Multi-fiber ferrule connector

US10698165B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• TE Connectivity Co. Ltd. · US

Inventors

• Michael Aaron Kadar-Kallen · Harrisburg, US
• Shelly Ann Buchter · East Berlin, US
• Nancy L. Reeser · Lemoyne, US
• Lalitkumar Bansal · Greenville, US
• Donald Eugene Dellinger · Columbia, US
• David Donald Erdman · Hummelstown, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 15, 2013
• Grant date: Jun 30, 2020
• Expiry date: Jan 24, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B6/3885
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A single-piece multi-fiber ferrule interconnect assembly including a ferrule body having a main surface, a front frame, and a rear opening, wherein the front frame includes a front face and a back face; a plurality of lenses arranged to form a lens array, wherein the lenses are fabricated within the front frame and recessed from the front face; a plurality of grooves on the main surface for receiving a plurality of optical fibers, the grooves extending from the back face toward the rear opening, wherein each groove comprises a terminus located at the focal point of a corresponding lens on the front frame; a well located on the main surface along the back face of the front frame, wherein inside edges of the well are curved and wherein the well is capable of accommodating an epoxy; and a plurality of guide pin passageways on the ferrule body each having a pin aperture for receiving alignment pins from a complementary ferrule body, wherein the pin aperture and the alignment pin from the complementary ferrule body align the ferrule front faces such that ends of the optical fibers align.