JP2612841B2 - Ferrule cleaning device for fiber optic connectors - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ferrule cleaning device for an optical fiber cable attached to an optical fiber connector.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At the time of connection of an optical fiber, if dust or oil is attached between end faces of the optical fiber to be connected, the optical connection characteristics may be significantly deteriorated. For this reason, the end face of the ferrule connected to the optical fiber is manually cleaned as needed. Conventionally, the end faces of the optical fiber and the ferrule have been cleaned with alcohol and dust-free cleaning paper. Alternatively, the end face of the optical fiber together with the end face of the ferrule has been cleaned with a cleaning swab or the like.

[0003]

However, an optical fiber is extremely thin compared to a ferrule. In addition, the end face of the ferrule has a tapered shape with a large chamfer. Even if the end face is intended to be cleaned with a cotton swab, the end face of the ferrule is often wiped off the end face of the optical fiber. Therefore, this cleaning requires skill.

The present invention solves such a conventional problem,
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a ferrule cleaning device for an optical fiber connector that can easily and reliably clean an end face of a ferrule.

[0005]

According to the present invention, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical connector comprising a ferrule on which an optical fiber is mounted, a plug containing the ferrule, and a housing containing the plug. In a ferrule cleaning device that cleans a ferrule with a generally bar-shaped cleaning tool, the ferrule cleaning device includes a guide jig and a cleaning jig, the guide jig has a guide hole, and the guide hole has a guide hole. A through hole having a structure having a coupling portion with a housing for externally fitting to the housing on one end side and a guide portion for mounting the cleaning jig on the other end side, wherein the cleaning jig is An insertion portion that is inserted into the guide portion of the guide hole, and a cleaning hole that penetrates and is formed so that the rod-shaped cleaning tool can be inserted therein, and the guide jig is externally fitted to the housing. When the cleaning jig is attached to the guide portion of the guide jig, the center axes of the ferrule and the cleaning hole substantially coincide with each other and one end of the cleaning hole faces the ferrule. Is achieved by

[0006]

In the present invention having such a configuration, first, the sleeve holder is pulled out of the ferrule by using a jig as appropriate, and the guide jig of the present invention is externally fitted to the housing of the connector. If a removal tool guided by the guide jig is used, the sleeve holder can be removed at this time.

Next, a cleaning jig is inserted into the guide jig to a predetermined position. Then, the end of the ferrule, which has reached one end of the guide hole of the guide jig, enters the one end of the cleaning hole of the cleaning jig.

Thereafter, a cleaning member such as a cleaning swab is inserted from the other end of the cleaning hole, and the end of the cleaning member is brought into contact with the ferrule end face to clean the ferrule end face. Thus,
The end face of the optical fiber is reliably cleaned together with the ferrule end face.

[0009]

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

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an optical fiber connector, a guide jig and a cleaning jig of the present invention in a separated state, and FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view in a state where these are assembled.

In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes an optical fiber connector to which two optical fiber cables are connected (only the left one is shown in FIG. 1). A ferrule 11 is attached to the optical fiber cable, and a sleeve holder 12 is fitted to the ferrule 11 at a front portion thereof. The sleeve holder 12 has a flange portion 1 at an intermediate portion.
2A, the projecting wall portion 14 formed on the housing 13
The locking portion 14A at the distal end of the sleeve holder 12 is locked to the flange portion 12A to prevent the sleeve holder 12 from coming off.
When the sleeve holder 12 is inserted and removed, the projecting wall portion 14 is elastically deformed so as to widen the interval between the opposing projecting wall portions 14 on one side of the sleeve holder 12 by using an appropriate tool, so that the sleeve holder 12 can pass through. And

Reference numeral 20 denotes a guide jig. The guide jig 20 has a guide hole 22 formed to penetrate a cylindrical jig body 21 having a rectangular cross section. The guide jig 20 is fitted to the housing of the connector 10 at the left end side of the guide hole 22. The guide jig 20 has a fixing device 23 at the left end.

