JP2006154334A - Optical fiber coupler - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical fiber coupler which has simple structure and prevents an optical fiber from being broken and an optical fiber coupling portion from being ruptured. <P>SOLUTION: The optical fiber coupler comprises: a coupler main body which has a housing, a plurality of optical fibers penetrating both ends of the housing and in which the optical fibers are coupled to each other and are arranged in the housing, a plurality of protection pipes which are provided at both the ends of the housing to protect the optical fibers, a connector provided at one end of each protection pipes, a ferrule which is disposed in the connector and fixes an end of the optical fiber coupled to an end of the other optical fiber inside, and a means which is provided in the connector and when the ferrule is pushed axially, pushes back the ferrule in the opposite direction, the other end of the protection pipe being provided to the housing slidably in the penetrating direction of the optical fibers in the housing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical fiber coupler that prevents disconnection due to exposure of an optical fiber, prevents disconnection of the optical fiber due to buckling of the optical fiber, and breaks of the optical fiber coupling portion when the optical fiber does not buckle. .

Conventionally, for example, there is one that prevents buckling of an optical fiber disclosed in Patent Document 1 below. In this patent document 1, an optical connector in which a ferrule for fixing an optical fiber core is pressed by an elastic member such as a spring from the rear and the ferrule is moved backward when fitted is connected to the outside of the optical fiber core. In the method of attaching to the optical cord having a jacket on the side, the end portion of the jacket of the optical cord is cut open and fixed to the optical connector part, and the optical fiber core wire is covered with a tube from the ferrule toward the optical cord. It is characterized by.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-300982

  However, since the thing of patent document 1 employs a soft synthetic resin tube such as polyvinyl chloride, the tube easily breaks due to impact from the outside or a small animal, etc. It was sometimes exposed and disconnected.

Further, when the tube is made of a protective tube made of metal or resin having high rigidity, there are the following problems. When the optical fiber has a relatively large diameter, the rigidity of the optical fiber is high. In the conventional optical fiber coupler 20 in such a case, as shown in FIG. 4, the reference line that means not moving is the tip of the connector 6c other than the ferrule 9a, and is provided at one end of the connector 6c. A protective tube 5a fixed to the housing 2 (the housing 2 and the protective tube 5a are integrated when the ferrule 9a having the optical fiber 3a ₁ therein and the ferrule 9b provided on one end of the connector 6d are connected. ) Since the optical fiber 3a ₁ is pushed into the inside, the stress acting on the optical fiber 3a ₁ is easily transmitted to the coupler body 4 joined by melt stretching in the housing 2, so that the coupler body 4 breaks. It was easy. In addition, when an optical fiber having a small diameter is used instead of the optical fiber having a large diameter in FIG. 4, the optical fiber having a small diameter has less rigidity than an optical fiber having a large diameter. When the fiber 3a ₁ is pushed in, the optical fiber 3a ₁ may buckle and break inside the protective tube 5a.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent the disconnection due to the exposure of the optical fiber with a simple structure, to break the optical fiber due to the buckling of the optical fiber, and to break the optical fiber coupling portion when the optical fiber does not buckle. An optical fiber coupler is provided.

  The optical fiber coupler of the present invention includes a housing, a plurality of optical fibers penetrating both ends of the housing, a coupler main body in which the optical fibers are coupled to each other, and the housing disposed inside the housing. A plurality of protective tubes provided at both ends of the body and protecting the optical fiber; a connector provided at one end of each of the protective tubes; and a connector provided in the connector and coupled to an end of another optical fiber. An optical fiber coupler comprising: a ferrule that fixes an end of the optical fiber therein; and a means that is provided in the connector and that pushes back in a reverse direction when the ferrule is pressed in the axial direction. The other end of the tube is slidably provided in the direction in which the optical fiber penetrates both ends of the casing with respect to the casing. Moreover, it is preferable that the said protective tube consists of a metal or highly rigid resin.

