JP3372846B2 - 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, and more particularly to an optical connector having a backplane housing which is assembled by sandwiching the backplane from both front and back sides with a housing body and a fixed part.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a plug-in type optical connector, a so-called backplane connector has been conventionally provided. FIG. 9 shows an example of the backplane connector. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 1 is a plug-in unit, 2 is a print board, 3 is a back plane, 4a and 4b are MPO connector plugs (hereinafter referred to as "MPO plugs"), 5 is a print board housing, and 6 is a back plane housing. In this backplane connector, by inserting the printed board 2 to which the printed board housing 5 is fixed into the plug-in unit 1, the printed board housing 5 is attached to the backplane housing 6 attached to the backplane 3 arranged on the side of the plug-in unit 1. Are fitted and assembled. The mated printed board housing 5 and backplane housing 6 constitute an optical connector adapter 7, and the MPO plug 4 inserted from both sides.
Connect a and 4b. Print board housing 5
MPO plug 4 to be inserted into the optical connector adapter 7 from the side
"a" is previously inserted into the print board housing 5, and the print board 2 is inserted into the back plane housing 6 at the same time when the print board 2 is inserted to a predetermined position of the plug-in unit 1. The housing body 8 is an inner housing 8a
Is provided inside, and the MPO plug 4b on the backplane housing 6 side is supported in the internal housing 8a.
Since a plurality of printed boards 2 can be accommodated in parallel in the plug-in unit 1 in high density, the optical connector adapter 7 can be mounted in high density in this backplane connector. The MPO plugs 4a and 4b are optical connectors having a structure in which an optical connector ferrule 4c established in JIS C 5981 is supported by a plastic housing.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing the backplane housing 6. As shown in FIG. 10, the backplane housing 6 includes a housing body 8 and a back housing 9 that are arranged opposite to each other with the backplane 3 in between. The housing body 8 is arranged on the printed board 2 side (left side in FIG. 10), and the back housing 9 is arranged on the opposite side of the housing body 8 with the backplane 3 interposed therebetween. A pin 10 is projectingly provided on the housing body 8, and the pin 10 is inserted into a mounting hole 11 opened in the backplane 3 so as to project to the opposite side of the backplane 3.
The back housing 9 is fixed to the projecting tip of 0 with a screw 12.

FIG. 11 shows the mounting hole 11. As shown in FIG. 11, the mounting hole 11 has a rectangular shape, and the expansion portions 1 are provided at the four corners.
Have three. The pin 10 is housed in a pair of expanded portions 13, 13 facing each other along a diagonal line of the mounting hole 11, and a gap 14 of about a = 1.60 mm is secured in the vertical direction (up and down in FIG. 11). A gap 15 of about b = 0.34 mm is secured in the horizontal direction (left and right in FIG. 11). Since the backplane 3 is slidably sandwiched between the housing body 8 and the back housing 9, the backplane housing 6 can float within the movable range of the pins 10 and 10 in the gaps 14 and 15. As a result, as shown in FIG. 9, the dimensional intersection when the printed board housing 5 is fitted to the backplane housing 6 is absorbed by the floating of the backplane housing 6 to improve the fitting workability.

[0005]

