JP2013015745A - Optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the occurrence of flexure and axial misalignment of a coated optical fiber extending from a sheath grasping member grasping a sheath of an optical cable.SOLUTION: An optical connector includes: a ferrule portion 3 incorporating a built-in optical fiber; a mechanical splicing portion 7 attached to a rear part of the ferrule portion, for butt joint between the built-in optical fiber and an inserted optical fiber obtained by removing a coating of a coated optical fiber 5 obtained by removing a sheath of an optical cable 4 inserted from the outside; a coating removing portion 20 for removing the coating of the coated optical fiber; and a sheath grasping member 11 for grasping the sheath of the optical cable at a rear end part of the connector. The sheath grasping member 11 includes sheath grasping parts 55 and 57 for grasping the sheath part of the optical cable and coating grasping parts 56 and 58 for grasping the coating part of the coated optical fiber. The sheath grasping member includes not only the sheath grasping parts 55 and 57 but also the coating grasping parts 56 and 58, so that flexure and axial misalignment of the coated optical fiber extending from the sheath grasping member can be prevented.

Description

  The present invention relates to a mechanical splice type on-site assembly optical connector including a mechanical splice unit integrally formed at the rear part of a ferrule unit incorporating a built-in optical fiber, and a jacket gripping member that grips a jacket of an optical cable. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mechanical splice type on-site assembly optical connector that is provided with a coating removing portion that acts to peel off the coating of a coated optical fiber and can be butt-connected by pushing the coated optical fiber.

  A mechanical splice type on-site assembly optical connector that includes a mechanical splice unit integrated with a rear part of a ferrule unit that incorporates a built-in optical fiber (bare fiber), and a jacket gripping member that grips the jacket of the optical cable. Since the jacket can be directly gripped and assembled, it is excellent in terms of workability and other points as an on-site assembly optical connector capable of attaching the optical connector to the optical fiber in the field.

By the way, a technique has been reported in which the coated optical fiber is pushed into the optical connector as it is without being stripped in advance to expose the bare fiber, and butt-connected to the opposing optical fiber (built-in optical fiber) ( Non-patent document 1). In this report, a coated optical fiber having a bare fiber diameter of 0.125 mm and a coated portion outer diameter of 0.25 mm is targeted.
For this butt connection by pushing the coated optical fiber, as a connection model of the butt portion, a coating removing member having a hole (alignment portion) having an inner diameter of 126 mm in the axial center portion of the cone is used. The coating of the coated optical fiber is peeled off by pressing against the hole tip (insertion end) of the removing member with a force greater than that required for coating removal of the coated optical fiber.
In order to press this thin coated optical fiber against the hole tip of the coating removal member and peel the thin coating without damaging the bare fiber, it is necessary to press the coated optical fiber against the hole tip with extremely high accuracy. Therefore, it is necessary to guide the coated optical fiber to the hole tip with high accuracy.

To realize the coating removal technology by pushing the coated optical fiber as described above, in which the thin coated optical fiber is pressed against the hole tip of the coating removal member and peeled off, in an actual field assembly optical connector, For many parts, it is necessary to devise concrete structures.
For example, the optical connector of Patent Document 1 is not a butt connection type optical connector having a built-in optical fiber, but a bare fiber obtained by removing the coating of the coated optical fiber inserted into the optical connector is inserted into the optical fiber hole of the ferrule part. In this optical connector, the ferrule part is provided with a coating removal part.
That is, the optical fiber holding hole 37 provided in the ferrule part includes a first hole 53 having an inner diameter substantially the same as the outer diameter of the coated optical fiber, and a second hole 55 having an inner diameter substantially the same as the outer diameter of the bare optical fiber. As a configuration including a coating receiving portion 57 provided between the first hole portion 53 and the second hole portion 55, the coated optical fiber 19 can be mounted with the coating.

JP2009-128422

Proceedings 2 of the 2009 IEICE Society Conference “Considerations on Butt Connection of Coated Optical Fiber Cores” (B-13-8).

  As described above, there is an optical connector provided with a coating removal part (Patent Document 1) in which a ferrule part is provided with a coating removal part, but the bare fiber diameter is 0.125 mm, and the coated optical fiber is coated. Since it is not easy to peel off the thin coating of a thin coated optical fiber having an outer diameter of 0.25 mm without damaging the bare fiber inside the thin ferrule part, a coating removal part is provided in the ferrule part. There seems to be various difficulties in putting the structure into practical use.

