JPS6161111A - Optical connector of multi-core - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a small-sized and highly accurate ferrule reduced at its thickness by arranging optical fibers having plural cores on the center axis of a cylindrical ferrule in the diameter direction and forming grooves on its outer peripheral part. CONSTITUTION:The optical fibers 2 having plural cores are arranged in parallel on the center axis 6 of the cylindrical ferrule 11 in the diameter direction and the grooves 7 are formed on the outer peripheral parts of both the ends of the center axis so that the axis 6 becomes the center line of the grooves 7. When two ferrules 11 are inserted into a metallic sleave 8 so as to be opposed to each other and pins are engaged with the grooves 4, the ferrules 11 are pressed by the sleave 8 having a cut groove 8a and positioned. Since the pins 4 are pressed by the sleave 8, the thickness of the ferrule 11 can be thinned to obtain a small-sized and highly accurate ferrule and it is unnecessary to work the pins 4 highly accurately.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Technical Field of the Invention) The present invention relates to a multi-core optical connector that is applied to an optical fiber core in which a plurality of optical fibers are arranged in parallel in a straight line. be.

(Background of the Invention) With the increasing density of optical cables, optical fibers in which multiple optical fibers are installed in parallel in a single fiber are becoming indispensable. There is a demand for a multi-core optical connector that is large and has good characteristics.

The structure of the ferrule of a conventional multi-core optical connector and its connection state are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Figure 4 is a perspective view of an example of a ferrule for a 5-fiber optical connector.The cross-sectional shape of the ferrule is rectangular, and five optical fibers are arranged in a straight line in the width direction, and pins for positioning are placed on the outside of the ferrule. Insertion holes (371L) (3A) for insertion are arranged side by side. Figure 5 is a front view showing the coupled state of such a ferrule (1), where the positioning pin (4) is inserted into the pin insertion hole (3) (3).
a) (46) has been inserted, and alignment of the optical fiber (2) fixed within the ferrule (1) has been realized. In the drawing, (5) is an optical fiber core in which five optical fibers (2) are arranged in parallel in a straight line.

” The problem with conventional multi-core optical connectors is that the τJ method becomes large. That is, taking the case of the current five-fiber human optical connector as an example, the optical fiber core wire (5) has a width of about 1
．． 8m++, and the thickness is about 0.61, whereas the size of the ferrule (+1) is about 9ml in width and about 5mm in thickness.The reason why it is so large is that the optical fiber (2) In order to maintain alignment accuracy, the outer diameter must be at least 1
mmφ pin (4α) (ship) is required, and if the ferrule (1) is molded from synthetic resin, the wall thickness of the outer periphery of the pin insertion hole must be at least 1 m from the strong surface. This is because it will not happen. As described above, with the structure of the ferrule (1) as shown in FIG. 4, it was inevitable that the monthly charge would become large.

(Disclosure of the Invention) The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and provides a compact multi-core optical connector with good characteristics. The ferrule is characterized in that a plurality of optical fibers are arranged side by side on the central axis in the diametrical direction, and a groove centered on the central axis is provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical ferrule.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a ferrule 01) in a multi-core optical connector according to the present invention. Fibers (21) are arranged parallel to each other at intervals and embedded in the outer periphery of the ferrule OD of the central axis (6) 1-.
7α) (7,6) is provided, and when joining two ferrules, fit the pin (4oL) (481) into (7a) (78) to determine the relative position of the ferrule 01. It has a structure. (See Figures 2 and 3).

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing a state in which two of the ferrules OD shown in FIG. 1 are combined, and FIG.
FIG. Pins (4^) (4a) are fitted into the grooves (7^) (78) of the opposing ferrules (ID) to position the ferrules, and a metal groove (8α) is formed on the outside of the pins (4^) (4a). The sleeve (8) is inserted and constantly presses the pin (4α) (see Fig. 3) to fix it (1).

In addition, the ferrule 01) is
” 4゛Nl 111 (6) ,,,l: (')
″1(Ill I'L64″′′”(°)30″)(7
α) (78) is set 81 so that the center position of the optical fiber (2) is symmetrical even if the ferrule (ID) is rotated 180° and connected. It has become.

(Effect of the invention) According to the optical connector of the present invention, one of the ferrules
A groove is provided on the outer periphery of the ferrule for inserting a positioning pin for 118 engagement, and the pin is pressed by the split sleeve in this groove, making it possible to reduce the thickness of the ferrule. In order to obtain the same mechanical strength as before, use the method 11 of the ferrule.
mm x 5 mm, the outer diameter of the cylinder can be reduced by about 5 mm. Also, when ferrules are molded from synthetic resin, variations in the molding shrinkage rate of the resin are a problem because high precision in usage is required, or even if the variation in shrinkage rate remains the same by making the ferrule smaller. Variations in absolute dimensions can be kept small, making it possible to obtain ferrules with higher precision than conventional ones.

Furthermore, in the conventional ferrule structure, the outer diameter of the pin and the inner diameter of the insertion hole must be used with high accuracy, but when using the ferrule of the present invention, the pin only needs to be pressed into the groove by the split sleeve, which is different from the conventional ferrule structure. It has advantages such as requiring high precision and being able to reduce costs.

4. Explanation of the drawings Fig. 1 shows the ferrule diagonal 451 in the multi-core optical connector of the present invention, and Fig. 2 shows the ferrule O, 11 of the ferrule in Fig. 1.
FIG. 3 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the combined state, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 2.

4 is a perspective view of a conventional ferrule, and FIG. 5 is a front view showing the ferrule of FIG. 4 in a coupled state.

t, 11... Ferrule, 2... Optical fiber, 4
^.

48... Pin, 5... Optical fiber core wire, 6... Center axis of ferrule (11), 76L, 76... Pin groove, 8... Split sleeve.

1st leap 7?2 figure heart W4 leap π5 diagram

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a multi-fiber optical connector that allows multiple optical fibers to be connected and detached at once, the ferrule of the optical connector is formed into a cylindrical shape, and the ferrule of the optical connector is formed in a cylindrical shape, and the ferrule of the optical connector is formed so that the ferrule of the optical fiber is connected to A multi-fiber optical connector characterized in that optical fibers are arranged in parallel and a groove centered on the central axis is provided on the outer periphery of a cylindrical ferrule on the central axis.