DE8908899U1 - Calibration plug for a fiber optic optical fiber - Google Patents

Description

Description

In recent years, fiber optic light waveguides have been increasingly used for terrestrial message transmission, but also for microsurgical operations, particularly in the field of endoscopy. As far as the state of the art and the invention are explained in more detail below using the example of medical technology, this is in no way restrictive with regard to the area of application of the calibration plug described below. Rather, it is used to accommodate fiber optic light waveguides for a wide variety of applications.

Before an operation, the doctor must ensure that the optical fiber of his endoscope, which is used only once for hygienic reasons, fulfills the desired functions and in particular the required focusing

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emits a light beam at the free end. For this purpose, a calibration plug is placed on the free end of the optical fiber and fed into an associated measuring device, which measures the emitted light waves and indicates whether the fiber is OK or not. If the fiber, for example, were to break somewhere, this would be immediately registered in the measuring device due to reduced or faulty light output and the surgeon could exchange the endoscope for a functioning device before the operation.

The calibration plug must essentially fulfill the following functions. It must be easy to place it on the free end of the fiber. The fiber must be positioned exactly in the plug in order to be able to carry out a meaningful and reproducible measurement. Finally, the plug must be easy to remove after the calibration process without damaging the fiber.

The invention has recognized that a corresponding calibration plug must first be made up of several parts for this purpose in order to be able to position the optical waveguide (the fiber) safely. It was also recognized that in order to position the fiber precisely in the plug, not only must corresponding guide grooves for the optical waveguide be provided in the plug halves, but these must also be designed in such a way that a defined stop surface is formed for the optical waveguide in order to be able to accommodate it in a defined orientation in the plug.

For this purpose, a calibration plug ^for a fiber optic light waveguide is proposed, which consists of two half-shells that can be fixed against each other.

and has the following features:

at least one inherited half-shell bus Lt/1 on its K &ogr;&eegr; L a k t f I &eegr; c h R to the neighboring 7 w ß i t &ogr;&eegr; half-shell a groove, /ur detachable accommodation of the light J 1 cn I π &igr; te r·

the NuL extends axially from the rear, connecting end of the plug and ends at a distance of 0cm from the front, connecting end of the plug,

As an extension of the groove, a slot π of the contact surface runs, which ends in the mating-side face of the half-shell, whereby the slot runs coaxially to the groove and is designed with a smaller opening time e than the groove.

In this design, due to the different widths of the groove and slot, a clearance surface is automatically formed in the overlap, against which the end face of the conductor is guided for positioning in the plug. This always results in the conductors being positioned the same in the connector .

.:> 1 icr~r .-te :se consist of optical waveguides of the aforementioned ^: \ -1US »1 πe "&iacgr; an optically active core, a, the core ./-.nulle ^r , the cladding made of a polymeric material or C.as su and an outer coating arranged around it.

This means that the opening width of the groove should correspond to the diameter of the optical waveguide in order to ensure a secure positioning of the fiber in the groove .

In order to simultaneously ensure a defined exit of the light rays from the front surface of the optical core of the light wave

• · · # «It

To achieve this, the slot mentioned is provided in the axial extension of the groove, the opening width of which is preferably equal to or slightly larger than the diameter of the optically active core of the optical waveguide. The arrangement of the slot and groove ensures that the light beam can exit unhindered through the slot of the plug at the plug-side end into the associated measuring device.

In order to create the longest possible guide surface for the optical fiber and to prevent scattered rays from the light emerging from the front, the groove should only end immediately before the plug-in end of the connector and the slot should therefore only be of a short length.

Optical fibers of the type mentioned usually have an external diameter of about 1 mm. It has proven to be useful to also limit the slot length to about 1 mm, from which the general teaching can be derived that the slot length should be designed so that it corresponds to about 0.5 to 3 times the diameter of the optical fiber.

