JP3875695B2 - Optical fiber strand cutting method, optical plug, optical receptacle, and optical connector structure - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical connector structure in which an optical fiber is optically coupled to a light input / output surface of an optical element such as a light emitting element or a light receiving element, an optical plug and an optical receptacle in the optical connector structure, and an optical fiber strand stress applied to the production thereof. It relates to a cutting method.

  For example, those disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 5 are disclosed as conventional optical connectors. In the multicore optical connector described in Patent Document 1, the assembly of the multicore optical connector requires adhesion and fixing of the resin block and polishing of the optical connection surface. In the optical connector described in Patent Document 2, a length measuring scale is required when aligning optical fiber strands to a predetermined length. In the optical connector described in Patent Document 3, in order to form a flat optical connection surface, a process of flattening the end surface of the optical fiber strand by polishing is essential in manufacturing. In the multicore optical connector described in Patent Document 5, it is necessary to cut the multicore optical fiber strands with high accuracy.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a general optical fiber terminal processing step used in a conventional optical fiber connection structure. First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the jacket 3 at the end of the optical fiber cord 1 is peeled off to expose the optical fiber 2 by a certain length. Next, as shown in FIG. 4B, the ferrule 5 is passed through the optical fiber 2, and the ferrule 5 is fixed to the optical fiber 2. Next, as shown in FIG. 4C, the optical fiber 2 is cut in the vicinity of the end face of the ferrule 5. Then, as shown in FIG. 4D, the end face of the optical fiber 2 is aligned with the end face of the ferrule 5 by polishing the optical fiber 2 slightly protruding from the end face of the ferrule 5. For example, in an optical fiber connector for connecting two optical fibers, the end faces of both optical fibers are processed as shown in FIG. 4D, both ferrules 5 are inserted from both openings of one tube, and the end faces of both ferrules 5 Are brought into contact with each other, so that the end face of the optical fiber is also brought into contact, and light from one optical fiber is efficiently incident on the other optical fiber.

JP 05-027144 JP 2001-033659 A JP2002-202436 JP 08-240746 JP 09-197195 A

  The multicore optical connectors described in Patent Documents 1 to 5 all take time to assemble. In the optical connector described in Patent Document 2, it is difficult to cut the optical fiber strands to a predetermined length, and therefore it takes time to assemble the connector. Therefore, the present invention provides an optical connector structure that is simple and easy to assemble, can be assembled in a short time, and is inexpensive to manufacture, and provides an optical plug and an optical receptacle applied to this structure, and is applied to the manufacture thereof. It is an object of the present invention to provide a suitable optical fiber strand stress cutting method.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides the following means.

(1) In a method of exposing an optical fiber in an optical fiber cord and subjecting the optical fiber to stress cutting at a certain distance from a base point of the optical fiber cord,
A first step of exposing an optical fiber by removing a portion of the outer sheath of the optical fiber cord and forming an exposed optical fiber;
A second step of fixing a fixing sleeve having a through-hole having an inner diameter slightly narrower than the outer diameter of the outer cover to the end portion of the outer optical fiber strand side of the optical fiber cord by press fitting;
A third step of fitting the fixing sleeve into the recess in a fiber cutting jig having a fixing sleeve holding portion provided with a recess for fitting the fixing sleeve and an elastic plate portion extending from the fixing sleeve holding portion;
The exposed optical fiber element is attached to the elastic plate portion, the fixed position of the fixing sleeve is set as the base point, the exposed optical fiber element is scratched at the predetermined distance from the base point, and the exposed optical fiber element is And a fourth step of causing the exposed optical fiber to be subjected to stress cutting at the position of the scratch by bending the elastic plate portion in a state of being aligned.

(2) The optical fiber is plural,
In the first step, a plurality of exposed optical fiber strands formed by removing a part of the outer sheath of the optical fiber cord and exposing the plurality of optical fiber strands are mutually aligned in the fourth step. The optical fiber strand stress cutting method according to (1), wherein the elastic plate portions are arranged in parallel and attached to the elastic plate portion.

