JPH0593823A - Optical fiber connector terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the operability by providing a guide part, which guides the optical fiber of a coated optical fiber inserted into a holding member holding an optical fiber connector terminal main body into the optical fiber insertion hole of the optical fiber connector terminal main body, to the holding member. CONSTITUTION:An optical fiber connector terminal 5 is constituted by fitting a guide block 6 as the guide part B and the optical fiber connector terminal main body 8 to the holding member 7. The guide block 6 is a precise plastic machined article and the optical fiber guide hole is formed in the center part of the guide block 6. When the optical fiber 42 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 12, the optical fiber 42 is guided to the optical fiber insertion hole 12 by the optical fiber guide hole of the guide block 6. Consequently, the extremely thin optical fiber 42 can easily and securely be inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 12.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical fiber connector terminal used for connecting and disconnecting an optical fiber.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an optical fiber transmission line used for optical fiber communication, interconnection between optical fibers is a very important problem. When connecting optical fibers, it is necessary to align the axes of the optical fibers with a high accuracy of micron order. In this case, since the optical fiber is made of glass, and the outer diameter thereof is as thin as 100 μm inside and outside, the terminal of the connector can protect and reinforce the optical fiber and align the connector terminals with high accuracy. There are two conditions that must be met.

FIG. 1 was developed to solve this problem.
5 is an optical fiber connector terminal shown in FIG.

This optical fiber connector terminal is provided with a zirconia ceramics terminal body 50. The terminal main body 50 is made slightly larger than a predetermined size by a mold, and then sintered, and the optical fiber insertion hole 52 formed in advance is polished with a cemented carbide wire to form the optical fiber insertion hole 52.
Is formed to have a predetermined size, and a guide portion 52a is formed at the end of the optical fiber insertion hole 52. The terminal main body 50 is press-fitted into the press-fitting portion 54 of the holding member 53 to insert the optical fiber. The adhesive is injected into the hole 52, the optical fiber line 56 is inserted into the insertion hole 55 of the holding member 53, and the optical fiber element wire 57 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 52.

[0005]

However, in the conventional zirconia ceramics type optical fiber connector terminal, the adhesive is injected into the optical fiber insertion hole 52, and the optical fiber line 56 is inserted into the insertion hole portion 55 of the holding member 53. When the optical fiber element wire 57 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 52 while being inserted, the optical fiber insertion hole 5 of the optical fiber element wire 57 is inserted.
There is a problem in that it is difficult to insert it in 2 and the workability deteriorates due to the hardening of the adhesive.

The present invention was made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to insert an extremely fine optical fiber element wire into an optical fiber insertion hole easily and reliably. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber connector terminal which is capable of contributing to improvement in workability.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a holding member for holding an optical fiber connector terminal body with an optical fiber wire of an optical fiber wire inserted in the holding member. The optical fiber connector is characterized in that a guide portion for guiding the optical fiber insertion hole of the terminal body is provided.

The guide portion may be a guide block separate from the holding member, or may be formed integrally with the holding member. Further, by arranging the optical fiber connector terminal main body in the sleeve with a plurality of pins around the center O of the sleeve and equidistantly from the center O, the optical fiber insertion hole is centered on the center O. Alternatively, the diameter of the sleeve may be reduced and the sleeve may be crushed to fill the gap formed by the crush sleeve and the adjacent pin by the filling means.

[0009]

With this structure, when the optical fiber element wire is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole, the optical fiber element wire is guided to the optical fiber insertion hole by the guide portion, and the ultrafine optical fiber element wire can be easily and securely formed. Since it can be inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole, the workability of manufacturing the optical fiber connector terminal is improved.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an optical fiber connector having an optical fiber connector terminal according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the optical fiber connector terminal according to the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view thereof. Is.

