JP2002311296A - Optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical connector, with which a multi-core transposition proofing structure can be provided and assembly is facilitated by efficiently and effectively utilizing a space. SOLUTION: In an optical connector 10 for connecting an optical fiber, this connector has a housing 1 holding and fixing the optical fiber, an engaging member 5 to be engaged and held on the housing 1 so as to freely slide and an elastic member 4 for energizing the housing in a connecting direction, and the engaging member 5 has a pair of engaging pieces 14 to be engaged with both the side parts of the housing in the lengthwise direction and a lock piece 12 to be engaged with a connecting part for locking it while being elastically displaced in the thickness direction of the housing across the lengthwise direction of the housing.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connector for connecting housings.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an optical connector shown in FIG. 5 has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-43453, hereinafter referred to as prior art 1).

As shown in FIG. 5, in an optical connector 50 according to the prior art 1, an optical fiber 57 having at least one core is integrated into a housing 51, and a projection 52 is integrally formed in the longitudinal direction of the housing 51 to be connected. This is an optical connector for connecting the front end of the housing 51 facing the front end of the housing 51. A box-shaped engaging piece 55 made of an elastic body is provided on the outside of the housing 51. A pair of locking pieces 54 facing the outside and the inside, respectively, are provided at the opening end and the intermediate portion of the engaging piece 55, respectively. , 53 are formed. The optical connector 50 can be freely displaced with respect to the optical axis.
It has a coil spring 56 and the like.

[0004]

However, in the optical connector 50 according to the prior art 1 described above, when the number of optical connectors is increased, the number of optical connectors must be provided, so that the number of optical connectors is increased, and the overall size is increased. Has the disadvantage that it is complicated.

It is therefore a technical object of the present invention to provide an optical connector which can efficiently utilize a space, provide a multi-core structure, provide a structure for preventing interchangeability, and is easy to assemble.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in an optical connector for connecting an optical fiber, a housing holding and fixing an optical fiber and an engaging member slidably engaged and held by the housing. And an elastic member that urges the housing in a connection direction, wherein the engagement member includes a pair of locking pieces that engage with both longitudinal sides of the housing.
An optical connector characterized by having a lock piece that intersects the longitudinal direction of the housing and is elastically displaced in the thickness direction of the housing to engage and lock with a connection partner.

Further, according to the present invention, in the optical connector, an optical fiber is inserted into the engaging member and a through hole having a notch is formed, and the engaging member is detachably engaged with the housing. An optical connector characterized by having such a configuration is obtained.

According to the present invention, there is provided any one of the optical connectors and an adapter for accommodating the optical connector, and the adapter includes an engagement hole for engaging with the lock piece. An optical connector characterized by the above feature is obtained.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a connection state of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the optical connector 10 is mounted from one end of an adapter 30 having openings at both ends, and the optical connector 20 on the other side is mounted from the other end of the adapter 30. The optical connector 10 and the mating optical connector 20 have the same configuration except for the coupling surface side. That is, the protruding guide pins 2 and 2 are provided on the distal end surface which is the coupling surface of the optical connector 10, while the guide pins 2 and 2 are provided on the distal end surface which is the joining surface of the optical connector 20 on the other side. Guide holes 25 to be inserted
Are provided respectively.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a state in which an optical fiber is incorporated in the optical connector according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the optical connector 10 has a rectangular housing 1 made of an insulating material and a rear end portion of the housing 1 (for convenience of explanation, a flat optical fiber 50 is mounted on the lower left side in the front and a flat optical fiber 50 is mounted on the housing 1). And an elastic member 4 such as a coil spring for connecting the engaging member 5 and the housing 1. The engaging member 5 is mounted so as to cover the rear side of the housing. And

The housing 1 has a pair of guide pins 2, 2 at its front end for axially projecting alignment.
Protrusions 3, 3 provided on the outer periphery of the rear end at a higher level
And The rear end surface of the housing 1 is provided with an insertion hole 1a which is elongated in the width direction and into which the flat optical fiber 50 is mounted via an adhesive or the like.

The engaging member 5 is formed of an elastic material and has a base 6 having a through hole 7 and a housing 1 from both sides of the base 6.
And a locking piece 12 extending forward from the base 6 along the upper end of the housing 1. A cut 8 from the lower end of the base 6 penetrates the through hole 7 of the base 6.

A pair of engagement pieces 12 are provided at one end of the plate 13.
It is provided with a locking piece 14 which is cut in a U-shape so as to leave one side of one end of the square and is bent inward, and is engaged with the projection 3 of the housing 1.

The locking piece 12 has a base 15 extending forward from the base 6 of the engaging member 5, a protruding portion 16 protruding from the base 15 to the front central portion, and a top end of the protruding portion 16. It has a flat end face, an inclined face on the front end face, and a locking projection 18 protruding outward.

