JPH1172652A - Optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily butt connect multifiber optical connector ferrules to each other and to easily attain a smaller size, lower cost and higher density by providing the optical connector with an engaging piece which engageably and disengageably engages-with the side part of a plug housing and a detachment button which displaces this engaging piece inward of this plug housing. SOLUTION: The optical connector ferrule 22 has optical connector plugs 24a, 24b housed in the plug housing 23 and the housing 25 connecting the optical connector plugs 24a, 24b within the inside inserted therewith from both sides. The elastic piece 23c of a shape formed by notching a base end 23b existing in the butt connection direction of the one side wall 23a of the plug housing 23 of the optical connector plug 24a is formed at the one side wall 23a. The elastic piece 23c is projectingly provided with the engaging piece 29 which engageably and disengageably engages with the housing 25 and the detachment button 30 for releasing the engagement of the housing 25 by displacing the engaging piece 29. Then, the engaging piece 29 and the detachment button 30 are connected by the elastic piece 23c.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical connector, and more particularly, to an optical connector plug containing an optical connector ferrule for butt-connecting an optical fiber and internally connecting the optical connector plug. The present invention relates to an optical connector including a housing in which optical connector ferrules are butt-connected.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an optical connector for switchably connecting single optical fibers, for example, a so-called SC type optical connector has been conventionally provided. FIG. 7 shows an example of the SC optical connector 1. In FIG. 7, the SC optical connector 1
Is an optical connector plug 4 containing an optical connector ferrule 3 for terminating and connecting a single-core optical fiber 2.
And a housing 5 (optical connector adapter) into which the optical connector plug 4 can be inserted and removed.
Inside the housing 5, another optical connector ferrule is butt-connected to the optical connector ferrule 3 on the optical connector plug 4 side inserted into the housing 5.

In the SC type optical connector 1, since the optical connector ferrule 3 needs to be positioned with high precision and butt-connected, high precision is secured between the optical connector plug 4 and the housing 5 (optical connector). The accuracy is lower than that between the connector ferrules), and the insertion / extraction resistance between the two is increased, which may cause inconvenience in operations such as switching connection. FIG. 8 shows an optical connector 6 developed in view of the above problems. In FIG. 8, the optical connector 6 includes optical connector plugs 8 and 9 for accommodating optical connector ferrules (not shown) each having a single-core optical fiber 7 butt-connectable thereto. A housing 10 (optical connector adapter) which is inserted from both sides and connected inside. Optical connector plug 8,
When the housing 9 is inserted into the housing 10, the housing 10
It has an engaging claw (not shown) that engages with the engaging member so as to be disengageable.
Elastic levers 11 and 12 are provided from the optical connector plugs 8 and 9 to displace the engagement claws and release the engagement with the housing 10. These elastic levers 11, 1
When the optical connector plugs 8 and 9 are inserted into the housing 10, they protrude outside the housing 10, so that the engagement between the engaging claw and the housing 10 can be easily released by manual operation. Thereby, the optical connector plugs 8, 9 can be easily pulled out from the housing 10.

[0004]

The above-mentioned optical connector 6 corresponds to a single core, and a plurality of optical fibers are required to be connected in order to accommodate a large number of optical fibers.
It is difficult to reduce the cost and increase the density. Therefore, there has been a demand for the development of an optical connector that can switchably connect multiple optical fibers, and that can be reduced in size, cost, and density.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. (A) By simply inserting an optical connector plug into a housing, multi-core optical connector ferrules can be easily butted and connected. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical connector that can easily perform a disconnection operation using a button, and (b) can be easily reduced in size, cost, and density.

