Optical Fiber Routing and Bundling

Optical Fiber Routing

• During the hardware installation, cut the corrugated pipe to the desired length and wrap the sharp ends with adhesive tape to protect the optical fiber.
• Avoid forcibly pulling or excessively bending optical fibers during routing. There should be no other cables on the optical fibers.
• If cable trays are installed for a storage device, place all cables connected to the device into the troughs of the cable trays.

Evenly divide the cables connected to the storage device into two parts. Place the left part of cables into the troughs of the left cable tray, and the right part in the troughs of the right cable tray.

• The bending radius of optical fibers must be no less than 50 mm.
• Route optical fibers inside the cabinet along the posts on the sides of the cabinet and attach them when necessary.
• Corrugated pipes are required when running optical fibers outside the cabinet, and should be extended into the cabinet about 100 mm.
• When using corrugated pipes, optical fibers can be run through the cable trough in an equipment room installed with supports and ESD floor, or the interlayer (the space between the concrete floor and the ESD floor).
• If the optical fibers are led out from the top of the cabinet, a cable tray should be installed over the cabinet for cabling. If the distance between the cable tray and the cabinet top is longer than 0.8 m, a cable ladder should be used.

Optical Fiber Bundling

• Optical fiber binding tapes are used to bundle optical fibers.
• Optical fibers should be bound neatly without crossover.
• Optical fibers should be arranged neatly without crossover.

Optical Fiber Binding Tape

Before bundling optical fibers, read the instructions and precautions carefully to prevent man-made accidents.

• Appearance of the optical fiber binding tape

  The optical fiber binding tape is 12.5 mm wide, with one hook side (made of transparent polypropylene) and one mat side (made of black nylon) working together to bundle optical fibers tightly, as shown in Figure 7-22.

  Figure 7-22 Appearance of the optical fiber binding tape
  

• Bundling optical fibers using the optical fiber binding tape
  1. Arrange the optical fibers into a bundle. Cut off a piece of the optical fiber binding tape of appropriate length according to the size of the bundle.
  2. Hold the bundle with one hand and press one end of the optical fiber binding tape on the bundle with the thumb, as shown in Figure 7-23.
     Figure 7-23 Step 1 of bundling optical fibers
     

  3. Strain the optical fiber binding tape by the other end with the other hand. Turn the fiber binding tape around the fiber bundle till the mat side adheres to the hook side snugly, as shown in Figure 7-24.
     Figure 7-24 Step 2 of bundling optical fibers
     

• Expected result
  The optical fibers are bundled successfully, as shown in Figure 7-25.

  Figure 7-25 Step 3 of bundling optical fibers
  

• Precautions
  • When using a fiber binding tape, keep the mat side inside and the hook side outside. It is only the mat side of the fiber binding tape that contacts the optical fiber.
  • Arrange the optical fibers tidily into a bundle before bundling.
  • Bundle the optical fibers with appropriate force. Never bind them too tight.
  • The interval between two pieces of optical fiber binding tape should not exceed 40 cm.
  • A bundle can contain a maximum of 100 optical fibers (each with a diameter of 2 mm) or 60 optical fibers (each with a diameter of 3 mm). If more optical fibers need to be bundled, separate them into different bundles.