By the way, in the case of the above-mentioned backplane connector, when the MPO plugs 4a and 4b are connected to each other, the optical fiber drawn from the MPO plugs 4a and 4b is pulled and the MPO plug 4 is pulled.
There are times when a lateral pulling force acts on a and 4b (so-called side pull). In FIG. 9, the optical fiber 17 pulled out from the MPO plug 4a on the printed board housing 5 side is often exposed to the outside of the plug-in unit 1, and there is a high possibility that a pulling force acts by being hooked by an operator. . When the optical fiber 17 is pulled and a lateral pulling force is applied to the MPO plug 4a, the MPO plug 4a is slightly displaced due to elastic deformation of the backplane housing 6 or the print board housing 5, but is inserted into the backplane housing 6 side. Since the separated MPO plug 4b is stably supported at a predetermined position, a slight misalignment occurs between the optical connector ferrules 4c and 4c in the butt connection state of both MPO plugs 4a and 4b, and a desired connection loss cannot be obtained. there is a possibility. That is, in this backplane connector, the MPO plugs 4a, 4b
Since the members are positioned and connected in the inner housing 8a, the lateral pulling force acting on the MPO plug 4a is transmitted from the inner housing 8a to the housing body 8, so that the housing body 8 is concentrated. It is easy to generate elastic deformation by straining on. Therefore, the housing body 8 may be elastically deformed and the MPO plug 4a may be displaced with respect to the MPO plug 4b even with a side pull having a comparatively weak force, which causes a connection loss between the optical connector ferrules 4c and 4c. There is a concern that it will be disturbed. However, since it is difficult to reduce the size of the inner housing 8a, in order to increase the strength of the housing body 8, the housing body 8 must be increased in size. This time, many components of the optical connector must be compatible with the housing body. There is a problem that it has to be upsized. Further, in consideration of the above problem, for example, it is conceivable to expand the floating range of the backplane housing 6 to mitigate the effect of lateral pressure.
Since the expansion of the floating range affects the workability of fitting the print board housing 5, the expansion of the floating range is limited, and the problem cannot be fundamentally solved.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a housing for a lateral pressure acting in an inserting / pulling-out operation of an optical connector plug by a projecting wall formed in an inner housing and an overlapping wall formed in a printed board housing. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical connector capable of improving the proof stress of the main body and maintaining the positioning accuracy of the optical connector plug for a long period of time.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a backplane housing in which a housing body and a fixed component are arranged on both sides of the backplane so as to face each other, and the backplane is sandwiched between the backplane housing and the backplane housing. A print board housing attached to a print board that is movable back and forth with respect to the plane and detachably engaged with the housing body; and the print board housing is attached to and detached from a housing body that forms the backplane housing. By fitting as much as possible, the optical connector plug inserted into the housing body via the mounting hole opened in the backplane and the other optical connector plug supported by the printed board housing are connected. In optical connector The housing body has a cylindrical shape, and an inner housing for accommodating and positioning and supporting both optical connector plugs to be connected is housed in the housing body, and a side portion of the inner housing is engaged with the housing body. projecting the projected wall, said backplane Haujin
The printed board housing is provided with a polymerized wall that overlaps with the protruding wall when the printed board housing is fitted to a housing body that forms a plug, and the optical connector plug is formed by overlapping the protruding wall and the overlapped wall. An optical connector, wherein lateral pressure acting in a direction different from the insertion / removal direction when inserted into / removed from the inner housing is dispersed and supported by the overlapping wall and the housing body. It was taken as a means for solving the above problems. Various configurations can be adopted as the housing body, the fixed parts, the print board housing, and the like. It is more preferable that the backplane housing has a configuration that facilitates assembly. Further, it is preferable that the backplane housing is allowed to be appropriately floated in view of workability of fitting with the printed board housing.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the backplane housing is constructed such that the housing main body and the fixed parts are arranged on both sides of the backplane so as to face each other, and the backplane is assembled. A print board housing attached to a print board provided in the housing and detachably engaged with the housing body, and the print board housing is detachably fitted to a housing body forming the backplane housing. Due to
An optical connector in which an optical connector plug inserted into the housing body and another optical connector plug supported by the printed board housing are connected via a mounting hole opened in the backplane, The housing body has a cylindrical shape, and the housing body houses an inner housing that houses and positions and supports both optical connector plugs to be connected, and the printed board housing is a support that fits inside or outside the housing body. The optical connector is provided with a pressure wall, and the pressure bearing wall restricts the deformation of the housing body. Various configurations can be adopted as the bearing wall. For example, a reinforcing wall that fits inside a part of the housing body and locally restricts the deformation of the housing body, or a tubular wall that fits inside or outside the housing body can be adopted.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION One embodiment of an optical connector of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. The optical connector (backplane connector) of this embodiment employs a backplane housing 20 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in place of the backplane housing 6 of the backplane connector shown in FIG. Reference numeral 20 denotes an MPO plug 4 which is inserted from both sides by fitting the printed board housing 5 shown in FIG.
An optical connector adapter for connecting a and 4b (corresponding to the optical connector plug according to claims 1 and 2) is configured. In the figure, the same components as those in FIGS. 9 to 11 are designated by the same reference numerals to simplify the description.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the backplane housing 20 comprises a housing body 21 and a fixing component 22. As shown in FIG. 1, the housing body 21 is formed of a synthetic resin such as plastic into a tubular shape, and is provided with a plug housing hole 23 for housing the inserted MPO plugs 4a and 4b. The inner housing 21 a is housed in the plug housing hole 23, and the inner housing 21 a
a is the MPO plug 4a inserted into the plug storage hole 23,
One or both of 4b are housed and positioned so as to be butt-connectable by the key groove 21b. Since the inner housing 21a is engaged with the housing body 21 by the positioning protrusion 21c and the engaging claw 21d, the MPO plug 4a,
Even if 4b is inserted and removed, it is not displaced and is stably supported at a predetermined position.