Particularly in the field of medical technology, where particularly thin optical fibers are used to guide them more easily to certain places in the human body, at least the free end section of the optical fiber is often freed from the outer coating, so that the corresponding section only consists of the optically active core and the polymer sheath arranged around it. The diameter of the optical fiber in this section is reduced accordingly to values of 0.5 mm and much less.

It · · &igr; ·

', The calibration plug described can be used in particularly

advantageously now also for the inclusion of a light

I ' waveguide with sections of different diameters

I can be used.

£ For this purpose, the dimensioning of the groove or slot

&igr; selected so that the section of larger diameter

(with outer coating) in the groove and the

■ AuSuimiLL y tirir'iy ertMi Du &igr;&Oacgr; hifi« Ss &kgr;&igr;s (üniie außer« Be seil ich L &ugr; iiy '■

in the adjacent slot with a smaller opening width.

&Idigr;. The allocation and dimensioning of

l· Groove and slot preferably so that the slot length

L is the length of the free end of the optical fiber (without

j outer coating) so that the front surface

! of the optically active Kerr with the front face of the connector

J ₁ is aligned. Together with the stop in the transition area

K between groove and slot is also used in this application.

'. area again an exact positioning of the light wave

conductor in the plug.

t; Of course, the calibration plug can also be

jt must be dimensioned so that only the free end

I (without outer coating) of the optical fiber

P is taken. In this case, the optical fiber

Ü arranged in the plug as shown in the first embodiment

I form described, whereby the groove now has a

I has a correspondingly smaller cross-section and the

^£ the following slot only one to the strength of the

K polymer sheath has a reduced cross-section compared to the groove.

Not only, but preferably also with this design, the stop for positioning the optical waveguide in the transition area between the groove and the slot can not only be made by the step formed there; rather, the invention provides in a completely free embodiment, with the aid of the: &igr; No. Jt cinnr neck shell.· where i , lib &igr;: &igr; r! i ·; Kn &eegr; t. ,11· t, I I ,&kgr;; In: .· ti r lienat; h h .1 ' t.o &pgr; H.i 1 I)'>(. h .1 I ' · protruding N a s t · &eegr; to be arranged and the b e &eegr; a r; h b a 1 L'' half-

C rh :i In ;ar"» rit.it* &agr; tti t-· r\ rr\ r* i~\ *~it · · i 1 \ t-* C t &eegr; 1 In m>*- r% * r* *-, r* r\ ri . » r· · , . *. .

to form corresponding depressions. The N-'s diunn act as additional attachments and are designed in such a way that a gap remains between them for the passage of the light beam.

For this purpose, the noses are preferably designed as prisms, which form a V-shaped or semi-circular space between them when viewed in vertical section, in the bottom area of which the corresponding slot runs.

Although an embodiment is also conceivable,

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^If the optical waveguide is to be inserted into a hollow shaft, then for manufacturing reasons, but also for reasons of better positioning of the optical waveguide, a design in which both half-shells are formed with corresponding grooves and slots is preferred. It is advisable to form the grooves or slots with the same depth, which means that, for example, the depth of each groove corresponds to the radius of the optical waveguide to be accommodated in order to be able to accommodate it securely in axial alignment in the hollow shaft.

In order to enable a kind of clamping of the optical fiber in the uut, the opening width of the groove or the height of the total groove can also be slightly

ig smaller than the diameter of the optical fiber.

For this purpose, a further embodiment is proposed in which the bottom of at least ^one groove (half) is formed with a corrugation. The corrugation preferably runs perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the groove and according to a further advantageous embodiment , it is proposed that the webs of the corrugation be connected to the connection side.

r. end of the plug.

The webs of the corrugation are preferably somewhat elastic, so that on the one hand they exert a certain (low) surface pressure on the inserted optical waveguide in order to hold it firmly in the plug, and on the other hand they also enable the optical waveguide to be easily removed from the plug without having to dismantle the plug. This purpose is particularly served by the design with inclined webs which run in a scale-like manner and enable the optical waveguide to be easily pulled off to the rear (from the other side end of the piece).

