Patent Application
20060068634
The principles disclosed herein relate generally to electrical connectors. More specifically, the disclosure relates to telecommunications connectors.
In the telecommunications industry, connectors are used to interconnect cables to pieces of telecommunications equipment or to other circuitry (e.g., switches). U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,701, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, shows connectors 60 and 60′ mounted to the back wall of a digital cross-connect (DSX) module. In addition to modules, connectors are also frequently mounted to other structures such as telecommunications panels, frames, chassis, PC boards or other telecommunications components.
The present disclosure describes embodiments relating to a connector having a connector main body and a housing that mounts over the connector main body. The housing is adapted for securing the connector to another element such as a piece of telecommunications equipment.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various embodiments that are examples of how certain inventions can be put into practice. A brief description of the drawings is as follows:
The bulkhead 300 can also be referred to as a “conductor support” since it functions to hold the conductor 316, or a “connector main body”. As will be described below, the housing 320 includes structure for securing the connector 150 to a piece of telecommunications equipment or other structure.
A. Bulkhead and Cable Termination
Referring to
The bulkhead 300 also includes a housing mount 306 positioned between the sleeves 302, 304. Preferably the housing mount 306 is integrally or unitarily formed as a single piece with the bulkhead 300. The housing mount 306 includes a pair of radially-arranged guide rails 308 that project outwardly from opposite sides of the bulkhead 300. The guide rails 308 are generally elongate and extend in the axial direction. Each of the guide rails 308 has a generally square configuration with parallel sidefaces 309. Each guide rail 308 also includes a ramped front face 307. The housing mount 306 also includes a pair of flanges 310 located behind the guide rails 308 adjacent the crimp-supporting sleeve 304. The flanges 310 are arranged perpendicular to the guide rails 308 and project outwardly from the bulkhead 300. Each of the flanges 310 includes a curved outer edge 311 and a flat front face 313. The bulkhead 300 defines a lip 314 adjacent the front of the guide rails 308, where the housing mount 306 meets the connector sleeve 302 portion of the bulkhead 300 (best seen in
Still referring to
To terminate a cable 342 within the connector 150, the cable 342 is preferably stripped as shown in
In one embodiment, the bulkhead 300 is constructed of a metal material such as zinc die cast alloy. However, it will be appreciated that other materials can also be used.
B. Housing
Referring to
The housing 320 preferably has an internal configuration that complements the outer configuration of the housing mount 306 of the bulkhead 300. For example, as shown in
The housing 320 includes a pair of arms 332, on which the shoulders 322 are defined, that extend axially from the base portion 330 of the housing toward the front end 321. Each arm 332 includes a curved interior surface adapted to complement the exterior of the connector sleeve 302 of the bulkhead 300. The arms 332 include front edges 333 that are adapted to abut against the lip 314 defined around the perimeter of the bulkhead 300 when the bulkhead 300 is inserted within the housing 320. The front edges 333 of the arms 332 abutting against the lip 314 prevent the bulkhead 300 from moving axially rearwardly relative to the housing 320 once inserted therewithin.
In the depicted embodiment, the base portion 330 of the housing 320 includes a generally rounded outer surface. It will be appreciated that other shapes can also be used. As used herein, “rounded” refers to any shape that is generally curvate including cylindrical, elliptical, oval, etc. The base portion 330 preferably has a cross-dimension (e.g., diameter) D (best seen in
The base portion 330 of the housing 320 defines a flange 340 radially arranged around the perimeter of the housing. The flange 340 defines an exterior front face 341 and an interior back face 343, at the underside of the flange 340 (best seen in
The bulkhead 300 is inserted into the housing 320 from the back end 323 of the housing 320. During insertion of the bulkhead 300 into the housing 320, front tabs 312 of the bulkhead 300 may act as guide members for aligning the guide rails 308 with the internal grooves 328 of the housing 320. During insertion, the tabs 312 are inserted into the grooves 328 of the housing 320 and slid within the grooves 320 until they reach the end of the grooves 328. When the tabs 312 reach the underside of the ramped faces 324 of the shoulders 322, further sliding of the tabs 312 causes the arms 332 to deflect radially outwardly until the tabs 312 are pushed past the arms 332. Due to their inherent elasticity, the arms 332 deflect back radially inwardly after the tabs 312 are pushed past the arms. Even after the tabs 312 are pushed past the arms, the arms 332 stay slightly deflected by the exterior of the connector sleeve 302. The arms 332 stay deflected until the front edges 333 of the arms reach the lip 314 defined around the bulkhead 300. At that point, the arms 332 deflect radially inwardly to their original non-deflected position.
