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EP-4735938-A1 - CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY, CONNECTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALIGNING CABLES

EP4735938A1EP 4735938 A1EP4735938 A1EP 4735938A1EP-4735938-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a connection system and a method for connecting optical wires or cables, comprising a connector assembly (1) with a first connecting element (2) comprising a first channel (21) which is adapted to receive a first cable (5); and a second connecting element (4) comprising a second channel (41), which is adapted to receive a distal end portion of said first cable (5), wherein the first connecting element (2) is adapted to engage a first portion of the first cable (5) and the second connecting element (4) is adapted to engage an end portion of the first cable (5), wherein the first connecting element (2) is free to rotate about a longitudinal axis (L) and around the first cable (5) as long as the first connecting element (2) is not engaged with the first cable (5), wherein the second connecting element (4) is free to rotate about the longitudinal axis (L) and around the first cable (5) as long as the second connecting element (4) is not engaged with the first cable (5).

Inventors

  • Streat, Christopher Jack
  • VAN PUTTEN, Eibert Gerjan

Assignees

  • Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240624

Claims (20)

  1. 1. Connector assembly (1), in particular for connecting at least one cable comprising an optical fiber, comprising: a first connecting element (2) comprising a first channel (21) adapted to receive a first cable (5); and a second connecting element (4) comprising a second channel (41), which is adapted to receive a distal end portion of said first cable (5), wherein the first connecting element (2) is adapted to engage a first portion of the first cable (5) and the second connecting element (4) is adapted to engage an end portion of the first cable (5), wherein the first connecting element (2) is free to rotate about a longitudinal axis (L) and around the first cable (5) as long as the first connecting element (2) is not engaged with the first cable (5), wherein the second connecting element (4) is free to rotate about the longitudinal axis (L) and around the first cable (5) as long as the second connecting element (4) is not engaged with the first cable (5).
  2. 2. Connector assembly (1) according to claim 1, wherein the first connecting element (2) comprises a first engagement portion (24) which is adapted to engage with an alignment section (54) formed at the first cable (5) in at least a first rotational direction (Rl) about the longitudinal axis (A), wherein the second connecting element (4) comprises a second engagement portion (44) which is adapted to engage with the alignment section (54), or with an additional alignment section formed at the first cable (5), in at least a second rotational direction (R2), wherein an engaged state of the first and the second engagement portions (24, 44) at the alignment section (54) and/or the additional alignment section defines an aligned position of the first connecting element (4) relative to the second connecting element (4).
  3. 3. Connector assembly (1) according to claim 2, wherein the first channel (21) extends along the longitudinal axis (A) such that the alignment section (54), when the first cable (5) is inserted into the first channel (21), extends substantially along the longitudinal axis (A).
  4. 4. Connector assembly (1) according to any one of claims 2 or 3, wherein the first engagement portion (24) is configured to be released from the engagement with the alignment section (54) when rotated in the second rotational direction (R2), and/or wherein the second engagement portion (44) is configured to be released from the engagement with the alignment section (54) when rotated in the first rotational direction (Rl).
  5. 5. Connector assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the second connecting element (4) is further arranged to receive an end portion of a second cable (6) along the longitudinal axis.
  6. 6. Connector assembly (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein the second connecting element (4) is further arranged to fixedly position said portion of the second cable (6) along the longitudinal axis.
  7. 7. Connector assembly (1) according to one of the two preceding claims, wherein the second connecting element (4) comprises a socket (42) which is adapted to be connected to the second cable (6).
  8. 8. Connector assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one alignment section (54) is formed as longitudinal groove, which extends with substantially constant cross section along the longitudinal axis (A).
  9. 9. Connector assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a third connecting element (7), wherein the third connecting element (7) comprises a first guide section (72) and a second guide section (74), wherein the first guide section (72) is adapted to engage with an outer engagement surface of the first connecting element (2), wherein the second guide section (74) is adapted to engage with an outer engagement surface of the second connecting element (4), wherein the first and second guide section (72, 74) are adapted to transform a longitudinal movement of the third connecting element (7) along the longitudinal axis (A) relative to at least one of the first connecting element (2) and the second connecting element (4) into relative rotational movements of the other of the first connecting element (2) and/or the second connecting element (4).
  10. 10. Connector assembly (1) according to claim 9, wherein the first guide section (72) comprises at least one protrusion (73) (or groove) which is adapted to engage in a longitudinal groove (26) (or protrusion respectively) formed at the outer engagement surface of the first connecting element (2), wherein the second guide section (74) at least partially comprises a helical thread portion (75) which engages with corresponding recesses (45) formed at the outer engagement surface of the second connecting element (4).
  11. 11. Connector assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the first and second engagement portion (24, 44) comprises elastically deformable portion of the first and/or the second connecting element (2, 4).
  12. 12. Connector assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the first and second engagement portion (24, 44) is a ratchet-like element which is swivel-mounted at the first and/or the second connecting element (2, 4) and is pre- loaded towards the longitudinal axis (A).
  13. 13. Connector assembly (1) according to any of claims 2 - 11, wherein the first engagement portion (24) includes at least one protrusion (or groove) formed in the first channel (21), which protrudes (extends) towards the longitudinal axis (A), wherein the alignment section (54) is formed as longitudinal groove (or protrusion, respectively) and comprises at its distal end a tapering section, adapted to receive and guide said protrusion (or groove) into (or onto) the alignment section (54).
  14. 14. Connector assembly (1) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the first connecting element (2) and the second connecting element (4) are held in close proximity to each other, wherein preferably a seat portion (25, 45) is formed at each of the first and the second connecting element (2, 4), said seat portions (25, 45) being adapted to align the first and the second connecting element (2, 4) with respect to the longitudinal axis (A).
  15. 15. Connector assembly ( 1 ) according to claim 5 , wherein the first cable (5) and the second cable (6) each comprise a multicore optical fiber of at least three cores, each fiber having the same number of cores as the other fiber, and the cores of the fibers have approximately the same angular position about the longitudinal axis (L), wherein the maximum angle of relative rotation between the first and the second connecting element (2, 4) required to rotationally align the first and the second cable (5, 6) is based on said angular positions of the successive cores.
  16. 16. Connector assembly (1) according to the preceding claim, wherein it is arranged to, once engaged, the tips of the first and second cables (5, 6) are positioned such that each core of a fiber can be optically connected with a core of the other fiber, with optionally an optical device in between.
  17. 17. Connector assembly (1) according to claims 2 and 15, wherein the positions of the first and second engagement portions (24, 44) of the first and second connecting elements (2, 4) connecting elements (2, 4) have been chosen based on a determined number of cores and the respective angular positions of the cores of the first and second cables (5, 6), so as to obtain an optimal core-to-core alignment once the first cable (5) is fully engaged and the second cable (6) is fixedly positioned in the second connecting element (4).
  18. 18. Connector assembly (1) according to claim 5, provided with a sterility barrier (8) between the first and second cables (5, 6).
  19. 19 Connecting system (100) for connecting cables, in particular optical fibers, comprising a manipulator assembly (105) and a connector assembly (1) according to one of claims 1 - 18, which are mounted predominantly in a housing (102), wherein a holding section (107) is adapted to hold a first cable (5), once inserted in the connecting system (100), at a pre-determined axial position relative to the manipulator assembly (105); wherein a transfer mechanism (108) is configured to apply a force on the connector assembly (1) to align or to release the connector assembly (1) with respect to the first and/or the second cable (5, 6) .
  20. 20 Connecting system (100) according to claims 9 and 19, wherein the transfer mechanism (108) comprises an absorbing section (109) which is adapted to hold a third connecting element (7) in a pre-determined axial position relative to the first and second connecting element (2, 4) and which is adapted to absorb and cushion forces exerted by the transfer mechanism (108) onto the third connecting element (7) when the first and second connecting element (2, 4) have reached their aligned rotational positions.