[0006]

According to the present invention, an optical connector plug accommodating a multi-core optical connector ferrule formed by butt-connecting optical fibers and a pair of optical connectors inserted from both sides. An optical connector ferrule of the optical connector plug inserted from one side or the optical connector ferrule of the plug and a housing in which an optical connector ferrule separately supported internally are connected to each other, and the optical connector plug includes the optical connector ferrule. A plug housing that houses and holds the optical connector ferrule at the distal end and that can be inserted into and removed from the housing at a portion other than the proximal end facing the distal end. An engagement piece provided biased toward the housing and removably engaged with the housing; And a release button connected to the mating piece and displacing the engagement piece into the plug housing by pushing the plug housing into the plug housing.The release button is connected to the housing when the plug housing is inserted into the housing. The plug is provided at a position exposed to the outside, and furthermore, the engagement piece is displaced inwardly of the plug housing by being pushed into the plug housing so that the engagement with the housing can be released. The above-mentioned optical connector is a means for solving the above problem. The optical connector ferrule terminates a plurality of single-core optical fibers or one or a plurality of multi-core optical fibers in a butt-connectable manner. Various configurations such as an optical connector adapter and an optical connector receptacle can be adopted as the housing. The engagement piece only needs to be able to be disengaged from the housing, and various configurations can be adopted. It is preferable that the release button has a small protrusion dimension from the plug housing. As a result, the operation space of the release button to be secured around the housing can be reduced, and high-density mounting of the optical connector is enabled.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A first embodiment of an optical connector according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG.
In (a), the optical connector 20 of the present invention comprises an optical connector ferrule 22 that terminates a multi-core optical fiber 21A or 21B (four-core optical cord in FIG. The optical connector plugs 24a and 24b housed in the
A housing 25 (optical connector adapter) into which 4a and 24b are inserted from both sides and connected inside is provided. The optical fibers 21A and 21B can employ various configurations, such as a configuration in which a four-core optical fiber ribbon is accommodated in a sheath tube, as well as a configuration in which four single-core optical fibers are housed in a sheath tube. is there.

The optical connector ferrule 22 is JIS C
An optical connector ferrule (so-called MT connector; Mechanicaliy Transferable) established in 5981,
It has a rectangular joining end surface 26. A guide pin hole 27 is disposed opposite to the longitudinal end of the joint end face 26 of the optical connector ferrule 22 housed in each optical connector plug 24b, and as shown in FIG.
A guide pin 28 is inserted into the optical connector ferrule 22 housed in a. By fitting the guide pin 28 into the guide pin hole 27 of the optical connector ferrule 22 on the other optical connector plug 24b side, the two optical connector ferrules 22 and 22 are precisely positioned so that they can be butt-connected. A pin clamp 28a is housed in the plug housing 23 of the optical connector plug 24a, and the guide pin 2
8 is held and fixed. On the other hand, the optical connector plug 24b
The pin clamp 28a is also housed in the plug housing 22 of this embodiment, but this pin clamp 28a can be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the plug housing 23 of each of the optical connector plugs 24a and 24b has a rectangular tube shape having a rectangular cross section suitable for the optical connector ferrule 22, and the optical connector ferrule 22 is butt-connected. (In FIG. 1A, each optical connector plug 24a, 2
4b from the housing 25 (in the direction of the housing 25). Also, as shown in FIG.
The optical connector ferrule 22 housed in the housing 3 is urged forward in the butt connection direction by an urging means 23f (coil spring) disposed on the back side of the plug housing 23 in the butt connection direction. It acts as a butting force when the ferrules 22 are butt-connected. The urging force of the urging means 23f acts on the optical connector ferrule 22 via the pin clamp 28a. The optical connector ferrule 22 housed in the plug housing 23 is normally positioned at the tip 23e of the plug housing 23 by the urging force of the urging means 23f.

As shown in FIG. 1 (a), one side wall 23a of the plug housing 23 of the optical connector plug 24a has
An elastic piece 23c is formed by cutting a base end 23b located at the rear part of the one side wall 23a in the butt connection direction. The elastic piece 23c is connected to the base end 23b of the plug housing 23 via a connecting portion 23d, functions as a leaf spring supported cantilevered from the base end 23b, and can be displaced in and out of the plug housing 23. It has become.
From the elastic piece 23c, there are provided an engaging piece 29 which is detachably engaged with the housing 25, and a release button 30 for displacing the engaging piece 29 to release the engagement with the housing 25. ing. Therefore, the engagement piece 29 and the release button 30 are connected by the elastic piece 23c. Plug housing 2
3 a pair of side walls 23 perpendicular to the one side wall 23a.
Guide grooves 23i are formed in g and 23h. When the optical connector plugs 24a and 24b are inserted into the housing 25, the guide grooves 23i enter into guide portions (not shown) formed in the housing 25, and the optical connector plugs 24
a and 24b are positioned.

