JP2530291Y2 - Optical connector cleaning tool - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Object of the invention] (Industrial application field) The present invention is an optical connector used for cleaning the end face of a ferrule in a recessed position of an optical connector in connection work of the optical connector and the like. Cleaning tool.

(Prior Art) In connection between optical fibers, there are various types of optical connectors used for easily connecting and disconnecting, for example, F01 specified in JIS C5970.
Like a single-fiber optical fiber connector, an optical fiber is glued and fixed to the center of a cylindrical ferrule, inserted into a cylindrical alignment sleeve with a precise inner diameter, and the ferrule ends are attached to each other. Connector or Showa
A plug-in type multi-core optical connector as disclosed in the IEICE Spring National Convention No. C-597 or the like in 1964 is known. All of these technologies achieve excellent connection characteristics by a method of directly abutting the end faces of the fibers, and are widely used in the field of optical communication.

In such an optical connector, an optical fiber is connected by aligning and joining ferrules to be connected to each other with a split sleeve in micron order on a configuration level. For this reason, if oil dirt or dust of micron order adheres to the ferrule end face, particularly to the portion of the optical fiber through which light is transmitted, the light is blocked by the dust or the like and cannot be transmitted, or a gap is generated between the butted fiber end faces. This leads to an increase in connection loss and reflection loss. Further, when dust adheres to the side surface of the ferrule or the inner surface of the split sleeve, the optical axes of the ferrules to be brought into contact with each other are shifted, and this axis shift increases connection loss. For this reason, when using an optical connector, the end face of the ferrule and the inner surface of the split sleeve must be cleaned before the connection operation.

In particular, in the case of a plug-in type optical connector, the end face of the ferrule enters the inside from the tip of the optical connector plug or optical connector jack. For this reason, cleaning is more complicated than other single-core optical connectors. That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the optical connector jack 5 has a structure in which the ferrule 52 and the split sleeve 51 are held inside the jack, and the end face 521 of the ferrule 52 is located further inside the split sleeve 51. For cleaning, it is necessary to clean the ferrule end face 521 deep in the jack and the inner face 511 of the split sleeve 51 held inside the jack by touching some cleaning tool from the tip 541 of the jack. If care is taken carelessly because it is in the back,
In some cases, the lint or fuzz of the cleaning tool remains inside the split sleeve, or the solvent contained in the cleaning tool remains in the jack, thereby deteriorating the connection characteristics of the optical connector. For this reason, the cleaning of the jack side must be performed with particular care, and there is a disadvantage that the operation is very complicated.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the conventional ferrule end face cleaning method, a cleaning method using a cleaning swab or a cleaning paper which is not easily fuzzy is generally used as a cleaning tool. For example, in a conventional swab wrapped with cotton yarn, the diameter of the cotton yarn itself is large and the gap between the cotton yarns is large,
It is difficult to reliably wipe off dust and oil only with the cotton thread portion of the swab. When cleaning, the cotton swab is rotated inside the jack or inserted and removed in the axial direction, but at this time, the cotton thread is scraped off the slits etc. on the inner surface of the split sleeve and the cotton thread is cut off or it comes off the winding part Debris is likely to form. There is a problem that the waste thread adheres to the inside of the split sleeve and becomes new dust. To prevent such problems, usually use a cotton swab with a solvent such as ethanol in the wound part of the cotton thread and, after cleaning, blow off lint or solvent with a gas such as Freon gas. I was

In this case, in addition to the disadvantage that the management of the solvent such as ethanol, which is a combustible material, is complicated, and because the environment is polluted by the used fluorocarbon gas or carbon dioxide gas,
There is a possibility that such a gas will not be used in the future, and therefore, the conventional cleaning method will be difficult to use.

The purpose of the present invention is to be able to clean the ferrule end cotton located at the back of the optical connector with a simple operation regardless of the proficiency of the worker, and not to use an organic solvent such as ethanol or a gas such as Freon gas. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a cleaning tool for an optical connector that can almost certainly reproduce a clean state.

