Optical fiber coupler
Optical signal distribution is achieved through fiber optic couplers, which solves the problem of inconvenient fiber optic splicing in optical communication connections and improves the ease of use of optical splitters.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202423282898.4
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Utility models(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-12-30
- Publication Date
- 2025-11-25
- Estimated Expiration
- 2034-12-30
AI Technical Summary
In optical communication connections, fiber optic cables need to be spliced on-site when using optical splitters, which is inconvenient.
An optical fiber coupler is provided that enables optical signal distribution by coupling an optical fiber to a waveguide chip, thus avoiding on-site fusion splicing.
It simplifies the installation and use of fiber optic couplers and improves the convenience of optical splitters.
Smart Images
Figure CN223597950U_ABST
Abstract
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of optical communication connection, in particular to an optical fiber coupler. BACKGROUND
[0002] In the current optical communication connection, when a splitter is used, the optical fiber line connected with the waveguide chip in the splitter and the optical fiber line in the light-in connector need to be fused together by a fusion machine.
[0003] In the above use process, the user needs to purchase a fusion machine and perform on-site fusion to use the splitter, and the use process is very inconvenient.
[0004] Therefore, how to improve the convenience of the use of the splitter has become a technical problem to be solved. CONTENT OF THE UTILITY MODEL
[0005] In view of the above problems, the embodiments of the present application provide an optical fiber coupler for improving the convenience of the use of the splitter.
[0006] According to an aspect of the embodiments of the present application, an optical fiber coupler is provided, which comprises: a splitting assembly, the splitting assembly comprising a first shell, an input end of the first shell being connected with an input end cap, and a waveguide chip being fixed in the first shell; a first connector, the first connector comprising a second shell, a first optical fiber being arranged in the second shell; the input end of the first shell being fixed to an output end of the second shell; one end of the first optical fiber extending to the inside of the first shell and being coupled with the waveguide chip through the output end of the second shell and the input end cap.
[0007] Preferably, the output end of the second shell has an opening, and the input end of the first shell is connected to the opening to form an interference fit with the second shell.
[0008] Preferably, the optical fiber coupler further comprises a light-in optical fiber fixing block, the light-in optical fiber fixing block being fixed inside the first shell and arranged between the waveguide chip and the input end cap, and being used for fixing the first optical fiber.
[0009] Preferably, the output end of the first shell is connected with an output end cap; the optical fiber coupler further comprises a plurality of second connectors, each of the second connectors comprising a third shell, a second optical fiber being arranged in the third shell; one end of each of the plurality of second optical fibers extending to the inside of the first shell and being coupled with the waveguide chip through the input end of the third shell and the output end cap; and the waveguide chip being used for distributing the optical signal of the first optical fiber to the plurality of second optical fibers.
[0010] Preferably, the optical fiber coupler further comprises a light-out optical fiber fixing block, the light-out optical fiber fixing block being fixed inside the first shell and arranged between the waveguide chip and the output end cap, and being used for fixing the plurality of second optical fibers.
[0011] Preferably, the first connector is an FC / LC / SC / ST fiber optic quick connector.
[0012] Preferably, the first shell is provided with a male buckle, and the second shell is provided with a female buckle matched with the male buckle.
[0013] Preferably, the input end cap is in the shape of a cone.
[0014] Preferably, the fiber coupler further comprises two second connectors, or four second connectors, or eight second connectors.
[0015] Preferably, the first connector is used to access the optical signal of an external medical device, or the optical signal of an external server, or the optical signal of an external optical distribution network.
[0016] The fiber coupler provided by the embodiment of the present application can directly access the line of the external incident optical fiber by connecting the first connector of the fiber coupler when the user needs to distribute the incident optical signal into multiple outgoing optical signals, and then the waveguide chip can be used to distribute the optical signal from the incident optical fiber to multiple outgoing optical fibers, thereby avoiding the need for on-site fusion during the use of the optical splitter and the first connector, and making the installation and use of the entire fiber coupler more convenient.
