Novel optical fiber coupler

Abstract

The invention discloses a novel optical fiber coupler which comprises a box body, and a rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc is fixedly connected to the interior of the box body. A rotating assembly is arranged on one side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc; the rotating assembly comprises a rotating side optical fiber connecting plate, the middle of the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate is fixedly connected with a hollow shaft, and one end, close to the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate, of the hollow shaft is in threaded connection with a shaft fixing nut. The end, away from the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate, of the hollow shaft penetrates through the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc and extends to the outer side of the other side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc. According to the novel optical fiber coupler provided by the invention, the prism type optical fiber slip ring is adopted to replace a traditional optical fiber coupler, so that the novel optical fiber coupler is particularly suitable for being applied to places where unlimited continuous rotation and intermittent rotation are needed, and meanwhile, large-capacity data and signals need to be transmitted from a fixed position to rotation; and the overall structure is simple and compact, and cost is low.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of optical fiber couplers, and in particular to a novel optical fiber coupler. Background Art

[0002] Fiber optic coupler, also known as fiber optic adapter, fiber optic flange, splitter, connector, is a component used to realize optical signal splitting / combining, or to extend optical fiber link, and belongs to the field of optical passive components.

[0003] The function of the fiber optic slip ring is to transmit optical signals between the rotating structure and the static structure, thereby maintaining the continuity and reliability of optical communication while continuously rotating. It can transmit optical signals, current and data signals between the rotating part and the fixed part.

[0004] Traditional fiber couplers transmit optical signals by rotating an optical fiber back and forth in a closed space, or by winding the optical fiber back and forth between two reels. However, this method has the following technical problems:

[0005] 1. The optical fiber has a travel limit and cannot rotate infinitely. Each time a spare part is replaced, the truck must be driven to the reversal point and reset.

[0006] 2. Optical fiber has a limited lifespan, usually no more than two years. Spare parts need to be replaced frequently and are expensive, which invisibly increases the cost burden on the user unit.

[0007] 3. Affected by the ambient temperature, the physical ductility of the optical fiber rubber outer sheath will change greatly at 40 degrees above zero and 20 degrees below zero. It cannot meet the design requirements and will cause optical fiber damage.

[0008] To this end, the present application proposes a novel optical fiber coupler to provide a new technical solution to solve the technical problems mentioned above. Summary of the invention

[0009] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a new type of fiber optic coupler to address the above technical problems. By adopting a prism type fiber optic slip ring to replace the traditional fiber optic coupler, it is particularly suitable for applications that require unlimited continuous rotation and intermittent rotation, and at the same time, there is a need to transmit large-capacity data and signals from a fixed position to the rotation; and the overall structure is simple and compact, the cost is low, and it can be improved on the basis of the traditional fiber optic coupler without adding additional costs and host downtime.

[0010] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

[0011] The invention discloses a novel optical fiber coupler, which is used for optical signal splitting / combining.

[0012] The novel optical fiber coupler specifically comprises: a box body, wherein a rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc is fixedly connected inside the box body;

[0013] A rotating assembly is provided on one side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc; the rotating assembly includes a rotating side optical fiber connecting plate, a hollow shaft is fixedly connected to the middle part of the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate, an end of the hollow shaft close to the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate is threadedly connected to a shaft fixing nut, and an end of the hollow shaft away from the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate passes through the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc and extends to the outside of the other side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc; a rotation limiting assembly is also provided on the side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc for limiting the rotation of the rotating assembly;

[0014] A fixing component is provided on the other side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc, and the fixing component includes a smooth ring stator, one end of the smooth ring stator is rotatably connected to a smooth ring rotor, and the smooth ring rotor is fixedly connected to a hollow shaft, and a smooth ring stainless steel protective cover is fixedly connected to the outer side of the smooth ring stator, and a smooth ring and protective shell bracket are provided below the smooth ring stainless steel protective cover, and the smooth ring stainless steel protective cover is fixedly connected to the smooth ring and protective shell bracket, and one end of the smooth ring and protective shell bracket is fixedly connected to the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc, and a fixed side optical fiber connecting plate is fixedly connected to the inside of the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate and at a position located at one end of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc;

[0015] An optical fiber slip ring is arranged between the rotating assembly and the fixed assembly, one end of the optical fiber slip ring is located inside the smooth ring stator, and the other end of the optical fiber slip ring is located inside the smooth ring rotor.

