JP3398584B2 - 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. 8 shows an example of a backplane connector. In FIG. 8, 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. 9 is an exploded perspective view showing the backplane housing 6. As shown in FIG. 9, 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 on the printed board 2 side (see FIG. 9).
The back housing 9 is located on the opposite side of the housing body 8 with the backplane 3 in between.
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, and a back housing 9 is attached to the projecting tip of the pin 10. It is fixed with screws 12.

FIG. 10 shows an example of the mounting hole 11. Figure 10
As shown in FIG. 5, the mounting hole 11 has a rectangular shape and has expansion portions 13 at four corners. The pin 10 is housed in a pair of expanded portions 13 and 13 facing each other along the diagonal line of the mounting hole 11, and a = 1.60 in the vertical direction (vertical direction in FIG. 10).
A gap 14 of about mm is secured, and a gap 15 of about b = 0.34 mm is secured in the horizontal direction (left and right in FIG. 10). Since the backplane 3 is slidably sandwiched between the housing body 8 and the back housing 9, the backplane housing 6 has pins 10, 10 in the gaps 14, 15 respectively.
It can float within the movable range of. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, 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, and the fitting workability is improved. In the backplane connector, the floating of the backplane housing 6 is important, and various configurations other than the expansion portion 13 of the mounting hole 11 can be adopted as the configuration for allowing the floating of the backplane housing 6. Is.

[0005]

In the case of the above-mentioned optical connector, since the MPO plug 4a is supported by the print board housing 5, the size of the print board housing 5 is large and the print board 2 in the plug-in unit 1 is large. It is difficult to increase the installation density of the print board housing 5 and the number of corresponding cores is limited. The purpose of connecting the MPO plugs 4a and 4b is to connect the optical connector ferrules 4c to each other, and it is sufficient to connect the optical connector ferrules 4c to each other. Since the MPO plugs 4a and 4b have a large number of parts and are high in cost, there is a problem in that there is a waste in terms of cost and it is difficult to miniaturize, so that a wasteful space is generated in the plug-in unit 1. In addition, the conventional printed board housing 5 has a complicated structure because it supports the MPO plug 4a, and there is a problem in that it takes time to store the MPO plug 4a.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a printed board housing in which a small-sized optical connector plug such as an optical connector ferrule can be easily incorporated, and the structure is simple and the cost can be reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical connector that can increase the number of cores, can be easily assembled, and can reduce the overall cost by using.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the housing body (21) and the fixed component (22) are arranged on both sides of the backplane (3) so as to face each other so that the backplane is sandwiched. A backplane housing (20) to be assembled, and a printboard housing (40) attached to a printboard (2) provided so as to be movable back and forth with respect to the backplane and detachably fitted to the housing body. An optical connector plug (4b), which is provided with the housing body forming the backplane housing and is inserted into the housing body through a mounting hole (30) opened in the backplane by fitting the printed board housing. And another optical connector plug supported by the printed board housing. In the optical connector adapted to be connected to (43), a plug accommodating groove (44) for accommodating the optical connector plug (43) is provided in the printed board housing, and the plug accommodating groove has the print accommodating groove. A housing groove opening (45) opened on the rear side in the fitting direction of the board housing to the housing body,
An elastically deformable support claw (46) for engaging and supporting the optical connector plug accommodated in the plug storage groove is provided in the vicinity of the storage groove opening, and the plug storage groove is elastically deformed while the support claw is elastically deformed. The optical connector plug is housed at a target position in the plug housing groove by pushing the optical connector plug into the
Is a bearing wall protruding from both sides of the plug housing groove.
An optical connector characterized in that it is supported between (47) and the supporting claw is the means for solving the above problems. In this optical connector, the optical connector plug is housed and supported at a target position in the plug housing groove by pushing the optical connector plug into the plug housing groove while elastically deforming the support claws. The workability of storing and supporting the optical connector plug in the board housing is greatly improved.

Although various configurations can be adopted as the optical connector plug, for example, it is preferable to adopt a configuration which is an optical connector ferrule terminated by butt-connecting optical fibers, whereby a large size of the printed board housing can be achieved. The size can be reduced, and the packaging density of the printed board housing can be improved. Further, according to the present invention, engaging and disengaging claws that are engageably and disengageably engaged with the housing body are provided on both sides of the print board housing, and the engaging and disengaging claws are protruding base ends from the print board housing. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the entire part including the part is provided apart from the support claw and the bearing wall (see FIG. 7).

[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. In the figure, the same components as those in FIGS. 8 to 10 are designated by the same reference numerals to simplify the description.

As shown in FIG. 1, the optical connector of this embodiment comprises a backplane housing 20 composed of a housing body 21 and a fixed component 22, and is further attached to the printed board 2 and the printed board 2 is plugged in. It has a printed board housing 40 that fits into the backplane housing 20 by being inserted into the unit 1 (see FIG. 8).

