JP4783129B2 - Optical path changing member, optical connector and optical device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical path conversion member for converting an optical path of an optical fiber by 90 °, for example, to oppose a photoelectric element, and more particularly to an optical connector having an optical path conversion function and an optical device.

In a communication apparatus or information processing apparatus that uses an optical signal, when an optical path (optical fiber or optical waveguide) of an optical signal is coupled to a photoelectric element disposed at an appropriate location in the apparatus, for example, 90 ° conversion of the optical path May be necessary.
Conventionally, as an optical path conversion member that converts an optical fiber by 90 ° toward a photoelectric element, particularly as an optical connector, a mirror system in which a mirror is disposed in front of the tip of the optical fiber or a part of the optical fiber is locally a mirror surface Is common. The light traveling through the horizontal optical fiber is reflected in a right angle by a 45 ° tilted mirror and travels toward the photoelectric element or vice versa. The optical connector referred to here is not an optical connector that connects optical fibers, but may refer to an optical connector that is also called an optical interface connector that couples an optical fiber and a photoelectric element.
JP 2000-292658 A JP 2004-94070 A JP 2003-315578 A

However, in the above-described optical connector with a built-in mirror, since light propagation is spatial propagation, light diffuses in the optical fiber end face or the space between the photoelectric element and the mirror, and crosstalk occurs with the adjacent optical path. There is a fear.
In this type of optical connector, a mirror space having an inclined mirror surface on one side and an optical fiber hole side on the other is formed in the connector body, and an optical fiber is inserted and fixed in the optical fiber hole. Although the configuration is such that the end face of the optical fiber is directed in the mirror direction, there is a problem that processing in the vicinity of the mirror space and the end face of the optical fiber is very difficult.
In addition, the method of locally using a mirror surface in the middle of the optical fiber is very difficult to manufacture because it requires a polishing process of the optical fiber having a small diameter and a subsequent protection process.

  The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and there is no risk of crosstalk occurring between adjacent optical paths, and processing near the mirror space and the end face of the optical fiber becomes difficult. It is an object of the present invention to provide an optical path changing member that does not cause a problem and is easy to manufacture, and an optical connector using the mechanism.

The optical connector according to claim 1 of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is provided with an insertion port through which a plurality of optical fibers can be collectively inserted into a connector body mounted on a circuit board from the lateral direction, and the front of the insertion port. Forming a hollow portion having an adhesive filling window communicating with the side and opening on the upper surface or the lower surface of the connector main body, within the range of the adhesive filling window in the hollow portion, from the front portion of the insertion port, the curved toward the photoelectric element on the circuit substrate disposed adhesive filling the window side forms a curved wall to reach the edge of the adhesive filling the window,
A plurality of guide grooves extending toward the photoelectric element from the front portion of the insertion opening to the edge of the adhesive filling window are formed on the curved wall surface corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers,
Each of the plurality of optical fibers is accommodated in the corresponding guide groove, curved along the guide groove, and opposed to the photoelectric element at the edge of the adhesive filling window ,
The plurality of optical fibers extending from the insertion port to the edge of the adhesive filling window are fixed to the connector body by filling the hollow portion with the adhesive from the adhesive filling window .

An optical connector according to a second aspect of the present invention includes an insertion slot into which a plurality of optical fibers can be integrally held in a connector main body mounted on a circuit board and a front side of the insertion slot. Forming a hollow portion having an adhesive filling window that communicates and opens on an upper surface or a lower surface of the connector main body, and is formed within the range of the adhesive filling window in the hollow portion from the front portion of the insertion port. wherein forming a curved wall to reach the edge of the adhesive filling the window curved towards the photoelectric element on the circuit substrate disposed replenishing window side,
A plurality of guide grooves extending toward the photoelectric element from the front portion of the insertion opening to the edge of the adhesive filling window are formed on the curved wall surface corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers,
Each of the plurality of optical fibers exposed by removing the coating on the tip of the optical fiber tape is accommodated in the corresponding guide groove, and is bent along the guide groove to end the adhesive filling window. Facing the photoelectric element at the edge ,
The optical fiber tape and the plurality of optical fibers, which are filled with an adhesive from the adhesive filling window to the hollow portion and reach the edge of the adhesive filling window from the insertion port, are fixed to the connector body. Features.

