical fiber from the ferrule to the V-groove inside the connector. During construction, the fiber core of the optical cable that needs to be quickly terminated is inserted into the V-groove, and the V-groove and the matching liquid in it are combined with the pre-embedded Fiber docking.
The main types of embedded quick connectors are SC (UPC, APC), FC (UPC, APC), LC (UPC, APC).
Straight-through fiber optic quick connector
Straight-through optical fiber quick connector is to pass the stripped and cut optical fiber directly from the end of the connector body to the top of the ferrule, and there are no other connection points inside.
The types of straight-through quick connectors are SC (UPC), FC (UPC), and LC (UPC).
Hot melt fiber optic quick connector
The hot-melt optical fiber quick connector also pre-embeds an optical fiber from the ferrule to the inside of the connector. This optical fiber is fused with the optical fiber in the connector, which is equivalent to the end of the pigtail, but it only protects the fusion point to the connector. middle. During construction, remove the tail sleeve of the connector, strip and cut the exposed tight-sleeved optical fiber, and then fuse it with the fiber core of the cable to be terminated with a fiber fusion machine.
The types of hot melt quick connectors are SC (UPC, APC) and FC (UPC, APC).
Comparison of advantages and disadvantages
From the above introduction to the three connectors, we can see their advantages and disadvantages:
1. Hot-melt fast splicing is the same as traditional optical fiber splicing, requiring a fiber fusion machine for splicing, which is no essential difference from conventional hot-melt. Therefore, the convenience of operation has not been greatly improved, so there are fewer applications for this style of quick connection.
Straight-through quick connectors have very strict requirements on the quality and length of fiber cutting because the optical fiber is directly inserted into the top of the quick connector, and the cutting surface of the optical fiber is the end face, otherwise the performance will be affected. In addition, the matching degree between the inner diameter of the ferrule and the outer diameter of the optical fiber is very high. If the inner diameter of the ferrule is too large or too small, the optical fiber will shake in the ferrule or cannot penetrate at all. Therefore, there are fewer quick-connect applications of this style now.
2. The pre-embedded quick connection solves the problem of the straight-through quick connection. A small section of optical fiber is pre-embedded from the ferrule to the main body of the connector. This section of optical fiber and ferrule has been pre-processed in the factory. The performance of the line connector is basically the same. And because it is connected through matching fluid, the requirements for assembly operations are not so strict. Moreover, compared with the heat-capacity quick-connect, it does not require hot-melt, purely passive construction, convenient operation, simple tools, and easy to carry.
From the above introduction, we can see that compared with the other two types of quick connectors, the embedded quick connector has the advantages of simple quick connector operation and fast construction speed; no special requirements for the operating environment, passive construction; simple tools, easy to carry, etc. advantage. So it becomes the most widely used fast connection at the end of FTTH project.
