JP2005115005A - Optical cable connector and optical termination box - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical cable connector and an optical termination box that are compact and easy to wire.
An optical cable connector is attached to an end of a downstream optical cable and a plug connecting portion as an upstream plug connecting portion to which a plug attached to the end of the upstream optical cable can be connected. Both ends are optically connected to a plug connecting portion 23 as a downstream plug connecting portion to which the plug 15 can be connected, and optical fibers in the plugs 13 and 15 connected to the plug connecting portions 21 and 23, respectively. A connecting optical fiber 31.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical cable connector and an optical termination box, and more particularly to an optical cable connector and an optical termination box for connecting an outdoor optical cable such as a drop cable and an indoor optical cable.

In recent years, the so-called FTTH (Fiber To The Home) service has been popular, in which an optical cable is drawn into a house or apartment, and connected to a device. The optical cable employs a method of making a small hole in the wall of the house from the outside and drawing it indoors, or drawing it in the same way as a telephone line and drawing it into the outlet.
In general, because the structure of the optical cable on the outdoor side and the optical cable on the indoor side is different at the place where the optical cable is drawn indoors (under the eaves of a general house or the equipment room of a condominium), there is an optical termination box that converts and connects them Provided. In addition, the connection method in this box also has the responsibility demarcation point on the outdoor side and indoor side, and because the transmission characteristics of each side can be easily measured for maintenance and fault isolation, connector connection is used. It has been broken.

As such an optical termination box, for example, the one shown in FIG. 5 is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
As shown in FIG. 6, the optical termination box 100 includes a substrate 105 and a cover 106 covering the substrate 105, and is formed in a substantially rectangular box shape as a whole. Side plates 107, 107 are provided on both sides of the substrate 105, and a bottom plate 108 is provided below. The bottom plate 108 is provided with an introduction plate 109 protruding downward.

A mounting hole 110 is formed in the center upper portion of the board 105, and the board 105 is attached to an outer wall of the subscriber's house by a mounting screw passing through the mounting hole 110. Two introduction holes 111 are formed in the bottom plate 108 below the substrate 105, and the outside wiring 103 and the inside wiring 104 are introduced into the optical termination box 100 through these introduction holes 111, and the connector 112 is connected.
In the optical termination box 100, an extra length processing unit 101 for holding extra length portions of the outside wiring 103 and the inside wiring 104 is provided. A wiring guide 102 for holding the outer wiring 103 and the home wiring 104 at predetermined positions is provided.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-211237 (FIG. 2)

By the way, although the said optical termination box 100 installed under a house eaves etc. is preferable from the viewpoint of scenery or installation space, the outside wiring 103 or the inside wiring 104 introduced into the optical termination box 100 is It cannot be bent below the allowable bending radius of the optical fiber.
Therefore, the outside wiring 103 is held, for example, in a state of being bent beyond the allowable bending radius by the extra length processing unit 101, and the optical termination box 100 is increased in size.

In addition, since the connector 112 that connects the outside wiring 103 and the inside wiring 104 needs to connect the outside connector 112a and the inside connector 112b in series, the vertical direction or the horizontal direction in which the fitting directions are opposite to each other. Therefore, a space is required in both the upper and lower directions or the left and right directions.
Therefore, the conventional optical termination box 100 becomes large to some extent, and there is a problem that installation space is required and the landscape is damaged.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described problems, and to provide a connector for optical cables and an optical termination box that are compact and easy to perform wiring work.

The optical cable connector of the present invention is an optical cable connector for connecting an upstream optical cable and a downstream optical cable,
An upstream plug connecting portion capable of connecting a plug attached to an end portion of the upstream optical cable, a downstream plug connecting portion capable of connecting a plug attached to an end portion of the downstream optical cable, and upstream and downstream sides thereof And a connecting optical fiber having both ends optically connected to the optical fiber of each plug connected to the plug connecting part.