Claim 3, in claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of optical fibers is characterized in that there is at least one of the plastic optical fiber, a holey fiber, and reduce the diameter of the quartz fiber.

Claim 4 is, in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the hollow portion of the guide groove is formed wide.

Optical device according to claim 5, characterized by comprising an optical connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

  According to the present invention, the optical fiber can be curved and directed to a desired direction without forming a mirror. For example, since it can go directly to the photoelectric element, unlike an optical connector based on spatial propagation with a built-in mirror, there is no risk of crosstalk occurring between adjacent optical paths. In addition, there are no problems such as difficulty in processing near the mirror space and the end face of the optical fiber as in the prior art, and problems such as difficulty in processing the optical fiber, and the manufacture is easy.

  Hereinafter, an optical connector as an optical path changing member embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a perspective view of a connector main body 2 of an optical connector as a reference example of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB in FIG. 2 shows a state in which the optical connector 1 is assembled using FIG. 2, (a) is a cross-sectional view, (b) is a plan view, and FIG. 5 is attached to the tip of the optical fiber tape 7 and attached to the circuit board 8. It is a figure which shows the specific example to mount. In the illustrated example, the case where the number of optical fiber tapes 7 is four is described, but the number of cores is arbitrary.

  The connector body 2 is made of, for example, plastic such as epoxy or PPS and has a rectangular parallelepiped shape having a hollow portion 4, and includes an optical fiber hole 3 that is curved toward the lower surface of the connector body 2. The hollow portion 4 has a rear opening optical fiber tape insertion port 4a for inserting the optical fiber tape 7, and an upper opening adhesive filling window 4b for filling the adhesive. The optical fiber hole 3 extends slightly forward horizontally from the inlet portion 3a that opens to the front wall surface of the hollow portion 4, and then curves downward in the same figure to change the direction by 90 °, leading to the outlet portion 3b on the lower surface. A taper is formed at the entrance 3a of the optical fiber hole 3 so that the optical fiber 7a can be smoothly guided into the optical fiber hole 3. Note that the diameter of the tapered inlet portion 3a of the optical fiber hole 3 may be increased and gradually reduced from the larger diameter inlet portion 3a so as to be slightly larger than the diameter of the optical fiber.

  The connector main body 2 is attached to the tip of the optical fiber tape 7 as shown in FIGS. That is, after removing the coating 7b at the tip of the optical fiber tape 7 to expose the optical fiber 7a, the optical fiber tape 7 is inserted from the optical fiber tape insertion port 4a, and the exposed tip of each optical fiber 7a is connected to each end. When the optical fiber 7a is inserted into the inlet portion 3a of the optical fiber hole 3 and further pushed in, the optical fiber 7a slides along the curved optical fiber hole 3 and curves downward to change the direction by 90 ° and reaches the outlet portion 3b on the lower surface. . Next, the adhesive 9 is filled from the adhesive filling window 4b, and the optical fiber 7a and the covering portion 7b of the optical fiber tape 7 are fixed.

The optical connector 1 assembled at the tip of the optical fiber tape 7 as described above is accurately positioned with respect to the circuit board 8 by appropriate positioning means as shown in FIG.
A photoelectric element array 10 including four photoelectric elements is mounted on the circuit board 8, and an incident end or an emission end of the optical fiber 7 a is accurately opposed to each photoelectric element of the photoelectric element array 10. Here, the photoelectric element is a light emitting element such as an LED (light emitting diode) or a light receiving element such as a PD (photodiode).

In the optical connector 1 described above, the optical fiber 7a itself is curved without using a mirror and is directed toward the photoelectric element of the photoelectric element array 10. Therefore, unlike the conventional optical connector with a built-in mirror and spatial propagation, the optical fiber 7a is crossed between adjacent optical paths. There is no risk of talk.
Further, the conventional mirror space and the processing near the end face of the optical fiber become difficult, and the manufacturing is easy. That is, when the optical fiber tape 7 is inserted and the optical fiber 7a is pushed into the optical fiber hole 3, the incident end or the emission end of the optical fiber 7a is automatically positioned at a predetermined position facing the photoelectric element. There is no need.

