Fiber optic tray systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11327263-B2
Application number	US-202117172884-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 10, 2021
Priority date	Apr 1, 2019
Publication date	May 10, 2022
Grant date	May 10, 2022

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; and
a plurality of retainer features disposed at the rear of the tray body; and

a fiber optic module, the fiber optic module comprising an outer housing extending along the longitudinal axis between a module front and a module rear, and at least one retainment feature at the module rear, wherein the at least one retainment feature is interfaced with at least one of the plurality of retainer features at the rear of the tray body to retain the fiber optic module on the tray.

2. The fiber optic tray system of claim 1 , wherein the tray comprises a plurality of alignment rails, each of the plurality of alignment rails protruding from the tray body along the transverse axis, and wherein the fiber optic module further comprises at least one alignment channel defined in a bottom of 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 tray comprises a plurality of alignment rails positioned between the first side and the second side of the tray body along the lateral axis, each of the plurality of alignment rails protruding from the tray body along the transverse axis, and 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 positioned between the first side and the second side of the tray body.

5. The fiber optic tray system of claim 4 , wherein the tray comprises a plurality of alignment rails, each of the plurality of alignment rails protruding from the tray body along the transverse axis, and 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 fiber optic module is a plurality of fiber optic modules, each of the plurality of fiber optic modules having a differently-sized outer housing from others of the plurality of fiber optic modules.

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 a plurality of alignment rails at the tray and one or more of the plurality of retainer features at the fiber optic module.

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, wherein the plurality of retainer clips comprises a plurality of rollers; and

a fiber optic module, the fiber optic module comprising an outer housing, at least one alignment channel defined in the outer housing, and at least one retainment plug, wherein the fiber optic module is alignable and retainable by movement of the fiber optic module 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 between the plurality of rollers to retain the fiber optic module on the tray.

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 fiber optic module is a plurality of fiber optic modules, each of the plurality of fiber optic modules having a differently-sized outer housing from others of the plurality of fiber optic modules.

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. The fiber optic tray system of claim 13 , wherein the fiber optic module is a wavelength division multiplexing module.

Assignees

• Afl Telecommunications Llc
• Afl Telecommunications Lcc

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