Fiber optic pigtails ——Types and applications

As a high-stability device, fiber pigtail has extremely low insertion loss and reflection loss. It is mainly used to connect fiber couplers or transmission equipment and ODF racks. The following will introduce the difference between optical fiber pigtails and jumpers, the types, types, and fusion methods of optical fiber pigtails.

1. What is a fiber pigtail?
Fiber pigtails are also called pigtails and fiber optic connectors. It is a cable with a connector at one end and no connector at the other end. The end without a connector can be connected to the core of other cables by welding. . Fiber pigtails are also often found in fiber optic terminal boxes to connect fiber optic cables and fiber optic transceivers. Fiber pigtails are divided into multimode fiber pigtails and single-mode fiber pigtails. The single-mode fiber pigtail is yellow, with wavelengths of 1310nm and 1550nm, and the transmission distance is 10km and 40km respectively; the multimode fiber pigtail is orange, with a wavelength of 850nm and a transmission distance of 500m, which is used for short-distance interconnection.
2. What are the differences between fiber pigtails and jumpers?
It should be noted that fiber pigtails and jumpers are not the same concept. The main difference between fiber optic patch cords and fiber optic pigtails is that only one end of the fiber optic pigtail has an active connector, and both ends of the patch cord have active connectors. In simple terms, splitting the patch cord into two can be used as a pigtail.

3. What kinds of connectors are there for fiber pigtails?
The connectors of fiber pigtails mainly include five types: LC, SC, FC, ST and MTRJ.
4. What are the types of fiber pigtails?
There are many types of fiber pigtails, such as single-fiber pigtails, multi-fiber pigtails, single-core pigtails, multi-core pigtails, and so on. In addition to the above common types of fiber pigtails, there are bundle fiber pigtails, ribbon fiber pigtails, armored fiber pigtails, and waterproof fiber pigtails. The first two are branchable fiber pigtails. Two are special fiber pigtails. In addition, we can also divide fiber pigtails into sheathed pigtails, unsheathed pigtails, splitter pigtails and custom pigtails according to sheaths and splitters.

Bundle fiber pigtail: This fiber pigtail, also known as pigtail bundle, consists of Corning tight-buffer fiber, aramid fiber reinforcement, and a flame-retardant PVC outer jacket. Compared with other types of pigtails Fiber is hotter and has a wide range of applications.

Ribbon fiber pigtail: The ribbon fiber pigtail is the same as the bundle fiber pigtail, both of which are multi-core pigtails. The ribbon fiber pigtail contains 12 core fibers, one end is used for fusion splicing, and the other end is equipped with a connector.

Armored fiber pigtail: The outermost layer of this fiber pigtail has an extra layer of metal protection than ordinary pigtails, so its durability will be higher.

Waterproof fiber pigtail: low insertion loss, high return loss, good interchangeability and repeated push-pull performance, very convenient to use. Waterproof pigtails with robust jackets and waterproof sealed header connectors can be used in harsh environments.

5. What are the materials of fiber pigtails?
Fiber pigtails are also the same as conventional patch cords. There are three choices of PVC, LSZH and OFNP due to different materials, and fiber pigtails can also be made into armored types like conventional fiber patch cords. The figure below shows the round cable and the flat cable respectively.
The main cable of the bundled fiber pigtail is a round cable, and the branch node usually uses a black heat-shrinkable tube instead of a splitter, which can save costs. The main cable of the ribbon fiber pigtail is a flat cable, and the branch node usually uses a black splitter, because the ribbon flat cable is not easy to fix, and heat shrinkable tubes cannot be used.

The concept and meaning of the splitter: usually connected in the middle of the branch line or trunk line, it is composed of a main input terminal, a main output terminal and several branch output terminals, of which the branch output terminal only gets a small part of the main input signal. , most of the signals are still output along the main path and continue to transmit backwards.

6. Where is the fiber pigtail used?
Optical fiber pigtails provide interconnection and cross-connection applications in the network connection of access equipment, and are widely used in optical fiber communication systems, optical fiber access networks, optical fiber data transmission, optical fiber CATV, local area network (LAN), test equipment, optical fiber Sensors, serial servers, FTTH/FTTX, telecom networks, pre-terminated installations.

7, fiber pigtail and fiber fusion
The optical fiber fusion splicing technology mainly uses a fiber fusion machine to connect the optical fiber to the optical fiber or the optical fiber to the optical fiber pigtail, and fuse the bare fiber in the optical cable and the optical fiber pigtail into a whole, while the optical fiber pigtail has a Separate fiber optic head. Connect the optical fiber and twisted pair to the information socket by connecting with the optical fiber transceiver.
The main tools used in the optical fiber fusion process are: optical terminal box, optical fiber transceiver, optical fiber pigtail, coupler, special wire stripper, optical fiber cutting knife, etc.

1. Mechanical splicing: peel off the outer skin of Pushe optical fiber and pigtail fiber, cut it, clean it, and insert it into the splicing matching plate to align, tangent and lock.

2. Fusion splicing: Use auxiliary tools to strip the laying optical fiber and pigtail fiber, cut it, clean it, and then use an optical fiber fusion splicer under the protection of a fusion splicer to “melt” into one.