London, April 14, 2003. Furukawa Electric has developed a compact and easy to use Optical Fiber Fusion Splicer that promises to make FTTH (Fiber To The Home) and LAN (Local Area Network) installations fast, simple and cost effective. Furukawa's 121A weighs less than a kilogram and comes complete in a camera-type case.
Splicing is carried out at the press of a button and splices are completed in only 13 seconds. It can operate with either AC line or battery power.
The S121A Fusion Splicer is one-third the size of regular fusion splicers. Its T-shaped body enables splices to be made using a minimum excess fiber length when the head of the splicer is inserted into the enclosure, and at the same time allows the user to hold the fusion splicer in one hand when conducting operations in locations with limited working space.
The unit handles only single fibers. As in the case of previous models, the fiber is set in the holder and the unit executes all operations automatically, so that anyone can operate the unit with ease. An enlarged image of the fiber is displayed using a CCD camera and a 2.5 inch color LCD monitor to provide the operator with a high quality representation of the fiber. It offers fast, fully automatic splicing in only 13 seconds - all the user needs to do is set the fiber in the holder and press a button. The operator can easily switch between single mode fiber and multimode fiber by selecting a pre-set fusion program.
The unit offers two power supplies - a removable, rechargeable battery and an optional DC adaptor to allow AC power. Furthermore, by attaching an optional sleeve heater or simple reinforcement tool to the back of the unit, the splice can be strengthened using thermal protection sleeves.
Optical Manufacturing