Founded in 1995, Krell Technologies introduced the
industry's first portable fiber optic connector polisher with singlemode
performance. The SpecPro KTN1 provided installers and contractors
the ability to field terminate singlemode connectors.
Before
availability of the KTN1 polishing machine, it was necessary to fusion splice costly
factory connectorized pigtails on trunk cables using expensive capital equipment.
Building upon the success of the KTN1 connector polisher, Krell has developed a line of polishing equipment that integrate various optical and production technologies. Rather than providing single-function polish machines, Krell manufactures workcell systems that streamline the entire termination and production process. By integrating several independent production steps, process time is decreased, labor minimized and quality control is maximized with traceability.
Krell provides polishing and inspection solutions for a multitude of optical applications in various industrial fields ranging from telecom to medical to sensing. Knowledge acquired by Krell through these projects are integrated into our standard polishing equipment line and is a resource for custom projects.
Krell connector polishers are designed to engage with the SpecVision video microscopeprobe for the direct viewing of connectors that are still loaded in the machines. This feature minimizes material handling, eliminating the traditional need to transfer connectors to and fro a microscope station.
SpecVision engaged with SpecPro 4L
For controlled optical processing, many Krell polishing systems are automated with PC control. Polishing program data bases can be quickly created by an engineer, and easily accessed and executed by technicians of all training levels. Workholder fixture positioning and material removal can be manipulated on a sub-micron scale with precise control motion control.
Scepter Microfeed Programming Menu
Bare fiber tips can be processed into various shapes for fiber lensing, sensing and illumination applications. Tip radiusing and geometry verification is available. Bare fiber polishing is supported by all classes of Krell polishers ranging from the portable SpecPro 4L to the full-featured FiberSmith System.
Krell's patented Independent Suspension (IS) workholder fixtures allows a connector to vertically move independent from adjacent connectors. This freedom of z-axis movement provides equalized pressure distribution during contact with the polishing film surface, yielding more uniform and controllable endface geometries. Connector air-polishing and epoxy removal, traditionally performed as an off-line step, is now automated and integrated within Krell polishers due to IS.
Each connector position is independently "tuned" to an interferometric reference using Krell's patented Optical Alignment Mechanism (OAM). The factory set OAM guarantees superior endface geometries with consistency from connector to connector.
Polishing workholder fixtures are available for commercial and custom components. Connectors, ferrules, MIL-spec termini, waveguides, lenses, rods, etc. are supported. Workholders are designed and tested to yield component performance that complies to industry standards established by organizations such as Telcordia .
Krell has integrated various optical testing techniques into its polishing systems. These include in-line beam profiling and interferometer analysis. Optical tests are performed while the processed component is still mounted in the polisher. This approach guarantees that when a component is removed from the polisher, it will comply with the desired optical specifications without the need for secondary, off-line testing.
Krell has experience polishing many fiber types. These include mulitmode / singlemode, polarization maintaining (PM), bundled, hollow core/holey, photonic band-gap, plastic, fused-silica and sapphire. Krell's application group has developed numerous polishing procedures and compiled an extensive database for processing a large variety of material types and compositions.