As discussed above, the sidefaces 309 of each guide rail 308 abut against the underside of the sidefaces 326 of each shoulder 322 to prevent the bulkhead 300 from rotating within the housing 320 once inserted therewithin. The front edges 333 of the arms abutting against the lip 314 prevent the bulkhead 300 from moving axially backwardly relative to the housing 320 once inserted therewithin. The front faces 313 of the flanges 310 abutting against the interior back face 343 of the flange 340 prevent the bulkhead 300 from moving axially forwardly relative to the housing 320 once inserted therewithin. As such, the bulkhead 300 is fixedly locked within the housing 320 once inserted therewithin. By flexing the arms 332 outwardly while pushing the bulkhead 300 in the opposite direction to the direction of insertion, the bulkhead 300 can be separated from the housing.
The housing of the connector preferably includes structure for providing a snap-fit connection between the connector 150 and a piece of telecommunications equipment (e.g., a jack module or a panel such as the cross-connect panel shown in
As used herein, the phrase “snap-fit connection” means a connection provided by a resilient member that flexes or deforms past a retaining structure and moves to a locking or retaining position by the inherent flexibility or elasticity of the resilient member. In the above described embodiment, the cantilever arms 360 move or “snap” past the panel by the inherent bias of the arms. The term snap-fit connection is not limited to resilient arms, but includes any structure (e.g., bumps, tabs, shoulders, etc.) that is deformed during insertion and moves to a retaining position by the inherent elasticity of the structure.
In one embodiment, the housing is made of a dielectric plastic material such as polycarbonate. However, other materials could also be used.
C. Cross Connect Panel
The depicted cross-connect arrangement includes two DSX jack modules 20 and 22. Each jack module 20, 22 is cabled to a separate network element (i.e., piece of telecommunications equipment). For example, jack module 20 is connected to equipment 24 by cables 26 through connectors 150b IN and 150b OUT, and jack module 22 is connected to equipment 28 by cables 30 through connectors 150a IN and 150a OUT. The pieces of equipment 24 and 28 are interconnected by cross-connect jumpers 32 placed between the two jack modules 20 and 22 through connectors 150 X-IN and 150 X-OUT.
Each jack module 20, 22 includes IN and OUT ports 34 and 36 for direct access to the equipment's input and output signals. Each module 20, 22 also includes X-IN and X-OUT ports 35, 37 for providing direct access to the cross-connect input and cross-connect output signals. Ports 34-37 provide a means to temporarily break the connection between the pieces of equipment 24 and 28 that are cross connected together, and to allow access to the signals for test and patching operations. The jack modules 20, 22 also include monitor ports 38 for non-intrusive access to the input and output signals of each piece of telecommunications equipment 24, 28.
A typical telecommunications central office includes many jack modules and a large number of bundled cables interconnecting the modules. Consequently, absent indicators, it is difficult to quickly determine which two jack modules are cross connected together. To assist in this function, the jack modules 20, 22 include indicator lights 40 wired to power 42 and ground 44. Switches 46 are positioned between the indicator lights 40 and ground 44. The indicator lights 40 are also electrically connected to pin jacks 48 located at the rear of the jack modules 20, 22. The pin jacks 48 provide connection locations for allowing the tracer lamp circuits corresponding to each of the modules 20, 22 to be interconnected by a cable 50 (i.e., a wire). The cable 50 is typically bundled with the cross-connect cables 32. When either switch 46 is closed, the indicator lamps 40 corresponding to both of the jack modules 20, 22 are connected to ground and thereby illuminated. Thus, by closing one of the switches 46, the two jack modules 20, 22 that are cross connected can be easily identified by merely locating the illuminated tracer lamps.
D. Connector Mounting Technique
Referring to
The openings 80 of the panel 60 also define opposing keyslots 84. The keyslots 84 have a generally square configuration. The keyslots 84 are configured to accommodate the shoulders 322 defined on the housing 320 when the connector 150 is mounted to the panel 60. The keyslots 84 may act as an orientation feature for guiding the connectors 150 into the panel 60 during insertion to insure that the housing is positioned in a desired rotational orientation relative to the panel. Once inserted, the keyslots 84 also prevent rotation of the connector 150 within the panel 60 due to the sidefaces 326 of the shoulders 322 abutting against the edges of the keyslots 84.
It will be appreciated that many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, and that the broad scopes of the inventions are not intended to be limited by the specific embodiments depicted and described herein.
