JP2014048654A - Optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical connector which reduces optical loss.SOLUTION: An optical connector 15 includes; an optical transceiver 19 having a plurality of substrate connections connected to a circuit substrate 27; a substrate-mounted housing 17 which accommodates the optical transceiver 19 and into which a plug connector 13 is fitted; and a shield case 21 which covers the substrate-mounted housing 17 and is fixed on the circuit substrate 27. A housing-side lock latching section 69 and a plug-side lock latching section 71 which are fittingly locked to each other are provided on the substrate-mounted housing 17 and the plug connector 13, respectively, and a cut-and-raised portion 87 which engages with the plug-side lock latching section 71 is provided on the shield case 21 near the housing-side lock latching section 69.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical connector.

As an optical connector of an optical fiber communication system mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile, there is one disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example.
As shown in FIG. 8, the optical connector 501 is of a receptacle type, and includes an optical connector housing 503, a sleeve unit 505, a light emitting side FOT (Fiber Optic Transceiver) 507, a light receiving side FOT 509, and a shield case 511. And. The optical connector housing 503 is a box-shaped member formed of a synthetic resin material having insulation properties, and includes a connector fitting portion 513 and an optical module housing portion 515. The connector fitting portion 513 is formed in a shape into which the counterpart optical connector (plug connector) 517 is fitted. The connector fitting portion 513 is arranged and formed on the front side of the optical connector housing 503, and a fitting space 519 into which the mating optical connector 517 is inserted is formed. A plurality of positioning protrusions (not shown) used for mounting on a circuit board (not shown) are formed on the lower wall of the optical connector housing 503.

  When the mating optical connector 517 and the optical connector housing 503 are fitted to each other, the mutual locking is held in each of the mating optical connector 517 and the optical connector housing 503. The housing is fixed so that it cannot be detached. In the optical connector 501, on the circuit board, the lead frame (board connecting part) 521 of the light emitting side FOT 507 and the light receiving side FOT 509 and the circuit board, and the ground pin (board connecting part) 512 of the shield case 511 and the circuit board are soldered. It is fixed.

JP 2010-26345 A

However, when the mating optical connector 517 and the optical connector housing 503 are fitted together, if the mating optical connector 517 is pulled, the force is applied via the lock engaging portion of the mating optical connector 517 to the optical connector housing 503. Then, the optical connector housing 503 is pulled. Since the light emitting side FOT 507, the light receiving side FOT 509, and the shield case 511 are soldered to the circuit board, when only the optical connector housing 503 is pulled as described above, the light emitting side housed in the optical connector housing 503 There is a possibility that distortion occurs in the FOT 507 and the light receiving side FOT 509, and the positional relationship between the optical connector housing 503 and the light emitting side FOT 507 and the light receiving side FOT 509 is broken, resulting in light loss.
In addition, if the light emitting side FOT 507 and the light receiving side FOT 509 are firmly fixed to the optical connector housing 503, the light emitting side FOT 507 and the light receiving side FOT 509 are pulled in synchronization with the optical connector housing 503, and the load is applied to the light emitting side. There is concern about the influence on the FOT package 523 due to the lead frame 521 of the FOT 507 and the light receiving side FOT 509.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an optical connector in which optical loss is reduced.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configuration.
(1) An optical transceiver having a plurality of board connection portions connected to a circuit board, a board mounting housing that accommodates the optical transceiver and fits a plug connector, and covers the board mounting housing and is fixed to the circuit board. An optical connector comprising a shield case, wherein the board mounting housing and the plug connector are provided with a housing side lock engaging portion and a plug side lock engaging portion for fitting and locking each other, An optical connector, wherein the shield case in the vicinity of the housing side lock locking portion is provided with a locking projection for engaging with the plug side lock locking portion.

  According to the optical connector having the configuration (1), when the plug connector that has been fitted and coupled is pulled in a direction opposite to the connector fitting direction, the plug-side lock locking portion engages with the locking protrusion of the shield case. Since the shield case is firmly fixed to the circuit board, it does not move, and no load is applied to the board mounting housing. Since the substrate mounting housing is not directly loaded, the substrate mounting housing does not move. For this reason, the positional relationship between the board mounting housing and the optical transceiver is maintained, and the influence on the optical axis due to the distortion generated in the optical transceiver due to the pulling of the plug connector is reduced.

(2) In the optical connector configured as described in (1) above, the plug-side lock locking portion is provided on a swinging portion of a flexible lock arm, and the locking protrusion is parallel to the connector fitting direction. An optical connector formed by cutting and raising pieces.

