JP2011095601A - Optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical connector in which good energizing force toward a connected direction is always kept and reliability is high. <P>SOLUTION: The optical connector includes: ferrules 13 mounted on the end of optical fiber cables 41 in which an optical fiber 42 is coated; a housing 12 which houses the ferrules 13; a leaf spring 14 which energizes the ferrules 13 toward the end side in the housing 12; and a stopper 15 provided at the back end side of the ferrules 13 and having locking pieces 62 which regulate the movement of ferrules 13 toward the rear end side resisting against the energizing force of the lief spring 14 at a prescribed position. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical connector that accommodates an end of an optical fiber.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a wire harness for an automobile, one provided with an optical fiber cable covered with an optical fiber is being used in order to increase the number of circuits and prevent noise.

  In a wire harness provided with such an optical fiber cable, an optical connector that accommodates the end of the optical fiber cable is used.

  As this type of optical connector, there is known an optical connector including a ferrule attached to the end of an optical fiber cable or an urging member composed of a leaf spring that urges an optical connection component toward the tip side (for example, Patent Documents). 1 and 2).

JP 2004-138707 A JP 2005-216530 A

  As described above, in the optical connector, the ferrule or the like is urged toward the front end side, which is the front side in the optical axis direction, by the leaf spring, and the connection end faces are pressed against each other to maintain a good connection state.

  By the way, when the optical fiber cable is pulled or the like, the ferrule or the like is moved in the housing to the rear end side opposite to the connection direction, so that the leaf spring is excessively deformed in the direction opposite to the biasing direction. Then, the leaf spring may be plastically deformed to reduce the urging force. In such a case, the pressing force between the connection end faces cannot be obtained sufficiently, and the required connection reliability may not be obtained.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an optical connector with high connection reliability in which a good urging force in the connection direction is always maintained.

In order to achieve the above-described object, an optical connector according to the present invention is characterized by the following (1) to (3).
(1) a connection member attached to the end of the optical fiber;
A housing for housing the connecting member;
An urging member for urging the connecting member toward the distal end in the housing;
A stopper that is provided on the rear end side of the connection member and restricts movement of the connection member toward the rear end side against a biasing force by the biasing member at a predetermined position;
Having provided.
(2) In the optical connector configured as described in (1) above,
The connection member is inserted into a through-hole formed in the housing and accommodated in the housing,
The stopper includes a locking piece attached to the housing in which the connection member is accommodated and disposed on the rear end side of the connection member.
thing.
(3) In the optical connector configured as described in (2) above,
The biasing member comprises a leaf spring having a support piece that engages with the housing, a biasing piece that engages with the connection member, and a connecting portion that connects the support piece and the biasing piece, It is inserted and inserted between the connection member and the housing from a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of the connection member into the through hole of the housing.

In the optical connector having the configuration (1), for example, even if the optical fiber is pulled and the connecting member moves to the rear end side against the urging force of the urging member, the stopper is moved to the rear end side by the stopper. Movement is restricted at a predetermined position. Therefore, excessive deformation of the urging member due to movement toward the rear end side of the connecting member can be prevented, thereby maintaining a good urging force of the urging member at all times and maintaining connection reliability over a long period of time. be able to.
In the optical connector having the configuration (2), the stopper is attached to the housing after the connection member is inserted into the through hole, so that the stopper locking piece can be arranged on the rear end side of the connection member very easily. The movement to the rear end side can be restricted by the locking piece.
In the optical connector having the configuration (3), a leaf spring having a support piece that engages with the housing, a biasing piece that engages with the connecting member, and a connecting portion that connects the support piece and the biasing piece. The connecting member can be favorably biased. Also, by inserting the leaf spring between the connecting member and the housing from the direction perpendicular to the insertion direction of the connecting member into the through hole of the housing, the leaf spring can be easily attached, and good assembling is ensured. can do.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an optical connector with high connection reliability in which a good biasing force in the connection direction is always maintained.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through the modes for carrying out the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a disassembled perspective view explaining the structure of an optical connector. It is sectional drawing explaining the structure of an optical connector. It is a perspective view of the state cut in the horizontal direction explaining the structure of an optical connector. It is a figure explaining the leaf | plate spring assembled | attached to an optical connector, Comprising: (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a side view, (c) is a front view. It is a figure explaining the stopper assembled | attached to an optical connector, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a front view, (c) is a side view. It is sectional drawing explaining the movement of the ferrule and leaf | plate spring of an optical connector. It is sectional drawing of the mutually connected optical connector explaining a reference example.