[0016] As a preferred embodiment of the novel optical fiber coupler provided by the present invention, optical fiber connectors are provided on both the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate and the fixed side optical fiber connecting plate, and there are multiple optical fiber connectors on the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate and the fixed side optical fiber connecting plate.

[0017] As a preferred embodiment of the new optical fiber coupler provided by the present invention, the rotation limit assembly includes a satellite gear, a center gear, and a rotation limit switch mounting hole. The rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc is fixedly connected to a gear mounting plate on one side close to the smooth ring stainless steel protective cover shell. Satellite gears and center gears are respectively arranged between the gear mounting plate and the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc. The center gear is sleeved on the outside of the hollow shaft, and the center gear is fixedly connected to the hollow shaft. The satellite gear is located at one side of the center gear, and the satellite gear is meshed with the center gear. A rotation limit switch mounting hole is opened at the end of the gear mounting plate away from the center gear, and the rotation limit switch mounting hole is used to install a rotation limit switch.

[0018] As a preferred embodiment of the novel optical fiber coupler provided by the present invention, the hollow shaft and the satellite gear are rotatably connected to the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disk and the gear mounting plate respectively through gear fixing bearings.

[0019] As a preferred implementation of the novel optical fiber coupler provided by the present invention, the optical fiber slip ring is a prism optical fiber slip ring.

[0020] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0021] The novel optical fiber coupler provided by the present invention adopts a prism-type optical fiber slip ring to replace the traditional optical fiber coupler, and is therefore particularly suitable for use in places where unlimited continuous rotation and intermittent rotation are required, and where large-capacity data and signals need to be transmitted from a fixed position to the end of rotation; and the overall structure is simple and compact, the cost is low, and it can be improved on the basis of the traditional optical fiber coupler without adding additional costs and host downtime. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] In order to more clearly illustrate the scheme of the present invention, a brief introduction is given below to the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0023] Figure 1 A top view of the overall structure of the novel optical fiber coupler provided by the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 A side view of the overall structure of the novel optical fiber coupler provided by the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 A top view of the structure of a novel optical fiber coupler rotation limiting assembly provided by the present invention;

[0026] Figure 4 The schematic diagram of the novel optical fiber coupler optical fiber slip ring assembly provided by the present invention.

[0027] The markings in the figure are as follows:

[0028] 1. Optical fiber connection plate on the rotating side; 2. Optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc on the rotating side; 3. Hollow shaft; 4. Shaft fixing nut; 5. Gear fixing bearing; 6. Satellite gear; 7. Center gear; 8. Rotation limit switch mounting hole; 9. Smooth ring and protective shell bracket; 10. Smooth ring stator; 11. Smooth ring stainless steel protective cover; 12. Smooth ring rotor; 13. Fixed side optical fiber connection plate; 14. Gear mounting plate. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the scheme of the present invention, the technical scheme in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings 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 should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0030] Embodiment 1:

[0031] Please refer to Figure 1 - Figure 4 , a novel optical fiber coupler, comprising: a box body, a rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2 is fixedly connected inside the box body;

[0032] A rotating assembly is provided on one side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2; the rotating assembly includes a rotating side optical fiber connecting plate 1, a hollow shaft 3 is fixedly connected to the middle of the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate 1, an end of the hollow shaft 3 close to the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate 1 is threadedly connected to a shaft fixing nut 4, and an end of the hollow shaft 3 away from the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate 1 passes through the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2 and extends to the outside of the other side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2; a rotation limiting assembly is also provided on the side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2 for limiting the rotation of the rotating assembly;

