EP0485196A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Optical connection to backplanes
Assignee: Balfour Beatty PLC
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Filing: 1991-11-06
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-11-06
Abstract
Abstract Means for effecting a disconnectable optical connection between an optical guide carried by a circuit board C and an optical guide carried by or associated with a backplane B comprises in combination a two-part plug and socket mechanical connector and a two-part plug and socket optical fibre connector. Part 92 of the mechanical connector is movable to a limited extent with respect to the backplane or circuit board C on which it is carried and the other part 91 of the mechanical connector is fixedly secured to a circuit board or to the backplane B. Part 15 of the optical fibre connector is housed in and fixedly secured with respect to the fixed part 91 of the mechanical connector and the other part 16 of the optical fibre connector is slidably mounted in and with respect to the movable part 92 of the mechanical connector and is urged by a spring towards the mating end of the movable part of the mechanical connector. The optical connecting means can accommodate any play between a circuit board C and the rack in which the circuit board is disposed.
Inventors
- 👤 Michael Paul Knott
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 07:58
CPC Classifications
G; G02; G02B; G02B6/00; G02B6/24; G02B6/36; G02B6/38; G02B6/3807; G02B6/3873; G02B6/3885; G02B6/381; G02B6/3818; G02B6/3821; G02B6/3897
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
538 words
Means for effecting a disconnectable optical connection between an optical guide carried by or otherwise associated with a circuit board and an optical guide carried by or otherwise associated with a backplane, characterised in that the optical connecting means comprises a two-part plug and socket mechanical connector, one body part (2;32;52;72;92;) of the mechanical connector being so mounted on the backplane or on a circuit board (C) that said body part can move to a limited extent with respect to the backplane or circuit board in at least two rectilinear directions substantially normal to the axis of the connector and to one another and the other body part (1;31;41;51;71;91;) of the mechanical connector being fixedly secured to a circuit board or to the backplane (B) or being so mounted on a circuit board or on the backplane that said other body part can move to a limited extent with respect to the circuit board or backplane in at least two rectilinear directions substantially normal to the axis of the connector and to one another; and an optical fibre connector comprising at least two separately formed mating body parts (15,16), each of which body parts has at least one substantially flat end face with which an end face of at least one optical fibre (17,18) secured in said body part is substantially co-planar, one body part (16) of the optical fibre connector being slidably mounted in and with respect to one body part (2;32;52;72;92) of the mechanical connector with its axis substantially parallel to the axis of said body part of the mechanical connector and with its optical fibre or each of its optical fibres (18) optically connected to or integral with an optical guide (20) carried by or otherwise associated with the circuit board or backplane by which said body part of the mechanical connector is carried and being urged by resilient means (21) housed in said body part of the mechanical connector in a rectilinear direction substantially parallel to said axes towards the mating end of said body part of the mechanical connector and the other or another body part (15) of the optical fibre connector being housed in and fixedly secured with respect to the other body part (1;31;41;51;71;91) of the mechanical connector with the axes of said body parts of said connectors substantially parallel to one another and with its optical fibre or each of its optical fibres (17) optically connected to or integral with an optical guide (19) carried by or otherwise associated with the backplane or circuit board by which said other body part of the mechanical connector is carried or being slidably mounted in and with respect to said other body part of the mechanical connector with its axis substantially parallel to the axis of said other body part and with its optical fibre or each of its optical fibres optically connected to or integral with an optical guide carried by or otherwise associated with the backplane or circuit board by which said other body part of the mechanical connector is carried and being urged by resilient means housed in said other body part in a rectilinear direction substantially parallel to said axes towards the mating end of said other body part.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
24 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that the optical fibre connector is a two-part plug and socket optical fibre connector.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
63 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 2 in which one body part (1;31;41;51;71;91) of the plug and socket mechanical connector is fixedly secured to a circuit board or to the backplane (B), characterised in that one body part (15) of the two-part optical fibre connector is housed in and fixedly secured with respect to the fixed body part of the mechanical connector.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
91 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 3, characterised in that the fixed body part (1;31;41;51;71;91) of the plug and socket mechanical connector is fixedly secured to the backplane (B) and the body part (13) of the optical fibre connector housed in and fixedly secured with respect to the fixed body part of the mechanical connector is removable from said fixed body part of the mechanical connector through a hole in the backplane in a rectilinear direction away from the mating end of said fixed body part of the mechanical connector.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
86 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 4, characterised in that a supplementary body (96) having a hole therethrough is secured to the face of the backplane (B) remote from the mating end of the fixed body part (91) of the mechanical connector with its hole in axial alignment with the hole in the backplane, and said body part (15) of the optical fibre connector is detachably secured in the hole of said supplementary body and protrudes into said fixed body part of the mechanical connector.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
