JP5970156B2 - Optical connector - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical connector that accommodates an end of an optical fiber.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as a wire harness for an automobile, one provided with an optical fiber cable covered with an optical fiber is being used in order to increase the number of circuits and prevent noise.

  In a wire harness provided with such an optical fiber cable, an optical connector that accommodates the end of the optical fiber cable is used (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  As this type of optical connector, there is known an optical connector including a ferrule attached to the end of an optical fiber cable or an urging member composed of a leaf spring that urges an optical connection component toward the tip side (for example, Patent Documents). 2).

JP 2003-329891 A JP 2004-138707 A

  As described above, in the optical connector, the ferrule or the like is urged toward the front end side, which is the front side in the optical axis direction, by the leaf spring, and the connection end faces are pressed against each other to maintain a good connection state.

  By the way, when the optical fiber cable is pulled or the like, the ferrule or the like is moved in the housing to the rear end side opposite to the connection direction, so that the leaf spring is excessively deformed in the direction opposite to the biasing direction. Then, the leaf spring may be plastically deformed to reduce the urging force. In such a case, the pressing force between the connection end faces cannot be obtained sufficiently, and the required connection reliability may not be obtained.

  In the optical connector described in Patent Document 2, when the ferrule is pulled, the plate spring is provided with an excessive deflection preventing portion composed of a second straight portion that contacts the flange of the ferrule to suppress excessive deflection of the plate spring. However, since this excessive bending prevention part is also a thin plate made of a part of a leaf spring, it is easily deformed and the excessive bending prevention effect is low. In addition, in order to increase the effect of preventing excessive bending at the excessive bending prevention part, increasing the plate thickness of the leaf spring also increases the elastic force of the leaf spring, and a large connection force is required when connecting the optical connector. It affects sex.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is an optical connector with high connection reliability in which connection workability is good and a good biasing force in the connection direction is always maintained. Is to provide.

In order to achieve the above-described object, an optical connector according to the present invention is characterized by the following (1).
(1) a connection member attached to the end of the optical fiber;
A housing having a storage chamber for storing the connection member;
An urging member comprising a leaf spring for urging the connecting member toward the distal end in the housing chamber of the housing;
A spring deflection preventing protrusion formed on the rear end side of the connection member in the housing chamber of the housing and restricting movement of the connection member toward the rear end side against a biasing force by the biasing member at a predetermined position;
A lid member assembled to the opening on the lower surface of the housing chamber of the housing;
An optical connector comprising:
On the rear end side of the lid member, a locking wall is provided that protrudes toward the storage chamber in a state where the lid member is assembled to the opening.
The biasing member is held between a rear end portion of the connection member and the locking wall of the lid member,
The spring deflection preventing protrusion is disposed in a portion between the rear end of the connecting member and the locking wall of the lid member in the front-rear direction on the inner wall defining the housing chamber of the housing .

In the optical connector having the configuration (1), for example, even if the optical fiber is pulled and the connecting member moves to the rear end side against the urging force of the urging member, the spring deflection preventing protrusion formed on the housing Therefore, the movement of the connecting member toward the rear end side is restricted at a predetermined position. Therefore, it is possible to prevent plastic deformation due to excessive deformation of the urging member due to the movement of the connecting member toward the rear end side, thereby maintaining a good urging force of the urging member at all times and improving the connection reliability for a long time. Can be maintained over time.
Also, compared to the case where the urging member itself is provided with a deflection preventing portion, the elastic force is increased in order to obtain an excessive deflection preventing effect, and there is no defect that affects the connection workability, so that a good connection work is achieved. The position of the connecting member can be regulated with high accuracy by suppressing the accumulation of tolerances.
Further, the lid member can have a function of holding the rear end of the urging member.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an optical connector with good connection workability and high connection reliability in which a good biasing force in the connection direction is always maintained.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through the modes for carrying out the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a perspective view of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a disassembled perspective view explaining the structure of an optical connector. It is sectional drawing of the state which removed the cover member explaining the structure of an optical connector. It is the top view seen from the lower surface side in the state which removed the cover member explaining the structure of an optical connector. It is AA sectional drawing in FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the method of mounting | wearing with the ferrule to the housing of an optical connector. It is the top view seen from the lower surface side in the state which removed the cover member explaining the movement of the ferrule and leaf | plate spring of an optical connector.

