ENCLOSURE FOR RECEIVING FIBER OPTIC CASSETTES
An enclosure for receiving a fiber optic cassette is disclosed comprising a housing having cassette receiving housing portion and a fiber optic cassette receiving rack which fits in the cassette receiving housing portion. The cassette receiving rack comprises a pair of opposed elongate guide members extending parallel to and be spaced apart from one another. A first end of the rack is secured in the cassette receiving space between the top wall and the bottom wall for rotation about an axis between a first position, where the rack is received in at least a portion the cassette receiving housing portion and the at least one door is closed, and a second position wherein a second end of the rack is positioned outside the cassette receiving space and the at least one door is open. The opposed guide members receive each of the at least one fiber optic cassettes therebetween.
This application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/329,931 filed on May 25, 2021, which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 63/029,634 filed on May 25, 2020 and which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to an enclosure for receiving fiber optic cassettes.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTIONThe prior art discloses cross connect systems comprising cases which are designed to be mounted in 19″ racks or the like and which receive a large number of standardised fiber optic cassettes arranged side by side. The cassettes are typically inserted into the case from the front of the case and at right angles to the case, requiring at least a cassette's length of room in front of the case.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn order to address the above and other drawbacks there is provided a wallmount enclosure for receiving at least one fiber optic cassette. The enclosure comprises a housing comprising a cassette receiving space defined by a rear wall and a top wall, a bottom wall opposite the top wall and a pair of opposed sidewalls positioned between the top wall and the bottom wall, respective forwards edges of the top wall, bottom wall and sidewalls defining an opening to the cassette receiving space opposite the rear wall, at least one door, each of the doors comprising an outer edge hinged adjacent a forward edge of a respective one of the sidewalls for movement between an open position, wherein the cassette receiving space is open and accessible, and a closed position wherein the cassette receiving space is closed, a fiber optic cassette receiving rack sized to fit in the cassette receiving space and comprising a pair of opposed elongate guide members arranged in parallel and spaced from one another, wherein a first end of the rack is secured within the cassette receiving space between the top wall and the bottom wall for rotation about an axis between a first position wherein the rack is received entirely within the cassette receiving space and the at least one door is closeable and a second position wherein a second end of the cassette receiving rack is positioned outside the cassette receiving space and the at least one door is open wherein each of the at least one fiber optic cassette is receivable between the opposed guide members.
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Although the present invention has been described hereinabove by way of specific embodiments thereof, it can be modified, without departing from the spirit and nature of the subject invention as defined in the appended claims.
Claims
1. An enclosure for receiving a fiber optic cassette comprising:
- a housing configured having a cassette receiving housing portion;
- a fiber optic cassette receiving rack portion configured to fit in the cassette receiving housing portion;
- wherein the fiber optic cassette receiving rack portion comprises a pair of opposed elongate guide members configured to extend parallel to and be spaced apart from one another;
- wherein a first end of the rack portion is configured to be secured in the cassette receiving housing portion between a top wall and a bottom wall for rotation about an axis between a first position, where the rack portion is received in at least a portion the cassette receiving housing portion, and a second position wherein a second end of the rack portion is positioned outside the cassette receiving housing portion; and
- wherein the opposed elongate guide members are configured for receiving the fiber optic cassette therebetween.
2. The enclosure of claim 1, further comprising a door that is configured to move between a first position, where the cassette receiving housing portion is configured to receive a cassette, and a closed position, where the cassette receiving housing portion is not configured to receive a cassette.
3. The enclosure of claim 1, wherein each of the guide members comprises at least one rail arranged in parallel along a length thereof, wherein each of the at least one rail of a first of the guide members is arranged opposite a respective rail of a second of the guide members and further wherein each cassette comprises a pair of elongate rail receiving grooves, a first groove along a top side thereof and a second groove along a bottom side thereof and wherein the fiber optic cassette is configured to be received between respective opposed pairs of the rails.
