JPH02149806A - 1xn optical switch device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the loss of light in switching and to simplify the structure of an optical system by moving a ferrule to an adapter position according to the selection signal of a selecting means. CONSTITUTION:The plug of an optical fiber connection line 20 and an external optical fiber single-core line are connected to a common adapter 30 and respective terminals of tape cores are connected to adapters. While the ferrule of the optical fiber switching line 20 is controlled by a control means 70, a selected ferrule is moved to the adapter position by a moving means 50 according to the selection signal of the selecting means 40 and attached to or detached from a selected adapter 31 by an attaching and detaching means. Consequently, the loss of light in switching is small, the structure of the optical system is simplified, and optical axis alignment is easily performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a 1×n
Regarding summer light switch.

(Prior art) Prism-type and rotary-type 1×n optical switch devices (channel selectors) with one-manpower and n-output are known. For example, the 1×6 optical switch device shown in FIG. consists of a common adapter 1 that connects the input optical fiber, a 6-channel output adapter 2 placed on the output side, a lens 3 and a mirror 4 provided for each output adapter 2, and a common adapter 1 placed on the output side. It has a lens 5.

In this optical switch device, when a selection signal for selecting an arbitrary output adapter 2 from among the output adapters 2 is transmitted, a mirror 4 corresponding to the selected output adapter 2 is output from the common adapter 1. The emitted light is pushed onto the optical path of the emitted light and is reflected by the mirror 4, thereby making the emitted light incident on the selected output adapter 2 and switching the optical path.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, conventional lXn optical switch devices suffer from contact loss due to the three connection points between the input side and the output side, and insertion loss due to optical elements such as lenses and mirrors. Therefore, there are problems in that the loss of light during switching is large, the structure of the optical system is complicated, and alignment of the optical axis is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and is an lX with low optical loss during switching and a simple structure of the optical system.
An object of the present invention is to provide an n-optical switch device.

(!Means for Solving Problem I) In order to achieve the above object, the lxH optical switch device of the present invention includes a single optical fiber switching line with a plug attached to one end and a ferrule attached to the other end, and the plug and a common adapter that connects the external single-core optical fiber and each terminal of the plurality of optical fibers, and outputs a plurality of adapters that can be attached to and detached from the ferrule and a selection signal that selects a desired adapter. a selection means, a movement means for moving the ferrule to each adapter position, an attachment/detachment means for attaching/detaching the ferrule moved to each adapter position to/from the adapter; The apparatus further includes a control means for moving the ferrule to a selected adapter position and controlling the attachment/detachment means to attach/detach the ferrule to the adapter.

(Function) The common adapter connects the plug of the optical fiber switching line and the external single-core optical fiber line, and the multiple adapters
Connect each end of the tape core wire.

The ferrule of the optical fiber switching line is controlled by the control means, and the selected ferrule is moved by the moving means to the selected adapter position based on the selection signal of the selection means, and the ferrule is attached to and detached from the selected adapter by the attaching and detaching means. Ru.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

The lXn optical switch device of the present invention has a box-shaped housing 1.
A switching wire 20 is housed and arranged in a single-core optical fiber 21 and has a plug 22 attached to one end and a ferrule 23 to the other end, a common adapter 30 attached to the front panel 11 of the housing 10, and a multi-core fiber wire. a plurality of adapters 31 for connecting each fiber end of a tape fiber (not shown) consisting of a plurality of adapters 31, a selection means 40 for selecting a predetermined adapter 31 from these adapters 31, and the ferrule 2.
a moving means 50 for moving the ferrule 23 to the position of the adapter 31 selected by the selecting means 40;
an attachment/detachment means 60 for attachment/detachment to and movement of the ferrule 23;
A control means 70 for controlling attachment/detachment operations is provided.

The switching line 20 is, for example, an OT D R (Optical
Time Domain Reflectometer)
The plug 22 at one end is connected to the common adapter 30, and the plug 22 at the other end is connected to the ferrule 2 at the other end.
3 is detachably attached to any of the plurality of adapters 31.

