JP2014149414A - Optical transceiver - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an optical transceiver which is excellent in shield effects and in which a shield member for closing an optical receptacle can be formed with sufficient mechanical strength at low costs by insert molding integrally with the optical receptacle.SOLUTION: An optical transceiver is configured such that the opening portion of an optical receptacle for connection with an optical cable in which an OSA (Optical Sub-Assembly) is stored is shielded by a shield member 6 integrally formed with the optical receptacle by insert molding. The shield member 6 is configured such that a front wall 62 for shielding the opening portion is formed with insertion holes 63 into which the sleeves of the OSA are inserted, a reinforcing rib 64 protruding from the surface of the front wall 62 and an anchor hole 65 for increasing connection with the optical receptacle, and that the periphery of the optical receptacle is covered with elastic fingers 61 electrically brought into contact with the cage of a device into which the optical transceiver is inserted.

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical transceiver that is detachably attached to a host device for optical communication.

  An optical transceiver for optical communication includes a so-called pluggable optical transceiver that is detachably attached to a host device. This type of optical transceiver is inserted from an insertion port provided in a cage of the host device and is inserted into the host device, and electromagnetic waves generated in the optical transceiver are transmitted from the insertion port to the host device. In order to suppress the radiation to the outside, a metal finger is provided around the optical transceiver, and the finger and the cage of the host device are in electrical contact with each other and grounded. In addition, in this optical transceiver, as a housing that protects photoelectric conversion components such as an optical sub-assembly (OSA) having a photoelectric conversion function and a printed circuit board on which electronic components are mounted, in order to suppress electromagnetic radiation, Conventionally, a metal one has been used.

  However, it has been found that it is not necessary to make the casing made of metal by adopting the following configuration. That is, for connection between the optical connector of the optical cable for optical communication and the OSA, an opening communicating with the cage insertion opening is provided in the housing, and the OSA sleeve is exposed from the opening. It is set as the structure which provides the shield member which plugs up.

  For example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, such a shield member is provided with a finger that covers the periphery of the optical transceiver and contacts the host device, and a hole through which the OSA sleeve is inserted. This shield member is inserted in advance into a mold and used for insert molding when, for example, an optical receptacle constituting a casing is molded. The optical receptacle is for housing the OSA and guiding the optical connector so that the optical connector is attached to the sleeve of the OSA and having the above-described opening.

U.S. Pat. No. 7111994

  However, the shield member disclosed in Patent Document 1 is mesh-molded around the opening for the anchor effect, etc., in which insert molding is performed integrally with the front and rear members sandwiching the shield member to obtain the fixing strength. Has been. However, mesh processing is expensive and the mesh shape is inferior in strength. In addition, there is a problem that electromagnetic shielding is insufficient for a high-speed optical transceiver such as a communication speed of 10 Gbps or 100 Gbps.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the shield member that electromagnetically closes the optical receptacle can be formed by insert molding integrally with the optical receptacle with sufficient mechanical strength at low cost. An object of the present invention is to provide an optical transceiver that can be used and has an excellent shielding effect.

  In the optical transceiver of the present invention, the opening portion of the optical receptacle for connection with the optical cable in which the photoelectric conversion component is accommodated is shielded by a shield member provided integrally with the optical receptacle by insert molding, The shield member has an insertion hole through which the sleeve of the photoelectric conversion component is inserted, a reinforcing rib protruding from the surface of the front wall, and an anchor hole that enhances the coupling with the optical receptacle on the front wall that shields the opening portion. In addition, an elastic finger that is in electrical contact with a cage of a device into which the optical transceiver is inserted is provided so as to cover the periphery of the optical receptacle.

  According to the present invention, the shield member integrated with the optical receptacle by molding is provided with the anchor hole for the anchor effect, but the reinforcement member is also provided, so the strength of the shield member is high. Since the anchor hole and the reinforcing rib can be easily formed, the cost of the optical transceiver can be reduced. Furthermore, the optical transceiver of the present invention has an excellent shielding effect because the shield member is not mesh-shaped.