  Hereinafter, an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 is a perspective view of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the structure of the optical connector, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the structure of the optical connector, and FIG. It is a perspective view of the state cut | disconnected in the horizontal direction explaining.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the optical connector 11 includes a housing 12, a pair of ferrules (connection members) 13, a leaf spring (biasing member) 14, and a stopper 15. The signal light is transmitted by being fitted to an electronic device or a counterpart optical connector.

  The housing 12 is molded from a synthetic resin such as plastic and has a pair of through holes 21. These through holes 21 are penetrated from the rear end to the front end of the housing 12, and the ferrule 13 is inserted into and removed from these through holes 21 from the rear end side.

  An opening 22 communicating with the through hole 21 is formed on the upper surface of the housing 12, and the leaf spring 14 and the stopper 15 are attached from the opening 22.

  The ferrule 13 inserted into and extracted from the through hole 21 of the housing 12 is made of a metal such as brass, and has a cylindrical portion 32 having a small diameter portion 31 formed on the tip side as shown in FIG. The cylindrical portion 32 is formed with a first flange 33 and a second flange 34 having substantially the same outer diameter at an intermediate portion and a rear end portion in the longitudinal direction.

  The first flange 33 and the second flange 34 are formed to have a slightly smaller diameter than the through hole 21 of the housing 12 and can be inserted into the through hole 21 of the housing 12. The cylindrical portion 32 has a holding cylindrical portion 32 a between the first flange 33 and the second flange 34, and a leading end side with respect to the first flange 33 is an aligning cylindrical portion 32 b, and the holding cylindrical portion 32 a The diameter is smaller than that of the aligning cylindrical portion 32b.

  The ferrule 13 is formed with an optical fiber insertion hole 35, a first sheath insertion hole 36, and a second sheath insertion hole 37 in this order from the front end side, and an optical fiber cable 41 from the second sheath insertion hole 37 side at the rear end. Is inserted and connected.

  The optical fiber cable 41 connected to the ferrule 13 includes an optical fiber 42 made of a light guide material, a first sheath portion 43, and a second sheath portion 44. The optical fiber 42 is, for example, a multimode plastic optical fiber that includes a core and a clad that are formed so as to have different refractive indexes and are arranged coaxially with each other.

  The first and second sheath portions 43 and 44 are each formed of a synthetic resin. The first sheath portion 43 covers and protects the optical fiber 42, and the second sheath portion 44 includes the optical fiber 42 and The first sheath portion 43 is covered and protected. The optical fiber cable 41 has the first and second sheath portions 43 and 44 peeled off at the terminal so that the optical fiber 42 and the first sheath portion 43 are exposed stepwise toward the end. .

  The optical fiber cable 41 is inserted from the rear end side of the ferrule 13, the optical fiber 42 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 35, the first sheath portion 43 is inserted into the first sheath insertion hole 36, and the first The two sheath portions 44 are connected in a state of being inserted into the second sheath insertion holes 37.

  The through-hole 21 of the housing 12 into which the ferrule 13 is inserted from the rear end side is a small-diameter hole 21a having a smaller diameter on the front end side than the opening 22. The small-diameter hole 21 a is formed to have a slightly larger diameter than the aligning cylindrical portion 32 b of the cylindrical portion 32 of the ferrule 13, so that the ferrule 13 inserted into the through-hole 21 of the housing 12 has its cylindrical portion 32. The aligning cylindrical portion 32b is inserted into the small diameter hole 21a. Further, the small diameter hole 21a is formed to have a smaller diameter than the first flange 33, whereby the ferrule 13 inserted into the through hole 21 of the housing 12 is engaged with the edge of the small diameter hole 21a. Then, the movement toward the front side in the insertion direction, which is the tip side, is restricted.

  The leaf spring 14 assembled from the opening 22 of the housing 12 is made of spring steel. As shown in FIG. 5, the leaf spring 14 has a connecting portion 51 that is curved in an arc shape, and three support pieces 52 that are formed in a flat plate shape extend on one end side of the connecting portion 51. Be present. These support pieces 52 are arranged with a gap slightly larger than the outer diameter of the holding cylindrical portion 32 a of the ferrule 13. The connecting portion 51 is divided into two divided connecting portions 55 by a slit 53 formed at the center thereof, and a pair of urging pieces 56 is formed in each of the divided connecting portions 55. The pair of urging pieces 56 formed in each of the divided connecting portions 55 are arranged with a space slightly larger than the outer diameter of the holding cylindrical portion 32 a of the ferrule 13, and are arranged in parallel with the support piece 52. ing. The urging pieces 56 are bent so as to protrude to the opposite side of the support piece 52.

