Equipment panel with termination region

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022066116-A1
Application number	US-202017423042-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 9, 2020
Priority date	Jan 14, 2019
Publication date	Mar 3, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

An equipment panel includes one or more trays disposed within a chassis, Each tray has a two-layer termination region. Certain trays have a two-layer splice region. The splice region can be used to optically couple preterminated fibers within the tray to a trunk cable. Alternatively or in addition, the splice region can be used to fix broken fiber connections. A cable anchor and fanout arrangement mounts to the chassis as a unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An equipment panel comprising:
a chassis defining an interior accessible through an open front; and a tray disposed within the interior of the chassis, the tray being slidable relative to the chassis along a front-to-rear axis, the tray including a termination region and a splice region, the termination region being located forward of the splice region, the termination region including a lower row of front-facing ports and an upper row of front-facing ports carried with the tray when the tray is slid relative to the chassis, the splice region having a lower layer and an upper layer carried with the tray when the tray is slid relative to the chassis, each of the lower and upper layers of the splice region being configured to hold a plurality of optical splices.

2 . The equipment panel of claim 1 , wherein the upper row of front-facing ports is spaced above the lower row of front-facing ports by a gap.

3 . The equipment panel of claim 2 , wherein the gap is about the same size as one of the front-facing ports.

4 . The equipment panel of any of the above claims, further comprising a plurality of optical adapters, each optical adapter defining at least one of the forward-facing ports.

5 . The equipment panel of claim 1 , wherein the lower row of front-facing ports includes an optical adapter block defining at least some of the front-facing ports.

6 . The equipment panel of claim 5 , wherein the lower row of front-facing ports includes multiple optical adapter blocks, each adapter block of the lower row defining a respective plurality of the front-facing ports of the lower row.

7 . The equipment panel of any of claims 5 and 6 , wherein the optical adapter block is a first adapter block, and wherein the upper row of front-facing ports includes a second adapter block defining others of the front-facing ports.

8 . The equipment panel of claim 7 , wherein the upper row of front-facing ports includes multiple adapter blocks, each adapter block of the upper row defining a respective plurality of the front-facing ports of the upper row.

9 . The equipment panel of any of the above claims, wherein the lower layer of the splice region includes a first splice cassette; and wherein the upper layer of the splice region includes a second splice cassette mounted over the first splice cassette.

10 . The equipment panel of claim 9 , wherein the second splice cassette is mounted to a platform disposed above the first splice cassette.

11 . The equipment panel of any of claims 9 and 10 , wherein the first splice cassette is one of a plurality of splice cassettes disposed at the lower region and wherein the second splice cassette is one of a plurality of splice cassettes disposed at the upper region.

12 . The equipment panel of any of claims 9 and 10 , wherein the tray has a depth that extends along the front-to-rear axis and a width extending between opposite first and second sides of the tray, and wherein the splice region includes a first splice region located closer to the first side of the tray and a second splice region located closer to the second side of the tray, each of the first and second splice regions having respective lower and upper layers with respective first and second splice cassettes.

13 . The equipment panel of any of the above claims, wherein the upper row is disposed at a fixed orientation relative to the lower row.

14 . The equipment panel of claim 13 , wherein the lower row defines horizontal fiber insertion axes.

15 . The equipment panel of claim 13 , wherein the lower row defines fiber insertion axes angled downwardly while the upper row defines fiber insertion axes angled upwardly relative to a horizontal axis.

16 . The equipment panel of any of claims 1 - 12 , wherein an orientation of the upper row is movable relative to the bottom row.

17 . The equipment panel of claim 16 , wherein the upper row pivots relative to the bottom row between an operation position and an access position.

18 . The equipment panel of claim 17 , wherein the termination region includes a middle row of front-facing ports, the middle row being pivotal relative to the bottom row between a respective operation position and a respective access position.

19 . The equipment panel of any of claims 16 - 18 , wherein the upper row is releasably lockable in position relative to the bottom row.

20 . The equipment panel of claim 19 , further comprising a stop member mounted to the upper row, the stop member being movable between a stowed position and a latching position, the stop member holding the upper row in the access position when the kickstand is disposed in the latching position, the stop member allowing the upper row to return to the operation position when the stop member is disposed in the stowed position.

21 . The equipment panel of any of claims 1 - 12 , wherein the termination region also includes a middle row of front-facing ports.

22 . The equipment panel of claim 21 , wherein the middle row is disposed at a fixed axial position relative to the upper and lower rows.

23 . The equipment panel of claim 21 , wherein the middle row is axially movable relative to the upper and lower rows.

24 . The equipment panel of any of claims 1 - 12 , wherein the upper row of the termination region is configured to lift away from the bottom row along a slide axis from an operation position to an access position.

25 . The equipment panel of claim 24 , wherein the upper row of the termination region is spring biased to the access position.

26 . The equipment panel of claim 25 , wherein the termination region includes a camming surface that automatically lowers the upper row to the operation position when the tray is slid into the chassis.

27 . The equipment panel of any of the above claims, further comprising routing management structures carried by the tray at a location rearward of the front-facing ports.

28 . The equipment panel of claim 27 , wherein the routing management structures include a plurality of bend radius limiters defining a routing path around at least a portion of the splice region.

29 . The equipment panel of any of the above claims, further comprising a plurality of optical fibers extending between first ends and second ends, the first ends of the optical fibers being terminated at optical connectors that are optically accessible through respective ones of the forward-facing ports, the second ends of the fibers are unterminated.

30 . The equipment panel of claim 29 , wherein the optical fibers form at least one stub cable, wherein the second ends of the optical fibers extend outwardly from the chassis at a rear of the chassis.

31 . The equipment panel of claim 29 , wherein the second ends of the optical fibers are routed to the splice region.

32 . The equipment panel of claim 31 , wherein at least one stub cable is routed into the chassis, the at least one stub cable including a plurality of intermediate fibers extending between first and second ends, the first ends of the intermediate fibers being routed to the splice region and spliced to the second ends of the optical fibers, the second ends of the intermediate fibers extend outwardly from the chassis at a rear of the chassis.

33 . The equipment pan

Assignees

• Commscope Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Holmberg Matthew J
• Turner Arend J
• Lawson Paul M
• Schoenfelder Rodney C
• Vongseng Soutsada
• Solheid James J
• Kowalczyk Scott C

Classifications

• G02B6/44526

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

• G02B6/44528

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

• G02B6/4455 Primary

  characterised by the way of extraction or insertion of the cassette in the distribution frame, e.g. pivoting, sliding, rotating or gliding · CPC title

• G02B6/4457

  Bobbins; Reels · CPC title

• G02B6/3898

  Tools, e.g. handheld; Tuning wrenches; Jigs used with connectors, e.g. for extracting, removing or inserting in a panel, for engaging or coupling connectors, for assembling or disassembling components within the connector, for applying clips to hold two connectors together or for crimping (tools for cleaning, G02B6/3866; tools in general B25B) · CPC title