As shown in FIG. 4, the plug 22 is arranged so that the ferrule 25 is inserted between the ferrule 25 inserted into the cylindrical plug frame 24 and the stop bar 26 which is inserted and screwed from the rear end of the plug frame 24 in the protruding direction. Pressing spring 25 that presses
A coupling nut 27 having a threaded portion 27a on the inner periphery of the tip is attached to the plug frame 24 via a rotation prevention ring 22a, and the stopper 26
A holder 28 is screwed onto the rear end of the plug 22, and a hood 29 made of synthetic resin is attached to cover the rear end side of the plug 22. As a result, the ferrule 25 can be slightly retracted from the plug frame 24 toward the rear end stop bar 26.
Normally, it protrudes from the tip of the plug frame 24 under the urging force (approximately 1 kg) of the pressing spring 25a. This lXn is also applied to each fiber terminal of the external single fiber wire and tape fiber.
A plug (not shown) configured similarly to the plug 22 described above is provided for connection to the optical switch device.

On the other hand, the filter 23 is provided on a stage 64, which will be described later, as shown in FIG.
It is attached to an insertion hole 64b drilled in 4a, and is prevented from being removed by abutting a sleeve member 66 against the rear surface of the flange 23b. This ferrule 23 is the ferrule 25 of the plug 22.
As shown in FIG. 6, a cylindrical part 23a having a tapered tip is integrally formed with a flange part 23b on the rear end side.
Positioning grooves 23c, 23c are provided by cutting out a portion of the upper and lower positions with respect to the axis.

Further, inside the ferrule 23, along the axis thereof, an optical fiber 21 extends from the base end surface 23d to a depth approximately at the center position.
A large diameter insertion hole 23e into which the covering portion 21b is inserted is bored. Furthermore, a guide 23f made of ceramic, for example, is fitted into the distal end side of the insertion hole 23e, and a guide 23f that is concentric with the insertion hole 23e is inserted into the guide 23f. A hole 23g is drilled through this guide 23f to a distal end surface 23h of the ferrule 23.

This ferrule 23 is completed by inserting the optical fiber 21 from the base end surface 23d side of the ferrule 23 and fixing the bare optical fiber portion 21a to the insertion hole 23g with adhesive. At this time, the lighting fiber portion 21a protruding from the insertion hole 23g is cut at the tip end surface 23h, and the end surface is polished together with the tip end surface 23h.

In addition, in FIG. 5, 67 is brought into contact with one of the grooves 23c of the ferrule 23, and the ferrule 23 is placed on the stage 64.
This is a spring pin that is fixed to the insertion hole 64b of.

The common adapter 30 switches the plug provided at one end of the external single-core wire from the outside! The plugs 22 of the a20 are connected from the inside to connect the drawing lines as a single core. This adapter 30 is connected to the coupling nut 27 of the plug 22.
Alternatively, it consists of two rectangular boards 32 with a threaded part 32a protruding from the center into which a plug of an external single-core wire is screwed, and the back surfaces of both plates 32 are made to face each other, as shown in FIG. , is attached to a mounting hole 11a drilled in the front panel 11. Inside the common adapter 3o, a guide ring 33 is arranged along the inner circumference of both number plates 32 and 32.
The sleeve holder 34.34 is attached to the sleeve holder 34.34 through the ferrule 2 of the plug 22.
The split sleeve 34a holding the sleeve holder 3
It is fitted on the inner circumference of 4.34. This common adapter 3° is attached to the front panel 1 by means of screws 35 inserted into an appropriate number of screw holes 32b drilled in both number plates 32 and 32.
It is fixed at 1.