According to the present invention, since the other end of the protective tube is slidably provided with respect to the housing, for example, the glass diameter is small (eg, the diameter is 125 μm or less), and the optical fiber with low rigidity is used. Then, it is possible to easily prevent disconnection of the optical fiber itself without buckling the optical fiber.
In addition, for example, in the case of an optical fiber having a large glass diameter (eg, having a diameter of 200 μm or more) and high rigidity, the other end of the protective tube is provided slidably with respect to the housing. When connecting, the optical fiber will not be pushed into the protective tube. As a result, no stress is generated on the optical fiber, and no stress is applied to the optical fiber coupling portion coupled by melt drawing or the like in the optical fiber coupler, so that the optical fiber coupling portion can be prevented from being broken.
Further, when the protective tube is made of metal, it is possible to prevent disconnection of the optical fiber due to external impacts, biting of small animals, and the like. When the protective tube is made of resin, an optical fiber coupler having an inexpensive protective tube that is easy to process and bend can be provided.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a view showing an optical fiber coupler according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the optical fiber coupler 1 according to the present embodiment includes a housing 2, a coated optical fiber 3 a ₁ penetrating both ends of the housing 2, and one end of the housing 2. the optical fiber 3a ₂ coated penetrates the, the optical fiber 3a _1, coupler body 4 intermediate portion of 3a ₂ is coupled, provided at both ends of the housing 2, the optical fiber 3a _1, 3a ₂ A rectangular parallelepiped having three protective tubes 5a for protecting the optical fiber, a connector 6a provided at one end of each protective tube 5a, and a hole provided at the other end of each protective tube 5a through which optical fibers 3a ₁ and 3a ₂ pass. The sliding member 7 having a shape is provided at both ends of the housing 2.

As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 2 has sliding chambers 8 at both ends, and the coupler body 4 can be fixedly arranged at the center along the length direction of the housing 2 and is redundant. The non-reflective processing part 11 which processes the light of optical fiber 3a ₂ is provided. In addition, when the optical fiber extended from the coupler main body is a 2 × 2 type optical fiber coupler, the non-reflection processing unit 11 is not necessary. Each sliding chamber 8 is to be arranged slidably to the sliding member 7 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape in the through direction of the optical fiber 3a _1, 3a ₂ of the housing 2. Further, slide chamber 8-reflective treatment unit 11 side (of the housing 2 left side in FIG. 1), since it corresponds only to the optical fiber 3a _1, the optical fiber 3a ₁ of the housing 2 through The partition is provided so as to be slidable in the direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the connector 6a includes a ferrule 9a for fixing an end portion of an optical fiber 3a ₁ (3a ₂ ) coupled to an end portion of another optical fiber 3b therein, and a ferrule 9a on one end side. Is substantially cylindrical member 12a, a spring 10a which is provided on the other end side inside the substantially cylindrical member 12a and pushes back in the opposite direction when the ferrule 9a is pressed in the axial direction, and one end is substantially cylindrical. And a cylindrical coupling nut 13a hooked on the protective tube 5a side of the member 12a. In addition, the substantially cylindrical member 12a, the protective tube 5a, and the sliding member 7 are united by the said structure.
As shown in FIG. 2, the connector 6a has an inner diameter that is the same as the outer diameter of another connector 6b having the same configuration, a substantially cylindrical adapter 14 having a convex portion around it, and ferrules 9a and 9b. It can be connected via the sleeve 15 which has. Specifically, the ferrule 9a and the ferrule 9b are fitted and joined from both ends of the sleeve 15, respectively, and the coupling nut 13a, so that the optical fiber 3a ₁ (3a ₂ ) and the optical fiber 3b are stably connected coaxially. Connector 6a and connector 6b are connected by screwing 13b and adapter 14 to a predetermined position.

The ferrule 9a is composed of a tip end portion 9a ₁ and a substantially cylindrical metal portion 9a ₂ provided at one end of the tip end portion 9a ₁ . The axial center of the tip portion 9a _1, the optical fiber 3a ₁ (3a ₂₎ are penetrated, the metal portion 9a optical fiber 3a ₁ inside coated with the coating 16a of the ₂ (3a ₂₎ is intruded Yes.

The sliding member 7 may be of any shape as long as it has a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a cylindrical shape, or the like and does not interfere with sliding in the sliding chamber 8. In addition, if the shape of the sliding member 7 is a rectangular parallelepiped shape, since the protective tube 5a is provided fixed to the sliding member 7, it can suppress that the protective tube 5a rotates centering on an axis | shaft. .
The protective tube 5a is preferably made of a metal or a highly rigid resin. When the protective tube is made of a metal, the protective tube 5a is preferably processed so as to have flexibility. When the protective tube is made of metal, it is possible to prevent disconnection of the optical fiber caused by impact from the outside or biting of a small animal. Examples of the resin include hard polyethylene and hard polyurethane.