By the way, the mechanical splice unit integrated optical connector provided with the above-described outer cover holding member has an excellent feature as an on-site assembly optical connector. If the structure is provided with a coating removal portion, it will be more excellent as an on-site assembly optical connector.
However, as described above, it is easy to peel off a thin coating on a thin coated optical fiber having a bare fiber diameter of 0.125 mm and a coated optical fiber outer diameter of 0.25 mm without damaging the bare fiber. Therefore, it is necessary to devise specific structures in various respects in order to obtain a configuration in which the coating splicing part is provided in the mechanical splice part integrated optical connector provided with the jacket gripping member. .

  For example, as described above, it is necessary to guide the coated optical fiber to the hole tip of the coating removal portion with high accuracy, but the portion of the jacket gripping member that grips the jacket of the optical cable extends from the jacket gripping member. If the coated optical fiber is bent or misaligned, the coated optical fiber cannot be smoothly inserted into the mechanical splice.

  The present invention has been made based on the above background, and is a coating that extends from an optical cable in which the jacket is gripped by the jacket gripping portion so that the coated optical fiber can be smoothly inserted into the mechanical splice portion. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical connector that can prevent the attached optical fiber from being bent or misaligned.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector of the present invention, wherein a ferrule part including a built-in optical fiber and a rear part of the ferrule part are attached to the built-in optical fiber and inserted from outside A mechanical splice portion that butt-connects an optical fiber with a coated optical fiber from which the outer sheath of the optical cable is removed, and a sheath removing portion that removes the coating of the coated optical fiber; and a rear end portion of the connector A jacket gripping member for gripping the jacket of the optical cable;
The jacket gripping member includes a jacket gripping part that grips a jacket part of the optical cable and a covering grip part that grips a coating part of the coated optical fiber.

A mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to claim 1, wherein:
The jacket gripping member includes a gripping member main body and a lid attached to the gripping member main body, and both the gripping member main body and the lid body include a jacket gripping portion and the covering gripping portion. It is characterized by.

A mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to claim 2, wherein
A positioning groove for receiving the coated optical fiber is provided on the upper surface of the covering grip portion on the gripping member main body side of the jacket gripping member.

A mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to claim 3, wherein
An optical cable side portion of the positioning groove has a taper-shaped groove that extends in a taper shape toward the optical cable side.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to the third or fourth aspect, wherein a protruding portion extending in a direction crossing the positioning groove is provided on the upper surface of the covering grip portion on the gripping member main body side. The upper edge of the positioning groove is high in the raised portion.

A mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to any one of claims 2 to 5,
The outer gripping portion and the covering grip portion in the grip member main body are integral, and the outer gripping portion and the covering grip portion in the lid are integral.

According to the on-site assembly optical connector of the mechanical splice type of the present invention, since the outer gripping member has not only the outer gripping portion but also the covering gripping portion, the deflection of the coated optical fiber extending from the outer gripping member is reduced. In addition, it is possible to prevent the axial deviation from occurring in the coated optical fiber.
Therefore, the coated optical fiber can be smoothly inserted into the mechanical splice part.

  4. The positioning groove for housing the coated optical fiber provided on the upper surface of the coated gripping portion on the gripping member main body side of the jacket gripping member according to claim 3 is effective for preventing deflection or axial deviation of the coated optical fiber. To work.

  According to claim 4, since the optical cable side portion of the positioning groove has a tapered groove that expands in a tapered shape toward the optical cable side, even if an axial deviation occurs in the optical cable gripped by the jacket grip portion, The influence can be reduced, and a strong bending force can be prevented from acting on the coated optical fiber.

  According to the fifth aspect, since the raised portion extending in the direction intersecting with the positioning groove of the covering grip portion is provided, the width of the positioning groove in the protruding portion is widened, and the coated optical fiber is reliably accommodated in the positioning groove. It becomes easy.

  According to the sixth aspect, the covering portion and the covering portion are integral members, and since the covering portion and the covering portion can be simultaneously held, workability when holding the covering of the optical cable is good. . Moreover, compared with the case where both are separate members, a jacket holding member can be manufactured at low cost.

