JP3213046B2 - Optical connector holder - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connector holder for holding a pair of optical connectors optically coupled via guide pins.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art MF optical connectors, MT optical connectors, SV optical connectors, etc., which are conventionally known as multi-core optical connectors, are positioned by inserting guide pins into guide pin holes formed for positioning. While the front end faces abut each other, they are optically coupled. In order to stably maintain the optical coupling, a clamp that presses the optical connector from the rear end face side in the axial direction of the optical fiber is used as an optical connector holder.

FIGS. 5A and 5B show an optical coupling state of an MT optical connector. As shown in both figures, the optical connector 1
Has two guide pin holes 2 penetrating in the axial direction of the optical fiber.
And the front end faces 4 where the end faces of the optical fiber are positioned and arranged are abutted to each other, so that the optical fibers are optically coupled. The clip 5 that stably holds the optically coupled state has a structure in which the rear end face 8 of the optical connector 1 is sandwiched by leaf springs 7 provided at both ends of the plate-like member 6.

[0004]

The guide pin 3 used for coupling the optical connectors 1 is, for example, 0.7 m in diameter.
m and a length as small as about 11 mm, it takes a lot of trouble to insert it into the guide pin hole 2 by hand and while preventing dust and the like from adhering.

The clip 5 which is a conventional optical connector holder has a structure in which the pair of optical connectors 1 is sandwiched and held between the leaf spring portions 7. The rear end face 8 of the connector 1 is pressurized from a direction different from the optical fiber axial direction, and as a result, the front end faces 4 do not completely adhere to each other, and there is a problem that connection loss increases. Further, when the clip 5 is detached, there is a problem that the distal end surfaces 4 are slanted against each other, and the peripheral edge is chipped particularly in an optical connector made of silicon.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an optical fiber connector holder which can easily connect optical connectors with good workability and with low loss.

[0007]

An optical connector holder according to the present invention, which achieves the above object, has at least a pair of optical connectors which are optically coupled in a state where front end faces are brought into close contact with each other and a guide pin is inserted into a guide pin hole. An optical connector holder for holding a connector, comprising: a housing for accommodating the pair of optical connectors; and a rear end face of one of the optical connectors of the pair of optical connectors, the housing being held by the housing and being movable in a longitudinal direction. a guide pin inserted into the guide pin holes, the pair of optical connectors together formed by and a pressurizing means for pressurizing its fiber axis direction, the pressure圧手
A step is provided on a part of the guide pin and it is
The large-diameter stepped part contacts the rear end face of one optical connector.
And the guide pin acts as a biasing means.
Is further urged in the insertion direction.
Pressure force of the pressure means, and said urging means
A spring, the spring force of which is spherical on one side and makes point contact
Transmission to the guide pin via at least one contact part
It is characterized by being performed.

[0008]

When the optical fiber holder having the above construction is used, a pair of optical connectors are accommodated in a predetermined position of the housing with their front end surfaces aligned with each other, and held in the housing from the rear end surface side of one of the optical connectors. The pair of optical connectors are securely connected to each other by moving the guide pins and inserting the guide pins into the guide pin holes of the pair of optical connectors, and pressing the pair of optical connectors in the axial direction of the optical fiber by pressing means. Is optically coupled with low loss and is stably held.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an optical fiber holder according to an embodiment with a lid removed, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an optical fiber holder with a lid covered, and FIG. FIG.

As shown in these drawings, the housing 11 of the optical fiber holder has a housing portion 11a capable of housing a pair of optical connectors 12 whose front end faces are matched. A pair of optical connectors 1 housed in the housing portion 11a
Each of the guide pins 2 has a guide pin hole 13 in the fiber axis direction, and the movement in the direction perpendicular to the fiber axis is regulated to some extent, and the guide pin holes 13 are held in a state where they communicate with each other.

A pair of guide pins 14 are held at the rear side of one (right side in the drawing) optical connector 12 housed in the housing 11 so as to be movable in the longitudinal direction. That is, the guide pin 14 is housed in the groove 11b of the housing 11 and is movable in the longitudinal direction with the movement in the radial direction being restricted to some extent.

The distal end of the guide pin 14 is a tapered portion 14a whose diameter decreases toward the distal end.
A narrowed portion 14b having a small diameter is formed at the rear end of 4. A stepped portion 14c is formed at an intermediate portion of the guide pin 14, and the front end side of the stepped portion 14c has a diameter smaller than the guide pin hole 13 by a certain clearance, and the rear end side is larger than the guide pin hole 13. Diameter.

