Medical optical fiber service
The company OPTEC s.c. for 30 years it has been providing warranty and post-warranty service of medical optical fibers of all possible standards, from cables from German companies, from the United States, to the Far East. Our repairs are carried out by qualified employees using specialized equipment and devices. We have extensive experience, knowledge and technical facilities that allow us to make professional repairs.
The typical failures of medical optical fibers include:
- cover leaks,
- dirt, scratching, degradation of the front end of fiber optic terminals,
- tearing off the tip from the instrument side,
- breakage of optical fibers in different places of the optical cable.
Cover leaks may occur in the case of jerks, cable contact with the edges of tables, cabinets, medical trolleys, or sharp medical tools. The cover may tear completely – all around its circumference or in a point. This repair is then called sealing the cover – gluing a section of the silicone hose in the place of the leak with a special glue that withstands sterilization conditions. Even single leak points should not be underestimated, because flooding the optical fibers with liquids shortens their service life.
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The photos show the case of sealing the cover with complete tearing and point sealing.
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The photos show the ends of the optical fibers before and after grinding and polishing.
In the case of contamination, persistent deposits, scratches, degradation of the front of the fiber optic terminals, regrind and polish them. The best effect is achieved when such damage is superficial. It is impossible to judge organoleptically whether the tip can be ground and obtain a high level of transmission. Only the actual grinding of the tip shows whether it has hidden defects (e.g. degradation of the adhesive between optical fibers).
Tip breakage most often occurs on the instrument side. Very often, the outer silicone cover remains undamaged, the damage is internal: the spring torn out of the cover sleeve, broken fibers. When you lightly squeeze the cover with your fingers, you can feel such a broken spring. Even if there is a small amount of broken fibers, you should not continue to use such cables. Such a spring may tear the sheath of this cable and damage other elements lying next to it, or injure the user or the patient. The cable is then shortened on one side. The end is cut off in the place of broken fibers, the cable sheath is shortened and the sheath sleeves are re-glued, the end itself and the fiber optic bundle inside it. In the example we have a tip in which a small amount of optical fibers is damaged.
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The photos show the tip before and after the shortening.
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The photos show the ends of the optical fibers before and after grinding and polishing.
If the optical fibers are broken in different places, the entire fiber bundle must be replaced. As standard, fibers with a diameter of 50 μm are used, in a bundle of cable with a diameter of 3.5 mm there are about 4,000 fibers. Thus, it is not possible to isolate single broken fibers from the fiber bundle. When diagnosing the need to replace the harness, it is important to check whether the old shield can be cleaned and reused. We advise you not to try to remove the old bundle from the cover, it is very easy to thread broken fibers into yourself. With broken optical fibers, apart from the lack of light transmission at the ends of the cable, we observe the stiffness of the sheath and the inability to arrange it in a straight line.
The service of medical optical fibers also includes repairs of optical fiber elements of surgical hooks, an attachment for lighting laryngoscopes, rectoscopes, amnioscopes, anoscopes, vaginoscopes and repair of technical cables for microscopes.
For more information, please contact our medical service department:
Wojciech Mińko
OPTEC s.c.
ZAKŁAD DOŚWIADCZALNO-PRODUKCYJNY OPTOELEKTRONIKI
ul. Alberta 6E
16-001 Księżyno k. Białegostoku
tel. (85) 743 74 17 wew. 107
e-mail: wojtek@optec.pl