It is a perspective view of one Example of the mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector of the present invention, and is a figure showing the situation where an optical connector is attached to an optical fiber with a covering of an optical cable using a pushing auxiliary jig and a wedge member. In FIG. 1, it is the perspective view shown except the pushing auxiliary | assistance jig | tool and the wedge member. (A) is a plan view of FIG. 2, (b) is the same front view, and (c) is the same bottom view. It is the figure which abbreviate | omitted and simplified and showed the longitudinal cross-section of the said optical connector. It is a perspective view of the plug frame in the optical connector. 5A and 5B show details of the plug frame of FIG. 5, where FIG. 5A is a plan view, FIG. 5B is a front view, FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. B sectional drawing, (e) is B'-B 'sectional drawing of (a). It is a perspective view of the stop ring in the above-mentioned optical connector. 7A and 7B show details of the stop ring of FIG. 7, (a) is a plan view, (b) is a front view, (c) is a bottom view, (d) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line CC in (a), (B) is a DD sectional view of (b), (f) is a left side view of (b), and (g) is a right side view of (b). It is a perspective view of the movable guide in the said optical connector. 9A and 9B show details of the movable guide of FIG. 9, (a) is a front view, (b) is a plan view, (c) is a bottom view, (d) is a left side view of (a), and (e) is ( It is a right view of a). It is EE sectional drawing of FIG.10 (b). The detail of the base part of the mechanical splice part which is a member inside the said optical connector is shown, (a) is a front view of a base part, (b) is the same top view, (c) is F- of (a). F sectional drawing, (d) is a right view of (b), (e) is GG sectional drawing of (a). 12A and 12B show open guides attached to the base portion of FIG. 12, where FIG. 12A is a bottom view (a view corresponding to FIG. 12C), FIG. 12B is a view of FIG. FIG. 3 is a left side view enlarged twice as much as (a). It is a figure which shows the state which attached | attached the cover, the movable guide, and the coating | coated removal member to what fixed the ferrule to the base part of Fig.12 (a) with a wedge member. (A) is the figure which expanded FIG.12 (d), (b) is the right view of FIG. FIG. 15 is an enlarged view of the coating removing member in FIG. 14, (a) is a perspective view, and (b) is a plan view illustrating a situation where the coating of the coated optical fiber is removed. It is the perspective view which showed the jacket holding member in FIGS. 1-3 in the state which opened the cover body. (A) is a top view of the jacket holding member of FIG. 17, (b) is a principal part expanded sectional view of the part of the positioning groove | channel shown by the HH cross section. FIG. 18 shows details of the envelope gripping member of FIG. 17, (a) is a plan view (a reduction of FIG. 18), (b) is a front view, (c) is a left side view, and (d) is a right side view. (E) is a view showing a state in which the lid is closed in (c). The procedure for gripping the jacket of the optical cable and the coated portion of the coated optical fiber by the jacket gripping member will be described. (A) is a stage in which the optical cable is housed in the jacket gripping member, and (b) is a lid. The state which hold | gripped the jacket of the optical cable and the coating | coated part of the coated optical fiber is shown.

  DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector 1 is pushed into a coated optical fiber 5 of an optical cable 4 and an auxiliary jig 14 and It is a figure which shows the condition attached using the wedge member. 2 is a perspective view of FIG. 1 excluding the pushing assist jig 14 and the wedge member 15, FIG. 3 (a) is a plan view of FIG. 2, (b) is the front view thereof, and (c) is the bottom view thereof. FIG. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view showing an outline of the internal structure of the above-mentioned mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector 1, and a part thereof is omitted and simplified.

  This mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector (hereinafter also simply referred to as an optical connector) 1 is integrally attached to a ferrule part 3 having a built-in optical fiber (bare fiber) 2 and a rear part of the ferrule part 3. Then, the built-in optical fiber 2 and the inserted optical fiber (indicated by reference numeral 6 in FIG. 16) from which the coating 5a of the coated optical fiber 5 from which the jacket 4a of the optical cable 4 inserted from the outside has been removed have been removed are connected to each other. A mechanical splice portion 7, and a plug frame 9 that accommodates a mechanical splice portion integrated ferrule portion 8, in which the ferrule portion 3 and the mechanical splice portion 7 are integrated, with a forward limit thereof slidably moved back and forth. The mechanical splice 7 is fixed to the plug frame 9 and is moved forward through a C-shaped leaf spring 26. A stop ring 10 for biased, and a jacket gripping member 11 for gripping the envelope 4a of the optical cable 4 with the connector rear end.