[0033] A fixing component is arranged on the other side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2, and the fixing component includes a smooth ring stator 10, one end of the smooth ring stator 10 is rotatably connected with a smooth ring rotor 12, the smooth ring rotor 12 is fixedly connected to the hollow shaft 3, and the outer side of the smooth ring stator 10 is fixedly connected with a smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell 11, and the smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell 11 can effectively improve the protection effect of the smooth ring stator 10, and a smooth ring and protection cover bracket 9 is arranged below the smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell 11, and the smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell 11 and the smooth ring and protection cover bracket 9 are connected. The protective shell bracket 9 is fixedly connected, so that the installation of the smooth ring stator 10 and the smooth ring stainless steel protective cover shell 11 is relatively convenient. One end of the smooth ring and protective shell bracket 9 is fixedly connected to the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixed protection disc 2. The fixed side optical fiber connection plate 13 is fixedly connected inside the rotating side optical fiber connection plate 1 and at a position located at one end of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixed protection disc 2; wherein, both the rotating side optical fiber connection plate 1 and the fixed side optical fiber connection plate 13 are provided with optical fiber connectors, and the number of optical fiber connectors on the rotating side optical fiber connection plate 1 and the fixed side optical fiber connection plate 13 is multiple. It can be known that the connection of multiple optical fibers is achieved by the optical fiber connector of the rotating side optical fiber connection plate 1 cooperates with one end of the optical fiber slip ring inside the smooth ring rotor 12 and the optical fiber connector on the fixed side optical fiber connection plate 13 cooperates with the other end of the optical fiber slip ring inside the smooth ring stator 10.

[0034] Furthermore, in order to realize the connection of the optical fiber, a fiber slip ring is arranged between the rotating component and the fixed component, one end of the fiber slip ring is located inside the smooth ring stator 10, and the other end of the fiber slip ring is located inside the smooth ring rotor 12. Among them, the fiber slip ring is a prism-type fiber slip ring. In this embodiment, the fiber slip ring is an MFO2400C series fiber slip ring, and its working principle is to include multiple signal light waves collimated by a lens, and then separate the light through a prism, and the separated light waves are focused by another lens and coupled into the corresponding optical fiber for propagation. The prism is an angular dispersion element component, and its refractive index n varies with the wavelength. In addition, the width of the prism surface should be appropriately increased and the diameter of the collimating lens should be reduced as much as possible to obtain an optical transmission multiplexer with the best performance.

[0035] It can be seen that by using a prism-type fiber optic slip ring to replace the traditional fiber optic coupler, it is particularly suitable for applications that require unlimited continuous rotation and intermittent rotation, and at the same time, there is a need to transmit large-capacity data and signals from a fixed position to the rotation.

[0036] On the basis of the original equipment, a prismatic optical fiber slip ring is used as the core component, and is protected by an internal rotation limit assembly and an external smooth ring stainless steel protective cover 11 to replace the original old optical fiber coupler. The transmission mechanism dimensions and interface dimensions of the optical fiber slip ring are guaranteed to be consistent with the original optical fiber coupler, without changing the slip ring box, without relieving the bracket, and without adding additional costs and host downtime.

[0037] Moreover, the traditional reel design is to add optical fiber inside the power cable, and there is no light inside the control cable. The power cable is expensive, and the cable replacement process is cumbersome, requiring professional high-voltage qualified personnel to install. Therefore, replacing the power cable becomes a heavy economic burden for users.

[0038] The original control cable can be changed into control cable plus optical fiber, the slip ring box of the control reel can be changed into a slip ring box of control slip ring plus optical fiber, optical fiber transmission, and prism type smooth ring can be used. The cost of control cable is relatively cheap, which is acceptable to most users and reduces the economic burden of users.

[0039] Embodiment 2:

[0040] The novel optical fiber coupler provided in Example 1 is further optimized, specifically, as follows: Figure 1-Figure 3 The shown rotation limit assembly includes a satellite gear 6, a center gear 7, and a rotation limit switch mounting hole 8. A gear mounting plate 14 is fixedly connected to one side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2 close to the smooth ring stainless steel protective cover shell 11. Satellite gears 6 and center gears 7 are respectively arranged between the gear mounting plate 14 and the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2. The center gear 7 is sleeved on the outside of the hollow shaft 3, and the center gear 7 is fixedly connected to the hollow shaft 3. The satellite gear 6 is located at one side of the center gear 7, and the satellite gear 6 is meshed with the center gear 7. A rotation limit switch mounting hole 8 is opened at the end of the gear mounting plate 14 away from the center gear 7, and the rotation limit switch mounting hole 8 is used to install the rotation limit switch.