Desirably, the upstream plug connecting portion and the downstream plug connecting portion are a pair of plug connecting portions arranged in parallel on one side of the duplex adapter for connecting an optical connector,
Both end portions of the connection optical fiber are connected to a pair of plug connection portions arranged in parallel on the other side of the double adapter through plugs.

  Preferably, an upstream adapter provided with the upstream plug connection portion and a downstream adapter provided with the downstream plug connection portion are rotatably connected to each other, so that the upstream optical cable and the downstream adapter are connected. The extension angle with the side optical cable is variable.

  Preferably, the connecting optical fiber is an optical fiber having a minimum allowable bending radius of 30 mm or less.

  The optical termination box according to the present invention is characterized in that the optical cable connector is accommodated in a housing, and the housing is provided with a cable introduction section that allows the upstream optical cable and the downstream optical cable to be introduced freely. To do.

According to the optical cable connector of the present invention, the plug of the upstream optical cable connected to the upstream plug connecting portion and the plug of the downstream optical cable connected to the downstream plug connecting portion have flexibility. Since the optical fiber is optically connected, the plug fitting direction of the upstream side plug connecting part and the downstream side plug connecting part can be arbitrarily set.
Therefore, the upstream optical cable and the downstream optical cable can be easily connected from any direction by connecting the upstream optical cable plug to the upstream plug connection and connecting the downstream optical cable plug to the downstream plug connection. Therefore, the optical cable wiring work becomes easy.

Further, according to the optical termination box of the present invention, the upstream side plug connecting portion and the downstream side plug connecting portion can be arranged in the same direction with respect to the casing, so that the upstream optical cable plug and the downstream side are connected. The optical cable plug can be connected from the same side of the housing.
Therefore, since connection work can be performed from one direction, workability is improved and the optical termination box can be attached to a narrow place. In addition, since it is not necessary to provide a surplus length processing unit as in the prior art, the optical termination box can be made compact, the degree of freedom of installation space is increased, and the appearance is improved.

Hereinafter, a connector for an optical cable and an optical termination box according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a partial cross-sectional exploded view for explaining an optical cable connector according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the optical cable connector 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention connects an upstream optical cable 11 and a downstream optical cable 12 each having an optical fiber covered with a jacket.
The optical cable connector 10 includes a plug connection portion 21 as an upstream plug connection portion to which a plug 13 attached to the end portion of the upstream optical cable 11 can be connected, and a plug attached to the end portion of the downstream optical cable 12. 15 is a plug connection portion 23 as a downstream plug connection portion to which 15 can be connected, and connection light in which both ends are optically connected to optical fibers in the plugs 13 and 15 connected to the plug connection portions 21 and 23, respectively. And a fiber 31.

  That is, the upstream side plug connecting portion and the downstream side plug connecting portion in this embodiment are a pair of plug connecting portions arranged in parallel on one side (the lower side in FIG. 1) of the duplex adapter 20 for optical connector connection. A pair of plugs, in which both end portions of the connection optical fiber 31 are juxtaposed on the other side (upper side in FIG. 1) of the duplex adapter 20 via plugs 33 and 33, respectively. Connected to the connecting portions 22 and 24.

  The duplex adapter 20 is a so-called duplex SC adapter, and a sleeve 28 fitted with an elastic sleeve 26 is mounted in a plastic housing 29. Of course, the duplex adapter 20 is not limited to the SC adapter, and various types of adapters such as an FC adapter, an MU adapter, and an MT-RJ adapter can be used as necessary. That is, the optical cable connector 10 can be constructed at low cost by using such a ready-made duplex adapter 20 as the adapter having the upstream plug connecting portion and the downstream plug connecting portion in the present invention. .