As shown in FIG. 1, the optical fiber connector comprises a plug 1 and an adapter 2, and the plug 1 has a plug housing 3 in which an optical fiber connector terminal is provided via a holding metal fitting 4. 5 are accommodated and held.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the optical fiber connector terminal 5 comprises a holding member 7 on which a guide block 6 as a guide portion B and an optical fiber connector terminal body 8 are attached.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6, the holding member 7 is made of a stainless material, and has an insertion hole portion 15 into which the optical fiber line 41 is inserted and a sleeve attachment portion having a diameter larger than the insertion hole portion 15. The holding member 7 is provided with a sleeve press-fitting portion 16, and a collar portion 17 corresponding to the sleeve press-fitting portion 16 is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the holding member 7. The engagement groove 18 is formed in the collar portion 17.
Is formed.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the guide block 6 is a precision plastic processed product (material PPS, etc.),
An optical fiber guide hole 19 is formed in the center of the guide block 6. The optical fiber guide hole 19 is a circular taper hole having a rear end opening 19a larger than the front end opening 19b, and the rear end opening 19a is the holding member 7 described above.
The insertion hole 15 has the same size as or larger than the rear end opening.

The optical fiber connector terminal body 8 is provided with a sleeve 9 in which three pins 10 are housed with the center O of the sleeve 9 as a center. The filler 11 is filled between the bush 9 and the pin 10, and the optical fiber element wire 42 is provided at the center of the three pins 10.
Is formed with an optical fiber insertion hole 12.

The sleeve 9 and the filler 11 together with the filler 11 form a gap formed by the sleeve 9 and the adjacent pin 10 by being subjected to rotary forging by a rotary waving machine, reduced in diameter and crushed. The three pins 10 are buried and positioned at an equal distance from the center O around the center O, and the optical fiber insertion hole 12 is positioned at the center O.
Is positioned at the center O.

The sleeve press-fitting portion 16 of the holding member 7
The guide block 6 is inserted (press-fitted) into the sleeve, the rear part of the optical fiber connector terminal body 8 is inserted (press-fitted) into the sleeve press-fit portion 16, and the optical fiber element wire 42 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 12 to be bonded. The optical fiber connector terminal 5 is formed by bonding with an agent.

Next, a method of manufacturing the optical fiber connector terminal 5 will be described with reference to FIG.

In manufacturing the pin 10, first, a pin material 10a made of a stainless material is made to have a predetermined length (for example, 6 mm).
0 mm), heat treatment is performed, and a predetermined roundness and a predetermined surface roughness are obtained by the polishing apparatus 20 shown in FIG. 9 (1) to obtain a predetermined pin 10. The polishing device 20 described above is provided with a pin holding member 21 for holding the pin material 10a and the pin material 10
It comprises polishing rollers 22 and 23 for polishing a, and these polishing rollers 22 and 23 are rotated in the direction of the arrow to polish the pin material 10a.

The pin 10 thus produced is a hardened stainless steel material (for example, SUS305).

In manufacturing the sleeve 9, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (4) to (4), a sleeve material 24 made of stainless steel is used.
Is cut into a predetermined length, and this sleeve material 24 is perforated by a perforating jig 25 such as a drill to form an inside diameter standard hole 26.
Then, the inner diameter standard hole 26 is polished by a polishing jig to measure the inner diameter, and the outer diameter is processed to obtain the coaxiality, thereby forming the sleeve 9.

The sleeve 9 thus prepared is made of stainless steel that has not been quenched as described above.
The hardness is smaller than that of the pin 10.

3 are placed in the sleeve 9 created as described above.
The pin 10 of the book is inserted so as to be positioned in an equilateral triangle shape, and the filler 11 is inserted between the sleeve 9 and the pin 10. These fillers 11 are round bars, made of non-quenched stainless steel, and have hardness of sleeve 9
And is smaller than the pin 10.

In this way, the three pins 10 and the filler 11 are
The sleeve 9 in which the insert is inserted is reduced in diameter by, for example, rotary forging by a rotary swage machine. The processing by this rotary forging is one in which the sleeve 9 is continuously or intermittently rotated about its axis while being hit with a forging die of one pair or two pairs to reduce the diameter. The optical fiber connector terminal material A is created.

The diameter of the sleeve 9 is reduced by such rotary forging. When the diameter of the sleeve 9 is reduced, the filler 11 is crushed and the pin 1 adjacent to the sleeve 9 is crushed.
The filler 11 fills the gap formed by 0 and the three pins 10 are positioned around the center O and equidistant from the center O (see FIG. 9 (5)).

