Multi-position fiber optic connector holder and method
AssigneeADC Telecommunications, Inc.
InventorsSoutsada Vongseng, Trevor D. Smith, Michael K. Barth, Jeffrey J. Norris, Steven C Zimmel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A housing including a plurality of openings for receiving fiber optic connectors and protecting the polished end face of the connectors from damage while the connectors are stored within a telecommunications connection cabinet. A module with a plurality of optical fiber cables connected to a first optical fiber cable and terminated by a fiber optic connector. Each of the connectors are inserted within openings in a connector holder for storage and protection until the cables need to be connected to a customer equipment cable.
Claims16
A telecommunications connection cabinet comprising:
- a top, a floor, a pair of opposing sides, a front and a rear defining an interior, the front including an opening for accessing the interior;
- a fiber optic splitter receiving a splitter input cable and splitting an optical signal carried by the splitter input cable into a plurality of splitter output cables, each of splitter output cables being terminated by a fiber optic connector;
- a fiber connection location including a plurality of fiber optic adapters, each fiber optic adapter having a front side and a rear side, the front side of each fiber optic adapter is configured to receive one of the splitter output cables and the rear side of each fiber optic adapter is configured to receive a rear cable, wherein each of the fiber optic adapters optically couples the splitter output cable received at the front side to the rear cable received at the rear side of the fiber optic adapter;
- a fiber storage location including a panel defining a plurality of openings, the panel having a front side and a rear side;
- at least one connector holder housing mounted within one of the openings of the panel, the connector holder housing having a front side and a rear side, the connector holder housing being configured to receive the fiber optic connectors of the splitter output cables only from the front side of the connector holder housing, the connector holder housing including a plurality of connector holder openings at the front side of the connector holder housing, each connector holder opening being configured to receive one of the fiber optic connectors of the splitter output cables, the connector holder housing adapted to be inserted into one of the openings of the panel through the front side of the panel, the connector holder openings being accessible from the front side of the panel when the connector holder housing is positioned within the opening of the panel, the connector holder housing being removable from the opening of the panel from the front side of the panel, and
- wherein the fiber optic connectors of the splitter output fibers are stored within the connector holder housing at the storage location, and wherein the fiber optic connectors of the splitter output cables are removed from the connector holder housing and inserted into the front sides of the fiber optic adapters to connect the splitter output cables to the rear cables.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.