JP5750345B2 - Optical connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical connector installed at an end of an optical fiber cable.

  Conventionally, in order to connect an optical fiber cable to a distributor or the like, an optical connector (also referred to as an SC connector) installed at an end of the optical fiber cable has been used (for example, see Patent Document 1). FIG. 6 shows an example of a conventional optical connector. The optical connector 1X is connected to an optical fiber cable (hereinafter referred to as a flat cable or cable 20), and roughly includes a housing 2, a ferrule 3 whose tip is polished to a spherical surface, and a boot 6X.

  FIG. 7 shows an exploded view of the optical connector 1X. The optical connector 1X includes a housing 2, a cable fixing member 5X that is fixed to the cable 20, and a boot 6X that is screwed and fixed to the cable fixing member 5X. The housing 2 and the cable fixing member 5X have a ferrule 3 and a wire fixing member 4X inside. The ferrule 3 and the strand fixing member 4X are cross-sectional views. The ferrule 3 has a front strand 9F fixed along the central axis. The strand fixing member 4X includes a through hole 11 formed by drilling along the central axis, a slit (not shown) formed in a direction parallel to the central axis, and the through hole 11 inserted into the slit. It has a wedge (not shown) for expanding and fixing.

  Next, a procedure for installing the optical connector 1X on the cable 20 will be described. First, the covering of the tip portion of the cable 20 is removed, and the core wire (diameter 250 μm) is exposed. The sheath of the core wire is further removed to expose the strand (diameter 125 μm). The cable 20 and the core wire are inserted into the boot 6X and the cable fixing member 5X. At this time, the leading end of the strand is pushed into contact with the rear end portion of the front strand 9F of the ferrule 3.

  In FIG. 8, the enlarged view of the junction part of the ferrule 3 and the strand fixing member 4X is shown. The ferrule 3 has a front strand 9F fixed in advance along the central axis. On the other hand, the strand fixing member 4X has a through hole 11 through which the inserted core wire 8 and rear strand 9R pass. As shown in FIG. 9, the inserted rear strand 9 </ b> R is pushed so that the tip portion comes into contact with the front strand 9 </ b> F (see the upper part of FIG. 9). Here, 30 indicates a gel-like refractive index matching agent filled in advance. The refractive index matching agent 30 is used to maintain good transmission of light at the contact portion between the front strand 9F and the rear strand 9R (generically referred to as strand 9). Here, the strand 9 has a diameter of 125 μm, the core 8 (see FIG. 8) has a diameter of 250 μm, and the flat cable 20 has a square shape with a cross section of 3.1 × 2 mm.

  The rear strand 9R is brought into contact with the front strand 9F at the contact portion 29, and a force is applied so as to be further bent (see the middle stage in FIG. 9). Thereafter, when the wedge (not shown) of the wire fixing member 4X is removed, the diameter of the through hole 11 is reduced and the wire 9 is fixed. Finally, it is tested that the light transmitted through the cable 20 is sufficiently transmitted to the tip of the ferrule 3.

  If the light is not sufficiently transmitted to the tip of the ferrule 3, it can be said that the contact state of the wire 9 in the contact portion 29 is poor. In this case, it is necessary to redo the installation of the optical connector 1X. With the above procedure, the installation of the optical connector 1X is completed. With the above configuration, since the strand 9 is fixed to the through hole 11, the contact state of the strand 9 in the optical connector 1X can be maintained well.

However, the optical connector 1X has several problems. 1stly, when the contact state of the strand 9 is unsatisfactory, there exists a problem that an assembly operation cannot be performed again with the same optical connector 1X. This is because the wedge described in Patent Document 1 cannot be restored once pulled out, and the optical connector cannot be reused. Therefore, the optical connector 1X is discarded when assembly fails.

  Secondly, there is a problem that the optical connector assembling work is expensive. This is because the optical connector must be discarded every time the assembly of the optical connector fails.