  According to the optical connector having the configuration (2), the locking force acts on the plug-side lock locking portion along the bending line of the cut and raised piece formed by cutting and raising the shield case in parallel with the connector fitting direction. Therefore, the locking protrusion having high rigidity can be easily formed.

  With the optical connector according to the present invention, optical loss can be reduced.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through a mode for carrying out the invention described below (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) with reference to the accompanying drawings. .

(A) is the perspective view of the optical connector which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention, (b) is the perspective view which looked at the optical connector of (a) from the bottom, (c) is a plug connector fitting of the optical connector of (a). It is the front view seen from the other side. It is an AA cross-sectional arrow view of FIG.1 (c). It is a perspective view of the plug connector fitted to the optical connector shown in FIG. (A) is a perspective view of the optical connector in which the plug connector is fitted and coupled to the board mounting housing, and (b) is a front view of the optical connector of (a) as viewed from the plug connector side. (A) is a perspective view of the shield case shown in FIG. 1, (b) is a perspective view of the shield case of (a) seen from below, and (c) is an enlarged main part of the cut-and-raised piece shown in (b). FIG. It is a BB cross-sectional arrow view of FIG.4 (b). It is a principal part enlarged view in the engaging part of the plug side lock latching | locking part and cut-and-raised piece shown in FIG. It is a disassembled perspective view of the conventional optical connector.

Hereinafter, an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the optical connector 15 according to the present embodiment includes a substrate mounting housing 17, a FOT (Fiber Optic Transceiver; hereinafter referred to as “optical transceiver”) 19, and a shield case 21. It is a mounting connector. The optical transceiver 19 is used to mutually convert electrical signals and optical signals and transmit / receive them. The optical transceiver 19 is accommodated inside the board mounting housing 17.

  A hood portion 23 is formed in the substrate mounting housing 17, and the hood portion 23 can receive the plug housing 25 of the plug connector 13, which is a counterpart optical connector, inward. The optical connector 15 is arranged at, for example, a card edge of the circuit board 27, so that connection to and from the circuit board 27 can be made from the edge of the circuit board 27. When the optical connector 15 is fitted and coupled to the plug connector 13, the tip of the counterpart optical fiber that is the core of an optical fiber cable (not shown) is connected to the optical transceiver 19.

  The optical transceiver 19 includes a lead frame 35 that is a plurality of board connecting portions connected to the circuit board 27. In the present embodiment, the optical transceiver 19 includes a transmission optical transceiver 29 and a reception optical transceiver 31. The transmitting optical transceiver 29 and the receiving optical transceiver 31 are juxtaposed in the direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. The photoelectric conversion element accommodated in the transmission optical transceiver 29 is a light emitting element, and the photoelectric conversion element accommodated in the reception optical transceiver 31 is a light receiving element. Each optical transceiver 19 has a drive circuit body (IC) disposed in the vicinity of the photoelectric conversion element. The photoelectric conversion element and the drive circuit body are connected by a board piece accommodated in the optical transceiver body 33. The substrate piece is provided with a plurality of lead frames 35 that are electrically connected to the drive circuit body, and the lead frames 35 are led out from the optical transceiver body 33 to the outside. The derived lead frame 35 is inserted into a connection through hole (not shown) of the circuit board 27 and soldered, and connected to a desired substrate circuit.

  The optical transceiver 19 is provided with a pair of ferrules 39 having the respective optical path centers of the photoelectric conversion elements as the axis of the cylindrical portion 37. Each ferrule 39 passes through the partition wall 41 of the board mounting housing 17. The ferrule 39 is formed separately or integrally with the optical transceiver body 33. The ferrule 39 is made of a transparent resin material and has a lens portion 43 at the bottom of the cylindrical portion 37. The lens unit 43 is disposed in front of the light receiving element of the receiving optical transceiver 31 and the light emitting element of the transmitting optical transceiver 29, respectively. Thereby, the optical fiber in the ferrule 39 and the photoelectric conversion element of the optical transceiver 19 are aligned easily and with high accuracy.

  The substrate mounting housing 17 that houses the optical transceiver 19 is covered with a shield case 21. The shield case 21 is configured by forming a conductive metal plate in a box shape, and case wall plates 47 are vertically bent on both sides of the top plate portion 45 shown in FIG. Is closed by a rear wall portion 49 that is bent from the top plate portion 45. A partition plate 51 is formed in the center of the rear wall portion 49 so as to protrude inward and be inserted between the optical transceivers. In the shield case 21, the opposite side of the rear wall portion 49 becomes the coupling opening 53 of the plug connector 13, and the opposite side of the top plate portion 45 becomes the substrate facing opening portion 55.

