JP2003029089A - Optical fiber inserting tool - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical fiber inserting tool which can easily insert an optical fiber into a fiber hole even if a ferrule does not have a guide groove for guiding the optical fiber into the fiber hole. SOLUTION: The optical fiber inserting tool 5 has a substrate 6 where a plurality of guide grooves 6a are formed and pin holding parts 7 which are formed on both the sides of the substrate and have insertion holes 7a for guide pins.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an optical fiber insertion tool for an optical connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an optical connector used in optical communication,
Plastic ferrules are being developed for the purpose of increasing the number of cores, increasing the density of optical fibers, increasing the accuracy of butt splicing, and lowering the cost due to mass productivity. As such a plastic ferrule, for example, the ferrule 1 shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 has a collar portion 1b on the rear portion of the main body 1a.
The main body 1a is formed with an inlet 1c extending in the front-rear direction and opening at the rear end surface of the collar 1b. The ferrule 1 has an inlet 1c on the upper surface of the main body 1a.
And an opening 1d for communicating the adhesive and for injecting an adhesive is formed. Further, the ferrule 1 is formed with two pin holes 1e on both sides for inserting the guide pins along the longitudinal direction, and a plurality of fibers for inserting an optical fiber are provided between the two pin holes 1e on the front part of the main body 1a. The holes 1f are formed in three stages in the vertical direction. At this time, a guide groove 1g is provided in the upper fiber hole 1f, and a guide groove 1h is provided in the lower fiber hole 1f.
Are formed respectively.

In order to prevent the imbalance of shrinkage after molding, the ferrule 1 has a smaller opening 1d than the conventional one and shortens the guide groove for guiding the optical fiber to the pin hole 1e. As shown, the upper guide groove 1g is designed to be as short as possible except the lower guide groove 1h, and the middle fiber hole 1f is omitted.

[0004]

By the way, in the ferrule 1, an optical fiber is introduced into the inlet 1c from the rear of the collar 1b while visually observing from the opening 1d on the upper surface of the main body 1a,
The opening 1d is sealed while being inserted into each fiber hole 1f and being adhesively fixed to the fiber hole 1f with an adhesive injected from the opening 1d.

At this time, since the opening 1d of the ferrule 1 is smaller than that of the conventional one, the optical fiber is difficult to see, and the guide groove 1g is short or absent except the lower guide groove 1h. There was a problem that it was troublesome and the workability was very poor. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides an optical fiber insertion tool that can easily insert an optical fiber into a fiber hole even if the ferrule does not have a guide groove for guiding the optical fiber to the fiber hole. The purpose is to

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object in the present invention, a substrate having a plurality of guide grooves formed therein, and a pin holding portion formed on both sides of the substrate and having insertion holes for guide pins are provided. It has a configuration with. Preferably, the substrate is formed so as to protrude from the pin holding portion.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of an optical fiber inserting tool of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. Optical fiber insertion tool (hereinafter simply "insertion tool")
As shown in FIG. 1, the reference numeral 5 includes a substrate 6 and pin holding portions 7 formed on both sides of the substrate 6.

As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate 6 is formed so as to protrude from the pin holding portion 7, and a plurality of guide grooves 6a for guiding the optical fiber are provided on the upper surface. Guide groove 6
a is on the same straight line as the fiber hole of the ferrule used, and is a U groove in the example shown in FIG. 1, but it may be a V groove. The width Wb of the substrate 6 shown in FIG. 2 is set smaller than the width Wf (> Wb) of the introduction port 1c of the ferrule 1.

The pin holding portion 7 has an insertion hole 7a formed in the front-rear direction in which a guide pin 3 described later is inserted. A plurality of types of the insertion tools 5 configured as described above are prepared in advance in accordance with the number of fiber holes in the ferrule and the number of fiber holes in each step. Then, for example, when the insertion tool 5 is used with the ferrule 1, as shown in FIG. 2, the guide pin 3 is prepared, and the pin holding portion 7 is placed on the rear side of the substrate 6
Is arranged so as to face the inlet 1c of the ferrule 1.

Then, the substrate 6 is connected to the inlet 1 of the ferrule 1.
The guide pin 3 is inserted into the pin hole 1e of the ferrule 1 and the insertion hole 7a of the pin holding portion 7 while being inserted into the c, and the insertion tool 5 is positioned with respect to the ferrule 1. At this time, in the insertion tool 5, as shown in FIG. 3, the substrate 6 is arranged at the upper edge of the lower guide groove 1h, and each guide groove 6a is arranged at a position corresponding to the middle fiber hole 1f.

In this state, as shown in FIG. 4, the bare fiber 4b exposed by removing the coating 4a from the tip of the optical fiber 4 is introduced into the introduction port 1c while being guided to the guide groove 6a. Then, the bare fiber 4b is guided by the guide grooves 6a and smoothly and easily inserted into the middle-stage fiber hole 1f by using the insertion tool 5 even if the ferrule 1 does not have the guide groove.

