Environmental and Safety Considerations In Premises Cable

摘要

The need for environmental friendly premises cables, such as heavy metal-free PVC cables, has been increasing as more considerations are given to the "end-of-life" of these cables. For example, there have been efforts in both the US and Europe to create regulations controlling and/or eliminating the use of certain metals such as lead and cadmium in PVC applications. To make "greener" cable products using PVC materials with lead and cadmium free stabilizers, the primary concern is whether the optical performance, long term reliability and fire safety of premises cables are compromised. All these issues were addressed in OFS effort to become ready to offer "heavy metal free" (HMF) premises cable products to the market. Various HMF PVC materials were evaluated in terms of thermal and UV stability. Cables were designed and tested to Telcordia GR-409, ICEA 596, or IECA 696. Cables made from these new materials were also tested for fire performance. The results show that fire performance of HMF stabilized PVC cables is at least comparable to that of lead or cadmium stabilized PVC cables with the same designs.