Fiber optic measurement :
Full in-line quality certification

W e have been investing for many years in specific R&D programs in close cooperation with fiber producers to best meet their metrology needs and provide continuous improvement for our line of products. CERSA's long-standing investment in research, and the experience we have acquired in production lines, represent a substantial expertise to best serve our customers.

We achieved our initial goal of a “full in-line quality certification” by choosing measurement principles and technologies that offer outstanding metrology performance levels and features at ultra-high frequencies. This provides for true, real-time measurement of optical fibers, true product characterization, and process checking and optimization, even on the fastest production lines.

Optical fiber measurement - a demand from large companies

The largest and the most demanding companies choose CERSA instruments to certify their production and control their processes.

In 2018, more than 500 high-speed lines worlwide were drawing fiber with CERSA-MCI instruments.

Our advanced CIM PC software is a complete production, production quality management tool for the production technicians. It comes with our instruments to provide their parameter settings, to clearly display the production measurements and any detected defects, and to generate real-time parameters. The full option logs all fiber data, such as measurements and events into databases, and is compatible with any system.

Fiber thickness under control, along with many other parameters

By implementing these devices all along the draw tower, technicians can monitor and adjust several parameters of the draw tower and of the fiber almost in real time.

Form bare fiber, cladding diameter measurement, airline detection, tension and spinning profile are some of the most important data to analyse. After the coating cups, another instrument helps technicians measure final diameter, defects in geometry, such as lump and neckdown and internal defects inside the coating (bubbles, delamination, particles, and impurities). All these data are displayed by CIM software on screen, recorded, and analyzed to globally sort and classify the optical fiber.

All these data are transmitted via a classic RS232 serial link, or via field buses such as Profinet, Profibus, Modbus/TCP or EtherNet/IP. Our solution offers a large choice of communication interfaces for industries that are 4.0 compliant.

Our measuring devices

LISG 1

LISG: Laser Interferometric Sensor for Glass

5 in one gauge ! Ultra fast detection
The LISG is designed for bare optical fiber measurement and defect check during drawing. It uses the interferometric fringes pattern produced by a fiber when placed in a laser beam. Main features :
- Real-time, high accurate diameter measurement
- Airline defect detection (bubble into the preform)
- Spinning profile and frequency measurement
more info
AIR 1

AIR: Ultra fine "airline"

100% glass section coverage.
The AIR is designed to detect airline defect (bubbles into the preform stretched during drawing) into optical fiber.
It uses the interferometric fringes pattern produced by a fiber when placed in a laser beam. The measurement principle allows ultra fine airline detection, down to 0.3µm. It's the only instrument able to detect 100% airline (with or without spinning). Measurement is fiber position and vibration independent.
more info
 
NCTM 1

NCTM: Non Contact Tension Measurement

Pure optical principle !
The NCTM is designed to measure the drawing force (tension) during optical fiber production. It uses a pure optical principle based on birefringence (light polarization).
Measurement capability from the start-up to the end of the drawing process. Range : 0 - 400 grams, uncertainty :+/- 1 gr.
more info
CM5 1

CM5: Coating Monitor 5 axes

All in one ! Diameter and lump&neck detection
The CM5 is designed for coated optical fiber measurement and defect check during drawing. It includes several different principles :
- laser diffraction for diameter measurement.
- shadow energy on 5 axes for Lump&Neck detection
- diffused energy for internal defect detection
- laser interferometry for asymmetry measurement
more info

Our software solution

cim 1

CIM Prod software

Our advanced CIM PROD PC software is a complete, production quality management tool for production technicians. It comes with our instruments to provide their parameter settings, to clearly display the production measurements as well as any detected defects, and to generate real-time parameters and record all the measurements and events in a data base.
The PROD version has been developed for IN-LINE fiber optics measurements. Adjustment of tolerances, triggering threshold, and spool replacement are specific features for the production environment.
Specifications
 
draw tower

The drawing tower

In order to meet the huge demand for optical fiber for telecommunications applications, many companies have had to build new plants and install new fibre facilities all around the world. Today, the optical fiber manufacturing process is quite similar across...
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optical fiber

The drawing process

Everything starts with silica sand. High purified materials are then combined to manufacture a glass cylinder called a Preform: a multi layered pure glass cylinder of around 20 centimeters. It is comprised of two perfectly concentric tubes, each with...
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