Patent Application
20150093089
1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relate to optical fibers and more particularly to optical fiber trays.
2. Background
Fiber optic patching systems have become prevalent in the structured cabling market. In central offices, data centers and other wired buildings, fiber optic patch panels have become the media of choice to route connections between switches, servers, storage devices and general office areas. By “patching,” or temporarily creating a connection between physically mated connectors, it is possible to reconfigure network connections from a central location.
In order to reduce the effective area that a patching system utilizes in a facility, suppliers of fiber optic cables and interface apparatus have taken steps to reduce the size of the fiber optic connector. In the context of fiber optic patches, the terms “adapter” and “coupler” are interchangeable. Both terms refer to a device that creates a connection between two fiber optic ferrules, each containing a light carrying fiber medium. An adapter typically contains a ceramic or phosphorous bronze alignment sleeve and one Of more features that provide for latching a connector into the adapter. An MT-RJ adapter, however, does not include an alignment sleeve because the fibers are aligned by precision pins and holes on the mating connector ferrules.
Separately, suppliers of fiber optic connectivity hardware provide modular cassette patching products to the premise industry. These cassette systems allow the user to create a passive network link with, minimal experience in fiber optics. A user can install the cassette into a vertical rack cabinet, connect a backbone cable terminated with an MPO (Multi-Fiber Push On) connector, for example, to the rear of the cassette, connect a patch cord to the front of the cassette and then on to an optical transceiver. The same is repeated at the other end of the backbone cable, thereby creating an optical data link.
Conventional vertical stacking techniques allow for the user to insert and remove patch cords from the patch panel as well as manage the fiber in vertical cable managers. Typically, modular cassettes or trays are designed to slide in and out of a rack through the front of the assembly. The trays are designed only for front entry of optical fiber cables. This limits the configurations that can be employed when designing an optical fiber cabling system in a building.
These and other disadvantages and/or limitations are addressed and/or overcome by the assemblies and methods of the present disclosure.
This disclosure is directed to a fiber optic tray assembly. The tray assembly includes a tray having a base portion configured to hold a fiber optic interconnect or splice. An adapter clamp is configured to be mounted to the tray to secure one or more fiber optic adapters to the tray at an angle greater then 0° and less than 90° relative to and substantially parallel to the base portion. A fiber manager is configured to be mounted to one side portion of the tray to secure one or more fiber optic cable leads exiting the tray toward the one side portion of the tray. The tray is approximately one half the height of a standard tray that holds fiber optic cables.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the present disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the disclosure. Generally, the drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.
The following Detailed Description refers to the accompanying drawings to illustrate exemplary embodiments consistent with the disclosure. References in the Detailed Description to “one exemplary embodiment,” “an exemplary embodiment,” “an example exemplary embodiment,” etc., indicate that the exemplary embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every exemplary embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same exemplary embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an exemplary embodiment, it is within the knowledge of those skilled in the relevant art(s) to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other exemplary embodiments whether or not explicitly described.
The exemplary embodiments described herein are provided for illustrative purposes, and are not limiting. Other exemplary embodiments are possible, and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, the Detailed Description is not meant to limit the disclosure. Rather, the scope of the disclosure is defined only it, accordance with the appended claims and their equivalents.
The following Detailed Description of the exemplary embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the disclosure that others can, by applying knowledge of those skilled in relevant art(s), readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such exemplary embodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and plurality of equivalents of the exemplary embodiments based upon the teaching and guidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by those skilled in relevant art(s) in light of the teachings herein.
According to the present disclosure, assemblies and, methods are provided for facilitating fiber optic patching. More particularly, the disclosed assemblies and methods generally involve mounting fiber optic patch ports arranged along a plane substantially parallel to the base of a tray assembly. The tray assembly is movably positioned within a cabinet enclosure, e.g., via a pivotal or translational (sliding) relationship, thereby providing easy access to the ports. The patch ports may be advantageously aligned at an angle to the front face of the tray to permit the fiber optic cable to be mounted from one side or the other of the tray, rather than being front-loaded, as in standard arrangements. In exemplary embodiments, cable management structures, e.g., fiber management clips, fiber guides, and/or cable management spools, may also be incorporated in order to further promote cable management.
