What are the common types of fiber optic cables?

Just like snowflakes, although the basic shapes are similar, there are no two snowflakes with exactly the same shape in the real world. Scientists have discovered tens of thousands of snowflakes, and optical cables of different structures, viewed from the cross section, are also blooming. Beautiful snowflakes, each type of snowflake (section) has a unique aesthetic. According to different structural shapes, optical cables are divided into layered type, skeleton type, bundled tube type and ribbon type.
Stranded type: A cable in which loose or tight fibers are twisted around a central strength member. Tight or loose optical fibers refer to optical fibers wearing protective coats. The protective coat materials mainly include polypropylene, nylon-12, polyester elastomer, fluorine-46, fiber-reinforced plastics, directional stretched polymers, etc. The layered structure optical cable is similar to the traditional cable structure, so it is also called the classical optical cable. The number of optical fibers that can be accommodated in this type of optical cable is generally 6 to 12 cores, and there are also 24 cores. With the increase in the number of optical fibers, unit-stranding appears, that is, the optical fiber in the sleeve is not only one optical fiber core, but multiple optical fiber cores, which also expands the number of optical fibers that can be accommodated by the layered optical fiber cable.

The stranded optical cable is easy to manufacture, the excess length of the optical fiber in the optical cable is easy to control, the optical cable has good mechanical and environmental performance, and can be used for direct burial, pipeline and overhead laying.

Skeleton type: Since it is called the skeleton type, there is no doubt that there must be a part called the skeleton in the optical cable. This kind of optical cable is to take the groove of the plastic skeleton to accommodate the optical fiber. The cross-section of the skeleton groove may be V-shaped, U-shaped, etc., and the longitudinal direction is spiral or sinusoidal. A skeleton slot can hold 5~10 coated fibers.