[Structure of device]

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, a cleaning tool for an optical connector of the present invention has an elastic body fixed to a tip of a rod-shaped core, and a predetermined tip of the core including the elastic body. By covering the circumference of the length portion with a cleaning cloth woven of ultra-fine fibers of 0.1 denier or less, a cleaning portion is formed at a predetermined portion of the leading end of the core, and a rear end of the cleaning cloth at a rear end of the cleaning cloth is provided. A part is fixed to the core, and a part of the core at a rear end of the fixing part is formed as a grip part.

(Operation) Since the cleaning portion is a cloth woven with ultrafine fibers instead of twisted yarn, it is difficult to generate lint even when a yarn breakage or the like occurs. In particular, even when cleaning the jack, the fluff does not stick like a conventional cotton swab, so the jack can be easily cleaned similarly to other plugs.

In addition, the structure in which an elastic body is provided in a portion of the cleaning cloth that cleans the ferrule end face enables the cleaning surface of the cleaning cloth to be efficiently pressed against the ferrule end face, thereby reliably cleaning the ferrule end face. it can. In addition, since the fibers are very fine, the contact surface area is significantly larger than that of a conventional cotton swab, so that cleaning is more efficient.

When the jack is cleaned, the inside of the split sleeve can be reliably cleaned by the hem on the side surface of the cleaning portion by rotating the cleaning article around the axis. Even if the core is pushed in a little strongly, there is no fear that the cleaning cloth will be overloaded and the tip of the core will damage the ferrule end face, due to the elastic body.

Further, the reaction force from the elastic body makes it possible to easily maintain a constant pressure between the cleaning cloth and the ferrule end face,
The cleaning work of the ferrule end face at the position behind the optical connector can be performed simply and uniformly.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional view of the optical connector cleaning tool of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram when the cleaning tool of the present invention is used for an optical connector jack.

The cleaning tool 1 of the present invention includes a core 2, an elastic body 3 provided at a tip 21 of the core, and a cleaning cloth 4 covering the periphery of the elastic body. The optical connector jack 5 is used as a cleaning part at a predetermined end of the cleaning tool 1.
The elastic body 3 is deformed so that the cleaning cloth 4 comes into wide contact with the end face 521 of the ferrule when pushed into the inside of the ferrule. At this time, the cleaning cloth 4 must surely contact at least the end face 531 of the optical fiber 53 so that the end face 531 of the distal end portion 532 of the optical fiber 53 through which light is transmitted can be reliably cleaned.

Here, the principle of so-called PC connection, which is the current mainstream connection method of optical connectors, will be described with reference to schematic diagrams of FIGS. In the PC connection, the end faces of the optical fibers are directly abutted and brought into contact with each other to connect the optical fibers. Fig. 3 shows the situation just before the PC connection is completed.
FIG. 4 shows the situation after completion. For the sake of simplicity, only the split sleeve 51, ferrule 52, and optical fiber 53, which are the basic components of the optical connector, are shown in FIG. The tip 522 of the ferrule 52 when connecting to a PC is
As shown in FIG. 3, the end surface is polished to have a convex spherical shape. When connecting the optical fibers, as shown in FIG. 4, the ferrules 52 are pressed against each other in the axial direction to bring the end faces 531 of the optical fibers 53 into close contact with each other. At this time, make sure that the pressing force in the axial direction is large enough (1 kg
By f), the distal end portion 532 of the optical fiber 53 and the distal end portion 522 of the ferrule 52 are elastically deformed as shown in FIG.

In the case of this PC connection, if there is dust or the like on the end face 521 of the ferrule 52 which is elastically deformed and comes into close contact, a gap is formed between the end faces 521, so that perfect contact cannot be achieved, and PC connection cannot be realized. Therefore, the cleaning cloth 4 is used to reliably clean the portion where the end face 521 of the tip 522 of the ferrule 52 is in close contact, that is, about 0.2 mm around the end face 531 of the optical fiber 53 in a normal optical connector. It must be able to reliably contact at least the portion of the end face 521 of the ferrule 52 with a diameter of about 0.5 mm of the end face 521, and to be able to completely wipe off dust and oil in this range.