It is important to protect the fiber cables as they are routed within the tray. Base 102 has formed thereon or attached thereto various cable winding features. An input fiber optic cable 201 (see
A curved guide 126 is fixed to base 102 of tray assembly 100 in such a manner as to guide cable 201 toward a splice holder or MPO fiber optic adapter panel 128. Splice holder or MPO fiber optic adapter panel 128 may be generally referred to as an “interconnect panel.” Curved guide 126 includes extensions 127a . . . n (collectively referred to as extensions 127) which aid in guiding cable 201 toward interconnect panel 128 and in retaining the cable within the bounds of curved guide 126. Guide 126 may be secured to base 102 in any manner that would be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art; alternatively, guide 126 may be fixed to base 102 by press fitting guide 126 into openings 130a, 130b formed in base 102.
After looping around cable guides 118, 120, and 126, incoming cable 201 terminates at interconnect panel 128. Interconnect panel 128 can hold multiple cable adapters or splices which split cable 201 into multiple fiber optic leads 202 (see
Interconnect panel 128 lies substantially in a plane bisecting base 102 such that the cable guides, for example, guides 118, 120, and 126, lie on one side of interconnect panel 128 and the lead guides, for example, guides 131 and 132 lie on the other side of interconnect panel 128, substantially as shown in the embodiment of
Fiber optic leads 202 terminate downstream of second circular guide 132 at a plurality of adapters 204a . . . n (collectively referred to as adapters 204). Adapters 204 collectively comprise an adapter pack for securing connections between fibers of optic leads 202 (and fibers of input fiber cable 201) and fibers of output fiber leads 206. Adapters 204 are mounted to respective openings 108 in adapter clamp 106. Adapters 204 may be mounted at an angle a greater than 0° and less than 90° relative to end wall 104 (or a vertical plane defining a side of tray assembly 100, for example, the front, user-accessible side of tray assembly 100 when mounted in a rack) and substantially in the plane of base 102, as shown in
Adapters 204 may be angled toward the left, as shown in
A plurality of fiber optic lead guides 136a . . . n (collectively referred to as guides 136) may be fixed to base 102 downstream of circular guide 132. Guides 136 operate to guide groups 203a . . . n (collectively referred to as fiber optic groups 203) of fiber optic leads 202 to respective groups of adapters 204. For example, guide 136a guides a first fiber optic group 203a to respective adapters 204a . . . d; guide 136b guides a second fiber optic group 203b to respective adapters 204e . . . 204h; and so on. A last group 203n of fiber optic leads 202 may lie outside the ambit of guides 136. Group 203n is fed from circular guide 132 directly to their respective adapters 204.
Tray assembly 100 is formed with pivot mechanisms that comprise pinched U-shaped openings 208 on both sides extending therethrough into which hinge pins (discussed in more detail below) can extend. This hinged mounting arrangement allows tray assembly 100 to pivot or swing to the outside of a chassis (discussed in more detail below) from either the left side (clockwise as shown in
Unlike standard fiber tray assemblies where fibers are brought out of a tray from the front, fibers 206 exit tray assembly 100 from the side through fiber manager 112. Fiber manager 112 comprises a substantially U-shaped portion 302 and an extension 304. Extension 304 Las an opening 306 at one end portion which fits onto a pivot pin 308 extending from base 102. This mounting an arrangement allows fiber manager 112 to pivot about pin 308 while retailing fibers 206 within fiber manager 112. Base 102 may have a pivot pin 308 on both the left side as best seen in
In one embodiment, adapter clamp 106 is mounted to tray assembly 100 by a snap fit arrangement. In this embodiment, shown in the drawings, adapter clamp 106 is formed with a resilient, substantially U-shaped portion 310 at each end (only one of which is shown in
In the embodiment shown in the drawings, cable 201 enters tray assembly 100 through opening 114 in side wall 107a. As will be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art, cable 201 could be fed into tray assembly 100 through corresponding opening 115 in side wall 107b. Half-moon guide 118 can be relocated to corresponding position 119 adjacent side wall 107b to guide cable 201 as it enters tray assembly 100 through the opening in side wall 107b. In that case, the rest of the guides remain unchanged, but fiber optic leads 202 will run through the opposite side of tray assembly 100 from that shown in the drawings via guides 126 and 120.
In the embodiment shown in
In one embodiment, the height of tray assembly 100 is about one half of a rack unit half U—or about 0.875 in. This height is approximately one half the height of a standard tray that holds fiber optic cables, helping to increase rack fiber capacity.
Embodiments have been described above with the aid of functional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specified functions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functional building blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenience of the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as the specified functions and relationships thereof are appropriately performed.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the disclosure that others can, by applying knowledge within the skill of the art, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments, without undue experimentation, without departing from the general concept of the present disclosure. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications are intended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presented herein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, such that the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is to be interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings and guidance.
The breadth and scope of embodiments of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.
