Fiber optic connectors and connectorization employing adapter extensions and/or flexures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10429593-B2
Application number	US-201816015583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2018
Priority date	Jun 28, 2017
Publication date	Oct 1, 2019
Grant date	Oct 1, 2019

Abstract

Fiber optic connectors, connector housings, connectorized cable assemblies, and methods for the connectorization of cable assemblies are provided with particular cable adapter features, adapter extensions, multi-diametrical sealing flexures, subcutaneous sealing elements, and combinations thereof, for improved connector and cable performance, integrity, and durability.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A connectorized fiber optic cable assembly comprising:
a connector housing comprising a ferrule retaining portion, an adapter seating portion, and a longitudinal axis extending through the ferrule retaining portion of the connector housing and the adapter seating portion of the connector housing;
a ferrule retained by the ferrule retaining portion of the connector housing, the ferrule comprising an optical fiber bore;
a cable adapter comprising an optical cable passageway, an optical fiber passageway, an extension securement portion, a housing insert portion seated in the adapter seating portion of the connector housing, and an adapter abutment positioned between the extension securement portion and the housing insert portion, wherein the adapter abutment limits an extent to which the cable adapter extends into the adapter seating portion of the connector housing;
an adapter extension secured to the extension securement portion of the cable adapter and comprising an extended cable passageway;
a fiber optic cable extending along the extended cable passageway of the adapter extension and the optical cable passageway of the cable adapter, the fiber optic cable comprising an optical fiber extending along optical fiber passageway of the cable adapter to the optical fiber bore of the ferrule; and
a multi-diametrical sealing flexure comprising a cable engaging portion engaging an outer cable surface of the fiber optic cable, a housing engaging portion engaging an outer housing surface of the connector housing, and an intermediate flexure portion extending from the cable engaging portion to the housing engaging portion and engaging an outer extension surface of the adapter extension.

2. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the connector housing is characterized by a Young's modulus E H ;
the cable adapter is characterized by a Young's modulus E A , which is less than E H ;
the adapter extension is characterized by a Young's modulus E E , which is less than E A ; and
the multi-diametrical sealing flexure is characterized by a Young's modulus E F , which is less than E E .

3. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 2 wherein:
the adapter extension is characterized by a Young's modulus of between about 80 MPa and about 500 MPa, at room temperature; and
the multi-diametrical sealing flexure is characterized by a Young's modulus of between about 30 MPa and about 80 MPa, at room temperature.

4. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 3 wherein:
the connector housing is characterized by a Young's modulus of between about 2000 MPa and about 6000 MPa, at room temperature; and
the cable adapter is characterized by a Young's modulus of between about 1500 MPa and about 6000 MPa, at room temperature.

5. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 1 wherein the cable assembly comprises a multicomponent bending stiffness profile comprising a first bending index value B 1 at a free end of the extension securement portion of the cable adapter, a second bending index value B 2 at a free end of the adapter extension, and a third bending index value B 3 at a free end of the multi-diametrical sealing flexure, where B 1 >B 2 >B 3 .

6. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 5 wherein the third bending index value B 3 represents a degree of resistance to bending that is greater than that of the fiber optic cable.

7. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 5 wherein B 1 >2(B 2 ) and where B 2 >2(B 3 ).

8. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 5 wherein the multicomponent bending stiffness profile further comprises a housing bending index B 0 that is at least three times greater than the first bending index value B 1 .

9. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the connectorized fiber optic cable assembly comprises a cable entry interface, an adapter abutment interface, and an adapter sealing interface;
the cable entry interface is formed by an inner surface of the extended cable passageway of the adapter extension and an outer surface of the fiber optic cable, where the fiber optic cable extends into the extended cable passageway of the adapter extension towards the ferrule;
the adapter abutment interface is formed by the adapter extension and the adapter abutment of the cable adapter, where the adapter extension contacts an extension-facing surface of the adapter abutment;
the adapter sealing interface is formed by the adapter abutment and the connector housing, where the adapter abutment contacts an abutment facing surface of the connector housing; and
the multi-diametrical sealing flexure forms respective sealing bridges across the cable entry interface, the adapter abutment interface, and the adapter sealing interface.

10. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 9 wherein:
the adapter abutment interface and the adapter sealing interface are orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the connector housing; and
the cable entry interface is displaced from and oriented in a common direction as the longitudinal axis of the connector housing.

11. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 9 wherein:
the cable entry interface originates at a cable-to-connector elbow;
the adapter sealing interface originates at a housing-to-adapter elbow;
the cable-to-connector elbow and the housing-to-adapter elbow are oriented in opposite directions relative to the longitudinal axis; and
the multi-diametrical sealing flexure forms respective sealing bridges across the cable-to-connector elbow and the oppositely directed housing-to-adapter elbow.

12. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 11 wherein the housing-to-adapter elbow comprises an exposed anchoring face oriented towards the ferrule retaining portion of the connector housing.

13. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the optical fiber passageway is positioned along the longitudinal axis between the optical cable passageway of the cable adapter and the ferrule; and
the optical cable passageway of the cable adapter is larger than the optical fiber passageway of the cable adapter.

14. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the housing insert portion of the cable adapter extends from the adapter abutment along the longitudinal axis towards the ferrule for a seated length d S ;
the extension securement portion of the cable adapter extends from the adapter abutment in an opposite direction along the longitudinal axis for an extension receiving length d R ; and
d R <d S .

15. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 14 wherein:
the free end of the extension securement portion of the cable adapter is displaced from a free end of the adapter extension along the longitudinal axis by an effective extension length d E ; and
d R <d E .

16. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 1 wherein:
the adapter extension is characterized by a Young's modulus of between about 80 MPa and about 500 MPa, at room temperature;
the extended cable passageway of the adapter extension is between about 15 millimeters and about 30 millimeters in length; and
the adapter extension comprises a wall thickness that is between about 1 millimeter and about 4 millimeters over a majority of the length of the extended cable passageway of the adapter extension.

17. The connectorized fiber optic cable assembly of claim 1 wherein the extended cable passageway of the ada

Assignees

• Corning Res & Dev Corp

Inventors

• Baca Adra
• Rosson Joel Christopher

Classifications

• G02B6/3873

  Connectors using guide surfaces for aligning ferrule ends, e.g. tubes, sleeves, V-grooves, rods, pins, balls · CPC title

• G02B6/3821

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

• G02B6/3831

  comprising a keying element on the plug or adapter, e.g. to forbid wrong connection (keying element on the ferrule G02B6/3851; keying element for electrical coupling H01R13/64) · CPC title

• G02B6/3885

  Multicore or multichannel optical connectors, i.e. one single ferrule containing more than one fibre, e.g. ribbon type (optical ribbon cable G02B6/4403, G02B6/448) · CPC title

• G02B6/3826

  characterised by form or shape · CPC title