Fiber cable terminal and fiber distributor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11054602-B2
Application number	US-201515125889-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2015
Priority date	Mar 13, 2014
Publication date	Jul 6, 2021
Grant date	Jul 6, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed is a fiber cable terminal which comprises a cable assembly, a cable fixing portion and a thermal shrinkable tube. The cable assembly includes: an inner sheath through 5 which the fiber can pass; and a protection layer provided outside of the inner sheath. The cable fixing portion includes: an insertion portion to be inserted between the protection layer and the inner sheath; and a fixing portion connected with the insertion portion and positioned outside of the protection layer. The thermal shrinkable tube wraps a part of the fixing portion and a part of the protection layer and fixes the cable fixing portion and the 10 cable assembly together. All the members of the fiber cable terminal are pre-assembled into a sealed one-piece, the sealing performance between the cable fixing portion and the protecting layer is thus improved. The fiber cable terminal is mated with the through hole of the supporting body to improve the sealing performance between the fiber cable terminal and the supporting body.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A fiber cable terminal extending along a longitudinal axis to a front end of the fiber cable terminal, comprising:
a cable assembly including:
an inner sheath through which the fiber can pass; and
a protection layer provided outside of the inner sheath;

a cable fixing portion including:
an insertion portion to be inserted between the protection layer and the inner sheath; and
a fixing portion connected with the insertion portion and positioned outside of the protection layer, the fixing portion including a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion in front of the first fixing portion, the second fixing portion having a wide portion with a largest outer diameter perpendicular to the longitudinal axis that is larger than a largest outer diameter of the first fixing portion; and

a thermal shrinkable tube wrapping the first fixing portion and at least a portion of the second fixing portion, such that the thermal shrinkable tube extends along the longitudinal axis over the first fixing portion and over the largest outer diameter of the wide portion of the second fixing portion, the thermal shrinkable tube further wrapping a part of the protection layer, and fixing the cable fixing portion and the cable assembly together,
wherein an outer diameter of the thermal shrinkable tube perpendicular to the longitudinal axis remains substantially the same along the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion.

2. The fiber cable terminal of claim 1 , wherein the cable assembly further comprises: reinforcement strands which are provided between the protection layer and the inner sheath and extend onto a part of the fixing portion, the thermal shrinkable tube further wrapping the reinforcement strands extending onto the fixing portion.

3. The fiber cable terminal of claim 2 ,
wherein a first end of the first fixing portion is connected to the insertion portion and the reinforcement strands extend onto the first fixing portion.

4. The fiber cable terminal of claim 3 , wherein the insertion portion is provided with an annular protrusion through which the insertion portion is in an interference fit with the protection layer.

5. The fiber cable terminal of claim 4 , wherein an outer diameter of the protection layer containing the insertion portion is substantially equal to an outer diameter of the second fixing portion.

6. The fiber cable terminal of claim 4 , wherein a plurality of stripes are provided on the protrusion.

7. The fiber cable terminal of claim 3 , wherein a radius of the second fixing portion is substantially equal to a sum of the radius of the first fixing portion and a thickness of the reinforcement strands wrapping onto the first fixing portion.

8. The fiber cable terminal of claim 7 , wherein an annular groove is provided on a connection portion between the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion, and remaining portions of the reinforcement strands are received in the groove.

9. The fiber cable terminal of claim 1 , wherein sealant is provided within the thermal shrinkable tube.

10. A fiber distributor comprising:
a plurality of fiber cable terminals, each of the fiber cable terminals extending along a longitudinal axis to a front end of the fiber cable terminal, comprising:
a cable assembly including:
an inner sheath through which the fiber can pass; and
a protection layer provided outside of the inner sheath;

a cable fixing portion including:
an insertion portion to be inserted between the protection layer and the inner sheath; and

a fixing portion connected with the insertion portion and positioned outside of the protection layer, the fixing portion including a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion in front of the first fixing portion, the second fixing portion having a wide portion with a largest outer diameter perpendicular to the longitudinal axis that is larger than a largest outer diameter of the first fixing portion; and
a thermal shrinkable tube wrapping the first fixing portion and at least a portion of the second fixing portion, such that the thermal shrinkable tube extends along the longitudinal axis over the first fixing portion and over the largest outer diameter of the wide portion of the second fixing portion, the thermal shrinkable tube further wrapping a part of the protection layer, and fixing the cable fixing portion and the cable assembly together;

a supporting body provided with a plurality of through holes through which the fiber cable terminals pass respectively; and
a distributing device, wherein the fiber cable terminals extending out of the supporting body are inserted into the distributing device and fibers can pass through the inner sheaths of the fiber cable terminals and extend into the distributing device,
wherein an outer diameter of each of the thermal shrinkable tubes perpendicular to the longitudinal axis remains substantially the same along the first fixing portion and the second fixing portion.

11. The fiber distributor of claim 10 , further comprising:
a base in which the supporting body can be mounted; and
a tail jacket in which the base is partially mounted.

12. The fiber distributor of claim 11 , further comprising a rubber piece mounted between the supporting body and the base.

13. The fiber distributor of claim 10 , wherein the thermal shrinkable tubes of the fiber cable terminals pass through the through holes respectively in an interference fit manner.

14. The fiber distributor of claim 13 , wherein a step portion is provided in each of the through holes and an end of the thermal shrinkable tube abuts against the step portion.

15. The fiber distributor of claim 14 , wherein an inner diameter of each of the through holes decreases gradually towards the step portion in a direction away from the distributing device.

16. The fiber distributor of claim 10 , wherein at least one rib is provided on the inner wall of the through hole.

17. The fiber distributor of claim 10 , further comprising an auxiliary tube mounted on the supporting body, wherein fibers led out from the distributing device pass through the auxiliary tube.

18. A fiber cable terminal extending along a longitudinal axis to a front end of the fiber cable terminal, comprising:
a sealed one-piece of a cable assembly, a cable fixing portion, and a thermal shrinkable tube, the cable assembly and the fixing portion being fixed together with the thermal shrinkable tube, the sealed one-piece being configured to receive an optical fiber;
the cable assembly including:
an inner sheath through which the fiber can pass; and
a protection layer provided outside of the inner sheath;

the cable fixing portion including:
an insertion portion inserted between the protection layer and the inner sheath; and
a fixing portion connected with the insertion portion and positioned outside of the protection layer, the fixing portion including a first fixing portion and a second fixing portion in front of the first fixing portion, the second fixing portion having a wide portion with a largest outer diameter perpendicular to the longitudinal axis that is larger than a largest outer diameter of the first fixing portion;

wherein the thermal shrinkable tube wraps the first fixing portion, at least a portion of the second fixing portion, and a part of the protection layer, and fixes the cable fixing portion and the cable assembly together to form the sealed one-piece, the thermal shrinkable tube extending along the longitudinal axis over the first fixing portion and over the largest outer diam

Assignees

• Commscope Telecommunications Shanghai Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cheng Xingjun
• Tong Zhaoyang
• Liu Lei

Classifications

• G02B6/4452

  Distribution frames · CPC title

• G02B6/4442

  Cap coupling boxes · CPC title

• G02B6/4476 Primary

  with heat-shrinkable elements · CPC title

• G02B6/3897

  Connectors fixed to housings, casing, frames or circuit boards (G02B6/44528 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B6/3887

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