JP6015235B2 - Photoelectric composite cable, optical connector cover and connection method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a photoelectric composite cable, a cover for an optical connector, and a connection method.

  The thing of patent document 1 is known as an optical connector holder | retainer hold | maintained in the state which faced | matched the optical connector which connects an optical cable. Patent Document 1 discloses an optical connector holder including a box-shaped holder main body having an accommodation space in which an optical connector is just accommodated, and a slide cover for covering the holder main body. In this optical connector holder, the holder body is covered by shifting the slide cover in the connecting direction of the optical cable.

JP-A-2005-227330

  Incidentally, in recent years, for example, an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) cable is known as a communication cable for high-speed transmission of digital data such as video and audio. As such an HDMI cable, an optical / electrical composite cable including an optical cable that transmits a high-speed signal such as video data and audio data and an electric wire that transmits a low-speed signal such as a control signal of a device is used. Yes.

  It is conceivable to apply the optical connector holder of Patent Document 1 to a photoelectric composite cable. However, since the optical cable extends in a dense state in addition to the optical cable from the optical / electrical composite cable, it is not easy to cover the holder body by shifting the slide cover in the connecting direction while avoiding multiple optical cables and electrical cables. It is not realistic.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical connector cover that can be easily attached, an optoelectric composite cable using the cover, and a connection method.

The photoelectric composite cable of the present invention capable of solving the above problems is
A pair of optical cables;
A pair of electrical cables;
A pair of optical connectors for optically connecting the pair of optical cables to each other;
A pair of electrical connectors for electrically connecting the pair of electrical cables to each other;
An elastically deformable cover that maintains the connection state of the pair of optical connectors;
A housing that houses the optical connector and the electrical connector;
The cover has an accommodating space for accommodating a pair of connected optical connectors,
The housing space is provided with an opening that opens in a direction that intersects the connection direction of the pair of optical connectors,
The opening is provided with a protrusion for preventing the optical connector housed in the housing space from being escaped,
The cover has a slit formed in a portion facing the connecting direction of the optical connector housed in the housing space among the side walls forming the housing space,
The pair of connected optical connectors are housed inside the housing space from the protrusions, and are sandwiched in a direction along the connection direction and a direction intersecting the connection direction by the elastic restoring force of the cover. It is held in the accommodation space.

In the photoelectric composite cable of the present invention,
The electrical connector may be mounted in a space formed by the opening and one surface of the optical connector in the accommodating space in which the pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated.

The optical connector cover of the present invention that can solve the above-mentioned problems is
An elastically deformable cover for maintaining a pair of optical connectors of a photoelectric composite cable in a connected state,
The cover has an accommodating space for accommodating a pair of connected optical connectors,
The housing space is provided with an opening that opens in a direction that intersects the connection direction of the pair of optical connectors,
The opening is provided with a protrusion for preventing the optical connector housed in the housing space from being escaped,
The cover has a slit formed in a portion facing the connecting direction of the optical connector housed in the housing space among the side walls forming the housing space,
The pair of connected optical connectors are housed inside the housing space from the protrusions, and are sandwiched in a direction along the connection direction and a direction intersecting the connection direction by the elastic restoring force of the cover. It is characterized by being held in the accommodation space.

In the optical connector cover of the present invention,
Of the accommodation space in which the pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated, a space is formed between the opening and one surface of the optical connector,
The pair of electrical connectors of the photoelectric composite cable may be mountable in the space.

In the optical connector cover of the present invention,
The cover may have a horizontal slit extending in a direction crossing the connection direction.

In the optical connector cover of the present invention,
The cover has a bottom wall facing the opening,
The bottom wall may be provided with a vertical slit extending in a direction along the connection direction.

In the optical connector cover of the present invention,
An optical cable extending from the optical connector may extend to the outside from the vertical slit.

In the optical connector cover of the present invention,
The cover may be formed by integral molding of resin.