Next, as shown in FIG. 9 (6), both sides of the optical fiber connector terminal material A are cut by a fine cutter 28, and the cut surface is deburred and washed.

In the optical fiber connector terminal material A, a substantially triangular hole 29 formed by the three pins 10 is formed at the center thereof (see FIGS. 9 (5) (c)). The hole 29 needs to be the optical fiber insertion hole 12 for inserting the optical fiber element wire having a circular cross section.

The formation of the optical fiber insertion hole 12 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (7), the super hard wire 30 is inserted into the hole 29, diamond abrasive grains 31 are attached to the super hard wire 30, and the reels 32 and 33 wound around the super hard wire 30 are rotated. Then, the cemented carbide wire 31 is reciprocated, and the circumferential wall of the hole 29 is polished by the cemented carbide wire 30.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9 (8), the outer diameter of the optical fiber connector end material A is finished by the cylindrical grinder 34 to satisfy the concentricity standard.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9 (9), the optical fiber connector terminal material A is held by a holder-35, and the end surface of the optical fiber connector terminal material A is ground by a grindstone 36 to give a right angle to the end surface.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9 (10), a guide portion 37 of the optical fiber insertion portion 12 is formed at the end portion of the optical fiber insertion hole 12 of the optical fiber connector terminal material A by electric discharge machining. Reference numeral 38 in FIG. 6 (10) is an electrode for electric discharge machining. The machining of the guide portion 37 may be machining instead of electric discharge machining.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6 (11), the peripheral edge of the end portion of the optical fiber connector terminal material A is ground with a grindstone 39 to be chamfered to obtain an optical fiber connector terminal body 8.

Next, the optical fiber connector connector terminal body 8 processed as described above is washed, the guide block 14 is inserted into the sleeve press-fitting portion 15 of the holding member 7, and
The rear part of the optical fiber connector terminal body 8 is inserted (press-fitted) into the sleeve press-fitting part 15.

In this case, the front end opening 19b of the optical fiber guide hole 19 of the guide block 6 faces the guide portion 37 of the optical fiber connector connector terminal body 8 as shown in FIG.
The rear end opening 19 a of the optical fiber guide hole 19 faces the insertion hole portion 15 of the holding member 7.

Next, the adhesive 40 is applied to the optical fiber insertion hole 12.
Is injected into the insertion hole 15 of the holding member 7 and the optical fiber line 4
1, the optical fiber element wire 42 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 12, and the end portion of the optical fiber 10 is projected outward from the end surface of the optical fiber connector terminal body 8. For this reason, the adhesive 40 swells on this end face, and the protruding portion of the optical fiber element wire 42 is also adhered.

Then, the swelling of the adhesive 40 on this end face is removed by polishing the protruding portion of the optical fiber element wire 42 with a grindstone to obtain an optical fiber connector terminal 5.

The optical fiber connector terminal body 8 of the optical fiber connector terminal 5 according to the present invention is provided with a sleeve 9
Inside, 3 pins 10 around the center O of the sleeve 9,
By arranging the optical fiber insertion hole 12 at the same distance from the center O, the optical fiber insertion hole 12 is formed in the center O, and the sleeve 9 is locally reduced in diameter and crushed to form a gap formed by the sleeve 9 and the adjacent pin 10. May be filled with a convex strip 43 protruding from the inner peripheral portion of the sleeve 9 as a filling means, and the optical fiber element wire 42 may be inserted and fixed in the optical fiber insertion hole 12.

In the method of manufacturing the optical fiber connector terminal 5 in the case where such a convex strip 43 is used as the filling material, in the manufacturing process of the sleeve 9, the sleeve material as shown in FIG. 44 by drawing process
Three ridges 43 projecting toward the center O of the sleeve material 44 are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the sleeve material 44, and cut into a predetermined length. Then, an inner diameter standard hole 45 is determined in the sleeve material 44, the inner diameter standard hole 17 is polished by a polishing jig to measure the inner diameter, and the outer diameter is processed to obtain the coaxiality. Create 9.

Then, the sleeve 9 thus created
The ridge 43 is positioned inside, and the three pins 10 are inserted so as to be positioned in an equilateral triangular shape.

