JP2008292821A - Optical communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

An optical communication device 900 is provided that can reduce the width and height of an optical fiber connecting portion and can easily connect an optical fiber.
An optical communication apparatus 900 is composed of the same number of optical adapters 170 as the number of optical fibers connected to a holder 910. The holder 910 includes the same number of insertion holes as the optical adapter 170, and the width dimension of the insertion holes of the holder 910 (c ') Is larger than the width dimension (c) of the optical adapter 170, and also has a backlash in the depth direction so that the optical adapter 170 is held and movable in a horizontal plane.
[Selection] Figure 7A

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical communication device, and more particularly to an optical communication device in which an optical fiber connection portion is miniaturized.

  Optical data communication and video provision by FTTH (Fiber To The Home) are progressing, and an optical terminal unit (ONU: Optical Network Unit) is installed in the user's home. In addition, miniaturization of the optical termination device is required.

  FIG. 2 of Patent Document 1 is an example in which an optical termination device is used. The optical fiber drawn into the house from the outside is connected to the WDM filter of the optical terminator. This WDM filter wavelength-separates an optical signal (communication downlink signal) of λ = 1.49 μm (micrometer) from an optical signal obtained by multiplexing a communication downlink signal and a video signal and outputs the optical signal to the communication optical terminal. To do. The WDM filter wavelength-separates an optical signal (video signal) of λ = 1.55 μm and outputs it to the optical receiver. The communication optical terminal outputs an optical signal (uplink signal for communication) of λ = 1.31 μm, and transmits it to the station apparatus via an optical fiber using a WDM filter for wavelength multiplexing.

  In an optical termination device, a WDM filter and an optical receiver are generally installed in the same casing. For this reason, the optical terminal device accommodates two optical fibers connected to the station device and the communication optical terminal.

  In the FTTH system, an optical connector generally defined in JIS C5973 is used as an optical fiber connected to an optical terminator. The mounting hole for fixing the optical adapter to be fitted to the optical connector to the device is also defined in JIS C5973, and the optical adapter is generally fixed to the device by screwing using this mounting hole. is there.

  When two optical fibers are connected to an optical termination device, as shown in FIG. 23 of Patent Document 2, two or more optical adapters are generally fixedly installed together. In addition, a space for inserting a tool or a finger for inserting / removing the optical connector is required around each optical adapter.

JP 2006-262353 A JP 2001-119177 A

  When two optical fibers are connected to the optical termination device, it is necessary that the two optical connectors can be inserted and removed independently. For this reason, it is necessary to fix and install the optical connector around the two optical adapters while securing a space for inserting a tool or a finger for inserting or removing the optical connector. Considering such workability, the overall size of the optical fiber connection region is increased.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to reduce the size of the apparatus while ensuring the workability of inserting and removing the optical connector. However, it is impossible to reduce the dimensions of the optical adapter for connecting the optical fiber and the space for gripping the optical connector with a finger.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an optical communication apparatus that can reduce the size of a housing and can easily insert and remove an optical connector.

  The object includes a first optical adapter and a second optical adapter that are connected to an optical fiber, and a holder that accommodates the first optical adapter and the second optical adapter adjacent to each other. The first optical adapter rotates counterclockwise within the holder when the optical fiber is inserted into and removed from the optical fiber. When the optical fiber is inserted into and removed from the first optical adapter, the second optical adapter is inserted into the holder. This can be solved by an optical communication device that rotates clockwise.

  According to the present invention, the optical communication device can be reduced in size.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings using examples. The same reference numerals are assigned to substantially the same parts, and the description will not be repeated. Moreover, although the Example of an optical termination device is described, it is not restricted to this.

  The configuration of the optical access system will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical access system. In FIG. 1, an optical access system 2000 includes an optical video station device 300, a data station device 400, a WDM (wavelength multiplexing / demultiplexing device) 500, a trunk optical fiber 130, an optical splitter 600, and a maximum of 32. It is composed of a branch optical fiber 110 and an optical termination device 900 placed at the subscriber's home.