The release button 30 is a projection protruding from the distal end of the elastic piece 23c separated from the connecting portion 23d, and the engaging piece 29 is connected to the connecting portion 23 more than the release button 30.
It is a claw-shaped projection protruding from a position closer to d. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, when the optical connector plug 24a is inserted into the housing 25,
5, the release button 30 is exposed outside without being housed in the housing 25. When the release button 30 is pushed into the plug housing 23, the entire elastic piece 23c can be displaced toward the inside of the plug housing 23, whereby the engagement between the housing 25 and the engaging piece 29 can be released. And the optical connector plug 24a to the housing 25.
It becomes possible to pull out from.

As shown in FIG. 1B, a joining end face 26 of the optical connector ferrule 22 on the optical connector plug 24a side is provided.
Are the four bare fibers 21a- of the optical fiber 21A terminal.
21d are fixedly arranged in parallel on the same plane at an equal pitch. As shown in FIG. 1C, the joining end surface 26 of the optical connector ferrule 22 on the optical connector plug 24b side.
Similarly, the four bare fibers 2 of the optical fiber 21B terminal
1e to 21h are arranged and fixed in parallel at the same pitch as the bare fibers 21a to 21d.

In this optical connector 20, FIGS.
As shown in the figure, the optical connector plugs 24a, 24b are inserted into the housing 25 from opposite sides and the optical connector ferrules 22, 22 are butt-connected to each other at the housing 25, thereby terminating the optical connector ferrules 22, 22. The optical fibers 21A and 21B can be optically connected to each other. Specifically, FIG.
And the optical connector plugs 24a, 24a as shown in FIG.
b, when the directions of the elastic pieces 23c, 23c are reversed, the bare fibers 21a and 21e, 21b and 21f
Are connected, and conversely, the optical connector plugs 24a, 24
When the directions of the elastic pieces 23c, 23c are the same between b (for example, when the elastic pieces 23c are on the upper side in both optical connector plugs 24a, 24b in FIG. 2).
The connection directions of the optical connector ferrules 22, 22 are reversed, and the bare fibers are connected in the reverse order by the optical connector ferrules 22, 22, such as bare fibers 21a and 21h, 21b and 21g. The connection direction between the optical connector ferrules 22 and 22 is determined by the elastic pieces 23c and 23c of the optical connector plugs 24a and 24b.
Can be determined based on whether the directions match or not, so that they can be used easily during connection work. For this reason, the optical connector plug 24
Only by adjusting the relative connection directions of a and 24b, the combination of bare fibers to be connected can be easily adjusted. In addition, in this optical connector 20, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, by seeing the release button 22 exposed outside the housing 25, the connection direction of the optical connector ferrules 22, 22 can be reversed even in the connected state. You can judge.

Regardless of whether the connection direction of the optical connector ferrules 22 is normal or reverse, the protrusion size of the release button 30 is small. Since the release button 30 capable of releasing the engagement with the optical connector 25 requires a small operation space, a plurality of optical connectors 20 can be mounted at a high density.

The optical connector plugs 24a, 24
In FIG. 4B, as shown in FIG. 4, the engaging piece 29 is engaged with the engaging portion 25b near the opening 25a at the axial end of the housing 25. Therefore, as shown in FIG. The plug housing 23 can sufficiently secure the storage length L stored in the housing 25 between the distal end 23e for storing the optical connector ferrule 22 and the base end 23b on which the elastic piece 23c is formed. . In addition, the guide groove 23i formed in the plug housing 23 is inserted into and engaged with a guide portion (not shown) in the housing 25 to be in a fitted state. Therefore, this optical connector 2
At 0, the optical fiber 21A is pulled in the direction of arrow A as shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 3, so that a high resistance to the so-called side pull in which a lateral force acts on the optical connector plug 24a is obtained. It is possible to stably maintain the connection state between 22, 22, and to stably and reliably maintain low connection loss. The resistance to the side pull is the same for the optical connector plug 24b. Further, since the optical connector plugs 24a and 24b are similar in shape and operation method to a so-called modular jack of a telephone using a metal signal line, the user can easily understand the operation method, and those skilled in the art will understand. It is easy to be accepted by general users other than.