The connection method of the present invention that can solve the above-mentioned problems is as follows.
By connecting a pair of optical connectors of a photoelectric composite cable and attaching a cover, a connection method for holding the connected optical connectors in a connected state,
The cover includes an accommodation space in which a pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated, an opening in which one surface of the accommodation space is opened, and an escape of the optical connector provided in the opening and accommodated in the accommodation space. And a slit formed in a portion facing the connecting direction of the optical connector housed in the housing space of the side wall forming the housing space.
By elastically deforming the cover in the direction of expanding the width of the slit, the opening is expanded,
From the expanded opening, insert a pair of connected optical connectors into the accommodation space in a direction intersecting the connection direction,
The elastic deformation of the cover is returned, the optical connector is accommodated inside the accommodating space from the protrusion, and the pair of connected optical connectors are moved in the direction along the connection direction by the elastic restoring force of the cover and It is hold | maintained in the said accommodation space on both sides in the direction which cross | intersects the said connection direction.

In the connection method of the present invention,
By connecting the optical connector with the above connection method,
Of the accommodation space in which the pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated, a space is formed between the opening and one surface of the optical connector,
A pair of electrical connectors of the photoelectric composite cable may be connected to each other, and the pair of connected electrical connectors may be mounted in the space.

  According to the cover for optical connectors, the photoelectric composite cable, and the connection method of the present invention, the optical connection of the optical cable can be stably maintained with a simple configuration.

It is the schematic which shows the photoelectric composite cable which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a sectional side view which expands and shows the connector part of FIG. It is a perspective view of the cover concerning the embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows a mode that the cover of FIG. 3 was attached to the optical connector.

  Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of an optoelectric composite cable according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an optical / electrical composite cable according to an embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the photoelectric composite cable 2 according to the present embodiment is used for connecting a pair of external devices 1a and 1b. Device-side photoelectric composite cables 2a and 2b are extended from the pair of external devices 1a and 1b, respectively. The device-side optoelectric composite cables 2a and 2b are connected to the connecting optoelectric composite cable 2c via the connector portions 3a and 3b provided at the respective connection ends. In addition, the photoelectric conversion part may be provided in the apparatus side photoelectric composite cables 2a and 2b. In that case, it becomes possible to connect the external devices 1a and 1b only with the electrical connector.

  The optical / electrical composite cable 2 referred to in the present invention includes a connection-side optical / electrical composite cable 2c, at least one device-side optical / electrical composite cable 2a, 2b, and at least one corresponding connector portion 3a, 3b. Point to.

  Such a photoelectric composite cable 2 is used as a cable for connecting, for example, a large display installed in a commercial station or the like and a server that transmits information to be displayed on the large display. In such applications, the distance between the large display and the server is relatively long. For this reason, the connecting optical / electrical composite cable 2c is prepared separately from the external devices 1a and 1b, and only the connecting optical / electrical composite cable 2c is laid along the wiring path. When the external devices 1a and 1b are connected to both connection ends via the device-side photoelectric composite cables 2a and 2b, wiring work is easy.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged side sectional view showing one connector portion 3a. Since the connector part 3b has the same configuration as the connector part 3a, the description thereof is omitted. As shown in the figure, the optical / electrical composite cable 2 includes an optical cable 5 in which a plurality of optical fiber cores are bundled and a plurality of electrical cables 6, and the optical cable 5 and the electrical cable 6 are collectively made of a resin-made external cable. Covered and protected by the cover 4.

  The connector portion 3a includes a housing 9 for protecting the inside. An outer cover 4 that covers the optical cable 5 and the electric cable 6 is attached to the housing 9 in an airtight manner. Inside the connector portion 3a, optical connectors 7a and 7b provided at the connection side end portion of the optical cable 5 and electrical connectors 8a and 8b provided at the connection side end portion of the electric cable 6 are accommodated.

  As the electrical connectors 8a and 8b, those having a known structure can be adopted. For example, a male terminal is provided as an electrical connector 8a at the connection side end of one electrical cable 6, and a female terminal is provided as an electrical connector 8b at the connection side end of the other electrical cable 6. The electrical connection of the plurality of sets of electric cables 6 and 6 can be maintained by the fitting.

  The optical cable 5 is attached to the optical connectors 7a and 7b in a state where the end face of the optical fiber core wire is exposed on the end face on the connection side. The pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b are aligned using guide pins or the like so that the optical fiber cores face each other. In this state where the optical fiber cores are aligned with each other, the connection side end faces of the optical connectors 7a and 7b are abutted to each other, so that the optical cable 5 of the device side photoelectric composite cable 2a and the connection side photoelectric composite cable are connected. The 2c optical cable 5 is optically connected. At this time, the optical connection cannot be stably maintained unless an external force that causes the end faces of the pair of optical fibers that are optically connected to abut each other is continuously applied.