44 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of Claims 3 to 5, characterised in that the end face of each body part (15,16) of the two-part optical fibre connector lies in a plane substantially normal to the axis of the optical fibre connector.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
100 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 6, characterised in that the end face of the body part (15) of the optical fibre connector housed in and fixedly secured with respect to the fixed body part (1;31;41;51;71;91) of the mechanical connector lies in a plane substantially parallel to the major faces of the backplane (B) and the end face of the body part (16) of the optical fibre connector slidably mounted in and with respect to the movable body part (2;32;52;72;92) of the mechanical connector lies in a plane substantially normal to the major faces of the circuit board (C).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
168 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of Claims 3 to 7, characterised in that the fixed body part (15) of the optical fibre connector has a pair of substantially rigid pins (22) protruding from its mating end face substantially parallel to the central longitudinal axis of said fixed body part and disposed on transversely opposite sides of the optical fibre or optical fibres (17) secured in the fixed body part, the pins and the optical fibre or fibres lying in a substantially common plane, and the body part (16) of the optical fibre connector slidably mounted in the movable body part (2;32;52;72;92) of the mechanical connector has opening into its mating end face a pair of holes (23) extending substantially parallel to the central longitudinal axis of the slidable body part and correspondingly transversely spaced on opposite sides of the optical fibre or optical fibres (18) secured in the slidable body part, the pins and the optical fibre or fibres lying in a substantially common plane.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
51 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the end face of one or each body part (15,16) of the optical fibre connector is set back from the mating end face of the body part of the mechanical connector in which it is mounted.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
61 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 9, characterised in that the set back end face of the or each body part of the optical fibre connector is protected by a spring loaded shutter which must be opened against the action of its spring to permit the body parts of the optical fibre connector to effect a plug and socket connection.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
125 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the plug and socket connection between the body parts of the mechanical connector is effected by two substantially rigid pins (6) protruding from the mating end of the fixed body part (1;41;) of the mechanical connector and transversely spaced on opposite sides of and in substantially the same plane as the central longitudinal axis of said fixed body part, which pins will engage in two correspondingly transversely spaced holes (14;34) which open into the mating end face of the movable body part (2;32) of the mechanical connector and which extend substantially parallel to and lie in substantially the same plane as the central longitudinal axis of said movable body part.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
57 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the movable body part (2;32;52;72;92) of the mechanical connector itself effectively constitutes at least a part of a plug which is adapted to engage in a peripherally continuous or discontinuous shroud (3;33;53;73;93) constituting the fixed body part (1;31;51;71;91) of the mechanical connector.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
78 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the movable body part (2;52;72;92) of the mechanical connector is slidably mounted between a pair of transversely spaced guides (7;57;77) carried on a major face of the circuit board (C) or on a major face of the backplane, which guides are of such a form as to permit said limited movement of the movable body part in at least said two rectilinear directions.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
48 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 13, characterised in that said transversely spaced guides (7;57) are oppositely disposed longitudinally extending channels (9;59) and the movable body part of the mechanical connector has a pair of oppositely disposed longitudinally extending flanges (8;58) which are slidable within the channels.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
81 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 12, characterised in that the movable body (32) part of the mechanical connector is resiliently mounted in a recess (R) in the rear edge of a circuit board (C) by means of a plurality of coil springs (39) or other resilient devices mutually spaced at intervals around a part of the periphery of the body part between the body part and parts of the circuit board bounding the recess.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
43 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the two-part plug and socket mechanical connector additionally constitutes an edge connector for effecting interconnection between electric circuits of a circuit board and electric circuits of the backplane.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
68 words
Optical connecting means as claimed in Claim 16, characterised in that the plug and socket connection between the two body parts of the mechanical connector is constituted by a plurality of substantially rigid electric contact pins in one body part which will effect electrical connection in a plurality of similarly disposed plated through holes or other electrically conductive sockets in the other body part of the mechanical connector.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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