FERRULE FOR OPTICAL TRANSPORTS

• US 20120014648A1
• Filed: 07/15/2010
• Published: 01/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TE Connectivity Corporation (TE Connectivity Limited)
• Original Assignee: Tyco Electronics Corporation (TE Connectivity Limited)
• Inventors: Duis, Jeroen Antonius Maria, Rietveld, Jan Willem, Vos, Joseph Gerardus Maria, Buijs, Marcellus Petrus Josephus, Gerardus Bolhaar, Ton Antonius Bernardus, Buchter, Shelly A., Rohde, Douglas Harold
• Granted Patent: US 8,529,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 385/52
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3636 the mechanical coupling means being grooves G02B6/3652 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3652 the additional structures being prepositioning mounting areas, allowing only movement in one dimension, e.g. grooves, trenches or vias in the microbench surface, i.e. self aligning supporting carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3676 Stacked arrangement
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3826 characterised by form or shape
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3833 Details of mounting fibres in ferrules; Assembly methods; Manufacture
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3839 for a plurality of light guides
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3861 Adhesive bonding adhesives in general C09J
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/3885 Multicore or multichannel optical connectors, i.e. one single ferrule containing more than one fibre, e.g. ribbon type optical ribbon cable G02B6/4403, G02B6/448

Abstract

The invention pertains to a ferrule for aligning optical transports within an optical connector for coupling to a mating optical connector for purposes of aligning the optical transports in the first connector with optical transports in the mating connector. The ferrule comprises a main body portion defining a longitudinal cavity running between a front face and the rear face of the main ferrule body. The cavity has an opening to a lateral side of the ferrule main body that permits the installation of optical transports into the cavity from a lateral direction (as well as still permitting longitudinal installation, if desired). A cover may be provided for closing off the lateral opening after the optical transports are installed in the cavity.

Claims

1. A ferrule for optical transports comprising a main body including a front face, a rear face, and at least one lateral face extending between the front face and the rear face, a longitudinal cavity extending from the front face to the rear face, the longitudinal cavity having a lateral opening to the at least one lateral face.

2. The ferrule of claim 1 further comprising a cover adapted to close off the lateral opening.

3. The ferrule of claim 2 wherein the cover includes a laterally directed through bore for introducing adhesive into the cavity therethrough.

4. The ferrule of claim 3 wherein the cover has a front longitudinal end and a rear longitudinal end is dimensioned relative to the ferrule main body and optical transports within the cavity of the ferrule main body to provide a gap between the cover and the optical transports for receiving adhesive for adhering the cover to the optical transports, and wherein the cover further includes a lip at a front longitudinal end thereof closing off the gap to a front longitudinal end of the ferrule.

5. The ferrule of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of optical transports disposed in the cavity extending longitudinally between the front face and the rear face.

6. The ferrule of claim 5 wherein the cover is adhered to at least one of the optical transports.

7. The ferrule of claim 2 wherein the cavity further comprises a pair of shoulders on which the cover rests.

8. The ferrule of claim 7 wherein the cavity further comprises a pair of inwardly angled, parallel, longitudinal side walls disposed above the shoulders and the cover further comprises a pair of matingly inwardly angled, parallel, longitudinal side walls adapted to engage the side walls of the ferrule main body so that, when the longitudinal side walls of the ferrule main body engage the longitudinal side walls of the cover, the cover cannot move laterally relative to the ferrule main body.

9. The ferrule of claim 7 wherein the cover comprises a pair of parallel, angled, longitudinal side walls and the cavity of the ferrule main body comprises a pair of angled, longitudinal side walls disposed to engage the side walls of the cover to form a dovetail type longitudinally slidable engagement between the cover and the ferrule main body.

10. The ferrule of claim 8 wherein the cover further includes a through hole that provides access into the cavity from without the ferrule through which hole adhesive may be introduced into the cavity after the cover has been installed on the ferrule main body.

11. The ferrule of claim 2 wherein the cover comprises a main cover portion having a front face and a rear end and wherein the main cover portion fills the lateral opening of the cavity of the ferrule main body, the cover further comprising at least one flange extending rearwardly from the rear end of the main cover portion and laterally outwardly of the cavity so that the at least one flange cannot pass into the cavity, whereby the cover may be slid forwardly in the cavity until the point where the flange engages the rear end of the ferrule main body.

12. The ferrule of claim 11 wherein the front face of the cover is a predetermined longitudinal distance from the flange so that the front face of the cover will be flush with the front face of the ferrule main body when the flange engages the rear face of the ferrule main body.

13. The ferrule of claim 1 wherein the at least one lateral face comprises four lateral faces, and wherein the lateral opening is in one of the four lateral faces.

14. A method of assembling a plurality of optical transports within a ferrule comprising:

providing a ferrule main body having a front face, a rear face, at least one lateral side face extending between the front face and the rear face, a longitudinal cavity running from the front face to the rear face for receiving a plurality of optical transports, the longitudinal cavity having a lateral side opening through the at least one lateral face, and a lateral alignment feature on the front face of the ferrule; and

inserting through the lateral opening a plurality of optical transports longitudinally through the cavity in the ferrule.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

adhering a cover in the lateral opening of the ferrule main body.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the cover includes a laterally directed through bore for introducing adhesive into the cavity therethrough and wherein the adhering comprises introducing adhesive into the cavity through the through bore.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the adhering further comprises longitudinally sliding the cover into engagement with a locking groove in the ferrule main body prior to introducing adhesive through the through hole.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the adhering comprises inserting the cover into the cavity in a lateral direction.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the adhering further comprises introducing adhesive into the cavity before inserting the cover and wherein inserting the cover comprises placing the cover into contact with the adhesive in the cavity.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the cover includes wherein the cover comprises a main cover portion having a front face and a rear end, the main cover portion filling the lateral opening of the cavity of the ferrule main body, the cover further comprising at least one flange extending rearwardly from the rear end of the main cover portion and laterally outwardly of the cavity so that the at least one flange cannot pass into the cavity, whereby the cover may be slid forwardly in the cavity until the point where the flange engages the rear end of the ferrule main body and wherein the adhering comprises sliding the cover longitudinally forwardly into the cavity until the flange engages the rear face of the ferrule main body.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the cover further comprises a laterally directed through bore for introducing adhesive into the cavity therethrough and wherein the adhering comprises introducing adhesive into the cavity through the through bore after the sliding.