In the present invention, when an optical fiber is bent extremely (bent), it is necessary to use an optical fiber that is resistant to bending instead of a standardized optical fiber. That is, it is necessary that the loss due to bending is small and that the optical fiber is not broken due to bending stress generated when it is bent. As an optical fiber suitable for the present invention, a plastic optical fiber (POF) which is made of plastic and is flexible and is resistant to bending, or a structure in which a plurality of holes are periodically present in the vicinity of a cladding core in a quartz optical fiber. A holey fiber having a strong bending resistance is conceivable. Even in this case, the bending radius to be curved is naturally kept within a range where the optical loss can be tolerated by the bending.
Further, even in the case of a quartz optical fiber, in the case of an optical fiber with a small diameter, since the optical fiber hole 3 has a bend radius of a certain value or more because the optical fiber hole 3 has a small optical loss corresponding to the bend radius and hardly breaks. If possible, it is possible to use a silica optical fiber with a reduced diameter.

In the above reference example , the optical fiber hole 3 in the connector body 2 is a round hole as shown in FIG. 7 (a) in an enlarged manner. However, as shown in FIG. It can also be 3 ′. In this case, the optical fiber 7a is guided along the sides of the central corner of the optical fiber hole 3 'having a triangular cross section, and is curved along the optical fiber hole 3' to reach the exit.
Moreover, as shown in FIG.7 (c), it is not an individual optical fiber hole, but the four rows of guide grooves 13a have the common space part 13b, and become the one curved hole 13 as a whole. There may be.

8 to 10 show an embodiment of the optical connector of the present invention. Connector body 2A of the optical connector embodiment, a wall surface 15 which is curved in front of the wall of the hollow portion 4 ', are in the curved wall surface 15 configured so as to form a guide groove 15a, for example, V-shaped.
In this case, when the optical fiber tape 7 is inserted from the optical fiber tape insertion opening 4'a, the exposed optical fibers 7a are accommodated in the guide grooves 15a of the curved wall surface 15 and pushed forward, the optical fibers 7a It is bent along the guide groove 15a and reaches a position facing each photoelectric element. Next, the hollow portion 4 ′ is filled with an adhesive, and the optical fiber 7 a and the covering portion 7 b of the optical fiber tape 7 are fixed.

The connector main body 2 of the optical connector 1 of the reference example described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7 is a one-dimensional array optical connector in which optical fibers 7a are arranged in a row, but the connector of the reference example shown in FIGS. Like the main body 2B, the optical fiber holes 3 can be formed in two stages to form a two-dimensional optical connector.
In this case, for example, when each optical fiber of the optical fiber tape is divided into two groups, the optical fibers of each group are distributed to the upper and lower optical fiber holes 3 and pushed into each of the two stages of the optical fiber holes 3, The fibers are curved along the respective optical fiber holes 3 to face the exit portion 3b, and oppose the photoelectric elements that are two-dimensionally arranged on the circuit board side.
Further, if the optical fiber tape itself is a two-dimensional array in which optical fibers are arranged in two stages, the two-dimensional array of optical fibers can correspond to the optical fiber holes of the two-dimensional array of optical connectors as they are. it can.
11 and 12, the upper optical fiber hole 3a and the lower optical fiber hole 3a may each have a single structure (that is, a structure in which two single-core optical fibers are arranged vertically). It is.

  The mode of mounting the optical connector of the present invention on the circuit board is not limited to the illustrated example, and various modes are possible as required. For example, the optical connector is placed on the main circuit board (corresponding to the circuit board 8) with the exit part of the optical fiber hole facing up (upside down in the case of FIG. 5), and the photoelectric element facing the exit part is installed. It is also possible to connect the mounted auxiliary circuit board to the main circuit board at the upper position of the optical connector.