A moving body 15 that moves together with the guide pin 14 is attached to the rear end of the guide pin 14. That is, the movable body 15 is formed with an engagement hole 15a having a diameter slightly larger than the rear end of the guide pin 14, and the rear end of the guide pin 14 is loosely fitted in the engagement hole 15a. Is carried out by an engaging pin 16 which is inserted from the side of the moving body 15 and the tip of which is in contact with the constricted portion 14b of the guide pin 14.

Further, a spring accommodating groove 11c is provided at the center of the rear side (right side in the figure) of the movable body 15 so as to extend in the moving direction of the guide pin 14. The urging member 17 and the urging member 17 are provided in the accommodating groove 11c. A coil spring 18 is housed. Urging member 1
Reference numeral 7 denotes a core member 17a inserted into the coil spring 18 to prevent buckling of the spring 18, and a head portion 17 at one end of the core member 17a to which one end of the coil spring 18 abuts.
and a steel ball 17c provided at the center of the head 17b and abutting against the center of the rear surface of the moving body 15. The coil spring 18 is held in a compressed state between the head 17b and the bottom of the accommodation groove 11c.

On the other hand, a U-shaped support member 19 is provided behind the other (left side in the figure) optical connector 12 housed in the housing 11. The supporting member 19 is
The two end surfaces 19a are substantially parallel to the rear end surface of the optical connector 12 and are movably accommodated in a direction perpendicular to the rear surface of the optical connector 12. The U-shaped inner surface of the support member 19 is guided by a guide wall 20. Guided and supported.

Further, between the rear end surface of the optical connector 12 and the end surface 19a of the support member 19, a steel ball 2
2 are held. That is, the support member 19 and the optical connector 12 are connected by point contact.

Further, a spring housing groove 11e is formed on the opposite side (left side in the figure) of the support member 19 from the end surface 19a, and the coil spring 23 is housed in a compressed state. The pan 2 is provided on the support member 19 side of the coil spring 23.
4, a steel ball 25 is provided, and the steel ball 25 is in point contact with the center of the rear surface 19b of the support member 19.

A lid 26 covering the guide pins 14 and the coil springs 18 is provided on the right side of the housing 11 in the drawing.
Further, a lid 27 that covers the support member 19 and the coil spring 23 is screwed to the left side in the drawing. Then, a tape core wire 28 extending from the rear end face of the optical connector 12.
Are notches 26a,
27a.

Next, the operation of the optical connector holder according to the present embodiment will be described together with the method of use. First, the moving body 15 is held in a state where the moving body 15 is made to stand by backward while resisting the force of the coil spring 18 (a state shown by a solid line in FIG. 1). This may be performed manually, but it is preferable to separately prepare some jig having a locking member for fixing the optical connector holder and holding the moving body 15 in a standby state.

Next, the pair of optical connectors 12 are accommodated in the accommodating portion 11a of the housing 11 with the front end faces abutting each other. At this time, matching oil is applied to the front end face as needed. In addition, this pair of optical connectors 12
As shown in FIG. 4, it may be accommodated in the accommodating portion 11a in a state of being inserted and connected to the square sleeve 29. In this case, even if the dimensions of the housing portion 11a in the direction orthogonal to the optical fiber axis are largely different, the front end faces do not shift in the plane direction, so that subsequent optical coupling can be easily performed. In this case, the square sleeve 29 may be simply fixed to the housing portion 11a with a magnet.

After accommodating the pair of optical connectors 12, a locking member or the like for locking the moving body 15 that is waiting is removed. As a result, the moving body 15 and the pair of guide pins 14 move leftward in the drawing due to the force of the coil spring 18, and the guide pin holes 1
3 is inserted. The guide pin 14 is inserted into the stepped portion 14.
c is performed until the rear end surface of one optical connector 12 comes into contact with the rear end face, and the guide pin 14 is inserted into the guide pin hole 13 of the other optical connector 12. The pair of optical connectors 12 includes a support member 19 and a guide pin 1.
4 and is pressed by the urging force of the coil spring 18. Thereby, the front ends of the pair of optical connectors 12 are completely adhered to each other, and are held in a state of being optically coupled. As described above, in this embodiment, the stepped portion 14c and the coil spring 18 constitute a pressing unit that presses the optical connector 12 in the optical fiber axial direction. In addition,
In order to release the optical coupling, the moving body 15 may be moved rightward in the figure by a jig or the like.

By using the optical connector holder of the embodiment described above, optical coupling between the optical connectors 12 can be easily realized. That is, the operation of manually inserting the guide pins can be eliminated, and the cleaning of the front end face of the optical connector and the application of the matching oil are easy.

