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EP-4075175-B1 - OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTOR

EP4075175B1EP 4075175 B1EP4075175 B1EP 4075175B1EP-4075175-B1

Inventors

  • WU, JIA RONG
  • HSU, TSUNG YAO

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220325

Claims (17)

  1. An optical eptie fiber connector (100) adapted for a tube (20), comprising: a ferrule (110); a holder (120), wherein the ferrule (110) is assembled to the holder (120); a connector body (150), having a plurality of first locking slots (151a); a spring (140), sleeved onto the holder (120); and a retainer (130), having a plurality of first locking hooks (132) respectively fastened with the first locking slots (151a), so as to assemble the spring (140), the holder (120), and the ferrule (110) into a space formed between the retainer (130) and the connector body (150), wherein the spring (140) is structurally abutted between the holder (120) and the connector body (150) to be compressed to make the retainer (130), the holder (120), the spring (140) and the connector body (150) abut against each other, wherein the connector body (150) comprises a base (151) and a crimp ring (152), the crimp ring (152) is sleeved onto an outer surface (151b) of one end of the base (151), and another end of the base (151) has the first locking slots (151a).
  2. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 1, wherein the ferrule (110) is riveted into a barrel (121) of the holder (120), and the barrel (121) abuts against and within the retainer (130).
  3. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 2, wherein a shape of an outer profile of the barrel (121) and an inner wall (131) of the retainer (130) is a polygon that is consistent with and corresponds to each other.
  4. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 3, wherein the polygon is a hexagon.
  5. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 1, wherein the holder (120) comprises a barrel (121) and a column (122), the ferrule (110) is disposed in the barrel (121), the column (122) extends from the barrel (121) to the base (151) in a direction away from the ferrule (110), and the spring (140) is sleeved onto the column (122) and abuts between an inner step (T1) of the base (151) and the barrel (121).
  6. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 1, wherein the outer surface (151b) is a rough surface.
  7. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 1, further comprising a protective cover (160), wherein an end of the ferrule (110) away from the holder (120) passes through the retainer (130), and the protective cover (160) is detachably sleeved onto where the ferrule (110) protrudes from the retainer (130).
  8. The optical eptie fiber connector (100) according to claim 7, wherein an outer surface (151b) of the protective cover (160) has a rough surface (161).
  9. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 7, wherein the protective cover (160) has a tapered profile facing away from the ferrule (110).
  10. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing sleeve (180) fastened to an outside of the retainer (130) away from a base (151).
  11. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 10, wherein the fixing sleeve (180) has a plurality of second locking hooks (181) fastened with a plurality of second locking slots (134) of the retainer (130).
  12. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 10, wherein an outside of the retainer (130) has a positioning surface (133), the fixing sleeve (180) also has a positioning inner wall (184), and the positioning surface (133) correspondingly abuts against the positioning inner wall (184).
  13. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 10, further comprising a tail sleeve (170) sleeved onto the base (151) of the connector body (150) and covering the crimp ring (152) of the connector body (150), wherein the base (151) has the first locking slots (151a) exposed outside the tail sleeve (170), and the tail sleeve (170) abuts against the fixing sleeve (180).
  14. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 13, further comprising a coupling cap (190) sleeved onto the tail sleeve (170) to cover the fixing sleeve (180).
  15. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 14, wherein the fixing sleeve (180) has a guiding protrusion (182), an inner wall of the coupling cap (190) has a guiding slot (191), and the guiding protrusion (182) is slidably connected to the guiding slot (191).
  16. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 1, wherein an inner diameter (D1) of the tube (20) is 5.5 mm, and a maximum cross-sectional outer diameter (D3) of the ferrule (110), the holder (120), the connector body (150), the spring (140), and the retainer (130) after being assembled is less than 5.5 mm.
  17. The optical fiber connector (100) according to claim 1, wherein the optical fiber connector (100) is an SC connector.

Description

BACKGROUND Technical Field The disclosure relates to an optical fiber connector. Description of Related Art Since optical fiber has the advantages of low loss and high frequency bandwidth, it has been used widely as a signal transmission medium in recent years. With the technological expansion of optical communication networks, it makes the wide area networks such as the Internet and internal networks quite common, which also increases the communication traffic. To meet the needs of the home fiber optic network, related components (including fiber optic connectors) must be able to be wired in the structure of a building, for example, components capable of passing through the wiring tubes in the structure. However, the existing products evidently cannot meet the above requirements due to their larger size. Accordingly, it has become a subject for those skilled in the art to improve the structure of the existing optical eptie fiber connector to meet the above requirements. Patent literature WO 2021/231752 A1 relates to technique for installing a connectorized cable assembly, a cable terminated at a connector core is pushed through a duct. The connector core has a maximum outer diameter of no more than 5 mm to facilitate passage of the connector core through the duct. Patent literature US 2017/343745 A1 relates to a fiber optic connector having a ferrule extending along a longitudinal axis and a ferrule holder from which the ferrule extends. The fiber optic connector also includes a housing having a housing body in which the ferrule holder is received and a housing cap configured to be attached to the housing body. SUMMARY The present disclosure provides an optical fiber connector whose simple structure has a volume reduction effect that facilitates wiring in a tube with a small space to save space. The invention provides an optical fiber connector according to independent claim 1. Further embodiments are provided by the dependent claims. The following disclosure serves a better understanding of the present invention. The optical fiber connector of the present disclosure includes components including a ferrule, a holder, a connector body, a spring, and a retainer which enable it to pass through the tube for wiring, before sleeving other components on the aforementioned components that have passed through the tube to complete the assembly of the optical fiber connector. According to the requirements of the inner diameter of the tube, the assembled components are reduced correspondingly in volume, thereby simplifying the processing process. As the volume is reduced, the spring, the retainer, and the ferrule are assembled into the space formed between the retainer and the connector body by buckling the retainer and the connector body, where the spring is compressed by the aforementioned buckling that makes the retainer, the holder, the spring, and the connector body press tightly against each other, so that the components maintain its structural connection properly. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical fiber connector according to an embodiment of the disclosure.FIG. 2 is an assembly schematic diagram of the optical fiber connector of FIG. 1.FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the first assembly of FIG. 2.FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the optical fiber connector of FIG. 1.FIG. 5 is a partial side view of the optical fiber connector of FIG. 1.FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the optical fiber connector of FIG. 5 along the AA section line. DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an optical fiber connector according to an embodiment of the disclosure. FIG. 2 is an assembly schematic diagram of the optical fiber connector of FIG. 1. In FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, in this embodiment, an optical fiber connector 100 is, for example, an SC connector used to meet the requirements for wiring a building, so it needs to pass through a wiring tube 20 for installation in the structure of a building. With this premise, the optical fiber connector 100 of this embodiment needs to further adjust its structural configuration to be installed smoothly. Accordingly, the optical fiber connector 100 of this embodiment includes a first assembly M1 and a second assembly M2. As shown in FIG. 2, the second assembly M2 includes a tail sleeve 170, a fixing sleeve 180, and a coupling cap 190, and these three components are limited by the standard size of the optical fiber connector 100 and cannot pass through the tube 20 smoothly. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is necessary to complete the component assembly work of the first assembly M1 first, and passing it through the tube 20 along an assembly direction R1. After the first assembly M1 coming out from the other end of the tube 20, the second assembly M2 is then installed to the first assembly M1. In this way, the first assembly M1 of this embodiment may reduce its cross-sectional outer diameter effectively. In other words,