Z-pluggable optical communications module, an optical communications system, and a method

An optical communications system comprising:

• a system housing having at least a bottom panel and a front panel, the front panel having a plurality of openings formed therein, the front panel residing in an X-Y plane that is orthogonal to a forward Z-direction and to a reverse Z-direction;
• a motherboard printed circuit board (PCB) mounted on an upper surface of the bottom panel;
• a plurality of arrays of electrically-conductive contacts disposed on an upper surface of the motherboard PCB;
• a plurality of guide systems disposed within the system housing in alignment with respective ones of the openings formed in the front panel, the guide systems being configured to guide respective Z-pluggable optical communications modules (OCMs) in forward and reverse Z-directions relative to an X, Y, Z Cartesian coordinate system within an interior space of the box, the Z-directions being normal to a plane in which the front panel resides;
• and
• a plurality of actuator mechanisms disposed within the box and mechanically coupled to respective ones of the guide systems, each actuator mechanism comprising:
• a cam configured to be actuated to impart motion to a respective one of the Z-pluggable OCMs in a downward Y-direction and to be actuated to impart motion to a respective one of the Z-pluggable OCMs in an upward Y-direction, and
• a screw mechanically coupled to the cam and configured to actuate the cam.

A method for edge-mounting Z-pluggable optical communications modules (OCMs) through a front panel of an optical communications system box, the method comprising:

• providing a system housing having at least a bottom panel and a front panel, the front panel having a plurality of openings formed therein, the front panel residing in an X-Y plane of an X, Y, Z Cartesian Coordinate System, the X-Y plane being orthogonal to a forward Z-direction and to a reverse Z-direction, a motherboard printed circuit board (PCB) being mounted on an upper surface of the bottom panel, a plurality of arrays of electrically-conductive contacts being disposed on an upper surface of the motherboard PCB, a plurality of guide systems disposed within the system housing in alignment with respective ones of the openings formed in the front panel, the guide systems being configured to guide respective Z-pluggable optical communications modules (OCMs) in forward and reverse Z-directions relative to the X, Y, Z Cartesian coordinate system within an interior space of the box, the forward and reverse Z-directions being normal to the X-Y plane in which the front panel resides, a plurality of actuator mechanisms being disposed within the box and mechanically coupled to respective ones of the guide systems, each actuator mechanism comprising a cam configured to be actuated to impart motion to a respective one of the Z-pluggable OCMs in a downward Y-direction and to be actuated to impart motion to a respective one of the Z-pluggable OCMs in an upward Y-direction and a screw mechanically coupled to the cam and configured to actuate the cam;
• providing at least one Z-pluggable OCM, the Z-pluggable OCM comprising a plurality of parallel OCMs (POCMs), a POCM PCB on which the POCMs are mounted, and an OCM housing in which the POCMs and the POCM PCB are housed;
• fully inserting the Z-pluggable OCM within one of the openings formed in the front panel of the system housing such that the Z-pluggable OCM is fully engaged with one of the guide systems;
• and
• actuating the actuator mechanism to cause a force to be exerted on the Z-pluggable OCM in the downward Y-direction until a plurality of arrays of electrically-conductive contacts disposed on a lower surface of the OCM PCB engage respective ones of said plurality of arrays of electrically-conductive contacts disposed on the upper surface of the motherboard PCB.