Optical waveguides – With disengagable mechanical connector – Structure surrounding optical fiber-to-fiber connection
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-19
2001-10-16
Palmer, Phan T. H. (Department: 2874)
Optical waveguides
With disengagable mechanical connector
Structure surrounding optical fiber-to-fiber connection
C385S056000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302592
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the field of optical waveguide technology. It concerns a connector for optical waveguides comprising a socket part with an exterior socket housing which is open at least on one side, into which socket housing from the side, of which there is at least one, a connector part with a ferrule encompassing an optical waveguide is pluggable, with a socket, open to the side, of which there is at least one, being arranged in the exterior socket housing; with said socket, during plugging-in of a connector part accommodating the associated ferrule by a respective plug-in aperture.
Such a connector is known e.g. from the printed publications EP-B1-0 570 652, EP-B1-0 599 784 or EP-A1-0 823 649, with the content of these being expressly considered as forming part of the present application.
STATE OF THE ART
From the printed publications mentioned in the introduction, a connector system for optical waveguides is known where two optical waveguides whose ends are accommodated and fixed in a connector part, can be disconnectably optically coupled by plugging-in the two connector parts into a socket part.
FIG. 1
shows a longitudinal section of the socket part of this known connector.
The socket part
10
according to
FIG. 1
comprises an elongated exterior socket housing
11
, of rectangular cross section, open on two opposing sides, into which an interior socket housing
15
is inserted so as to snap on. On the two sides, the interior socket housing
15
partially protrudes from the exterior socket housing
11
. In each instance on the two sides a frame
18
,
19
is snapped on to the protruding parts of the interior socket housing
15
, with said frame adjoining the exterior socket housing
11
. At the top and bottom of the exterior socket housing
11
flanges
12
,
13
are formed by means of which flanges the socket part
10
can be attached in the aperture provided for this purpose of a housing wall
14
.
On the interior socket housing
15
, on the top extending from the middle to the two sides, two sprung tabs
16
and
17
are arranged which at their free ends form a detent pawl
16
a
or
17
a
extending inward into the housing. As shown in FIG. 10 of EP-B1-0 570 652, the detent pawls
16
a,
17
a
lock into place after plugging-in a connector part by gripping from behind a stop strip arranged transversely to the connector part, and hold the connector part in the plugged-in position. For the purpose of releasing the lock, an unlocking lever has been provided at the connector part; said unlocking lever enabling the tabs
16
or
17
to be lifted and the detent pawls
16
a,
17
a
to be unlocked as has been explained in the description pertaining to EP-B1-0 570 652.
The actual socket
25
is arranged in the middle of the socket part
10
or in the middle of the interior socket housing
15
. The socket
25
is in the shape of a cylinder jacket into which from both sides by means of respective plug-in apertures
25
a, b
the ferrules of the connector parts to be connected are inserted. The socket
25
which, in contrast to the housing parts
11
,
15
which are made of plastic, is usually made of ceramic, is held in a socket mount
24
(made of plastic) which is insertable into the interior socket housing
15
from below. To ensure safe insertion into the plug-in apertures
25
a, b
of the ferrules, first guide grooves
22
,
23
have been provided on the lateral walls of the interior socket housing
15
into which said guide grooves
22
,
23
the connector parts are guided by means of matching lateral strips (44 in FIG. 8 of EP-B1-0 570 652).
A connector of the type described requires various protective devices. Firstly, for safety reasons, laser light from the optical waveguides to be connected must be prevented from penetrating to the outside where it could damage the eyes of an observer. Secondly, a safe optical connection between the ends of the two optical waveguides to be connected is ensured only if contamination in the region of the joint, in particular due to dust, is reduced to a minimum.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,242 it is known, in the case of a connector part, to provide a cover to the end of the waveguide which during plugging-in can be pushed back against the force of a spring, to protect the connector part against contamination and to prevent the light beam from penetrating to the outside. By contrast, the associated socket part is unprotected. Furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,575 describes a cover device for a connector socket which is attached to the housing wall by means of a strap comprising an elastic memory; in the first position the light beam is blocked and in the second position attained after application of force, the socket is closed off from the exterior so as to be dustproof. However, due to the special selection of materials such a protective device is not only expensive to manufacture but above all it uses a lot of space which makes its integration into the actual socket part practically impossible. A further integrated protective device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,179. In this case, the tab of a thin metal sheet which when the plug connection is undone closes off the plug-in aperture of a socket, is elastically bent inwards by the connector part during plugging-in. The forces occurring in the process can however only be absorbed in that the base surface of the metal sheet is firmly anchored between the socket housing and a printed card situated below it. Such a device is therefore not suitable for a freely protruding socket part according to FIG.
1
.
In the case of connectors from the printed publications EP-B1-0 570 652, EP-B1-0 599 784 and EP-A1-0 823 649 mentioned in the introduction, hingeable flaps have been provided with the connector parts, to protect the delicate optical waveguide ends; with said flaps interacting with second guide grooves
20
,
21
in the side walls of the interior socket housing
15
and being made to open up by the special arrangement of the second guide grooves
20
,
21
(see FIG. 10 of EP-B1-0 570 652). By contrast, in the cited state of the art, no integrated dust protection has been provided for the socket part
10
. Within the interior socket housing
15
, there exists only a protective device against the leakage of light rays, said protective device comprising two radiation protection flaps
26
and
27
(FIG.
1
). By means of matching articulated cams
28
,
29
, the two protection flaps are hingeably held in the bottom of the interior socket housing
15
; they are held in the position shown in
FIG. 1
by a mutual two-arm leaf spring
30
inserted into the housing, until such time as they are pushed to the bottom against the spring force by an inserted connector part, thus releasing access to the plug-in apertures
25
a, b
of the socket
25
.
As can be seen from
FIG. 1
, the radiation protection devices
26
,
27
, which have significantly smaller dimensions than the plug-in apertures of the interior socket housing
15
, merely block the beam path situated in the centre axis of the socket
25
. By contrast, dust and dirt can find their way from the exterior, past the radiation protection flaps
26
,
27
into the interior of the interior socket housing
15
and thus also into the interior of the socket
25
. There they can lodge between the ferrules of two plugged-in connector parts, thus impeding or entirely disconnecting the optical connection.
PRESENTATION OF THE INVENTION
It is thus the object of the invention to provide a connector where the socket part is protected against contamination from the exterior by an integrated protective device which is simple and functionally safe and uses only little space so that it can be integrated in already existing standardised connectors without the dimensions having to be changed.
This object is met by the totality of the characteristics from claim
1
.
A first preferred embodiment of the connector according to the invention is characterised in that the means for dust-proof sealing comprise a one-piece closure flap, hi
Connelly-Cushwa Michelle R.
Huber & Suhner AG
Palmer Phan T. H.
Tarolli, Sundheim, Covell Tummino & Szabo L.L.P.
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