(3) An optical plug that is fixed to a jacket of an optical fiber cord having an exposed optical fiber at its end and has a plug-side fitting means, and an optical receptacle that has a receptacle-side fitting means, In the optical connector structure connected by fitting the plug side fitting means and the receptacle side fitting means,
The optical plug is
The optical fiber cord has a through-hole having an inner diameter slightly narrower than the outer diameter of the outer sheath on the exposed optical fiber strand, and the end portion at a certain distance from the tip of the exposed optical fiber strand is used as the through-hole. A fixed sleeve fixed to the end by press-fitting;
A housing for housing the fixed sleeve and the exposed optical fiber;
The housing is provided on a fixed sleeve storage portion to which the fixed sleeve is fixed by fitting or bonding, an exposed optical fiber storage portion for storing the exposed optical fiber strand, and a wall surface of the exposed optical fiber storage portion. A protrusion that abuts the side surface of the exposed optical fiber and bends the exposed optical fiber with respect to the optical fiber in the fixing sleeve;
The plug-side fitting means is fitted to the receptacle-side fitting means by bringing the receptacle close from a direction orthogonal to the optical fiber in the fixed sleeve,
The optical receptacle has a light input / output surface that is optically coupled to the tip of the exposed optical fiber when the plug side fitting means and the receptacle side fitting means are fitted;
A V-groove member having a V-groove extending in a direction orthogonal to the light input / output surface is provided;
The receptacle-side fitting means is fitted to the plug-side fitting means by bringing the receptacle-side fitting means close to the plug-side fitting means from a direction orthogonal to the optical fiber wire in the fixed sleeve, and the exposed optical fiber element. Sandwiching the tip portion of the exposed optical fiber between the pressing portion which is a part of the inner wall surface of the wire storage portion and the V-groove,
When the receptacle-side fitting means is brought close to the plug-side fitting means from the direction, the tip end portion of the exposed optical fiber is fitted into the V-groove, and is guided by the V-groove to be the light input / output surface. An optical connector structure characterized by being in contact with

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  By employing the above-described present invention, it is possible to provide an optical connector structure that is simple and easy to assemble, can be assembled in a short time, and is inexpensive to manufacture, and an optical plug and an optical receptacle applied to this structure.

  Further, by adopting the optical fiber strand stress cutting method of the present invention, it is possible to provide an optical fiber strand cutting method in which a fixed sleeve is used as a base point and the length from the base point to the tip of the optical fiber strand is made constant. An optical fiber having an optical fiber strand cut to a predetermined length from the base point by this optical fiber strand stress cutting method is useful in the assembly of the optical fiber structure of the present invention and the optical plug applied to this structure.

  Next, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to embodiments of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an optical fiber strand stress cutting method according to the present invention. The process of FIG. 1 corresponds to a pre-process for assembling the optical plug of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an assembling process of an embodiment of the optical plug, optical receptacle and optical connector structure of the present invention using the structure assembled in the process of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part in the process diagram of FIG.

  In the figure, 1 is an optical fiber cord, 2 is an optical fiber, 3 is a jacket, 4 is a fixed sleeve, 6 is a fiber strand cutting jig, 6a is a fixed sleeve holding portion of the fiber strand cutting jig 6, and 6b is The elastic plate portion of the fiber strand cutting jig 6, 7 is a plug housing, 8 is an optical receptacle body, 10 is a position index, 11 is an optical plug, 12 is an optical receptacle, 71 is a protrusion, 72 is a clamp groove, and 73 is Upper fitting recess, 74 is lower fitting recess, 75 is a pressing portion, 81 is a lower fitting projection, 82 is a clamp projection, 83 is an upper fitting projection, 84 is a V groove, 85 is an optical element, 100 is a stress cutting scratch position, 200 is an enlarged range designation circle, 200a is an enlarged range circle, 300 is an enlarged range designation circle, and 300a is an enlarged range circle.