  A first substrate connecting portion 57 and a second substrate connecting portion 59 are suspended from the case wall plate 47 of the shield case 21. In addition, a third substrate connecting portion 61 is suspended from the rear wall portion 49. Further, a fourth board connecting portion 63 is suspended from the partition plate 51. The first board connecting portion 57 is formed in a half claw shape by a slit 65 formed in the center, and can be elastically locked to a through hole (not shown) of the circuit board 27, and the shield case 21 is connected to the circuit board. 27 can be temporarily fixed. The second substrate connecting portion 59, the third substrate connecting portion 61, and the fourth substrate connecting portion 63 are soldered to through holes (not shown) of the circuit board 27 and are simultaneously connected to the ground of the circuit board 27.

  On the case wall plate 47 of the shield case 21, a locking piece 67 bent inward is formed by cutting and raising. The locking piece 67 is locked to a locking groove (not shown) formed on the outer surface of the board mounting housing 17 by covering the outer side of the board mounting housing 17 with the shield case 21. The shield case 21 is fixed to the board mounting housing 17 so as not to be detached.

  In the optical connector 15, the shield case 21 is fixed to the circuit board 27 after the shield case 21 is fixed to the board mounting housing 17. As a result, electromagnetic waves from the reception optical transceiver 31 and the transmission optical transceiver 29 are attenuated through the shield case 21. Further, electromagnetic waves from the outside are also attenuated through the shield case 21, and the shield case 21 is shielded. In the present embodiment, the light emitting element and the light receiving element are provided in separate optical transceivers 19 and the partition plate 51 is inserted between them, so that the electromagnetic wave attenuation between the optical transceivers 19 is reduced compared to the conventional structure. Great effect is obtained.

  Further, the board mounting housing 17 and the plug connector 13 are provided with a housing side lock engaging portion 69 (see FIG. 1) and a plug side lock engaging portion 71 (see FIG. 6) for fitting and locking each other. The hood portion 23 of the board mounting housing 17 opens a plug connector receiving opening 73 (see FIG. 1). On the top surface 75 of the hood portion, a wedge-shaped housing side locking engagement portion 69 is provided so as to protrude in the vicinity of the plug connector receiving opening 73.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 3, a flexible lock arm 77 is integrally formed on the upper surface of the plug housing 25, the distal end side in the insertion direction being connected to the plug housing 25 and the rear end side in the insertion direction being a free end. The flexible lock arm 77 has a swinging portion 79 on the rear end side in the insertion direction, and a plug-side lock locking portion 71 is provided on the swinging portion 79. The plug-side lock locking portion 71 and the housing-side lock locking portion 69 are locked by a housing-side vertical locking surface 81 (see FIG. 7) and a plug-side vertical locking surface 83. The plug-side lock locking portion 71 has a chamfered portion 85 on the side opposite to the plug-side vertical locking surface 83.

  In the optical connector 15, a cut-and-raised piece 87 that is a locking projection that engages with the plug-side lock locking portion 71 is provided on the shield case 21 in the vicinity of the housing-side lock locking portion 69 (see FIG. 5). . The pair of cut and raised pieces 87 are formed by cutting and raising the top plate portion 45 of the shield case 21 in parallel with the connector fitting direction. A pair of cutouts or slits 65 (see FIG. 7) that allow the cut-and-raised piece 87 to pass through are formed in the housing-side lock engaging portion 69. The cut-and-raised piece 87 penetrating the housing-side lock engaging portion 69 hangs down from the hood portion top surface 75. The cut and raised piece side vertical locking surface 89 of the cut and raised piece 87 is locked to the plug side vertical locking surface 83 of the plug side lock locking portion 71. The cut and raised piece 87 has a chamfered portion 85 on the opposite side of the cut and raised piece side vertical locking surface 89.

  Here, the cut-and-raised piece 87 has a positional relationship in which the cut-and-raised piece-side vertical locking surface 89 protrudes by the same amount as the housing-side vertical locking surface 81 or the projection amount d toward the optical transceiver 19 side. That is, in the plug connector 13 fitted to the optical connector 15, the plug-side vertical locking surface 83 of the plug-side lock locking portion 71 is simultaneously formed on the housing-side vertical locking surface 81 and the cut-and-raised one-side vertical locking surface 89. It is configured to be locked or cut and raised before the housing-side vertical locking surface 81 and locked to the one-side vertical locking surface 89.