  Third, even if the wedge is devised so that it can be reinstalled, there is a problem that it is difficult to reuse the optical connector 1X. As shown in the lower part of FIG. 9, when the rear strand 9R is pulled out, the gel-like refractive index matching agent 30 adheres to the tip of the rear strand 9R and is removed from the inside of the strand fixing member 4X. It is because it ends up. In a state where the amount of the refractive index matching agent 30 is insufficient, even if the rear strand 9R is inserted again, a good contact state of the strand 9 cannot be realized.

JP 2010-169773 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to perform assembly work again with the same optical connector when the contact state of the strands is poor in the optical connector. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical connector that can be used. It is another object of the present invention to provide an optical connector capable of realizing the optical connector assembling work at a low cost.

An optical connector according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes: a ferrule having a front strand disposed therein; and an optical connector having a strand fixing member disposed at a rear end of the ferrule. The member is formed of a synthetic resin, and has a through hole that guides the front strand and the rear strand of the end portion from which the coating of the optical fiber cable is removed, and the through hole is formed of the front strand and the rear strand. to where the wire is in contact with abutment, has a bulging portion formed by expanding the inner diameter of the through hole, and characterized in that filled with refractive index matching agent to at least said bulging portion To do.

With this configuration, when the contact state of the strands is poor in the optical connector assembly operation, the assembly operation can be performed again with the same optical connector. This is because a sufficient amount of the refractive index matching agent remains in the bulged portion when the rear strand on the optical fiber cable side is pulled out from the bulged portion. As described above, the optical connector assembling work can be realized at a low cost. The bulging portion can be configured by a space formed in a substantially spherical shape with the contact portion as the center. In addition, the bulging portion can be formed in a substantially conical shape with the bottom surface of the bulging portion on the optical fiber cable side.

Rise out section, it can be configured to have a valve element which projects towards the rear way wire from at least a portion of the inner wall of the through hole or bulging out part inner wall of the optical fiber cable side.

  With this configuration, it is possible to increase the number of times the back strand insertion work can be performed again. This is because the refractive index matching agent having the valve element attached to the rear strand can be scraped off into the bulging portion when the rear strand is inserted again.

Optical connector, the cable fixing member installed at the rear of the unit wire fixing member, screwed from the rear to the screw groove formed on the side surfaces of the cable fixing member has a boot that installed, the cable fixing member a slit formed along the central axis of the cable fixing member has a protruding gripping portions disposed on opposite sides of the slits was placed screwed blanking over tool against cable fixing member when, bunch lifting unit, it can be configured to pinch fixing the arranged optical fiber cables between the bunch sandwiching member shortens the interval of the slits.

  With this configuration, it is possible to easily redo the rear strand insertion work. This is because the optical connector is fixed to the optical fiber cable by fastening the boot to the cable fixing member.

  According to the optical connector of the present invention, it is possible to provide an optical connector that can be reassembled with the same optical connector when the contact state of the strands is poor in the optical connector. Moreover, the optical connector which can implement | achieve an optical connector assembly operation at low cost can be provided.

It is the figure which showed the state which the optical connector of embodiment concerning this invention decomposed | disassembled. It is sectional drawing which showed the bulging part of the optical connector of embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing which showed the bulging part of the optical connector of different embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing which showed the bulging part of the optical connector of different embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline of the cable fixing member of the optical connector of embodiment which concerns on this invention. It is the figure which showed the external appearance of the conventional optical connector. It is the figure which showed the state which the conventional optical connector decomposed | disassembled. It is sectional drawing which showed the contact part of the conventional optical connector. It is sectional drawing which showed the contact part of the conventional optical connector.

  Hereinafter, an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows an exploded state of the optical connector 1. The optical connector 1 includes a housing 2, a ferrule 3 and an element fixing member 4 disposed inside the housing 2, a cable fixing member 5 that fixes the cable 20, and a boot that is screwed and fixed to the cable fixing member 5. 6. The strand fixing member 4 has a bulging portion 12 formed by bulging a part of the through hole 11. The bulging portion 12 is a substantially spherical cavity, for example, and is filled with a refractive index matching agent.

  FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view around the bulging portion 12. The front strand (125 μm) 9F fixed to the ferrule 3 is in contact with the rear strand 9R on the cable 20 side (right side in FIG. 2) at the contact portion 29. The bulging portion 12 is a space formed to have a substantially spherical shape with the contact portion 29 as a center, and is filled with a gel-like refractive index matching agent 30. In addition, L has shown the length of the bulging part 12 in the center axis direction of an optical connector. The length L of the bulging portion 12 is, for example, about 100 μm to 5 mm.

  With the above configuration, the following operational effects can be obtained. First, with the configuration in which the bulging portion 12 is formed in the through hole 11 of the strand fixing member 4, the assembly work for installing the optical connector 1 on the cable 20 can be repeated a plurality of times with the same optical connector 1. This is because a sufficient amount of the refractive index matching agent 30 remains in the bulging portion 12 when the rear strand 9R on the cable 20 side (the right side in FIG. 2) is pulled out (see the lower part of FIG. 2).

  At this time, a certain amount of the refractive index matching agent 30 adheres to the tip of the rear strand 9R, but a sufficient amount of the refractive index matching agent 30 remains in the bulging portion 12. Therefore, even when the rear strand 9R is inserted into the through hole 11 again, a good contact state between the strands 9 in the contact portion 29 can be realized. Here, the number of times that the optical connector can be reassembled is approximately 10 times. This is because the amount of the refractive index matching agent 30 in the bulging portion 12 decreases each time the optical connector is reassembled.

  In addition, as for the strand fixing member 4, it is desirable to form with a synthetic resin. This is because with this configuration, the shape, size, and the like of the bulging portion 12 can be designed and realized with high accuracy.

  In FIG. 3, the strand fixing member 4a of the optical connector of different embodiment which concerns on this invention is shown. The bulging portion 12a formed on the strand fixing member 4a is formed in a substantially conical shape with the bottom surface on the cable 20 side (right side in FIG. 3) of the bulging portion 12a.

  With this configuration, it is possible to increase the number of times that the rear strand 9R can be reinserted. This is because the refractive index matching agent 30 is filled in a large amount on the cable 20 side (the right side in FIG. 3) that tends to decrease as the insertion operation is repeated. The shape of the bulging portions 12 and 12a is not limited to the substantially spherical shape or the substantially conical shape described above, but is expanded by expanding the through-hole 11 such as a cylindrical shape, a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a triangular pyramid shape, or a quadrangular pyramid shape. Any shape can be adopted.

  In FIG. 4, the strand fixing member 4b of the optical connector of different embodiment which concerns on this invention is shown. The bulging portion 12b formed in the strand fixing member 4b is light-transmitted from the inner wall surface of the through hole 11 to at least a part of the boundary between the through hole 11 on the cable 20 side (right side in FIG. 4) and the bulging portion 12b. It has a valve body 13 extending in the direction of the central axis of the connector and on the ferrule 3 side (left side in FIG. 4). Here, it is desirable to form the valve body 13 in a shape having elasticity.

  With this configuration, it is possible to increase the number of times that the rear strand 9R can be reinserted. This is because, when the insertion operation of the rear strand 9R is performed again, the valve body 13 can scrape the refractive index matching agent 30 attached to the rear strand 9R into the bulging portion 12b.

  In addition, this valve body 13 is installed either on the inner wall surface of the through-hole 11, on the boundary between the through-hole 11 and the bulging portion 12b, or on the inner wall surface of the bulging portion 12b. Further, it is desirable that the free end side (left side in FIG. 4) of the valve body 13 is formed so as to contact the element wire 9. Furthermore, the valve body 13 is installed in at least a part of the through hole 11 in the circumferential direction, and is preferably installed all around. In addition, the valve body 13 may be installed so as to be inclined at a substantially right angle or toward the cable 20 (on the right side in FIG. 4) from the inner wall surface of the through hole 11 toward the element wire 9.