  The leaf spring 14 formed in this way has an opening portion with the supporting piece 52 and the urging piece 56 facing the housing 12 to which the ferrule 13 is mounted in a state where the urging piece 56 is disposed on the distal end side. 22 is assembled. As shown in FIG. 4, the leaf spring 14 is inserted into a spring housing recess 60 formed in the housing 12 and assembled so as to straddle the holding cylindrical portion 32 a of the ferrule 13 in the housing 12. And the support piece 52 of the center of the leaf | plate spring 14 is arrange | positioned between ferrules 13, and the support piece 52 of both sides is arrange | positioned at the side of each ferrule 13. As shown in FIG.

  Further, the pair of urging pieces 56 formed in each of the divided connecting portions 55 of the leaf spring 14 are arranged on the rear end side of the first flange 33 of the ferrule 13 and are in contact with the first flange 33. Yes. That is, the plate spring 14 is inserted between the spring housing recess 60 and disposed between the wall surface 60 a on the rear end side of the housing 12 of the spring housing recess 60 and the first flange 33 of each ferrule 13. As a result, each ferrule 13 is urged toward the distal end side of the housing 12 by the urging force of the leaf spring 14 received by the first flange 33 from the urging piece 56, and the first flange 33 contacts the edge of the small diameter hole 21a. It is assumed that

  The stopper 15 assembled from the opening 22 of the housing 12 is molded from a synthetic resin such as plastic. As shown in FIG. 6, the stopper 15 has a pressing plate portion 61 formed in a flat plate shape, and the pressing plate portion 61 extends to one surface side at one side portion. Three locking pieces 62 are formed. These locking pieces 62 are arranged slightly apart from the outer diameter of the optical fiber cable 41 and spaced from the outer diameter of the second flange 34 of the ferrule 13. In addition, an engaging piece 63 and a side wall 64 that extend in the same direction as the locking piece 62 are formed at both ends of the pressing plate portion 61. An engaging claw 65 that protrudes outward is formed at the tip of the engaging piece 63. Further, the side wall 64 is formed with an engaging projection 66 on the other side opposite to the one side where the locking piece 62 is formed.

  The stopper 15 formed in this manner is provided with the locking piece 62 and the engaging piece 62 in a state where the locking piece 62 is arranged on the rear end side with respect to the housing 12 to which the ferrule 13 is attached and the leaf spring 14 is assembled. The joining piece 63 and the side wall 64 are assembled toward the opening 22. Thus, by assembling the stopper 15 to the opening 22 of the housing 12, the locking piece 62 is disposed on the rear end side of the second flange 34 of the mounted ferrule 13 as shown in FIG. 4. Specifically, the locking piece 62 at the center of the stopper 15 is disposed between the optical fiber cables 41, and the locking pieces 62 on both sides are respectively disposed on the sides of the optical fiber cable 41.

  The housing 12 is formed with holes 67 on the rear end side of the second flange 34 of the mounted ferrule 13, and the respective locking pieces 62 are fitted into these holes 67. . Further, the engaging piece 63 of the stopper 15 is disposed in a recessed portion 68 formed in the housing 12, and the engaging claw 65 of the engaging piece 63 is engaged with an engaging hole 69 communicating with the recessed portion 68. . Further, the engagement protrusion 66 formed on the side wall 64 of the stopper 15 is also engaged with an engagement groove (not shown) formed on the housing 12. Thereby, the stopper 15 is firmly fixed to the housing 12. When the stopper 15 is fixed to the housing 12 in this way, the plate spring 14 inserted into the spring housing recess 60 and mounted on the housing 12 is pressed by the holding plate portion 61 of the stopper 15, and the plate spring 14 The wearing state of is maintained.

  When the optical connector 11 is assembled, first, the ferrule 13 attached to the end of the optical fiber cable 41 is inserted into the through hole 21 of the housing 12 until the first flange 33 engages with the edge of the small diameter hole 21a. In this state, the leaf spring 14 is inserted and assembled into the spring housing recess 60 from the opening 22 of the housing 12, and then the stopper 15 is assembled to the opening 22 of the housing 12.

  The optical connector 11 assembled as described above is connected to an electronic device, a counterpart optical connector, or the like. As a result, the end face of the ferrule 13 is abutted against the end face of the counterpart ferrule, and transmission of predetermined signal light becomes possible.

  At this time, in the optical connector 11, each ferrule 13 is urged toward the distal end side by the leaf spring 14, so that it is pressed against the end face of the counterpart ferrule or the like with an appropriate pressing force, and a good connection state Is maintained.

  Here, when the optical fiber cable 41 is pulled for some reason, the ferrule 13 is moved to the rear end side opposite to the connection direction against the urging force of the leaf spring 14. When the movement of the ferrule 13 toward the rear end side is large, as shown in FIG. 7, the ferrule 13 has its second flange 34 abutting against the locking piece 62 of the stopper 15, and thereby the rear end of the ferrule 13. The movement to the side is restricted at a predetermined position.