The plugs 13 and 15 are so-called SC connectors, and a knob 16 is attached to a plug body that supports the ferrule 14. Of course, the plugs 13 and 15 are not limited to SC connectors, and various types of connectors such as FC connectors, MU connectors, and MT-RJ connectors can be used as necessary.
The plug 33 is a so-called simple SC connector, and a boot 36 is bonded and fixed to the rear end portion of the ferrule 34 fixed to the end portion of the connection optical fiber 31.

  In this embodiment, the plug 13 attached to the end of the upstream optical cable 11 and the plug 15 attached to the end of the downstream optical cable 12 are the same SC connector, but different types of connectors are used. In some cases, the corresponding adapter is also different.

Then, the ferrule 34 is inserted into the elastic sleeve 26 by fitting the plugs 33 attached to both ends of the connection optical fiber 31 to the plug connection portions 22 and 24, respectively.
The connecting optical fiber 31 is made of an optical fiber having a minimum allowable bending radius of 30 mm or less (for example, R = 7.5 mm), and when the plugs 33 at both ends are fitted into the plug connecting portions 22 and 24, respectively. Is bent in a U shape with a bending radius larger than the minimum allowable bending radius of the optical fiber. That is, by using an optical fiber having a small minimum allowable bending radius as the connecting optical fiber 31, the plug connecting portions 22 and 24 can be brought close to each other and the width of the double adapter 20 can be reduced.

Next, the ferrule 14 is inserted into the elastic sleeve 26 by fitting the plug 13 into the plug connection portion 21. Similarly, the ferrule 14 is inserted into the elastic sleeve 26 by fitting the plug 15 into the plug connection portion 23.
Therefore, the ends of the ferrule 34 of the plug 33 and the ends of the ferrules 14 of the plugs 13 and 15 are abutted in the elastic sleeve 26 and are optically connected.

As described above, according to the optical cable connector 10 of the present embodiment, the plug 13 of the upstream optical cable 11 connected to the plug connection portion 21 and the plug of the downstream optical cable 12 connected to the plug connection portion 23. 15 is optically connected by a connecting optical fiber 31 having flexibility.
Therefore, the plug connection portion 21 to which the upstream optical cable 11 is connected and the plug connection portion to which the downstream optical cable 12 is connected, such as the fitting direction of the plug 13 and the plug 15 being the same in the same direction as in this embodiment. The plug fitting direction of 23 can be arbitrarily set.

  Therefore, if the plug fitting direction of the plug connection portion 21 and the plug connection portion 23 is set in advance according to the routing conditions, the plug of the upstream optical cable 11 can be used even in a routing location where the work space is limited. 13 is connected to the plug connecting portion 21 and the plug 15 of the downstream optical cable 12 is connected to the plug connecting portion 23, whereby the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable 12 can be easily connected, and the optical cable wiring Work becomes easy.

  Next, with reference to FIG.2 and FIG.3, the connector for optical cables which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated in detail. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the structural member which is common in 1st Embodiment mentioned above, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the optical cable connector 40 according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes an upstream adapter 41 having an upstream plug connecting portion to which the plug 13 of the upstream optical cable 11 can be connected, and a downstream side. Both ends of the downstream adapter 43 provided with a downstream plug connection portion to which the plug 15 of the optical cable 12 can be connected, and the optical fibers in the plugs 13 and 15 connected to the upstream and downstream adapters 41 and 43, respectively, are optically connected. A connection optical fiber 31 to be connected.