In this way, the sleeve 9 having the three pins 10 inserted therein is reduced in diameter by, for example, rotary forging by a rotary swage machine, whereby the filler 8 is crushed and the sleeve 9 is squeezed. The gap between the pin 9 and the adjacent pin 10 is filled with the ridge 43, which is the filling material, and the three pins 10 are centered at O.
Are positioned equidistantly from this center O around.

Further, the optical fiber connector terminal body 8 of the optical fiber connector terminal 5 according to the present invention comprises a sleeve 9
Inside, 3 pins 10 around the center O of the sleeve 9,
The optical fiber insertion hole 12 is formed in the center O by arranging it at the same distance from the center O, and the sleeve 9 is crushed by reducing the diameter by rotary forging by a rotary swage machine, for example. The gap between the pin 9 and the adjacent pin 10 is filled by the sleeve 9 itself (compressed and deformed portion of the inner peripheral surface of the sleeve 9) as a filling means, and the optical fiber insertion hole 12 is filled with the optical fiber. 42 may be inserted and fixed.

11 (1) and 11 (2) show another embodiment of the present invention.

In the case of this embodiment, five pins 10 and
A sleeve 9 having five fillers 11 projecting toward the center O is used on the inner peripheral surface portion, and these pins 10 are placed in the sleeve 9 so that adjacent pins 10 are in contact with each other and 10 are inserted between the fillers 11 and the five pins 1
In the optical fiber insertion hole 12 formed by 0, the optical fiber element wire 42
Is inserted and fixed. The sleeve 9 is, for example, rotary-forged by a rotary waving machine, reduced in diameter and crushed to fill the gap between the sleeve 9 and the adjacent pin 10 with the filler 11 before and after the gap. The five pins 10 are positioned around the center O at an equal distance from the center O, the optical fiber insertion hole 12 is positioned at the center O, and the optical fiber 4
2 is located at the center O.

By using the five pins 10 as described above, the optical fiber insertion hole 12 is enlarged, and a thicker optical fiber element wire 42 can be used.

The method of manufacturing the optical fiber connector terminal 5 thus constructed is the same as the method of manufacturing the optical fiber connector terminal 5 using the three pins 10 described above.

As described above, also in the optical fiber connector terminal using the five pins 10 and the method of manufacturing the same, the filler 11 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the sleeve 9 as shown in FIG. It is possible to use the ridges 43 of the ridges, and also to utilize the compression deformation portion 9c of the sleeve 9 itself as shown in FIG.

Further, in the above-described optical fiber connector terminal and the manufacturing method thereof, a stainless hardened material (for example, SUS305) is used for the pin 10, and a non-quenched stainless steel is used for the sleeve 9, and a sleeve is used. Although the hardness of 9 was made smaller than that of the pin 10,
As long as the hardness of the bush 9 and the filling material 11 is smaller than that of the pin 10, the material is not limited to the stainless material, and other materials such as tungsten and beryllium may be used.

Further, in the method of manufacturing the optical fiber connector terminal 5, the diameter of the sleeve 9 into which the pin 10 is inserted is reduced by, for example, rotary forging using a rotary swaging machine. Sleeve 9 is crushed
The gap between the pin 9 and the adjacent pin 10 is filled in, and the pin 1
It suffices to position 0 around the center O and equidistantly from the center O, and such a processing technique is possible regardless of rotary forging.

According to the above-described embodiment, when the optical fiber wire 42 is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole 12, the optical fiber wire 12 is inserted into the optical fiber guide hole 1 of the guide block 6.
It is guided to the optical fiber insertion hole 12 by 9. Therefore, it is possible to easily and reliably insert the ultrafine optical fiber element wire 42 into the optical fiber insertion hole 12.

FIG. 14 shows another embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the guide portion B is formed integrally with the holding member 7. That is, a guide portion B is formed integrally with the holding member 7 behind the sleeve press-fitting portion 16 of the holding member 7, and an optical fiber guide hole 19 is formed at the center of the guide portion B. .. This optical fiber guide hole 1
9 is a circular taper hole in which the rear end opening 19a is made larger than the front end opening 19b, and the rear end opening 19a is
The holding member 7 has the same size as the rear end opening of the insertion hole 15 and is continuous with each other.

