JP5852535B2 - Conductive structure and fiber connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a conduction structure for electrically connecting tension members of an optical cable, and a fiber connector including the conduction structure.

  Patent Document 1 describes a connection structure of an optical fiber cable. In this connection structure, drop cables having a support line portion covering a support wire and a cable body portion covering an optical fiber core wire and a tension member are connected to each other. In particular, this connection structure connects the optical fiber core wires from which the coating has been removed with a mechanical splice, and locks the ends of the support wires in a state where the coating has been removed and is bent, and the terminal portions are connected to each other. It is crimped by a crimping sleeve.

JP 2005-195784 A

  By the way, in the connection structure described in Patent Document 1 described above, the connection between the tension members is not taken into consideration. For example, in order to protect the optical cable from damage such as a lightning strike, the tension members are electrically connected to each other. It is desirable.

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a situation, and makes it a subject to provide the conduction | electrical_connection structure which can electrically connect the tension members of an optical cable, and a fiber connector provided with the conduction | electrical_connection structure.

  In order to solve the above problems, a conductive structure according to the present invention is a conductive structure for electrically connecting tension members of an optical cable, and a conductive member electrically connected to the tension member, and a tension member A terminal member and a housing member for housing the conducting member, and a first opening is formed at one end of the housing member, and the conducting member includes a gripping part for gripping the terminal part of the tension member, and a gripping member. And an extending portion extending from the portion toward the one end portion of the housing member.

  In this conduction structure, the terminal portion of the tension member of the optical cable and the conduction member electrically connected to the tension member are accommodated in the accommodation member. In particular, in the conductive member, the gripping part grips the terminal portion of the tension member, and the extending part extends from the gripping part to one end of the housing member. An opening is formed at one end of the housing member. For this reason, another tension member to be connected (or another conducting member electrically connected to the tension member) is electrically connected to the conducting member through the opening at one end of the housing member. Can do. Thus, according to this conducting structure, the tension members of the optical cable can be electrically connected to each other via the conducting member.

  In the conduction structure according to the present invention, the terminal portion of the tension member is covered with the outer cover, and the gripping portion of the conductive member penetrates the outer cover and contacts the terminal portion of the tension member. The part can be gripped. In this case, it is not necessary to previously expose the end portions of the tension members from the outer casing, and the tension members can be easily electrically connected to each other.

  In the conduction structure according to the present invention, the housing member has a bottom wall extending from one end to the other end and a pair of side walls erected from the bottom wall, and is defined by the bottom wall and the side walls. The end portion of the tension member and the conducting member are accommodated in the region to be formed, and a second opening is formed in at least one of the bottom wall and the pair of side walls of the accommodating member. An exposed portion that extends from the existing portion and is exposed to the second opening may be further included. In this case, the tension member is electrically connected to, for example, the ground wire or another member electrically connected to the ground wire through the exposed portion of the conductive member exposed from the bottom wall and / or the opening of the side wall of the housing member. Can be connected to.

  Here, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a fiber connector according to the present invention is a fiber connector for connecting optical fibers of an optical cable to each other, which includes the above-described conduction structure, and is a housing member having a conduction structure. And an optical fiber so that the optical connector is exposed on one end side of the accommodating member of the conductive structure. The terminal portion is accommodated.

  Since this fiber connector has the above-described conduction structure, the tension members of the optical cable can be electrically connected for the reasons described above. Moreover, in this fiber connector, the fiber accommodating member that accommodates the end portion of the optical fiber is formed integrally with the accommodating member that accommodates the conducting member. In particular, in this fiber connector, the optical connector attached to the end portion of the optical fiber is exposed to one end of the housing member that houses the conducting member. For this reason, the electrical connection between the tension members via the conducting member and the optical connection between the optical fibers via the optical connector can be performed simultaneously.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the fiber connection tool provided with the conduction | electrical_connection structure which can electrically connect the tension members of an optical cable, and the conduction | electrical_connection structure can be provided.