The fixing device 23 has a tapered surface attached to the lower end of the shaft 24 by a predetermined angle of rotation of a handle 25 attached to the upper portion of the shaft 24 that penetrates the upper wall of the jig body 21. The pressing piece 26 is pressed against a part of the housing to fix the position with respect to the housing. In the handle 25, a spring 28 is incorporated in an annular space closed at the bottom by a washer 27, and urges the handle 25 and the shaft 24 upward. A disk 29 is attached to the lower end of the shaft 24, and the disk 2
In 9, a cam pin 30 is implanted at a lateral position of the shaft 24. A spiral groove 31 is formed on the back surface of the upper wall of the jig main body 21 so as to press the cam pin 30 to move in the axial direction when the shaft body 24 rotates around its axis. The above-described pressing piece 26 is attached to the shaft body 24. The pressing piece 26 has a shaft portion 26A facing upward.
(See FIG. 2), the relative rotation about the axis is free with respect to the axis 24, and the pressing piece 26 is moved up and down by a predetermined amount by rotation of the handle 25 at a predetermined angle about the axis. Only movement occurs.

The guide jig 20 is provided with a guide switching device 32 at the right end of the guide hole 22. Jig body 2
A guide groove 3 is formed on the inner surface of the upper wall 1 toward the right end of the guide hole 22.
The movable key 3 is formed in the right half of the width direction.
4 are arranged. The movable key 34 is attached to the jig main body 2.
1 is connected to a slide handle 35 movably provided on the outer surface of the upper wall 1 so that the key groove can be selected and moved left and right in the width direction. By moving the slide handle 35 left and right, the position of the key groove also moves. On the inner surface of the lower wall of the jig body 21, a groove 36 having the same width and depth as the guide groove 33 extends in the longitudinal direction of the jig body 21 to the same position as the guide groove 33.

The cleaning jig 40 has an insertion portion 41 and a flange portion 42. The insertion portion 41 is kept in contact with the guide jig until the flange portion 42 contacts the right end surface of the guide jig 20. It is formed in such a size that it can be smoothly inserted into the 20 guide holes 22. When the cleaning jig 40 is inserted into the guide hole 22 of the guide jig 20 attached to the housing, two holes 43 and 44 having an axis are provided on an extension of the axis of the two ferrules of the connector. I have. One of the holes 43 and 44 is a cleaning hole, and is a through-hole that is opened in the flange portion 42 as a step-like enlarged portion at an intermediate portion. The other hole 44 is the insertion portion 4
1 is closed at an intermediate portion. In addition, both holes 43,
Reference numeral 44 denotes an inner diameter capable of accommodating the sleeve holder at the tip end (opposite the flange) side.

The insertion portion 41 has elastic legs 4 whose left and right ends in the width direction of the upper and lower surfaces extend in the axial direction from the flange portion 42 side.
5 and the leg 45 has a projection 45
A. The half of the width direction of the portion 46 is a key portion 4 for making the insertion portion projecting in the thickness direction reverse and asymmetric.
It is 7. In the illustrated example, the key portion 47 is a key left on the left side of the guide groove 33 when the movable key 34 of the guide jig 20 is in the guide groove 33 and moves to the right in the width direction. It is formed at the position and size to be inserted into the space. A key portion on the lower surface of the insertion portion not shown in FIG. 1 is also formed on the same left portion. Therefore, the cleaning jig 40
Is turned upside down, the up / down key section 47 comes to the right.

The cleaning of the ferrule using the apparatus of this embodiment is performed in the following manner.

First, a ferrule 11 is appropriately formed using a tool.
For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the connector housing 13 from which the right sleeve holder 12 in FIG.
The guide jig 20 is fitted. After the fitting, the handle 25 is turned by a predetermined angle to lower the pressing piece 26, and the tapered surface presses the corresponding tapered surface of the housing.
Fix the position of.

Slide handle 35 of guide jig 20
Is moved to the right in FIG. 1 to move the movable key 34 to the right, leaving the left part of the guide groove 33 as a space.

It is confirmed that the key portion 47 of the cleaning jig 40 is located on the left side, and the key portion 47 is inserted into the left space as the key groove of the guide groove 33 so that the cleaning jig 40 is located.
Is inserted into the guide hole 22 until the flange portion 42 abuts. At this time, the elastic leg 45 of the cleaning jig 40 is used.
The projection 45A is pressed by the upper and lower inner surfaces of the guide hole 22 to be elastically deformed, and a relatively large frictional force is generated between the protrusion 45A and the upper and lower inner surfaces by the elastic force.
You will not fall out.

