JP2563252Y2 - Optical connector - 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 for fixing an optical fiber, comprising a V-groove substrate, an upper lid and a holding substrate, which can be easily and stably assembled.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a V-groove substrate having a V-groove portion including a plurality of V-grooves for mounting an optical fiber,
A light composed of an upper cover which is combined with a groove substrate to form a multi-core collective ferrule, and a fiber pressing substrate provided at a position corresponding to the V groove portion of the upper cover for abutting and fixing an optical fiber placed in the V groove portion. Connectors are known. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an example of an optical connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2-136389 filed by the present applicant.

[0003] The optical connector 11 shown in FIG.
2, an upper cover 13 which is combined with the V-groove substrate 12 to form a multi-core batch ferrule, and a V-groove portion 12a of the upper lid 13
And a fiber pressing substrate 14 provided separately from the upper lid 13. V of V-groove substrate 12
The groove portion 12a has V grooves 15 provided at regular intervals by the number of optical fibers to be connected. An optical fiber 17a at the tip of a tape fiber 17 integrated into a tape shape is inserted into the V-groove 15 through a concave portion 16 for releasing an optical fiber coating portion provided on the V-groove substrate 12 and the upper lid 13, and the fiber is held down. The contact is fixed by the substrate 14.

Incidentally, an optical connector 1 having a structure shown in FIG.
In FIG. 1, the concave portion 16 for allowing the optical fiber coating portion to escape as described above.
When the optical fiber 17a at the tip of the tape fiber 17 integrated in a tape shape is inserted, when the optical fiber 17a passes through the inside of the concave portion, the gap is large and there is no problem. When it reaches the groove,
If each optical fiber does not fit into the predetermined V-groove, it cannot be advanced any further. In other words, it is necessary to repeat trial and error by moving the tape fiber back and forth until all the optical fiber tips fit into the predetermined V-groove. Alternatively, although the tape fiber advances, there is no guarantee that the tip of the optical fiber is present on the predetermined V groove. Further, after the optical fiber 17a is placed on the V-groove portion 12a of the V-groove substrate 12 constituting the ferrule, it is necessary to abut the optical fiber 17a with the fiber holding substrate 14, and FIG.
-A section, the direction along the AA line of the V-groove portion 12a and the fiber holding substrate 14, that is, the optical fiber 1
7a had the same length in the extending direction. for that reason,
When the optical fiber 17a is put on the V-groove portion 12a, the optical fiber 17a is in a free state. Therefore, before the optical fiber 17a is abutted and fixed by the fiber pressing substrate 14, the optical fiber 17a is temporarily fixed in some form, It was necessary to abut and fix with the fiber holding substrate 14.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The optical fiber 1 described above
Insertion of the 7a into the V-groove substrate requires trial and error that requires skill in pulling out and inserting the tape fiber until it fits in the V-groove, and temporary fixing of the optical fiber 17a is performed using a conventional tape or double-sided tape. However, in order to place the optical fiber 17a one by one in each V-groove of the V-groove portion 12a of the V-groove substrate 12, it is necessary to perform positioning on the order of microns, which makes the operation extremely difficult. there were.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems,
An object of the present invention is to provide an optical connector that can easily and reliably insert and fix an optical fiber.

[0007]

The optical connector according to the present invention comprises:
A V-groove substrate having a plurality of V-grooves for mounting optical fibers, and a V-groove substrate having a concave portion for releasing the optical fiber coating portion; and a concave portion corresponding to the concave portion for releasing the optical fiber coating portion of the V-groove substrate. An upper cover which is combined with the V-groove substrate to form a multi-core collective ferrule; and a fiber pressing substrate provided at a position corresponding to the V-groove portion of the upper cover for abutting and fixing an optical fiber placed in the V-groove portion. In the optical connector, the V-groove portion of the V-groove substrate is configured to be longer than the fiber pressing substrate, and a gap is provided between the upper surface of the elongated V-groove substrate and the upper cover, and the gap is formed on the upper surface of the V-groove substrate. The length of the V-groove portion is made longer than the length of the V-groove corresponding portion of the upper lid, and the length of the V-groove portion is set to be smaller than that of the optical fiber.
A guide portion for insertion into the groove is provided.

[0008]