Description

CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY, CONNECTING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ALIGNING CABLES FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of optical data transmission and in particular to optical connection systems used to connect at least one cable or wire embedding optical fiber. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Connection systems, in particular to connect cables which transfer data and signals of light or electric current, are widely known in the prior art. Such connection systems are for instance required in medical applications, when different medical instruments and sensors have to be connected to a cable or wire, which is connected to an instrument already situated within or at a body of a patient. Typically, optical fibers are used to transmit light information, wherein the use of multi-core fibers embedded or integrated or positioned in wires or cables, allowing to simultaneously transfer multiple data streams, has become technical standard. Regarding medical applications, optical fiber may be used for instance in minimally invasive procedures, by e.g. embedding fiber(s) within and along an interventional wire or catheter or other device or instrument, the fiber(s) being used to transmit information or energy towards or from the tip or sides of the device, for treatment or diagnosis or navigation purpose. In a more particular application, the multicores of the fiber are arranged with optical sensors (e.g. Bragg gratings) to retrieve position and/or orientation and/or shape information from and of the fiber when they are optically interrogated, using interferometry (by transmission or reflection) to retrieve such an information (see for instance US9784569). In the last so-called optical shape sensing application the good positioning of the cores at optical connection is of particular importance for reliability purpose. When connecting such multi-core fibers with each other, it is important to not only align them with respect to a collinear arrangement, but also with respect to their longitudinal rotational position This ensures that preferably all fibers of the multi-fiber cable are aligned and can transmit light at the respective fiber-fiber junction. The problem of rotational alignment in multicore fibers is commonly solved by having a large, keyed connector that can only be connected to its counterpart connector in a certain orientation. Thus, the actual rotational alignment is performed manually by the person connecting the fibers together. Another solution, described in US 10845546 B2, is to measure the quality of the signals transferred at each single fiber-fiber connection and adjust the respective position of the multi-core fibers. However, this method has turned out to be very time-consuming and requires a lot of additional equipment. Other connection systems and methods are based on a mechanical rotational alignment but however require to insert the cables attached to ferrules at certain rotational positions into the connecting apparatus or to manually rotate the cable comprising the lose end. It may however be detrimental to have to manipulate, move and rotate both cables to rotationally align them. OBJECT OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide a connection between two multi-core cables, which is able to align the relative rotational positions of the individual fibers or fiber cores, which is easy to build and to implement and which minimizes torsion of the cables and which avoids the necessity to manually align the cables already when plugging them into the connecting system. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the invention, a connector assembly, in particular for connecting data transmission cables and/or connecting optical sensors of medical applications, comprises a first connecting element comprising a first channel, which extends along a longitudinal axis and is adapted to receive a first cable; and a second connecting element comprising a second channel, which is adapted to receive a distal end portion of the first cable wherein the first connecting element is adapted to engage, optionally directly, a first portion of the first cable and the second connecting element is adapted to engage, optionally directly, an end portion of the first cable, wherein the first connecting element is free to rotate about a longitudinal axis and around the first cable as long as the first connecting element is not engaged with the first cable , wherein the second connecting element is free to rotate about the longitudinal axis and around the first cable as long as the second connecting element is not engaged with the first cable. Optionally, this is the engagement of the first connecting elements with the first cable which at least mostly prevents the freedom of rotation of the first connecting element. Optionally, this is the engagement of the second connecting elements with the first cable which at least mostly prevents the freedom of rotation of the second connecting