In order to achieve a certain "clamping" (without deformation) of the optical waveguide in the connector , it is alternatively or cumulatively proposed in the following form to provide at least one sleeve along the axial guide shaft for the optical waveguide with a section

-iiir/w'til|ri»l* If"» rl nt· »../*! &igr;<r\&Lgr; Wr I -&igr; f» d ii((tini ⁿ H"''< tr^ ri

. , H ../ ■ j ' . . JJ i O >, . , �Lgr; ^J t, _f Ii &igr;. I t 14 ■ , L _r IMl /iiy-JOIil'U /. UW A- IIUIIO Ir J yj tt &Kgr;&Lgr;

preferably has cutouts running in the axial direction, with the web being curved in the direction of the opposite half-shell.

IJ &igr; e I &igr; ti &igr; tu) ( &ogr; (ei &igr; (J(Mi A &ugr;'i s t. an / untj(;n run with

t * I

to the right and left of this and are preferably spaced apart from one another by a distance that is equal to or slightly smaller than the diameter of the optical waveguide.

The curved design of the web between the six cutouts also holds the inserted optical fiber in the connector. On the other hand, the pressure exerted on the fiber is so low that the optical fiber can easily be removed from the stacker by hand after the calibration process without any problems.

There are various designs available for connecting the two halves of the plug. According to an advantageous design, several locking pins protrude essentially vertically from the contact surface of one half-shell and the other half-shell is designed with corresponding recesses to accommodate the locking pins. The locking pins preferably have various projections and recesses that engage in corresponding recesses and projections in the recesses of the corresponding plugs. The locking pins or their projections and recesses should be designed in such a way that, on the one hand, the two half-shells can be securely locked together, but on the other hand, they can also be opened manually without the need for any great effort.

Due to the described embodiment, it is particularly suitable to manufacture the plug from plastic. The plug halves can be manufactured particularly advantageously using an injection molding process.

Further features emerge from the subclaims and the other application documents.

The attached drawing shows two examples of a calibration plug, with Figures 1 and 2 showing schematic perspective views of the two plug halves of a first embodiment.

« The plug consists of ^two half shells 10, 12, which

each having a semicircular cross-section^" .

At their connecting end 14, the half shells are each formed with a widened section 16, which will be described in more detail below.

The contact surfaces 18 are essentially flat.

From the connection-side end 14 of the half-shell 10 runs

in the contact surface 18 a groove 20 in the axial direction, which ends at a distance in front of the plug-side end 22.

F The groove 20 has a width corresponding to the diameter

ε of an inserted light waveguide (not shown)

&Ggr; conductor with its outer coating.

f The height of the groove 20 is half its width.

_; At the end 24 of the groove are two prism-shaped noses 26,

■ 28 arranged, which introduce over the contact surface 18

and form a semicircular recess 30, the base of which describes a slot 32 which runs in axial extension and coaxially to the groove 20 up to the front face at the plug-side end 22. The width of the slot 32 corresponds to the diameter of the optically active core of the fiber optic light waveguide to be inserted with its jacket.

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Figure 1 also shows that the groove 20 has a corrugation 40 with transverse webs 42 on its bottom, which run perpendicular to the axial alignment of the groove 20. The transverse webs 42 have only a very small height and their function is described in more detail below.

Furthermore, it can be seen from Figure 1 that a total of four recesses 44, 46, 48, 50 are formed in the contact surface 18, with two recesses 44, 46 in the area of the widened section 16 and the other two, partially laterally open recesses 48, 50 at the plug-side end 22, each to the right and left of the groove 20. The recesses 44 to 50 serve to accommodate locking pins which are recessed on the corresponding half-shell 12, as can be seen from the description of Figure 2.