[0017] The above description is only a summary of the technical solutions of the present application, in order to more clearly understand the technical means of the present application, which can be implemented according to the content of the specification, and in order to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, the following specific embodiments of the present application are described. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0018] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a description of the preferred embodiments, and are not meant to limit the present application. Moreover, the same reference numerals are used throughout the several drawings to designate the same or similar parts. In the drawings:
[0019] Fig. 1 A perspective view of the fiber coupler provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown;
[0020] Fig. 2 Another perspective view of the fiber coupler provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown;
[0021] Fig. 3 An internal structure diagram of the light splitting assembly provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown.
[0022] The reference numerals in the detailed description of the embodiments are as follows:
[0023] 1. An optical fiber coupler;
[0024] 10. A light splitting assembly; 11. A first housing; 111. An input end cap; 112. An output end cap; 12. An input fiber fixing block; 13. A waveguide chip; 14. An output fiber fixing block;
[0025] 20. A first connector; 21. A second housing; 22. A first optical fiber;
[0026] 30. A second connector; 31. A third housing; 32. A second optical fiber;
[0027] 41. A male buckle; 42. A female buckle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0028] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the technical scheme of the present application, and therefore only serve as examples, but cannot be used to limit the protection scope of the present application.
[0029] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs; the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present application; the terms "include" and "comprise" and variations thereof, as used in the specification and in the claims and the aforementioned summary, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion.
[0030] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the technical terms "first", "second", etc. are only used to distinguish different objects, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number, specific order or primary and secondary relationship of the indicated technical features. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more, unless otherwise explicitly and specifically limited.
[0031] Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearance of the phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment, nor is it necessarily independent or alternative embodiments to each other. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.
[0032] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "and / or" is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which means that there are three cases of A, A and B, and B. In addition, the character " / " in this paper generally represents a "or" relationship between the front and rear associated objects.
[0033] In the description of the embodiments of this application, the term "multiple" refers to two or more (including two), similarly, "multiple sets" refers to two or more (including two sets), and "multiple pieces" refers to two or more (including two pieces).
[0034] In the description of the embodiments of this application, the technical terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," "clockwise," "counterclockwise," "axial," "radial," and "circumferential" indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of this application and simplifying the description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on the embodiments of this application.
[0035] In the description of the embodiments of this application, unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, technical terms such as "installation," "connection," "joining," and "fixing" should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral part; they can refer to a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; they can refer to the internal communication of two components or the interaction between two components. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the embodiments of this application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.
[0036] The fiber optic coupler provided in this application embodiment is suitable for splitting optical signals in fields such as fiber optic access networks (FTTx), fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), optical distribution systems (ODN), data centers, fiber optic monitoring, fiber optic sensing and imaging systems.
[0037] This application provides an embodiment of an optical fiber coupler, such as... Figs. 1-3 As shown, the fiber optic coupler 1 includes: a beam splitter 10, which includes a first housing 11, an input cap 111 connected to the input end of the first housing 11, and a waveguide chip 13 fixed inside the first housing 11; a first connector 20, which includes a second housing 21, and a first optical fiber 22 disposed inside the second housing 21; the input end of the first housing 11 is fixed to the output end of the second housing 21; one end of the first optical fiber 22 passes through the output end and the input cap 111 of the second housing 21 in sequence, and extends into the first housing 11 to couple with the waveguide chip 13.
[0038] Preferably, the output end of the first housing 11 is connected with an output end cap 112; the optical fiber coupler 1 further comprises a plurality of second connectors 30, the second connector 30 comprising a third housing 31, the third housing 31 being provided with a second optical fiber 32; one end of the plurality of second optical fibers 32 extends to the inside of the first housing 11 and is coupled with the waveguide chip 13 through the input end and the output end cap 112 of the third housing 31 in sequence; the waveguide chip 13 is used to distribute the optical signal of the first optical fiber 22 to the plurality of second optical fibers 32.
[0039] In the field of optical fiber communication, the waveguide chip 13 is a key device for realizing optical signal distribution. It can divide a beam of optical signal into two or more beams with the same or different power outputs. The working principle of the waveguide chip 13 is mainly based on the total reflection and refraction principle of light in the optical fiber.
