Optical Ferrule Flexible Arms Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional connectors for electrical or optical components face limitations in alignment accuracy due to tight tolerance requirements, which can be challenging to achieve and maintain, especially with manufacturing variations such as shrinkage in injection molded polymers.
Innovation Solution
The use of compliant features, such as flexible arms with varying flexing properties, in optical ferrules and connectors allows for accurate alignment by guiding and securing the components during mating, enabling greater tolerance flexibility and balanced forces even with differing arm properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If tight tolerances are used in conventional connectors to achieve satisfactory alignment accuracy, then alignment precision is improved, but manufacturing difficulty increases and manufacturing precision becomes harder to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the mechanical parameters of the connector by introducing flexible arms with specific flexing properties. These arms have controlled flexibility that allows them to deform and compensate for dimensional variations, thereby achieving accurate alignment without requiring tight manufacturing tolerances on the rigid components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic elements (flexible arms) that can adapt their configuration during operation. The flexible arms can bend and flex to accommodate misalignments that would otherwise require precision manufacturing, allowing the connector to self-adjust to various manufacturing variations while maintaining alignment accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If tight tolerances are specified for alignment features, then alignment accuracy is improved, but accumulated tolerances from multiple features make it difficult to achieve and maintain satisfactory alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible arms are designed with specific flexing properties that allow them to compensate for accumulated tolerances. By changing the mechanical behavior from rigid to flexible, the system can absorb dimensional variations from multiple features without requiring each individual feature to be manufactured with tight tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible arms act as intermediary elements between the rigid connector components. They mediate the alignment process by deforming to accommodate tolerance accumulations, thereby isolating the rigid components from the need for tight tolerances while still achieving accurate alignment.
3Measurement precision
If conventional rigid connectors are used, then structural simplicity is maintained, but alignment accuracy is limited by accumulated tolerances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from a purely rigid structure to a hybrid structure incorporating flexible elements. The flexible arms provide dynamic adaptation capability, allowing the connector to compensate for misalignments that rigid structures cannot accommodate, thereby improving alignment accuracy with relatively modest increases in structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs flexible arms that function similarly to flexible shells or thin films in their ability to deform and adapt. These flexible elements can bend and flex to accommodate alignment variations, providing a simple yet effective solution that doesn't require complex mechanisms while significantly improving alignment accuracy.
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
This approach enhances alignment accuracy and reduces the need for tight mechanical tolerances, allowing for improved connectivity and stability in optical and electrical connections while accommodating manufacturing variations.
Implementation Method 1
a first flexible arm having a first fixed end attached to a first side of the body and an opposite first free end; and a second flexible arm, opposite the first flexible arm, having a second fixed end attached to a second side of the body, opposite the first side, and an opposite second free end... When the optical ferrule is mated with a mating ferrule, the first and second flexible arms are flexed away from the respective first and second sides of the body
Data Source
AI summary
Ferrules, alignment frames and connectors having at least one flexing element are provided. A ferrule or an alignment frame may include a body and first and second flexible arms, and a connector may include the ferrule or the alignment frame. A ferrule may have a first flexible arm that has a first fixed end attached to a first side of the body of the ferrule and an opposite first free end, and may have a second flexible arm having a second fixed end attached to a second side of the body, opposite the first side, and an opposite second free end. When the ferrule is mated with a mating ferrule, the first and second flexible arms are flexed away from the respective first and second sides of the body, and the first and second free ends contact the mating ferrule.