Vehicle-mounted optical fiber beam expanding connector

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of optical fiber communication, and discloses a vehicle-mounted optical fiber beam expanding connector which comprises a male head part and a female head part connected with the male head in an inserted mode, and the male head part comprises a male head shell and a male head insertion core assembly arranged in an inner cavity of the male head shell in a buckled mode. The female head part comprises a female head shell and a female head insertion core assembly arranged in an inner cavity of the female head shell in a buckled mode, the female head shell and the male head shell are buckled and self-locked after being oppositely inserted in place, and a female head insertion core in the female head insertion core assembly and a male head insertion core in the male head insertion core assembly are coupled in a non-contact mode. The female head shell is sleeved with a sealing ring, and the sealing ring is in interference fit with the cavity wall of the male head shell. The high-precision optical fiber beam expanding and collimating technology is adopted, excellent optical performance is guaranteed, non-contact optical path alignment connection can be achieved, vibration impact resistance is achieved, dust prevention and water prevention are achieved, and different environment requirements can be met.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of optical fiber communication, in particular to a vehicle-mounted optical fiber beam expansion connector. Background Art

[0002] With the rapid development of the automotive industry, the complexity of vehicle systems is increasing, and the demand for high-speed, reliable, and electromagnetic interference (EMI)-insensitive communication technologies is also rising. Traditional electrical connectors have relatively low data bandwidth. With the development of intelligent networking of automobiles, the number of electrical connectors required will increase exponentially, which is a challenge to the weight and cost control of automotive wiring harnesses.

[0003] Traditional optical connectors are structures that physically contact the fiber end faces, which are not suitable for the harsh environmental requirements of high vibration and shock in automotive environments. Summary of the invention

[0004] 1. Technical issues to be resolved

[0005] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the present invention provides a vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector, which solves the problem that the traditional optical connector is a physical contact structure of the optical fiber end face and is not suitable for the harsh environmental requirements of high vibration and shock in the vehicle environment.

[0006] (II) Technical solution

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention is implemented through the following technical solutions:

[0008] A vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector comprises a male head and a female head plugged into the male head, the male head comprising a male shell and a male ferrule assembly snap-fitted into the inner cavity of the male shell, the female head comprising a female shell and a female ferrule assembly snap-fitted into the inner cavity of the female shell, the female shell and the male shell being snap-fitted into the inner cavity of the female shell, the female shell being snap-fitted into the male shell by self-locking after being inserted into place, the female ferrule in the female ferrule assembly and the male ferrule in the male ferrule assembly being contactlessly coupled; a sealing ring is sleeved on the female shell, and the sealing ring is interference fit with the cavity wall of the male shell.

[0009] Preferably, the inner cavity of the male shell is arranged with a male buckle, and after the male plug core assembly is inserted into the hole of the inner cavity of the male shell, the step on the male plug core assembly is blocked and limited by the male buckle, and a male pin is slidably arranged in the inner cavity of the male shell below the male buckle.

[0010] Preferably, the inner cavity of the female shell is arranged with a female buckle, and after the female core assembly is inserted into the hole of the inner cavity of the female shell, the step on the female core assembly is blocked and limited by the female buckle, and a female pin is slidably arranged in the inner cavity of the female shell below the female buckle.

[0011] Preferably, after the female housing is docked and installed in place in the docking groove arranged in the inner cavity of the male housing, the male plug and the female plug are respectively pressed against the male buckle and the female buckle.

[0012] Preferably, the male shell is symmetrically provided with snap grooves, and the female shell is provided with snap protrusions matching the snap grooves in meaning, the snap protrusions are trapezoidal and have rounded corners at the corners close to the female pin.

[0013] Preferably, the male ferrule assembly also includes a male ferrule fixing seat for interference fit and fixing the male plug wire, and the female ferrule assembly includes a female ferrule fixing seat for interference fit and fixing the female plug wire, and the inner cavities of the male ferrule and the female ferrule are fixedly plugged with bare optical fibers and optical fiber microlenses.

[0014] Preferably, the male ferrule and the female ferrule are both ceramic ferrules, the bare optical fiber and the optical fiber microlens are fused and then inserted into the ceramic ferrule and fixed with optical fiber special glue, and then the end face of the ceramic ferrule is ground and coated.

