Optical cable guide and support

Details Optical cable guide and support Optical cable guide and support

2001-11-08

2004-06-01

Ramirez, Ramon O. (Department: 3632)

Supports

Pipe or cable

C248S068100, C248S070000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06742746

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This relates to mechanical guides and supports and, more particularly, to guides and supports for optical cables.
In central offices, and similar locations, interconnected telecommunication equipment modules have been typically housed in equipment racks on frames, and often separated by distances measured in feet. Their interconnections were typically done through wires, or wire cables, (wire elements) that stretched between the equipment modules and coupled to connectors, or plugs, at front panels of the equipment modules. The wire elements so connected were dressed (tied together) and, to provide physical support for the dressed wires, mechanical elements have been used, such as ring sets or “towel bars” to which the wire elements were attached with plastic ties, or “sewn” with waxed rope. An example of a commercially available wire-support ring is shown in
FIG. 1
, and an example of a “towel bar” is shown in FIG.
2
. For longer distances, such as from one cabinet to another, large troughs have often been used, in which all the wire elements or cables were laid.
The telecommunication industry is moving in the direction of using optical fibers for communicating information, and not just for long distances, but also for relatively short ones, such as from the front panel of one rack-mounted module to another rack-mounted module on the same frame. The operating characteristics of optical fibers, however, are very sensitive to physical pressure on the fibers and, therefore, use of “towel bars” such as the one shown in
FIG. 2
, is somewhat problematic because of the necessary physical strapping of optical cable to the “towel bars.” The use of rings such as the one shown in
FIG. 1
may, similarly, be problematic because they provide inadequate protection against snagging of the optical fibers by workers and because they can easily contribute to a bending of the optical fibers with a bending radius that is too small (which, itself, imposes a physical stress on the fibers). In short, a need exists for a means that provides support for front-panel optical fiber connections, provides good routing guidance, and protects the fibers from inadvertent snagging.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The existing need is satisfied, and an advance in the art is achieved with an arrangement that includes a trough element for holding optical fibers, and support elements that are adapted to-attach the fiber-holding trough element to an equipment frame, an equipment rack, or to a telecommunication module. More specifically, the fiber-holding trough element and the support elements are interconnected to have the opening of the trough element generally face the front panel of the equipment module when the support elements are connected to the front panel of the telecommunication rack or to the equipment module. In some embodiments, the trough element is a channel with a cross section that is generally U-shaped, with its opening partially covered. Also in some embodiments, the support elements are adjustable, to permit placing the trough element at different distances from the front panel of the telecommunication rack.


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patent: 2002/0047073 (2002-04-01), Deciry et al.
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