JPH01149008A - Optical connector and method for connecting said connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable extremely rapid and exact switching by constituting aligning pins of pins having mechanically defective parts so that optical fibers can be connected to each other simply by breaking the aligning pins. CONSTITUTION:Optical connectors 11, 12 are constituted of two fitting holes 31, 32 for the aligning pins and the aligning pins 21, 22 having the mechanical defective parts to be inserted therein. Force is merely acted on the two optical connectors at the time of disconnecting the two optical fibers 1, 2. The aligning pins 21, 22 are then easily broken and the fibers are disconnected. The switching and connecting are then completed by butting the 3rd optical connector to be connected freshly to the hot-line side optical connector and pushing a part of the aligning pins remaining in the aligning pin fitting holes of the hot-line side optical connector to the aligning pin fitting holes of the 3rd optical connector. The time required for switching the connection at this time is the time from the breakage of the aligning pins before the butting of the 3rd optical connector and, therefore, the operation is completed in an extremely short period of time.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to the connection of optical fiber lines, and in particular provides an optical connector that can instantly switch lines and a method for connecting the same.

(Prior art) Optical connectors constituting optical fiber lines generally have a structure in which the optical fiber terminals are fixed to a fixed part that fixes the optical fibers, and the end faces are butted to connect each other, so that the axis of the optical fibers to be connected can be accurately aligned. In order to match them, an alignment pin fitting hole is formed parallel to the side surface of the optical fiber fixing part, and after butting the optical connectors together, the alignment pin is inserted across the opposing alignment pin fitting hole. The structure is such that the optical connectors are aligned with each other to complete the connection work.

Incidentally, recently, in optical communication systems, switching connections of lines are sometimes required. In order to satisfy this requirement, it has become common to include a connection section using an optical connector in an optical communication line, and to switch the line by attaching and detaching the optical connector.

For example, as shown in Fig. 5, optical fiber 1 and optical fiber 2 are optical connectors! When changing the connection of the optical fiber 2 to the optical fiber 3 at the point where the optical fiber 1 and the optical fiber 2 are connected, first connect the optical fiber 1 and the optical fiber 2.
1 and 12 are disconnected, and the optical connector 13 attached to the optical fiber 3 is connected to the optical connector 11 of the optical fiber 1.

Such conventional optical connectors are designed to be attached and detached manually, as shown in FIG. That is, optical connector 1
5th axis alignment pins 21 and 22 connecting 1 and 12
As shown in Figure 5(A), push the alignment pin in the direction of the fitting hole of the optical connector 11 to release the mating, and at the same time release the connection between the optical fibers, and then as shown in Figure 5(B), The optical connector 11 of the optical fiber 3 and the optical connector 13 of the optical fiber 3 are butted together, and the alignment pins 21 and 2 are aligned.
2 into the alignment pin fitting hole of the optical connector 13 to complete the connection change. However, such manual switching takes several seconds or more, and even if the operator is skilled, it is extremely difficult to significantly reduce the disconnection time of the communication system.

(Means for Solving the Problems and Their Effects) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an optical connector and a connection method thereof that enable instantaneous switching and connection. It is characterized by comprising an optical fiber fixing part, at least two alignment pin fitting holes, and an alignment pin having a mechanical defect that is inserted into the alignment pin fitting hole, and connected by the optical connector. When reconnecting one of the optical fibers to a third optical fiber, the alignment pin is mechanically damaged, one optical connector is detached, and the third optical fiber is fixed to the live optical connector. The optical connectors are butted together, and a portion of the alignment pin remaining in the alignment pin fitting hole of the live line side optical connector is inserted and fitted into the alignment pin fitting hole of the third optical connector. This optical connector connection method solves the problems of the conventional method.

In the present invention, since the alignment pin is configured with a pin having a mechanical defect, when disconnecting both connected optical fibers, the alignment pin can be easily broken by simply applying force to both optical connectors. You can disconnect and then
Align the third optical connector that will be newly connected to the live side optical connector, and align the axis of the third optical connector by aligning the part of the alignment pin remaining in the alignment pin fitting hole of the live side optical connector. Complete the switching connection by pushing into the bottle fitting hole. The time required for changing the connection at this time is the time from the breakage of the alignment pin to the butting of the third optical connector, so the work can be completed in an extremely short time.

