Description

In the last few years conventional helical stranding of many cable designs has been replaced by SZ-stranding. This paper describes the latest developments in the SZ-stranding process of fiber optic loose tube cables with on-line filling and taping. To control the cable quality at high speed, the following important process parameters must be followed, such as the tension of loose tubes in the stranding point, stability of the lay length, shape of the reversal point and the filling against water penetration. These process parameters are discussed and the final cable properties are presented.