  That is, the upstream plug connecting portion in this embodiment is the plug connecting portion 25 provided on one side (the lower side in FIG. 2) of the upstream adapter 41 for connecting the optical connector, and the downstream plug connecting portion is The plug connector 27 is provided on one side of the downstream adapter 43 for connecting the optical connector. Then, both end portions of the connection optical fiber 31 are respectively connected to the plug connection portions 22 provided on the other side (upper side in FIG. 1) of the upstream / downstream adapters 41 and 43 via plugs 33 and 33, respectively. 24.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2A, an upstream adapter 41 provided with the plug connection portion 25 and a downstream adapter 43 provided with the plug connection portion 27 are rotatable with respect to each other by a pivot pin 45. By being connected, the extension angle between the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable 12 to be connected is variable.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the upstream adapter 41 and the downstream adapter 43 are twisted, they can be rotated relatively at an arbitrary angle around the pivot pin 45. At this time, since the connecting optical fiber 31 is flexible, the upstream adapter 41 and the downstream adapter 43 are allowed to rotate. The bending radius of the connecting optical fiber 31 is the minimum allowable bending radius of the optical fiber. The rotation angle range, the length of the connection optical fiber 31, and the like are appropriately set so as not to be below.

As described above, according to the optical cable connector 40 of the second embodiment, the upstream adapter 41 and the downstream adapter 43 are rotatably connected to each other, as shown in FIG. The extension angle between the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable 12 is variable and can be set to an arbitrary angle.
Therefore, if the relative angle between the upstream adapter 41 and the downstream adapter 43 is set to a desired angle according to the routing conditions, the plug 13 of the upstream optical cable 11 can be used even in a routing place where the work space is limited. Is connected to the plug connecting portion 25, and the plug 15 of the downstream optical cable 12 is connected to the plug connecting portion 27, so that the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable 12 can be easily connected, and the optical cable is wired. Becomes easy.

  Next, an optical termination box according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the structural member which is common in 1st Embodiment mentioned above, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

The optical termination box 50 according to the present embodiment accommodates the optical cable connector 10 according to the first embodiment in the casing 53, and the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable in the casing 53. 12 is provided with a cable introduction portion 55 that allows the introduction of the wire 12 freely.
The casing 53 includes a main body 51 and a lid body 52 that detachably covers the main body 51, and is formed in a substantially rectangular box shape as a whole. The bottom plate 54 of the main body 51 is provided with a peripheral wall 61 that surrounds three sides, and the cable introduction portion 55 is disposed on the other side (downward during installation).

The optical cable connector 10 is fitted into an attachment hole 56a of an adapter support wall 56 that is suspended substantially at the center of the bottom plate 54, and then a flange portion 29a is screwed thereto.
Further, the core wire presser portion 57 suspended from the bottom plate 54 on the cable introduction portion 55 side grips and fixes the introduced upstream optical cable 11 and downstream optical cable 12 by a holding metal fitting 59 screwed to the upper end portion. ing. Therefore, even when an inadvertent tensile force is applied to the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable 12 introduced into the optical termination box 50, the plugs 13 and 15 cause poor connection or fall off. Can be prevented. Note that an elastic member such as a sponge is attached to the holding portion of the presser fitting 59 to prevent the cable jacket from being damaged.

Further, a cylindrical extra length guide 60 is suspended from the bottom plate 54 corresponding to the connection optical fiber 31 of the optical cable connector 10, and the connection optical fiber 31 bent into a U-shape is provided. The bending radius is held so as not to be less than the minimum allowable bending radius of the optical fiber.
As shown in FIG. 5, the cable introduction part 55 is constituted by a rubber waterproof cover attached to the main body 51, and the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable 12 are inserted into a T-shaped slit 55a. To ensure waterproofness. In addition, when it installs in the place where rain etc. do not come down very much, there may be some clearance gaps in a cable introduction part, and a waterproof cover can also be abbreviate | omitted.

Therefore, when the optical termination box 50 is installed on the wall such as under the eaves, first, the main body 51 in which the optical cable connector 10 is accommodated is fixed to the wall surface with a wood screw or the like inserted through the mounting hole 61. At this time, the main body 51 is installed such that the cable introduction portion 55 is located below.
Next, after the plug 13 of the upstream optical cable 11 is connected to the plug connection portion 21 and the plug 15 of the downstream optical cable 12 is connected to the plug connection portion 23, the upstream and downstream optical cables 11, 12 are held by the presser fitting 59. At the same time, it is inserted into the slit 55a of the cable introduction part 55.
Finally, the cover 52 is placed on the main body 51, whereby the installation of the optical termination box 50 is completed.