  A HE (Head End) 360 that transmits video information is connected to the optical video station apparatus 300 via a TA (Transmitter Amplifier) 310. The optical termination device 900 includes a WDM filter (wavelength multiplexing / demultiplexing device) 901 and an optical video terminal device 902, and an optical fiber 140 that connects both. The optical fiber 110 and the optical fiber 120 are connected to the WDM filter 901. A data terminal device 710 is connected to the other end of the optical fiber 120. A PC 720 is connected to the data terminal device 710 and performs bidirectional data communication via the data station device 400. A TV 820 is connected to the optical video terminal device 902 via an STB (Set Top Box) 810.

  The optical video signal transmitted from the optical video apparatus 300 is wavelength-multiplexed and transmitted to the trunk optical fiber 130 together with the downstream data optical signal by the WDM 500. The wavelength-multiplexed optical signal is divided into a maximum of 32 by the optical splitter 600 and sent to the optical termination device 900 via the optical fiber 110. The WDM filter 901 separates the downlink data optical signal and the optical video signal and sends them to the data terminal device 710 and the optical video terminal device 902. The data terminal device 710 converts the downlink data optical signal into an electrical signal and transmits the electrical signal to the PC 720. The optical video terminal device 902 converts the optical video signal into an electrical signal and transmits it to the STB 810. Based on the video signal selected by STB 810, video is displayed on TV 820 and audio is transmitted.

  The upstream data signal from the PC 720 is converted into a data optical signal by the data terminal device 710 and transmitted to the optical fiber 110 via the WDM filter 901 at a timing based on an instruction from the data station device 400. The optical splitter 600 multiplexes the upstream data optical signal from each optical termination device 900 and sends it to the trunk fiber 130. The WDM 500 transmits the time-division multiplexed uplink data optical signal to the data station device 400.

  With reference to FIG. 2, the main part of the optical termination device will be described. Here, FIG. 2 is a front view of the inside of the optical terminal device. In the optical termination device 900, a base 990 is fixedly installed on a wall or the like. The optical fiber 110 drawn from outside is introduced into the optical terminal device 900 through an introduction hole 920 provided in the base 990. The optical fiber 120 is pulled out from the introduction hole 920 and connected to the data terminal device 710.

  The optical fibers 110 and 120 are connected to the optical adapter 170 via the optical connector 160. The two optical adapters 170 are held by a holder 910. 2 is a half surface including a WDM filter (not shown), and an optical video terminal device is disposed on the other half surface. Further, the elliptical portion is a surplus length processing unit 940 that accommodates the collected optical fiber.

  The structure of the holder will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 3 is a three-side view of the holder. In FIG. 3, a right side view is shown on the right of the front view of the holder 910, and a plan view is shown on the top. The holder 910 shown in FIG. 2 is shown in the plan view of FIG. The holder 910 includes a space portion 1 and a space portion 2 that hold an optical adapter 170 formed by a base member 911 and a partition 912 formed in a box shape. In addition, the holder 910 is formed with a holding projection 913 for holding the optical adapter inside the base member 911. The dimension a ′ is the vertical dimension of the space part 1 and the space part 2 surrounded by the holding projection 913 and the partition 912, and the dimension c ′ is the horizontal dimension of the space part 1 and the space part 2. The space 3 and the space 4 formed on the holder plane accommodate a flange 172 included in the optical adapter 170.

  With reference to FIG. 4, the structure of the optical adapter prescribed | regulated by JISC5973 is demonstrated. Here, FIG. 4 is a front view and a right side view of the optical adapter. An optical adapter 170 in FIG. 4 is an optical adapter for connecting an optical connector defined in JIS C5973. The optical adapter 170 includes a housing 171 formed symmetrically, a leaf spring 173 provided above and below the housing 171, and two flanges 172 at the top and bottom in the depth direction of the housing 171 (left-right direction in the right side view). It is configured. The flange 172 is provided with a mounting hole 174 for fixing the optical adapter. Here, the distance between the tips of the flanges 172-1 and 172-2 is d. The outer dimension of the front view of the housing 171 is a × c. The distance between the tips when the leaf spring 173 is open is defined as b.

