The present disclosure generally relates to communication systems, and more particularly to a cable protection kit and an radio remote unit (abbreviated as RRU).
RRUs are often used in outdoor, and thus IP55/65 should be fulfilled. There are many external interfaces, and these interfaces also need to be designed to fulfill the IP55/65 or more stricter requirements. For current products, there are two solutions available in the market. With referring to
It is well known in the art that the solution using the outdoor connector 300 is very expensive, though it can reduce the size of the obtained product. The outdoor connector 300 also needs a big area of a front panel, because an operation space should be kept between connectors. The operation space also should be kept for IP protection between the connector and a frame of the product.
With respect to the other solution, using the interface chamber 400 is cheap, because standard indoor connectors are used and IP protection is designed in the frame of the product and cable sealing is combined with a gasket. However, more space should be kept for cable routing, and thus it would lead to bigger size of the product. Further, this solution has another drawback that it will lead to water leakage in site due to being unreliable.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present disclosure is to overcome or at least mitigate above shortcomings of the prior art solution for finding an alternative solution to replace the outdoor connector and provide a low cost solution.
Further, another object of the present disclosure is to provide a cable protection kit and the RRU including it, wherein the innovative thinking is to use the standard indoor connectors by a simple connector protection solution.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, it provides a cable protection kit for RRU, comprising:
a main body having at least one hole for correspondingly accommodating at least one cable, wherein the at least one hole extends from a first end of the main body to an opposite second end thereof along a longitudinal direction of the main body;
a sealing member located onto the first end and at least partly enclosing the first end; and
a pressing assembly, located onto the main body adjacent to the sealing member and configured to press and deform the sealing member so that the sealing member fixes and seals up the cable protection kit to a frame of the RRU.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, it provides an Radio
Remote Unit (RRU) including the cable protection kit as described above.
These aspects and/or other aspects as well as advantages of the present invention will become obvious and readily understood from the description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings below, in which
In the discussion that follows, specific details of particular embodiments of the present techniques are set forth for purposes of explanation and not limitation. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other embodiments may be employed apart from these specific details.
Furthermore, in some instances detailed descriptions of well-known methods, structures, and devices are omitted so as not to obscure the description with unnecessary detail.
As can be seen from
With referring to
As shown, the main body 10 has a hole 50 which is configured to accommodate a cable 40. The hole 50 extends from a first end 11 of the main body 10 to an opposite second end 12 thereof along a longitudinal direction of the main body 10 (i.e., the direction from left to right of the drawing page). It should be understood that more holes can be provided within the main body 10, and the number thereof can be selected as required actually. Alternatively, more parallel holes can be provided onto the main body in the present invention, though the figure only shows one hole as an example. Alternatively, each hole can house one cable or more cable, if necessary. It is apparent that the present invention is not limited to this.
The sealing member 30 is used herein for fixation and sealing up. In one example, the sealing member 30 is provided in a form of a gasket, but the present invention is not limited to this. The sealing member 30 can be embodied in any form, as long as it can function for fixation and sealing up. For sake of briefness and conciseness, the sealing member 30 is called as the gasket below.
The gasket 30 is located on the first end 11 and encloses the first end 11 around the periphery of the main body 10. As described later, the gasket 30 is use to fix and seal up the cable protection kit 100 to a frame 210 of Radio Remote Unit 200. As shown, the gasket 30 entirely surrounds the first end 11. Of course, the gasket 30 also can be designed to partially surround the first end 11. That is, the form of the gasket 30 is not limited herein, as long as it can achieve the function as described above. In addition, the gasket 30 is made of an elastomeric material or similar material, for example a silicon rubber.
In
Further, the pressing assembly 20 is located onto the main body 10 adjacent to the gasket 30 and configured to press and deform the gasket 30, so that the gasket 30 fixes and seals up the cable protection kit 100 to the frame 210.
In combination with
The pressing assembly 20 includes a slide 22 and a holder 21 cooperated with each other. The slide 22 is capable of moving forward and backward onto the main body 10 by the holder 21 and the holder 21 is configured to provide a force for moving the slide 22 so that the gasket 30 is pressed and deformed by the slide 22. In this example, each of the slide 22 and a first part 13 of the main body 10 where the slide 22 is located is in a quadrate shape. This example is only intended to explain the working principle of the cable protection kit 100, and of course they can be changed into other shapes as long as they can function in the same way as described in the present invention. In addition, the slide 22 is made of plastic or metal and it can be moved by the holder 21. The holder 21 is made of plastic or metal, and used to provide the force for moving the slide 21.