FIG. 6A is a side view of the inner housing 21a viewed from the backplane 3 side. As shown in FIG. 6 (a), the positioning protrusions 21c are arranged in opposed relation to the upper and lower end portions (upper and lower in FIG. 6 (a)) of the inner housing 21a, and have a flange shape extending parallel to each other. Projecting walls 21e project from both ends of the positioning projection 21c in the extending direction. The protruding wall 21e is a small wall portion protruding toward the opposing positioning protrusion 21c, and is shown in FIG.
When the inner housing 21a is inserted into the housing body 21 as shown in FIG.
It comes into contact with the inner wall surface. Also, the projecting wall 21e
Has an overlapping wall storage groove 21f formed on the side of the inner housing 21a. In the overlapping wall storage groove 21f, an overlapping wall 32a (guide wall, which is provided on the printed board housing 32 in a protruding manner).
(See FIG. 7).

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the printed board housing 32 of the optical connector of this embodiment. In FIG. 7, the print board housing 32 has a pair of engaging and disengaging claws 3 that engages with the housing body 21 in a detachable manner from the outside.
2b and 32b are arranged opposite to each other on both sides. A pressure bearing wall 32c is provided inside the print board housing 32. The bearing wall 32c has a tubular shape, and the MPO plug 4a supported in the print board housing 32 is positioned and housed in the bearing wall 32c. Further, a stacking wall 32a is provided at the front end (right side in FIG. 7) of the printed board housing 32 in the insertion direction into the backplane housing 20. Print board housing 32
When is inserted into the inner housing 21a, the overlapping wall 32a can be inserted into the overlapping wall storage groove 21f up to the position where the bearing wall 32c abuts on the engaging claw 21d of the inner housing 21a. When the bearing wall 32c abuts on the engaging claw 21d, the M accommodated and supported in the print board housing 32 is supported.
The PO plug 4a is inserted into the housing body 21 at a predetermined position, and is attached to the housing body 21 on the opposite side (mounting hole 30).
It is butt-connected with the MPO plug 4b inserted from the side).

Since the overlapping wall 32a and the overlapping wall receiving groove 21f have substantially the same shape, the overlapping wall 32a inserted into the overlapping wall receiving groove 21f is overlapped with the protruding wall 21e without any gap to form an integral wall. (See FIG. 6B). Therefore, since the inner housing 21a is supported at a predetermined position by the housing body 21 and the overlapping wall 32a,
The deformation resistance against the lateral pulling force acting on the MPO plugs 4a and 4b is significantly improved. As a result, the inner housing 21a is stably supported at a predetermined position, and inconveniences such as deformation and damage of the housing body 21 and the inner housing 21a can be prevented.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the printed board housing 32 is fitted into the housing main body 21 (at this time, the overlapping wall 32a is not shown in FIG.
f)), and when the pressure bearing wall 32c abuts the projecting wall 21e (not shown in FIG. 8), the pressure bearing wall 32c
Fits inside the housing body 21 to improve the deformation resistance of the housing body 21, so that the deformation resistance of the housing body 21 against the lateral pulling force acting on the MPO plug 4a can be further improved. Plug 4a,
The positioning accuracy of 4b can be maintained for a long time.

The fixed part 22 is entirely formed of a spring material, and has a rectangular frame-shaped main body portion 24, and a pair of elastic claws 25, 25 projecting from both sides of the main body portion 24. The protruding positions of these elastic claws 25, 25 are the housing body 21.
1 and 2 (the engagement holes 26 are also on the lower side of the housing body 21 in FIGS. 1 and 2). Further, engaging claws 27 are projected from the tips of the elastic claws 25. In FIG. 2, the elastic claws 25, 25 are inserted into the mounting holes 30 of the backplane 3, and are inserted into the engaging holes 26, 26 of the housing body 21 installed on the opposite side through the backplane 3, respectively.
Engaging claws 27 are engaged with the engaging portions 28, 28 of the housing body 21.