Next, the operation of the optical connector 15 having the above configuration will be described.
As shown in FIG. 6, in the optical connector 15 of this embodiment, when the plug connector 13 is inserted into the hood portion 23 of the board mounting housing 17, the plug side of the flexible lock arm 77 provided in the plug housing 25. The lock engaging portion 71 abuts on the housing side lock engaging portion 69 of the substrate mounting housing 17 (see FIG. 1). When the plug connector 13 is further inserted, the chamfered portion 85 of the plug-side lock engaging portion 71 is pressed against the chamfered portion 85 of the housing-side lock engaging portion 69, and the flexible lock arm 77 is pushed down. The plug side lock engaging portion 71 is inserted deeper than the housing side lock engaging portion 69.

  At this time, the plug-side lock engaging portion 71 is also pushed down by the cut-and-raised piece 87. By passing through the cut-and-raised piece 87, the pressing from the cut-and-raised piece 87 is released, and the flexible lock arm 77 It is pushed upward by the elastic restoring force. As shown in FIG. 7, the plug-side lock engaging portion 71 pushed upward is configured such that the plug-side vertical engaging surface 83 is cut and raised and engaged with the one-side vertical engaging surface 89. Thus, the optical connector 15 is configured such that the housing side vertical locking surface 81 is simultaneously locked to the plug side vertical locking surface 83 or is slightly separated from the plug side vertical locking surface 83 (projection amount d). , The connection is completed.

In this fitted and connected state, when the plug connector 13 is pulled in the direction opposite to the connector fitting direction (the direction of arrow P in FIG. 6), the plug-side lock locking portion 71 is engaged with the cut and raised piece 87 of the shield case 21. To do. Since the shield case 21 is firmly fixed to the circuit board 27 by soldering, the shield case 21 does not move and no load is applied to the board mounting housing 17. Since the substrate mounting housing 17 is not directly loaded, the substrate mounting housing 17 does not move. For this reason, the positional relationship between the board mounting housing 17 and the optical transceiver 19 is maintained, and the influence on the optical axis due to the distortion generated in the optical transceiver 19 due to the tension of the plug connector 13 is reduced.
Therefore, according to the optical connector 15 according to the present embodiment, optical loss can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 5C, the cut-and-raised piece 87 is formed on the top plate portion 45 of the shield case 21 in the vicinity of the housing-side lock locking portion 69 without leaving the entire periphery. A character-shaped cut is made, and the uncut portion is bent and formed substantially vertically by the top plate portion 45 with a bend line portion 91 at the connection portion as a boundary. Therefore, in the optical connector 15 of the present embodiment, the plug-side lock member is disposed along the folding line portion 91 of the pair of cut and raised pieces 87 formed by cutting and raising the top plate portion 45 of the shield case 21 in parallel with the connector fitting direction. Since the locking force with respect to the stop portion 71 acts, a locking protrusion having high rigidity can be easily formed.
The optical connector of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately modified and improved. In addition, the material, shape, dimensions, 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.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Plug connector 15 ... Optical connector 17 ... Board mounting housing 19 ... Optical transceiver 21 ... Shield case 27 ... Circuit board 35 ... Lead frame (board connection part)
57 ... 1st board connection part 59 ... 2nd board connection part 61 ... 3rd board connection part 63 ... 4th board connection part 69 ... Housing side lock locking part 71 ... Plug side lock locking part 77 ... Flexible lock arm 79 ... Swing part 87 ... Cut and raised piece (locking projection)

Claims (2)

An optical transceiver having a plurality of board connecting portions connected to a circuit board, a board mounting housing that houses the optical transceiver and fits a plug connector, and a shield that covers the board mounting housing and is fixed to the circuit board An optical connector comprising a case,
The board mounting housing and the plug connector are provided with a housing side lock engaging portion and a plug side lock engaging portion for fitting and locking each other,
An optical connector, wherein the shield case in the vicinity of the housing side lock locking portion is provided with a locking projection for engaging with the plug side lock locking portion. The optical connector according to claim 1,
The plug-side lock engaging portion is provided on the swinging portion of the flexible lock arm;
The optical connector, wherein the locking protrusion is formed by a cut and raised piece parallel to the connector fitting direction.

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