[0041] In order to ensure the rotation of the satellite gear 6 and the hollow shaft 3, the hollow shaft 3 and the satellite gear 6 are rotatably connected to the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc 2 and the gear mounting plate 14 through the gear fixing bearing 5 respectively.

[0042] Through the above-mentioned structural design, when the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate 1 rotates, the center gear 7 is driven to rotate synchronously through the hollow shaft 3, and the satellite gear 6 is meshed with the center gear 7, so that the satellite gear 6 follows the rotation, and the rotation limit switch is installed at the position of the rotation limit switch mounting hole 8, so that the number of rotations of the rotating smooth ring can be confirmed through the cooperation between the center gear 7 and the limit switch.

Claims

1. A novel optical fiber coupler, characterized in that: include: A box body, wherein a rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2) is fixedly connected inside the box body; A rotating assembly is arranged on one side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2); the rotating assembly comprises a rotating side optical fiber connecting plate (1); a hollow shaft (3) is fixedly connected to the middle of the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate (1); an end of the hollow shaft (3) close to the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate (1) is threadedly connected to a shaft fixing nut (4); an end of the hollow shaft (3) away from the rotating side optical fiber connecting plate (1) passes through the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2) and extends to the outside of the other side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2); a rotation limiting assembly is also arranged on the side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2) for limiting the rotation of the rotating assembly; A fixing assembly is provided on the other side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2), and the fixing assembly comprises a smooth ring stator (10), one end of the smooth ring stator (10) is rotatably connected to a smooth ring rotor (12), the smooth ring rotor (12) is fixedly connected to the hollow shaft (3), the outer side of the smooth ring stator (10) is fixedly connected to a smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell (11), a smooth ring and protection shell bracket (9) is provided below the smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell (11), the smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell (11) is fixedly connected to the smooth ring and protection shell bracket (9), one end of the smooth ring and protection shell bracket (9) is fixedly connected to the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2), and a fixed side optical fiber connection plate (13) is fixedly connected inside the rotating side optical fiber connection plate (1) and at a position located at one end of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2); An optical fiber slip ring is arranged between the rotating assembly and the fixed assembly, one end of the optical fiber slip ring is located inside the smooth ring stator (10), and the other end of the optical fiber slip ring is located inside the smooth ring rotor (12).

2. The novel optical fiber coupler according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The rotating side optical fiber connection plate (1) and the fixed side optical fiber connection plate (13) are both provided with optical fiber connectors, and the number of optical fiber connectors on the rotating side optical fiber connection plate (1) and the fixed side optical fiber connection plate (13) is multiple.

3. The novel optical fiber coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that: The rotation limit assembly comprises a satellite gear (6), a center gear (7), and a rotation limit switch mounting hole (8); a gear mounting plate (14) is fixedly connected to a side of the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2) close to the smooth ring stainless steel protection cover shell (11); a satellite gear (6) and a center gear (7) are respectively arranged between the gear mounting plate (14) and the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2); the center gear (7) is sleeved on the outside of the hollow shaft (3); the center gear (7) is fixedly connected to the hollow shaft (3); the satellite gear (6) is located at a position on one side of the center gear (7); the satellite gear (6) is meshed with the center gear (7); a rotation limit switch mounting hole (8) is opened at one end of the gear mounting plate (14) away from the center gear (7); the rotation limit switch mounting hole (8) is used to install a rotation limit switch.

4. The novel optical fiber coupler according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The hollow shaft (3) and the satellite gear (6) are rotatably connected to the rotating side optical fiber pigtail fixing protection disc (2) and the gear mounting plate (14) respectively through the gear fixing bearing (5).

5. The novel optical fiber coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that: The optical fiber slip ring is a prism optical fiber slip ring.

Images