  Accordingly, by setting the predetermined position for restricting the movement of the ferrule 13 to the rear end side as a position where the leaf spring 14 is not deformed excessively and the urging force does not decrease, the ferrule 13 is moved to the rear end side. Even if the leaf spring 14 is deformed by the movement, a good biasing force by the leaf spring 14 is maintained even after that.

  As described above, in the optical connector 11, when the ferrule 13 moves to the rear end side, first, the urging force of the leaf spring 14 suppresses the movement of the ferrule 13, and further, the locking piece 62 of the stopper 15 regulates. . That is, the optical connector 11 is configured to be double-locked by the leaf spring 14 and the stopper 15 with respect to the movement of the ferrule 13 toward the rear end side.

  As described above, according to the optical connector 11 according to the present embodiment, for example, even if the optical fiber 41 is pulled and the ferrule 13 is moved to the rear end side against the urging force of the leaf spring 14. The stopper 15 can restrict the movement of the ferrule 13 to the rear end side at a predetermined position. Therefore, excessive deformation of the leaf spring 14 due to the movement of the ferrule 13 to the rear end side can be prevented. Thereby, the favorable urging | biasing force of the leaf | plate spring 14 can always be maintained, and connection reliability can be maintained over a long term.

  Further, without providing the housing 12 or the leaf spring 14 with a complicated structure, the stopper piece 15 can be attached to the housing 12 after the ferrule 13 is inserted into the through-hole 21, and the locking piece 62 of the stopper 15 is very easily attached to the ferrule. 13, the movement toward the rear end side of the ferrule 13 can be restricted by the locking piece 62 of the stopper 15.

  Further, the leaf spring 14 is inserted between the first flange 33 of the ferrule 13 and the wall surface 60 a of the spring housing recess 60 formed in the housing 12 from a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of the ferrule 13 into the through hole 21 of the housing 12. As a result, the leaf spring 14 can be easily attached, and good assemblability can be secured.

  In addition, by mounting the stopper 15, the mounting state can be maintained by pressing the leaf spring 14 by the pressing plate portion 61 of the stopper 15.

  Here, in order to explain the further superiority of the present invention, a reference example is shown in FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the optical connectors connected to each other.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the optical connector 71 connected to the counterpart optical connector 70 has a structure in which a ferrule 73 attached to the end of the optical fiber cable 72 is accommodated in a housing 74. In this reference example, a coil spring 75 passed through the optical fiber cable 72 is provided between the rear end portion of the ferrule 73 and the wall portion of the housing 74, and the ferrule 73 is urged toward the front end side by the coil spring 75. Has been.

  In the optical connector 71 having such a structure, when the ferrule 73 is largely moved to the rear end side opposite to the connection direction with the mating connector 70 by pulling the optical fiber cable 72, the coil spring 75 is moved. Is compressed until shrunk.

  That is, in the case of the reference example, the coil spring 75 is excessively deformed in the direction opposite to the urging direction and the urging force is reduced, and thereafter, the pressing force of the end face of the ferrule 73 cannot be sufficiently obtained, which is required. Connection reliability may not be obtained.

  Further, in the case of this optical connector 71, the ferrule 73 must be attached to the end of the optical fiber cable 72 after passing the coil spring 75 through the optical fiber cable 72, and the assemblability is not good.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimension, numerical value, form, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and are not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

11 Optical connector 12 Housing 13 Ferrule (connection member)
14 Leaf spring (biasing member)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Stopper 21 Through-hole 41 Optical fiber cable 42 Optical fiber 51 Connection part 52 Support piece 56 Energizing piece 61 Holding plate part 62 Locking piece

Claims (3)

A connection member attached to the end of the optical fiber;
A housing for housing the connecting member;
An urging member for urging the connecting member toward the distal end in the housing;
A stopper that is provided on the rear end side of the connection member and restricts movement of the connection member toward the rear end side against a biasing force by the biasing member at a predetermined position;
An optical connector comprising: The connection member is inserted into a through-hole formed in the housing and accommodated in the housing,
The stopper includes a locking piece attached to the housing in which the connection member is accommodated and disposed on the rear end side of the connection member.
The optical connector according to claim 1.   The biasing member comprises a leaf spring having a support piece that engages with the housing, a biasing piece that engages with the connection member, and a connecting portion that connects the support piece and the biasing piece, The optical connector according to claim 2, wherein the optical connector is mounted by being inserted between the connection member and the housing from a direction orthogonal to the insertion direction of the connection member into the through hole of the housing.

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