  That is, according to the optical termination box 50 of the third embodiment, by using the optical cable connector 10 as described above, the plug connection portion 21 to which the plug 13 of the upstream optical cable 11 is connected, and the downstream side Since the plug connection portion 23 to which the plug 15 of the optical cable 12 is connected can be juxtaposed in the same direction (downward direction) with respect to the housing 53, the plug 13 of the upstream optical cable 11 and the downstream optical cable 12 The plug 15 can be connected from the same side (lower side) of the housing 53.

  Therefore, since the plugs 13 and 15 can be connected from one direction (from the bottom upward), the workability is improved and the optical termination box 50 can be attached to a narrow place. Further, since it is not necessary to provide the extra length processing unit 101 as in the conventional optical termination box 100 shown in FIG. 5, the optical termination box 50 can be made compact, and the degree of freedom of installation space is increased. Appearance also improves.

The optical cable connector and the optical termination box of the present invention are not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments, and various forms can be taken based on the spirit of the present invention. Absent.
For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the upstream and downstream optical cables 11 and 12 made of a single optical fiber are connected has been described. However, an optical cable formed by collectively covering a plurality of optical fibers with two or more fibers is used. Also in the case of connection, the optical cable connector can be used. In this case, a plurality of connecting optical fibers whose both ends are optically connected may be provided corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers of each plug connected to the upstream / downstream plug connecting portion.

It is a fragmentary sectional exploded view for explaining the connector for optical cables concerning a 1st embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view for demonstrating the connector for optical cables which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention, (a) shows the state which made the upstream adapter 41 and the downstream adapter 43 parallel, (b) is an upstream. The state which twisted 90 degrees of the adapter 41 and the downstream adapter 43 is shown. It is a front view which shows the upstream and downstream optical cable connection state to the connector for optical cables shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the optical termination box which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention, (a) is a top view of a main body, (b) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a housing | casing. It is an A direction arrow directional view of the housing | casing shown in FIG.4 (b). It is a disassembled perspective view which shows the conventional optical termination box.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Connector for optical cables 11 Upstream optical cable 12 Downstream optical cable 13 Plug 15 Plug 20 Duplex adapter 21 Plug connection part (upstream plug connection part)
23 Plug connection (downstream plug connection)
31 Optical Fiber for Connection 50 Optical Termination Box 51 Main Body 52 Lid 53 Case

Claims (5)

An optical cable connector for connecting an upstream optical cable and a downstream optical cable,
An upstream plug connecting portion capable of connecting a plug attached to an end portion of the upstream optical cable, a downstream plug connecting portion capable of connecting a plug attached to an end portion of the downstream optical cable, and upstream and downstream sides thereof An optical cable connector comprising: an optical fiber for connection in which both ends are optically connected to the optical fiber of each plug connected to a plug connection part. The upstream plug connecting portion and the downstream plug connecting portion are a pair of plug connecting portions arranged in parallel on one side of a duplex adapter for connecting an optical connector,
2. The optical cable connection according to claim 1, wherein both ends of the connection optical fiber are connected to a pair of plug connection portions arranged in parallel on the other side of the duplex adapter via plugs, respectively. vessel.   The upstream optical cable and the downstream optical cable are connected to each other so that the upstream adapter having the upstream plug connection portion and the downstream adapter having the downstream plug connection portion are rotatably connected to each other. The optical cable connector according to claim 1, wherein an extension angle of the optical cable is variable.   The optical cable connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the connection optical fiber is an optical fiber having a minimum allowable bending radius of 30 mm or less. The optical cable connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4 is housed in a housing, and a cable introduction portion is provided in the housing so that the upstream optical cable and the downstream optical cable can be introduced. Optical termination box characterized by.