On the other hand, the elastic body 3 must have appropriate elasticity and shape in order for the cleaning cloth 4 to efficiently contact the predetermined wide portion as described above. The diameter of the elastic body 3 depends on the contact surface described above and, for example, the optical connector jack 5 to be cleaned.
Considering the ease of insertion of the split sleeve (see FIG. 2) into the split sleeve, a size that is approximately half the inner diameter of the split sleeve 51 is appropriate. Further, as the material of the elastic body, for example, a material such as fluororubber or urethane is used in consideration of the above-mentioned deformation required for contact and ease of manufacture.

The cleaning cloth 4 includes the end face 531 of the ferrule 52 and the split sleeve 51.
This is for surely removing dirt, oil and the like adhering to the inner surface 511. For this reason, the cleaning cloth 4 uses a cloth woven from ultrafine fibers, specifically, synthetic fibers of 0.1 denier or less. By using the cleaning cloth 4 as a cloth-like portion in this manner, the generation of lint during cleaning is prevented or loosened. In addition, since the cloth is woven with ultrafine fibers, the fibers are tightly aggregated, and the cleaning effect is much higher than that of a conventional swab.

The core 2 is made of an elastic body 3 and a cleaning cloth 4 for effective cleaning.
Are pressed against the inner surface 511 of the split sleeve 51 and the end surface 531 of the ferrule 52, and are rotated, and appropriate rigidity is required. In addition, the core 2 and the elastic body 3 are used in close contact with each other so that the elastic body 3 does not come off from the core 2 due to the load of the cleaning operation. The material of the core 2 may be, for example, a member of a cotton swab hardly wound with paper, a plastic stick, or a material wound with wire as used in a conventional cotton swab.

The end of the cleaning cloth 4 is fixed to the core 2 by a fixing part 42.
When the cleaning tool 1 is rotated by holding the portion of the core 2 at the rear end of the fixing portion 42 as a grip portion during cleaning, or when the cleaning tool 1 is removed from the optical connector jack 5 after the cleaning of the optical connector jack 5 is completed. Next, the cleaning cloth 4 is fixed to the core 2 by the fixing portion 42 so that the cleaning cloth 4 does not come off the core 2. In this embodiment, the fixing portion 42 has a structure in which a thread is wound around the cleaning cloth 4 so as to be bound to the core 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning is performed by inserting the tip of the cleaning tool 1 from the tip 541 of the optical connector jack 5, picking the core 2 as indicated by the arrow in the drawing, and rotating and inserting / extracting. The distal end 31 of the cleaning cloth 4 is deformed while the distal end portion 31 of the elastic body 3 of the cleaning tool 1 is pressed against the end surface 521 of the ferrule 52.
By rotating the cleaning tool 1 in close contact with each other, dust and oil in a wide area of the end face 521 are removed. In addition, the fold 43 of the cleaning cloth 4 contacts the inner surface 511 of the split sleeve 51 and removes dust and oil from the inner surface 511 of the split sleeve 51 as the cleaning tool 1 rotates and is inserted and removed. In this process, the oil is sucked by the cleaning cloth 4, and dust and the like are also taken into the stitches of the cleaning cloth 4 to complete the cleaning.

In the present embodiment, the core 2 is a rod made of paper or synthetic resin, but may be a member obtained by twisting a wire. In this embodiment, the fixing portion 42 of the cleaning cloth 4 is tied with a thread. However, the fixing part 42 of the cleaning cloth 4 may be fixed to the core 2 by heating using the thermal deformation effect of the cleaning cloth 4.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method of fixing the elastic body 3 and the cleaning cloth 4 to the core 2. In FIG. 5 (a), reference numeral 3 'denotes a liquid elastic material. As shown in FIG. 5 (b), the tip of the core 2 is attached to the elastic material 3 '. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), the core 2 is pulled up, and the elastic material 3 'is cured.
The elastic body 3 is formed. By this method, the elastic material 3 '
The elastic body 3 can be easily formed into a predetermined shape by controlling conditions such as the viscosity and temperature of the core 2, the time for attaching the core 2 to the elastic body material 3 ', the length of application, and the temperature and time for curing the elastic body material 3' It is possible to finish. When such a method is adopted, a thermoplastic material or a type elastic material which is gradually cured by crosslinking or the like is suitable as the elastic material 3 ′.
Such materials include fluorine rubber, silicone rubber, and urethane rubber. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5 (d), the cleaning cloth 4 to be attached to the tip of the cleaning tool 1 is formed by first bending a tape-shaped cleaning cloth and fusing while leaving a few millimeters inside from both ends about 1 mm from both ends. (FIG. 5 (e)), and the tube is turned upside down (FIG. 5 (f)) by passing the tip 41 through the center. The tip 31 of the elastic body 3 attached to the tip of the core 2
Cover (Fig. 5 (g)). At this time, another cleaning cloth 4 ′ may be inserted between the elastic body 3 and the cleaning cloth 4 in order to enhance the cleaning property. After sufficiently inserting the core 2 into the cleaning cloth 4, the fixing portion 42 at the rear end of the cleaning cloth 4 is heated and fused and fixed to the core 2.
In this case, in order to increase the degree of adhesion between the core 2 and the cleaning cloth 4,
The core 2 is preferably made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin.