As shown in FIG. 1, the housing main body 21 is formed of a synthetic resin such as plastic into a cylindrical shape, and the MP is inserted from a mounting hole 30 opened in the backplane 3.
It is provided with a plug housing hole 23 for housing the O plug 4b so that it can be inserted and removed. An optical connector plug 43 (described later) supported by the printed board housing 40 is inserted from the opposite side of the plug housing hole 23. Since a key groove (not shown) for positioning the MPO plug 4b is formed in the plug housing hole 23, the MPO plug 4b inserted in the plug housing hole 23 is positioned so as to be butt-connectable to the optical connector plug 43. To be done.

FIG. 2 shows a fixed part. The fixed component 22 is entirely made of a spring material, and has a rectangular frame-shaped main body 24,
A pair of elastic claws 25, 2 projecting from both sides of the main body 24
5 and. The protruding positions of the elastic claws 25, 25 coincide with the pair of engaging portions 26, 26 (see FIG. 1) formed on both sides of the housing body 21 facing each other. Also,
Engaging claws 27 project from the tips of the elastic claws 25.
In FIG. 1, both elastic claws 25, 25 are the backplane 3
Through the mounting hole 30, and is inserted into and engaged with the engaging portions 26, 26 of the housing body 21 installed on the opposite side via the backplane 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the mounting hole 30 is rectangular and extends vertically above and below the backplane 3.
The outer shape of the main body portion 24 of the fixed component 22 is larger than the mounting hole 30, and the plug insertion hole 29 opened in the central portion of the main body portion 24 is smaller than the mounting hole 30. As shown in FIG. 1, when the elastic claws 25, 25 are inserted into the mounting holes 30 of the backplane 3 and engaged with the engaging portions 26, 26 of the housing body 21,
The plug insertion hole 29 communicates with the mounting hole 30, and the MPO plug 4b inserted from the plug insertion hole 29 into the mounting hole 30 can be inserted into the housing body 21.

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. Accordingly, when the print board 2 is inserted into the plug-in unit 1 (see FIG. 8) and the print board housing 40 (see FIG. 1) is fitted into the back plane housing 20, the print board housing 40 and the back plane housing 20 are separated from each other. Since the positional deviation between the two can be absorbed by the floating of the backplane housing 20, the fitting workability is improved.

As shown in FIG. 2, spring portions 31, 31 are formed in the body portion 24 on both sides of the plug insertion hole 29.
In FIG. 2, 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 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. In the assembled backplane housing 20, the backplane 3 is lightly sandwiched between the housing body 21 and the body portion 24 by a clamp force that is slidable. Then, the spring portion 31
Since the tolerance of the thickness of the backplane 3 is absorbed within the elastic deformation range of, the mounting state of the housing body 21 is stable, and the desired floating range due to the clearance shown in FIG. Since it is stably obtained, the workability of fitting with the print board housing 40 can be improved. The shape of the spring portion is not limited to the illustrated bent portion, and various shapes such as an arc-shaped curved portion can be adopted.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printed board housing 40 is entirely made of resin such as plastic and is assembled on the backplane 3 to form the backplane housing 2.
It is adapted to be detachably fitted to the housing body 21 of No. 0. Reference numeral 49 in FIG. 1 is an attachment portion for attaching the print board housing 40 to the print board 2. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the print board housing 40, and FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the inside. As shown in FIG. 6, engagement / disengagement claws 4 engageably disengageably engage with the housing body 21 on both sides of the print board housing 40.
1, 41 are provided. Further, a guide protrusion 42 to be inserted into the housing body 21 is provided at a front portion of the printed board housing 40 in the fitting insertion direction with respect to the housing body 21.

As shown in FIG. 7, the print board housing 40 has a plug housing groove 44 for housing the optical connector plug 43 (optical connector ferrule) defined in JIS C5981. The plug storage groove 4
Reference numeral 4 denotes a storage groove opening 45 that opens rearward in the direction of fitting and insertion of the printed board housing 40 into the housing body 21, and is housed in the plug storage groove 44 near the storage groove opening 45. An elastically deformable support claw 46 that engages and supports the optical connector plug 43 is provided in a protruding manner.
The optical connector plug 43 is fitted with a guide pin 43b for positioning the mating optical connector plug 43, and a pin clamp 43c for holding the guide pin 43b is attached. In the printed board housing 40, the optical connector plug 43 can be pushed into the plug storage groove 44 from the storage groove opening 45 while elastically deforming the support claw 46. Also,
Optical connector plug 43 pushed into the plug housing groove 44
Is sandwiched between a bearing wall 47 formed in the printed board housing 40 and the support claw 46, and thus is stably supported at a target position in the plug housing groove 44. The pressing force from the support claw 46 acts on the optical connector plug 43 via the pin clamp 43c. When the optical connector plug 43 that terminates the optical fiber 48 (optical fiber core wire) in a butt-connectable manner is inserted into the plug housing groove 44, the optical fiber 48 is pulled out from the housing groove opening 45. The optical fiber terminated by the optical connector plug 43 may be either single-core or multi-core.