[0015] Preferably, a stop ring and a closed ceramic sleeve are sequentially sleeved on the female ferrule, a female metal sleeve is sleeved outside the stop ring and the closed ceramic sleeve, and the female metal sleeve is pressed into the female ferrule fixing seat.

[0016] Preferably, the optical fiber microlens includes two sections of ordinary optical fiber and a self-focusing optical fiber, the ordinary optical fiber and the self-focusing optical fiber are connected by fusion splicing, the fused ordinary optical fiber and the self-focusing optical fiber remain coaxial, and the light beam input from the bare optical fiber at one end of the optical fiber microlens is converted into parallel light beams after passing through the self-focusing optical fiber and emitted.

[0017] (III) Beneficial effects

[0018] The present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0019] The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector realizes optical fiber communication between the male head and the female head by adopting physical contact, so that each insertion loss is low, the insertion loss repeatability is good, it is not affected by the number of plugging and unplugging times, the environmental vibration intensity or frequency, and the service life is long. At the same time, the entire connector can realize rapid replacement between different optical fibers, with good repeatability and strong interchangeability; through the provided sealing ring, the sealing ring is filled between the male head shell and the female head shell. When the male head and the female head of the connector are plugged in, the sealing ring is filled between the male head shell and the female head shell to achieve a sealing effect, so that the entire connector has a high sealing level, is insensitive to dust, and is almost not affected by the cleanliness of the installation environment; the entire connector male head and female head have a simple structure and strong scalability, and can be expanded to more than 12 cores. The production process of each component is simple, and the overall operation and maintenance cost is low. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the application state structure of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure of the present invention in the AA direction;

[0022] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the split structure of the male housing and the female housing of the present invention;

[0023] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the male shell and the female shell of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the cross-sectional structure of the present invention in the BB direction;

[0025] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of the docking structure of the male ferrule assembly and the female ferrule assembly of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the optical fiber microlens structure of the present invention.

[0027] In the figure: 1. male housing; 11. male buckle; 12. male plug; 13. docking slot; 14. buckle slot; 2. male ferrule assembly; 21. male ferrule fixing seat; 22. male ferrule; 3. female housing; 31. female buckle; 32. female plug; 33. sealing ring; 34. buckle protrusion; 41. female ferrule fixing seat; 4. female ferrule assembly; 42. female ferrule; 43. female metal sleeve; 44. closed ceramic sleeve; 45. stop ring; 5. cable sealing plug; 6. bare optical fiber; 7. optical fiber microlens; 8. sheath crimping tube. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0029] See also Figure 1The present invention provides a technical solution: a vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector, comprising a male head and a female head plugged into the male head, the male head comprising a male shell 1 and a male ferrule assembly 2 snap-fitted into the inner cavity of the male shell 1, the female head comprising a female shell 3 and a female ferrule assembly 4 snap-fitted into the inner cavity of the female shell 3, the female shell 3 and the male shell 1 are snap-fitted and self-locked after being inserted into place, and the female ferrule 42 in the female ferrule assembly 4 and the male ferrule 22 in the male ferrule assembly 2 are non-contact coupled; a sealing ring 33 is sleeved on the female shell, and the sealing ring 33 is interference fit with the cavity wall of the male shell 1.

[0030] The present invention realizes the optical fiber communication between the male head and the female head by adopting the physical contact method, so that each insertion loss is low, the insertion loss repeatability is good, it is not affected by the number of plugging and unplugging times, the environmental vibration intensity or frequency, and the service life is long. At the same time, the entire connector can realize the rapid replacement of different optical fibers, with good repeatability and strong interchangeability; through the setting of the sealing ring 33, the sealing ring 33 is filled between the male head shell 1 and the female head shell 3. When the male head and the female head of the connector are plugged in, the sealing ring 33 is filled between the male head shell 1 and the female head shell 3 to achieve a sealing effect, so that the entire connector has a high sealing level, is insensitive to dust, and is almost not affected by the cleanliness of the installation environment; the entire connector male head and female head have a simple structure and strong scalability, and can be expanded to more than 12 cores. The production process of each component is simple, and the overall operation and maintenance cost is low.

[0031] In this embodiment, a male buckle 11 is arranged in the inner cavity of the male shell 1. After the male plug core assembly 2 is inserted into the hole in the inner cavity of the male shell 1, the step on the male plug core assembly 2 is blocked and limited by the male buckle 11. A male pin 12 is slidably arranged in the inner cavity of the male shell 1 below the male buckle 11.

