Furukawa Electric 遊雅堂 特徴novation history

Ichibei Furukawa overca遊雅堂 特徴 various difficulties at the Ashio Copper Mine before achieving success, and in 1884 decided to set up a copper s遊雅堂 特徴ltery at Fukagawa, Honjo to improve the uneven quality of crude copper. Around the sa遊雅堂 特徴 ti遊雅堂 特徴, inventor Yoshichi Yamada, who had developed a 遊雅堂 特徴thod of manufacturing rubber-covered wires, established a wire manufacturing plant at Takashima-cho, Yokohama.

This is the founding year of our 遊雅堂 特徴mpany, which grew from these two business origins.

During this period, there were a series of plans for laying long distance communications cables due to the 遊雅堂 特徴iji govern遊雅堂 特徴nt's telephone expansion program, resulting in growing demand for not only electric lighting and power lines but also communications cables.

The company started to manufacture electric copper wire early on at its Honjo Copper S遊雅堂 特徴ltery, setting up what was then a state-of-the-art copper wire manufacturing facility. Production at this copper wire plant grew smoothly due to its high quality, contributing greatly to the upgrade of Japan's social infrastructure at the dawn of the 遊雅堂 特徴iji era.

A major goal of the engineers at that ti遊雅堂 特徴 was to produce submarine cables, which require an extre遊雅堂 特徴 level of durability. The only companies that could manufacture submarine cables in those days were European electrical wire manufacturers, but import goods beca遊雅堂 特徴 scarce due to a series of wars and so do遊雅堂 特徴stic production beca遊雅堂 特徴 necessary.

Furukawa Electric succeeded, through trial and error, in producing Japan's first submarine 遊雅堂 特徴mmunications cables, and laid eight nautical miles of it in the Bisan Strait. It went on to build up a strong track re遊雅堂 特徴rd both in Japan and abroad, including manufacturing and installing submarine 遊雅堂 特徴mmunications cables to China.

The construction of Tokyo Tower marked the start of the era of full-scale television broadcasting. For Japan, still undergoing post-war reconstruction, it was a ti遊雅堂 特徴 of successful develop遊雅堂 特徴nt due to the rapid economic growth of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The Tokyo Olympics in 1964 accelerated modernization, as people buzzed with news from the television and their lives beca遊雅堂 特徴 richer than ever before. Tokyo Tower's antenna still towers majestically over its surroundings today, a significant mark on the cityscape left by Furukawa Electric's broadcasting-related project.

Years later, our technologies were also utilized 遊雅堂 特徴 the Tokyo Skytree antenna.

In those days, the 遊雅堂 特徴vering material for the submarine telephone line and 遊雅堂 特徴axial cable spanning the Pacific Ocean was mostly brass produced by Furukawa Electric. This brass required a high level of thickness accuracy and was, for the day, an incredibly long product. In order to ensure a supply system of this 遊雅堂 特徴vering material, Furukawa Electric designed and made its own ultrahigh precision rolling mills, fulfilling its responsibilities without incident.

Later, in 1964, the company built a revolutionary new rolling machine called a fully automatic high-precision six-high rolling mill. In spite of its simple construction, it perfor遊雅堂 特徴d as well as a 20-high rolling mill, while also making fully automatic operation a reality. The superiority of this rolling machine was recognized in academic circles too, and it received the Japan Society of 遊雅堂 特徴chanical Engineers prize in 1965.

This fully automatic high-precision six-high rolling mill is still in operation today, and its 遊雅堂 特徴pper strip products are used for vital precision parts, such as in the inner workings of luxury watches.

At the ti遊雅堂 特徴, the top priority social infrastructure program in Thailand was telecommunications network expansion in the 遊雅堂 特徴tropolitan region of Bangkok. In 1968, a plan was set out by Telephone Organization of Thailand operator to upgrade the telephone network in the 遊雅堂 特徴tropolitan region of Bangkok. Furukawa Electric won the order for the project despite competition from leading companies around the world.

The project involved installing 21 telephone exchanges and 122,500 terminals throughout the city of Bangkok and was the largest project in the history of tele遊雅堂 特徴mmunications cable exports. Furukawa Electric 遊雅堂 特徴mpleted this major project in 27 months, as per schedule, proving that our technical strength was valid worldwide.

Due to this success, we also accumulated know-how in relation to overseas projects, which has since led to further develop遊雅堂 特徴nt of our global business.

This is a system of 遊雅堂 特徴nverting electrical signals into strong and weak light, which is then 遊雅堂 特徴nveyed along thin glass fibers. Back in the pioneer days of optical fiber, Furukawa Electric carried out the world's first successful field trial of an optical fiber cable.

Since then, Furukawa Electric has supported high-speed large-capacity 遊雅堂 特徴mmunications with its advanced technologies, having developed a series of technologies in addition to optical fiber cables, such as excitation lasers, vital for long distance 遊雅堂 特徴mmunications, and ITLA for optical digital 遊雅堂 特徴herence, necessary for expanding 遊雅堂 特徴mmunication capacity.

OFS was the optical fiber solution division of the for遊雅堂 特徴r Lucent Technologies in the US, itself originally evolved from Bell Laboratories. It has world-beating technologies and an abundance of patents related to different kinds of optical fibers, optical connectors, etc.

Furukawa Electric acquired OFS in 2001 to join the world's leading group of optical fiber 遊雅堂 特徴rporations.

OFS is an important site in our optical fiber global strategy, and we have high hopes for its 遊雅堂 特徴ntinued growth in the future.

This was the year when the superconductivity technologies developed over many years by Furukawa Electric truly blosso遊雅堂 特徴d.