  Therefore, in the optical / electrical composite cable 2 according to the present embodiment, the connection side end surfaces of the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b are pressed against each other by the elastic restoring force of the elastically deformable cover 10, and the optical connection of the optical cable 5 is maintained. ing. 3 and 4 are enlarged perspective views of the cover 10. FIG. 3 shows only the cover 10, and FIG. 4 shows the cover 10 attached to the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the cover 10 is formed of a box-side elastic member. As the elastic member, urethane rubber having an appropriate elasticity can be used.

  Inside the cover 10, an accommodation space S is formed in which the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b described above are connected. An opening 11 is formed on the upper surface of the cover 10, and the accommodation space S opens upward via the opening 11. Here, based on the posture shown in FIG. 3, the opening 11 side is referred to as the upper side, the opposite side is referred to as the lower side, the connection direction C described later is referred to as the vertical direction, and the direction intersecting the connection direction C is referred to as the horizontal direction. However, the posture when the cover 10 is used is not limited to this.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the length L1 in the connection direction C (in the direction of arrow C in FIG. 4) of the accommodation space S in a state where no external force acts on the cover 10 is a pair of light in the optically connected state shown in FIG. It is set to be slightly smaller than the length L2 in the connection direction C of the connectors 7a and 7b. Further, the width W1 in the direction orthogonal to the connection direction C of the accommodation space S shown in FIG. 3 in the state where no external force is applied to the cover 10 is a pair of optical connectors 7a, a pair of optical connectors 7a in the optically connected state shown in FIG. It is set slightly smaller than the width W2 in the direction orthogonal to the connection direction C of 7b. Accordingly, the optical connectors 7a and 7b are accommodated in the accommodation space S in a state where the cover 10 is slightly expanded in the connection direction C and the direction orthogonal to the connection direction C.

  The cover 10 includes a bottom wall 12 that faces the opening 11, and a first side wall 13 and a second side wall 14 that rise from the bottom wall 12 and surround the accommodation space S from the side. The first side wall 13 is a pair of side walls facing each other in the connection direction C of the optical cable 5. The second side wall 14 is a pair of side walls that extend along the connection direction C and face each other in a direction intersecting the connection direction C (a direction orthogonal in the illustrated example).

  The bottom wall 12 is provided with a vertical slit 15 extending in the connection direction C at a position close to the second side wall 14 and a horizontal slit 16 extending in a direction intersecting with the connection direction C at a position close to the first side wall 13. It has been. The first side wall 13 is provided with a slit 17 that opens upward and extends downward. As shown in FIG. 4, the optical cable 5 extending from the optical connectors 7a and 7b is extended from the slit 17 to the outside.

  In addition, a pair of protrusions 18 that protrude in a direction intersecting the connection direction C are provided on the opening 11 side (upper side) of the second side wall 14 so as to face each other. As shown in FIG. 4, when the optical connectors 7a and 7b are accommodated in the accommodating space S, the protrusion 18 protrudes so as to cover a part of the upper surface of the optical connectors 7a and 7b. Thus, the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b accommodated in the accommodation space S is prevented from escaping from the opening 11 to the outside.

  As described above, according to the cover 10 according to the present embodiment, the optical connectors 7a and 7b are sandwiched between the inner walls of the cover 10 in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction by the elastic restoring force acting on the cover 10, respectively. In particular, since the optical connectors 7a and 7b are pressed in the connection direction C, the optical connection of the pair of optical cables 5 and 5 can be stably maintained with a simple configuration. Further, the protrusions 18 prevent the optical connectors 7a and 7b from escaping from the housing space S to the outside.

  Also, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, among the accommodation space S in which the pair of connected optical connectors 7a and 7b are accommodated, a space E formed by the opening 11 and the upper surfaces of the optical connectors 7a and 7b. In addition, electrical connectors 8a and 8b are mounted. Thereby, the walls 13 and 14 and the protrusions 18 forming the opening 11 of the cover 10 prevent the electric connectors 8a and 8b from moving, and the electric connectors 8a and 8b are stably mounted on the cover 10. Further, since the electrical connectors 8a and 8b can be disposed so as to contact the optical connectors 7a and 7b, the vertical dimension of the housing 9 can be reduced by the thickness of the cover 10.