5 is a perspective view of the plug frame 9, FIG. 6A is a plan view of the plug frame 9, FIG. 5B is a front view, FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. a) BB sectional drawing of (a), (e) is B'-B 'sectional drawing of (a).
As described above, the plug frame 9 accommodates the mechanical splice unit integrated ferrule unit 8 so as to be slidable back and forth with its advance limit, and slides on the flange 8a of the mechanical splice unit integrated ferrule unit 8. It has a cylindrical inner surface 9a to be fitted, and a forward limit is defined by a step 9b at the tip. Further, it has a cylindrical inner surface 9 c into which the cylindrical portion 10 a on the front side of the stop ring 10 is fitted. 9d is a locking portion that engages with a hole formed in the side surface of the cover 13 to lock the cover 13, and 9e is a locking portion that engages with the engagement protrusion 10b of the stop ring 10 to lock the stop ring 10. Part. 9 f is a hole through which the insertion piece 15 a of the wedge member 15 passes.
The cover 13 is attached to the portion of the plug frame 9 and has an outer shape that matches the shape of the inner surface of the adapter that is inserted when the optical connector is connected. The shape of the cover and the shape of the plug frame vary depending on the type of connector.

7 is a perspective view of the stop ring 10 in the optical connector, FIG. 8 (a) is a plan view of the stop ring 10, (b) is a front view, (c) is a bottom view, and (d) is C in (a). -C sectional drawing, (e) is DD sectional drawing of (b), (f) is a left view of (b), (g) is a right view of (b).
As described above, the cylindrical portion 10a of the stop ring 10 is fitted into the plug frame 9 and locked by the engaging projection 10b, and the mechanical splice portion 7 is elastically biased forward via the coil spring 27. To do. On the rear end side opposite to the cylindrical portion 10a, there is a space 10c ′ surrounded by a U-shaped frame portion 10c that houses a coated optical fiber guiding portion 24 of the movable guide 21 described later. A groove 10e for guiding the movable guide 21 is provided on the inner surface of both side walls 10d of the U-shaped frame portion 10c. 10 f is a hole through which the insertion piece 15 a of the wedge member 15 passes.
On the top of the stop ring 10, the lever 12 for restraining the outer cover gripping member 11 from falling off is attached rotatably by a hinge shaft 12a.

A cylindrical portion 22 of the movable guide 21 shown in FIGS. 9 to 11 is inserted into the stop ring 10. 9 is a perspective view of the movable guide 21, FIG. 10A is a front view of the movable guide, FIG. 9B is a plan view, FIG. 9C is a bottom view, FIG. 9D is a left side view of FIG. ) Is a right side view of (a). FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view taken along line EE in FIG.
Although the details will be described later, the movable guide 21 is covered with the pressing force during the coating removal, in which the coated optical fiber 5 is pressed against the coating removing member 20 shown in FIGS. 14 and 16 to remove the coating 5a. This is a member that constitutes a part of the coated optical fiber holding structure for securing the allowable gap m in the optical fiber length direction such that the attached optical fiber 5 does not buckle. The allowable gap m is about 2.1 mm.
The movable guide 21 includes a cylindrical portion 22 having a cylindrical outer peripheral surface. The cylindrical portion 22 is covered with the mechanical splice portion 7, and the cylindrical outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical portion 22 is slid into the stop ring 10. It is movably fitted and is movable in the front-rear direction with respect to the mechanical splice part 7.
This movable guide 21 is integrally provided with a coated optical fiber guiding portion 24 having a substantially square shape for introducing the coated optical fiber 5 at the rear end of the cylindrical portion 22. As shown in FIG. 11, the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24 includes a coated optical fiber insertion hole 24b having an inner diameter slightly larger than the coated optical fiber diameter at the tip of the conical guide surface 24a. . The cylindrical hollow portion 23 of the cylindrical portion 22 extends to the inside of the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24, and has a vertical inner wall 24c at the abutting portion of the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24. As will be described later, the vertical inner wall 24c pushes the rear end surface of the opening guide 31. The movable guide 21 that is pushed forward by the outer gripping member 11 stops when the vertical inner wall 24c hits the rear end surface of the mechanical splice portion 7. At this time, since the protrusion 30f provided on the base portion 30 of the mechanical splice portion 7 enters the locking hole 22b provided on the movable guide 21, the movable guide 21 does not retract from the position.
The conical guide surface 24a and the coated optical fiber insertion hole 24b of the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24 are partially formed by the guide surface 25a and the partial hole surface 25b of the movable piece 25. The movable piece 25 is lowered when a later-described claw portion 29 of the outer cover gripping member 11 advanced toward the movable guide 21 hits the movable piece 5. When the movable piece 25 is lowered, the guide surface 25a is separated from the coated optical fiber insertion hole 24b, thereby forming a guide surface 25a that spreads outward in the radial direction. The coated optical fiber 5 and the coated light coming out of the positioning groove 67a of the jacket holding member 11 when the 60 conical surfaces are aligned with the conical guide surface 24a of the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24 of the movable guide 21. When there is a deviation from the optical fiber insertion hole 24b of the fiber guiding portion 24, the coated optical fiber 5 acts to increase the bending R generated in the coated optical fiber 5 that bends against the guide surfaces 24a and 25a. It is possible to prevent excessive bending from occurring.
FIG. 9 shows the movable piece 25 removed.
A groove 24c through which an arm 50 (to be described later) of the jacket holding member 11 passes is formed on the side surface of the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24. 22a is a hole through which the insertion piece 15a of the wedge member 15 passes. There are other holes (openings).
Although the detailed description of the lock lever 35 shown in FIG. 10 is omitted, the movable guide 21 is set at a predetermined position where the outer cover holding member 11 holding the outer cover of the optical cable 4 is advanced. Thus, when the coated optical fiber 5 is advanced, the lock for restricting the advancement of the movable guide 21 to the appropriate timing so that the outer gripping member 11 moves the movable guide 21 forward at the appropriate timing. Has function.