As shown in FIG. 3, the mounting hole 30 has a rectangular shape, and extends vertically above and below the backplane 3.
The main body 24 of the fixed part 22 is larger than the mounting hole 30,
The plug insertion hole 29 opened in the center of the main body 24 is smaller than the mounting hole 30. As shown in FIG. 2, in the assembled backplane housing 20, the housing body 2
The backplane 3 is lightly sandwiched between 1 and the main body 24 by a clamping force that is slidable.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a clearance is secured around the elastic claws 25, 25 inserted into the mounting hole 30, and the elastic claws 25, 25 are displaced within the mounting hole 30 within the clearance. Tolerate. Therefore, the backplane housing 20 attached to the backplane 3
In addition, the elastic claws 25 are allowed to float within the movable range of the mounting hole 30. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the clearance is c = in the horizontal direction (left and right in FIG. 4).
0.34 mm, d = 1.60 in the vertical direction (upper and lower in FIG. 4)
mm, and the elastic claws 25, 2 within this clearance range
5 is displaceable and the floating range of the backplane housing 20 is set. As a result, the print board 2 is inserted into the plug-in unit 1 (see FIG. 9) and the print board housing 5 is attached to the back plane housing 2.
Since the positional deviation between the printed board housing 5 and the backplane housing 20 can be absorbed by the floating of the backplane housing 20 when fitting to 0, the fitting workability is improved.

As shown in FIG. 1, spring portions 31, 31 are formed in the body portion 24 on both sides of the plug insertion hole 29.
In FIG. 1, the spring portion 31 is a curved portion that protrudes from the main body portion 24 in the direction of the backplane 3, and as shown in FIG. 5, when the elastic claws 25, 25 are inserted into the mounting holes 30, they are brought into contact with the backplane 3. It Therefore, the elastic claws 25, 2
When 5 is inserted into the mounting hole 30 and engaged with the housing body 21, the backplane 3 is sandwiched between the housing body 21 and the spring portion 31. Further, since the tolerance of the thickness of the backplane 3 is absorbed within the elastic deformation range of the spring portion 31, the mounting state of the housing body 21 is stable, and moreover, the housing body 21 has the clearance shown in FIG. Since the desired floating range can be stably obtained, the workability of fitting with the printed board housing 5 can be improved.

To assemble the backplane housing 20 to the backplane 3, the plug-in unit 1 is used.
(See FIG. 9) The housing main body 21 is disposed close to the target mounting hole 30 on the inside, and the elastic claws 25, 25 of the fixed component 22 are inserted from the outside (right side of FIG. 1) of the plug-in unit 1 through the mounting hole 30. The engaging claw 27 is engaged with the engaging portion 28 by inserting it into the engaging holes 26, 26 of the housing body 21. In addition,
The inner housing 21a is stored in the housing body 21 in advance.

The work of assembling the backplane housing 20 to the backplane 3 is performed by the housing body 21.
Since it suffices to push the fixing component 22 into the, it is much simpler than the case of fixing with the pin, and the workability is improved. When the thickness of the backplane 3 is larger than the predetermined size, the elastic portion 25 is elastically deformed to move the elastic claws 25, 25 into the engaging portions 26, 2 of the housing body 21.
6 can be engaged. Conversely, backplane 3
Even if the thickness of the
Since the dimensional tolerance of the backplane 3 is absorbed by the elastic deformation of the backplane 3, a wasteful gap is prevented from being generated between the fixed component 22 and the housing body 21, and the housing body 21 is elastic in the mounting hole 30. A desired floating range is reliably obtained by the movable range of the claws 25, 25, the housing body 21 is prevented from floating more than necessary, and the work of fitting the print board housing 5 can be efficiently performed.

Further, while fixing by the pin requires a work space for fixing the screw, it is sufficient to secure a space that can be touched to press the fixing component 22, so that the work space is reduced, and the work space of the building is reduced. It is advantageous when constructing on walls. In this optical connector, it is possible to assemble the backplane housing 20 by pushing the housing main body 21 into the fixed component 22 that is previously fixed to the backplane 3. In this case, it is necessary to secure a working space outside the plug-in unit 1. There is no. Also, the elastic claws 25,
Since the clearance around the elastic claws 25, 25 inserted into the mounting hole 30 can be easily adjusted only by adjusting the 25 shape, the floating range of the backplane housing 20 can be easily set. As a result, the shape of the mounting hole 30 is simple, and the workability of forming the mounting hole 30 is improved. Furthermore, since the number of parts is reduced by not using the pins, the cost can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the shapes of the housing body, the inner housing, the print board housing, etc. can be changed as appropriate.