  Since the configuration of another connector 6b is the same as that of the connector 6a, description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the operation of the optical fiber coupler 1 according to this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged side sectional view of the optical fiber coupler of FIG. 1, and is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the protective tube before and after the optical fiber connection.

First, as shown to Fig.3 (a), it arrange | positions so that the ferrule 9a and the ferrule 9b matched with the reference line may oppose each axial direction. Then, the ferrule 9b is moved in the direction of the ferrule 9a, and as shown in FIG. 3B, the ferrule 9a and the ferrule 9b are connected by a sleeve and an adapter (not shown). At this time, the substantially cylindrical member 12a (not shown in FIG. 3), the protective tube 5a, the sliding member 7 and the coupling nut 13a, which are integrated with each other without being fixed to the housing 2, are formed in the sliding chamber 8. And the ferrule 9a does not move from the reference line. That is, no stress due to connection is generated in the optical fiber 3a ₁ . Further, since the spring 10a (not shown in FIG. 3) pushes back the ferrule 9a pushed by the ferrule 9b in the connector 6a, the optical fibers 3a ₁ and 3b are surely joined on the same axis.

According to the above configuration, when the optical fibers 3a ₁ and 3b are coaxially joined, the optical fiber 3a ₁ does not buckle, so that not only can the optical fiber 3a ₁ itself be disconnected, but also by the joining. Since the generated stress is not transmitted to the coupler body 4, the coupler body 4 can be prevented from being broken. Of course, if the connector 6b side is an optical fiber coupler having the same configuration as the connector 6a side, the same effect can be obtained.

  Moreover, although the optical fiber extended from the coupler main body showed the optical fiber coupler of 1x2 type in the said embodiment, it is not restricted to this. An optical fiber coupler of n × m types (n, m = 2, 3,...) may be used.

  Further, although it has been described that the protective tube 5a is preferably a metal or a resin having high rigidity, for example, the protective tube 5a is a soft resin, and an optical fiber moving distance by optical fiber bonding is an extension of the protective tube 5a. Even if it is not absorbed, the same effect as the above embodiment can be exhibited.

  The present invention can be modified in design without departing from the scope of the claims, and is not limited to the above embodiment.

It is a figure which shows the optical fiber coupler which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is an expanded sectional view near the junction part of an optical fiber. FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged side sectional view of the optical fiber coupler of FIG. It is a partial expanded sectional side view of the conventional optical fiber coupler (thickness of an optical fiber is thick), Comprising: It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation | movement before and after optical fiber connection. It is a partial expanded sectional side view of the conventional optical fiber coupler (thing with a thin optical fiber diameter), Comprising: It is a schematic diagram which shows the operation | movement before and after optical fiber connection.

Explanation of symbols

1,20 optical fiber coupler 2 housing 3a _1, 3a _2, 3b optical fiber 4 coupling body 5a protective tube 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d connector 7 sliding member 8 sliding chamber 9a, 9b ferrule 9a _1, 9b ₁ tip part 9a _2, 9b ₂ metal portion 10a, 10b spring 11-reflective treatment unit 12a, 12b substantially cylindrical member 13a, 13b coupling nut 14 adapter 15 sleeve 16a, 16b coated

Claims (2)

A housing, a plurality of optical fibers penetrating both ends of the housing, the optical fibers coupled to each other, a coupler body disposed inside the housing, provided at both ends of the housing, A plurality of protective tubes for protecting an optical fiber; a connector provided at one end of each of the protective tubes; an end portion of the optical fiber provided in the connector and coupled to an end portion of another optical fiber; An optical fiber coupler comprising: a ferrule that is fixed inside; and a means that is provided in the connector and that pushes back in a reverse direction when the ferrule is pressed in the axial direction,
An optical fiber coupler in which the other end of the protective tube is provided so as to be slidable in a penetrating direction of the optical fiber with respect to the casing. 2. The optical fiber coupler according to claim 1, wherein the tube is made of metal or resin.

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