At each of two opposite sides of the first part 13, a pivot shaft 60 is provided. The pivot shaft 60 is connected with a fixing hole of the holder 21 by passing though a traverse groove 24 on the slide 22. Further, a pin 23 for stopping and/or limiting the movement of the slide 22 is provided at each of two opposite sides of the slide 22 and housed within a slide groove 25 of the holder 21. Please be noted that since the slide 22 is needed to move forward and backward along the longitudinal direction of the main body 10, it is necessary for three of them to align substantially with each other. In one preferable illustrative example, the traverse groove 24, the pivot shaft 60 and the pin 23 are substantially located at the same height level at the same side of the cable protection kit 100. In one example, the slide groove 25 is in a shape of arc or curve, and intersects with the longitudinal direction.
As shown in
It should be understood that since the gasket 30 is positioned at the left side of the slide 22, and the holder 21 is positioned at the right side of the slide 22 opposite to the gasket 30, if a handle part 201 of the holder 21 is positioned above the main body 10 as shown in
As shown in
Please be noted that in the locking position, at least a part of the cable protection kit 100 is fixed with the frame 210, specifically, the gasket 30 is partly or entirely housed within the slot of the frame 210, so as to achieve the fixation and the sealing up.
Except that the bigger fixing force can be obtained by the design of the slot 211, 212, there are other means available, for example other fixing parts, like screw or clip. Please see
Alternatively, in the locking position, at least one protruding part 213 of the frame 210 is fixed with the pressing assembly 20 by means of a screw(not shown).
With referring to
With referring to
In this example, the pressing assembly 20′ includes a pressing ring 22′ and at least one holding part 21′. The holding part 21′ is located on the pressing ring 22′ and used to hold the pressing ring 22′, and thus it can be appreciated that the number thereof is not limited to the shown in the figure, and can be set as actually required. If a plurality of holding parts 21′ are used, they would be spaced apart on the surface of the pressing ring 22′. The pressing ring 22′ has an internal thread on its inner surface. A first part 13′ of the main body 10′ where the pressing ring 22′ is located has an external thread on its outer surface. That is, the pressing ring 22′ and the main body 10′ are fitted or installed with thread connection. In this way, the pressing ring 22′ can be screwed up from the second end 12 toward the first end 11 so as to press and deform the sealing member 30′. After the screwing up, as described above, the sealing member 30′ for example a gasket has at least one part fixed into the slot of the opening 220. In other words, the cable protection kit 100′ will be in the locking position, at this time. Of course, after the unscrewing process, the cable protection kit 100′ will be in the unlocking position. Alternatively, the clip or screw, the protruding part as shown in
Specifically, the pressing ring 22′ is provided with a slide groove 25′ and the first part 13′ of the main body 10′ is provided with a pin 23′ cooperating with the slide groove 25′ so as to stop and limit the movement of the pressing ring 22′ during the process of screwing or unscrewing. In one illustrative example, the slide groove 25′ is curved or spiral so as to match the screw or unscrew feed of the pressing ring 22′. Of course, the shape of the slide groove 25′ is not limited herein, and the skilled person can select any suitable shape as actually required.
In this example, an end surface of the first end 11 of the main body 10′ is provided with at least one fixing pin 26 for fixing with the frame 210. It can be seen that when in the locking position, the fixing pin 26 can provide a bigger fixing force for the cable protection kit 100′.
In addition, other embodiment of the present invention also provides an Radio Remote Unit (RRU), which uses or includes the cable protection kit as described above. Since the RRU is not improved in the present invention, its key point lies in the use of the described cable protection kit. Therefore, they are not discussed repeatedly herein.
In addition, the present invention provides a cable protection kit, rather than a connector. The above described indoor connectors can be used as the outdoor connectors by means of the present cable protection kit. Due to the current outdoor connector being very expensive, the present cable protection kit can significantly reduce the cost thereof. Further, the production line for the outdoor connector can be saved also. In the current solution, the connector should be fixed with the frame by 4 screws, and the present solution does not need any screw.
Moreover, for the present solution, the cable protection kit is very easy to assembly in site, because any tool and screws do not need.
The present disclosure is described above with reference to the embodiments thereof. However, those embodiments are provided just for illustrative purpose, rather than limiting the present disclosure. The scope of the disclosure is defined by the attached claims as well as equivalents thereof. Those skilled in the art can make various alternations and modifications without departing from the scope of the disclosure, which all fall into the scope of the disclosure.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2015/096643 | 12/8/2015 | WO | 00 |