JPH06194542A - V-shaped groove optical fiber connector - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Object] To provide an improved V-groove type optical fiber connector with good operability. [Structure] A base, a V groove for an optical fiber wire on which both optical fibers to be abutted on the base are to be abutted, and both ends of the V groove for the optical fiber wire are arranged. A connection consisting of a V-groove body having a V-groove for holding the optical fiber core wire larger than this and a first, second and third pressing piece rotatably provided so as to be opened and closed with respect to the V-groove body. In the container, a lock mechanism was provided between the V-shaped groove and the hinge of the pressing piece. In addition, the lock mechanism is a two-stage system, and in the first stage, the gap between the upper surface of the base and the lower surface of the pressing piece is smaller than the outer diameter of the optical fiber strand to be butted, and in the second stage, the optical fiber is fixed so that it does not move it can.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to connecting two optical fibers by arranging the end faces of the two optical fibers in a V groove of a fiber connector so as to abut each other. The present invention relates to a V-groove type optical fiber splicer for connecting with each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a conventional V-groove type optical fiber connector is shown in FIG. That is, a V-groove plate 12 is arranged on the base 11, a V-groove 13 having two optical fiber wires to be butted is arranged at the center of the upper surface of the V-groove plate 12, and on both sides thereof. V-grooves 14 and 15 for holding a larger optical fiber cord are formed in a straight line.

On one side of the V-groove plate 12, the pressing piece 1
6, 17 and 18 are attached to the base 11 in a row so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the extension direction of the V groove. These presser pieces 16, 17 and 18 are provided with screws 21, 22 and 23, which are biased by coil springs, respectively. When these presser pieces 16, 17 and 18 are closed with respect to the V groove, that is, It is formed so that the screw can be rotated and tightened in the mother screw formed in the base 11 while the fiber is held down.

By the way, in order to connect optical fibers using the V-groove type optical fiber connector constructed as described above, two optical fibers to be connected to each other in the central optical fiber groove 13 are used. The wires are arranged so as to abut each other, and in this state, the pressing pieces 16 and 18 on both sides are closed to lightly press the optical fiber core wire to the V-groove plate 12, and the screw 21
And 23 are rotated and temporarily held, and in this state, the optical fibers are further adjusted so as to abut against each other,
The matching liquid is dropped on the abutting end faces of the optical fiber strands, and then the pressing piece 17 at the center is rotated to close the V groove and the connecting portion is sufficiently fixed by the screw 22.

FIG. 5 shows another conventional V-groove type optical fiber connector. That is, the connecting V-groove plate 12 is held on the base 11, and the three holding pieces 16, 17 and 1 are attached to the holding V-groove plate 12.
Although 8 is provided on one side thereof, it is similar to that shown in FIG. 4, but particularly in this optical fiber connector,
The fixing piece 31 is attached to the free end portion of the central pressing piece 17, and the central pressing piece 17, that is, the third pressing piece 17 is attached.
A means for fixing the fixing piece 31 to the base 11 or releasing the fixing when the V is closed in the V groove 13 is provided.

[0006]

By the way, in the conventional V-groove type optical fiber connector shown in FIG. 4, it is necessary to tighten the three screws 21, 22 and 23 one by one, and the operations are compared. It is troublesome. In order to eliminate this, in the one shown in FIG.
The optical fiber is fixed together with 6, 17, and 18. However, this apparatus also has the following drawbacks and problems.

When the preset optical fiber and the optical fiber inserted afterwards are butted against each other, if the fixing piece 31 is slightly loosened and slid on the optical fiber groove, the optical fibers on both sides move because the whole is loosened. I will end up.

When the optical fiber having the cut end face is set on the V-groove, the V-groove is located in the recess of the connector, so that the optical fiber is difficult to enter and the cut surface may be damaged.

For the same reason, it is difficult to visually judge the quality of the butted portion of the optical fiber on the V groove.

