JPH04268518A - Female type optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely connect an optical fiber. CONSTITUTION:A couple of right and left grooves 15 and 16 are cut into a lower base plate 7 and an upper base plate 10 at mutually opposite positions. When the lower base plate 7 and upper base plate 10 are adhered integrally, those grooves 15 and 16 meet each other to form a hexagonal hole, surrounding a pin 12 for molding. The pin 12 for molding is inscribed with the hole at several points (e.g. six) and securely positioned. When molding is carried out in this state as usual, molding resin is charged even in the periphery of the molding pin 12, but the amount is very small, so even if molding shrinkage is caused, the displacement of the molding pin 12 is a little and uniform. Therefore, the guiding pin hole 4 does not become noncircular and the molding pin 12 need not be increased in diameter unnecessarily, as well.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a guide pin coupling type female optical connector used in optical communications.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an example of a guide pin coupling type optical connector. In the figure, guide pins 2 are integrally formed on the left and right ends of a male optical connector 1, and guide pin holes 4 are formed in the female optical connector 3 at positions corresponding to the guide pins 2. Both connectors 1
, 3 hold four-core ribbon type optical fibers 5, 6, respectively, and the core wires of the optical fibers 5, 6 are connected by joining the end faces of the connectors 1, 3 to each other.

FIG. 5 shows a connecting end surface of a female optical connector (hereinafter abbreviated as connector), and FIG. 6 shows an exploded perspective view for explaining the manufacturing method. In these figures, 7 is a lower base made of silicon single crystal,
A pair of left and right V-shaped grooves 8 and four optical fiber holding grooves 9 in the center are formed on the upper surface thereof. An upper base 10 having a rectangular cross section made of silicon single crystal and covering the optical fiber holding groove 9 is bonded to the upper surface of the lower base 7, and a positioning member 11 is formed by these members. 12 is a guide pin hole forming pin (hereinafter abbreviated as forming pin);
It is placed on the groove 8 and fixed with a clamp 13 made of sheet metal.

[0004] When manufacturing the connector 3, the positioning member 11, molding pin 12 and clamp 13 combined in this way are set in a mold and molded with a thermosetting resin having a low Young's modulus (hereinafter referred to as molding resin). Molding is performed to form the body 14. When the forming pin 12 is then pulled out, a guide pin hole 4 having the same diameter as the forming pin 12 is formed in the body 14.

[0005]

In the connector 3 described above, the upper part of the guide pin hole 4 is made of molded resin, and the lower part is made of a positioning member 11. Therefore, after molding, the upper side of the guide pin hole 4 shrinks significantly due to molding shrinkage, and the shape becomes non-circular as shown in FIG. 7 (an enlarged view of section A in FIG. 5). Therefore,
In order to smoothly connect the connectors 1 and 3, it was necessary to use a molding pin 12 having a larger diameter than the guide pin 2. As a result, when connecting connectors 1 and 3,
There was a risk that the guide pin 2 would shift from its normal position within the non-circular guide pin hole 4. And the optical fiber 5,
6 became unstable, leading to a situation where the value of connection loss was not constant. The present invention was made in view of the above situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a female optical connector that enables reliable connection of optical fibers.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problem] Therefore, in order to solve this problem, the present invention provides a female optical fiber having a guide pin hole into which a coupling guide pin is inserted and an optical fiber holding hole for holding an optical fiber. We propose a female optical connector characterized in that the connector is formed by resin molding a positioning member in which a guide pin hole forming hole surrounding a guide pin hole forming pin and an optical fiber holding hole are formed. It is something.

[0007]

[Operation] Since the guide pin hole forming pin is surrounded by the guide pin hole forming hole, molding shrinkage occurs evenly around the guide pin hole forming pin, and the amount of shrinkage is also reduced.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail based on the drawings. In describing the embodiment, the same members as those in the conventional example described above are given the same reference numerals, and redundant explanation will be omitted. FIG. 1 shows a connecting end surface of a female optical connector according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows an exploded perspective view for explaining the manufacturing method.

As shown in these figures, in this embodiment, a pair of left and right grooves 15 and 16 are formed in the lower base plate 7 and the upper base plate 10 at opposing positions, respectively, by cutting. When the lower base plate 7 and the upper base plate 10 are bonded and integrated, the grooves 15 and 16 together form a hexagonal hole that surrounds the molding pin 12. The forming pin 12 is inscribed in this hole at several points (six points in the illustrated example) to ensure reliable positioning.

When molding is performed in this state in the same manner as in the conventional molding, the molding resin is also filled around the molding pin 12, as shown in FIG. 3 (an enlarged sectional view of section B in FIG. 1). The amount thereof is extremely small, and even if molding shrinkage occurs, the displacement is slight and uniform with respect to the molding pin 12. Therefore, the guide pin hole 4 does not become non-circular, and
There is no need to make the forming pin 12 needlessly large in diameter.

In this embodiment, the body 14 is
Since the guide pin hole 4 is formed in the guide pin hole 4, the positional accuracy of the guide pin hole 4, that is, the guide pin 2 with respect to the optical fiber holding groove 9 is greatly improved, and as a result, connection loss when connecting with the male optical connector 1 is reduced. It became possible to lower the

[0012] Although the description of the specific embodiment is completed above, the aspect of the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. for example,
In the above embodiment, silicon single crystal was used as the material for the positioning member, but any material with a low coefficient of linear expansion and high rigidity, such as cemented carbide or ceramics, may be used. Further, the shape of the hole for forming the guide pin hole is not limited to a hexagonal shape, and an appropriate shape such as a quadrangular shape or an octagonal shape can be selected. Further, in the above embodiment, a connector that holds a ribbon-type optical fiber has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to a connector that holds a single-core optical fiber.

[0013]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the female optical connector according to the present invention,
The guide pin hole forming hole of the positioning member is formed so as to surround the guide pin hole forming pin, improving the positional accuracy between the guide pin hole and the optical fiber holding hole, and reducing connection loss when connecting the connector. Moreover, it is possible to maintain a constant value.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a connection end surface of a female optical connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view for explaining the manufacturing method of the example.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of section B in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a guide pin coupling type optical connector.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a connection end surface of a conventional female optical connector.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view for explaining a conventional manufacturing method.

7 is an enlarged sectional view of section A in FIG. 5. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Male optical connector 2 Guide pin 3 Female optical connector 4 Guide pin hole 5,6 Optical fiber 7 Lower base 9 Optical fiber holding groove 10 Upper base 11 Positioning member 12 Guide pin hole forming pin 14 Body 15,16 groove

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A female optical connector having a guide pin hole into which a coupling guide pin is inserted and an optical fiber holding hole for holding an optical fiber, the guide pin hole surrounding the guide pin hole forming pin. A female optical connector characterized in that it is formed by resin molding a positioning member in which a molding hole and an optical fiber holding hole are formed.