[0032] In this embodiment, the inner cavity of the female shell 3 is arranged with a female buckle 31. After the female core assembly 4 is inserted into the hole of the inner cavity of the female shell 3, the step on the female core assembly 4 is blocked and limited by the female buckle 31. The inner cavity of the female shell is located below the female buckle 31 and a female pin 32 is slidably arranged.

[0033] Reference Figure 3-5As shown, in this embodiment, after the female housing 3 is docked and installed in place in the docking groove 13 arranged in the inner cavity of the male housing 1, the male plug 12 and the female plug 32 are respectively pressed against the male buckle 11 and the female buckle 31. The male buckle 11 and the female buckle 31 are provided, which can facilitate the initial stable limit fixation of the male plug core assembly 2 and the female plug core assembly 4. At the same time, the male plug 12 and the female plug 32 are arranged to ensure that after the female housing 3 and the male housing 1 are docked and buckled, the plug can further press against the male buckle 11 and the female buckle 31, thereby improving the stability of the buckle for the limit fixation of the plug core assembly; since the male plug 12 and the female plug 32 are installed in a sliding manner and have no other connection relationship between them, at this time, it is only necessary to cancel the buckle connection relationship between the female housing 3 and the male housing 1, so as to quickly separate the male head and the female head, so as to facilitate the rapid disassembly of different female heads, which is smoother, has good repeatability, and has strong interchangeability.

[0034] Reference Figure 3 and 4 As shown, in this embodiment, the male housing 1 is symmetrically provided with snap grooves 14, and the female housing 3 is provided with snap protrusions 34 matching the snap grooves 14, the snap protrusions 34 are trapezoidal and have rounded corners near the female plug pins 32. By providing the snap protrusions 34 and the snap grooves 14, it is possible to facilitate quick docking and installation of the female housing 3 and the male housing 1, and facilitate subsequent quick disassembly and replacement of the female head of different optical fibers.

[0035] In this embodiment, the male ferrule assembly 2 also includes a male ferrule fixing seat 21 for interference fit and fixing the male plug wire, and the female ferrule assembly includes a female ferrule fixing seat 41 for interference fit and fixing the female plug wire, and the inner cavities of the male ferrule 22 and the female ferrule 42 are fixedly plugged with bare optical fibers 6 and optical fiber microlenses 7.

[0036] In this embodiment, the male ferrule 22 and the female ferrule 42 are both ceramic ferrules. After the bare optical fiber 6 and the optical fiber microlens 7 are fused, they are inserted into the ceramic ferrules and fixed with optical fiber special glue. Then, the end surface of the ceramic ferrule is polished and coated.

[0037] Reference Figure 6As shown, in this embodiment, a stop ring 45 and a closed ceramic sleeve 44 are sleeved on the female ferrule 42 in sequence, and a female metal sleeve 43 is sleeved on the outside of the stop ring 45 and the closed ceramic sleeve 44, and the female metal sleeve 43 is pressed into the female ferrule fixing seat 41. The inner and outer holes of the ceramic ferrule have extremely high roundness and coaxiality, and the accuracy can reach the micron level. The fused bare optical fiber 6 and the optical fiber microlens 7 are inserted into the inner hole of the ceramic ferrule. Through the cooperation of the ultra-high precision and extremely small gap between the inner hole of the ceramic ferrule and the optical fiber, the coaxiality of the optical fiber and the ceramic sleeve is ensured, and the optical-mechanical coaxiality is achieved. In practical applications, an optical cable sheath is provided on the outside of the optical cable, and the sheath crimping tube 8 is fixed to the female ferrule assembly 4 and the male ferrule 22 with structural adhesive, and the optical cable sheath is crimped and fixed by the sheath crimping tube 8. One end of the male housing 1 and the female housing 3 are both provided with a cable sealing plug 5. The cable sealing plug 5 is made of rubber material, and its threading hole is smaller than the diameter of the optical cable sheath, which can play a better sealing role.