On the other hand, the adapter 31 connects the plug provided at each fiber end of the tape fiber from the outside and the ferrule 23 of the switching wire 2° from the inside, so that the switching wire 20 can be connected to each fiber end of the tape fiber. It is a heart-to-heart connection. This adapter 31 has substrates 36 and 37, and is constructed in substantially the same manner as the common adapter 3o, and is attached to a mounting hole 11a formed in the front panel 11, as shown in FIG.

The board 36 has a threaded portion 36a in the center into which a plug (not shown) provided at each core end of the tape fiber is screwed from the outside.
is provided protrudingly, but the other board 37 does not have this threaded part, and inside the adapter 31, both number plates 36.
Sleeve holders 39 and 39 are attached via guide rings 38 arranged along the inner periphery of sleeve holders 39 and 39, and split sleeves 39a that sandwich the ferrule to be inserted are attached to both sleeve holders. It is fitted on the inner circumference of 39.39. In this embodiment, there are 12 adapters 31 provided on the front panel 11, but this number may be determined according to the number of cores of the tape fiber used. In FIG. 2, tib is a ferrule. 2
This is a through hole provided in the front panel 11 as a dummy adapter No. 3, and the ferrule 23 is made to protrude from the through hole 11b to the outside of the housing 1°, and is used for cleaning the end face of the ferrule 23.

As described above, the ferrule 23 is firmly fixed to the mounting part 64a at the front of the stage 64 so that there is no play. Since a tape fiber plug is connected, connection loss in single-fiber connection can be kept low. This is because, as mentioned above, the ferrule of the tape fiber plug can be slightly retracted, and
This is because a pressing spring is interposed in the plug, and the plug is pressed against the tip end surface 23h of the ferrule 23 with a biasing force of about 1 kg.

The selection means 40 selects a desired adapter 31 by connecting the ferrule 23 of the switching line 20 from among the 12 adapters 31 by a pressing operation by the operator. As shown in FIG. 2, this selection means 40 is composed of twelve bushing switches 41 arranged above each adapter 31 on the front surface of the front panel 11. Each bushing switch 41 is connected to a control means 70 disposed at the rear inside the housing 10, and a desired bushing switch 41
By pressing , a selection signal corresponding to the selected predetermined adapter 31 is output to the control means 70 .

The moving means 50 moves the moving table 51 to the position of the required adapter 31 selected by the selecting means 40, and includes the moving table 51, the pulse motor 52, and the ball screw 53.
The moving table 51 is screwed onto a ball screw 53 and is movable in the axial direction. When an arbitrary button switch 41 is pressed, the control means 70, which will be described later, sets the preset origin position, for example, the adapter 31 at the left end of the front panel 11, as the origin position, and always moves the movable base 51 to this adapter 31. After the return, the moving table 51 is moved to the position of the selected predetermined adapter 31.

The moving table 51 carries a stage 64 on which the ferrule 23 of the switching line 20 is attached, and moves the ferrule 23 to a predetermined position of the selected adapter 31. This moving platform 5
1 includes a guide rail 12 disposed on the back surface of the front panel 11 and the bottom surface of the housing 10 as shown in FIG.
．． 13 in the lateral direction of the moving table 51 (ball screw 53
a linear guide 51b that guides movement in the axial direction);
51c is the front panel 1 at the front and lower part of the moving table 51.
It is installed in parallel to 1.

The pulse motor 52 is connected to the adapter 31 selected by the selection means.
The rotation speed is set in consideration of the pitch of the ball screw 53 so that the moving table 54 with the ferrule 23 attached moves to the position shown in FIG. Can be used.

The ball screw 53 has bearings 54a on both ends thereof.
, 55a interposed therebetween, and is supported by a timing belt 56 wound between a pulley 53a disposed at one end and a pulley 52b pivoted on a rotating shaft 52a of a pulse motor 52. Rotated. Here, an elastic ring 53b such as a Span ring is arranged between the pulley 53a and the ball screw 53.
A ring presser 57 is firmly fixed to the ball screw 53 by fastening with a bolt 58, which presses the elastic ring 53b.

