Compact, low-cost outside plant or indoor/outdoor cables
An optical fiber cable includes an unbuffered optical fiber, a tensile reinforcement member surrounding the unbuffered optical fiber, and a jacket surrounding the tensile reinforcement member. The jacket is suitable for outside plant environment. A water blocking material is placed between the unbuffered fiber and the jacket. The unbuffered optical fiber comprises an ultra bend-insensitive fiber that meets the requirements of ITU-T G.657.B3 and exhibits an additional loss of less than approximately 0.2 dB/turn when the fiber is wrapped around a 5 mm bend radius mandrel. The optical fiber cable also exhibits an additional loss of less than approximately 0.4 dB/km at 1550 nm when the cable is subjected to −20° C. outside plant environment.
1. An optical fiber cable consisting essentially of:
one or more unbuffered optical fibers;
a tensile reinforcement member surrounding the one or more unbuffered optical fibers;
a jacket surrounding the tensile reinforcement member wherein the jacket is suitable for outside plant environment; and
a water-blocking material between the one or more unbuffered fibers and the jacket;
wherein the one or more unbuffered optical fibers exhibit an additional loss of less than approximately 0.2 dB/turn when the fiber is wrapped around a 5 mm bend radius mandrel, and the optical fiber cable exhibits an additional loss of less than approximately 0.4 dB/km at 1550 nm when the cable is subjected to −20° C. outside plant environment.
2. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the one or more unbuffered optical fibers meet the requirements of ITU-T G.657.B3.
3. The optical cable of claim 2 , wherein the unbuffered optical fiber has a core and the unbuffered optical fiber uses dual-trench refractive index profile around the core.
4. The optical cable of claim 2 , wherein the unbuffered optical fiber is an ultra bend-insensitive single-mode fiber.
5. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the tensile reinforcement member is an aramid yarn.
6. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the tensile reinforcement member is coated with the water-blocking material.
7. The optical cable of claim 6 , wherein the tensile reinforcement member is a glass thread, a glass yarn strength member, or a twisted glass yarn strength member.
8. The optical cable of claim 6 , wherein substantially all of the water-blocking material between the one or more unbuffered fibers and the jacket is applied to the tensile reinforcement member.
9. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the tensile reinforcement member surrounding the one or more unbuffered optical fibers is sufficient to sustain a required tensile strength of the cable.
10. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the jacket is made from polyethylene resin.
11. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the jacket is made from flame-retardant, fungus resistant, UV-stabilized low-smoke zero-halogen resin.
12. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the jacket is made from flame-retardant, fungus resistant, UV-stabilized PVC resin.
13. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the water blocking material is a dry waterswellable material coated on a thread, on a yarn, on or in a tape, or scattered as loose powder.
14. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the cable is between approximately 2.0 mm and approximately 5 mm for a single-fiber cable.
15. The optical cable of claim 1 , wherein the diameter of the cable is between approximately 2.0 mm and approximately 8 mm for a multi-fiber cable.
16. An outside plant optical fiber cable comprising:
an unbuffered optical fiber wherein the unbuffered fiber satisfies ITU-T G.657.B3;
a layer of yarns surrounding the unbuffered optical fiber;
a jacket surrounding the layer of yarns wherein the jacket is suitable for outside plant environment; and
a water-blocking material between the unbuffered fiber and the jacket.