An elastic body 4 is disposed between the rear end surface of the housing 1 and the base 5. This elastic body 4
Always urges the housing 1 against the engaging member 5 in a direction along the front-rear direction which is the connection direction at all times.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another example of the adapter for mounting the connector of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the adapter 30 has a box shape having openings 30a and 30b on the front and rear surfaces for fitting. Openings 31 and 32 are provided on the upper end surface and the lower end surface of the adapter 30, respectively. This opening 3
1, when the connector 10 is mounted, the locking projection 18 of the lock piece 12 of the connector 10 is fitted to prevent the detachment of the connector 10 from the adapter 30 (lock mechanism). In addition, when the connector 10 of the adapter 30 is mounted,
The protrusion 16 of the lock piece 12 protruding from the upper end of the adapter
Press down to release the lock and connect the connector 1
0 can be withdrawn from the adapter 30.

Further, the locking projection 18 facing the outside of the lock piece 12 is locked in the adapter 30 at the opening 31 of the adapter, and the openings 31, 32 are integrally formed on the front and back, so that a compatibility preventing structure is provided. It can be realized in an efficient space.

The mating optical connector 20 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on the adapter in an upside-down direction from that of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a view showing another example of the adapter for mounting the connector according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the optical connectors 10 are mounted in parallel on the adapter 35 with the connector pitch 21. In this way, in the state at the time of multi-core,
The number of cores can be increased simply by reflecting the connector dimensions on the pitch.

In order to mount the optical connector according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, a flat optical fiber 50 is integrated with an insertion hole at the rear end of the housing 1 via an adhesive or the like. Become Although not shown here,
Since the cut 8 is provided at the lower end of the through hole 7 for the optical fiber in the base 6 of the engaging member 5, the optical fiber 50 is integrated with the housing by an adhesive or the like, and then the engaging member 5 is assembled to the housing 1. be able to.

As shown in FIG. 4, the optical connector 10 for connecting the respective housings 1 to face each other faces the projection 3 at the rear end of the housing 1 to be connected to the engaging member 5 inwardly. The forward displacement of the housing 1 is restricted by the locking pieces 14 provided as described above.
When the housing 1 is mounted on the adapter 30,
An optical connector is provided in which the engaging projection 18 of the lock piece 12 protruding upward from the housing 1 is engaged with the adapter 30, and the engaging piece facing outward at one end of the orthogonal elastic opening 36 is engaged with the opening 31 of the adapter 30. 10 is locked and a connection is possible.

As described above, in the optical connector according to the embodiment of the present invention, the rectangular projections 10 of the rectangular optical connector 10 to be connected are engaged with the projections 3 in the longitudinal direction of the housing 1 by a pair of inwardly facing elastic members. The displacement direction is controlled by the piece 14, and the connection of the optical connector 10 is formed on the upper end portion made of an orthogonal elastic body with a locking projection 18 facing outward. In addition, the opening 35 is formed integrally with the adapter 35 connecting the housing 1 so that the locking projection 18 facing outward is engaged with one end of the opening of the orthogonal elastic body. It is easy to assemble.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is possible to provide an optical connector which can efficiently utilize a space, provide a multi-core structure and a structure for preventing interchangeability, and can be easily assembled.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a connection state of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state where an optical fiber is incorporated in the optical connector according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing another example of an adapter for mounting the connector of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another example of the adapter for mounting the connector according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an optical connector according to a conventional technique 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 22 Housing 2 Guide pin 3 Projection 4 Elastic body 5 Engagement member 6 Base 7 Through hole 8 Cut 10 Optical connector 12 Lock piece 13 Plate 14 Locking piece 16 Projection 18 Locking projection 25 Guide hole 30, 35 Adapter 30a, 30b Opening 31 Opening 50 Optical fiber

Claims (3)

[Claims] An optical connector for connecting an optical fiber, comprising: a housing holding and fixing an optical fiber; an engaging member slidably engaged and held by the housing;
An elastic member for urging the housing in a connection direction, wherein the engaging member includes a pair of locking pieces for engaging with both longitudinal sides of the housing, and intersects the longitudinal direction of the housing; An optical connector comprising: a lock piece that is elastically displaced in a thickness direction to engage and lock with a connection partner. 2. An optical connector according to claim 1, wherein an optical fiber is inserted through said engaging member and a through hole having a notch is formed so that said engaging member is detachably engaged with said housing. An optical connector characterized by comprising. 3. The optical connector according to claim 1, further comprising: an adapter accommodating the optical connector, wherein the adapter includes an engagement hole for engaging the lock piece. Optical connector.