JPH1048465A - Protective cap for optical fiber connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make it possible to suppress the degradation in working efficiency in protective treatment of terminal parts even when the number of connectors is increased, by constituting three-dimensional spaces meeting the shape of optical fiber connectors by arranging plural pieces of these spaces side by side. SOLUTION: The protective cap 10 is formed into a square shape having tapered upper and lower outside wall surfaces 10a of the connector insertion side shown by an arrow and the part on the side opposite thereto. Four pieces of partition parts 12 forming the three-dimensional spaces 11 meeting the shape of the optical fiber connectors 1 are formed at equal intervals therein. The protective cap 10 allows the mounting of five pieces of the optical fiber connectors 1 by hour pieces of these partition parts 12. In such a case, the sizes of the protective cap 10 are formed to 15.5mm in width, 7.2mm in height and 11mm in depth. The protective cap 10 is produced of silicone rubber and has excellent impact resistance, wear resistance, etc. Since the protective cap 10 is easily tightly adherable to the optical fiber connectors 1, the holdability after the inserting of the connectors is easy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a protective cap for an optical fiber connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when an optical fiber cable is connected to a connector, a protective cap is attached to a distal end portion of the connector before the connection to prevent the connector from being stained or damaged. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a state in which the protective cap 2 is attached to the optical fiber connector 1 of the JIS C 5981 standard, and FIG. 5 is a side view thereof. In this case, the dimensions of the protective cap 2 are 8.5 mm in width, 5 mm in height, and 6.2 mm in depth. In actual use, a plurality of optical fiber cables are often handled as a single unit. In this case, as shown in FIG. 6A, a protective cap 2 is attached to each connector 1 to protect the terminal. After that, each connector 1 is integrated by further wrapping with the cushioning material 3 shown in (B), and then housed in the protective tube 4 shown in (C).

[0003]

However, the following problems have been encountered in the above-mentioned conventional terminal cable protection processing for a cable with an optical fiber connector. That is, the protection tube 4
Since the outer diameter of the optical fiber cable cannot be increased due to the workability at the time of extending the optical fiber cable, when the number of connectors increases, the work of storing the cable in the protective tube 4 cannot be performed smoothly, and the workability deteriorates. Work efficiency is reduced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a protective cap for an optical fiber connector which can suppress a decrease in working efficiency in a terminal part protecting process even when the number of connectors increases. Aim.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a protective cap for an optical fiber connector, comprising:
It may be characterized in that a plurality of three-dimensional spaces corresponding to the shape of the optical fiber connector are connected in series. Or,
The protective cap for an optical fiber connector is characterized in that a portion opposite to the connector insertion side is formed in a tapered shape. Alternatively, the protective cap for an optical fiber connector may be made of an elastic material.

[0006] Since a plurality of optical fiber connectors can be mounted in one common protective cap, the overall cross-sectional area can be reduced as compared with the case where a protective cap is mounted on each of the optical fiber connectors. In addition, since the end on the insertion side into the protection tube opposite to the connector insertion side is formed in a tapered shape, storage in the protection tube can be further facilitated. In addition, by using a material having elasticity, impact resistance is improved and detachability of the connector is improved.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a protective cap for an optical fiber connector according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a protective cap for an optical fiber connector according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view thereof. As shown in FIG. 1, an optical fiber connector protection cap (hereinafter referred to as a protection cap) 10 of this embodiment has a tapered upper and lower outer wall surface 10a at a portion opposite to the connector insertion side indicated by an arrow. It has a rectangular shape, and four partitions 12 are formed at regular intervals in the inside thereof to form a three-dimensional space 11 corresponding to the shape of the optical fiber connector 1. The four caps 12 allow the protective cap 10 to mount five optical fiber connectors 1. In this case, the dimensions of the protective cap 10 are 15.5 mm in width, 7.2 mm in height, and 11 mm in depth. The protective cap 10 is made of silicone rubber, and has excellent impact resistance, cold resistance, heat resistance and electrical insulation. In addition, by using a silicon rubber, it is easy to adhere to the optical fiber connector 1, so that the retention after the connector is inserted is improved. That is, it becomes difficult to pull out.

