Slidable Splice Holders for Optical Fiber Tray Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing optical fiber splice trays have limited space and difficulty in accessing splice holders, leading to inefficient maintenance and installation operations, with stacked holders increasing complexity and risk of damaging other fibers during repairs.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of slidable splice holders with sliding guides on the tray allows for optimized space utilization and easy access, enabling each holder to be independently positioned and locked, facilitating quick maintenance and installation while preventing fiber crossover.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If splice holders are stacked on top of one another to increase capacity, then the number of splices that can be held increases, but access to splice holders becomes difficult and maintenance time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The splice holders are designed to be slidable along the tray rather than fixed or stacked, allowing dynamic repositioning. Each holder can be independently moved to accessible positions for maintenance while maintaining organized storage capacity, resolving the contradiction between quantity and accessibility.
2Area of stationary object
If splice holders are stacked on top of one another, then space utilization increases, but the total height increases and complexity in managing splices increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tray is divided into multiple independent retaining arrangements, each capable of holding individual splice holders. This segmentation allows each holder to be independently managed and accessed without affecting others, reducing overall system complexity while maximizing space utilization through parallel organization.
3Quantity of substance
If splice holders are stacked on top of one another, then the number of splices that can be held increases, but the risk of damaging other fibers during repair increases
Solution Approach 1:
Faulty splice holders can be individually extracted or removed from the tray without disturbing other holders. This extraction capability isolates repair operations to specific holders, preventing accidental damage to other fibers during maintenance while maintaining the ability to hold numerous splices simultaneously.
4Stability of the object's composition
If traditional mounting arrangements are used to secure splice chips, then the splice chip can be retained, but easy access to each splice is not provided and total height is significantly increased
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of stacking splice holders vertically (increasing height dimension), the design transitions to a horizontal arrangement where holders are positioned side-by-side or in rows on the tray. This dimensional shift maintains retention stability while significantly reducing the total height requirement and improving accessibility.
Data Source
AI summary
A splice tray for optical fiber splices comprising: a base having a splice area for retaining optical fiber splices and a routing area for passage of optical fibers from and towards the splice area; splice holders arranged on the splice area, each splice holder having holding members configured to hold optical fiber splices; retaining arrangements arranged on the base and configured to retain the splice holders; each retaining arrangement comprises sliding guides projecting from the base and configured to receive and retain one or more splice holders; and each splice holder is slidable relative to the sliding guides along a sliding direction transversal to the base between a retracted position, in which the splice holder is proximate to the base and an extracted position in which the splice holder is spaced apart from the base along the sliding direction.