12A and 12B show details of the mechanical splice portion 7 in the optical connector 1. FIG. 12A is a front view of the base portion 30 of the mechanical splice portion 7, FIG. 12B is a plan view thereof, and FIG. FF sectional drawing of (b), (d) is a right view of (b), (e) is GG sectional drawing of (a). FIGS. 13A and 13B show the open guide 31 attached to the base portion of FIG. 12, where FIG. 13A is a bottom view (a view corresponding to FIG. 12C), and FIG. 13B is a view of FIG. , (D) is a left side view enlarged twice as large as (a).
The mechanical splice portion 7 includes a base portion 30, a lid portion 33 that covers the base portion 30, a C-shaped leaf spring that elastically clamps the base portion 30 and the lid portion 33, and a lid for the base portion 30. The alignment surface 10c with the portion 33 is provided with an alignment groove 32a for accommodating the built-in optical fiber 2 and the insertion optical fiber 6 and a covering portion receiving groove 32b for accommodating the portion of the coated optical fiber 5 in a straight line. It is. Further, a recess 30a for mounting the coating removing member 20 is provided between the coating portion receiving groove 32b and the alignment groove 32a. _{30b (30b 1, 30b 2,} 30b 3, 30b 4) is a wedge insertion portion which wedge member 15 is inserted. The portions other than the wedge insertion portion 30 b are raised portions 30 d that are raised from the mating surface 30 c of the base portion 30. In addition, oblique ridges 30 e that act to move the open guide 31 obliquely are provided on the mating surface 30 c of the base portion 30.

As shown in FIG. 13, the open guide 31 has a notch 31 a having a circular arc part and a straight part for gripping the coated optical fiber 5 at a corner part of a substantially rectangular cross section. There is an oblique groove 31b that fits into the oblique protrusion 30e of the mating surface 30c.
FIG. 14 shows a state in which a cover 33, an opening guide 31, and a sheath removing member 20 are mounted on the base 30 of the mechanical splice unit integrated ferrule unit 8 in which the ferrule unit 3 is integrated with the mechanical splice unit 7 of FIG. It is a figure simplified and shown with the wedge member. The movable guide 21 is indicated by a two-dot chain line.

FIG. 15A is an enlarged view of FIG. 12D, and FIG. 15B is a view showing the state in which the opening guide 31 and the lid 33 are attached to FIG.
The mechanical splice part in the general optical splice part integrated optical connector has a structure in which a base part and a cover part having a substantially semicircular cross section face each other and are elastically clamped by a C-shaped leaf spring. In the connector, since the open guide 31 is provided in the base portion 30 in association with the provision of the coating removal portion (which indicates the portion of the coating removal member 20) for removing the coating of the coated optical fiber, the base portion is provided as described above. The 30 mating surfaces 30c are not flat but partially have a raised portion 30d, and have various other features.