[0040] In the use of the waveguide chip 13, firstly, to realize the input of optical signal, a beam of optical signal is transmitted into the optical splitter assembly 10 through the first connector 20, the first connector 20 having the function of quickly connecting and disconnecting the optical fiber, which ensures the stable transmission of the optical signal; secondly, the splitting function is realized by the waveguide chip 13, after the optical signal enters the optical splitter assembly 10, the splitting is realized by the structure inside the optical splitter assembly 10 (such as the waveguide chip 13, the optical fiber array or the optical grating), specifically, the optical signal enters the main port of the optical splitter assembly 10 through the input end cap 111, in the optical splitter assembly 10, the optical signal is divided into multiple directions under the action of the optical fiber array or the optical grating, each direction corresponding to a sub-output port, the output end cap 112 is connected with a plurality of sub-output ports, the optical splitter assembly 10 distributes the optical signal to each sub-output port according to the preset ratio, for example, a 1x2 optical splitter assembly 10 can divide the optical signal into two beams with a power ratio of 50:50, while a 1x4 optical splitter assembly 10 can divide the optical signal into four beams with a power ratio of 25:25:25:25 or other ratios, and it can also divide the optical signal into eight beams, the specific number of splitting can be identified by the number of the second connectors 30.
[0041] For the output of the optical signal, the optical signal distributed by the optical splitter assembly 10 is transmitted to the next stage device through the output end cap 112 and the second connector 30 of each output port, and these devices can be other optical splitter assemblies 10, optical receivers, optical amplifiers, etc. in the optical fiber network.
[0042] Among them, the first connector 20 can be an optical fiber quick connection connector such as FC (Ferrule Connector), LC (Lucent Connector), SC (Subscriber Connector) or ST (Straight Tip).
[0043] Take the FC fiber optic quick connector as an example to explain the specific structure of the first connector 20, the structure of the second connector 30 can be set with reference to the first connector 20, and the structure of the second connector 30 will not be explained separately. The FC fiber optic quick connector is usually composed of the following parts: the ferrule is usually made of ceramic or metal, which is used to accurately align and fix the fiber end face; the optical fiber is fixed in the ferrule, and the end face needs to be precisely ground to ensure good docking with the ferrule of the other end; the main body is usually made of metal or plastic, which is used to protect the ferrule and provide mechanical strength for the connection; the nut is used to mate and fix the two connectors together.
[0044] The docking process of the FC fiber optic quick connector includes: checking the fiber end face to ensure that the fiber end face is clean, undamaged, and has been ground according to the standard; the operator inserts the ferrule of one FC fiber optic quick connector into the female part of the other connector to ensure effective docking of the fiber end face; the nut of the connector is tightened so that the two ferrules are tightly docked. The tightening force of the nut is transmitted to the ferrule through the connector main body, so that the fiber end faces form a tight physical contact; on the basis of mechanical docking, the tight contact between the fiber end faces realizes low-loss optical docking to achieve "fiber docking" or "fiber coupling".
[0045] That is, the optical fiber coupler 1 provided by the embodiment of the application can complete the input and output of light through the first connector 20 in which the first optical fiber 22 is located and the second connector 30 in which the second optical fiber 32 is located, and based on the above-mentioned docking process of the FC fiber optic quick connector; the optical fiber coupler 1 provided by the embodiment of the application can realize light splitting of the optical signal through the waveguide chip 13 connected with the first optical fiber 22.
[0046] Before use, the first optical fiber 22 and the waveguide chip 13 are coupled, and when the specific connection of the light splitting assembly 10 and the first connector 20 is performed, the input end of the first housing 11 is connected to the opening of the output end of the second housing 21, so that the first housing 11 and the second housing 21 form an interference fit, so as to close the opening through the interference fit of the first housing 11 and the second housing 21, thereby protecting the internal structure of the light splitting assembly 10 and the first connector 20; further, the input end cap 111 and the end face of the FC fiber optic quick connector can be bonded.