It is a figure which shows an optical cable connection structure provided with one Embodiment of the fiber connector which concerns on this invention. It is a perspective view of the fiber connector shown in FIG. It is a perspective view of the fiber connector shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a main body member shown in FIGS. It is a figure which shows the structure of the fixing member shown by FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the conduction | electrical_connection member shown by FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the mode of the connection of a tension member and an optical fiber.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a conduction structure and a fiber connector according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. In addition, the dimensional ratio of each part in the drawing may be different from the actual one.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an optical cable connection structure including an embodiment of a fiber connector according to the present invention. An optical cable connection structure 1 shown in FIG. 1 is for connecting optical cables A including a cable body M and a support wire S that cover an optical fiber F and a tension member to each other. The tension member is, for example, a steel wire. The optical cable connection structure 1 includes a support line connector 10 for connecting the support lines S of the optical cable A to each other, and a pair of fiber connectors 20 for connecting the optical fibers F of the cable body M of the optical cable A to each other. 30.

  The fiber connector 20 and the fiber connector 30 are arranged to face each other (and in the opposite direction) and are fixed to the base member B. The support wire coupler 10 is disposed adjacent to the fiber connectors 20 and 30 so disposed and is fixed to the base member B. Here, since the fiber connector 20 and the fiber connector 30 have substantially the same configuration, the fiber connector 20 will be mainly described below. The base member B is made of a material such as polycarbonate (PC), modified polyphenylene ether (PPO) (trade name “Noryl”), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), or polyacetal (PA) reinforced with glass fiber. Is done.

  2 and 3 are perspective views of the fiber connector shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the fiber connector 20 includes a conductive member 40 electrically connected to a tension member T of the cable body M of the optical cable A, an optical fiber F and a tension of the cable body M of the optical cable A. The terminal part of the member T, the optical connector C attached to the terminal part of the optical fiber F, and the main body member 50 which accommodates the conduction member 40 are provided.

  FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the main body member shown in FIGS. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the main body member 50 includes an accommodation portion (accommodation member) 60 and an accommodation portion (fiber accommodation member) 70. The main body member 50 is made of, for example, a material such as polyacetal (PA), polyoxymethylene (POM), or polycarbonate (PC). The accommodating part 60 accommodates the terminal part of the tension member T and the conducting member 40, and the accommodating part 70 accommodates the terminal part of the optical fiber F and the optical connector C.

  The accommodating portion 60 has a long bottom wall 61 and a pair of long side walls 62 and 63 erected from the bottom wall 61. The accommodating portion 60 is formed in a long shape by the bottom wall 61 and the side walls 62 and 63 so that the cross-sectional shape thereof is substantially U-shaped. The accommodating portion 60 accommodates the terminal portion of the tension member T and the conducting member 40 in the accommodating region AR1 defined by the bottom wall 61 and the side walls 62 and 63. An opening (first opening) 64 and an opening 65 are formed in one end 60a and the other end 60b in the longitudinal direction of the housing part 60, respectively. Further, an opening (second opening) 66 is formed in the side wall 62 of the housing portion 60.

  A cylindrical engagement portion 67 is provided at one end portion 60 a of the housing portion 60. The engaging portion 67 is engaged with one end portion 60 a of the housing portion 60 in the fiber connector 30. On the other hand, a cable fixing portion 68 is provided at the other end portion 60 b of the housing portion 60. The cable main body M led out from the other end 60b of the housing portion 60 is inserted into the cable fixing portion 68 when the terminal portion of the tension member T is housed in the housing area AR1 of the housing portion 60.

  A substantially rectangular parallelepiped space S is formed inside the cable fixing portion 68, and the cable body M is inserted into the space S. In a state where the cable main body M is inserted into the space S of the cable fixing portion 68, the cable main body M can be fixed to the fiber connector 20 by inserting the fixing member 80 into the space S. As shown in FIG. 5, the fixing member 80 is a pin-shaped member having a demon 81 formed therein. Therefore, when the fixing member 80 is inserted into the space S of the cable fixing portion 68, the demon 81 bites into the jacket of the cable main body M, so that the cable main body M is securely fixed. 5A is a perspective view of the fixing member, and FIG. 5B is a bottom view of the fixing member.