[0023]

As described above, according to the optical connector of the first aspect, the overlapping wall projecting from the printed board housing supporting one of the pair of optical connector plugs to be connected is housed in the housing body. The inner wall of the housing and the inner housing are dispersed and supported by the protruding wall projecting from the inner housing, and the lateral pressure that acts during the insertion / removal work of the optical connector plug with respect to the inner housing is dispersed and supported by the overlapping wall and the housing body. The deformation resistance against the lateral pressure can be improved, and the positioning accuracy of the optical connector plug can be stably maintained for a long period of time.
It has an excellent effect that a desired connection loss can be obtained stably and surely.

According to the optical connector of the second aspect, the pressure bearing wall formed on the printed board housing supporting one of the pair of optical connector plugs to be connected is fitted to the inside or the outside of the housing main body so that the optical connector Since the side pressure acting on the inserting / removing work of the connector plug with respect to the inner housing is distributed and supported by the bearing wall and the housing body, the deformation resistance of the housing body and the inner housing against the side pressure can be improved, and the optical connector plug The positioning accuracy of can be stably maintained for a long period of time, and a desired connection loss can be stably and reliably obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an optical connector of the present invention and is an exploded perspective view showing a backplane housing.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an assembled state of the backplane housing of FIG.

3 is a front view showing a mounting hole for mounting the backplane housing of FIG. 1. FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a clearance secured around an elastic claw in the mounting hole of FIG.

5 is a side sectional view showing a spring portion formed on a fixed component of the backplane housing of FIG.

6A and 6B are views showing an inner housing, FIG. 6A is a side view seen from the backplane side, and FIG. 6B is a side view seen from the printed board side.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the print board housing seen from the overlapping wall (guide wall) side.

8 is a front sectional view showing the printed board housing of FIG. 7. FIG.

FIG. 9 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional backplane connector.

10 is an exploded perspective view showing a backplane housing of the backplane connector of FIG. 9. FIG.

FIG. 11 is a front view showing a mounting hole of the backplane connector of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Printed board, 3 ... Backplane, 4a, 4b
... optical connector plug (MPO plug), 20 ... backplane housing, 21 ... housing body, 21a ... internal housing, 21e ... projecting wall, 22 ... fixed part, 30 ...
Mounting holes, 32 ... Print board housing, 32a ... Overlap wall, 32c ... Bearing wall.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Yoshikazu Nomura, Yoshikazu Nomura, 1440 Rokuzaki, Sakura City, Chiba Fujikura Co., Ltd. Sakura Factory (72) Inventor Masaaki Takaya, 3-19-3 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph Telephone Company (72) Inventor Shinji Nagasawa 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (56) Reference JP-A-2-40873 (JP, A) JP-A 2-135305 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 6/38

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A backplane housing (20) assembled by arranging a housing body (21) and a fixing part (22) on both sides of a backplane (3) so as to sandwich the backplane, and the backplane. a print board housing which engages detachably with respect to the housing body attached to retractably provided printed board (2) (32) relative to the plane, the housing body to form the backplane housing By removably fitting the printed board housing, the printed board housing was supported by the optical connector plug (4b) inserted into the housing body through the mounting hole (30) opened in the backplane. To connect with another optical connector plug (4a) In the optical connector described above, the housing body is cylindrical, and an inner housing (21a) for accommodating and supporting both optical connector plugs to be connected is accommodated in the housing body, and a side portion of the inner housing is accommodated. A protruding wall (21e) that is engaged with the housing main body, and a polymerized wall (32a) that overlaps with the protruding wall when the printed board housing is fitted to the housing main body that forms the backplane housing.
And a lateral pressure acting in a direction different from the insertion / removal direction when the optical connector plug is inserted / removed in / from the internal housing due to the protruding wall and the overlapping wall being overlapped with each other. An optical connector characterized in that the pressure is distributed and supported by the housing body and the housing body. 2. A backplane housing (20) assembled by arranging a housing body (21) and a fixing component (22) on both sides of the backplane (3) so as to sandwich the backplane, and the backplane. a print board housing which engages detachably with respect to the housing body attached to retractably provided printed board (2) (32) relative to the plane, the housing body to form the backplane housing By removably fitting the printed board housing, the printed board housing was supported by the optical connector plug (4b) inserted into the housing body through the mounting hole (30) opened in the backplane. To connect with another optical connector plug (4a) In the optical connector described above, the housing body is cylindrical, and an inner housing (21a) for accommodating and supporting both optical connector plugs to be connected is accommodated in the housing body, and a side portion of the inner housing is accommodated. A protruding wall (21e) that engages with the housing body is provided on the housing, and the printed board housing includes a bearing wall (32c) that fits inside or outside the housing body. An optical connector, characterized in that deformation of the housing body is restricted.