Since the connection V-groove plate is made of the base 11 and individual parts, the base, the connection V-groove plate and the pressing piece are processed with high precision, and the parallelism, squareness and flatness are obtained. It is necessary to accurately take out and assemble, which increases the cost during manufacturing.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, to obtain an optical fiber connecting portion with low loss in a short time, and to manufacture at low cost. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical fiber connector capable of performing the above.

[0012]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a base, a V groove for an optical fiber wire in which both optical fibers attached to the base and to be abutted at a central portion are arranged, and an optical groove therefor are provided. A V-groove body having V-grooves for holding the optical fiber larger than the V-groove for fiber is formed at both ends of the V-groove, and first, second and rotatably provided so as to be opened and closed with respect to the V-groove body. A V-groove type optical fiber connector characterized in that a lock mechanism is provided between the V-groove body and the hinge piece of the pressing piece in the third connecting piece consisting of the pressing piece. Further, the present invention is
The locking mechanism is a two-step system, and in the first step, the gap between the upper surface of the base and the lower surface of the pressing piece is smaller than the outer diameter of the optical fiber wire to be butted, and in the second step, the optical fiber can be fixed to the extent that it does not move. It is a characteristic V-groove type optical fiber connector. Further, the present invention is a V-groove type optical fiber connector in which the pressing piece is a transparent body, and the tip of the pressing piece is processed into an arc shape (R shape). The present invention is a V-groove type optical fiber connector in which the upper surface of the base is the same as the upper surface of the V groove.

[0013]

The V-groove for connection is formed on the same surface as the upper surface of the base, and the two-step locking mechanism is provided between the hinge portion of the holding piece and the V-groove, and the holding piece is made of a transparent body. Fine adjustment is extremely easy, and operability can be greatly improved.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a V-groove type fiber connector of one embodiment, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views of a part of the holding piece of FIG. That is, the connecting V-groove body 52 is provided on the same plane on the base 51, and two V-grooves 53 for optical fiber wires to be butted to each other at the center are larger than these on both sides. V-shaped grooves 54 and 55 for holding the optical fiber core wire are formed in a straight line. On one side of these V grooves 53, 54 and 55, transparent pressing pieces 56, 57 and 58 are mounted in a line on the base 51 so as to be rotatable about an axis parallel to the extending direction of the V grooves.

Locking mechanisms 61, 62 and 63 are provided in the pressing pieces 56, 57 and 58 between the V-shaped groove 52 and the rotating hinge 50. Of these locking mechanisms, the details of the central locking mechanism are shown in FIG. 2 and FIG.
A cross-sectional view is shown in FIG. That is, the other end of the engaging shaft 59 having a two-step leading end that enters the base groove hole 51c is housed inside the lock handle 62 of the second pressing piece 57 together with the coil spring 60. When the eyes are locked (the state of FIG. 2), the lock handle 62 is rotated and inserted so that the step 59a of the engagement shaft 59 contacts the base groove hole 51a. At this time, the gap between the contact portion 57b of the pressing piece 57 and the upper surface 51c of the base is smaller than the outer diameter of the strand of the optical fiber 1 to be connected (for example, an optical fiber with an outer diameter of 125 μm is used). At this time, the gap is about 50 to 100 μm.) The gap between the projection lower surface 59c of the engagement shaft 59 and the concave surface 57c of the pressing piece 57 is set.

Next, when the lock handle 62 is pushed in and rotated, the tip 59b of the engaging shaft 59, which is made longer than the step 59a, is fixed in contact with the base groove hole 51b.
The abutting portion 57b of the pressing piece connects the optical fiber element wire to the coil spring 6
It is elastically fixed to the base 51 by 0. (Fig. 3
State) In addition, the first, second and third pressing pieces 5
6, 57 and 58 are formed of a transparent body, and the tip 57a is provided with an R-shaped surface processed into an arc shape so that the optical fiber core wire and the optical fiber element wire on the V groove can be seen in an enlarged manner. It is like this. The lock mechanism is similarly configured in the first and third pressing pieces 56 and 58.

