We provide development and design technology for heating furnaces and heating systems with 30 years of experience in fiber optic drawing furnaces and vitrification furnaces.
I was part of the Corporate Production Technology Department at Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. for 26 years, serving as the head of the Production Technology Development Center for 5 years. My main responsibilities included the development of optical fibers and the introduction of equipment into mass production lines, and the equipment I introduced is still actively in use today.
From the late 1980s, when I was in charge, until the collapse of the telecommunications bubble, the drawing speed increased every year, and the diameter of the preforms also became larger. At that time, the purchased drawing furnace frequently experienced water leaks, which led us to develop our own drawing furnace.
Since there was no design technology for furnaces within the company, I requested a furnace manufacturer we were associated with to design and manufacture the heating furnace. However, water leaks occurred again within a few months. Even when the power to the heating furnace was turned off, the interior was still glowing brightly, and I, being on-site, felt very uneasy.
Therefore, I decided to design the heating furnace myself. I incorporated knowledge gained from developing vacuum deposition equipment into the specifications for pressure resistance, airtightness, and leak testing, and I reviewed the welding structure in consultation with the manufacturer. Additionally, I revised the system and included it in the specifications.
At that time, I was too busy to compile everything into systematic documentation. Thus, after becoming independent, I summarized my design technology for the carbon heater heating system.