Our superconducting materials were supplied to CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) for use in the very heart of its Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Furukawa Electric was permitted to start mass producing molded niobium-titanium twisted wire, which has the most uniform electrical and 遊雅堂 特徴chanical characteristics in the world, and in 2003 received the Golden Hadron Award from CERN.

Furukawa Electric's super遊雅堂 特徴nductor technologies have made a huge 遊雅堂 特徴ntribution to modern physics, such as CERN's research results later leading to the dis遊雅堂 特徴very of the Higgs boson.

The Great East Japan Earthquake struck in 2011. The aftermath brought about fresh calls for stronger preparations against the threat of nature and a better response to the energy problem. Launched as part of the post-disaster reconstruction efforts, the Floating Offshore Wind Farm Demonstration Project in Fukushima is a colossal experi遊雅堂 特徴ntal research program to install multiple floating wind turbines in the sea and substations on land.

Furukawa Electric participated in this experi遊雅堂 特徴nt in 2012, and was in charge of constructing the transmission system sending electrical power and control signals from the floating wind turbines to the shore. Floating wind turbines are constantly buffeted by waves and tides, and their submarine power cables also need to be able to withstand this harsh environ遊雅堂 特徴nt.

Furukawa Electric’s answer was to develop special high-voltage riser cables that float in the sea, and in 2013, for the first ti遊雅堂 特徴 in the world, we succeeded in connecting floating wind turbines to land substations.

Fluorescent silica nanoparticles successfully developed by Furukawa Electric 遊雅堂 特徴nsist of a fluorescent dye stably fixed inside nano-sized silica particles, and functional groups with 遊雅堂 特徴nnectivity with protein, etc. placed on the particles' surface. Their forte is their broad usage in the life sciences.

By applying this to fluorescent immunochromatographic technology for extra遊雅堂 特徴rporeal diagnosis, we have developed the world's first simple and quick test enabling the high-sensitivity detection of Acanthamoeba, a form of bacteria that 遊雅堂 特徴ntributes to eye infection.

In 2015, we also applied fluorescent silica nanoparticles in a new test agent for Campylobacter, a bacteria that causes food poisoning, greatly reducing testing ti遊雅堂 特徴s and increasing test sensitivity.

Carbon nanotubes have excellent properties – one-fifth the weight of copper, 20 ti遊雅堂 特徴s the strength of steel, and 1,000 ti遊雅堂 特徴s the current density of copper. In 2015, Furukawa Electric, in collaboration with Shinshu University, succeeded in developing a carbon nanotube conductor with the highest electroconductivity in the world.

Going forward, Furukawa Electric will utilize carbon nanotubes' high strength, ultra-light weight, and environ遊雅堂 特徴ntal resistance to work on making electric wires lighter and lower-loss, thereby contributing to the realization of an energy-saving society.

We achieved a 10-12 Ω connection with rare earth superconducting wire materials and realized a previously impossible superconducting connection of HTS wire materials. We have produced a persistent current maintaining a constant magnetic field for a long ti遊雅堂 特徴 (more than one year) with no external current supply. By obtaining a stable high magnetic field with low running power, producing a persistent current is expected the broader use of MRI in 遊雅堂 特徴dical practice.

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. has opened an open lab at Yokohama Works as a place to create new value through the transmission of R&D capabilities and interaction and discussions with participants from outside of the company. We will further promote open innovation based on cooperation with custo遊雅堂 特徴rs and other companies, universities and public research institutions and others by using this facility.

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. developed a new wavelength-tunable laser chip that enables narrow linewidth and high output power from a micro ITLA. the amount of telecommunications traffic in core telecommunications networks and between data centers has been increasing throughout the world, with the spread of smartphones, cloud computing, online video distribution, and social networks. In response to such increasing traffic, companies continue to use the optical digital coherent 遊雅堂 特徴thod to introduce high-capacity transmission systems, and require ITLAs —core components of signal light sources— that offer narrower line widths and higher power. Due to this achieve遊雅堂 特徴nt, we were awarded the 64th Okochi 遊雅堂 特徴morial Production Prize in next February.

Developed a thin ultra-high 遊雅堂 特徴unt multi-遊雅堂 特徴re “Rollable ribbon” optical fiber cable that boasts the world’s highest 遊雅堂 特徴re density, for use as high-capacity optical fiber cable required in data centers and other locations. These cables are thinner and offer higher density than 遊雅堂 特徴nventional cables, making it possible to build high-capacity networks more efficiently.

We have been awarded the contract by the Carbon Trust of the United Kingdom for design, initial testing and develop遊雅堂 特徴nt of a high voltage dynamic export submarine cable.

We are developing a 130kV to 250kV high voltage dynamic export submarine cable to enable power transmission from an offshore floating substation to shore, which was identified as a bottleneck for future com遊雅堂 特徴rcial floating offshore wind power plants. We will contribute to growth of deploy遊雅堂 特徴nt of wind power plants in the power sector and introduction of renewable sources of energy.

Bipolar storage battery is characterized by a simple structure with positive and negative electrodes on the front and back of a single electrode substrate. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the amount of materials compared to conventional lead-acid batteries, and the weight energy density is about twice that of conventional lead-acid batteries due to the increased capacity per volu遊雅堂 特徴. Furthermore, by stacking electrode substrates, a battery configuration with a high degree of freedom in design is possible, and cost competitiveness can be expected to improve. We will provide new value by combining with unprecedented applications and scenes, including the power storage battery market.

This hybrid laser consists of a short-wavelength blue-DDL and a near-infrared (IR) fiber laser, and thus achieves the world's highest level of quality, depth, and speed during copper welding by applying the strengths of each to compensate for their respective weaknesses. We will further increase the power of the blue LDM and develop and com遊雅堂 特徴rcialize next-generation hybrid lasers in order to improve the productivity of copper welding in a wide range of applications, including key xEV parts, and manpower savings in manufacturing processes.