As shown in FIG. 16, the sheath removing member 20 forms a through space 40 in the illustrated example at a position near the front of a thin rectangular parallelepiped having a width of 2 mm, a length of 3.3 mm, and a thickness of 1 mm. 0.126 mmφ bare fiber insertion hole 41 through which the bare fiber is inserted into the front side (ferrule 7 side (left side in FIG. 16 (b))) of the place 40, and the coated optical fiber 5 is inserted into the rear side. An optical fiber insertion hole 42 is provided, and a rear end side portion of the bare fiber insertion hole 41 is formed in a conical shape so as to protrude rearward in the space 40. The tip portion 43a of the action portion 43) is extremely thin with respect to the inner surface of the bare fiber insertion hole 41 to form a cylindrical blade.
The coated optical fiber 5 through the coated optical fiber insertion hole 42 is pressed against the tip end surface portion (that is, the cylindrical blade) 43a of the coating removing action portion 43, thereby coating the coated optical fiber 5 with the bare fiber. Remove to remove from.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the outer cover holding member 11 with its lid opened, and FIG. 18 is a plan view of the same. 19A and 19B show the details of the outer gripping member 11. FIG. 19A is a plan view (a reduced view of FIG. 18), FIG. 19B is a front view, FIG. 19C is a left side view, and FIG. (E) is a diagram showing a state in which the lid is closed in (c).
The jacket gripping member 11 of this embodiment includes a gripping member main body 51 and a lid 53 attached to the gripping member main body 51 via a hinge portion 52 so as to be openable and closable. The arm 50 provided with the engaging claw 50a for engaging with the movable guide 21 is provided on both the left and right sides.
The gripping member main body 51 is integrally provided with a jacket gripping portion 55 for gripping the jacket portion of the optical cable 4 and a covering gripping portion 56 for gripping the coating portion of the coated optical fiber 5. A jacket grip portion 57 that grips the jacket portion and a covering grip portion 58 that grips the coating portion of the coated optical fiber 5 are integrally provided. That is, the jacket portion of the optical cable 4 and the coated portion of the coated optical fiber 5 are held by the integral member.

The covering portion 55 of the gripping member main body 51 has a deep U-shaped frame portion 61 that matches the outer shape of the optical cable 4, which is a drop cable having a generally rectangular cross-section outer covering, and this U-shaped frame portion 61. The left and right side walls 62 are each provided with a vertically long protrusion 62 a having a triangular cross section and a small protrusion 63 a on the bottom 63.
The covering portion 57 of the lid 53 includes a ceiling portion 65 that covers the U-shaped frame portion 61 of the holding member main body 51 and a locking hole that is locked to a locking projection 61 a provided on the U-shaped frame portion 61. It consists of a locking portion 66 having 66a and has a right angle.
A conical protrusion 65 a is provided on the inner surface of the ceiling portion 65 of the lid 53.

The covering grip portion 56 on the gripping member main body 51 side has a positioning groove 67a which is a V-groove in the illustrated example in which the coated optical fiber 5 is accommodated on the upper surface 56a, and the covering grip portion 55 side of the positioning groove 67 This portion has a tapered groove 67b that expands in a tapered shape toward the outer gripping portion 55 side.
Further, it has a raised portion 68 extending in the groove width direction (vertical direction in FIG. 18) at the intermediate position in the longitudinal direction of the positioning groove 67a of the covering grip portion 56 on the grip member main body 51 side, and also in FIG. 18 (b). As shown, the upper end edge of the positioning groove 67a ′ in the raised portion 68 is higher than the upper surface 56a.
Note that the covering grip portion 56 on the gripping member main body 51 side and the covering gripping portion 58 on the lid 53 side have a conical shape when the lid 53 is closed and overlapped. The entirety of the covering grip portion 56 and the covering grip portion 58 that are overlapped to form a cone shape is referred to as a cone portion 60.
As described above, the jacket gripping member 11 according to the present invention includes the jacket gripping portions 55 and 57 that grip the jacket of the optical cable 4 and the coating gripping portions 56 and 58 that grip the coating portion of the coated optical fiber. However, the coated gripping portions 56 and 58 are for preventing the coated optical fiber from being bent or misaligned, as will be described later. It's okay.
A claw 29 has a function of lowering the movable piece 25 provided on the movable guide 21 described above.

