Patent Application
20230400655
The disclosed subject matter relates generally to fiber optic cassettes
Fiber optic cables are often used as a medium fir telecommunication and computer networking due to their flexibility, high data capacity, and immunity to interference. Since light is used as the data transmission medium, fiber optic cables can carry data over long distances with little attenuation relative to electrical data transmission. Fiber optic cables are used in many types of applications, including local area networks that use optical transceivers, corporate intranets that deploy optical pathways for high-speed transmission of data on a corporate campus, or other such data transmission applications.
Fiber optic cassettes are often used to organize and manage fiber optic connections within telecommunication wiring enclosures. An example cassette-based system may include a fiber optic enclosure within which are installed one or more fiber optic trays, with one or more fiber optic cassettes mounted on each tray. These fiber optic cassettes typically house optical fibers within an enclosure or cavity defined by the cassette's walls, and include adapters mounted on their front edges on which the fibers are terminated.
The foregoing is merely intended to provide an overview of communication connector systems and is not intended to be exhaustive. Problems with the state of the art, and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein, may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.
The following presents a simplified summary of the disclosed subject matter in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the various embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of the various embodiments. It is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of the various embodiments nor to delineate the scope of the various embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the disclosure in a streamlined form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
Various embodiments described herein provide a fiber optic cassette having a design that eliminates the need for an enclosure or cavity in which to house the fibers. This fiber optic cassette design can reduce material costs associated with manufacturing the cassette, as well as reduce the size of the cassette's footprint while maintaining the ability to organize and interface optical fibers.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the disclosed subject matter, then, comprises one or more of the features hereinafter more fully described. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects of the subject matter. However, these aspects are indicative of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the subject matter can be employed. Other aspects, advantages, and novel features of the disclosed subject matter will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the drawings. It will also be appreciated that the detailed description may include additional or alternative embodiments beyond those described in this summary.
The subject disclosure is now described with reference to the drawings wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the subject disclosure. It may be evident, however, that the subject disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to facilitate describing the subject disclosure.
The main body of the fiber optic cassette 100 comprises a plate 102 on which an organizational structure 110 is mounted or formed. The organizational structure 110 is configured to organize, route, or secure optical fibers. A rear adapter 106 is mounted on a rear edge 112 of the plate 102. A multifiber connector that terminates a fiber optic cable (not shown) can be plugged into rear-facing receptacle 114 of the rear adapter 106. Another multifiber connector that terminates a fiber optic pigtail (not shown) can be plugged into the front-facing receptacle 120 of the rear adapter 106, and individual fibers of the pigtail can be separated out, traversed along the surface of the plate 102, and terminated on the rear sides of fiber optic adapters 104 mounted on the front edge of the plate 102. The adapters 104 provide connectivity between the individual fibers terminated on the rear sides of the adapters 104 and other fibers (not shown) plugged into the front-facing receptacles of the adapters 104 using fiber optic connectors. The adapters 104 can be configured to accommodate substantially any type of fiber optic connector, including but not limited to Lucent connectors (LC), Subscriber Connector (SC), multi-fiber connectors (MPO, MTP), mini duplex connectors (MDC), or other types of fiber connectors.
The organizational structure 110 can be used to organize the optical fibers; e.g., by holding loops of excess fiber, by routing the fibers to their respective adapters 104, by maintaining separation between fibers, or by supporting the fibers in other ways. Organization structure 110 may also comprise one or more splice holder configured to hold fiber optic splices that connect ends of incoming optical fibers to ends of patching fibers.
In some embodiments, the fiber optic cassette 100 may also include an integrated latching mechanism 116 that locks the cassette 100 in place on a tray or other mounting surface as part of a multi-cassette assembly module. In the illustrated example, the latching mechanism 116 is configured to engage with an aperture on a mounting surface (not shown) such that, when the cassette 100 is fully installed and locked into position, the latching mechanism 116 prevents forward and rearward movement of the cassette 100. The latching mechanism 116 includes a front-facing release latch 108. Pressing the release latch 108 disengages the latching mechanism 116 from the aperture of the mounting surface, allowing the cassette 100 to be removed.
The plate 102 that makes up the main body of the cassette 100 includes no walls along its rear edge 112 or along one or more of its side edges 118, and thus does not define a chamber, enclosure, or cavity within which the optical fibers are housed. That is, the cassette 100 is designed to be chamber-less, such that the optical fibers rest on the top surface of the plate 102—or are secured in place by the organizational structure 110—without being housed or enclosed within a chamber or cavity. Moreover, the plate 102 does not interface with a top covering or lid that would, together with the plate 102, define an enclosed chamber.
