Fiber optic cleaning is one of the most basic and important procedures for the maintenance of fiber optic systems. Its goal is to keep all optical connections free of contaminants to avoid losses caused by dirt, dust and other contaminants, ensuring a high-speed data transmission over optical fibers. This post aims to introduce some of the useful fiber optic cleaning tools and give some tips on fiber optic cleaning process.

Tools of Fiber Optic Cleaning
A wide variety of fiber optic cleaners are provided to complete the cleaning procedure, such as push-type cleaners, reel-type cleaners, wipes and cleaning cards, cleaning sticks, tips and swabs and so on. Because a good fiber optic cleaning will need all kinds of these tools. Thus, many vendors offer the fiber cleaning kits which consist of all kinds of tools to meet customers’ specific application needs with high efficiency of cleaning end-faces. Here we are going to introduce some commonly used fiber optic cleaning tools.

Push-type cleaners are equipped with an easy one push action which quickly and effectively clean the end-face of connectors on jumpers or through adapters. It is one of the useful ways to clean connectors and maximize network performance with a low cost. Reel-type cleaner are designed to clean a variety of connectors. They are safe cleaning options without the need for alcohol, which can be toxic and flammable. And their refillable cleaning tapes making them ideal for lab, assembly lines and field use. Wipes and Cleaning Cards are also the indispensable tools designed to be used dry or with cleaning fluid for effectively removing common contaminants from optical jumpers and parch cords. Cleaning sticks, Tips and Swaps are specifically intended for cleaning fiber optic connector end-faces.

Tips For Fiber Optic Cleaning
Cleaning Methods
Fiber optic cleaning kits, containing above tools, can be divided to four types based on different cleaning methods: dry cleaning, wet cleaning, abrasive cleaning and non-abrasive cleaning. Drying cleaning is a kind of way in which optic cleaning use no solvent. For instance, air spray, lint free wipes, reel based fiber connector cleaner, cletop stick and so on are all dry cleaning products ideal for cleaning transceiver ports. However, wet cleaning is conducted on the opposite way. Products such as alcohol with lint-free wipes and pre-saturated or soaked wipes use a solvent to clean. And the other two cleaning methods are abrasive cleaning and non-abrasive cleaning classified by whether the abrasive material touching the fiber optic connector end-face.

Cleaning Procedures
In order to make sure that you do a good job of fiber optic cleaning, you are required to complete following steps when cleaning.

• Inspect the fiber connector, component, or bulkhead with a fiberscope. If the connector is dirty, clean it with a dry cleaning technique.
• Inspect the connector. If the connector is still dirty, repeat the dry cleaning technique.
• Inspect the connector. If the connector is still dirty, clean it with a wet cleaning technique followed immediately with a dry clean in order to ensure no residue is left on the end-face. (Note: Wet cleaning is not recommended for bulkheads and receptacles. Damage to equipment can occur.)
• Inspect the connector again. If the contaminate still cannot be removed, repeat the cleaning procedure until the end-face is clean.

For more information of fiber optic cleaning and fiber optic cleaning tools, please visit fs.com or contact us over sales@fs.com.