  Hereinafter, an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the structure of the optical connector, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a state in which a lid member illustrating the structure of the optical connector is removed. 4 is a plan view of the optical connector viewed from the bottom side with the lid member removed, FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a view of attaching the ferrule to the optical connector housing. FIG. 7 is a plan view seen from the lower surface side in a state where a cover member for explaining the movement of the ferrule and leaf spring of the optical connector is removed.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the optical connector 11 includes a housing 12, a pair of ferrules (connection members) 13, a leaf spring (biasing member) 14, and a lid member 15. The signal light is transmitted by being fitted to an electronic device or other optical connector mounted on the other side.

  The housing 12 is molded from a synthetic resin such as plastic and has a pair of through holes 21. These through-holes 21 are penetrated from the accommodation chamber 23 formed in the middle part of the housing 12 to the front end, and the ferrule 13 is inserted into these through-holes 21 from the accommodation chamber 23 side.

  An opening 22 of the storage chamber 23 is formed on the lower surface of the housing 12, and the leaf spring 14 and the lid member 15 are attached to the storage chamber 23 from the opening 22.

  The ferrule 13 inserted into the through hole 21 of the housing 12 is made of a metal such as brass, and has a cylindrical portion 32 having a small diameter portion 31 formed on the tip side, as shown in FIGS. Yes. The cylindrical portion 32 is formed with a first flange 33 and a second flange 34 having substantially the same outer diameter at an intermediate portion and a rear end portion in the longitudinal direction.

  The cylindrical portion 32 of the ferrule 13 has a holding cylindrical portion 32a between the first flange 33 and the second flange 34, and has a centering cylindrical portion 32b on the tip side of the first flange 33, and the holding cylindrical portion 32a. Is formed with a smaller diameter than the aligning cylindrical portion 32b. The aligning cylindrical portion 32b can be inserted into the through hole 21 of the housing 12 from the housing chamber 23 side, and the first flange 33 is held in a state where the aligning cylindrical portion 32b is inserted into the through hole 21. The cylindrical portion 32 a and the second flange 34 are accommodated in the accommodation chamber 23. The through hole 21 is formed to have a smaller diameter than the first flange 33, whereby the ferrule 13 inserted into the through hole 21 is engaged with the edge of the through hole 21, and the front side of the ferrule 13 is inserted. Movement to the front side in a certain insertion direction is restricted.

  An optical fiber insertion hole (not shown) is formed at the center of the ferrule 13. An optical fiber cable 41 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole from the rear end side of the ferrule 13 and connected thereto. ing.

  The optical fiber cable 41 connected to the ferrule 13 is formed by covering the periphery of an optical fiber made of a light guide material with a jacket made of a synthetic resin. The optical fibers are formed so as to have different refractive indexes and are mutually connected. For example, a multimode plastic optical fiber having a core and a clad arranged coaxially.

  The optical fiber cable 41 is inserted from the rear end side of the ferrule 13, and the end face of the optical fiber is exposed at the front end of the ferrule 13.

  The optical fiber cable 41 is drawn from the end of the optical cable 42. The optical cable 42 is obtained by covering a bundled optical fiber cable 41 with a jacket 43, and a boot 44 is provided at an end thereof. The boot 44 restricts bending at the end of the optical cable 42 and prevents damage to the optical fiber in the optical fiber cable 41 due to bending. A caulking sleeve 45 having a fixed plate portion 45 a is provided at the end of the boot 44, and the optical fiber cable 41 is drawn from the caulking sleeve 45. The crimping sleeve 45 is provided with a crimping ring 46, and the jacket 43 and the boot 44 of the optical cable 42 are fixed to the crimping sleeve 45 by the crimping ring 46.

  The caulking sleeve 45 has a fixing plate portion 45 a fitted into the housing chamber 23 from the opening 22 of the housing 12, whereby the boot 44 fixed to the caulking sleeve 45 and the outer sheath 43 of the optical cable 42. The end is fixed to the rear end of the housing 12.