  1A is an optical fiber stripping process (process 1), FIGS. 1B and 1C are a fixing sleeve attaching process (process 2), and FIGS. 1D and 1E are fiber strand cutting processes. Jig attachment process (process 3) and FIG. 1 (F), (G) are figures which respectively show a fiber strand cutting process (process 4). Moreover, FIG. 1 (H) is a figure which shows the edge part of the optical fiber after removing a fiber strand cutting jig from the fixing sleeve 4, and complete | finishing the optical fiber strand stress cutting method (process 5). 1A to 1D and FIGS. 1F to 1H are side views, and FIG. 1E is a bottom view. The optical fiber cord 1 depicted in FIGS. 1 (A) to 1 (H) has three optical fiber strands 2 accommodated in an outer sheath 3, and in FIG. 1 (E), three exposed optical fiber strands 2 are formed. Appears. However, since FIGS. 1A to 1D and FIGS. 1F to 1H are side views, only one of the three exposed optical fiber strands 2 appears in these drawings.

  The optical fiber strand stress cutting method of FIG. 1 is a method in which the optical fiber strand 2 in the optical fiber cord 1 is exposed and stress cutting is performed on the optical fiber strand 2 at a certain distance from the base point of the optical fiber cord 1. In step 1, the outer fiber of a certain length at one end of the optical fiber cord 1 is removed to expose the optical fiber 2 to form an exposed optical fiber. In step 2, the fixing sleeve 4 is fixed to the end portion of the jacket of the optical fiber cord 1 on the exposed optical fiber 2 side. The fixing sleeve 4 has a through hole having an inner diameter slightly narrower than the outer diameter of the optical fiber cord 1, and an end portion of the jacket on the exposed optical fiber 2 side is press-fitted into the through hole. Since the optical fiber cord 1 is made of elastic plastic, it can be press-fitted into the through hole of the fixed sleeve 4.

  In step 3 and step 4, the exposed optical fiber 2 is exposed by a fiber cutting jig 6 having a fixed sleeve holding portion 6a provided with a recess for fitting the fixed sleeve 4 and an elastic plate portion 6b extending from the fixed sleeve holding portion. The stress is cut. In step 3, the fixed sleeve 4 is fitted into the concave portion of the fixed sleeve holding portion 6a. In this step 4, the exposed optical fiber 2 is attached to the elastic plate portion 6b, and a fixed position of the fixed sleeve 4 (here, the left end 4a of the fixed sleeve 4) is set as the base point. The exposed optical fiber 2 is scratched with a blade, and the elastic plate portion 6b is bent in a state where the exposed optical fiber 2 is aligned, thereby causing the exposed optical fiber 2 to be subjected to stress cutting at the position 100 of the scratch. The position of the symbol 100 coincides with the position of the position index 10. The distance from the left end 4a of the fixed sleeve 4 (see FIG. 1H) to the position index 10 is constant.

  Since the optical fiber cord 1 contains three exposed optical fiber strands 2 with a jacket 3, the three exposed optical fiber strands 2 appear in FIG. 1 (E). These three exposed optical fiber strands 2 have the same diameter. However, in FIG. 1E, in order to avoid the adjacent exposed optical fiber strands 2 from being overlapped with each other, only the one exposed optical fiber strand 2 at the center is drawn thickly, and the adjacent exposed optical fiber strands 2 on both sides are drawn. Is drawn with fine lines. The broken line in FIG. 1 (F) shows a state where the elastic plate portion 6a and the exposed optical fiber 2 are bent integrally.

  In step 5, the fiber strand cutting jig 6 is removed from the fixed sleeve 4, and the optical fiber strand stress cutting method is completed. According to the optical fiber strand stress cutting method of FIG. 1, even if there are a plurality of exposed optical fiber strands 2, stress cutting at the exposed optical fiber strand 2 from the left end 4a of the fixing sleeve 4 [see FIG. 1 (H)]. The distance to the surface (the tip of the exposed optical fiber 2 subjected to stress cutting) 2a is the same length with high accuracy. Accordingly, the tips 2 a of the plurality of exposed optical fiber strands 2 subjected to stress cutting are aligned on a plane orthogonal to the optical axis of the exposed optical fiber strand 2.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an assembling process of an embodiment of the optical plug, the optical receptacle and the optical connector structure of the present invention using the structure of FIG. 1 (H) assembled in the process of FIG. FIG. 2A shows the plug housing 7. 2A is a front view, and FIG. 2A is a side view. The plug housing 7 includes a fixed sleeve storage portion 7 a to which the fixed sleeve 4 is fixed by fitting or adhesion, and an exposed optical fiber strand storage portion 7 b for storing the exposed optical fiber strand 2. The fixed sleeve storage portion 7a is provided with a protrusion 71, a clamp groove 72, an upper fitting recess 73, a lower fitting recess 74, and a pressing portion 75.

  The protruding portion 71 is provided on the upper wall surface of the exposed optical fiber housing portion 7b. The fixed sleeve 4 in the structure of FIG. 1 (H) is stored in the fixed sleeve storage portion 7a, and the optical plug 11 of the present embodiment is configured [see FIG. 2 (B)]. In the optical plug 11, the protrusion 71 abuts on the side surface of the exposed optical fiber 2 and acts to bend the exposed optical fiber 2 with respect to the optical fiber in the fixing sleeve 4.

  The clamp groove 72, the upper fitting recess 73, the lower fitting recess 74, and the pressing portion 75 constitute plug-side fitting means that fits with the optical receptacle and is integrally coupled with the receptacle. This plug-side fitting means is a receptacle side provided in the optical receptacle 12 by bringing the optical receptacle 12 close to the optical fiber 12 in the fixing sleeve 4 from a direction 50 [see FIG. Mates with the fitting means.

  The optical receptacle 12 of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 2 (C) includes receptacle-side fitting means that fits into the plug-side fitting means of the optical plug 11, and the plug-side fitting means and the receptacle-side fitting. The optical input / output surface is optically coupled to the tip 2a of the exposed optical fiber when the coupling means is fitted. The light input / output surface is a light output surface of a light emitting element such as a laser diode, a light input surface of a light receiving element such as a photodiode, a light output end surface of an optical fiber, or the like.

  The receptacle-side fitting means includes a lower fitting projection 81, a clamp projection 82, and an upper fitting projection 83. The lower fitting convex portion 81 is fitted into the lower fitting concave portion 74 in the plug 11. The clamp protrusion 82 is fitted in the clamp groove 72 in the plug 11. Further, the upper fitting convex portion 83 is fitted into the upper fitting concave portion 73 in the plug 11. Reference numeral 8 denotes a receptacle body.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part in the process diagram of FIG. 3A is a side view of the receptacle 12, and FIG. 3A is an enlarged view of a region surrounded by a circle 200 in FIG. 3A. 3B is a front view of the receptacle 12, and FIG. 3B is an enlarged view of a region surrounded by a circle 300 in FIG. 3B. As shown in (B2) of FIG. 3B, a V-groove 84 is provided on the upper surface of the lower fitting convex portion 81. A symbol 84 a in (A 2) of FIG. 3A represents the bottom of the V groove 84. Moreover, the code | symbol 85 in (A2) of FIG. 3 (A) represents the optical element.

  When the optical plug 11 and the optical receptacle 12 are fitted together, the light input / output surface of the optical element 85 is optically coupled to the tip 2 a of the exposed optical fiber 2. The longitudinal direction of the V groove 84 is orthogonal to the light input / output surface. When the optical receptacle 12 is brought close to the optical plug 11 from the direction of the arrow 50, the tip of the exposed optical fiber 2 is fitted into the V-groove 84 and is guided by the V-groove 84 to the light input / output surface of the optical element 85. Abut. At this time, the distal end portion of the exposed optical fiber 2 is sandwiched between the pressing portion 75 and the V groove 84. The pressing part 75 is a part of the upper inner wall surface of the exposed optical fiber housing part 7b.

  The optical plug 11 and the optical receptacle 12 are made close to each other from the direction of the arrow 50, and the lower fitting convex portion 81, the clamp projection 82, and the upper fitting convex portion 83 in the optical receptacle 12 It fits into the fitting recess 74, the clamp groove 72, and the upper fitting recess 73, respectively, and is firmly coupled to form an optical connector structure. The assembly process of the optical plug 11 and the optical receptacle 12 described above is simple, and the operation of connecting the optical plug 11 and the optical receptacle 12 to form the optical connector structure is very simple and easy. Moreover, the tip 2a of the exposed optical fiber 2 is a surface subjected to stress cutting by the method shown in FIG. 1 and is orthogonal to the optical axis of the exposed optical fiber 2, so that it is pressed against the light input / output surface of the optical element 85. Then, both are well coupled without light loss.

  In the present embodiment in which optical fiber strands are stored in one optical fiber cord 1, V grooves 84 are provided as many as the number of optical fiber strands. Therefore, when the optical plug 11 and the optical receptacle 12 are brought close to each other from the direction of the arrow 50, the respective exposed optical fiber strands 2 simultaneously travel along the V groove 84 toward the light input / output surface of the optical element 85, and each exposed optical fiber. The tip 2a of the strand 2 is in uniform contact with the light input / output surface, and as a result, the optical coupling loss between each exposed optical fiber 2 and the light input / output surface is uniform. If the ends 2a of the plurality of exposed optical fiber strands 2 are slightly uneven, each exposed optical fiber strand 2 is bent and bent by the protrusion 71, so that the long exposed optical fiber strand 2 is optically input / output. Even if it comes into contact with the surface first, until the shortest exposed optical fiber 2 comes into contact with the light input / output surface, the long exposed optical fiber 2 increases the degree of bending so that the contact with the light input / output surface is prevented. Can keep stable. Therefore, in the optical connector structure of the present embodiment, all the exposed optical fiber strands 2 are optically coupled to the optical input / output surface satisfactorily. This good optical coupling state is maintained stably because the tip of the exposed optical fiber 2 is sandwiched between the pressing portion 75 and the V-groove 84.

  As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention described with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, the optical connector structure, which is easy and easy to assemble, can be assembled in a short time, and is low in manufacturing cost, is provided. An optical plug and an optical receptacle applied to the above can be provided. Moreover, the suitable optical fiber strand stress cutting method applied to these manufacture can be provided.

It is process drawing which shows one Embodiment of the optical fiber strand stress cutting method of this invention. It is a figure which shows one Embodiment of the assembly process of the optical plug of this invention using the structure assembled at the process of FIG. 1, an optical receptacle, and an optical connector structure. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a main part in the process diagram of FIG. It is a figure which shows the general optical fiber terminal processing process used in the connection structure of the conventional optical fiber.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Optical fiber cord 2 Exposed optical fiber (In the part covered with the jacket 3, it is set as an optical fiber)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Outer jacket 4 Fixed sleeve 5 Ferrule 6 Fiber strand cutting jig 6a Fixed sleeve holding | maintenance part 6b Elastic board part 7 Plug housing 7a Fixed sleeve storage part 7b Exposed optical fiber strand storage part 8 Optical receptacle main body 10 Position index 11 Optical plug 12 Optical receptacle 50 In order to fit the optical plug 11 and the optical receptacle 12 to form an optical connector structure, an arrow 71 indicates a direction in which the optical receptacle 12 approaches the optical plug 11. 71 Projection 72 Clamp groove 73 Upper fitting recess 74 Lower fitting concave portion 75 Pressing portion 81 Lower fitting convex portion 82 Clamp projection 83 Upper fitting convex portion 84 V-groove 84a Bottom of V-groove 84 85 Optical element 100 Scratch position for stress cutting 200 Enlarged range designation circle 200a Circle indicating the expanded range 300 Expanded range designation circle 300a Circle indicating the range

