JP7326538B2 - connector - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connector that facilitates locking and unlocking with an adapter, module, or the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Connectors capable of locking and unlocking the connection state are used when connecting optical fibers to adapters, modules, and the like. For example, there has been disclosed a connector configured by combining a housing having a lock lever provided with a locked portion for locking the mating state with a mating part, and a slide cover slidable on the housing. The slide cover is slidable with respect to the housing, and has an operating portion extending in the separating direction. When the operating portion is operated in the separating direction, the abutting portion comes into contact with the operated portion of the lock lever and the operated portion contacts the operated portion. The lock can be released by elastically deforming the operating portion (Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2005-173173

However, in the prior art, since the elastic deformation of the operated portion of the lock lever is used, when the connector is repeatedly locked and unlocked, plastic deformation occurs gradually, making it impossible to reliably lock or unlock the connector. etc.

One aspect of the present invention is a connector comprising a housing, a locking member and a release member, the locking member having a first extension, a second extension and an axis of rotation, the second The extending portion is provided with a latch for engaging with another member, the first extending portion and the second extending portion are connected by the rotating shaft, and mounted on the housing with the rotating shaft as the center of rotation. The release member is arranged so as to be movable relative to the housing, and by moving the release member relative to the housing, the first rotation is performed about the rotation shaft as the center of rotation. The connector is characterized in that the latch is moved by rotating the extending portion and the second extending portion to selectively switch between a locked state and a released state.

Here, the release member has a handle portion, a storage groove, a position regulating portion, and an operation projection portion, the position regulating portion is shaped so that the housing can be attached, and the handle portion is the position regulating portion. The storage groove is disposed in the handle portion to extend the release member to the opposite side of the housing insertion side of the housing. When the operating protrusion is brought into contact with the contact portion of the lock member, the lock member is rotated about the rotation shaft, and the latch is released from the locked state. It is preferable to transition to a state.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the connector which can be locked and unlocked can be provided, without using elastic deformation of a member.

1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the configuration of an optical connector according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a locked state of the optical connector according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing the released state of the optical connector in the embodiment of the invention;

An optical connector 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a housing 10, a ferrule 20, a lock member 30 and a release member 40, as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 1 and the exploded perspective view of FIG.

The optical connector 100 is used, for example, to attach an optical fiber to a ferrule 20 and insert and fit it into a mounting hole provided in a mating adapter, module, or the like to optically couple with the mating optical fiber. Used. However, the application field of the optical connector 100 is not limited to the coupling of optical fibers.

3 and 4 are cross-sectional views showing the configuration of the optical connector 100 when the housing 10, ferrule 20, lock member 30 and release member 40 are combined. FIG. 3 shows a state (locked state) when the optical connector 100 is attached to a mating adapter, module, or the like and locked. FIG. 4 shows the unlocked state (released state) when the optical connector 100 is removed from the mating adapter, module, or the like.

The housing 10 has a receiving groove 11 drilled therein along the axis. In this embodiment, two ferrules 20 are provided. The ferrules 20 are installed on both left and right sides of the receiving groove 11 in parallel with the axis so as to protrude from the front end of the housing 10 .

The lock member 30 includes a first extending portion 31 , a second extending portion 32 , a rotating shaft 33 , an abutting portion 34 and a latch 35 . The first extending portion 31 and the second extending portion 32 are connected to both sides of the rotating shaft 33 . That is, the first extending portion 31 and the second extending portion 32 are connected so as to be continuous, and the rotating shaft 33 is provided so as to protrude on both sides from the intermediate portion thereof. Further, a groove having an abutting portion 34 inclined from the rotating shaft 33 toward the latch 35 is provided in the intermediate portion of the second extending portion 32 .

Lock member 30 is incorporated into housing 10 . Specifically, the lock member 30 is arranged in the accommodation groove 11 provided in the housing 10 . The lock member 30 is installed in the accommodation groove 11 of the housing 10 so as to be rotatable about a rotation shaft 33 as a central axis. That is, with the rotating shaft 33 as the central axis, the latch 35 is pushed up when the first extending portion 31 is pushed down, and the latch 35 is pushed down when the first extending portion 31 is pushed up.

The release member 40 includes a handle portion 41 , a storage groove 42 , a position restricting portion 43 and an operating projection portion 44 . The position restricting portion 43 has a tubular shape so as to accommodate the housing 10 combined with the locking member 30 . In the present embodiment, since the outer shape of the housing 10 is rectangular, the position restricting portion 43 has a rectangular cylindrical shape that fits into the housing 10 .

The handle portion 41 is provided extending from the rear end portion of the position restricting portion 43 . The handle portion 41 functions as a portion operated by a user when attaching/detaching the optical connector 100 to/from an adapter or module that is a counterpart. By moving the release member 40 relative to the housing 10 using the handle portion 41, a locked state (FIG. 3) in which the housing 10 is pushed into the release member 40 and a released state in which the housing 10 is pulled out from the release member 40. (FIG. 4).

