JPS584111A - Optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To connect optical fibers highly accurately and easily by making the sectional shape of a sleeve of a sleeve hole and ferrules a polygone. CONSTITUTION:In an optical connector consisting of a sleeve 11 with a hole in the axial direction of its center part and a pair of ferrules 12 holding optical fibers 5 on their centers and connecting the optical fibers by fitting and butting to each other from both sides of the sleeve 11, each ferrule has plural recessed parts 16 at regular intervals in the axial direction of the external periphery of the cylinder. The sleeve hole 14 forms a polygone consisting of the same number of planes as the number of recessed parts of a ferule so that the inside wall of the hole is brought into contact with a circular of which inner diameter is slightly smaller than the outside wall of a ferrule. When the connector is rotated by the prescribed number of times of rotation after inserting the fitting parts of the ferrules into the sleeve, the sleeve is pressed and elastically deformed, easily realizing the highly accurate arrangement of ferrules without large pressure.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an optical connector in which the cross-sectional shapes of the hole in the sleeve and the ferrule are polygonal, thereby making it possible to easily connect optical fibers with high precision.

Figure 1 shows various optical connectors using conventional ferrules (
Shown in 1) to (d).

Figure 1 (- indicates a method in which the ferrules are butted together inside a precision sleeve; in the figure, 1 is the sleeve, and 2゜2 is the ferrule. A hole 3 is formed in the center of the sleeve 1m in the axial direction. Ferrule 2 is located in hole 3 of sleeve 1M.
The optical fiber 5 is held in the center of the fitting part 4. In this case, ferrule 1
Check KtI between the outer diameter of the fitting part 4 of m and the inner diameter of the sleeve 11
A gap of 1,000 mm must be provided, which has the drawback of increasing connection loss.

In addition, Fig. 1(b) and (C) show a method in which the ferrules are butted together within an elastic sleeve, and Fig. 1(b) K
The elastic sleeve 1b shown is constructed by providing slots 6 in a cylindrical pipe, and the elastic sleeve 1c shown in FIG. 1(C) is constructed by providing slots 7.8 in a drum-shaped pipe.

In either case, fitting portions of the ferrule similar to those shown in FIG. 1(1) are fitted from both sides of the elastic sleeve, but in this case, the fitting portions are held in the elastic sleeve by the elasticity produced by the slot formation.

Furthermore, Fig. 1(d) is similar to Fig. 1(b), (C).
In this case, the sleeve 1d is made of an elastic material such as VX resin, and the fitting portion of the ferrule is held by the elasticity of the sleeve 1d.

In the case of the methods shown in Figure 1), (C), and (d), highly accurate ferrule alignment can be expected, but
On the other hand, there are problems such as a press force is required to fit the mating part of the ferrule into the sleeve, it is difficult to control the press fit margin of the mating part, and the rigidity of the sleeve itself is weak, so tight dimensional tolerances are required. It will be necessary and expensive.5
There are drawbacks.

The present invention is intended to solve the various drawbacks mentioned above, and is a low-cost optical connector in which the sleeve itself has enough rigidity to withstand a certain degree of external force, and which can realize highly accurate alignment of ferrules without requiring a large pressing force. is intended to provide.

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2-7.

A basic embodiment is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the optical connector, in which 11 is a sleeve and 12 and 12 are ferrules.

The sleeve 11 is formed by forming an equilateral triangular hole 14 in the center of a cylinder 13 made of an elastic material in the axial direction.

The ferrule 12 holds the optical fiber 5 in the center and has a cylindrical fitting part 15 at one end, and three recesses 16 extending in the axial direction are formed on the outer periphery of the fitting part 15. They are formed at equal intervals in the direction. The outer diameter of the fitting portion 15 is slightly larger than the diameter of a circle inscribed in the equilateral triangular inner wall of the hole 14.

The fitting and alignment of the ferrules 12, 12 to the sleeve 11 is performed by the following procedure.

That is, first, the fitting part 15 of each ferrule 12 is inserted into the hole 14 from both sides of the sleeve 11 as shown in FIG.
4, the insertion force is (mouth). Next, when each ferrule 12 is rotated by 60 degrees,
) As shown in K, the central part 17 of the fitting part 15 that does not form the recess 16 directly faces the inner wall of the hole 14, but the outer diameter of the fitting part 15 is inside the equilateral triangle of the hole 14 as described above. Since the diameter is slightly larger than the diameter of the contacting circle, in the state shown in FIG. with each ferrule 1
Each optical fiber 5 held in the center of the hole 14 is precisely positioned and connected to the center of the hole 14. Therefore, each ferrule 12 can be accurately aligned and securely held. Furthermore, when the ferrule 12 is rotated, the portion of the inner wall of the hole 14 that is deformed by the central portion 17 is smaller than in the conventional case shown in FIG. Dimensional accuracy can be relaxed, and inner thickness can be increased to increase rigidity.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment in which a ferrule guide and positioning means is added to the optical connector of FIG. 2, and in the figure, 21 is a sleeve and 22 is a ferrule.

Note that this figure shows only one side of the ferrule.

