Optical Connector Cleaning Tool Layout for Confined Spaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional optical connector cleaning tools are too long and require significant working space, making it difficult to perform cleaning tasks in confined areas.
Innovation Solution
A compact optical connector cleaning tool design featuring a tool main body with a feeding mechanism, extension section, and biasing member that allows for the supply and take-up of a cleaning body, enabling forward and backward movement to efficiently clean the joining end face without the need for extensive space, by positioning the biasing member closer to the front and arranging the supply and winding reels in a direction perpendicular to the extension section.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the cleaning tool uses a conventional design with sufficient working space, then the cleaning function is reliable, but the tool becomes too long and cannot be operated in confined areas
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning tool is divided into distinct functional segments: a tool main body containing the feeding mechanism, an extension section with the head member, and a biasing member. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently, enabling a compact overall length while maintaining sufficient working space for effective cleaning operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The biasing member is positioned in the front-and-back direction closer to the front end than the supply reel and winding reel, utilizing the frontward direction space more efficiently. This dimensional rearrangement reduces the overall length of the tool while preserving the necessary working space for cleaning operations.
2Length of moving object
If the biasing member is positioned closer to the front, then the tool length is reduced for better maneuverability, but the structural arrangement becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The housing body is designed to be relatively movable forward and backward in the extending direction with respect to the extension section and feeding mechanism. This dynamic arrangement allows the biasing member to be positioned closer to the front while maintaining proper structural relationships and operational functionality, reducing tool length without excessive complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The biasing member is integrated within the housing body structure, combining the biasing function with the housing structure. This merging reduces the need for separate structural elements and simplifies the overall arrangement despite the repositioning requirement.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The tool effectively reduces its length size, allowing for easy cleaning in spaces with insufficient working space, ensuring efficient cleaning operations by minimizing the required front-and-back space for the reels and enabling stable operation with even pressure distribution.
Implementation Method 1
a biasing member that is located in the housing body and biases the housing body... The biasing member biases backward in the extending direction the housing body that is in a state where the housing body has relatively moved forward
Implementation Method 2
a head member that presses the cleaning body against the joining end face at a leading end of the extension tube body... wipes away and cleans a joining end face of an optical connector by a cleaning body that is fed and moved
Implementation Method 3
a driving section that feeds and moves the cleaning body by rotationally driving the winding reel in a take-up direction by the forward movement
Data Source
AI summary
An optical connector cleaning tool according to the present invention includes a tool main body and an extension section that extends from the tool main body, wherein the tool main body includes a supply reel and a winding reel, which perform supply and take-up of the cleaning body, a housing body that houses the supply reel and the winding reel, and a biasing member that is located in the housing body and biases the housing body. The biasing member biases backward in the extending direction the housing body that is in a state where the housing body has relatively moved forward in the extending direction of the extension section, and a position in a front-and-back direction of the biasing member is close to the front compared to positions in a front-and-back direction of the supply reel and the winding reel.