The half-shell 12 according to Figure 2 also has a groove 52 which runs from the connection-side end 14 and ends at the plug-side end 22 at a distance from the front face 34. The groove 52 is designed and dimensioned in the same way as the groove 20, but has no ribbing. At the plug-side end 22, instead of the lugs 26, 28, recesses 54a, b are arranged to accommodate the lugs ?F, , ?8. Between the recesses 54 ;j , ? runs a slot /0 in an extension of the groove 51' to the front face 34, analogous to the half-shell 10.

Where recesses 44 to 50 are provided on the half-shell 10 as shown in Figure 1, corresponding locking pins 56, 58, 60, 62 extend upwards from the contact surface 18 on the second half-shell 12, the locking pins 56 to 62 having a slightly larger diameter than the corresponding recesses 44 to 50, so that they fix the two half-shells 10, 12 when they are put together with a corresponding locking effect.

Furthermore, it can be seen that in the groove ^c j 2 /WRi there are axial distances &Pgr;4 which run at a distance from one another. Below this section of the groove '.)'.' if.t (),is Ma t &igr;&igr; xinat.ei &igr; a I rlrj r S t. (;r: k (jf H<i 1 I) sch a I &ogr;1,'wiMjijt.'l)&igr;'.:,.(&kgr;.'&idiagr;&igr; . I) &igr; c /between the &Lgr;&ugr;'.st .in / un<j<;n ()4 , Ij Ii vim current I 1.&kgr;.he I»H points out &pgr;&Igr;&igr;&iacgr;&igr;&igr;&igr;;&igr;&eegr;&pgr;(jei'ingoW'ill)uri(j on, and /wai in Hicntumj iiul d &igr;(; K on ta kt &iacgr; I ache Mi. So (.M 1 &ugr; i I &igr;. (Jc [■ curved section. fjH essentially di'.'')11.'&igr;chi; funkt ion w &igr; l· d &igr; e corrugation 40 in the first Hi I tr.rh.i &iacgr; f! 10 and serves dii/ii, a in d &igr; e groove,en 20, b2 &igr; &igr; r Kj &igr; I iMj ten I &igr;r;h t.we I 1 en 1 e &igr; tcr r.&igr; dia I with rj r> r &igr; mje r Kraft, I ·'s t. / uii.i 1 t en , wolH! &igr; unl.oi eiern Hey; iff "low force" a K &igr;.&igr; I t, &ngr; e &igr;;jta&eegr; de &pgr; win!, which iiiihm si; .ts aus r e L ch t, , den I &igr; cht. we I 1 en 11; &igr; tor in den 11 &iacgr;;&igr; nande r kor respond &igr; er enden 'Juten {'i'tt, '.is) securely · /u position, on the other hand ,t!nM ,tue &mgr; su <je r ing is that the optical waveguide later uiino (Jl tnen lies K a J &igr; hr &igr; e rs t ec kers manually easily over ill', ac-Mh 1 ulir.e &igr; t &igr;<)p li.de 14 after hinton from the plug a I)(J e / Ut) en can be.

&Mgr;&igr;.;&igr; ¹ JeI Monl.ü'je wirri cicjr optical waveguide for example . · 'Hi: &Iacgr;&idigr;; t. f ha 1 &iacgr; t, e j 2 U d^r Malbschale IU inserted, and .-· &lgr; · &igr; so, &igr; J. its front surface against the lugs 26, 28 ·.·'",· . [jiiH.if.h wild dj .c. /weite St eckerhä 1 f te 1 '.t clipped on.

j ei &igr; &igr; c nt. where i 1 en &igr;&ogr; : te r is defined in rj; e'om moment

^- The light beam is held firmly in place and can then be calibrated immediately. The light beam exits through the slot 32. After calibration, the light waveguide can be removed as described.

If an optical waveguide is to be calibrated whose free end has no external coating, a rrioai f lz ed embodiment of an inventive

connector, which is shown schematically in Figures 3 and 4.