The work procedure and operation when assembling the mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector 1 will be described.
(1) The sheath 4a of the optical cable 4 is deleted by an appropriate length such as 5 cm to expose the coated optical fiber 5.
(2) Next, after the jacket portion of the optical cable 5 is accommodated in the U-shaped frame portion 61 of the jacket gripping member 11 with the lid 53 opened, the lid 53 is closed and the jacket of the optical cable 4 is gripped. The coated optical fiber 5 is accurately cut to a predetermined length with an optical fiber cutter.
(3) Insert the lid 33 elastically attached to the base part 30 of the mechanical splice part 7 with a C-shaped leaf spring, the insertion piece 15a of the wedge member 15 into the wedge insertion part 30b of the mechanical splice part 7 Keep it open.
(4) At this stage, the movable guide 21 is set at a predetermined position that is positioned by the lock lever 35, and is in a state of not moving forward.
(5) The coated optical fiber 5 of the optical cable 4 gripped by the jacket gripping member 11 is inserted into the movable guide 21 and inserted into the coating portion receiving groove 32b of the mechanical splice portion 7, and the jacket gripping member 11 is It advances and feeds along the coating | coated part accommodation groove | channel 32b. At that time, the outer gripping member 11 is moved forward by being placed on a pushing assist jig 14 attached to the rear end portion of the optical connector 1.
(6) When the jacket holding member 11 is pushed further forward, the tip surface of the coated optical fiber 5 hits the tip surface portion (cylindrical blade) 43a of the sheath removing action portion 43 of the sheath removing member 20 (when this hits) Then, when the coated optical fiber 5 is pushed in, the coated bare fiber 6 is peeled off from the bare fiber by the cylindrical blade 43a of the coat removing action portion 43, and the bare bare fiber 6 is exposed to the bare fiber insertion hole. It passes through 41 and advances in the alignment groove 32a for bare fiber of the mechanical splice part 7. At this time (at this forward stage), the outer gripping member 11 hits the movable guide 21 (the point of contact is called the point B).
The outer covering member 11 and the movable guide 21 are moved together. In this embodiment, the outer gripping member 11 hits the movable guide 21 because the conical portion 60 (56, 58) of the outer gripping member 11 is conical in the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24 of the movable guide 21. This is when it hits the guide surface 24a.
The coating 5a is removed from the bare fiber 6 by, for example, tearing it in the length direction of the optical fiber at a few locations in the circumferential direction. As shown in FIG. 16 (b), the coating 5a 'to be removed is not removed from the coating 5a of the coated optical fiber 5, but is barely connected to the coating 5a of the coated optical fiber 5 at the root portion. The fiber 6 is peeled off.
(7) From the time point A in the process of pushing in the jacket gripping member 11 (the time point when the front end surface of the coated optical fiber 5 hits the front end surface 43a of the coating removing action portion 43 of the coating removing member 20) B During the time (when the outer gripping member 11 hits the movable guide 21), the operation of the distal end of the arm 50 of the outer gripping member 11 pressing the lock lever 35 to move the lock lever 35 away from the side surface of the movable guide 21. With this operation, the lock lever 35 that restricts the forward movement of the movable guide 21 is unlocked, and the movable guide 21 can move forward.
(8) When the outer cover holding member 11 is pushed further forward, the vertical inner wall 24c of the coated optical fiber guiding portion 24 of the movable guide 21 that moves forward integrally with the outer cover holding member 11 is formed by the open guide 31 of the mechanical splice portion 7. It hits (contacts) the rear end face, and the opening guide is activated.
(10) When the jacket holding member 11 is further pushed forward, the coating removal (peeling) of the coated optical fiber 5 further proceeds while the bare fiber (inserted optical fiber) 6 is in the aligning groove 32a of the mechanical splice portion 7. And a predetermined butt pressure is generated (at the next moment when it is struck). The pushing force when removing the coating is 5N or less.
(11) When the outer gripping member 11 and the movable guide 21 are further pushed in, the open guide 31 pushed by the movable guide 21 is oblique to the base portion 30 of the mechanical splice portion 7 in which the oblique concave groove 31b is fitted. The coating of the coated optical fiber 5 is released by advancing obliquely along the ridge 30e and leaving outward from the center of the cross section. Thereby, the portion of the space where the open guide 31 that has moved outward from the center side of the cross section becomes a bending space, and the coated optical fiber 5 is bent in that space. That is, the butting pressure of the insertion fiber 6 against the built-in optical fiber 2 is converted into the deflection of the coated optical fiber 5. This deflection ensures an appropriate butt pressure for good optical connection.
(12) When the wedge member 15 is removed in this state, the clamping force of the C-shaped leaf spring acts, and the built-in optical fiber 2 and the inserted optical fiber 6 that is a bare fiber are formed by the base portion 30 and the lid portion 33 of the mechanical splice portion 7. And the coated optical fiber 5.
(13) Next, the lever 12 attached to the stop ring 10 is tilted so as to cover the outer cover holding member 11 holding the outer cover of the optical cable 4 and restrained so that the outer cover holding member 11 does not fall off.
This completes the assembly of the mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector.

