1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of remote enclosures for electrical equipment and, more particularly to improved housings for outside plant (OSP) telecommunications equipment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional housings for outside plant telecommunication equipment, such as the ADTRAN TA1148 OSP housing, are typically designed for a specific product and generally are product limited. When a service provider, such as a telecommunications company, requires significant changes to an OSP product or a manufacturer introduces a new product, it is often necessary to provide a new OSP housing. When the new housing requires geometric changes (e.g. size, PCB component changes, material thickness, etc.) such changes usually add cost and undesirable manufacturing delay. Hence, a new housing, if required, has undesirable consequences. As a result, there is a need for an improved housing that is readily available to meet new specifications and that reduces cost and delays.
Conventional OSP housings are subject to a variety of problems. For example, conventional OSP housings lack the ability to adapt to a variety of implementation requirements.
Further, such conventional housings require that separate housings be stored in inventory to address the needs of various products, manufacturers and applications. A reduction in parts inventory would be highly desirable. Further, conventional OSP housings are relatively expensive to produce, often because they require a very large casting. Further, existing OSP housings generally lack the ability to adapt to new requirements quickly. Lead times for a re-design of an OSP housing to accommodate new requirements can be significant.
The problems of the prior art are overcome or at least mitigated through the use of a modular OSP housing system as more particularly described hereinafter. A modular OSP housing system (“housing system”) disclosed herein addresses various problems associated with conventional OSP housings. The problems addressed include having a housing system that is adaptive to meet a variety of implementation requirements. When considering existing and future products the adaptability of the disclosed housing system results in a reduction in the number of housing components (solving a parts proliferation problem). For the new housing system (when compared to conventional housings) there is an improvement in reliability and a reduction in housing development costs.
The housing system of the disclosure has a modular design and is adaptable to meet the requirements of a variety of products. The new OSP housing system is comprised of a main body such as a main casting and one or more auxiliary bodies or sub-castings. Hence, the housing system may be viewed as blocks that are coupled in different combinations to meet a specific product requirement. Since modules are reusable, manufacturing cost is often spread over several products thereby reducing the cost of a specific product. In addition, further cost reduction is often provided as production volumes increase. Another benefit of the modular design of the housing system is the ability to form a new housing quickly. Since each component module is smaller the tooling is less complex and it is generally quicker to update or modify modules.
The invention is directed to an enclosure for outside plant electronic equipment, which has a main body for enclosing electronic circuitry and having a plurality of openings. A main body cover covers the main opening in the main body. An auxiliary body can be attached to the main body for enclosing additional electronic circuitry such as input/output circuitry. An auxiliary body cover covers the main opening in the auxiliary body. At least one opening in the main body aligns with an opening in the auxiliary body to permit connection of electronic circuitry in the auxiliary body to electronic circuitry in the main body, such as by using a connector. The enclosure is preferably weather resistant.
The invention is also directed to a method for configuring outside plant telecommunication equipment, by providing a main housing containing common electronic equipment; a plurality of auxiliary housings of different configurations with each auxiliary housing containing a different electrical interface to said common electronic equipment; and by attaching a selected one of said plurality of auxiliary housings to said main housing.
The invention is also directed to a method for providing outside plant telecommunication equipment by storing a plurality of main housings and a plurality of types of auxiliary housings each of which is configured to mount to the main housings. Each type of auxiliary housing may have a different configuration. Manufacturing personnel can attach the appropriate auxiliary housing for a particular application to a main housing. Wiring from the circuitry in the auxiliary housing can be attached to electronic circuitry in the main housing a connector.
The invention described herein will be more clearly understood from the following description in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:
Turning to
The main casting 200 has a cavity enclosed by the main casting 100 and the main casting cover 210 for containing and protecting the printed circuit boards of an OSP DSL system, such as an ADTRAN TA1148. The sub-casting 220 has a cavity for containing and protecting specific Input/Output devices that connect electronics, such as a DSL system, to the outside world, i.e., telecommunication cables. There are apertures between the main casting 100 and the sub-casting 220 permitting connection of electronics mounted in the main casting with Input/Output electronics contained in the sub-casting. When the main casting 100 is coupled to the sub-casting 220 a gasket placed in e.g. a gasket groove and provides a protective seal.
The main casting 100 is not product specific and can contain one or more PCBs for a variety of different products. In prior art housing designs, an entire assembly was built as one unit that was product specific and contained both PCBs and I/O modules. In the prior art housings, it was usually not feasible to have multiple products contained in one casting because the I/O requirements were usually significantly different. For the new housing a separate I/O, sub-casting 220 allows for different configurations to use the same main casting.
There can be different geometries for sub-casting 220 depending on product features or customer requirements. The same PCB housing and electronics can be used with different I/O assemblies associated with the requirements. Two possible sub-castings 300A, 300B are depicted in
One significant benefit of the modular approach is that parts are re-usable. In the past it was often not practical to develop different castings for different products. Hence there was often design compromises that required specification changes and/or unnecessary cost. However, some perceived needs were just too expensive. Some large housing sizes burdened an entire product line with unnecessary expense. In some cases products were not available for some potential markets.
The housing system of the disclosure provides for multiple custom housing structures. A manufacturer can have the same electronics connecting with different customer specific protection if necessary. (For instance, one product may require the ADC/switching block with protection and another product use the standard protector block with 5 pin protector modules).
In usage, the sub-casting can be utilized to contain the Input/Output circuitry for the communications equipment within the housing. These requirements tend to be the most frequently changed.
While various embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated herein in detail, it should be apparent that modifications and adaptations to those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as set forth in the following claims.
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