It is an external view of the optical transceiver which is an example of the optical transceiver of this invention. It is a perspective view of the optical receptacle of FIG. It is a figure which shows the mode of the optical receptacle immediately after mold forming. It is a figure which abbreviate | omits illustration of an optical receptacle, and shows the mode after a bending process of a shield member. It is a perspective view of OSA of the state which attached the clip. It is a perspective view of a clip. It is a perspective view of a rear cover.

FIG. 1 is an external view of an example of the optical transceiver of the present invention. In FIG. 1, only the components related to the gist of the present invention are shown, and the other parts are not shown.
An optical transceiver 1 in FIG. 1 is a pluggable (hot-swap type) optical transceiver that is detachably attached to a host device for optical communication and has a signal light transmission / reception function.

The optical transceiver 1 includes an OSA 2 having a photoelectric conversion function and a circuit board 3 on which a large number of electronic components are mounted. The OSA 2 is configured to be protected by a casing made up of a rear cover 4 and an optical receptacle 5. There are OSA (TOSA: Transmitting OSA) for transmitting optical signals and OSA (ROSA: Receiving OSA) for receiving optical signals. A light emitting element and a light receiving element which are photoelectric conversion elements are mounted on TOSA and ROSA, respectively. And electrically connected to the circuit board 3 via a flexible printed circuit board (not shown).
In the following, the longitudinal direction of the circuit board 3 is the front-rear direction with the OSA 2 side as the front side, the same width direction is the left-right direction, and the direction perpendicular to the circuit board 3 is the up-down direction.

Electric signal processing, control, and the like for the OSA 2 are performed by an electronic circuit including electronic circuit components mounted on the circuit board 3. The rear end portion of the circuit board 3 is provided with a connector portion for electrically connecting the optical transceiver 1 to the host device, and is exposed from the rear cover 4.
The components not shown in FIG. 1 are pivotably attached to and rotated with respect to, for example, an actuator having a protrusion for latching the optical transceiver 1 in the host device or an optical receptacle 6 described later. The bail or the like for releasing the latch by raising and lowering the projection of the actuator.

The optical receptacle 5 is for housing a photoelectric conversion component, and for inserting an optical connector of an optical cable for optical communication.
2 is a perspective view of the optical receptacle 5 of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 2 (A) and 2 (B) show a state seen from opposite sides in the vertical direction.
As shown in FIG. 2 (A), a pair of socket holes 51 into which an optical cable optical connector is inserted are provided in front of the optical receptacle 5, and the socket holes 51 serve as sleeves of the OSA 2 in FIG. Communicating with By mounting the optical connector in the socket hole 51, the optical fiber of the optical connector and the photoelectric conversion element in the OSA are optically coupled.

Further, an attachment projection 52 for attaching the bale described above is provided in front of the side portion of the optical receptacle 5.
Furthermore, latch holes 53 are provided on the upper surface of the central portion of the optical receptacle 5 on the left and right sides, and a latch bar 54 and a latch piece 56 are provided on the rear portion so as to extend from the central portion. The latch bar 54 is provided vertically and the latch piece 56 is provided left and right.
The functions of the latch hole 53, the latch bar 54, and the latch piece 56 will be described later.