[Effect of the invention]

In the present invention, as described above, since the cleaning portion is made of a cloth woven with ultrafine fibers instead of twisted yarn, lint is hardly generated even if a yarn breakage or the like occurs. In particular, even when cleaning the jack, the jack does not fuzz unlike a conventional swab, and the jack can be easily cleaned similarly to other plugs.

In addition, since the elastic body is provided at the tip of the core, the cleaning cotton on the surface of the cleaning cloth can be efficiently pressed against the end face of the ferrule etc., and the end face of the ferrule located deep in the optical connector is reliably cleaned can do. In addition, since the fibers are very fine, the contact surface area is significantly larger than that of a conventional cotton swab, so that cleaning is more efficient.

Further, when cleaning the jack or the like, the inside of the split sleeve can be reliably cleaned by the hem on the side surface of the cleaning portion by rotating the cleaning article around the axis. Even if the core is pushed in a little strongly, there is no fear that the cleaning cloth will be overloaded and the tip of the core will damage the ferrule end face, due to the elastic body.

Further, the reaction force from the elastic body makes it possible to easily keep the pressure between the cleaning cloth and the end face of the ferrule or the like constant, and the cleaning operation can be performed simply and uniformly.

Therefore, unlike the conventional cleaning method, the present invention can be cleaned without using an organic solvent such as alcohol, and the storage and management of organic solvents that require careful handling are not required, and attention to fire during cleaning is eliminated. No need to pay.

In addition, it is possible to clean an optical connector such as an optical connector jack, which has been difficult to clean so far, without requiring a special technique.

In addition, there is no need to worry about environmental pollution due to the elimination of gases such as chlorofluorocarbon and carbon dioxide, which are thought to destroy the ozone layer. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a cleaning tool for an optical connector according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view when the cleaning tool according to the present invention is inserted into a jack. FIGS. 4 and 5 are schematic diagrams for explaining the connection state of the optical connector, FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of a method of manufacturing the cleaning tool of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the structure of the optical connector jack. FIG. The symbols in the figure are as follows. 1 ... cleaning tool 11 ... tip 2 ... core 21 ... tip 3 ... elastic body 4 ... cleaning cloth 41 ... tip 42 ... fixing part 43 ... fold part 44 ... fixing part 5 ... light Connector jack 51 ... Split sleeve 511 ... Inner surface 52 ... Ferrule 521 ... End surface 522 ... Tip 53 ... Optical fiber 531 ... End face 532 ... Tip 54 ... Jack housing 541 ... Tip

Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Kazunori Kanayama 1-1-6 Uchisaiwai-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Toru Maruno 1-6-1 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Stock In-company (56) References JP-A-60-39439 (JP, A) JP-A-55-58147 (JP, A) JP-A-61-103428 (JP, A) JP-A-63-88271 (JP, U ) Actually open 1988-132903 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. An elastic body is fixed to the tip of a rod-shaped core, and the circumference of a predetermined length of the tip of the core including the elastic body is set to 0.1 mm.
By covering with a cleaning cloth woven of ultra-fine fibers of 1 denier or less, a cleaning portion is formed at a predetermined portion of the leading end of the core, and a portion of the cleaning cloth at the rear end of the cleaning portion is fixed to the core. A cleaning tool for an optical connector, wherein a portion of the core at a rear end of the fixed portion is formed as a grip portion.