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EP-3992682-B1 - A HYBRID OPTICAL POWER DISTRIBUTION BOX

EP3992682B1EP 3992682 B1EP3992682 B1EP 3992682B1EP-3992682-B1

Inventors

  • PADDICK, Nathan
  • ROBERTS, KRIS JONATHAN

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20211026

Claims (8)

  1. A hybrid optical power distribution box (100) comprising: - a wall (10) and one or more apertures (20) in the wall (10), each aperture (20) having a receiving area (21), - one or more power adapters (50) for electrical power connectors, the power adapters (50) being attached to the hybrid optical power distribution box (100), each power adapter (50) extending along a power direction (B-B) between a first power portion (51) configured to be connected to a power connector and a second power portion (52) inside the hybrid optical power distribution box (100), each second power portion (52) having a power cross-sectional area (60) configured to be inserted inside an aperture (20); - one or more optical adapters (30) for optical connectors, the optical adapters (30) being attached to the hybrid optical power distribution box (100), each optical adapter (30) extending along an optical direction (A-A) between a first optical portion (31) configured to be connected to an optical connector and a second optical portion (32) inside the hybrid optical power distribution box (100), each second optical portion (32) having an optical cross-sectional area (40) configured to be inserted inside an aperture (20); - the optical cross-sectional area (40) of the optical adapters (30) matches with the power cross-sectional area (60) of the power adapters (50); - the receiving area (21) of the apertures (20) is configured to match with the optical cross-sectional area (40) of the optical adapters (30) and with the power cross-sectional area (60) of the power adapters (50), thereby the optical adapters (30) and the power adapters (50) being interchangeably attachable to each aperture (20) of the hybrid optical power distribution box (100), Wherein - the second power portion (52) comprises a hollow body (53) having an inner cavity (53a); - the power adapter (50) comprises at least two passing through channels (54) connecting the first power portion (51) with the inner cavity (53a); characterised in that - the power adapter (50) comprises retaining members (70) for attaching the power adapter (50) to the hybrid optical power distribution box (100), each retaining member (70) cooperating with the hybrid optical power distribution box (100).
  2. The hybrid optical power distribution box (100) according to claim 1, wherein: - the optical cross-sectional area (40) is defined as an area of a cross section of the second optical portion (32) along the optical direction (A-A), - the power cross-sectional area (60) is defined as an area of the cross section of the second power portion (52) along the power direction (B-B).
  3. The hybrid optical power distribution box (100) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the optical cross-sectional area (40) and the power cross-sectional area (60) are between 115 to 125 mm 2 or between 235 to 245 mm 2 .
  4. The hybrid optical power distribution box (100) according to any claims 1 to 3, wherein the power adapter (50) comprises at least two tubes (55) extending from the first power portion (51) along the power direction (B-B) and joining with the at least two passing through channels (54).
  5. The hybrid optical power distribution box (100) according to any claims 1 to 4, wherein the power adapter (50) comprises at least two pins (80) arranged into the at least two passing through channels (54) and configured to be clamped to conductive wires and to be coupled with a power connector.
  6. The hybrid optical power distribution box (100) according to any claims 1 to 5, wherein the power adapter (50) is formed of a one piece polymer body and includes conductive members for electrical connection.
  7. The hybrid optical power distribution box (100) according to any claims 1 to 6, wherein the power adapter (50) is configured to provide connections for at least two conductive wires having 24 to 4 AWG and 0.25-25mm 2 .
  8. The hybrid optical power distribution box (100) according to any claims 1 to 7, wherein the optical adapter (30) is an LC Duplex, SC Simplex, LC Quad, SC Duplex, or MPO.

Description

Field of the invention The present invention relates to the field of equipment and components for the installation optical adapters and power adapters for optical and power connection to a distribution box. In particular, the present invention relates to a hybrid optical power distribution box. Background of the invention Typically, optical adapters such as SC simplex, LC duplex or MPO have standard footprint which allow any adapters to be used in relative standard apertures in a distribution box. Specifically, the optical adapters can be interchangeably inserted into the apertures formed in the wall of the distribution box because of their standard footprint. On the other side, power adapters have different dimensions and footprints that need specific apertures and connections to a distribution box which makes them less versatile. Furthermore, the distribution box for optical and power connections uses complex and expensive hybrid connectors for making optical and power connections. US 2015/378122A1 discloses a hybrid optical power distribution box according to the prior art. US 10,234,635 discloses a connector comprising a shell acing a cavity configured to receive a single conventional insert and one or more modular inserts wherein each modular insert has a form factor ½ to ¼ of the form factor of said conventional insert, such that said cavity is capable of receiving 2 to 4 said modular inserts. Each modular insert has at least: (i) a housing having a front opening and a rear opening, (ii) an interface disposed in said front opening, said interface presenting one or more conductors, said conductors extending from said interface rearward through said rear opening and into a jacketed cable, (iii) a crimp portion rearward of said rear opening, said jacketed cable being secured to said crimp portion, and (iv) one or more seals sealing said front and rear opening such that said interior of said housing is sealed from environment. WO2018/200528A1 discloses a family of connectors to accommodate a single twisted pair of conductors is disclosed herein. The family of connectors includes a free connector, a fixed connector, and an adapter; the free and/or fixed connectors can be modified to accommodate the adapter configuration and/or modified to accommodate various patch cord configurations. In certain embodiments, the one or more of the family of connectors adopts an LC fiber optic style connector configuration and an LC fiber optic footprint configuration. In certain examples, one or more of the family of connectors adopts an LC fiber optic style connector configuration but in a footprint that is larger or smaller than the footprint of the LC fiber optic footprint. Other configurations may also be adopted. WO2019/147774A1 discloses a family of connectors includes a plug, receptacle and adapter with the plug incorporating beam contacts, and the receptacle and adapter incorporating interfacing arched beam contacts. A z-configuration of the port(s) within the receptacle and adapter is configured to interface with the plug, which also presents a z-configuration. The parallel, upper and lower portions of the z-configuration of the plug incorporate the beam contacts. The first beam contact of the plug is rotated 180 degrees from the second beam contact of the plug; the arched beam contacts are similarly rotated. The plug, receptacle and adapter of a small form factor that is similar or identical to the formal factor of an optical fiber LC connector. The plug and receptacle can be configured for circuit board, cable or patch cord mounting. The plug and receptacle can be utilized in a multi-plug/multi-receptacle configuration. The above mentioned prior art documents disclose devices/systems able to receive a plurality of modules in a single cavity or single twisted pairs for data communication in connectors having footprint of optical LC connectors. Therefore, such devices/systems make the relative connections between the adapters and the apertures complex and limit to specific dimensions of the adapters. Summary of the invention The applicant has tackled the problem of providing a hybrid optical power distribution box able to receive and retain interchangeably power adapters and optical adapters into the apertures of the hybrid optical power distribution box formed on the relative wall. The Applicant has found that providing optical adapters and power adapters having respective optical cross-sectional areas and power cross-sectional areas of the portion to be inserted into the apertures that mutually match and match with the receiving area of the apertures, allows to make versatile and simple the hybrid optical power distribution box. Therefore, the present invention defines a hybrid optical power distribution box according to claim 1. Different embodiments are set out in the dependent claims. The present invention will now be described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which s