WO2013063846A1 - Fast termination assembly for optical fibre - Google Patents

Abstract

A fast termination assembly for optical fibre, comprising a main body (1) and internal holes inside the main body (1). Two grooves (A, B) are provided on the main body and run up to the point where the internal holes emerge; the abutting end surfaces (8) of the optical fibre are located on the position of the internal holes between the two grooves (A, B); and the two grooves (A, B) are for filling with a matching gel (5). The two grooves (A, B) respectively prevent glue (4) fixing the pre-embedded optical fibre (2) from covering the abutting end surface (8) of the pre-embedded optical fibre thanks to capillary action and sufficient matching gel (5) for joining the abutting optical fibre (7) and pre-embedded optical fibre (2) is pre-set to eliminate Fresnel reflections. Using a mortise body with a high-precision internal hole tubing bundle to join the optical fibres makes the optical fibres abut coaxially, thereby achieving fast termination of the optical fibre in the field. The two grooves (A, B) are sealed using a sealing ring (3) muff-coupled on the mortise body, preventing the matching gel (5) from volatilizing or becoming polluted, ensuring that the product can be used and will not fail in harsh environmental conditions.

Description

Optical fiber rapid end assembly

 Technical field

 The invention relates to a high performance sealed optical fiber rapid end assembly, in particular to various types of pre-embedded sealed optical fiber rapid end assembly.

 Background technique

At present, with the rapid development of optical fiber communication technology, PON access technology has become the most important solution for the global promotion of FTTH (Fiber to the Home). However, in this last one-mile access installation, how to achieve low cost, easy installation, fast and efficient, and good optical performance and high reliability are critical.

For FTTH (Fiber to the Home) access installation, the traditional fiber fusion technology, due to its high cost, limited by the site during installation, the installation personnel need professional training and other reasons can not get a large area of promotion. The fiber rapid end assembly has become the optimal choice for FTTH access because of its advantages of convenient installation, fast and high efficiency.

Straight-through (also known as in-line or dry) and pre-embedded types are common in existing quick end assemblies. Due to the limitations of the prior art, the straight-through fast end assembly is not stable enough to meet the fiber-to-the-home connection requirements. The general pre-embedded quick end assembly is a fiber embedded in the inner hole of the ceramic ferrule, and one end and the ceramic ferrule are ground and polished to form a terminal which is connected with the normal connector, and the other end is exposed to a certain length and Ensure that the end face is flat, and then install the exposed fiber in a V-groove. The V-groove is equipped with a corresponding fiber compact to fix the docking of the incoming fiber and the embedded fiber. In the V-groove, the preset matching is performed in the V-groove. gel. In the field construction, the fiber is cut into the V-shaped groove and the embedded fiber to achieve docking. There are many problems in this solution, such as: 1) Since one end of the embedded fiber is exposed outside the ferrule, the whole process flow is easy to break, resulting in The scrapping of the product; 2) the accuracy of the V-groove production is not high, resulting in a large insertion loss after the fiber optic docking; 3) The precision of the fiber optic docking point is not high, and it is impossible to connect the fiber to the bundle, and the coaxial docking cannot be realized. 4) There is not enough pre-matched gel, and the loss of matching solution after multiple docking or long-term service results in poor light transmission. 5) The product materials are prone to aging and deformation after long-term service. 6) The product design has no sealing function, which causes the matching liquid to be lost or volatilized and fails; 7) the water is soaked and wet, etc., causing the matching liquid to be contaminated and invalid;

In order to solve these problems, some companies have proposed fiber optic docking in the high-precision ceramic ferrule inner hole. The patent No. CN201984184U relates to this solution, and also proposes the ceramic side opening based on the solution. Ventilation channel design. However, there are many outstanding problems in this scheme: 1. When the optical fiber is embedded in the ceramic inner hole, the curing glue will cover the butt end face of the embedded optical fiber due to capillary action, resulting in failure of the light. 2. Although the inner hole of the ceramic ferrule has high precision, it is difficult to match the inner diameter of the ceramic ferrule due to the deviation of the diameter of the optical fiber. This solution does not implement the pressure lock at the fiber mating point, and the mating surfaces of the two fibers may be misaligned. The phenomenon of tilting angle, etc., it is difficult to meet the requirements for use. 3. There is not enough matching gel to be preset, and the matching gel is lost after multiple docking.

 Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a high-performance sealed optical fiber rapid end assembly, which can not only be convenient to install, fast, efficient, and low in household cost, but also has good optical performance and high reliability. The present invention completely solves the various failures or problems that exist in the current fast end assembly.

The technical solution of the present invention is: a fiber rapid end assembly comprising a body and an inner hole in the body, wherein the body is provided with two grooves until the inner hole is exposed, and the fiber butt end is located at two In the position of the inner hole in the middle of the groove, the two grooves are used to fill the matching gel.

In the solution, the slot A, that is, the groove near the pre-embedded fiber end, pre-sets the matching gel and blocks the inner hole before the pre-embedded fiber, preventing the fixed fiber capillary backflow covering the end face of the fiber in the inner hole when the fiber is embedded; B, that is, the groove near the external fiber end, is also used for pre-matching gel, which is used to eliminate the Fresnel reflection when the access fiber is docked with the pre-embedded fiber, and the matching gel is volatilized or lost during long-term use. The matching gel can be replenished at any time, and multiple penetrations into the fiber ensure that the mating surface has sufficient matching gel.

In addition, the distance between the grooves should be small, while the two grooves may be slits or small holes, etc., and the two grooves may not be parallel or asymmetrical. The end face of the docking fiber is positioned at the middle of the two slots. When the fiber is docked, the inner hole has a tube bundle effect on the fiber, which solves the problem of large insertion loss caused by the misalignment or inclination problem of the prior art fiber when the groove is docked. The diameter of the inner hole of the ferrule is easy to achieve the deviation within 1um in the process, and the deviation of the outer diameter of the fiber is also easily controlled within 1um, so that the two fibers can be coaxially connected within 1um in the inner hole of the ferrule, ensuring that the docking loss is less than 0.1dB.

The outer side of the body is also sleeved with a sealing ring for sealing the two grooves. After the body is embedded in the optical fiber and the matching gel is added, a sealing ring is placed on the body, and the sealing ring is used to seal the groove A and the groove B with a sealing glue. The matching gel added is about 3/4 of the two slots. After sealing the entire groove A and the groove B through the closed loop, the matching gel is prevented from being lost or volatilized, and the matching gel is also prevented from being contaminated.

Specifically, the seal ring has a middle shaft through hole, and the body is inserted into the middle shaft through hole of the seal ring, which is tightly fitted with the body, and the seal ring is connected to the body by a sealant seal.

 Specifically, an optical fiber introduction hole is disposed on the access end of the body and the sealing ring.

 The invention uses the ceramic ferrule inner hole docking point to replace the existing V-groove butt joint, and at the same time realizes the joint sealing function, and the advantages thereof are as follows:

 1. High-performance fiber optic quick connector core with good optical performance and high reliability.

Second, in the entire production process, the embedded fiber protection is not easily damaged inside the ferrule, which guarantees the quality and cost of its processing in the factory. However, the current optical fiber quick connector is exposed to the embedded optical fiber, and is easily broken during assembly, and at the same time, the end face of the optical fiber is damaged or sticks to the object, resulting in failure of the docking.

Third, the fixed two-fiber mating point is a high-precision ceramic ferrule inner tube bundle, the inner hole is easy to achieve tolerance accuracy within 1um, so that the loss of the two fibers after docking is less than 0.1dB. Most of the V-grooves of the existing quick connector fiber optic dockings are made of organic materials, which are prone to aging, deformation, and low precision. Some quick connectors are made of metal, and the same accuracy is difficult to achieve, and the cost is high.

Fourth, the embedded fiber of the entire quick connector is inside the ferrule body, all materials are consistent, and are not affected by temperature changes, and the reliability of the entire product is guaranteed.

5. The sealing point is sealed to prevent the matching liquid from being polluted, lost or volatilized. The fiber optic quick connector that is currently installed and used will fail for a year or so, matching the gel loss, volatilization or contamination is the main reason. Some of the company's products have adopted a slit sealing scheme, but the long-term service of the product aging deformation causes the matching gel to be lost or contaminated.

6. The inner hole of the fiber butt joint is not deformed under the external force and does not fail. The V-shaped groove using the organic material is easily deformed and broken under the external force extrusion or the self-carrying spring.

 DRAWINGS

 1 is a schematic view of a quick connector ferrule body through a pre-embedded optical fiber;

 Figure 2 is a schematic view of pressing the sealing ring into the groove after filling the matching gel;

 Figure 3 is an enlarged schematic view of a portion C of Figure 2.

