Sealed optical fiber terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12546963-B2
Application number	US-202418615524-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2024
Priority date	Oct 2, 2018
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

A sealed terminal has a housing, a cover, a splice tray, an adapter plate, and a splice chip. The cover is connected to the housing to close an interior compartment and has input ports for receiving one or more cables and an output adapter module having a plurality of distribution ports. The splice tray is positioned in the interior compartment and has one or more cable retainers configured to route the one or more cables within the interior compartment. The adapter plate is connected to the splice tray and has a plurality of adapters for connecting the one or more cables to the distribution ports. The splice chip is connected to the splice tray and has a plurality of slots for receiving and routing the one or more cables. The housing includes a radiused wall for routing the cables within the interior compartment without bending the cables.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A customizable optical fiber terminal, comprising:
a housing comprising an interior compartment and a distal end having a radiused wall for routing one or more cables within the interior compartment without bending of the one or more cables; a cover connected to the housing to close the interior compartment and comprising:
a plurality of input ports for receiving the one or more cables, and
an output adapter module comprising a plurality of distribution ports each for receiving a connector for connection to the one or more cables, wherein the plurality of input ports and the plurality of distribution ports are positioned entirely on the cover;
a flexible port disposed within at least one of the plurality of distribution ports, wherein the flexible port comprises an anti-rotation feature comprising an O-ring seal, a press-in element, and a clip, wherein the press-in element is configured to retain the O-ring seal within the at least one of the plurality of distribution ports; and
a splice tray positioned in the interior compartment and comprising one or more cable retainers including a plurality of prongs configured to route the one or more cables within the interior compartment.

2 . The terminal of claim 1 , further comprising a splice chip connected to the splice tray and having a base comprising a plurality of posts positioned vertically relative to the base, and a lower protrusion and an upper protrusion emanating from at least one of the plurality of posts, wherein a lower slot is formed between a first post of the at least one of the plurality of posts and the lower protrusion, and an upper slot is formed between a second post adjacent to the first post of the at least one of the plurality of posts and the upper protrusion.

3 . The terminal of claim 2 , wherein the lower protrusion is configured to bias a bottom splice in the lower slot towards the first post.

4 . The terminal of claim 2 , wherein the upper protrusion is configured to bias a top splice in the upper slot towards the second post.

5 . The terminal of claim 2 , wherein the lower slot and the upper slot form a stacked elongated slot for storing stacked loose tube fiber splices.

6 . The terminal of claim 2 , wherein the splice chip comprises chip ends at edges of a base of the splice chip and the splice tray comprises a plurality of undercuts configured to receive the chip ends so as to couple the splice chip to the splice tray.

7 . The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the clip is configured to retain the connector.

8 . The terminal of claim 7 , wherein the connector is a round plug-in connector configured to contact the O-ring seal.

9 . The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the flexible port comprises removable entrance tabs.

10 . The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the cover comprises or more protrusions having openings configured to receive tabs located on the housing and snap the cover to the housing.

11 . The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the interior compartment comprises an adapter plate comprising a plurality of adapter slots corresponding to the plurality of distribution ports on the cover.

12 . The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the adapter plate comprises four adapters and the output adapter comprises four distribution ports.

13 . The terminal of claim 11 , wherein the output adapter comprises twelve distribution ports.

14 . The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cables is one or more of a round drop cable and a flat drop cable.

15 . The terminal of claim 1 , wherein one or more cable retainers comprise a plurality of prongs for contacting at least one of the one or more cables.

16 . The terminal of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of input ports and the plurality of distribution ports are sealed ports.

17 . A customizable optical fiber terminal, comprising:
a housing comprising an interior compartment and a distal end having a radiused wall for routing one or more cables within the interior compartment; a cover configured to couple to the housing and comprising:
a plurality of input ports for receiving the one or more cables, and
a plurality of distribution ports, wherein the plurality of input ports and the plurality of distribution ports are positioned entirely on the cover;
a flexible port disposed within at least one of the plurality of distribution ports, wherein the flexible port comprises a seal, a press-in element, and a clip, wherein the press-in element is configured to retain the seal within the at least one of the plurality of distribution ports, and wherein the clip is configured to retain a connector;
a splice tray positioned in the interior compartment and comprising one or more cable retainers including a plurality of prongs configured to route the one or more cables within the interior compartment; and a splice chip connected to the splice tray and comprising a base, a post positioned vertically relative to the base, and a plurality of stacked slots formed by a plurality of upper protrusions angled relative to a plurality of lower protrusions, the upper and lower protrusions emanating from the post.

18 . The terminal of claim 17 , wherein the interior compartment is shaped to control fiber bends.

19 . The terminal of claim 17 , further comprising an adapter plate connected to the splice tray and configured to receive a plurality of adapters corresponding to the plurality of distribution ports.

20 . The terminal of claim 17 , wherein the flexible port is field-installable.

Assignees

• Clearfield Inc

Inventors

• Hill John P
• Johnson Daniel J
• Vanhorn Randy T
• Power Ii Walter E

Classifications

• G02B6/44775

  Cable seals e.g. feed-through (cable seals integrated to the box seals G02B6/4444; pulling eyes G02B6/44465) · CPC title

• G02B6/44528

  Patch-cords; Connector arrangements in the system or in the box (routing arrangements H04Q1/00) · CPC title

• G02B6/4471

  Terminating devices (demountable connectors G02B6/3807); Cable clamps · CPC title

• G02B6/4454

  with splices · CPC title

• G02B6/4444 Primary

  Seals · CPC title