  The leaf spring 14 assembled from the opening 22 of the housing 12 to the accommodation chamber 23 is formed of spring steel. The leaf spring 14 has a support portion 51, and a pair of biasing portions 52 are connected to the support portion 51. The biasing portion 52 is bent a plurality of times, and the tip thereof is a biasing piece portion 53. Concave portions 51 a and 52 a are formed in the support portion 51 and the respective urging portions 52, and the optical fiber cable 41 is passed through the concave portions 51 a and 52 a.

  The leaf spring 14 formed in this way has an opening with the recesses 51a and 52a facing the housing chamber 23 of the housing 12 to which the ferrule 13 is mounted, with the urging piece 53 disposed on the distal end side. 22 is assembled.

  The lid member 15 assembled to the opening 22 of the housing 12 is molded from a synthetic resin such as plastic. The lid member 15 has a pressing plate portion 61, and locking walls 62a and 62b extending to one surface side are formed on the pressing plate portion 61 at one side portion. The locking wall 62a at the center and the locking walls 62b on both sides are disposed with a space slightly larger than the outer diameter of the optical fiber cable 41, and between the locking walls 62a and 62b. The optical fiber cable 41 is passed. The locking walls 62b on both sides are formed with locking claws 65 protruding outward at the tip portions.

  Further, a projection 66 is formed on the front side of the central locking wall 62a, and the support 51 of the leaf spring 14 is inserted into a gap 69 formed between the locking wall 62a and the projection 66. Thus, the leaf spring 14 is held by the lid member 15.

  Further, the holding plate portion 61 is formed with a pair of arc-shaped holding recesses 68 on the front side, and these holding recesses 68 are arranged between the first flange 33 and the second flange 34 of the ferrule 13. The holding cylindrical portion 32a between the first flange 33 and the second flange 34 is held.

  The lid member 15 formed in this manner is engaged with the housing chamber 23 of the housing 12 in which the ferrule 13 is mounted and the leaf spring 14 is assembled, and the fixing plate portion 45a of the crimping sleeve 45 is fitted. The locking walls 62a, 62b and the like are assembled toward the opening 22 in a state where the walls 62a, 62b are arranged on the rear end side. As described above, by attaching the lid member 15 to the opening 22 of the housing 12, the locking walls 62 a and 62 b are disposed on the rear side of the leaf spring 14. As a result, the leaf spring 14 is held between the rear end portion of the ferrule 13 and the locking walls 62a and 62b, so that the ferrule 13 is urged to the front end side by the urging force of the leaf spring 14. Become. Further, the holding recess 68 of the lid member 15 is disposed between the first flange 33 and the second flange 34 of the ferrule 13, and thus the ferrule 13 is held by the holding recess 68 so as to be movable in the axial direction.

  Further, the housing 12 is formed with locking holes 67 in both side walls 71 forming the storage chamber 23, and the locking claws 65 of the locking walls 62b on both sides lock the locking holes 67. A lid member 15 is fixed to the housing 12.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, spring deflection preventing projections 72 are formed in the housing 12 on the inner surface side of both side walls 71 of the storage chamber 23. These spring deflection preventing projections 72 are disposed between the rear end of the ferrule 13 and the locking walls 62 a and 62 b of the lid member 15.

  These spring deflection preventing protrusions 72 are formed from the bottom 23 a of the storage chamber 23 to a position closer to the bottom 23 a than the opening 22 of the storage chamber 23, and are not formed near the edge of the opening 22. As a result, the spring deflection preventing protrusion 72 is formed on the inner surface of the accommodation chamber 23 excluding the accommodation path of the ferrule 13 to the accommodation chamber 23. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, when the ferrule 13 is inserted from the opening 22 of the accommodation chamber 23 and inserted into the through hole 21 and accommodated in the housing 12, the ferrule 13 interferes with the spring deflection preventing projection 72. Problems that interfere with the installation are prevented.

  These spring deflection preventing projections 72 are arranged on the movement path of the ferrule 13, whereby the ferrule 13 is moved rearward against the urging force of the leaf spring 14 as shown in FIG. 7. At this time, the rear end of the ferrule 13 abuts against the spring deflection preventing projection 72. Accordingly, the ferrule 13 is restricted from moving backward relative to the contact position with the spring deflection preventing protrusion 72.