The attachment/detachment means 60 is arranged at the rear of the movable table 51, and includes a motor 61, a holding member 62 that holds the motor 61, and a mokuro 1.
The cam member 63 and the stage 6 are pivotally attached to the rotating shaft 61a of the
4 and a connecting arm 65 connected to the cam member 63 at one end and to the stage 64 at the other end.

The stage 64 is mounted on a linear guide 51a mounted on the front part of the movable table 5I so as to be slidable in the front-rear direction orthogonal to the axis of the ball screw 53. Further, the connecting arm 65 is connected to the cam member 63 by a pin with the connecting position eccentric from the center so that the stage 51 can be moved in the front-back direction and the ferrule 23 of the switching line 20 can be attached to and detached from the selected adapter 31. ing.

The control means 70 includes a proximity sensor 71, an encoder 74, and a central control unit CPU.

The proximity sensor 71 is arranged behind a detection head 72 attached to the rear part of the holding member 62 and each adapter 31, and detects 13 detected members as a connection position between each adapter 31 and the through hole 11b by the detection head 72. 73. Among these detected members 73, the motor 52
The detected member 73 located at the left end of the shift acts as a deceleration switch for positioning, which performs a deceleration operation when the movable table 51 returns with the left end adapter 31 at the home position, as will be described later.

The encoder 74 is a control means for detecting the origin position, which has a slit disk 75 having a slit extending in the radial direction, and a previous limit switch 76 provided on the bottom wall of the housing 10 near the Boo'J 52 b.

In a centralized system, one device CPU centrally controls these proximity sensor 71 and encoder 74, and uses, for example, a microprocessor.

In FIG. 3, B is a battery for this lXn optical switch device.

Optical path switching using the IXn optical switch device configured as described above will be described below.

First, attach 0TDR to both threaded parts 32a of the common adapter 30.
The plug of the external single-core wire connected to the common adapter 3 is screwed together with the screw part 27a of the coupling nut 27
Connect the external single-core wire and the switching wire 20 to 0.

Next, a plug provided at each core wire end of the tape fiber is screwed onto the threaded portion 36a of each adapter 31 from the outside for connection. As a result, the external single-fiber wire and each fiber end of the tape fiber are individually connected to this IXn optical switch device.

After that, select the desired adapter 31 to which the ferrule 23 will be connected from the 12 adapters 31 provided on the front panel 11, and press the corresponding button switch 41.
Then, the adapter 3 selected from the bush switch 41
A selection signal corresponding to 1 is supplied to the centralized control unit WCPU.

The central control unit CPU first operates the motor 61 of the attachment/detachment means 60 based on this selection signal.

By the operation of the motor 61, the cam member 63 rotates, and the connecting arm 65 moves rearward, thereby moving the stage 64.
moves backward, and the ferrule 23 of the switching line 20 comes off from the connected adapter 31.

Next, the central control unit CPU issues a command to the pulse motor 52 to move the moving table 5I to the preset origin position, which is the adapter 31 at the left end of the front panel 11. Upon receiving this command, the pulse motor 52 The rotation of the pulse motor 52 is transmitted to the ball screw 53 via the timing belt 56, and the rotation of the ball screw 53 causes the screwed movable base 51 to move between the front panel 11 and the ball screw 53.
Move near the leftmost adapter 31.

Then, when the detection head 72 passes the leftmost detected member 73 that acts as a deceleration switch due to the movement of the moving table 51, a signal from the detection head 72 is transmitted to the central control device C.
The centralized control unit CPU issues a command to the pulse motor 52 to decelerate the pulse motor 52 at the same time as this signal is input.

The moving table 51, which has been decelerated by the pulse motor 52, is accurately moved to the adapter 31 at the left end of the front panel 11, which is the origin position, while the moving position is controlled by an encoder 74 consisting of a slit disk 75 and a limit switch 76. , the central control unit CPU receives the signal from the encoder 74 and stops the pulse motor 52.