In some embodiments, the optical fibers can be covered or protected by means that do not involve housing the fibers within a chamber or cavity. For example, after optical fibers have been routed from the rear adapter 106 to the adapters 104, at least a portion of the plate 102 can be wrapped with a heat-shrinkable material or another type of form-fit or snug-fitting material to protect the fibers from damage and to secure the excess fiber in place. In another example, at least a portion of the top surface of the plate 102 can be coated with an epoxy resin or another type of coating to protect and secure the fibers. Other chamber-less means for protecting the fibers are also within the scope of one or more embodiments.
Adapter retainers 230 can be formed along the front edge of the main plate 208 of the cassette 200. These adapter retainers 230 are configured to receive and hold front adapters 202a and 202b. Each of the front adapters 202a and 202b comprises a row of front-facing adapter receptacles 204 that are each configured to receive a fiber optic connector that terminates an optical fiber (not shown). Corresponding rear-facing receptacles 238 of the front adapters 202a and 202b are configured to receive optical fiber connectors 216 (see
A flange 206 is configured to mount on a top of the adapter retainers 230, or otherwise mount to a front side of the chamber-less fiber optic cassette 200. The flange 206 comprises a base section 240 that mounts to the top of the adapter retainers 230 (or otherwise attaches to a front portion of the cassette 200) and an extended section 232 that extends toward a rear side of the cassette 200. While the flange 206 is mounted to the top of the adapter retainers 230, the extended section 232 is positioned above the fiber optic connectors 216 of the individual fibers of the pigtail. The flange 206 is a planar structure, lacking front, rear, or side walls (that is, the flange 206 has no walls on its front, rear, or side edges), and therefore does not enclose any of the fiber optic connectivity components within any type of chamber or enclosure. In some embodiments, as shown in
A flat sandwich assembly 210 is mounted to a top surface of the main plate 208 of the cassette between the raised rear plate 212 and the adapter retainers 230. The sandwich assembly 210 protects the individual fibers of the fiber optic pigtail that are routed from the multifiber connector 226 to the rear-facing receptacles 238 off the front adapters 202a, 202b.
The individual fibers 302 of the fiber optic pigtail terminated by the multifiber connector 226 are routed between the layers of the sandwich assembly 210 such that the fibers 302 enter the tail section 236 as a group and are evenly divided between the two curved arms 234a and 234b. In the example depicted in
The layers of the sandwich assembly 210, as well as the portions of the optical fibers 302 that reside between the layers, can be held together using any suitable mechanism or material. In an example embodiment, the space between the two layers can be filled with an epoxy resin or another durable, heat-resistant material. The layers of the sandwich assembly 210 and the optical fibers 302 can also be bound together using shrink-wrap or a vacuum sealing technique.
From the rear-facing receptacles 514, the optical fibers 506 traverse across the plate 504 and enter an opening 518 at a front-facing end of the tail section 502. Inside the tail section 502, the optical fibers 506 connect to an adapter 522 (e.g., an MPO/MTP adapter) installed in the rear-facing end of the tail section 502. In some embodiments, the ends of the optical fibers 506 can be terminated to a multifiber plug (not visible in
In some embodiments, the individual optical fibers 506 can traverse through a tube—e.g., a fully formed tube or an open partial tube, such as a ½ or ¾ tube or trough—that resides within the tail section 502 between the adapter 522 and the front opening 518 of the tail section 502. In other embodiments, portions of the optical fibers 506 within the tail section 502 can be wrapped with heat shrinkable material or another type of binding material.
Embodiments of the cover-less and chamber-less cassettes 100, 200, or 500 described herein are not limited to the designs depicted in
By contrast, rack 600 is designed to permit installation of, and access to, the fiber optic cassettes 608 without the need to install the cassettes 608 on fiber optic trays. Instead, the rack 600 comprises one or more slidable shelves, with each shelf comprising one or more vertical front panels 602 through which are cut rectangular openings 610 configured to retain the fiber optic cassettes 608. In the example depicted in
Multiple front panels 602 can be stacked on top of one another to allow more fiber optic cassettes 608 to be mounted on a single shelf. In the example depicted in
Embodiments of the rack 600 depicted in
The above description of illustrated embodiments of the subject disclosure, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications are possible that are considered within the scope of such embodiments and examples, as those skilled in the relevant art can recognize.
In this regard, while the disclosed subject matter has been described in connection with various embodiments and corresponding figures, where applicable, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments can be used or modifications and additions can be made to the described embodiments for performing the same, similar, alternative, or substitute function of the disclosed subject matter without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the disclosed subject matter should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims below.
In addition, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. Moreover, articles “a” and “an” as used in the subject specification and annexed drawings should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form.
What has been described above includes examples of systems and methods illustrative of the disclosed subject matter. It is, of course, not possible to describe every combination of components or methodologies here. One of ordinary skill in the art may recognize that many further combinations and permutations of the claimed subject matter are possible. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “possesses,” and the like are used in the detailed description, claims, appendices and drawings such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising” is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/350,109, filed on Jun. 8, 2022, and entitled “OPEN CASSETTE,” the entirety of which is incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63350109 | Jun 2022 | US |