The optical connector plug 43 accommodated in the plug accommodating groove 44 comes into contact with the bearing wall 47 to set the limit of protrusion of the printed board housing 40 to the front in the fitting insertion direction. Therefore, when the optical connector plug 43 connected to the optical connector ferrule 4c on the MPO plug 4b side in the housing body 21 (see FIG. 1) is pulled out, the optical connector plug 43 may come out of the plug housing groove 44. It can be prevented and the pulling out work can be performed efficiently. Also, as shown in FIG.
The support claws 46 engaged with the optical connector plug 43 set the limit of movement of the optical connector plug 43 to the rear in the fitting insertion direction of the printed board housing 40, and when the butt connection is made with the optical connector ferrule 4c on the MPO plug 4b side. Bear the butt force of. Since the joint end surface 43a of the optical connector plug 43 accommodated in the plug accommodating groove 44 is always projected from the pressure bearing wall 47, the printed board housing 40 is fitted into the housing main body 21 and at the same time. The optical connector plug 43 supported on the printed board housing 40 and the optical connector ferrule 4c of the MPO plug 4b supported on the housing body 21 side are abutted and connected.

In this optical connector, the optical connector plug 43 can be easily housed at a predetermined position in the printed board housing 40 by simply pushing the optical connector plug 43 into the plug housing groove 44 from the housing groove opening 45. Is greatly improved. On the contrary, the work of taking out the optical connector plug 43 from the plug housing groove 44 can be easily performed only by elastically deforming the support claw 46. Also,
The printed board housing 40 that houses the optical connector plug 43, which is an optical connector ferrule defined in JIS C 5981, can be made significantly smaller than the conventional printed board housing 5 that houses the MPO plug 4a. The arrangement pitch of the print boards 2 and the print board housings 40 in the in-unit 1 can be significantly reduced, and the number of corresponding cores of the optical connector can be increased.

The printed board housing of the optical connector of the present invention is not limited to the printed board housing 40 shown in the above-mentioned embodiment, and an optical connector such as an optical connector ferrule or a simplified MPO plug which is not defined in JIS C 5981. Various configurations such as a configuration for supporting the plug can be adopted.

[0021]

As described above, according to the optical connector of the first aspect, since the optical connector plug is provided with the printed board housing which can be easily accommodated, the assembling workability is improved. Such an excellent effect.

According to the optical connector of the third aspect , the optical connector plug supported on the printed board housing comprises:
Since the optical connector ferrule is formed by butt-connecting optical fibers, it is possible to increase the number of optical connector plugs to be mounted and the number of corresponding cores to be increased by downsizing the printed board housing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a view showing an embodiment of an optical connector of the present invention and is a front view showing the vicinity of a backplane housing and a printed board housing.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a fixed component 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.

FIG. 5 is a front sectional view showing a backplane housing of the optical connector of the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a printed board housing of the optical connector of the present embodiment.

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

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional backplane connector.

9 is an exploded perspective view showing a backplane housing of the backplane connector of FIG. 8. FIG.

FIG. 10 is a front view showing a mounting hole of the backplane connector of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Printed board, 3 ... Backplane, 4b ... Optical connector plug (MPO plug), 20 ... Backplane housing, 21 ... Housing body, 22 ... Fixed parts,
30 ... Mounting hole, 40 ... Printed board housing, 43
… Optical connector plug (optical connector ferrule), 44…
Plug storage groove, 45 ... Storage groove opening, 46 ... Support claw, 4
8 ... Optical fiber (optical fiber core wire).

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── 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 Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shinji Nagasawa 3-19-2 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Nihon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (56) References Jikkouhei 7-46884 (JP, Y2) Yukio Hayashi, Hiroshi Furukawa, Yoshikazu Nomura, Development of back panel type multi-fiber optical connector, Proceedings of IEICE Communications Society Conference, Japan, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, August 30, 1996, 1996 / Society B2, 481 pages (58) Fields surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 6/38 JISST file (JOIS)

Claims (3)

(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 mounted to retractably provided printed board (2) releasably fitted relative to the housing body (40) relative to the plane, the housing body to form the backplane housing By fitting the printed board housing, mounting holes (3
The optical connector plug (4b) inserted into the housing body via the optical connector 0) and another optical connector plug (43) supported by the printed board housing are connected. The print board housing has a plug housing groove (44) for housing the optical connector plug (43),
The plug housing groove has a housing groove opening (45) which is open to the rear side in the fitting direction of the printed board housing to the housing body, and is housed in the plug housing groove near the housing groove opening. An elastically deformable support claw (46) that engages and supports the optical connector plug is provided in a protruding manner, and the optical connector plug is pushed into the plug accommodating groove while elastically deforming the support claw so that the optical connector plug is plugged into the plug. This optical connector is stored at the target position in the storage groove and
The protrusions on both sides of the plug are on opposite sides of the plug housing groove
An optical connector, characterized in that it is supported between a pressure bearing wall (47) projecting from the above and the supporting claw . 2. On both sides of the printed board housing
Is a disengagement claw that removably engages with the housing body.
(41) is suggested, and this disengagement claw is a print button.
The entire body including the base end protruding from the
Being provided separately from the support claws and the bearing wall.
The optical connector according to claim 1, wherein: 3. An optical connector plug for supporting the printed board housing, the optical connector according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the an optical connector ferrule which is connectable to termination butt optical fiber (48).