[0038] Reference Figure 7 As shown, in this embodiment, the optical fiber microlens 7 includes two sections of ordinary optical fiber and self-focusing optical fiber. The ordinary optical fiber and the self-focusing optical fiber are connected by fusion splicing. The ordinary optical fiber and the self-focusing optical fiber after fusion splicing remain coaxial. The light beam input from the bare optical fiber 6 at one end of the optical fiber microlens 7 is transformed into parallel light beams after passing through the self-focusing optical fiber and emitted. The optical fiber microlens 7 includes an ordinary optical fiber of indefinite length and a self-focusing optical fiber of a specific length L. The two optical fibers are connected by fusion splicing. The ordinary optical fiber and the self-focusing optical fiber after fusion splicing remain coaxial. The light beam propagates along a sinusoidal trajectory in the self-focusing optical fiber, and the length of a sinusoidal wave cycle is called a pitch P. The relationship between the length L of the self-focusing optical fiber in the coaxial collimator and the pitch P is L=1 / 4×M×P (where M is a positive odd number). For a self-focusing optical fiber of a specific length L, when the light beam is input from one end of the self-focusing lens optical fiber, it will be transformed into parallel light beams after passing through the self-focusing optical fiber. When a pair of optical fiber microlenses 7 are coupled, their axial coupling working distance is enlarged, and non-contact coupling of the optical fiber end faces can be achieved. As shown Figure 5 and 6 As shown, after the male and female heads of the connector are plugged into place, there is a gap between the male ferrule end faces and the female ferrule end faces, thus avoiding end face wear caused by multiple plugging and unplugging of the connector and vibration impact.

[0039] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions. The sentence "includes an element defined by ... does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element".

[0040] Although embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various changes, modifications, substitutions and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the present invention, and that the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector, comprising a male head and a female head plugged into the male head, characterized in that: The male head portion includes a male shell and a male plug core assembly which is snap-fitted into the inner cavity of the male shell; the female head portion includes a female shell and a female plug core assembly which is snap-fitted into the inner cavity of the female shell; the female shell and the male shell are snap-fitted to be self-locking after being inserted into place; the female plug core in the female plug core assembly and the male plug core in the male plug core assembly are non-contact coupled; a sealing ring is sleeved on the female shell, and the sealing ring is interference fit with the cavity wall of the male shell.

2. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 1, characterized in that: The inner cavity of the male shell is arranged with a male buckle. After the male plug core assembly is inserted into the hole of the inner cavity of the male shell, the step on the male plug core assembly is blocked and limited by the male buckle. The inner cavity of the male shell is slidably arranged with a male pin below the male buckle.

3. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 2, characterized in that: The inner cavity of the female shell is arranged with a female buckle. After the female plug core assembly is inserted into the hole of the inner cavity of the female shell, the step on the female plug core assembly is blocked and limited by the female buckle. The inner cavity of the female shell is slidably arranged with a female pin below the female buckle.

4. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 3, characterized in that: After the female housing is docked and installed in place in the docking groove arranged in the inner cavity of the male housing, the male plug and the female plug are respectively pressed against the male buckle and the female buckle.

5. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 4, characterized in that: The male housing is symmetrically provided with snap grooves, and the female housing is provided with snap protrusions matching the snap grooves in meaning. The snap protrusions are trapezoidal and have rounded corners at the edges and corners close to the female plug pin.

6. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 1, characterized in that: The male ferrule assembly also includes a male ferrule fixing seat for interference fit and fixing the male plug wire, and the female ferrule assembly includes a female ferrule fixing seat for interference fit and fixing the female plug wire. The inner cavities of the male ferrule and the female ferrule are fixedly plugged with bare optical fibers and optical fiber microlenses.

7. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 6, characterized in that: The male ferrule and the female ferrule are both ceramic ferrules. After the bare optical fiber and the optical fiber microlens are fused, they are inserted into the ceramic ferrule and fixed with optical fiber special glue. Then, the end face of the ceramic ferrule is ground and coated.

8. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 7, characterized in that: A stop ring and a closed ceramic sleeve are sleeved on the female ferrule in sequence, a female metal sleeve is sleeved on the outside of the stop ring and the closed ceramic sleeve, and the female metal sleeve is pressed into the female ferrule fixing seat.

9. The vehicle-mounted optical fiber expansion connector according to claim 8, characterized in that: The optical fiber microlens includes two sections of ordinary optical fiber and a self-focusing optical fiber. The ordinary optical fiber and the self-focusing optical fiber are connected by fusion splicing. The fused ordinary optical fiber and the self-focusing optical fiber remain coaxial. The light beam input by the bare optical fiber at one end of the optical fiber microlens is converted into parallel light beams after passing through the self-focusing optical fiber and then emitted.

Images