Optical waveguides – Accessories – Splice box and surplus fiber storage/trays/organizers/ carriers
Patent
1991-06-04
1992-08-11
Healy, Brian
Optical waveguides
Accessories
Splice box and surplus fiber storage/trays/organizers/ carriers
385134, 385 95, 2063161, 206557, G02B 626, B65D 134
Patent
active
051386895
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical fibre disbribution and in particular but not exclusively to branched networks for optical telecommunications.
II. Prior Art and Other Considerations
Presently optical fibres are utilised in trunk lines for telecommunications but it is desirable to have optical transmission within other points in a network, such as in branches between an exchange and a subscriber. Elements in such branches need to be reliable under the extremes of ambient temperature and to permit broad spectrum transmission over the range of wavelengths utilised, ususally 1300 to 1550 nm. It is also necessary to ensure that minimum losses occur due to microbending as optical fibres emerge from branching elements such as couplers.
SUMMARY
According to the invention there is provided an optical fibre distribution arrangement comprising a coupling array and a splice organiser associated with each input and output line of the coupling array, the splice organisers being mounted to a supporting frame and capable of limited relative movement with respect to one another so as to permit access to the splices stored therein.
A second aspect of the invention provides a coupling array comprising a plurality of independent couplers interconnected by splices in which formers are provided to control the minimum bend radius of fibres extending from the couplers and in which the formers are located such that alternative winding patterns are available to permit different lengths of fibre to be accommodated.
Another aspect of the invention provides a splice organiser comprising a tray having a groove for retaining a splice and a recess for confining loops of optical fibre under their own natural resilience.
A further aspect of the invention provides a method of storing a splice in a splice organiser comprising forming a series of superimposed loops in the fibre extending from each side of the splice and releasing the loops into a confined area of larger size than the loop diameter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is now described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a side view of a preferred embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic plan of elements of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a view of part of the embodiment of FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a diagram of a coupling array utilised in an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 5 is a preferred form housing for the coupler array, and,
FIG. 6 is a preferred embodiment of a splice organiser.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a distribution point for an optical fibre network is shown which comprises a four to eight coupler array 1 and a plurality of splice organisers 2 mounted on a supporting frame 3. The supporting frame is shown having a triangular section in plan with the coupler array 1 mounted on one side and one of the long edges of each of the splice organisers being pivotally mounted to the other two sides. Other frame configurations are possible, for example square or rectangular, the one shown being illustrative only. The coupler array 1, which is described in more detail later, has four input lines 4 and eight output lines 5 (only one of each shown in FIGS. 2 and 3), each input line being coupled to each output line in the arrangement shown in FIG. 4. It will be realised that in two way communication the input and output lines operate in both directions. Within this specification `input` is used of the side of a branching arrangement closer to the exchange or trunk line which will generally have fewer lines and `output` is used of the side further away from the exchange, generally having the greater diversity.
A fibre splice connection is made between each of the input lines to the coupler array 1 and the incoming line from the previous stage of the distribution network, and these splices are stored in respective ones of the splice organisers 2. Each of the output lines 5 from the coupler array 1 is (or may be) spliced to an outgoin
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Freeman Robert A.
Frost Peter L. J.
Merlo Clifford E.
British Telecommunications
Healy Brian
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