  Although not shown, a space E in which the electrical connectors 8a and 8b are mounted may be provided in the lower part of the cover 10. The electrical connectors 8a and 8b can be attached to the cover 10 so that the electrical connectors 8a and 8b are in contact with the upper and lower sides of the optical connectors 7a and 7b. Thereby, the optical connectors 7a and 7b and the electrical connectors 8a and 8b can be accommodated in a small space in an orderly manner.

  Next, a method for connecting the optical connectors 7a and 7b as described above will be described. In order to connect the device side photoelectric composite cable 2a and the connection side photoelectric composite cable 2c, the optical cables 5 and 5 are optically connected by abutting and fixing the optical connectors 7a and 7b. In addition, each electrical cable 6 and 6 is electrically connected by connecting and fixing each electrical connector 8a and 8b. Since the electrical connectors 8a and 8b are known as described above, the description of the method for connecting the electrical connectors 8a and 8b is omitted. Further, the method for connecting the device side photoelectric composite cable 2b and the connection side photoelectric composite cable 2c is the same as the method for connecting the device side photoelectric composite cable 2a and the connection side photoelectric composite cable 2c.

The optical cables 5 and 5 are maintained in an optical connection by attaching the optical connectors 7a and 7b to the cover 10 as described in detail below. First, the cover 10 is elastically deformed so that the second side wall 14 is opened outward with a finger, for example, as indicated by an arrow A, and the slit 17 is expanded in the width direction, that is, the opening 11 is expanded in the lateral direction.
At this time, since the vertical slit 15 extending in the connection direction C is provided, the cover 10 is easily deformed, and the opening 11 can be greatly expanded in the horizontal direction. Further, the lateral slit 16 facilitates bending in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3, and the cover 10 is easily elastically deformed so that the first side wall 13 extends in the vertical direction. Thereby, the opening part 11 is extended also in the vertical direction, and it is easy to insert the optical connectors 7a and 7b into the accommodation space S.

  Next, with the cover 10 maintained in an elastically deformed state, the connection end portions of the optical connectors 7a and 7b are abutted to each other and the optical cables 5 and 5 are optically connected to each other. The optical connectors 7a and 7b are inserted into the accommodation space S in a direction crossing the connection direction C. At this time, the optical cable 5 extending from the optical connectors 7a and 7b is arranged to extend from the slit 17 to the outside.

  When the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b are arranged in the accommodating space S, the external force applied to the cover 10 is released by, for example, releasing the finger holding the second side wall 14, and the cover 10 is elastically deformed. The restoring force to restore from is applied. Then, since the connection direction length L1 of the accommodation space S is shorter than the connection direction length L2 of the accommodated pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b, the pair of first side walls 13 are in the direction along the connection direction C. Slightly spread. Then, the pair of first side walls 13 press the optical connectors 7a and 7b so that the connection end faces of the optical connectors 7a and 7b are brought into contact with each other by the force of returning from the elastic deformation of the cover 10. That is, in the connection direction C, the restoring force generated by the elastic deformation of the cover 10 acts to press the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b in the connection direction C.

  Further, since the width W1 of the accommodating space S is shorter than the width W2 of the optical connectors 7a and 7b accommodated, the pair of second side walls 14 in the state where the optical connectors 7a and 7b are accommodated in the accommodating space S Slightly spreads in the direction perpendicular to the connection direction C. Therefore, due to the restoring force generated in the cover 10, the pair of second side walls 14 presses the side surfaces (surfaces intersecting the connection end surfaces) of the optical connectors 7a and 7b from the lateral direction, and the optical connectors 7a and 7b are accommodated in the accommodation space S. Hold in. That is, in a direction intersecting with the connection direction C, the pair of optical fibers is held in the accommodation space S by the restoring force generated by the elastic deformation of the cover 10.

  Furthermore, by returning the cover 10 to its original shape, the protrusion 18 protrudes laterally on the upper surfaces of the optical connectors 7a and 7b, thereby preventing the optical connectors 7a and 7b from escaping from the housing space S to the outside.