Next, the operation of connecting the optical fibers with the V-groove type fiber connector thus constructed will be described. First,
The optical fibers connecting the holding pieces 56, 57 and 58 to each other with the V-grooves 53, 54 and 55 open are connected to each other and the V-groove 53 for the optical fiber at the center and the V for the optical fiber core wires on the left and right thereof are connected. It is placed in the grooves 54, 55 and abutted. In that state, the first pressing piece 56 is rotated to strongly lock it in the second step, and then the second pressing piece 57 and the third pressing piece 58 are turned to be locked in the first step. Strongly holds the optical fiber on the right side lightly, and in this state, the end faces of the optical fibers are butted against each other and a matching liquid is applied to the abutting surface, and then the optical fiber on the right side is finely adjusted. At this time, the loss is measured with an optical power meter, or the distal end portion 57a of the pressing piece 57 has a lens effect and the enlarged optical fiber abutting portion can be observed. Then, when the lock portions 62 and 63 are rotated in the best state and locked in the second stage, both optical fibers are moved to the base 5
It can be securely and easily fixed on the first part.

In the above example, the holding V-groove and the optical fiber V-grooves 53, 54 and 55 are directly machined on the base 51. However, in consideration of the consumption of the V-groove, the V-groove body 52 is used. Is preferably ceramics, cemented carbide, or hardened steel. In this case, as shown by the broken line in FIG. 1, the V-grooves 52 are individually prepared and embedded so that they are flush with the base 51. Further effects can be obtained.

[0019]

As described above, according to the V-groove type fiber connector of the present invention, the following excellent effects can be obtained.

The optical fiber retainer is pressed by the two-stage locking mechanism, and when the first stage is locked, it becomes free with a gap smaller than the optical fiber diameter, so that the optical fiber abutting portion on one side can be secured without removing the optical fiber from the main body. Fine adjustment is possible,
Either the left or right holding piece is firmly locked in the second step, so the optical fiber on the non-adjustment side does not move,
A low loss butt section can be obtained

The optical fiber V groove is at the forefront, and
Since the pressing piece is made of a transparent material and the tip thereof is processed into an arc shape to have a lens effect, and the optical fiber butting portion looks enlarged, it is possible to easily judge the quality of the optical fiber butting.

Since the upper surface of the V groove and the upper surface of the base are flush with each other, the shape of the pressing piece is simple, and when assembling the entire apparatus, only the upper surface of the base is used as the reference surface. Cost reduction can be achieved.

Since the lock portion can be easily locked by rotating up to 90 degrees without using a screw, connection work can be speeded up.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a V-groove type fiber connector according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing one state of the pressing piece of FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing another state of the pressing piece of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional V-groove type fiber connector.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing another example of a conventional V-groove type fiber connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

 50 hinge part 51 base 51c base groove groove 52 V groove body 53 optical fiber bare wire V groove 54, 55 optical fiber core wire V groove 56 first presser piece 57 second presser piece 58 third presser piece Piece 59 Engagement shaft 59a Step portion 59b Tip portion 59c Protrusion lower surface 60 Coil spring 61, 62, 63 Lock portion grip

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A V-groove for an optical fiber wire in which a base, an optical fiber to be mounted on the base and to be abutted at the center are arranged, and a V-groove for the optical fiber From a V-groove body having V-grooves for holding optical fiber cores larger than this at both ends, and first, second and third pressing pieces rotatably provided so as to be opened and closed with respect to the V-groove body. The V-groove type optical fiber connector, wherein a lock mechanism is provided between the V-groove body and the pressing piece hinge part. 2. The lock mechanism is a two-step system, and in the first step, the gap between the upper surface of the base and the lower surface of the pressing piece is smaller than the outer diameter of the optical fiber element wire to be butted, and the optical fiber does not move in the second step. A V-groove type optical fiber connector characterized by being able to be fixed to a certain degree. 3. A V-groove type optical fiber connector, wherein the pressing piece is a transparent body, and its tip is processed into an arc shape (R shape). 4. The V having the upper surface of the base and the upper surface of the V groove flush with each other.
Groove type optical fiber connector.