  In the above description, an optical connector as a member having an optical path changing function is described. However, a member that does not have an optical connector function and only changes the optical path also falls within the scope of the present invention. Various devices such as an optical communication device, an opto-electric hybrid circuit, an optical signal processing device, and an optical circuit using these are also within the scope of the present invention.

It is a perspective view of the connector main body of the optical connector of the reference example of this invention. It is AA sectional drawing of FIG. It is BB sectional drawing of FIG. The connector main body is attached to the front-end | tip of an optical fiber tape, and the state which comprised the optical connector is shown, (a) is sectional drawing, (b) is a top view. It is sectional drawing which shows the specific example which attached the optical connector of FIG. 4 to the circuit board. It is a bottom view which shows the other reference example of a connector main body. It is a figure explaining the modification of the optical fiber hole in the said optical connector, (a) is an enlarged view of the optical fiber hole of the optical connector of the said Example, (b) is a figure which shows a 1st modification, (c) ) Is a diagram showing a second modification. It is sectional drawing of the connector main body of the optical connector of one Example of this invention. It is CC sectional drawing of FIG. It is a bottom view of FIG. The other reference example of this invention is shown and it is sectional drawing of the connector main body of an optical connector. It is DD sectional drawing of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Optical connector (or optical path conversion member)
2, 2A, 2B Connector body 3, 3 'Optical fiber hole 3a Inlet part 3b Outlet part 4, 4' Hollow part 4a, 4'a Optical fiber tape insertion port 4b, 4'b Adhesive filling window 7 Optical fiber tape 7a Optical fiber 7b Covering portion 8 Circuit board 10 Photoelectric element array 13 Curved hole 13a Guide groove 13b Common space 15 Curved wall surface 15a Guide groove

Claims (5)

Filling the connector body mounted on the circuit board with an adhesive opening that allows a plurality of optical fibers to be inserted in a lump from the lateral direction and communicates with the front side of the insertion opening and opens on the upper or lower surface of the connector body. forming a hollow portion having a window, in the range of the adhesive filling the window in the hollow portion, the front portion of the insertion opening, the photoelectric element on the circuit board disposed on the adhesive filling the window side towards curved to form a curved wall to reach the edge of the adhesive filling windows,
A plurality of guide grooves extending toward the photoelectric element from the front portion of the insertion opening to the edge of the adhesive filling window are formed on the curved wall surface corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers,
Each of the plurality of optical fibers is accommodated in the corresponding guide groove, curved along the guide groove, and opposed to the photoelectric element at the edge of the adhesive filling window ,
Optical connector being characterized in that to fix the plurality of optical fibers leading to the edge of the adhesive filling the window with glue from the insertion opening is filled into the hollow portion from the adhesive filling the window to the connector body. An optical fiber tape that integrally holds a plurality of optical fibers is inserted into a connector main body mounted on a circuit board from the lateral direction, and the upper or lower surface of the connector main body communicates with the front side of the insertion opening. the hollow portion is formed with an adhesive filling a window which opens, in the range of the adhesive filling the window in the hollow portion, the front portion of the insertion opening, the circuit disposed on the adhesive filling the window side curved toward the photoelectric element on the substrate to form a curved wall to reach the edge of the adhesive filling the window,
A plurality of guide grooves extending toward the photoelectric element from the front portion of the insertion opening to the edge of the adhesive filling window are formed on the curved wall surface corresponding to the plurality of optical fibers,
Each of the plurality of optical fibers exposed by removing the coating on the tip of the optical fiber tape is accommodated in the corresponding guide groove, and is bent along the guide groove to end the adhesive filling window. Facing the photoelectric element at the edge ,
The optical fiber tape and the plurality of optical fibers, which are filled with an adhesive from the adhesive filling window to the hollow portion and reach the edge of the adhesive filling window from the insertion port, are fixed to the connector body. A featured optical connector.   3. The optical connector according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of optical fibers are at least one of a plastic optical fiber, a holey fiber, and a thinned silica fiber. 4.   The optical connector according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the hollow portion side of the guide groove is formed wide. Light apparatus comprising the optical connector according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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