New inventions & Improvements.
Throughout the years, Mainframe Communications have created and improved multiple products. Our engineers sometimes discover and isolate a specific obstacle and improve on it. And sometimes they see it as an opportunity to invent something new that will benefit the client. Some of our in-house inventions are widely used by the railway industry, especially those that withstand harsh weather and tough environments.
Here is a more detailed look into two of our most popular innovations:
Lineside Fibre Optic Interconnect assembly.
In 2015, while working on a project, we identified a slight function issue with the cable assembly. With temperatures changing throughout the year, cables are at risk to increase or decrease in length. If the cable shrinks or expand too much there’s a risk of the fibre getting exposed to the environment around it which in turn can damage the cable which in turn can be both expensive and hard to repair. To work around and prevent this from happening our engineers constructed a specific type of splice housing, in-house, to protect any cables. The splice housing gave room for movements which effectively eliminated the problem. This unique invention is the first of its kind and is used frequently in the industry today. The casing is made by solid aluminium and is suitable for use in harsh environments.
Harting Cable.
The Harting cable plug, also known as a ‘fast deployment 16 fibre harsh environment plug’, is another in-house invention, also developed by our engineers. They saw a flaw with how the plugs were installed, the pins had to be set in a specific way to fit and in narrow areas this could be an issue for the connectivity. Our Harting cable plug can be used both ways and is universally designed for railway industry projects. The connectors fit securely in place when it is plugged in, making it ideal for underground and harsh environments.
About the Harting Cable:
- This weatherproof single mode Fibre Optic interconnected assembly is rated at IP65, providing chemical and biological protection ideally suited to harsh external applications found in trackside environments. The assembly has excellent pulling strength (tested to 100Kg) allowing for routing through cross track duct and containment found in trackside locations.
- The Harting™ connector system gives a robust repeatable mating of the fibre arrangement through SC type modules mounted inside the aluminium alloy housing.
- A single lever protection covers seals the housing to IP65 protection, this cover has a lanyard to prevent it from becoming separated from the assembly.
- Cable entry is ‘Side Entry’ via an M32 threaded aperture, where a brass reducer (M32 to M20) converts the thread size to accept the M20 brass armoured cable gland.
- The cable is low smoke zero halogen outer jacket with high strength corrugated steel tape armour construction containing 12 G.657A1 OS1 (bend tolerant) colour coded 900um tight buffered fibres with longitudinally applied water blocking E-glass non-metallic strength members, this cable design does not have a memory which allows ease of routing through enclosures etc.
Features:
- IP65 rated
- High Pulling Strength
- G.657 Fibre
- Armoured cable
- Weatherproof
- Designed in-house
Wondering how they could benefit your project, or want more information? Give us a call on 01702 443810 or send us an email to sales@mcldatasolutions.co.uk and talk with our team.