In the above operation, the jacket portion of the optical cable 5 is gripped by the jacket gripping member 11 at the initial stage, but only the jacket portion is gripped like the jacket gripping member in the conventional normal field assembly optical connector. Then, the coated optical fiber extending from the outer gripping member is likely to bend, and the axis is likely to be displaced. In the case of a normal on-site optical connector, slight deflection and axial misalignment of the coated optical fiber extending from the jacket gripping member are not a problem, but the coated optical fiber push-in is not as in the optical connector of the present invention. When the butt connection is performed, it is necessary to eliminate the deflection and the axis deviation with high accuracy.
As described above, in the optical connector 1 according to the present invention, the jacket gripping member 11 has not only the jacket gripping portions 55 and 57 but also the sheath gripping portions 56 and 58. Deflection of the optical fiber 5 can be suppressed, and the occurrence of axial misalignment in the coated optical fiber 5 can be prevented.
Further, toward the outer gripping portion 55 side on the outer gripping portion 55 side (optical cable side) of the positioning groove 67a for housing the coated optical fiber 5 provided on the covering gripping portion 56 on the gripping member main body 52 side. Since the taper-shaped groove 67b that expands in a taper shape is provided, even when the optical cable 4 is gripped in the state of being offset by the jacket gripping portions 55 and 57, the taper-shaped groove 67b reduces the influence of the axial shift of the optical cable 4. Thus, it is possible to prevent a strong bending force from acting on the coated optical fiber.
Further, since the raised portion 68 is provided at the intermediate position in the longitudinal direction of the positioning groove 67a of the covering gripping portion 56, the width of the positioning groove 67a (68a) in the protruding portion 68 is widened, and the coated optical fiber 5 is reliably positioned. It becomes easy to accommodate in the groove 67a.

1. Mechanical splice type on-site assembly optical connector (optical connector)
2 Built-in optical fiber (bare fiber)
3 Ferrule part 4 Optical cable 4a Outer jacket (outer jacket part)
5 Coated optical fiber 5a Coating (coating part)
6 Insertion optical fiber (bare fiber)
7 Mechanical Splice Part 8 Mechanical Splice Part Integrated Ferrule Part 9 Plug Frame 10 Stop Ring 11 Covering Member 12 Lever 13 Cover 14 Pushing Aid 15 Wedge Member 20 Cover Removal Member 21 Movable Guide 22 Cylindrical Part 24 Covered Optical Fiber Guide portion 24a Conical guide surface 24c Vertical inner wall 30 Base portion 33 Lid portion 32a Alignment groove 32b Cover portion receiving groove 30a Recess 30e Diagonal ridge 31 Open guide 31a Notch 31b Diagonal groove 35 Lock lever 40 Space 41 Bare fiber insertion hole 42 Covered optical fiber insertion hole 43 Cover removal action part (conical part)
50 Arm 51 Grip member main body 52 Hinge part 53 Lid 55 Cover portion 56a (on the grip member main body side) Upper surface 56 Cover grip portion 57 (on the grip member main body side) Cover portion 58 (on the lid side) Body-side covering gripping portion 61 U-shaped frame portion 62 Left and right side walls 65 Ceiling portion 67a Positioning groove 67a ′ (positioning groove in the raised portion)
67b Tapered groove 68 ridge

Claims (6)

A ferrule part containing a built-in optical fiber, and an insertion optical fiber attached to the rear part of the ferrule part, from which the coating of the coated optical fiber from which the sheath of the built-in optical fiber and the optical cable inserted from the outside is removed is removed A mechanical splice part that butt-connects, a coating removal part that removes the coating of the coated optical fiber, and a jacket gripping member that grips the jacket of the optical cable at the rear end of the connector,
A mechanical splice type on-site assembly characterized in that the jacket gripping member includes a jacket gripping part that grips a jacket part of an optical cable and a covering grip part that grips a coating part of a coated optical fiber Optical connector.   The jacket gripping member includes a gripping member main body and a lid attached to the gripping member main body, and both the gripping member main body and the lid body include a jacket gripping portion and the covering gripping portion. The mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to claim 1.    3. A mechanical splice type on-site assembly optical connector according to claim 2, further comprising a positioning groove for receiving the coated optical fiber on an upper surface of the covering grip portion on the grip member main body side of the outer cover gripping member.   4. The mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to claim 3, wherein the positioning groove has a tapered groove that extends in a tapered shape toward the optical cable side.   4. A protruding portion extending in a direction intersecting with the positioning groove is formed on an upper surface of the covering holding portion on the holding member main body side, and an upper end edge of the positioning groove is raised in the protruding portion. Or a mechanical splice type field assembly optical connector according to 4; The outer covering grip portion and the covering grip portion in the grip member main body are integrated, and the outer covering grip portion and the covering grip portion in the lid body are integrated. A mechanical splice type on-site assembly optical connector as described in 1.

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