  Thus, according to the connection method of the photoelectric composite cable 2 according to the present embodiment, the cover 10 is elastically deformed so as to expand the opening 11, and the optical connectors 7a and 7b are inserted into the housing space S and then elastically deformed. The cover 10 can be attached to the optical connectors 7a and 7b by a simple operation of restoring the pressure and applying a restoring force. At this time, by expanding the width of the slit 17 provided in the cover 10, the cover 10 can be easily elastically deformed so as to expand the opening 11 in the lateral direction. Accordingly, the optical connectors 7a and 7b can be reliably optically connected to each other even in a narrow space where the optical connectors 7a and 7b and the electrical connectors 8a and 8b are disposed inside the housing 9. The state can be maintained well.

  At this time, since the connection direction length L1 of the accommodating space S is shorter than the connection direction length L2 of the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b, the connection end surfaces of the pair of optical connectors 7a and 7b are connected to each other by the restoring force of the cover 10. You can push them together. Thereby, the optical connection of a pair of optical cable 5 can be maintained stably by simple operation.

  Furthermore, the projections 18 projecting from the upper surfaces of the optical connectors 7a and 7b accommodated in the accommodation space S prevent the optical connectors 7a and 7b from escaping outside through the opening 11. Thereby, the optical connection between the optical connectors 7a and 7b is more reliably maintained.

In addition, when assembling the metal spring in the optical connector holder as in Patent Document 1 to match the optical connectors with each other, the optical connector holder and the metal spring are small parts. bad. Moreover, since a dedicated jig is required when attaching the metal spring, the assembly cost increases. Furthermore, there is a risk of damaging the optical fiber when the metal spring is attached.
However, according to the connection method of the optical connector according to the present embodiment, since the entire cover 10 is formed of an elastic body, there is no work of attaching a metal spring or the like, and no dedicated jig is required during assembly. Good sex. Further, there is no possibility that the cover 10 damages the optical fiber in the optical cable 5.

  Even when the bottom wall 12 is formed thick, the rigidity of the bottom wall 12 is reduced by providing the vertical slit 15 and the horizontal slit 16 in the bottom wall 12, and the opening 11 is formed in the horizontal direction or It is easy to expand in the vertical direction.

  Since the slit 17 is open to the opening 11 side, when the optical cable 5 is extended to the outside through the slit 17 when the optical connectors 7a and 7b are inserted into the accommodation space S, the slit 17 is easily inserted. be able to.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, the cover 10 is provided with a lateral slit 16 that extends in a direction intersecting the connection direction C. Accordingly, when the optical connectors 7a and 7b are pushed into the accommodation space S, the cover 10 is easily bent in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 3, and the optical connectors 7a and 7b are easily pushed. The lateral slit 16 may be provided on the bottom wall 12 as illustrated, or may be provided on the second side wall 14.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, after the cover 10 is attached to the optical connectors 7a and 7b as described above, a space that is not occupied by the optical connectors 7a and 7b in the housing space S is a part of the electrical connectors 8a and 8b. It is used as a space E that accommodates Thereby, the optical connectors 7a and 7b and the electrical connectors 8a and 8b can be arranged in a narrow space like the inside of the housing 9.

  The optical connector cover, the optical connector connection method, and the optoelectric composite cable according to the present invention have been described with reference to the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and appropriate modifications and improvements can be made. Etc. are possible.

  For example, the shapes of the cover 10 and the optical connectors 7a and 7b are not limited to the shapes described above, and may be changed as appropriate. In the embodiment described above, the device side photoelectric composite cables 2a and 2b and the connection photoelectric composite cable 2c have been described by taking as an example a structure in which one optical cable 5 is provided. The composite cables 2a and 2b and the connecting optical / electrical composite cable 2c may each include a plurality of optical cables 5.