  The housing part 70 is formed integrally with the housing part 60. More specifically, the housing part 70 includes a bottom wall 71 formed continuously from the bottom wall 61 of the housing part 60 and a side wall erected from the bottom wall 71 so as to face the side wall 63 of the housing part 60. 72, a side wall portion 73 erected from the bottom wall 71 so as to connect the side wall 63 and the side wall 72, and from the bottom wall 71 so as to extend from the side wall 72 toward the other end portion 60b of the accommodating portion 60. And a side wall 74 that is erected. The accommodating portion 70 accommodates the end portion of the optical fiber F in the accommodating region AR2 defined by the side wall 63, the bottom wall 71, the side wall 72, and the side wall portions 73 and 74 of the accommodating portion 60.

  That is, the accommodation area AR1 of the accommodation portion 60 that accommodates the terminal portion of the tension member T and the conducting member 40 and the accommodation area AR2 of the accommodation portion 70 that accommodates the end portion of the optical fiber F are separated from each other by the side wall 63. Yes. However, the side wall 63 does not reach the other end portion 60 b of the housing portion 60 and is not connected to the side wall portion 74. For this reason, a communication port 75 is formed between the side wall 63 and the side wall portion 74 so as to communicate the accommodation area AR1 and the accommodation area AR2.

  Therefore, the terminal portion of the optical fiber F branched from the tension member T can be introduced and accommodated in the accommodating area AR2 via the communication port 75 while accommodating the terminal portion of the tension member T in the accommodating area AR1. On the side wall 72 of the accommodating portion 70, a protrusion 76 is formed for suppressing the lifting of the end portion of the optical fiber F accommodated in the accommodating area AR2. Further, the side wall portion 74 is curved so that a space for handling the extra length of the optical fiber F can be sufficiently secured in the accommodation region AR2. The outer portion of the side wall portion 74 is rounded and chamfered in a substantially spherical shape.

  Here, in the accommodating part 70, the side wall part 73 is located on the one end part 60 a side of the accommodating part 60, and the side wall part 74 is located on the other end part 60 b side of the accommodating part 60. A holding portion 77 for holding and housing the optical connector C is provided on the side wall portion 73 on the one end 60 a side of the housing portion 60. That is, the accommodating portion 70 accommodates the end portion of the optical fiber F so that the optical connector C is exposed on the one end 60 a side of the accommodating portion 60.

  A lid member 90 is attached to the side wall portion 73. The lid member 90 is attached to the side wall portion 73 through a hinge provided at an end portion of the side wall portion 73 on the side wall 72 side so as to be opened and closed. The lid member 90 is formed so as to cover at least the accommodation area AR1 of the accommodation portion 60 in the closed state. Therefore, when the lid member 90 is closed, at least a part of the accommodation area AR2 of the accommodation part 70 may not be covered with the lid member 90, and at least a part of the terminal portion of the optical fiber F may be exposed.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the conductive member illustrated in FIG. 3. 6A is a perspective view of a conducting member, and FIG. 6B is a side view of the conducting member. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the conducting member 40 has a long flat plate shape. More specifically, the conductive member 40 includes a grip portion 41 that grips the terminal portion of the tension member T, an extension portion 42 that extends from the grip portion 41 toward the one end portion 60 a of the housing portion 60, and an extension. And an exposed portion 43 extending from the portion 42. The grip part 41, the extension part 42, and the exposed part 43 are integrally formed by a single flat plate member made of metal such as SUS.

  A plurality (four in this case) of gripping pieces 41 a for gripping the terminal portion of the tension member T are projected from the gripping portion 41. The extending part 42 extends from between the pair of gripping pieces 41 a of the gripping part 41. On the other hand, a notch 41b is provided between a pair of gripping pieces 41a opposite to the extending portion 42 of the gripping portion 41. The size of the notch 41b is set to such a size that the optical fiber F (including the jacket) branched from the tension member T can be inserted.