  With reference to FIG. 5, the state where the optical adapter is held by the holder will be described. Here, FIG. 5 is a front view and a partial sectional view of the optical terminal device. Here, the optical terminal device 900 is in a state before the optical connector is inserted into the optical adapter 170. A state in which the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 are inserted into the space portions 1 and 2 provided in the holder 910 will be described with reference to FIG. When the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 are inserted into the spaces 1 and 2 provided in the holder 910 from above in the drawing, the leaf spring 173 provided in the housing 171 of the optical adapter 170 has an elastic structure. It closes once according to the vertical dimension a 'of the space parts 1 and 2. The leaf spring 173 passes through the holding protrusion 913 in the space portions 1 and 2 of the holder 910, and the closed leaf spring 173 is opened to return to the original position, so that the leaf spring 173 is caught by the holding protrusion 913 and light. The adapters 170-1 and 170-2 are prevented from moving backward. Further, the flange 172 stays behind the holding projection 913, thereby preventing the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 from moving forward. That is, the holding projection 913 prepared on the holder 910 is sandwiched between the leaf spring 173 and the flange 172, and the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 are held by the holder 910.

  When the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 are inserted into the space portions 1 and 2 provided in the holder 910, the flange 172 is accommodated in the space portions 3 and 4. As a result, the height dimension d ′ of the holder 910 can be made smaller than the height dimension d of the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2, thereby reducing the size of the apparatus (shortening in the horizontal direction of the cross-sectional view). .

  Next, the structure of the space 1 of the holder 910 provided to move the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 will be described with reference to FIGS. The vertical dimension a ′ of the space portions 1 and 2 opened in the holder is larger than the vertical dimension a of the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 excluding the leaf spring 173 and the flange 172, and includes the leaf spring in the opened state. It is a necessary condition that it is smaller than the vertical dimension b of the adapters 170-1 and 170-2. The closer the vertical dimension of the space portion 1 is to b, the larger the dimension in which the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 can move in the Z-axis direction, and the closer to a, the smaller the dimension to move in the Z-axis direction. The dimension of the space portion of the holder 910 is smaller than a so that the dimension in which the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 can move in the Z-axis direction, that is, the rattling dimension of the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 is small. Also make it slightly larger.

  Further, the lateral dimension c ′ of the space portion 1 provided in the holder 910 is set to be larger than the component external dimension lateral dimension c of the optical adapter so that the optical adapter 170-1 can move in the X-axis direction. The difference (c′−c) between the space portion dimension and the optical adapter component outer dimension horizontal dimension is a dimension that allows the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 to move in the X-axis direction. As is apparent from the cross-sectional view of FIG. 5, when the flange 172 and the holding projection 913 are brought into contact with each other, there is a space between the leaf spring 173 and the flange 172. Therefore, the optical adapter 170 is also movable in the Y direction in FIG. Being movable in both the X and Y directions means that it can rotate in the XY plane.

  The optical fiber clamp will be described with reference to FIGS. Here, FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view of FIG. In FIG. 5, since the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 are movable and rotatable, (1) the optical fibers 110 and 120 extending from the optical adapters 170-1 and 170-2 to the WDM filter 901 are pulled. (2) The radius of curvature of the optical fibers 110 and 120 cannot satisfy the component specifications, and (3) the optical fiber between the holder 910 and a WDM filter (not shown) in order to prevent the influence of the optical fibers 110 and 120 being lifted. Clamps 930-1 and 930-2 are provided at portions where 110 and 120 pass.

  In FIG. 6, the clamp 930-1 prevents the radius of curvature of the optical fiber 110 from being unable to satisfy the component specifications. Further, the raised portion of the upper surface of the clamp 930-1 prevents the optical fiber 110 from being lifted. The function of the clamp 930-2 is the same.

  With reference to FIG. 7, the operation | movement which inserts / extracts an optical connector is demonstrated. Here, FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining insertion / removal of the optical connector in the adjacent optical connector mounting state. First, the operation of inserting and removing the left optical connector 160-2 will be described with reference to FIG. 7A. When the optical fiber 120 is pulled out from the state connected to the optical adapter 170-2, a space necessary for grasping the optical connector 160-2 is provided between the left side surface of the optical connector 160-2 and the extra length processing unit 940. In order to secure the work space portion 6 between the work space portion 5 and the right side surface of the optical connector 160-2 and the left side surface of the optical connector 160-1, the light is within the range of the space portion dimension c ′ provided in the holder 910. The adapter 170-1 and the optical connector 160-1 are rotated counterclockwise in the XY plane. At this time, the lateral dimensions of the work space portions 5 and 6 are substantially equal to 8 mm. At this time, the lateral dimension of the space 7 inside the right side surface of the optical connector 160-1 and the base 990 of the optical terminator 900 is 4 mm. When the horizontal dimension of the work space part 7 is 8 mm as in the work space parts 5 and 6, the total of the horizontal dimension of the work space is 24 mm. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7A, since the working space 7 is 4 mm, the X-direction dimension of the optical terminal device is reduced by 4 mm.