Thus, as shown in FIG.
3 comes to face the right ferrule. Further, the sleeve holder 1 that has not been removed yet is inserted into the left hole 44.
2 are accommodated.

In this state, a cleaning swab or the like is inserted from the cleaning hole 43, and the end of the optical fiber together with the end of the ferrule is cleaned at the tip.

When it is desired to clean the left ferrule, the movable key 34 is moved to the left, the cleaning jig 40 is turned upside down, and the cleaning can be performed in the same manner.

In this embodiment, the guide jig 20 is used to
The sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool 50 as shown in FIG. 3 can also be guided. The insertion / extraction tool 50 has a tubular portion 51 guided by the guide hole 22, and an insertion / extraction body 52 for inserting / extracting the left sleeve holder is provided in a left region inside the insertion / extraction tool 50. Has become. A key portion 5 corresponding to the key portion 47 of the cleaning jig 40 is provided on an outer surface of the cylindrical portion 51.
3 is provided on the right side in the width direction. Therefore, when inserting or removing the left sleeve holder, the slide handle 35 of the guide jig is moved to the left to form a guide space at the right portion of the guide groove 33, and the key portion 53 is inserted therein. The insertion / extraction tool 50 is inserted into the guide hole 22, and the insertion / extraction of the left sleeve holder is performed by the insertion / extraction body 52. To insert and remove the right sleeve holder, slide handle 35
May be moved to the right, and the insertion / extraction tool may be used upside down. In the present embodiment, an optical connector having a structure in which a sleeve holder is mounted on a ferrule has been described. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be similarly applied to a connector having a structure in which a sleeve holder is not used.

Further, the fixing device 23 and the guide switching device 32 are not essential for the guide jig. Fixing device 2
It is sufficient that the guide jig can be simply fitted into the housing even if the cleaning jig is not provided. By the selection, the predetermined ferrule can be sufficiently cleaned. Further, although the present embodiment has been described with respect to the optical connector having the cylindrical ferrule, it goes without saying that the present invention can be similarly applied to a multi-core ferrule having a rectangular cross section in which a multi-core fiber is incorporated. Absent.

In the present embodiment, an example of cleaning and inserting and removing optical fibers when two sleeve holders are mounted on the connector housing has been described. However, if the number of optical fibers is even, any number of optical fibers can be used in this embodiment. It is feasible. For example, in the case of eight, the tool corresponds to a sleeve holder to be fitted to the ferrule of a total of four optical fiber cables every other,
If a total of four sleeve holder insertion / removal members are provided, a total of four sleeve holders can be inserted / extracted at a time, and the remaining four sleeve holders can be inserted / extracted by inverting the tool. Similarly, the cleaning jig can also invert four optical fiber cables by inversion. In the case of the above-mentioned tool, it is necessary that the elastic locking members of the four sleeve holder insertion / extraction bodies can be interlocked.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cleaning jig is inserted into the guide jig fitted into the connector housing, and the ferrule end face is cleaned by the cleaning member through the cleaning hole of the cleaning jig. Therefore, the ferrule end face, that is, the optical fiber end face can be reliably cleaned, and the cleaning member can be easily positioned on the ferrule end face even if a jig is used to pull out the sleeve holder, so that the ferrule end face can be reliably and easily cleaned. The effect is that it can be performed.
In addition, by operating the key, the insertion direction of the cleaning jig can be regulated, and when cleaning only a predetermined ferrule of a multi-core optical connector having a large number of ferrules, a cleaning operation other than the predetermined ferrule is performed. Can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially broken perspective view showing a guide jig and a cleaning jig according to an embodiment of the present invention together with a connector in a separated state.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a state in which the one shown in FIG. 1 is incorporated.