If necessary, replace the alignment pin with a new one after the connection is complete.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to the connection of tape-shaped optical fiber core wires 1 and 2. Reference numerals 11 and 12 are optical connectors, and the optical fiber fixing portion 14 of the optical connector is shown in FIG.・1
Optical fibers 2 are fixed to 5, and the end faces of the optical fibers are arranged at predetermined intervals on the abutting surfaces 17 and 18 with the mating optical connector. Reference numerals 31 and 32 denote alignment pin fitting holes provided on both sides of the optical fiber fixing portion, which are integrally formed in a shape that projects laterally. 21 and 22 are alignment pins, and 23 is a mechanical defect provided in the alignment pins.

The mechanical defect portion may be formed by providing an annular groove on the outer periphery of the pin as shown in the figure, or it is also possible to provide several defect portions, or the entire portion may be made of a mechanically weak material. It may be composed of

Next, a method for switching an optical communication system using the optical connector of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

In FIG. 3, the first optical fiber 1 and the second optical fiber 2 are connected by optical connectors 11 and 12, and an optical connector 13 is attached to the terminal of the third optical fiber 3. in a state.

First, the first optical connector 11 is fixed to a fixed base of the switching device 51, and the third optical connector 13 is stacked under the second optical connector 12, and these are placed on the push-up base 52. The push-up table 52 is configured so that upward pressure can be applied by a piston or the like 53.

Note that 54 is a weak spring that always pushes up the push-up table 52. A piston or the like 53 is connected to the third optical connector 13 and the second optical connector 12 via the push-up table 52.
When the push-up blade is activated, the alignment pins 21 and 2 connecting the optical connectors 11 and 12 are moved by the push-up blade.
2 is damaged due to a mechanical defect, and at the same time, the optical connector 11-
12 is released, and as shown in FIG. 4, the optical connector 12 is locked by the protrusion 55 of the fixing base 5I, and the pushed-up optical connector 13 and optical connector 11 are brought into contact with each other, and the light conduction is established at the second position. The first optical fiber 1 is switched to the third optical fiber 3. Finally, the remaining alignment pins are inserted into the alignment pin fitting holes 33 of the optical connectors 13 to complete the connection.

According to the method of the present invention, the connection between the optical connectors 11 and 12 continues until the moment when the alignment pin breaks, and the accurate alignment between the optical connectors 11 and 13 is maintained at the optical connector 11.
Switching is completed when the alignment pins 21 and 22 remaining on the side are partially inserted into the alignment pin fitting holes 33 of the optical connector 13, so the switching time ends in an extremely short time.

After the switching is completed, the alignment pin is replaced with a new one if necessary, and the two optical connectors 11 and 13 are fixed using an adapter (not shown) as in the conventional case to complete the connection.

Although the above embodiment describes the connection of tape-shaped optical fibers, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and can of course also be applied to the connection of single-core optical fibers and circular optical cables. It is possible to provide not only two but three in a circular cable.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained in detail above, according to the present invention, the connection between optical fibers can be switched to a third optical fiber by simply breaking the alignment pin, and the switching can be performed extremely quickly and accurately. Can be done.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are explanatory diagrams showing one embodiment of the optical connector of the present invention, FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams showing an embodiment of the connection method using the optical connector of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a switching situation of optical communication system lines. 1, 2, and 3 are optical fibers. 11, 12, 13 are optical connectors 31, 32, 33 are alignment pin fitting holes 21, 22 are alignment pins 23 are mechanical defects provided in the alignment pins Patent applicant
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. Representative Patent Attorney Oka 1) Kikuji No. 1 ■ No. 2 ■

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber fixing part, at least two alignment pin fitting holes, and an alignment pin having a mechanical defect to be inserted into the alignment pin fitting holes. optical connector. 2. Match the optical connectors made by fixing the optical fibers to the optical fiber fixing parts of the optical connectors, and insert the alignment pin with the mechanical defect into the alignment pin fitting hole provided in the optical connectors to connect them. However, when reconnecting one of the connected optical fibers to a third optical fiber, the alignment pin is mechanically damaged, one optical connector is detached, and the third optical fiber is connected to the live optical connector. Match the optical connectors fixed to the fibers, and insert and fit a portion of the axial alignment pin remaining in the axial alignment pin fitting hole of the live side optical connector into the axial alignment pin fitting hole of the third optical connector. A method of connecting optical connectors characterized by: