Optical fiber connector and assembly method therefor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10209459-B2
Application number	US-201515514387-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 25, 2015
Priority date	Sep 26, 2014
Publication date	Feb 19, 2019
Grant date	Feb 19, 2019

Abstract

The present invention discloses a type of optical fiber connector, comprising: an external shell; an internal shell, installed within said external shell; an inserted core component, contained within said internal shell and comprising an inserted core and a length of optical fiber pre-installed within said inserted core; and a spring, contained within said internal shell and located behind said inserted core, and being for exerting a pre-set axial force on said inserted core. Said internal shell includes a front part and a rear part; said rear part is assembled on said front part. Additionally, said spring is compressed between said rear part and said inserted core. In the present invention, the rear part can act as a retainer for the compressed spring and can also be for securing the Kevlar fiber extension tube of the optical cable. As a result, in comparison to the prior art, the present invention reduces the number of components of the optical fiber connector and simplifies the structure of the optical fiber connector, thus facilitating rapid on-site assembly of the optical fiber connector.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An optical fibre connector, comprising:
an external shell;
an internal shell installed within said external shell;
a core component contained within said internal shell and comprising a core and a section of optical fibre pre-installed within said core; and
a spring contained within said internal shell and located behind said core for exerting a pre-set axial force on said core,
wherein said internal shell comprises a front part and a rear part, said rear part adapted for assembly on said front part;
wherein said spring is compressed between said rear part and said core when said rear part is assembled to said front part;
wherein said optical fibre connector further comprises a temporary retention component adapted for assembly on said front part, and for pre-retaining said core component and said spring within said front part before the rear part is assembled on the front part; and
wherein the temporary retention component is adapted to disassemble from the front part when the rear part is assembled to the front part.

2. The optical fibre connector of claim 1 :
wherein said temporary retention component includes a weak section; and
wherein said rear part is adapted, when assembling the rear part on the front part, to interfere with the temporary retention component, causing said weak section to break and causing said temporary retention component to detach from said front part.

3. The optical fibre connector of claim 2 :
wherein said temporary retention component is adapted for fitting over the rear section of said front part, a cylindrical front end section of said rear part being adapted for insertion into the rear section of said front part.

4. The optical fibre connector of claim 3 :
wherein said temporary retention component includes an internal wall having a raised section, the raised section being adapted to press on a rear end of said spring to temporarily retain said core component and said spring within said front part; and
wherein a recessed positioning section on an external wall of the front end section of said rear part matches and interferes with said raised section, the recessed positioning section being adapted to cause the weak section of said temporary retention component to break and to provide a correct orientation of said rear part when inserted into said front part.

5. The optical fibre connector of claim 4 :
wherein the raised section of said temporary retention component includes a catch groove; and
wherein said rear part includes a raised section within the recessed positioning section which corresponds to said catch groove and is adapted for guiding insertion of said rear part into said temporary retention component.

6. The optical fibre connector of claim 5 :
wherein said temporary retention component includes a flexible catch, said flexible catch being adapted to catch in a recess on said front part so as to facilitate assembly of said temporary retention component on said front part.

7. The optical fibre connector of claim 6 :
wherein the front end section of said rear part includes a raised section, said raised section being adapted to catch in the opening of said front part so as to facilitate assembly of said rear part on said front part.

8. The optical fibre connector of claim 7 :
wherein when said rear part is assembled on said front part, the cylindrical front end section of said rear part is fitted over said spring; and
wherein the rear end of said spring is pressed onto a stepped obstructing surface on an internal wall of said rear part.

9. The optical fibre connector of claim 1 :
wherein said pre-installed optical fibre is adapted to be fused with an incoming optical fibre from an optical cable connected to said optical fibre connector.

10. The optical fibre connector of claim 9 :
wherein a fusion splice is provided between said pre-installed optical fibre and said incoming optical fibre, the fusion splice being located within a protective sleeve; and
wherein a front end of the protective sleeve is connected to a buffer tube encapsulating said pre-installed optical fibre.

11. The optical fibre connector of claim 10 :
wherein said optical fibre connector further comprises a dust cap, said dust cap being fitted over a front end section of said core and adapted to protect the pre-installed optical fibre within said core.

12. The optical fibre connector of claim 11 :
wherein before said rear part is assembled on said front part, said temporary retention component pre-retains said dust cap, said core component and said spring in said front part.

13. The optical fibre connector of claim 12 :
wherein said optical cable is an optical cable with Kevlar fibre, and wherein the Kevlar fibre of said optical cable is secured by heat shrink tubing; and
wherein a front end of said heat shrink tubing is heat shrunk onto the rear end section of said rear part, a rear end of said heat shrink tubing being heat shrunk onto an external protective cover of said optical cable.

14. The optical fibre connector of claim 12 :
wherein said optical cable is an optical cable without Kevlar fibre, and wherein said optical fibre connector further comprises heat shrink tubing for securing said optical cable, a front end of said heat shrink tubing being heat shrunk onto the rear end section of said rear part, a rear end of said heat shrink tubing being heat shrunk onto an external protective cover of said optical cable.

15. The optical fibre connector according of claim 13 :
wherein said optical fibre connector further comprises a strain relief boot, a front end of said strain relief boot being adapted to fit over said heat shrink tubing, and a rear end of said strain relief boot being adapted to fit over the external protective cover of said optical cable.

16. The optical fibre connector of claim 12 :
wherein a rear end section of said rear part includes a threaded connection section,
wherein a Kevlar fibre of said optical cable is adapted to be secured on the rear end section of the rear part of said internal shell in a threaded connection with a threaded sleeve on the rear end section of said rear part, and
wherein a front end of one section of an external protective cover of said optical cable includes two halves, between which are pressed said threaded sleeve and the rear end section of said rear part.

17. The optical fibre connector of claim 16 :
wherein an internal wall of the threaded sleeve includes a conical pressure surface facing an edge of an end surface of the rear end section of said rear part; and
wherein the external protective cover of said optical cable is pressed between the conical pressure surface and the edge of the end surface of the rear end section of said rear part.

18. The optical fibre connector of claim 16 :
wherein said optical fibre connector further comprises a strain relief boot, a front end of said strain relief boot being adapted to fit over said threaded sleeve, and a rear end of said strain relief boot being adapted to fit over the external protective cover of said optical cable.

19. The optical fibre connector of claim 1 , wherein said temporary retention component is adapted to fall way from the front part when assembling the rear part and the front part together.

20. An optical fibre connector assembly, comprising:
an external shell;
an internal shell adapted to be installed within the external shell, the internal shell including a front part adapted to be assembled to a rear part;

Assignees

• Adc Telecommunications Shanghai Distrib Co Ltd
• Commscope Telecommunications Shanghai Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Liming
• Hu Guanpeng
• Lu Youfeng

Classifications

• G02B6/3887

  Anchoring optical cables to connector housings, e.g. strain relief features · CPC title

• G02B6/389

  characterised by the method of fastening connecting plugs and sockets, e.g. screw- or nut-lock, snap-in, bayonet type · CPC title

• G02B6/3846

  with fibre stubs · CPC title

• G02B6/3821

  with axial spring biasing or loading means (G02B6/3847 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/3849

  using mechanical protective elements, e.g. caps, hoods, sealing membranes (G02B6/3816 takes precedence; provisionally see H01R13/44) · CPC title