Claims (3)

In the method of exposing the optical fiber in the optical fiber cord and subjecting the optical fiber to stress cutting at a certain distance from the base point of the optical fiber cord,
A first step of exposing an optical fiber by removing a portion of the outer sheath of the optical fiber cord and forming an exposed optical fiber;
A second step of fixing a fixing sleeve having a through-hole having an inner diameter slightly narrower than the outer diameter of the outer cover to the end portion of the outer optical fiber strand side of the optical fiber cord by press fitting;
A third step of fitting the fixing sleeve into the recess in a fiber cutting jig having a fixing sleeve holding portion provided with a recess for fitting the fixing sleeve and an elastic plate portion extending from the fixing sleeve holding portion;
The exposed optical fiber element is attached to the elastic plate portion, the fixed position of the fixing sleeve is set as the base point, the exposed optical fiber element is scratched at a position of the fixed distance from the base point, and the exposed optical fiber element is And a fourth step of causing the exposed optical fiber to be subjected to stress cutting at the position of the scratch by bending the elastic plate portion in a state of being aligned. The optical fiber is plural,
In the first step, a plurality of exposed optical fiber strands formed by removing a part of the outer sheath of the optical fiber cord and exposing the plurality of optical fiber strands are mutually aligned in the fourth step. The optical fiber strand stress cutting method according to claim 1, wherein the elastic plate portions are arranged in parallel and attached to the elastic plate portion. An optical plug that is fixed to the outer sheath of the optical fiber cord having an exposed optical fiber at its end and has a plug-side fitting means, and an optical receptacle that has a receptacle-side fitting means are connected to the plug side. In the optical connector structure connected by fitting between the fitting means and the receptacle-side fitting means,
The optical plug is
The optical fiber cord has a through-hole having an inner diameter slightly narrower than the outer diameter of the outer sheath on the exposed optical fiber strand, and the end portion at a certain distance from the tip of the exposed optical fiber strand is used as the through-hole. A fixed sleeve fixed to the end by press-fitting;
A housing for housing the fixed sleeve and the exposed optical fiber;
The housing is provided on a fixed sleeve storage portion to which the fixed sleeve is fixed by fitting or bonding, an exposed optical fiber storage portion for storing the exposed optical fiber strand, and a wall surface of the exposed optical fiber storage portion. A protrusion that abuts the side surface of the exposed optical fiber and bends the exposed optical fiber with respect to the optical fiber in the fixing sleeve;
The plug-side fitting means is fitted to the receptacle-side fitting means by bringing the receptacle close from a direction orthogonal to the optical fiber in the fixed sleeve,
The optical receptacle has a light input / output surface that is optically coupled to the tip of the exposed optical fiber when the plug side fitting means and the receptacle side fitting means are fitted;
A V-groove member having a V-groove extending in a direction orthogonal to the light input / output surface is provided;
The receptacle-side fitting means is fitted to the plug-side fitting means by bringing the receptacle-side fitting means close to the plug-side fitting means from a direction orthogonal to the optical fiber wire in the fixed sleeve, and the exposed optical fiber element. Sandwiching the tip portion of the exposed optical fiber between the pressing portion which is a part of the inner wall surface of the wire storage portion and the V-groove,
When the receptacle-side fitting means is brought close to the plug-side fitting means from the direction, the tip end portion of the exposed optical fiber is fitted into the V-groove, and is guided by the V-groove to be the light input / output surface. An optical connector structure characterized by being in contact with

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