In the above construction, the length of the V-groove portion in the optical fiber extending direction is made longer than the length of the fiber pressing substrate, and a gap is provided between the upper surface of the elongated V-groove substrate and the upper lid. When the tape fiber is inserted into this optical connector, it is configured to be smaller than the gap between the extension line of the groove substrate upper surface and the concave portion that escapes the optical fiber coating portion of the upper lid.
First, the optical fiber 7a at the tip of the tape fiber 7 is regulated by the concave portion 6 which allows the optical fiber coating portions of the upper lid and the V-groove substrate to escape, and then regulated by the gap between the upper surface of the V-groove substrate and the upper lid. This gap is smaller than the gap between the extension of the upper surface of the V-groove substrate and the concave portion of the upper lid that allows the optical fiber coating to escape, as described above. Therefore, the optical fiber 7a is gradually guided above the predetermined V groove. Therefore, instead of placing the optical fiber in the V-groove portion as in the conventional case, the optical fiber is inserted into the V-groove portion of the multi-core batch ferrule composed of the V-groove substrate and the upper lid, and each optical fiber is automatically inserted into the V-groove. The temporary fixing of the optical fiber by a tape or the like as in the related art is unnecessary. Further, since the guide portion is formed by configuring the length of the V-groove portion to be longer than the length of the upper lid in the same direction, the optical fiber is inserted into the V-groove of the multi-core batch ferrule compared to the case where the length of the upper lid and the V-groove portion are the same. The V-groove 5 is used as a guide when the optical fiber is inserted, so that the optical fiber can be easily inserted. As a result, an optical connector that can easily and reliably fix the optical fiber can be obtained.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an example of the optical connector of the present invention. The optical connector 1 of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 has the same configuration as the conventional optical connector 11 shown in FIG. 4 in appearance. That is, the optical connector 1 shown in FIG. 1 is provided at a position corresponding to a V-groove substrate 2, an upper cover 3 which is combined with the V-groove substrate 2 to form a multi-core collective ferrule, and a V-groove portion 2 a of the upper cover 3. , And an upper cover 3 and a separate fiber pressing substrate 4. The V-groove portion 2a of the V-groove substrate 2
V-grooves 5 provided at regular intervals by the number of optical fibers to be connected
have. The V-groove 5 includes a V-groove substrate 2 and an upper lid 3.
The optical fiber 7a at the tip end of the tape fiber 7 integrated in a tape shape is inserted and fixed through the concave portion 6 provided in the above. The upper lid 2 is provided with an inlet 8 for injecting an adhesive.

What is important in the present invention is that the V-groove substrate 2 shown in FIG. 2 shows a cross section taken along the line A--A of the embodiment shown in FIG.
The length of the V groove 2a along the line AA, that is, the direction in which the optical fiber 7a extends, is longer than the length of the fiber pressing substrate 4 in the same direction.
Projection 3 a provided with upper optical fiber 7 a on the inner surface of upper lid 3
And the length of the V-groove portion 2a is made longer than the length of the upper lid 3, and the lengthened V-groove portion 2a is used as a guide portion 2b for inserting the optical fiber 7a into the V-groove. It is. As shown in FIG. 2 and FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b) showing the side view thereof, the protrusion 3a is formed from the V-groove substrate surface 2c to, for example, the diameter of the optical fiber (about 12
5 μm) so that the optical fiber 7 a does not protrude from the V-groove 5.

With such a configuration, the optical fiber 7a is not placed on the V-groove 2a as in the prior art,
Since the optical fibers 7a can be inserted one by one into the V-groove 5 of the ferrule in which the V-groove substrate 2 and the upper lid 3 are combined, each optical fiber 7a can be automatically positioned one by one. Optical fiber 7a using tape or the like
Temporary fixation can be made unnecessary. Also, the V groove 2a
The length of the upper cover 3 is made longer than the length of the upper cover 3 and the guide portion 2b is provided. Therefore, when the optical fiber is inserted into the V groove 5 of the multi-core batch ferrule, the V groove 5 of the guide portion 2b serves as a guide. Fiber insertion becomes easier.

[0012]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the length of the V-groove portion in the optical fiber extending direction is made longer than the length of the fiber pressing substrate, and light is emitted between the elongated portion and the upper lid. Since the fiber can be temporarily fixed, the optical fiber can be inserted into the V-groove portion of the multi-core batch ferrule composed of the V-groove substrate and the upper lid, without temporarily fixing the optical fiber with a tape or the like as in the related art. Further, the guide portion provided in the V-groove portion serves as a guide for the optical fiber, so that an optical connector that can easily and reliably fix the optical fiber can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of an optical connector of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a cross section taken along line AA of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a state of a side surface of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of a conventional optical connector.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a cross section along the line AA of the embodiment shown in FIG. 5;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 optical connector 2 V-groove substrate 2 a V-groove portion 2 b guide portion 3 upper lid 4 fiber holding substrate 5 V-groove 6 concave portion 7 tape fiber 7 a optical fiber 8 inlet

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shinji Nagasawa Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, 1-6, Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] A V-groove substrate having a plurality of V-grooves for mounting an optical fiber, a concave portion for releasing an optical fiber coating portion, and a concave portion for releasing the optical fiber coating portion of the V-groove substrate. An upper cover having a concave portion corresponding to the above and combined with this V-groove substrate to form a multi-core collective ferrule, and an optical fiber mounted on the V-groove portion provided at a position corresponding to the V-groove portion of the upper lid is abutted and fixed. An optical connector comprising a fiber holding substrate for forming the V-groove substrate, the V-groove portion of the V-groove substrate is made longer than the fiber holding substrate, and a gap is provided between the upper surface of the elongated V-groove substrate and the upper lid. The gap between the extension line of the upper surface of the groove substrate and the concave portion of the upper lid is configured to be smaller, and the length of the V-groove portion is configured to be longer than the length of the V-groove corresponding portion of the upper lid. To V-groove Optical connector being characterized in that a guide portion at the time of entry.