What Is Mechanical Fiber Splice?

Fiber optic mechanical splice performs a similar function to the fusion splice except that the fibers are held together by mechanical means rather than by a welding technique. Mechanical splices somewhat look like fusion splice protection sleeves.

In a mechanical splice, two cleaved fiber tips are mechanically aligned to each other by a special housing. Usually, index matching gel is positioned between the fiber tips to maximize coupling and minimize back reflection.

Advantages of Mechanical Splice
There are some significant advantages of using mechanical fiber splice than fusion splices. Here are a few of them:

1.Mechanical splices require no power supplies
2.Many mechanical fiber splice designs require no extra tools beyond a fiber stripper and fiber cleaver
3.They can be used in situations where fusion splicing is not practical or impossible
4.Mechanical splices can be made within a couple of minutes, this makes it ideal for temporary connections
Disadvantages of Mechanical Fiber Splices
Fiber optic mechanical splices have their cons too.

1.Higher insertion loss. The typical insertion loss for a mechanical splice is about 0.2dB which is significantly higher than the 0.02dB loss for a typical fusion splice.
2.Mechanical splices are typically for multimode fibers. The tough alignment tolerance for single mode fibers makes it hard for mechanical splices to meet
3.Mechanical splice is more expensive than fusion splices. But if you take into account the expensive fusion splicing machines that fusion splices need, the average cost is actually much lower for mechanical splice if you just do a few splices.
4.Since the refractive index of most index matching compounds varies with temperature, so the optical performance of a mechanical splice can be sensitive to ambient temperature
5.Mechanical splices are not thought to be as reliable as fusion splices over long periods of time
6.Mechanical splices are used only in relatively benign environments such as inside an office building

June 12, 2011

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