Optical unit with increased reliability

Details Optical unit with increased reliability Optical unit with increased reliability

2002-03-19

2004-03-23

Sanghavi, Hemang (Department: 2874)

Optical waveguides

With disengagable mechanical connector

Optical fiber to a nonfiber optical device connector

C385S134000, C385S135000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06709168

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to optical units, and more particularly to an optical unit including photoelectric conversion modules and adapters for optical connectors.
An optical unit, after being inserted into and mounted in a shelf, is used with its optical connector adapters being connected with optical connectors provided to the ends of optical fiber cables that are external lines.
With an improvement in the performance of a semiconductor device included in the optical unit, an information processing rate per one optical unit has become higher and higher. For instance, the conventional rate of 1.2 Gbps is now doubled to 2.4 Gbps.
As the information processing rate of the optical unit increases, the number of channels that a single optical unit can handle also increases. Accordingly, the optical unit is allowed to increase the number of optical connectors connected to its optical connector adapters by increasing the number thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 1A and 1B
are diagrams showing a conventional optical unit
10
. The optical unit
10
is of a single channel. The optical unit
10
includes optical connector adapters
11
and
12
on the front side (Y
2
side in FIGS.
1
A and
1
B), photoelectric modules
13
and
14
, a semiconductor device
15
for signal processing, and optical fibers
16
and
17
in the middle, and connectors
18
on the rear side (Y
1
side in FIGS.
1
A and
1
B). The optical fibers
16
and
17
each have one end fixed to the photoelectric modules
13
and
14
, respectively, with the middle parts being engaged with a reel. Optical connectors
20
and
21
provided to the other ends of the optical fibers
16
and
17
are inserted into the upper connection holes of the optical connector adapters
11
and
12
, respectively, so as to be connected to the optical connector adapters
11
and
12
.
The optical unit
10
is inserted and plugged into a shelf
30
with the connectors
18
being connected with connectors
32
provided on a back wiring board
31
.
Optical connectors
42
and
43
provided to ends of optical fiber cables
40
and
41
that are external lines are inserted into the lower connection holes of the optical connector adapters
11
and
12
, respectively, so as to be connected with optical connector adapters
11
and
12
. Thereby, the optical fibers
16
and
17
are connected with the optical fiber cables
40
and
41
, respectively.
The optical connector adapters
11
and
12
are attached to a lower part of an arm-like adapter attachment member
51
whose upper part is supported by a shaft
50
.
Normally, the adapter attachment member
51
is at a vertical position as shown in
FIG. 1A
with the optical connector adapters
11
and
12
and the adapter attachment member
51
being accommodated in a narrow space
53
formed in the optical unit
10
on its front side.
When the optical connectors
42
and
43
provided to the ends of the optical fiber cables
40
and
41
are connected with or pulled out from the optical connector adapters
11
and
12
, first, as shown in
FIG. 1B
, an operator pulls and turns the adapter attachment member
51
toward herself/himself (in the Y
2
direction) with her/his fingers, and pulls the optical connector adapters
11
and
12
out of the space
53
. Then, with the adapter attachment member
51
in this state, the operator performs connection or extraction of the optical fiber cables
40
and
41
.
Since the two adapters
11
and
12
are pulled out together from the optical unit
10
, a clearance a between the adapters
11
and
12
remains narrow outside the optical unit
10
.
Therefore, even if levers for locking the optical connectors
42
and
43
to the adapters
11
and
12
were provided, it would be difficult to operate the levers. Accordingly, the optical connectors
42
and
43
are inserted into the adapters
11
and
12
so tight as to maintain connection by frictional force. Hence, if a strong pulling force is applied to the optical connectors
42
and
43
, the optical connectors
42
and
43
may be pulled out from the adapters
11
and
12
, thus questioning the reliability of the connection of the optical connectors
42
and
43
with the adapters
11
and
12
.
In order to provide a lock mechanism, the clearance a between the adapters
11
and
12
is required to increase so that a finger of the operator may be allowed therein. This requires the space
53
to be considerably widened along the Y
1
-Y
2
axis, thus causing the problem of increasing the optical unit
10
in size along the Y
1
-Y
2
axis instead of downsizing the optical unit
10
.
This problem is highlighted when the number of optical connector adapters is increased. Therefore, practically, it is not feasible to widen a clearance between adjacent optical connector adapters when the number of channels handled by a single optical unit is increased due to improvement in the information processing rate of a semiconductor device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide an optical unit in which the above-described disadvantages are eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an optical unit whose reliability is increased without an increase in size.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by an optical unit including photoelectric conversion modules, a plurality of adapter support members whose upper parts are rotatably supported, and a plurality of optical connector adapters attached to lower ends of the adapter support members so as to be arranged next to each other, the optical connector adapters being contained in the optical unit, wherein the adapter support members are rotated separately so that the optical connector adapters are extracted outside from the optical unit with a space formed between each adjacent two of the optical connector adapters, each of the optical connector adapters has insertion holes formed on each of first and second opposing sides thereof, optical connectors provided to ends of optical fibers extending from the photoelectric conversion modules are connected to the insertion holes formed on the first sides of the optical connector adapters, and optical connectors provided to ends of external optical fibers are connected to the insertion holes formed on the second sides of the optical connector adapters.
According to the above-described optical unit, the adapter support members are rotated independently so that the space, into which a finger is inserted for performing a connection operation, is formed between each adjacent two of the optical connector adapters. Accordingly, the optical unit permits usage of an optical connector with a lock lever, thus increasing the reliability of optical connector connections.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5956449 (1999-09-01), Otani et al.

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