  FIG. 5 shows an outline of the cable fixing member 5 of the optical connector according to the embodiment of the present invention. The cable fixing member 5 includes a slit 15 formed along the central axis thereof, and a protruding gripping portion 14 disposed on both sides of the slit 15.

  Next, the function of the cable fixing member 5 will be described. First, the core wire 8 and the cable 20 are inserted into the cable fixing member 5. At this time, the core 8 and the cable 20 are pushed into the ferrule 3 side (left side in FIG. 5) until the strands 9 come into contact with each other. Thereafter, the boot 6 is screwed into the cable fixing member 5. By screwing the boot 6, the gripping portion 14 of the cable fixing member 5 is pushed by the boot 6 from both sides so as to reduce the interval between the slits 15, and the core wire 8 and the cable 20 are sandwiched and fixed. At this time, it is desirable that the core wire 8 and the cable 20 are configured to generate a force to be pushed into the ferrule 3 side (the left side in FIG. 5) at the same time as the sandwiching force by the grip portion 14.

  With the above configuration, the following operational effects can be obtained. First, it is possible to easily redo the insertion work of the rear strand 9R. This is because the optical connector 1 is fixed to the cable 20 by fastening the boot 6 to the cable fixing member 5. If the boot 6 is loosened, the cable 20 can be easily taken out from the optical connector 1.

  Secondly, the optical connector 1 can hold the core wire 8 and the cable 20 and can be pushed into the ferrule 3 side (left side in FIG. 5). That is, the contact state between the strands 9 in the contact portion 29 can be improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical connector 3 Ferrule 4, 4a, 4b Strand fixing member 5 Cable fixing member 6 Boot 8 Core wire 9 Strand 9F Front strand 9R Back strand 11 Through-hole 12 Swelling part 13 Valve body 14 Grasping part 15 Slit 20 Optical fiber cable (flat cable, cable)
29 Contact part 30 Refractive index matching agent

Claims (5)

In an optical connector having a ferrule in which a front strand is installed inside, and a strand fixing member installed at the rear end of the ferrule,
The strand fixing member is formed of a synthetic resin, and has a through hole that guides the rear strand of the end portion from which the coating of the front strand and the optical fiber cable is removed,
The through hole is, the place where said forward strand and the rear wire is in contact with abutment, has a bulging portion formed by expanding the inner diameter of the through hole,
An optical connector, wherein at least the bulging portion is filled with a refractive index matching agent. The optical connector according to claim 1, wherein the bulging portion is a space formed in a substantially spherical shape centering on the contact portion . The optical connector according to claim 1 , wherein the bulging portion is formed in a substantially conical shape having a bottom surface on the side of the optical fiber cable of the bulging portion . The optical connector has a cable fixing member installed behind the wire fixing member, and a boot installed by screwing into a screw groove formed on a side surface of the cable fixing member from the rear,
The cable fixing member has a slit formed along a central axis of the cable fixing member, and a protruding gripping portion disposed on both sides of the slit;
When the boot is screwed to the cable fixing member and installed, the gripping portion reduces the interval between the slits and sandwiches and fixes the optical fiber cable disposed between the gripping portions. the optical connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3 having. In an optical connector having a ferrule having a front strand installed therein and a strand fixing member installed at the rear end of the ferrule, the strand fixing member has removed the coating of the front strand and the optical fiber cable. It has a through hole that guides the rear strand of the end, and the through hole is formed so as to extend the through hole to a place where the front strand and the rear strand come into contact with each other And having a refractive index matching agent filled in at least the bulging portion,
Light connector to the bulging portion, characterized in that it has a valve body which protrudes toward the rear wire from at least a portion of the inner wall of the through hole or the bulge portion inner wall of the optical fiber cable side
Kuta .

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