Further, on the outer periphery of the optical receptacle 5, an elastic finger 61 is formed along the outer peripheral surface so as to contact the cage of the host device to which the optical transceiver 1 is attached.
This elastic finger 61 is provided in a shield member which will be described later, and is inserted into the mold in advance when the optical receptacle 5 is molded and is insert-molded so as to be integrated with the optical receptacle 5.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a state of the optical receptacle 5 immediately after molding.
In the optical receptacle 5, immediately after molding, the elastic finger 61 extends vertically from the upper, lower, left and right side surfaces, that is, the elastic finger 61 is open. Since the elastic finger 61 is a part of the shield member, the elastic finger 61 is integrally connected, and good workability is ensured at the time of molding. At this time, it is preferable that the tips of the elastic fingers are integrally provided with the tips of the adjacent elastic fingers and a bridge (not shown) so that unnecessary deformation during processing hardly occurs. The elastic finger 61 is bent into a shape along the upper, lower, left and right side surfaces of the optical receptacle 5 as shown in FIG. There may be two bends per finger. For example, the first is located near the tip of the finger, and the second is preferably located near the base of the finger. When the bridge portion is provided, the bending procedure is not necessary in the finished product. First, after the bridge is cut off, along the side surfaces of the optical receptacle 5 as shown in FIG. When the transceiver is inserted into the cage, the finger 61 is bent into a shape including a convex shape so as to be in electrical contact with the inner surface of the cage. At this time, in order to facilitate the processing of the finger 61, it is preferable to make the cross-sectional area small, for example, by providing a notch in the cut-off portion or the bent portion of the bridge so as to make it partially thin. Further, in order to determine the position of the shield member when it is set in a mold for insert molding, it is preferable that a hole is provided in the shield member and set by fitting with a convex portion on the mold side. As another positioning method, a concave portion matching the shape of the shield member may be provided on the mold side, and the shield member may be fitted and set there.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the state after the bending process of the shield member provided with the elastic finger 61 with the optical receptacle 5 omitted.
The shield member 6 electromagnetically closes the socket hole 51 (see FIG. 2) of the optical receptacle 5, that is, shields the elastic member 61 from the rectangular front wall 62 that closes the socket hole. I'm out. When the optical transceiver 1 is attached to the host device, the elastic finger 61 or the shield member 6 contacts and is grounded to the cage of the host device.

Further, the front wall 62 of the shield member 6 is formed with a pair of insertion holes 63 through which the sleeve 22 (see FIG. 5) of the OSA 2 protruding from the opening portion of the rear cover 4 is inserted. Is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the sleeve 22 of the OSA2.
Further, on the front wall 62 of the shield member 6, in order to increase the mechanical strength of the shield member 6, a T-shaped reinforcing rib 64 protruding in the insertion direction of the sleeve 22 of the OSA 2 into the insertion hole 63 is restricted. It is formed by processing. In the reinforcing rib 64 in the illustrated example, the T-shaped vertical bar portion is positioned in the short side direction of the front wall 62 between the pair of insertion holes 63, and the horizontal bar portion is positioned in the long side direction of the front wall 62. It is like that.

The shape of the reinforcing rib 64 is not limited to the T shape, and may be an H shape, an I shape, an E shape, a U shape, or an 8 shape.
Providing such a reinforcing rib 64 increases the mechanical strength of the shield member 6 and increases the contact area with the optical receptacle 5, that is, its constituent resin, so that the contact state with the resin is improved.

  In addition, a plurality of anchor holes 65 are formed in the front wall 62 of the shield member 6 so that the anchor effect of firmly joining the optical receptacle 5 and the shield member 6 is achieved. In addition, the formation position of the anchor hole 65 is both on the reinforcing rib 64 and other portions. Further, the position where the anchor hole 65 is formed in the reinforcing rib 64 is not limited to the flat portion as shown in the figure, and may be a side portion (slope portion) or a position that spans the slope portion and the flat portion. Good.

  As described above, in the optical transceiver 1, the anchor hole 65 for the anchor effect is provided in the shield member 6 integrated with the optical receptacle 5 by molding, but the reinforcing rib 64 is also provided. The strength of the member 6 is high. In addition, the anchor hole 65 and the reinforcing rib 64 can be easily formed, and the optical transceiver 1 can be reduced in cost.

Next, a method for fixing the OSA 2 in the optical transceiver 1 of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6. FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the OSA 2 with a later-described clip attached thereto, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the clip.
As shown in FIG. 5, the OSA 2 includes a main body 21 on which a light emitting element and a light receiving element are mounted, and a sleeve 22 for connection to an optical connector of an optical cable.
A flange 23 is provided at the root portion of the sleeve 22, and is fixed to the optical receptacle 5 while being gripped by the clip 7 between the flange 23 and the main body 21.

  The clip 7 is used for fixing the OSA 2 to the optical receptacle 5, and for example, a resin material is used as a constituent material thereof. The clip 7 is an X-shaped component and has a gripping portion 71 for positioning the OSA 2 with high accuracy. The inner diameter R1 of the gripping portion 71 is formed to be smaller by 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm than the outer diameter of the root portion of the sleeve of the OSA2 gripped by the gripping portion 71. The clip 7 is deformed when inserted into. The clip 7 holds the OSA 2 by the holding portion 71 by the elastic force due to this deformation. Further, the width R2 of the gripping portion 71 is substantially equal to the distance from the flange 23 of the sleeve 22 to the main body portion 21, and the OSA2 is positioned with high accuracy with respect to the clip 7 by being gripped by the gripping portion 71. It has come to be.