Hereinafter, an optical connector 31 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 5, this optical connector 31 is
And a housing 32 (optical connector receptacle) into which the optical connector plug 24 is inserted. The optical connector plug 24 is a multi-core optical fiber 21 (four-core optical cord)
And a plug housing 40 for accommodating and supporting the optical connector ferrule 22 that terminates so as to be able to butt-connect.
9 and an elastic piece 23c protruding from the release button 30. The optical connector plug 24 does not contain any pin clamps or biasing means. The optical connector plug 24 has a storage length L1 shorter than the storage length L of the plug housing 23 of the optical connector plug 24a shown in FIG.
have.

The housing 32 is formed of a synthetic resin such as plastic and has a bottomed rectangular tube shape, and the optical connector plug 24 is removably inserted through an opening 33 opened at one end in the axial direction. As shown in FIG. 6, when the optical connector plug 24 is inserted into the housing 32, the engaging piece 29 is engaged with the engaging wall 32a near the opening 33 of the housing 32.
The optical connector plug 24 cannot be pulled out of the housing 32 unless the release button 30 is pressed. Inside the housing 32, an optical connector ferrule 35 (an optical connector ferrule defined in JIS C5981) for terminating and connecting a multi-core optical fiber 34 (four-core optical cord) and an optical connector ferrule 35 are provided. A biasing means 36 (coil spring) for biasing outward (to the right in FIG. 6) and a pin clamp 28a for clamping and holding the guide pin 28 inserted into the optical connector ferrule 35 are housed. When the optical connector plug 24 is inserted into the housing 32 through the opening 33, the optical connector ferrule 35 on the housing 32 and the optical connector ferrule 22 on the optical connector plug 24 are butt-connected, and
The optical fibers 34 and 21 are optically connected to each other.

Also in this optical connector 31, the insertion direction of the optical connector plug 24 with respect to the housing 32 is changed to reverse the connection direction between the optical connector ferrules 22 and 35. Similarly, each optical connector ferrule 22, 3
In 5, a set of connections between a plurality of bare fibers (not shown) arranged in parallel can be changed. The storage length L1, which is almost the entire length of the plug housing 40, is
2 and the guide grooves 40i on both sides of the plug housing 40 are fitted into the housing 32, so that a high strength against side pull is obtained, and the connection state between the optical connector ferrules 22 and 35 is stably maintained. And low connection loss can be stably and reliably obtained.

In this optical connector 31, the optical connector ferrule 2 is provided by a biasing means 36 housed in a housing 32.
Since the butting force between the pins 2 and 35 is given, there is no need to house the urging means 23f such as a spring for generating the butting force in the optical connector plug 24. Further, since the guide pin 28 inserted into the optical connector ferrule 35 is held and fixed by the pin clamp 28a housed on the housing 32 side, it is not necessary to house the pin clamp 28a in the optical connector plug 24. As described above, since it is not necessary to house the urging means 23f and the pin clamp 28 in the optical connector plug 24, the optical connector plug 24 can be made smaller and lower in size than the optical connector plug 24a shown in the first embodiment. Cost reduction is possible. The urging means housed in the housing 32 can be changed to a leaf spring or the like other than the coil spring shown in FIG.