This design differs from that according to the diagrams 1, 2 in that the lugs 26, 28 are not arranged directly in the area of the plug-in end 22, but are spaced apart from it and are extended to the end face 34 in the form of a circular recess in the half-shield 2. The second half-shield 12 also has a corresponding half-shield (half-shield) 70 for this purpose. The length of the slots 32, 70 corresponds to the length of the free end of the optical waveguide without an external coating.

The cable is now placed in the first connector half 10 in such a way that the part with the outer coating lies in the groove 20, while the part without the coating runs in the slot 32, whereby the stop in the transition area ensures exact positioning. Accordingly, the optical waveguide ends in the area of the end face 34 and is flush with it after the second connector half 12 has been clipped on.

The fiber is removed as previously described.

In any case, a secure alignment of the fiber in the connector is achieved so that reliable calibration can be carried out.

Claims (10)

^as &ugr;. --er Becker, Müliec &·Ruet ^{Dr Ue!lev A w Fü5i} &igr;Jr Karl-Ernst Muller · ~ .. . . u-Mwwr^w?' JiRiwiwiyenieurn. RaI "gen 'C.'itenian'i/yll'; ¹ ^ J '" ■ '.'unct.en Applicant: SOUr.IAU Electric GmbH Hei.nrich-Hertz-Straße 1 20 July 1989 4006 Erkrath S 21361 schl2 Calibration plug for a fiber optic light waveguide Protection claims ; 1. Calibration plug for a fiber optic light &Ggr; Waveguide made of two mutually fixed Half shells (10, 12) with the following features: 1.1 at least a first half-shell (10) has f on its contact surface (18) to the adjacent \ second half shell (12) a groove (20) for : removable holder of the optical fiber % on, i 1.2 the groove (20) extends axially from the rear, connection end (14) of the plug and '■ ^r ends with a distance in front of the front, plug- ; side end (22) of the plug, D-4030 Raongen 1 ■ TetV.jO,*4Vf/t3O48tW^9(}f " Jetj '&iacgr;2&iacgr;&idigr;?&Ggr;>{3 ■ femex 2102323-pattxev ■ Facsimile(O! 2102/83069 1.3 in the axial extension of the groove (20) there is a slot (32) in the contact surface (18) which is in the plug-in face (34) of the hollow shaft (JO), 1.4 the slot (32) runs coaxially around the groove ( 2Uj ) so that the groove is formed. 2. The light plug according to claim _1, characterized in that the depth of the groove (20) corresponds to the radius of the waveguide and the second half (12) is formed with a corresponding groove (52) or a corresponding slot (70) on its surface. 3. Calibration plug according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that at the end (24) of the groove (20) of a half-shell (10) two lugs (26, 28) protruding from the contact surface (18) to the adjacent half-shell (12) are arranged and the adjacent half-shell (12) has one or two corresponding recesses (54) at the corresponding location. 4. Calibration plug according to claim 3, characterized in that the lugs (26, 28) are designed as prisms and form between them a V-shaped or semi-circular space when viewed in vertical section , in the bottom region of which the slot (32) runs. 5. Calibration plug according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the bottom of the groove (20) is formed with a corrugation (40). 6. Calibration plug according to claim 5, characterized in that the corrugation (40) runs perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the groove (20). 7. Calibration plug according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the webs (42) of the corrugation (40) are inclined towards the connection-side end (14) of the plug. 6. Calibration plug according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that at least one half-shell (12) is formed along the axial guide path for the optical waveguide with a section which has two punched-out portions (64, 66) running at a distance from one another and the surface (68) lying between them is curved in the direction of the contact surface (18) of the adjacent half-shell (10). 3. Calibration plug according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that a plurality of locking pins ( ⁵⁶ , 58, 60, 62) protrude essentially perpendicularly from the contact surface (18) of one half-shell (12), and the other half-shell (10) is provided with corresponding recesses (44, 46, 48, 50) for receiving the locking pins (56, 58, 60, 62) . 10. A plug connector according to one of claims 1 to 9, ila characterized in that the housings (10, Ii') are designed in such a way that they do not bend.