4. The enclosure of claim 3, wherein the rack is configured to receive a pair of fiber optic cassettes, wherein each of the elongate guide members comprises a pair of rails such that one of the rails on located either side of a guide member center, and wherein each of the pair of fiber optic cassettes is configured to be received between respective opposed pairs of the rails.
5. The enclosure of claim 1, wherein a depth of the cassette receiving housing portion is less than a height of the cassette receiving housing portion and a length of the cassette receiving housing portion.
6. The enclosure of claim 2, further comprising a pair of the doors wherein in the closed position each of the pair of doors is positioned in front of the cassette receiving housing portion and inner edges of each of the doors are arranged immediately adjacent one another.
7. The enclosure of claim 2, further comprising a locking mechanism for releasably securing the door in the closed position.
8. The enclosure of claim 1, wherein the guide members are interconnected at either end by respective ones of a pair of elongate support members and wherein the axis is concentric with a first of the pair of elongate support members.
9. The enclosure of claim 1, wherein a rear wall comprises a plurality of keyhole slots for mounting the enclosure to a vertical surface.
10. The enclosure of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of the racks.
11. The enclosure of claim 10, wherein the plurality of the racks comprises a first rack that is configured to be positioned above a second rack.
12. The enclosure of claim 11, wherein the first rack is configured to rotate independently of the second rack.
13. The enclosure of claim 10, wherein each of the racks is for receiving a like pair of the fiber optic cassette.
14. An enclosure for receiving a fiber optic cassette comprising:
- a housing that is configured to define a cassette receiving housing portion that extends along a longitudinal housing direction of the housing and a cassette receiving opening located at a first end portion of the cassette receiving housing portion;
- a fiber optic cassette receiving portion that includes a longitudinal guide member that extends along a longitudinal cassette receiving direction of the fiber optic cassette receiving portion and is configured to longitudinally engage a longitudinal guide member engaging portion of a fiber optic cassette; and
- wherein the fiber optic cassette receiving portion is configured to rotate about an axis that extends along an axis direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal housing direction between a first position, where a first end portion of the fiber optic cassette receiving portion is received in the cassette receiving housing portion and where fiber optic cassette receiving portion is configured to prevent a fiber optic cassette that is received in the fiber optic cassette receiving portion from being removed from the fiber optic cassette receiving portion, and a second position, where a second end portion of the fiber optic cassette receiving portion is positioned outside the cassette receiving housing portion and where the longitudinal guide member of the fiber optic cassette receiving portion and the longitudinal guide member engaging portion of a fiber optic cassette are configured to allow the fiber optic cassette to be longitudinally inserted or removed from the fiber optic cassette receiving portion.
15. The enclosure of claim 14, wherein the longitudinal guide member comprises a pair of longitudinal guide members that are arranged in parallel and are spaced apart from one another.
16. The enclosure of claim 15, wherein the pair of longitudinal guide members are configured to longitudinally engage a fiber optic cassette therebetween.
17. The enclosure of claim 14, wherein the longitudinal guide member engaging portion of the fiber optic cassette comprises a pair of longitudinal guide member engaging portions that are arranged in parallel and are spaced apart from one another.
18. The enclosure of claim 14, wherein the longitudinal guide member comprises a pair of longitudinal guide members and the longitudinal guide member engaging portion of the fiber optic cassette comprises a pair of longitudinal guide member engaging portions.
19. The enclosure of claim 18, wherein one of the pair of longitudinal guide member engaging portions is configured to longitudinally engage a respective one the pair of longitudinal guide member engaging portions of the fiber optic cassette.
20. The enclosure of claim 14, wherein the fiber optic cassette receiving portion comprises a rack.
21. The enclosure of claim 18, wherein the fiber optic cassette receiving portion includes a first secured portion that is positioned in the cassette receiving housing portion so as to configure the fiber optic cassette receiving portion to rotate between the first position and the second position.
22. The enclosure of claim 14, wherein the first end portion of the fiber optic cassette receiving portion is configured to be secured within the fiber optic cassette receiving portion so as to allow the fiber optic cassette receiving portion to rotate about the axis that extends along the axis direction between the first position, where the fiber optic cassette receiving portion is received entirely within the cassette receiving housing portion, and the second position, where the second end portion of the fiber optic cassette receiving portion is positioned outside the cassette receiving housing portion.
