JP2531049B2 - Optical connector receptacle - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connector receptacle used in fields such as optical communication and optical information processing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 is a partial sectional side view of a conventional optical connector receptacle. In the figure, 1 is a body portion, 2 is a ball lens fitting hole, 4 is a ball lens, and 8 is a ferrule fitting hole. The ball lens 4 is press-fitted into the ball lens fitting hole 2, and the ferrule of the optical connector (not shown) is inserted into the ferrule fitting hole 8. When the ferrule is inserted, the light emitted from the tip of the optical fiber attached to the ferrule is converted into parallel light by the ball lens 4 and emitted. Light incident from the ball lens side is converged by the ball lens 4 and is incident on the optical fiber.

In such a receptacle for an optical connector, the concentricity of the two holes of the ball lens fitting hole 2 and the ferrule fitting hole 8 is within a tolerance of 2 μm, and the flange portion 1a of the main body portion 1 has a tolerance. The perpendicularity is within 10 μm with any of the above-mentioned two holes, and the concentricity between the fitting portion 1b to be fitted into the casing of the optical passive component and the above-mentioned two holes is It is manufactured with a tolerance within 10 μm to reduce the coupling loss.

However, it is very difficult to realize all the above-mentioned precision in the integrated type as shown in FIG.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the portion 9 into which the ball lens 4 is incorporated and the main body portion 1 into which the ferrule is inserted have a two-piece structure with an adjustment allowance, and the ball lens center and the ferrule center are connected to the power meter. A method of adjusting the relative position and fixing with the resin 10 or the like while measuring the coupling loss in a state where the ferrule is inserted can be considered, but there is a problem that it takes time and labor.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and realizes a receptacle for an optical connector which can determine the relative position of a ball lens and a ferrule without adjustment. That is the purpose.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in a receptacle for an optical connector, a main body portion in which a small diameter hole and a large diameter hole are concentrically penetrated, a lens press-fitted into the small diameter hole, A sleeve having an inner diameter that is fitted into a large-diameter hole to fit the ferrule of the optical connector, and a light transmission that has an outer diameter that is fitted to the large-diameter hole and is smaller than the inner diameter of the sleeve in the center. It is characterized in that it has a hole and a spacer fixed by being sandwiched between the bottom of the large-diameter hole and the sleeve.

[0007]

According to the present invention, the lens can be accurately positioned and fixed in the fitting hole of the lens by the jig. The ferrule of the optical connector is positioned by a spacer having a light transmission hole smaller than the outer diameter of the ferrule when the ferrule is inserted into the sleeve. The spacer has an outer diameter that fits into a large-diameter hole in the main body and has a light transmission hole in the center that is smaller than the inner diameter of the sleeve, and is fixed by being sandwiched between the bottom of the large-diameter hole and the sleeve. Therefore, it is possible to perform the positioning with high precision and to make the thickness sufficiently high precision. Therefore, the distance between the optical fiber and the lens can be set without adjustment simply by inserting the ferrule.

[0008]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional side view of an embodiment of the optical connector receptacle of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a main body portion, 2 is a ball lens fitting hole, 3 is a sleeve fitting hole, 4
Is a ball lens, 5 is a spacer, and 6 is a sleeve.
The body portion 1 is provided with a ball lens fitting hole 2 and a sleeve fitting hole 3 concentrically. The ball lens 4 is press-fitted into the ball lens fitting hole 2. Ball lens 4
The press-fitting is performed by using a jig that can determine the position of the ball lens with the stepped portion as a reference surface, which will be described later, and the accuracy of the mounting position can be maintained with sufficiently high accuracy. Sleeve fitting hole 3
The inner diameter of is set to be larger than the inner diameter of the ball lens fitting hole 2, so that the sleeve fitting hole 3 is formed with a bottom as a step. The spacer 5 is arranged at this bottom portion, and the sleeve 6 is fitted into the sleeve fitting hole 3, whereby the spacer 5 is sandwiched and fixed between the sleeve 6 and the bottom portion of the sleeve fitting hole 3. The accuracy of the bottom of the sleeve fitting hole 3 can be made high, and the thickness of the spacer 5 can be processed with high accuracy by, for example, a method of collectively lapping a large number of spacers. The relative position between the position of the surface on the sleeve side and the position of the ball lens can ensure sufficient accuracy.

The hole formed in the central portion of the spacer 5 serves as a light transmission hole, but the inner diameter thereof is smaller than the outer diameter of the tip portion of the ferrule. Therefore, when a ferrule (not shown) is inserted into the sleeve 6, the tip of the ferrule is positioned on the sleeve-side surface of the spacer 5. As described above, since the accuracy of the relative position of this surface with respect to the ball lens is guaranteed, the ferrule can be positioned without adjustment.

