Fiber optic tray systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10969554-B2
Application number	US-201916448699-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 21, 2019
Priority date	Apr 1, 2019
Publication date	Apr 6, 2021
Grant date	Apr 6, 2021

Abstract

A fiber optic tray system includes a tray. The tray includes a tray body, the tray body extending along a longitudinal axis between a front and a rear and extending along a lateral axis between a first side and a second side. The tray further includes a plurality of alignment rails, each of the plurality of alignment rails protruding from the tray body along a transverse axis. The tray further includes a plurality of retainer features disposed at the rear of the tray body. The fiber optic tray system further includes a fiber optic module, the fiber optic module including an outer housing and at least one retainment feature. The at least one retainment feature is interfaced with at least one of the plurality of retainer features to retain the fiber optic module on the tray.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fiber optic tray system defining a mutually orthogonal coordinate system having a longitudinal axis, a lateral axis, and a transverse axis, the fiber optic tray system comprising:
a tray, the tray comprising:
a tray body, the tray body extending along the longitudinal axis between a front and a rear and extending along the lateral axis between a first side and a second side;
a plurality of alignment rails, each of the plurality of alignment rails protruding from the tray body along the transverse axis; and
a plurality of retainer features disposed at the rear of the tray body; and

at least two fiber optic modules, the at least two fiber optic modules each comprising an outer housing and at least one retainment feature, wherein the at least one retainment feature of each of the at least two fiber optic modules is configured to interface with at least one of the plurality of retainer features to retain each of the fiber optic modules on the tray, wherein the at least two fiber optic modules have differently-sized outer housings as compared to one another, and wherein the tray is configured to simultaneously receive both of the at least two fiber optic modules.

2. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the fiber optic module further comprises at least one alignment channel defined in the outer housing, wherein the at least one alignment channel is provided on at least one of the plurality of alignment rails to align the fiber optic module on the tray.

3. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of alignment rails each extend along the longitudinal axis and are spaced apart from each other along the lateral axis.

4. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the tray further comprises a plurality of alignment clips.

5. The fiber optic tray system of claim 4 , wherein each of the plurality of alignment clips is aligned with one of the plurality of alignment rails along the longitudinal axis.

6. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of retainer features is a retainer clip and each of the plurality of retainment features is a retainer plug.

7. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of retainer features is a retainer slot and each of the plurality of retainment features is a retainer tab.

8. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the tray further comprises a first side rail extending along the transverse axis from the tray body at the first side and a second side rail extending along the transverse axis from the tray body at the second side, and wherein the fiber optic module further comprises at least one side protrusion mountable on one of the first side rail or second side rail to align the fiber optic module on the tray.

9. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the fiber optic module is alignable and retainable by movement of the fiber optic module relative to the tray along the longitudinal axis.

10. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the tray is configured to receive the at least two fiber optic modules in at least two different relative arrangements.

11. The fiber optic tray system of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of fiber optic modules is interchangeably alignable and retainable on the tray using one or more of the plurality of alignment rails and one or more of the plurality of retainer features.

12. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the fiber optic module is a wavelength division multiplexing module.

13. A fiber optic tray system defining a mutually orthogonal coordinate system having a longitudinal axis, a lateral axis, and a transverse axis, the fiber optic tray system comprising:
a tray, the tray comprising:
a tray body, the tray body extending along the longitudinal axis between a front and a rear and extending along the lateral axis between a first side and a second side;
a plurality of alignment rails, each of the plurality of alignment rails protruding from the tray body along the transverse axis; and
a plurality of retainer clips disposed at the rear of the tray body; and

a plurality of fiber optic modules, each of the plurality of fiber optic modules comprising an outer housing, at least one alignment channel defined in the outer housing, and at least one retainment plug, wherein each of the plurality of fiber optic modules is alignable and retainable by moving relative to the tray along the longitudinal axis such that the at least one alignment channel is provided on at least one of the plurality of alignment rails to align the fiber optic module on the tray and such that the at least one retainment plug is captured by at least one of the plurality of retainer clips to retain the fiber optic module on the tray, wherein the plurality of fiber optic modules is includes a first fiber optic module having a first sized outer housing and a second fiber optic module having a second sized outer housing, the second sized outer housing being different from the first sized outer housing, and wherein the tray is configured to simultaneously receive both the first and second fiber optic modules.

14. The fiber optic tray system of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of alignment rails each extend along the longitudinal axis and are spaced apart from each other along the lateral axis.

15. The fiber optic tray system of claim 13 , wherein the tray further comprises a plurality of alignment clips, and wherein the at least one alignment channel is provided on at least one of the plurality of alignment clips such that the at least one of the plurality of alignment clips contacts the outer housing to align the fiber optic module on the tray.

16. The fiber optic tray system of claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of alignment clips is aligned with one of the plurality of alignment rails along the longitudinal axis.

17. The fiber optic tray system of claim 13 , wherein the tray further comprises a plurality of retainer slots defined at the rear of the tray body, wherein the fiber optic module further comprises a retainer tab, and wherein the retainer tab is inserted into the retainer slot to retain the fiber optic module on the tray.

18. The fiber optic tray system of claim 13 , wherein the tray further comprises a first side rail extending along the transverse axis from the tray body at the first side and a second side rail extending along the transverse axis from the tray body at the second side, and wherein the fiber optic module further comprises at least one side protrusion mountable on one of the first side rail or second side rail to align the fiber optic module on the tray.

19. The fiber optic tray system of claim 13 , wherein the tray is configured to receive the first and second fiber optic modules in at least two different relative arrangements.

20. The fiber optic tray system of claim 19 , wherein each of the plurality of fiber optic modules is interchangeably alignable and retainable on the tray using one or more of the plurality of alignment rails and one or more of the plurality of retainer clips.

21. A fiber optic tray system comprising:
a plurality of fiber optic modules including a first fiber optic module having a first width and a second fiber optic module having a second width different from the first width; and
a tray comprising a tray body and a plurality of alignment rails protruding from the tray body, wherein the tray is configured to receive and selectively retain the first and second fiber opti

Assignees

• Afl Telecommunications Llc

Inventors

• Guzzo Lou

Classifications

• G02B6/4452 Primary

  Distribution frames · CPC title

• G02B6/4441

  Boxes · CPC title

• G02B6/44526 Primary

  Panels or rackmounts covering a whole width of the frame or rack · CPC title

• G02B6/4454

  with splices · CPC title