[0047] Preferably, the fiber coupler 1 further comprises an in-coupling fiber fixing block 12 fixed inside the first shell 11 and arranged between the waveguide chip 13 and the input end cap 111, for fixing the first optical fiber 22, so as to fix the splitting assembly 10 and the first connector 20 through interference fit of the first shell 11 and the second shell 21, and to further strengthen the stability of the connection between the splitting assembly 10 and the first connector 20 by fixing the first optical fiber 22 to the in-coupling fiber fixing block 12.
[0048] Preferably, the fiber coupler 1 further comprises an out-coupling fiber fixing block 14 fixed inside the first shell 11 and arranged between the waveguide chip 13 and the output end cap 112, for fixing the plurality of second optical fibers 32, so as to strengthen the stability of the connection between the splitting assembly 10 and the second connector 30 by fixing the second optical fibers 32 to the out-coupling fiber fixing block 14.
[0049] Preferably, the first shell 11 is provided with a male buckle 41, and the second shell 21 is provided with a female buckle 42 matched with the male buckle 41, so as to strengthen the stability of the connection between the splitting assembly 10 and the first connector 20.
[0050] Preferably, the input end cap 111 is in the shape of a cone, so as to simplify the butt joint between the splitting assembly 10 and the first connector 20.
[0051] The fiber coupler 1 provided by the embodiment can be directly connected to the line of the external in-coupling optical fiber when the user needs to distribute the incident light signal into a plurality of outgoing light signals, and then the distribution of the light signal from the in-coupling optical fiber to the plurality of out-coupling optical fibers can be realized through the waveguide chip 13, so that the on-site fusion during the use of the splitter and the first connector 20 is avoided, and the installation and use of the entire fiber coupler 1 are relatively simple.
[0052] It should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the technical solutions recorded in the foregoing embodiments can be modified, or some or all of the technical features can be replaced equivalently. Such modifications or replacements do not change the essence of the corresponding technical solutions, which should be covered in the scope of the present application. In particular, the technical features mentioned in each embodiment can be combined in any manner as long as there is no structural conflict. The present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, but includes all technical solutions falling within the scope of the claims.
Claims
1. An optical fiber coupler, the optical fiber coupler comprising: The beam splitting component includes a first housing, an input cap connected to the input end of the first housing, and a waveguide chip fixed inside the first housing. A first connector, the first connector including a second housing, the second housing having a first optical fiber disposed therein; Its features are, The input end of the first housing is fixed to the output end of the second housing; One end of the first optical fiber passes sequentially through the output end and the input end cap of the second housing, and extends into the interior of the first housing to couple with the waveguide chip.
2. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that, The output end of the second housing has an opening, and the input end of the first housing is connected to the opening, forming an interference fit with the second housing.
3. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 2, characterized in that, The fiber optic coupler also includes an input fiber fixing block, which is fixed inside the first housing and located between the waveguide chip and the input cap, for fixing the first fiber.
4. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that, The output end of the first housing is connected to an output end cap; The fiber optic coupler also includes a plurality of second connectors, each of which includes a third housing, and the third housing contains a second optical fiber. One end of each of the multiple second optical fibers passes sequentially through the input end and the output end cap of the third housing, and extends into the interior of the first housing to couple with the waveguide chip; The waveguide chip is used to distribute the optical signal from the first optical fiber to the plurality of second optical fibers.
5. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 4, characterized in that, The fiber coupler also includes an output fiber fixing block, which is fixed inside the first housing and located between the waveguide chip and the output cap, for fixing the plurality of second fibers.
6. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first connector is an FC / LC / SC / ST fiber optic quick-connect connector.
7. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first outer shell is provided with a male buckle, and the second outer shell is provided with a female buckle that mates with the male buckle.
8. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that, The input cap is cone-shaped.
9. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 4, characterized in that, The fiber optic coupler also includes two second connectors, or four second connectors, or eight second connectors.
10. The fiber optic coupler according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first connector is used to access optical signals from external medical devices, external servers, or external optical distribution networks.