EoW September 2007

sheathing, insulating, covering, marking & printing

Covering the entire spectrum

As the only company operating in the cable marking machines and optical fibre processing lines market, Medek & Schörner covers virtually the entire spectrum of machines worldwide for marking and printing of wires and cables, and coating of optical fibres. In marking and printing the product range includes: high quality gravure printers for LAN cables, control cables, etc, for speeds up to 1,200m/ min. This gives far better performance and printing quality compared to printing by means of ink-jet printers, in particular, on critical insulation material embossing meter markers/hot foil sequential meter markers for highest accuracy of length measurement (power cables, telecommunication cables, optical fibre cables, etc) high performance ring markers for speeds up to 2,500m/min for telephone wires, switchboard wires, automotive cables and LAN cables Medek & Schörner developed its concept for coating optical fibres with ultra-violet hardening inks in close cooperation with companies in the cable industry. The concept with SOFT curing UV irradiator system has already proved its worth in numerous applications throughout the world. The horizontal travelling of the fibre through the entire process has been the optimum arrangement from the beginning, allowing a reliable and comfortable operation of the system. Special UV curable coating inks have been developed by ink suppliers in close partnership with the company. Each optical fibre coating line is equipped with Medek & Schörner-designed M550 high performance SOFT-curing UV irradiators which give: perfect curing results with minimum energy load for fibre and ink permanent irradiation control automatic adjustment for the actual curing demand, compensating bulb aging and quartz tube deterioration optimised energy consumption compared to rival products (30% less) The modular system allows the easy and quick adaptation of the coating system for various applications or upgrade at moderate cost as the need arises, eg, for ring marking, higher UV curing performance, tight buffering, screen proof test and fibre ribbon production. Examples of adaptations of the Medek & Schörner designed fibre ribbon coating system are: ribbon of plastic optical fibre (POF) for automotive pedestrian protection systems CFU (compact fibre unit): up to 12 colour-coded optical fibres gathered to form a small fibre bundle; designed for air-blown installation applications (eg FTTH) indoor ‘fibre to the desk’ (FTTD) cables with Kevlar strength member • • • • • • • • • • Medek & Schörner also manufactures a line of highly specialised precision marking machines to cover those applications where conventional markers may not be the optimal choice. Coating of optical fibres

For a long time now, flexible flat cables (FFCs) have found widespread use in the automotive and IT industries.

Lamination and extrusion are the processes most commonly used for the production of FFCs today. The disadvantage of lamination is its extremely low production speed. Extrusion is unsuitable for the production of micro FFCs due to the high temperatures and pressures encountered in the extruder head: these make it impossible to maintain accurate geometrical dimensions and precise positioning. The company has developed a new pressureless cold process for the production of FFCs using UV cured resins, ensuring the perfect geometrical accuracy of the cable at high production speeds. The same procedure can also be employed inline with an extruder to position the individual flat cables accurately as they enter the extruder head. Medek & Schörner GmbH – Austria Fax : +43 1982 7296

The FMS5 fromMedek & Schörner

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Email : m+s@medek.at Website : www.medek.at

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EuroWire – September 2007