  Each of the gripping pieces 41a has a pair of claw portions 41b facing each other so that the gap between the gripping pieces 41a narrows toward the base end side. In this embodiment, the end portion of the tension member T is covered with the outer cover. However, by inserting the end portion of the tension member T into the gap between the nail portions 41a, the nail portion 41a penetrates the outer cover. Thus, the tension member T contacts the terminal portion of the tension member T, and the tension member T and the conductive member 40 are electrically connected. That is, the grip portion 41 grips the terminal portion of the tension member T so as to penetrate the outer casing and come into contact with the terminal portion of the tension member T.

  The extending part 42 extends from the gripping part 41 to the inside of the engaging part 67 beyond the one end part 60 a of the accommodating part 60. That is, one end portion 42 a opposite to the grip portion 41 of the extending portion 42 is located in the engaging portion 67. Here, since the one end part 42a of the extension part 42 is bent in a substantially V shape, it can be fitted to the one end part 42a of the extension part 42 in the conducting member 40 of the fiber connector 30 similarly configured. This can strengthen the connection between the conductive members 40.

  The exposed portion 43 extends from the middle in the extending direction of the extending portion 42, and protrudes from the extending portion 42 in a direction intersecting the extending direction of the extending portion 42. The exposed portion 43 is exposed from the opening 66 formed in the side wall 62 of the accommodating portion 60 when the conducting member 40 is accommodated in the accommodating area AR <b> 1 of the accommodating portion 60. For this reason, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the accommodating portion 60 is close to (or in contact with) the support wire coupler 10, the exposed portion 43 exposed from the opening 66 of the accommodating portion 60 is Contacting the support wire connector 10, the conducting member 40 (tension member T) and the support wire connector 10 (support wire S) are electrically connected to each other.

  In the fiber connector 20 configured as described above, each element is accommodated as follows. That is, first, as shown in FIG. 3, the end portion of the tension member T is held and fixed to the holding portion 41 of the conducting member 40 to be electrically connected to each other, and the optical fiber F branched from the tension member T is connected. It is routed downward through the notch 41b of the grip portion 41. In this state, the terminal portion of the tension member T and the conducting member 40 are accommodated in the accommodating area A1 of the accommodating portion 60, the terminal portion of the optical fiber F is accommodated in the accommodating area A2 of the accommodating portion 70, and the optical connector C is accommodated. It fits into the holding part 77 of the part 70.

  At this time, the cable body M is inserted into the space S of the cable fixing portion 68 of the housing portion 60 and led out from the fiber connector 20. Then, the lid member 90 is closed to cover at least the accommodation area A2 of the accommodation portion 60 with the lid member 90, and the fixing member 80 is inserted into the space S of the cable fixing portion 68 to fix the cable body M to the fiber connector 20. .

  The fiber connector 20 in a state where each element is accommodated in this manner and the fiber connector 30 configured in the same manner, as shown in FIG. 1, are opposite to each other and face each other as shown in FIG. Fits into B. When the fiber connectors 20 and 30 are fitted into the base member B, the base members B are each slid from the both end sides to the center side. At that time, the fiber connectors 20 and 30 can be easily slid and fitted into the base member B by pushing in the substantially spherical chamfered portion of the outer portion of the side wall portion 74.

  When the fiber connectors 20 and 30 are fitted into the base member B, as shown in FIG. 7, the one end portions 42a of the extending portions 42 of the conducting member 40 are brought into contact with each other, and the conducting members 40 are electrically connected. (That is, the tension members T are electrically connected). At the same time, the optical connectors C are fitted to each other, and the optical fibers F are optically connected to each other. In addition, since the one end part 42a of the extension part 42 of the conduction | electrical_connection member 40 is bent in the substantially V shape, they will mutually fit and the electrical connection of the conduction | electrical_connection members 40 is strengthened.