After returning the movable base 51 to the original position in this manner, the central control unit CPU operates the pulse motor 52 to move the movable base 51 to the selected adapter 31.

When the moving table 51 moves to the predetermined position of the selected adapter 31, the detection radar 72 detects the position of the detected member 73 corresponding to the selected adapter 31, and supplies a detection signal to the central control unit CPU.

Centralized control device C that receives the detection signal from the detection head 72
The PU stops the operation of the pulse motor 52 and stops the moving table 51 at the predetermined position of the selected adapter 31.

Next, the central control unit CPU controls the motor 6 of the attachment/detachment means 6o.
1, the motor 61 is operated, and the ferrule 23 of the switching line 2o is connected to the other selected adapter 31 by the operation opposite to that described above. In this manner, the lXn optical switch device of the present invention performs optical path switching.

Note that the number n of cores of the tape fiber is 1 in this example.
Although the number of core wires is two, it goes without saying that an appropriate number n may be used.

In addition to the bush switch 41, the selection means 40 may be a selection means that is remotely operated by a selection signal from an external computer device.

Furthermore, such remote selection means may be
A terminal such as R3-2320, for example, may be provided at O, and a selection means may be connected to this terminal to output a selection signal for sequentially selecting a predetermined adapter in a predetermined order by executing a predetermined program. good.

(Effects of the Invention) The lXn optical switch device of the present invention has a single optical fiber switching line with a plug attached to one end and a ferrule attached to the other end,
a common adapter that connects the plug and an external single-core optical fiber; a plurality of adapters to which terminals of a plurality of optical fibers are connected; and a selection signal that selects a desired adapter; a selection means for outputting a selection signal, a movement means for moving the ferrule to each adapter position, an attachment/detachment means for attaching/detaching the ferrule moved to each adapter position to/from the adapter, and a selection means for moving the ferrule based on a selection signal from the selection means. The structure includes a control means for moving the ferrule to a selected adapter position, and for controlling the attachment/detachment means to attach/detach the ferrule to/from the adapter. Compared to the 1Xn optical switch device shown in FIG.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 7 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partially sectional plan view of an lXn optical switch device, FIG. 2 is a front view, and FIG. 3 is a partially sectional side view. , 4th
The figure is a sectional view showing the plug of the switching line, Figure 5 is an enlarged sectional view showing the relationship between the plug of the switching line and the adapter, Figure 6 is a perspective view showing the ferrule of the switching line, and Figure 7 is a common adapter. The enlarged sectional view shown in FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing a conventional lXn optical switch device. 20... Optical fiber switching line, 22... Plug, 23
... Ferrule, 30... Common adapter, 31.
... adapter, 40 ... selection means, 41 ... bush switch, 50 ... moving means, 51 ... moving table,
52...Pulse motor, 53...Ball screw, 54
．． 55... Support member, 56... Timing belt,
57... Ring holder, 60... Attachment/detachment means, 61.
...Motor, 62...Holding member, 63...Cam member, 64...Stage, 65...Connection arm, 66...
... Sleeve member, 70 ... Control means, 71 ... Proximity sensor, 72 ... Detection head, 73 ... Detected member, 74 ... Encoder; 75 ... Slit disk,
76... Limit switch, CPU... Centralized control device. Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] A single optical fiber switching line with a plug attached to one end and a ferrule attached to the other end, a common adapter connecting the plug and the external single optical fiber line, and each terminal of the plurality of optical fibers are respectively connected, a plurality of adapters that can be attached to and detached from the ferrule; a selection means that outputs a selection signal for selecting a desired adapter; a moving means that moves the ferrule to each adapter position; an attachment/detachment means for attaching and detaching the ferrule to a selected adapter position, and a movement means for moving the ferrule to a selected adapter position based on a selection signal from the selection means;
A 1×n optical switch device comprising: a control means for controlling the attachment/detachment means to attach/detach the ferrule to/from the adapter.