On the other hand, in the case of a ferrule in which only the fiber hole is formed and the introduction port is not formed, the insertion tool 10 shown in FIG. 5 is used. The insertion tool 10 has a guide groove 11
The board 11 is provided with a plurality of a and the pin holding portions 12 formed on both sides of the board 11 and having the insertion holes 12a through which the guide pins 3 are inserted.
It has the same length as 2.

Like the insertion tool 5, the insertion tool 10 inserts the guide pin 3 into the pin hole (not shown) of the ferrule 15 and the insertion hole 12a of the pin holding portion 12 to insert the ferrule 1 into the ferrule 1.
Position the insertion tool 10 with respect to 5. And FIG.
As shown in FIG. 4, when the bare fiber 4b is guided into the guide groove 11a and introduced into the guide hole 15j, the bare fiber 4b finally moves smoothly into the fiber hole 15f, and
Easy to insert.

Here, the ferrule 15 has substantially the same structure as the ferrule 1 except that the ferrule 15 does not have the inlet 1c and the guide grooves 1g and 1h. Therefore, the ferrule 15 uses the reference numerals corresponding to the components corresponding to the ferrule 1, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted. At this time, the insertion tool of the present invention, particularly the insertion tool 5, exhibits excellent characteristics when used in the ferrule 17 having no opening for injecting the adhesive shown in FIG.

The ferrule 17 has the same structure as the ferrule 1 described in the prior art except that it has no opening. Therefore, in the following description and FIG. 7, the same reference numerals are used for the same components, and duplicate description is omitted. The ferrule 17 shown in FIG. 7 eliminates an opening for injecting an adhesive for the purpose of improving the molding accuracy of the fiber hole 17f, and has a central fiber hole 1 formed in three stages in the vertical direction.
It is formed symmetrically with respect to a horizontal plane passing through the center of 7f. By forming the ferrules 17 symmetrically in this way, the ferrule 17 avoids the imbalance of shrinkage after the resin molding, and improves the molding accuracy of the fiber hole 17f.

Therefore, since the ferrule 17 does not have an opening when the optical fiber 4 is inserted into the fiber hole 17f, the ferrule 17 is inserted while visually checking the optical fiber 4 through the opening 1d like the ferrule 1 shown in FIG. Can not do it. However, when the insertion tool 5 is used, the substrate 6 inserted from the introduction port 17c and placed on the upper edge of the guide groove 17h is visually observed from the rear of the insertion tool 5 and guided to the guide groove 6a while the bare fiber (not shown) is shown. No.) is introduced into the inlet 17c. Then, the bare fiber is guided by the guide groove 6a and smoothly and easily inserted into the fiber hole 17f, and workability in assembling the optical connector is improved.

In the insertion tools 5 and 10 of the above embodiment, the guide grooves 6a and 11a formed on the substrates 6 and 11 are each seven, but needless to say, the number is not limited to this. However, the number may be various, such as 4 or 8, depending on the application. Further, the insertion tool of the present invention has ferrules 1 and 17 with three stages of fiber holes 1f and 17f and a ferrule 15 with one stage of fiber hole 15f.
The case where it was used for was explained. However, the use of the insertion tool of the present invention is not limited to the one having a single-stage or three-stage fiber hole, and even if it is used for a ferrule having two-stage or four-stage or more fiber holes, the same effect as above is obtained. It goes without saying that it can be demonstrated.

[0018]

According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, there is provided an optical fiber insertion tool capable of easily inserting an optical fiber into a fiber hole even if the ferrule does not have a guide groove for guiding the optical fiber into the fiber hole. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of an optical fiber insertion tool of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing how to use the optical fiber insertion tool of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the substrate of the optical fiber inserting tool of FIG. 1 is inserted into a ferrule.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where an optical fiber is inserted into a ferrule by using a guide groove formed in a substrate of the optical fiber insertion tool shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the optical fiber inserting tool of the present invention.

6 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which an optical fiber is inserted into a ferrule using the optical fiber insertion tool shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the substrate of the optical fiber inserting tool of FIG. 1 is inserted into another ferrule.

FIG. 8 is a plan view showing an example of a plastic ferrule.

9 is a cross-sectional view of the ferrule shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ferrule 3 guide pins 5 Optical fiber insertion tool 6 substrate 6a Guide groove 7 pin holder 7a insertion hole 10 Optical fiber insertion tool 11 board 11a guide groove 12 pin holder 12a insertion hole 15 ferrules 15f fiber hole 15j Guide hole 17 ferrules 17f fiber hole

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber insertion tool comprising: a substrate having a plurality of guide grooves formed therein; and pin holding portions formed on both sides of the substrate and having guide pin insertion holes. 2. The optical fiber inserting tool according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is formed so as to protrude from the pin holding portion.