Further, since the guide pins 14 are respectively engaged with the movable body 15 so as to be slightly movable in the radial direction (referred to as floating support), the guide pins 14 can always be attached and detached in parallel, and the front end face of the optical connector can be chipped. Can also be prevented. Further, at this time, the tip of the guide pin 14 is
By doing so, it is possible to absorb a shift in pitch or the like.

In the above embodiment, since the moving body 15 and the coil spring 18 are in point contact with each other via the steel ball 17c, even if the biasing direction of the coil spring 18 is slightly different, the guide pin 14 will As a result, the front end faces of the optical connector 12 are completely optically coupled to each other.

Further, in the above embodiment, the support of the optical connector 12 on the side opposite to the side where the guide pin 14 is inserted is performed by the support member 19 and the coil spring 23, but these contacts are made of steel balls 22 and 25. , And the effect that the front end surfaces of the pair of optical connectors 12 are always in surface contact and optically coupled is further increased. However, the method of supporting the optical connector 12 on this side is not particularly limited, and any structure may be used as long as the rear end face of the optical connector 12 can be supported from a direction perpendicular to the optical connector 12.

In addition, when the optical coupling is performed as described above, if oil is applied to the guide pins 14 in advance, the friction at the time of insertion can be reduced. Also, the guide pin 14
Is floatingly supported by the moving body 15 as described above, and the moving body 15 and the coil spring 18 are in point contact with each other, so that even when the polishing length of the guide pin 14 varies, the pressure is always applied in the axial direction. It also has the effect of further,
Since the guide pin 14 is built into the housing 11, there is no risk of loss or the like, and since the guide pin 14 is always inserted in the same state (position in the rotational direction and axial direction),
Even if attachment and detachment are repeated, there is also an effect that the coupling loss does not vary. The material of the guide pin 14 is not particularly limited, but is preferably made of carbide steel or ceramics from the viewpoint of preventing bending and the like.

As described above, the optical connector holder shown in the embodiment can easily and reliably perform optical coupling between the optical connectors 12 and is small and lightweight, but the structure is limited to that of the embodiment. Not something. For example, coil spring 1
8 may be provided for each guide pin 14 or the guide pin 1
Urging means having an urging force for moving the guide pin 4;
After the insertion, the pressing means for pressing the optical connector 12 in the fiber axis direction may be separately provided. It goes without saying that a plurality of pairs of optical connectors may be optically coupled simultaneously.

[0029]

As described above, the optical connector holder of the present invention can easily and reliably perform optical coupling between optical connectors, and can perform the optical coupling with low loss.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a state where a cover of an optical connector holder according to an embodiment is removed.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an optical connector holder according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a square sleeve.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing an optical connector holder according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Housing 12 Optical connector 13 Guide pin hole 14 Guide pin 14a Taper part 14b Constriction part 14c Stepped part 15 Moving body 18 Coil spring 19 Support member 23 Coil spring 26, 27 Lid

Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-2-146511 (JP, A) JP-A-4-26810 (JP, A) JP-A-64-3614 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int .Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G02B 6/38

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. An optical connector holder for holding at least a pair of optical connectors optically coupled in a state where front end faces are brought into close contact with each other and a guide pin is inserted into a guide pin hole thereof, wherein said pair of optical connectors is accommodated. A housing, a guide pin inserted into a guide pin hole from a rear end face of one of the pair of optical connectors while being held by the housing and movable in the longitudinal direction, and the pair of optical connectors. Pressurizing means for pressurizing in the fiber axial direction, wherein the pressurizing means has a stepped portion provided on a part of the guide pin and having a diameter larger than the guide pin hole, and a rear end face of one of the optical connectors. The guide pin is urged in the insertion direction by an urging means, and the urging means generates a pressing force of the pressing means. The biasing means is a spring, and the spring force is transmitted to the guide pin via at least one contact portion that is spherical and has one side in point contact. 2. A method according to claim 1 Te placed <br/> the optical connector holder according, optical connector holder, wherein the guide pin is fine movement rotatably supported in the radial direction, respectively. 3. The optical connector holder according to claim 1, wherein:
An optical connector holder for Oite, diameter insertion end of the guide pin hole of the guide pin toward the tip, characterized in that a tapered portion for Meteorological to. 4. The optical connector according to claim 1, wherein
In Tahoruda, a pair of optical connectors to be inserted into the guide pin, the optical connector holder, characterized in that it is the position restriction perpendicular to the optical fiber axis by being inserted into the sleeve.