  The operation of inserting / removing the right optical connector 160-1 will be described with reference to FIG. 7B. When the optical fiber 110 is removed from the state connected to the optical adapter 170-1, the right side surface of the optical connector 160-1 and the base 990 of the optical terminator 900 are used as a space necessary for grasping the optical connector 160-1. In order to secure the working space portion 10 between the inner wall of the optical connector 160-1 and the right side surface of the optical connector 160-2, the working space portion 10 is secured in the space portion 1 provided in the holder 910. Within the range of the dimension c ′, the optical adapter 170-2 and the optical connector 160-2 are rotated clockwise in the XY plane. At this time, the horizontal dimensions of the work space portions 9 and 10 are substantially equal to 9 mm and 8 mm. At this time, the lateral dimension of the space portion 8 between the left side surface of the optical connector 160-2 and the right side surface of the extra length processing unit 940 is 3 mm. Also in the work space portions 8, 9 and 10, the dimension in the X direction of the optical terminal device is reduced by 4 mm as described above.

  According to the present embodiment, by making the optical adapter movable in the space provided in the holder, a space for inserting tools and fingers around the optical adapter, which is necessary when inserting and removing the optical fiber, is secured. An optical adapter that does not insert or remove an optical fiber does not require a work space, and thus this space is reduced. This space that can be reduced leads to a reduction in the size of the optical fiber connection portion, and the size of the entire apparatus can be reduced. Moreover, since the space required for insertion / extraction of the optical fiber is secured by the movement of the optical adapter, the operation can be easily performed.

It is a block diagram of an optical access system. It is a top view inside an optical termination device. It is a 3rd view of a holder. It is the front view and right view of an optical adapter. It is the front view and AA fragmentary sectional view of an optical termination device. It is a BB partial sectional view of FIG. It is a figure explaining insertion and extraction of a left optical connector in a right optical connector mounting state. It is a figure explaining insertion and extraction of a right optical connector in a left optical connector mounting state.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 110 ... Optical fiber, 120 ... Optical fiber, 130 ... Optical fiber, 140 ... Optical fiber, 160 ... Optical connector, 170 ... Optical adapter, 171 ... Housing, 172 ... Flange, 173 ... Leaf spring, 174 ... Mounting hole, 175 ... Key groove, 300 ... Optical video station device, 310 ... TA, 360 ... HE, 400 ... Data station device, 500 ... WDM, 600 ... Optical splitter, 710 ... Data terminal device, 720 ... PC, 810 ... STB, 820 ... TV, 900 ... Optical termination device, 901 ... WDM filter, 910 ... Holder, 902 ... Optical video terminal device, 911 ... Base member, 912 ... Partition, 913 ... Protrusion for holding, 920 ... Introduction hole, 930 ... Clamp, 940 ... extra length processing unit, 990 ... base, 2000 ... optical access system.

Claims (3)

In an optical communication device for connecting a plurality of optical fibers,
A first optical adapter and a second optical adapter connected to an optical fiber, and a holder for accommodating the first optical adapter and the second optical adapter adjacent to each other;
When inserting or removing an optical fiber with respect to the second optical adapter, the first optical adapter rotates counterclockwise in the holder,
The optical communication apparatus, wherein when the optical fiber is inserted into and removed from the first optical adapter, the second optical adapter rotates clockwise in the holder. The optical communication device according to claim 1,
The first optical adapter and the second optical adapter are accommodated so as to be movable with respect to the holder in a connection direction with an optical fiber and a direction perpendicular to the connection direction with the optical fiber. An optical communication device. The optical communication device according to claim 1 or 2,
An optical communication apparatus comprising: a clamp that regulates a moving range of an optical fiber connected to the first optical adapter or the second optical adapter.

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