Further, the clip 7 has a latch claw 73 that engages with a latch hole 53 (see FIG. 2) provided on the upper side of the optical receptacle 5.
When the optical transceiver 1 is assembled, when the OSA 2 with the clip 7 attached is inserted into the optical receptacle 5 from the rear with the sleeve 22 in front, the portion including the latch claw 73 of the clip 7 bends. Eventually, the bending is released, and the latch pawl 73 is fitted into the latch hole 53 of the optical receptacle 5. As a result, the clip 2, that is, the OSA 2 is fixed in a state of being positioned with high accuracy with respect to the optical receptacle 5.
The front surface 74 of the latch claw 73 is a tapered surface so that the insertion into the optical receptacle 5 is easy.

  The OSA 2 is attached to the optical receptacle 5 in a state where the circuit board 3 is attached to the rear end of the OSA 2 via the FPC, and the circuit board 3 is attached to the rear cover 4 by the OSA 2 and the optical receptacle 5. Is performed with the circuit board 3 attached. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the rear cover 4.

As shown in FIG. 7, an open portion 41 is provided in front of the rear cover 4. The circuit board 3 (see FIG. 1) with the OSA 2 and the optical receptacle 5 attached thereto is inserted into the rear cover 4 through the open portion 41, and in the state where the circuit board 3 is attached to the rear cover 4, The OSA 2 is exposed from the rear cover 4 through the open portion 4.
Further, guide grooves 42 are provided on both sides of the rear cover 4, and spaces 43 for avoiding interference with components on the circuit board 3 are provided between the guide grooves 42.
Furthermore, on the open portion 41 side of the rear cover 4, an engagement hole 44 that engages with a protrusion 55 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) of a latch bar 54 provided above and below the optical receptacle 5 is provided above and below. Engagement protrusions 45 that engage with engagement holes 57 of latch pieces 56 provided on the left and right of the optical receptacle 5 are provided on the left and right.

  When the optical transceiver 1 is assembled, the circuit board 3 with the OSA 2 and the optical receptacle 5 attached thereto is inserted into the rear cover 4 through the open portion 41 of the rear cover 4, and is slid on the guide groove 42 to be rear cover. Push it all the way to 4. This pushing is performed by pushing the optical receptacle 5 from its rear part. When the optical receptacle 5 is pushed in, the upper and lower latch bars 54 and the left and right latch pieces 56 are bent, but finally, the bending is released, and the upper and lower protrusions 55 of the optical receptacle 5 are engaged with the upper and lower of the rear cover 4. The left and right protrusions 45 of the rear cover 4 are fitted into the left and right engagement holes 57 of the optical receptacle 5 as well as the holes 44. Thereby, the optical receptacle 5 is fixed in a state of being positioned with high accuracy with respect to the rear cover 4.

  Note that the rear end surfaces 58 of the upper and lower projections 55 of the optical receptacle 5 and the front end surfaces 46 of the left and right projections 45 of the rear cover 4 are tapered so that the above-described pushing is easy.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Optical transceiver, 2 ... OSA, 3 ... Circuit board, 4 ... Rear cover, 5 ... Optical receptacle, 6 ... Shield member, 7 ... Clip, 22 ... Sleeve, 51 ... Socket hole, 61 ... Elastic finger, 62 ... Front wall 63 ... Insertion holes, 64 ... Reinforcing ribs, 65 ... Anchor holes.

Claims (1)

An optical transceiver in which an opening portion of an optical receptacle for connection to an optical cable in which a photoelectric conversion component is housed is shielded by a shield member provided integrally with the optical receptacle by insert molding,
The shield member has an anchor hole that enhances the coupling between the optical receptacle and the insertion hole through which the sleeve of the photoelectric conversion component is inserted, the reinforcing rib protruding from the surface of the front wall, and the front wall that shields the opening portion And an elastic finger that is in electrical contact with a cage of a device into which the optical transceiver is inserted so as to cover the periphery of the optical receptacle.

Images