FIG. 3 is a partially broken perspective view of a sleeve holder insertion / extraction tool that can be used by using the guide jig of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 optical fiber connector 11 ferrule 12 sleeve holder 20 guide jig 22 guide hole 33 key groove (guide groove) 40 cleaning jig 43 cleaning hole 47 key (key part)

Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Shinichi Iwano 1-6-1 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Kazunori Kanayama 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Stocks In-company (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Ando 1-1-6 Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (56) References JP-A-61-219911 (JP, A) JP-A-62-125303 (JP) , A)

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A ferrule cleaning device for cleaning a ferrule of an optical connector comprising a ferrule on which an optical fiber is mounted, a plug containing the ferrule, and a housing containing the plug with a generally rod-shaped cleaning tool. The ferrule cleaning device includes a guide jig and a cleaning jig, the guide jig has a guide hole, and the guide hole is provided at one end thereof with a housing for externally fitting to the housing. The coupling portion, a through hole of a structure having a guide portion for mounting the cleaning jig on the other end side, wherein the cleaning jig is an insertion portion inserted into the guide portion of the guide hole, A penetrating cleaning hole formed so that the rod-shaped cleaning tool can be fitted therein, the guide jig is externally fitted to the housing and connected thereto, and the cleaning jig is fitted to the guide jig. Cleaning the ferrule for an optical fiber connector, wherein the ferrule and the cleaning hole are formed such that the central axes of the cleaning hole and the cleaning hole substantially coincide with each other when attached to the guide portion, and one end of the cleaning hole faces the ferrule. apparatus. 2. A ferrule for cleaning a ferrule of a multi-core optical connector comprising a ferrule equipped with an optical fiber, a plug containing the ferrule, and a housing containing a plurality of the plugs, using a generally bar-shaped cleaning tool. In the cleaning device, the ferrule cleaning device includes:
The guide jig includes a guide jig and a cleaning jig, the guide jig has a guide hole, and the guide hole has a coupling portion with a housing for externally fitting to the housing at one end thereof.
A through hole having a guide portion for mounting the cleaning jig on the other end side, wherein the cleaning jig includes an insertion portion inserted into the guide portion of the guide hole, and the rod-shaped cleaning tool A plurality of through-holes formed so as to be able to be inserted into the housing, and when the guide jig is externally fitted to the housing and connected thereto, and the cleaning jig is attached to a guide portion of the guide jig, An optical fiber, wherein a center axis of each of the plurality of ferrules and each of the plurality of cleaning holes substantially coincide with each other, and one end of each of the cleaning holes faces each of the ferrules. Ferrule cleaning device for connectors. 3. A ferrule for cleaning a ferrule of a multi-core optical connector comprising a ferrule equipped with an optical fiber, a plug containing the ferrule, and a housing containing a plurality of the plugs, using a generally bar-shaped cleaning tool. In the cleaning device, the ferrule cleaning device includes:
The guide jig includes a guide jig and a cleaning jig, the guide jig has a guide hole, and the guide hole has a coupling portion with a housing for externally fitting to the housing at one end thereof.
A through hole having a guide portion for mounting the cleaning jig on the other end side, wherein the cleaning jig includes an insertion portion inserted into the guide portion of the guide hole, and the rod-shaped cleaning tool A predetermined number of cleaning holes formed so as to be able to be inserted thereinto at predetermined positions, externally connecting the guide jig to the housing and connecting the cleaning jig to the guide portion of the guide jig. When mounted, the predetermined ferrules of the plurality of ferrules and the predetermined number of the respective cleaning holes are formed such that the central axes thereof substantially coincide with each other, and one end of each of the cleaning holes faces each of the ferrules. A ferrule cleaning device for an optical fiber connector, characterized in that a predetermined ferrule can be cleaned by being provided. 4. The ferrule cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the insertion portion of the cleaning jig and the guide portion of the guide jig are both generally inverted and symmetrical with respect to the center axis thereof, A ferrule cleaning device for an optical fiber connector, wherein a cleaning jig can be inserted into a guide jig by being inverted with respect to a center axis. 5. The ferrule cleaning device according to claim 1, wherein the guide portion of the guide jig has a structure that is substantially inverted and symmetrical about the center axis thereof, and a key can be moved to the guide portion. The insertion portion of the cleaning jig has a generally inverted symmetrical structure about its center axis, and an inverted asymmetric portion is provided in a part of the insertion portion. Position of the cleaning jig so that the inverted asymmetric portion of the insertion portion of the cleaning jig and the key of the guide jig interfere with each other or do not interfere with each other, thereby restricting the insertion direction of the cleaning jig into the guide jig. A ferrule cleaning device for an optical fiber connector, wherein