The sleeve 21 has a hole 2 in a cylinder 23 made of an elastic material.
4 and guide grooves 25, 25 are formed. The hole 24 is formed in the center of the cylinder 25 in the axial direction, and includes an equilateral triangular hole 26 similar to the equilateral triangular hole 14 in FIG. It consists of a guide hole 27.27. The guide groove 25 is connected to the guide hole 27
It consists of a groove 28 which is formed through the outer peripheral part of the column 23 and is opened in the end face of the cylinder 23 and formed in the axial direction, and a groove 29 which is continuous with the groove 28 and formed in the circumferential direction.

The FEL/S/22 holds the optical fiber 5 in the center and has a guide part 3o and a fitting part 15 in FIG. 2 at one end.
and a similar fitting part 61.

Guide bins 32 are arranged in the guide portion 30 in a radial direction.

Fitting of ferrule 22 to sleeve 21.

The alignment is performed by the following procedure.

That is, the fitting part 31 of the ferrule 22 is shown in FIG.
When the ferrule 22 is fitted into the equilateral triangular hole 26 and pushed in in the same manner as above, the guide portion 30 starts fitting into the guide hole 27 and the guide pin 32 starts fitting into the groove 28. When the ferrule 22 is rotated in the direction of arrow A when the guide bottle 32 reaches the end of the groove 28 as the pushing progresses, the guide bottle 32 is guided by the groove 29 and rotation proceeds smoothly. Then, when the ferrule 22 rotates 60 degrees, the guide pin 32 is locked in the locking part 35 at the end of the groove 29, and each protruding part of the fitting part 31 is inserted into the equilateral triangular hole as shown in FIG. 3(b). The inner wall of the ferrule 26 is suppressed and deformed, and each optical fiber 5 held at the center of the ferrule 22 in this state is accurately positioned at the center of the equilateral triangular hole 26 and connected.

Various application examples are shown in FIGS. 5 to 7.

In the case of FIG. 5, the sleeve 41 is composed of a chevron-shaped main body 42 and a flat elastic plate 43 that is fitted and held in the main body 42, and an equilateral triangular hole 44 is formed between these two members. There is.

The same ferrule as in the previous example is used, and the connection is made by fitting the fitting part of the ferrule into the equilateral triangular hole 44 and rotating it, as in the previous example. When the ferrule is rotated, the elastic plate 43 that engages with one of the protrusions of the fitting portion is elastically deformed to hold the ferrule and establish the connection.

In the case of FIG. 6, the sleeve 51 has a chevron-shaped main body 52K,
U-shaped bent portions 5 formed on both sides of the elastic plate 53
5a are fitted and held, and an equilateral triangular hole 54 is formed between these two members. The operation and effect are the same as in the case of FIG.

In the case of FIG. 7, the sleeve 61 is attached to the L-shaped main body 62,
It is constructed by fitting and holding U-shaped bent portions 63 formed at both ends of an L-shaped elastic plate 66, and a square hole 64 is formed between these two members. In this case, although not shown, four protrusions are formed on the fitting part of the ferrule, and when the ferrule is connected, when the fitting part is fitted into the square hole 64 and rotated, the adjacent The two sides of the elastic plate 63 that engage with the two protrusions are elastically deformed to hold the ferrule.

In the above explanation, there are three and four protrusions on the fitting part of the ferrule.
Although the number of protrusions has been described above, the number of protrusions may be greater than that, and the hole provided in the sleeve may have a shape corresponding to the number of protrusions. Further, the sleeve may be provided with a flange or made to be easily gripped, etc., as appropriate.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to achieve various excellent effects as described below.

(11) Since the sleeve does not require special dimensional accuracy, it can be easily manufactured by molding resin, etc., resulting in a significant cost reduction.

(2) Less ferrule pressing force is required.

(3) High rigidity of the sleeve.

(4) Highly accurate alignment of ferrules can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1((d) to d) are perspective views of various conventional optical connectors, FIGS. 2 to 7 show embodiments of the optical connector according to the present invention, and 2WA is an exploded perspective view; Figure 3(a)
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of another embodiment, and FIGS. 5 to 7 are side views showing various applications of the sleeve. In the figure, 11.21.41.51.61 is a sleeve, 12
゜22 is a ferrule, 15.23 is a cylinder, 14, 25゜44.54.64 is a polygonal hole, 15.31 is a fitting part, 1
6 is a concave portion, 17 is a protruding portion, 42, 52.62 is a main body, 4
3°55.63 is an elastic plate, and 558965m is a bent portion. Patent Applicant Fujitsu Ltd. Agent: Gobe Tamamushi, and 3 others Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6

Claims (1)

[Claims] A light comprising a sleeve having an axial hole in the center, and a pair of ferrules each holding an optical fiber in the center and connecting the optical fibers by fitting into the holes of the sleeve from both sides and abutting against each other. In the connector, the fitting portion of the ferrule with the sleeve is formed by a plurality of recesses extending in the axial direction on the outer periphery of the cylinder and formed at equal intervals in the circumferential direction, and the holes in the sleeve are formed by forming a plurality of recesses extending in the axial direction on the outer periphery of the cylinder. The sleeve is formed to form a polygon with the same number of plane groups as the recesses touching a circle with a diameter slightly smaller than the outer diameter of the fitting portion of the ferrule, and the sleeve 1. An optical connector characterized in that a portion is configured such that when the fitting portion is fitted into the polygonal hole and rotated by a predetermined amount, the portion is compressed by the outer periphery of the fitting portion and elastically deforms.