 1. Main body 2. Pre-embedded optical fiber 3. Sealing ring 4. Sealing glue 5. Matching gel 6. Introducing optical fiber into V hole 7. Accessing optical fiber 8, fiber butt end face

 detailed description

 The invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the present invention discloses a fiber rapid end assembly, comprising a body 1 and an inner hole in the body 1 , wherein the body 1 is provided with two grooves A and B until the inner hole is exposed. The pre-embedded optical fiber 2 and the access optical fiber 7 are respectively connected by the two ends of the ferrule body, and the fiber optic docking end face 8 of the pre-embedded optical fiber 2 and the access optical fiber 7 is located at the inner hole position between the two grooves A and B, The two grooves A, B are used to fill the matching gel 5.

The body 1 can be formed by extrusion or injection molding process, polished and polished by a precision grinding machine, or can be modified by a grinding machine or an etching process, and the diameter of the inner hole is controlled at 1 um. Within the error. The size range is easy to implement in the process, and the diameter of the inner hole is 1 um larger than the diameter of the optical fiber, so that it can be easily penetrated into the butt fiber, and at the same time, the coaxial butt joint within 1 um can be ensured, and the insertion loss of the fiber is less than 0.1 dB. The body material is ceramic, metal, glass or plastic.

In the present invention, after the two parts are cut out on the body 1 cylinder, two grooves A and B are formed, and the inner hole of the ferrule body is exposed, and the uncut portion between the two grooves is a fiber optic docking point, wherein the groove A The function is to add a matching gel before the embedded fiber to prevent the curing glue from flowing back to cover the embedded fiber end face; the function of the groove B is to preset a sufficient fiber matching gel to prevent the matching gel from being lost during long-term service. Supplementation fails, and it is also possible to allow multiple docking without adding a matching gel.

After adding the matching gel in the tank A, one end of the ferrule body is connected to the pre-embedded optical fiber 2, and the end of the pre-embedded optical fiber 2 and the end face of the ferrule body are factory-polished and butted with a conventional connector, and the conventional connector has PC, APC, or LC, etc. Before the other end is pre-buried, ensure that the end face is flat and clean, and the butt end face is positioned in the middle of the two slots without uncut the hole in the column. A sufficient matching gel is preset in the tank B, while ensuring that the matching gel enters the inner hole, preferably matching the gel to 3/4 of the entire groove.

Further, in order to improve the sealing effect of the grooves A, B, prevent the matching gel from being lost or volatilized, and also prevent the matching gel from being contaminated, the outer side of the body 1 is also sleeved with a groove for sealing the two grooves A, B. Sealing ring 3. The seal ring material is plastic or metal.

Specifically, the seal ring 3 has a central shaft through hole, and the body is inserted into the middle shaft through hole of the seal ring, which is tightly fitted with the body 1, and the seal ring 3 is connected to the body by a sealing glue seal. Specifically, when the seal ring 3 is pressed, the seal ring 3 and the body 1 are bonded using the sealant 4 to ensure that the tensile force thereof meets the requirements of the fiber optic movable connector standard. The sealing ring 3 seals the two grooves A and B to ensure that the matching gel does not lose or volatilize during long-term service, and also prevents the matching gel from being contaminated.

 In order to facilitate the insertion of the optical fiber into the inner hole of the ferrule body, the optical fiber introduction hole 6 is disposed on the access end of the body 1 and the sealing ring 2.

Claims (7)

1. An optical fiber rapid end assembly comprising a body and an inner hole in the body, wherein the body is provided with two grooves until the inner hole is exposed, and the fiber butt end face is located at the inner hole between the two grooves In position, two grooves are used to fill the matching gel.
2. The fiber optic rapid end assembly of claim 1 wherein the body material is ceramic, metal, glass or plastic.
3. The ferrule body of claim 1 wherein the body end face and outer diameter are ground to fit a conventional movable connector PC, APC or LC type connector.
4. The optical fiber rapid end assembly according to claim 1, wherein the outer side of the body is also sleeved with a sealing ring for sealing the two grooves.
5. The fiber optic rapid end assembly of claim 4 wherein the seal ring material is plastic or metal.
6. The optical fiber rapid end assembly according to claim 5, wherein the seal ring has a middle shaft through hole, and the body is inserted into a middle shaft through hole of the seal ring, which is tightly fitted to the body and sealed The ring and the body are sealed by a sealing glue.
7. The optical fiber rapid end assembly according to claim 5, wherein the access end of the body and the sealing ring are provided with an optical fiber introduction hole.

Images