Details of each component will be described. 2A and 2B are for explaining the main body portion. FIG. 2A is a front view, FIG. 2B is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 2A, and FIG. It is C sectional drawing. Reference numeral 1 is a main body portion, 2 is a ball lens fitting hole, 3 is a sleeve fitting hole, and a flange portion 1a formed at a right angle with respect to these two fitting holes.
And a fitting portion 1b including the ball lens fitting hole 2 and protruding from the flange portion 1a is formed. The flange portion 1a is provided with a mounting hole 1c. The hole 1d opened from the sleeve fitting hole 3 to the outside is opened to allow the air in the sleeve fitting hole 3 to escape to the outside when the ferrule is inserted.

3A and 3B are views for explaining the sleeve. FIG. 3A is a side sectional view and FIG. 3B is a front view seen from the side fitted into the sleeve fitting hole. The outer diameter of the portion 6a fitted into the sleeve fitting hole is formed to be slightly larger than the outer diameter of the portion protruding from the sleeve fitting hole, and this portion is processed with higher precision. Further, a split groove 6b is provided in this portion in the axial direction. This is provided to allow the air inside the sleeve 6 to escape to the outside when the ferrule is inserted, and the air can escape from the split groove 6b through the hole 1d of the main body portion.

A specific example of the dimensional accuracy of the above embodiment will be described. The accuracy of the outer diameter of the ball lens 4 is 3 μm
Within the range, the ball lens fitting hole 2 was press-fitted with a tight margin of about 5 μm. The press-fitting is performed by using a jig that can determine the position of the ball lens with the step portion between the ball lens fitting hole 2 and the sleeve fitting hole 3 as a reference surface. In this example, the ball lens 4 could be positioned in the optical axis direction with an accuracy within 10 μm.

The accuracy of the ball lens fitting hole 2 is within 2 μm, and the accuracy of the sleeve fitting hole 3 is within 3 μm. Further, the concentricity of these two fitting holes is within 2 μm. Further, in the body portion, the flange portion 1a
The squareness of is 10μ with either of these two fitting holes.
The fitting portion 1b has a concentricity with either of the two fitting holes within 10 μm.

The spacer 5 has an accuracy with a thickness within 20 μm. This thickness determines the distance between the ferrule optical fiber and the ball lens.

The sleeve 6 has an inner diameter within a precision of 2 μm with a clearance for fitting with the ferrule of the optical connector, and an outer diameter within a precision of 3 μm for fitting with the sleeve fitting hole 3. Further, the concentricity between the inner diameter and the outer diameter is within 2 μm. The fit between the outer diameter of the sleeve 6 and the sleeve fitting hole 3 is a tight fit or an intermediate fit with a slight gap. In the case of an intermediate fit, it is better to fix it with an adhesive or the like.

The performance of the receptacle for an optical connector constructed by these combinations has two planes with parallelism of about 10 μm, which is assumed to be a housing of an optical passive component, and a squareness of about 10 μm is fitted to the plane. It is incorporated into a member having a fitting hole, and it is measured by how much loss the incident light from one side propagates to the emitting side at the other end. The performance calculated from the deviation of the optical axis obtained by integrating the accuracy of the upper parts is 1 dB or less at the worst, and it is unlikely that the tolerances of these parts will all shift in the same direction, so in most cases,
It was found to be 0.5 dB or less.

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional side view of another embodiment of the optical connector receptacle of the present invention. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 7 is a connector part. In this embodiment, it is applied to an FC type optical connector. Therefore, the connector portion 7 is fitted to the main body portion 1. The connector 7
Can also be formed integrally with the body.

[0018]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, there is an effect that the receptacle itself can be assembled without adjusting the optical arrangement, and the ferrule can be coupled without adjustment during use.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional side view of an embodiment of an optical connector receptacle of the present invention.

2A and 2B are detailed views of the main body of FIG. 1, where FIG. 2A is a front view, FIG. 2B is a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 2A, and FIG.
The figure is a sectional view taken along the line CC in FIG.

3 is a detailed view of the sleeve of FIG. 1, where (A) is a side sectional view and (B) is a front view.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional side view of another embodiment of the optical connector receptacle of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional side view of a conventional optical connector receptacle.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional side view of an optical connector receptacle having an adjustable structure.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main Body 2 Ball Lens Fitting Hole 3 Sleeve Fitting Hole 4 Ball Lens 5 Spacer 6 Sleeve 7 Connector

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A body part having small and large holes concentrically penetratingly provided, a lens press-fitted into the small hole, and a ferrule of an optical connector fitted in the large hole. A sleeve having an inner diameter for fitting, a light transmission hole having an outer diameter fitted in the large diameter hole and having a light transmission hole smaller than the inner diameter of the sleeve in the center, and the sleeve and the sleeve. An optical connector receptacle having a spacer fixed by being sandwiched between.