[0010] As shown in FIG. 2, the optical fiber connector 1 is inserted into a space 11 defined by a partition 12. In this case, the protective cap 10 can be attached to each optical fiber connector 1 even if there is a deviation of, for example, about 1 to 2 mm due to a dimensional tolerance in the production of the connector or a reason for the connector insertion operation. It has enough depth. When all five optical fiber connectors 1 are mounted, the state shown in FIG. 3 is obtained.

As described above, by mounting the five optical fiber connectors 1 on one protective cap 2, the overlap of the partition portions is substantially smaller than when the protective caps 2 are mounted on each of the optical fiber connectors 1. The gap is omitted and the overall cross-sectional area can be reduced. Therefore, it is easy to store in the protection tube 4 (see FIG. 6), and even if the number of connectors increases, the use of one common protection cap 2 can suppress a decrease in work efficiency. Further, since the working efficiency is improved, the cost can be reduced, and the protection tube housing work is reliably performed, so that the reliability is improved. In addition, since the protection tube 4 having a small outer diameter can be used as much as the entire cross-sectional area is reduced, the workability at the time of extending the optical fiber cable is also improved.

Here, the difference between the cross-sectional area in the conventional case and the cross-sectional area in the present embodiment will be specifically described. The cross-sectional area per five conventional protective caps 2 shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is 5 mm × 8.5 mm × 5 = 212.5 mm ² . The cross-sectional area of this embodiment is 15.5 mm × 7.2 mm = 1111.6 mm ² . As a result, the size is reduced to about 53% of the conventional size.

As described above, in this embodiment, five three-dimensional spaces 11 corresponding to the shape of the optical fiber connector 1 are formed in a row, and five optical fiber connectors 1 can be mounted in each space 11. did. Therefore, the overall cross-sectional area is smaller than in the conventional case in which the protective cap 2 is attached to each of the five optical fiber connectors 1, and the storage in the protective tube 4 is facilitated. As a result, work efficiency is improved, so that cost can be reduced and reliability is improved. In addition, since the protection tube 4 having a small outer diameter can be used as much as the entire cross-sectional area is reduced, the workability at the time of extending the optical fiber cable is also improved.

In the above embodiment, five optical fiber connectors 1 can be mounted, but the number is not limited. For example, in order to be able to mount six optical fiber connectors 1, one more space 11 may be added. Further, the spaces 11 for mounting the optical fiber connectors 1 do not need to be arranged in a horizontal line, and may be arranged vertically and horizontally. In the above embodiment, JIS C 59
Although the optical fiber connector 1 of the 81 standard is attached, the invention is not limited to this standard. Further, in the above embodiment, a silicon-based rubber is used as the material of the protective cap 2, but the material is not limited to the silicon-based rubber as long as it has elasticity.

[0013]

As described above, according to the optical fiber connector protective cap of the present invention, a plurality of three-dimensional spaces corresponding to the shape of the optical fiber connector are continuously formed.
Since a plurality of optical fiber connectors can be installed in each space, the overall cross-sectional area can be reduced as compared with the case where protective caps are mounted on each of the optical fiber connectors. In addition to this, it is possible to suppress a decrease in work efficiency even when the number of connectors increases. In addition, since a protective tube having a small outer diameter can be used, workability in extending the optical fiber cable can be improved.

Further, if the portion of the protective cap for the optical fiber connector opposite to the connector insertion side is formed in a tapered shape, it can be more easily housed in the protective tube. Further, when the protective cap for the optical fiber connector is made of a material having elasticity, the impact resistance can be improved, and the optical fiber connector can be easily adhered to the optical fiber connector. When a silicon-based rubber is used as this material, a material excellent in cold resistance, heat resistance, and electrical insulation can be obtained, and the reliability can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a protective cap for an optical fiber connector according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the optical fiber connector protective cap of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a use state of the optical fiber connector protective cap of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a conventional optical fiber connector protective cap.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the optical fiber connector protective cap of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a process of processing a terminal unit using the optical fiber connector protective cap of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber connector 10 Protection cap for optical fiber connectors 11 Space

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A protective cap for an optical fiber connector, comprising a plurality of three-dimensional spaces corresponding to the shape of the optical fiber connector. 2. The protective cap for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, wherein a portion opposite to the connector insertion side is formed in a tapered shape. 3. The protective cap for an optical fiber connector according to claim 1, wherein the protective cap is made of a material having elasticity. 4. The protective cap for an optical fiber connector according to claim 3, wherein said elastic material is a silicon rubber.