  In the above embodiment, the conductive member 40 and the housing portion 60 of the main body member 50 constitute an embodiment of the conductive structure according to the present invention.

  As described above, in the fiber connector 20 according to the present embodiment, the terminal portion of the tension member T of the optical cable A and the conductive member 40 electrically connected to the tension member T are accommodated in the accommodating portion 60. ing. In particular, in the conductive member 40, the gripping portion 41 grips the terminal portion of the tension member T, and the extending portion 42 extends from the gripping portion 41 to one end portion 60 a of the housing portion 60. An opening 64 is formed in one end portion 60 a of the housing portion 60.

  For this reason, the conducting member (conducting member 40 of the fiber connector 30) electrically connected to the tension member to be connected is connected to the conducting member 40 of the fiber connector 20 through the opening 64 of the one end 60a of the housing 60. Can be electrically connected. As described above, according to the fiber connector 20, the tension members T of the optical cable A can be electrically connected to each other via the conducting member 40.

  In the fiber connector 20 according to the present embodiment, the accommodating portion 70 that accommodates the terminal portion of the optical fiber F is formed integrally with the accommodating portion 60 that accommodates the conducting member 40. In particular, in the housing portion 70, the optical connector C attached to the end portion of the optical fiber F is exposed to the one end portion 60 a side of the housing portion 60 that houses the conducting member 40. For this reason, the electrical connection between the tension members T via the conducting member 40 and the optical connection between the optical fibers F via the optical connector C can be performed simultaneously.

  The above embodiment describes one embodiment of the conduction structure and the fiber connector according to the present invention. Therefore, the conduction structure and the fiber connector according to the present invention are not limited to the fiber connectors 20, 30 and the conduction structure described above, and are arbitrarily modified without departing from the spirit of each claim. can do.

  For example, in the fiber connector 20, the accommodating portion 60 that accommodates the end portion of the tension member T and the conducting member 40 and the accommodating portion 70 that accommodates the end portion of the optical fiber F are integrally formed. These may be formed separately. In that case, the electrical connection between the tension members T and the optical connection between the optical fibers F can be performed separately.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 20, 30 ... Fiber connector, 40 ... Conduction member (conduction structure), 41 ... Holding part, 42 ... Extension part, 43 ... Exposed part, 60 ... Accommodation part (accommodation member: Conduction structure), 60a ... One end part, 61 ... bottom wall, 62, 63 ... side wall, 64 ... opening (first opening), 66 ... opening (second opening), 70 ... housing part (fiber housing member), A ... optical cable, AR1 ... housing area ( Area), C ... optical connector, F ... optical fiber, T ... tension member.

Claims (3)

It is a conduction structure for electrically connecting tension members of an optical cable,
A conducting member electrically connected to the tension member;
A housing member for housing the terminal portion of the tension member and the conductive member;
A first opening is formed at one end of the housing member,
The conducting member has a gripping part that grips the terminal portion of the tension member, and an extending part that extends from the gripping part toward the one end of the housing member ,
The housing member has a bottom wall extending from the one end to the other end, and a pair of side walls erected from the bottom wall, and in a region defined by the bottom wall and the side walls. Contains the end portion of the tension member and the conducting member;
A second opening is formed on at least one of the bottom wall and the pair of side walls of the housing member,
The conductive member further includes an exposed portion that extends from the extending portion and is exposed to the second opening.
A conduction structure characterized by that. The end portion of the tension member is covered with a jacket;
The said holding part of the said conduction member hold | grips the said terminal part of the said tension member so that the said jacket may be penetrated and the said terminal part of the said tension member may be contacted. Conductive structure. A fiber connector comprising the conductive structure according to claim 1 or 2 for connecting optical fibers of an optical cable to each other,
A fiber housing member that is formed integrally with the housing member of the conductive structure and that houses a terminal portion of the optical fiber to which an optical connector is attached;
The fiber housing member houses the terminal portion of the optical fiber so that the optical connector is exposed on the one end side of the housing member of the conduction structure.
A fiber connector characterized by that.

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