  Further, an electric connector receiving portion that is formed in a shape along the shape of the electric connectors 8a and 8b and on which the electric connectors 8a and 8b can be mounted may be provided on the side surface of the cover 10. As a result, when the optical connectors 7a and 7b and many electrical connectors 8a and 8b are accommodated in the housing 9, the optical connectors 7a and 7b and the electrical connectors 8a and 8b can be handled in an integrated manner. Can be improved. Further, the shape of the opening 11 is made to correspond to the electrical connectors 8a and 8b, and the electrical connectors 8a and 8b are mounted on the step formed by the upper surface of the optical connectors 7a and 7b and the opening 11. May be.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1a, 1b: External apparatus, 2: Photoelectric composite cable, 2a, 2b: Apparatus side photoelectric composite cable, 2c: Photoelectric composite cable for connection, 3a, 3b: Connector part, 4: Outer jacket, 5: Optical cable, 6: electrical cable, 7a, 7b: optical connector, 8a, 8b: electrical connector, 9: housing, 10: cover, S: housing space, 11: opening, 12: bottom wall, 13: first side wall, 14 : Second side wall, 15: vertical slit, 16: horizontal slit, 17: slit, 18: protrusion

Claims (10)

A pair of optical cables;
A pair of electrical cables;
A pair of optical connectors for optically connecting the pair of optical cables to each other;
A pair of electrical connectors for electrically connecting the pair of electrical cables to each other;
An elastically deformable cover that maintains the connection state of the pair of optical connectors;
A housing that houses the optical connector and the electrical connector;
The cover has an accommodating space for accommodating a pair of connected optical connectors,
The housing space is provided with an opening that opens in a direction that intersects the connection direction of the pair of optical connectors,
The opening is provided with a protrusion for preventing the optical connector housed in the housing space from being escaped,
The cover has a side wall slit formed in a portion facing the connecting direction of the optical connector housed in the housing space among the side walls forming the housing space,
The pair of connected optical connectors are housed inside the housing space from the protrusions, and are sandwiched in a direction along the connection direction and a direction intersecting the connection direction by the elastic restoring force of the cover. An optical / electrical composite cable which is held in the housing space.   The electrical connector is mounted in a space formed by the opening and one surface of the optical connector, of the accommodating space in which the pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated. 1. The photoelectric composite cable according to 1. An elastically deformable cover for maintaining a pair of optical connectors of a photoelectric composite cable in a connected state,
The cover has an accommodating space for accommodating a pair of connected optical connectors,
The housing space is provided with an opening that opens in a direction that intersects the connection direction of the pair of optical connectors,
The opening is provided with a protrusion for preventing the optical connector housed in the housing space from being escaped,
The cover has a side wall slit formed in a portion facing the connecting direction of the optical connector housed in the housing space among the side walls forming the housing space,
The pair of connected optical connectors are housed inside the housing space from the protrusions, and are sandwiched in a direction along the connection direction and a direction intersecting the connection direction by the elastic restoring force of the cover. An optical connector cover which is held in a housing space. Of the accommodation space in which the pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated, a space is formed between the opening and one surface of the optical connector,
The optical connector cover according to claim 3, wherein the pair of electrical connectors of the composite optical cable can be mounted in the space.   The optical connector cover according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the cover has a horizontal slit extending in a direction intersecting with the connection direction. The cover has a bottom wall facing the opening,
The optical connector cover according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein the bottom wall is provided with a vertical slit extending in a direction along the connection direction. The optical connector cover according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein an optical cable extending from the optical connector is extended to the outside from the side wall slit.   The optical connector cover according to claim 3, wherein the cover is formed by integral molding of resin. By connecting a pair of optical connectors of a photoelectric composite cable and attaching a cover, a connection method for holding the connected optical connectors in a connected state,
The cover includes an accommodation space in which a pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated, an opening in which one surface of the accommodation space is opened, and an escape of the optical connector provided in the opening and accommodated in the accommodation space. A protrusion for preventing, and a side wall slit formed in a portion facing the connection direction of the optical connector housed in the housing space among the side walls forming the housing space,
By elastically deforming the cover in the direction of expanding the width of the side wall slit, the opening is expanded,
From the expanded opening, insert a pair of connected optical connectors into the accommodation space in a direction intersecting the connection direction,
The elastic deformation of the cover is returned, the optical connector is accommodated inside the accommodating space from the protrusion, and the pair of connected optical connectors are moved in the direction along the connection direction by the elastic restoring force of the cover and The connection method is characterized in that it is held in the accommodation space across a direction crossing the connection direction. Of the accommodation space in which the pair of connected optical connectors are accommodated, a space is formed between the opening and one surface of the optical connector,
The connection method according to claim 9, wherein a pair of electrical connectors of a photoelectric composite cable are connected to each other, and the pair of connected electrical connectors are mounted in the space.

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