When the optical connector ferrules 22 and 35 are butt-connected, the engaging piece 29 is
Of the optical connector plug 24 by the urging force of the urging means 36 or the like.
Is not pushed out of the housing 32, and the urging force of the urging means 36 efficiently acts as a butting force between the optical connector ferrules 22 and 35. Also, at this time,
The release button 30 is exposed outside the housing 32. When the release button 30 is pushed into the plug housing 40, the engagement piece 29 is released from the housing 32 and the engagement is released, so that the optical connector plug 24 can be pulled out of the housing 32. The housing 32 houses a module such as a photoelectric converter having a connector portion connectable to the optical connector ferrule 22 of the optical connector plug 24 instead of the optical connector ferrule 35. It is also possible to connect with the connector ferrule 22. In this case, the metal signal line is drawn into the housing 32,
It is also possible to connect with modules.

The optical connector plug 24 is similar in shape and operation to a so-called modular jack of a telephone using a metal signal line, so that the user can easily understand the operation. The effect of being easily accepted by general users other than the trader is also obtained.

The optical connector of the present invention is not limited to the first and second embodiments, but can be variously modified. For example,
It is possible to change the design of the optical connector plug and the housing shown in the first and second embodiments, change the shape of the release button and the shape of the engagement piece, and the like. As the housing, a jack or the like can be employed in addition to the optical connector adapter and the optical connector receptacle. Further, the optical connector ferrule shown in the first and second embodiments is for four cores, but it is also possible to adopt an optical connector ferrule that can cope with two, three, five or more cores other than four. is there.

[0023]

As described above, according to the optical connector of the present invention, (a) the optical connector ferrule on the optical connector plug side can be obtained simply by inserting the optical connector plug containing the multi-core optical connector ferrule into the housing. (B) An optical connector housing a multi-core optical connector ferrule that can be easily butt-connected to another multi-core optical connector ferrule. By using a plug and a housing, space can be saved. (D) By using an optical connector plug containing a multi-core optical connector ferrule, a plurality of optical connector ferrules can be provided by a simple mechanism having an engaging claw and a release button (E) A multi-core optical connector fiber that can be freely switched between connection and disconnection between two optical fibers and can be reduced in cost. By adopting the optical connector plug that accommodates the optical connector, it is possible to secure a sufficient area for the optical connector plug to be inserted into the housing without increasing the size of the optical connector, and to improve the resistance to the side pull. And an excellent effect that low connection loss between optical connector ferrules can be stably and reliably maintained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1A and 1B are diagrams showing a first embodiment of an optical connector according to the present invention, wherein FIG. 1A is an exploded perspective view, FIG. 1B is an enlarged perspective view showing an optical connector plug tip, and FIG. It is an enlarged perspective view which shows the connector plug tip.

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a connection state of the optical connector of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a front view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a second embodiment of the optical connector of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the optical connector of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing the SC optical connector.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a single-core optical connector having a detachable elastic lever.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference numeral 20: optical connector, 21, 21A, 21B: optical fiber (four-core optical cord), 22: optical connector ferrule, 23
... plug housing, 23b ... base end, 23e ... tip,
24, 24a, 24b: optical connector plug; 25: housing (optical connector adapter); 29: engaging piece;
Release button, 31 optical connector, 32 housing (optical connector receptacle), 35 optical connector ferrule, 4
0 ... Plug housing.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An optical connector plug (2) accommodating a multi-core optical connector ferrule (22) formed by butt-connecting optical fibers (21A, 21B, 21).
4a, 24b, 24), an optical connector ferrule of a pair of optical connector plugs inserted from both sides or an optical connector ferrule of an optical connector plug inserted from one side and an optical connector ferrule (35) separately supported inside. And a housing (25, 32) in which the optical connector plug is housed and held at a distal end (23e), and the optical connector plug is other than a proximal end (23b) opposed to the distal end. Is provided with a plug housing (23, 40) removably inserted into the housing, and is provided on a side portion of the plug housing so as to be biased outwardly of the plug housing, and is disengaged from the housing. An engaging piece (29) that mateably engages and is connected to the engaging piece and pushed into the plug housing. And a release button (30) for displacing the engagement piece inwardly of the plug housing with the release button. The release button is provided at a position exposed to the outside of the housing when the plug housing is inserted into the housing. The optical connector (20, 31), wherein the engagement piece is displaced inward of the plug housing by being pushed into the plug housing to release the engagement with the housing.