The interior of the handle portion 41 is a hollow storage groove 42 . In the hollow storage groove 42, when the housing 10 and the release member 40 are slid to make a transition from the locked state (FIG. 3) to the released state (FIG. 4), the contact portion 34 of the lock member 30 abuts. A contacting operation protrusion 44 is provided.

In the process of moving the release member 40 in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 2 to the locked state (FIG. 3) in the state where the release member 40 is attached to the housing 10, the operation protrusion 44 presses the latch 35, After being rotated clockwise from the latch 35 about the rotary shaft 33 and slightly moved downward, the operation protrusion 44 passes through the latch 35 and is accommodated in the contact portion 34 . At the same time, the protrusion 411 forming the hollow storage groove 42 of the handle portion 41 presses the first extending portion 31, and the locking member 30 is again rotated counterclockwise around the rotating shaft 33, as shown in FIG. becomes the locked state shown in .

That is, when the optical connector 100 is attached to the mating adapter or module, the latch 35 is engaged with the engaging portion provided on the adapter or module side by such a procedure to lock the optical connector 100 (FIG. 3). The optical connector 100 can be attached to an adapter or a module while the optical connector 100 is being

On the other hand, when the release member 40 is to be shifted from the locked state (FIG. 3) to the released state (FIG. 4), the release member 40 is pulled toward the first extending portion 31 (to the left in FIG. 3) and moved. The protrusion 44 abuts against the abutting portion 34 of the lock member 30 to rotate the lock member 30 clockwise about the rotation shaft 33 . At this time, since the release member 40 moves leftward, the protrusion 411 is no longer in contact with the first extending portion 31, so that the lock member 30 can be rotated around the rotation shaft 33. FIG. When the release member 40 is continuously moved, the latch 35 is accommodated in the accommodation groove 11, the locked state is released, and the released state (FIG. 4) is established. At this time, the first extension portion 31 is accommodated in the storage groove 42 of the release member 40 .

Further, when the locked state is released and the released state is reached, the optical connector 100 can be removed from the adapter or module by continuously pulling and moving the release member 40 (moving it to the left side in the drawing). .

As described above, the optical connector 100 can selectively transition between the locked state and the released state by rotating the latch 35 about the rotating shaft 33 without elastically deforming the locking member 30. be able to.

Note that the configuration of the optical connector 100 may be changed as appropriate. For example, by changing the arrangement of the contact portion 34 of the lock member 30 and the operation projection portion 44 of the release member 40, the first extending portion 31 is pushed up from below in the released state with the rotation shaft 33 as the rotation axis, and the lock member is released. A contact portion 34 and an operation projection portion 44 may be provided so as to rotate 30 . In addition, by changing the arrangement of the first extending portion 31 of the locking member 30 and the projecting portion 411 of the releasing member 40, the second extending portion 32 is pushed up from below in the locked state with the rotating shaft 33 as the rotating shaft. A first extending portion 31 and a protrusion 411 may be provided to rotate the member 30 . Furthermore, another configuration may be adopted as long as it is configured to selectively transition between the locked state and the released state by rotating the latch 35 about the rotating shaft 33 as a rotating shaft.

Further, for example, the optical connector 100 has a configuration in which two ferrules 20 are arranged side by side, but the number of ferrules 20 may be changed, and the arrangement thereof may be changed. Further, for example, in the optical connector 100, the accommodation groove 11 and the lock member 30 are arranged between the two ferrules 20, but they may be arranged beside one ferrule 20 or may be arranged at other positions. good.

Also, in the present embodiment, the optical connector 100 for attaching an optical fiber to the ferrule 20 is used, but the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to connectors for optical fibers. For example, a connector for attaching electrical wiring to the ferrule 20 may be used.

Reference Signs List 10 housing 11 accommodation groove 20 ferrule 30 lock member 31 first extending portion 32 second extending portion 33 rotating shaft 34 contact portion 35 latch 40 release member 41 handle portion 42 storage groove 43 position control part, 44 operation projection part, 100 optical connector, 411 projection part.

Claims (1)

a connector,
a housing, a locking member and a release member;
The locking member has a first extending portion, a second extending portion and a rotation shaft, the second extending portion is provided with a latch for engaging with another member, and the first extending portion and the is connected to the second extending portion by the rotating shaft, and is attached to the housing with the rotating shaft as the center of rotation;
the release member has a handle portion, a storage groove, a position regulating portion, and an operation protrusion;
The position regulating portion has a shape that allows the housing to be attached, and regulates relative movement with the housing,
the handle portion is provided so as to extend and protrude toward the side of the position regulating portion on which the housing is inserted;
the storage groove is a hollow portion provided in the release member and stores the first extension portion of the lock member;
the release member is arranged to be movable relative to the housing;
By moving the release member relative to the housing toward the side where the housing is inserted, the operation projection portion is brought into contact with the contact portion of the lock member to rotate about the rotation shaft. By rotating the first extending portion and the second extending portion, and rotating the first extending portion and the second extending portion, the latch is moved, and the latch is changed from the locked state to the released state. and moving the release member relative to the housing toward the side opposite to the housing insertion side, whereby the latch transitions from the released state to the locked state. .

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