  The optical connector 11 having the above structure is connected to an electronic device, a counterpart optical connector, or the like. As a result, the end face of the ferrule 13 is abutted against the end face of the counterpart ferrule, and transmission of predetermined signal light becomes possible.

  At this time, in the optical connector 11, each ferrule 13 is urged toward the distal end side by the leaf spring 14, so that it is pressed against the end face of the counterpart ferrule or the like with an appropriate pressing force, and a good connection state Is maintained.

  Here, when the optical fiber cable 41 is pulled for some reason, the ferrule 13 is moved to the rear end side opposite to the connection direction against the urging force of the leaf spring 14. When the movement of the ferrule 13 toward the rear end side is large, as shown in FIG. 7, the ferrule 13 abuts against a spring deflection preventing protrusion 72 formed on the housing 12, thereby Movement to the end side is restricted at a predetermined position.

  Accordingly, by setting the predetermined position for restricting the movement of the ferrule 13 to the rear end side as a position where the leaf spring 14 is not deformed excessively and the urging force does not decrease, the ferrule 13 is moved to the rear end side. Even if the leaf spring 14 is deformed by the movement, a good biasing force by the leaf spring 14 is maintained even after that.

  As described above, in the optical connector 11, when the ferrule 13 moves to the rear end side, first, the urging force of the leaf spring 14 suppresses the movement of the ferrule 13, and further, the spring deflection preventing projection 72 of the housing 12 is regulated. To do. That is, the optical connector 11 is configured to be double-locked by the leaf spring 14 and the spring deflection preventing projection 72 with respect to the movement toward the rear end side of the ferrule 13.

  As described above, according to the optical connector 11 according to the present embodiment, for example, even if the optical fiber 41 is pulled and the ferrule 13 is moved to the rear end side against the urging force of the leaf spring 14. The ferrule 13 abuts against the spring deflection preventing projection 72 formed on the rigid housing 12 made of synthetic resin, and movement of the ferrule 13 toward the rear end side is restricted at a predetermined position. Thereby, the plastic deformation by the excessive deformation | transformation of the leaf | plate spring 14 by the movement to the rear end side of the ferrule 13 can be prevented. Accordingly, it is possible to always maintain a good urging force of the leaf spring 14 and maintain connection reliability over a long period of time.

  In addition, the elastic force of the plate spring 14 is increased by increasing the plate thickness and obtaining the effect of preventing excessive bending, compared with the case where the plate spring 14 itself is provided with a bending prevention portion, which affects the connection workability. Therefore, good connection workability can be ensured without any trouble, and the position of the ferrule 13 can be regulated with high accuracy by suppressing the accumulation of tolerances.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimension, numerical value, form, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and are not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

11 Optical connector 12 Housing 13 Ferrule (connection member)
14 Leaf spring (biasing member)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 Cover member 21 Through-hole 22 Opening part 23 Accommodating chamber 33 1st flange 34 2nd flange 41 Optical fiber cable 42 Optical cable 43 Outer casing 44 Boot 45 Clamping sleeve 46 Clamping ring 51 Support part 52 Biasing part 53 Biasing piece Part 61 Presser plate part 62a, 62b Locking wall 65 Locking claw 66 Projecting part 68 Holding recess 67 Locking hole 71 Both side walls 72 Spring deflection preventing projection

Claims (1)

A connection member attached to the end of the optical fiber;
A housing having a storage chamber for storing the connection member;
An urging member comprising a leaf spring for urging the connecting member toward the distal end in the housing chamber of the housing;
A spring deflection preventing protrusion formed on the rear end side of the connection member in the housing chamber of the housing and restricting movement of the connection member toward the rear end side against a biasing force by the biasing member at a predetermined position;
A lid member assembled to the opening on the lower surface of the housing chamber of the housing;
An optical connector comprising:
On the rear end side of the lid member, a locking wall is provided that protrudes toward the storage chamber in a state where the lid member is assembled to the opening.
The biasing member is held between a rear end portion of the connection member and the locking wall of the lid member,
The spring deflection preventing protrusion is disposed at a portion between the rear end of the connecting member and the locking wall of the lid member in the front-rear direction on the inner wall defining the housing chamber of the housing. And optical connector.

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