[0053]

As described above, in the optical fiber connector terminal according to the present invention, the optical fiber element wire of the optical fiber wire inserted in the holding member is held in the holding member for holding the main body of the optical fiber connector terminal. Since the guide portion for guiding the optical fiber insertion hole of the fiber connector terminal body is provided, when the optical fiber element wire is inserted into the optical fiber insertion hole, the optical fiber element wire is guided by the guide portion to the optical fiber insertion hole. Therefore, it is possible to easily and surely insert the ultrafine optical fiber element wire into the optical fiber insertion hole, and to improve the workability of manufacturing the optical fiber connector terminal.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view of an optical fiber connector having an optical fiber connector terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an optical fiber connector terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the same optical fiber connector terminal.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the same optical fiber connector terminal with an optical fiber line removed.

FIG. 5 is an end view of the same optical fiber connector terminal.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a holding member of the optical fiber connector terminal.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view of a guide block of the optical fiber connector terminal.

FIG. 8 is a rear view of the guide block.

FIG. 9 (1) is an explanatory view of a pin polishing step in the method for manufacturing an optical fiber connector terminal according to the present invention. (2) is explanatory drawing of the cutting process of the pipe in the same manufacturing method. (3) is explanatory drawing of the internal diameter standard hole creation process of a pipe. (4) (a) is an explanatory view from the front in a state where three pins are inserted in the sleeve. (4) and (b) are the same perspective views. (5) (a) is an end view of an optical fiber connector terminal material. (5) (b) is a perspective view. (5) and (c) are enlarged views of the central portion of (5) and (a). (6) is an explanatory view of a step of cutting an optical fiber connector terminal material. (7) (a) is explanatory drawing of the polishing process of the optical fiber insertion hole of an optical fiber connector terminal material. (7) (b) is a sectional view taken along line (7) (a) XX. (8) is an explanatory view of an outer shape finishing step of the optical fiber connector terminal material. (9) is an explanatory view of a process of finishing the end face right angle of the optical fiber connector terminal material. (10) is an explanatory view of an inner chamfering step of the optical fiber connector terminal material. (11) is an explanatory view of the outer chamfering step of the optical fiber connector terminal material. (12) is an explanatory view of optical fiber bonding in the optical fiber connector terminal material.

FIG. 10 (1) shows a sleeve in a process of manufacturing a sleeve of an optical fiber connector terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. (2) is a sleeve perspective view in the process of manufacturing the sleeve of the optical fiber connector terminal. (3) is an end view of the sleeve in the process of manufacturing the sleeve of the optical fiber connector terminal.

FIG. 11A is an end view of another embodiment of the optical fiber connector terminal body before the diameter reduction processing. (2) is an end view of the optical fiber connector terminal body after the diameter reduction processing.

FIG. 12 (1) is an end view of another embodiment of the optical fiber connector terminal body before diameter reduction processing. (2) is an end view of the optical fiber connector terminal body after the diameter reduction processing.

FIG. 13 (1) is an end view of another embodiment of the optical fiber connector terminal body before the diameter reduction processing. (2) is an end view of the optical fiber connector terminal body after the diameter reduction processing.

FIG. 14 is a vertical sectional view of an optical fiber connector terminal according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional optical fiber connector terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

 5 optical fiber connector terminal 6 guide member (guide part) 7 holding member 8 optical fiber connector terminal body 9 sleeve 10 pin 12 optical fiber insertion hole 41 optical fiber bare wire

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A holding member for holding an optical fiber connector terminal body is provided with a guide portion for guiding an optical fiber element wire of an optical fiber wire inserted in the holding member to an optical fiber insertion hole of the optical fiber connector terminal body. An optical fiber connector terminal characterized in that 2. The optical fiber connector terminal according to claim 1, wherein the guide portion is a guide block separate from the holding member. 3. The optical fiber connector terminal according to claim 1, wherein the guide portion is formed integrally with the holding member. 4. An optical fiber connector terminal body is
By arranging a plurality of pins around the center O of the sleeve and equidistant from the center O, the optical fiber insertion hole is formed in the center O and the diameter of the sleeve is reduced. The optical fiber connector terminal according to claim 1, wherein a gap formed by the crushing sleeve and the adjacent pin is filled with a filling means.