23. The enclosure of claim 14, further comprising a door that is configured to close the cassette receiving opening when the fiber optic cassette receiving portion is in the first position.
24. The enclosure of claim 14, further comprising a door that includes an outer door edge portion that is hinged to the housing such that the door is configured to move between an open position, where the cassette receiving housing portion is open and accessible, and a closed position, where the cassette receiving housing portion is closed and not accessible.
25. An enclosure configured to longitudinally engage a fiber optic cassette so as to minimize a raised depth profile of the enclosure comprising:
- a housing having a depth extending enclosure portion that extends along an enclosure depth direction and a longitudinally extending enclosure portion that extends along a longitudinal enclosure direction;
- a rack portion having a depth extending rack portion that extends along a rack depth direction and is configured to fit in the depth extending enclosure portion and a longitudinally extending rack portion that extends along a longitudinal rack direction and is configured to fit in at least a portion of the longitudinally extending enclosure portion;
- wherein the rack portion includes a longitudinal rack cassette guide portion that is configured to longitudinally guide a fiber optic cassette along the longitudinal rack direction and allow the fiber optic cassette to longitudinally move between an unloaded cassette position and a loaded cassette position;
- wherein the rack portion includes a second rack end portion that is configured to allow the rack portion to move to a first rack position, where the rack portion is configured to prevent a fiber optic cassette from longitudinally moving from the loaded cassette position to the unloaded cassette position and minimize the raised depth profile of the enclosure by orienting a depth extending cassette portion of a fiber optic cassette that extends along a cassette depth direction of the fiber optic cassette to be substantially in parallel with the depth extending enclosure portion and orienting a longitudinal extending cassette portion of the fiber optic cassette to be substantially in parallel with the longitudinally extending enclosure portion; and
- wherein the second rack end portion is configured to allow the rack portion to move to a second rack position, where the rack portion is configured to allow a fiber optic cassette to longitudinally move from the loaded cassette position to the unloaded cassette position.
26. The enclosure of claim 25, wherein the housing includes a height extending enclosure portion that extends along an enclosure height direction.
27. The enclosure of claim 26, wherein the rack portion includes a height extending rack portion that extends along a rack height direction and is configured to fit in at least a portion of the height extending enclosure portion when the rack portion is in the first rack position.
28. The enclosure of claim 27, wherein the rack portion is configured to minimize the raised depth profile of the enclosure when the rack portion is in the first rack position by also orienting a height extending cassette portion of the fiber optic cassette to be substantially in parallel with the height extending enclosure portion.
29. The enclosure of claim 25, wherein the longitudinal rack cassette guide portion comprises a first longitudinal rail guide portion that is configured to engage a first longitudinal slot guide portion of the fiber optic cassette and a second longitudinal rail guide portion that is configured to engage a second longitudinal slot guide portion of the fiber optic cassette.
30. The enclosure of claim 25, wherein the rack portion is configured to position the second rack end portion inside the depth extending enclosure portion when the rack portion is in the first rack position.
31. The enclosure of claim 25, wherein the rack portion is configured to position the second rack end portion outside of the depth extending enclosure portion when the rack portion is in the second rack position so as to allow a fiber optic cassette to be longitudinally inserted into or removed from longitudinally extending rack portion when the rack portion is in the second rack position.
32. The enclosure of claim 25, wherein the rack portion is configured to rotate about an axis that extends along a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal enclosure direction between the first rack position and the second rack position.
33. The enclosure of claim 25, further comprising a door that configured to move between a first door position, where the rack portion is configured to move between the first rack position and the second rack position, and a second door position, where the door is configured to prevent the rack portion from moving between the first rack position and the second rack position.
34. The enclosure of claim 25, wherein the housing comprises a rear wall, a top wall, a bottom wall opposite the top wall, and a pair of opposed sidewalls positioned between the top wall and the bottom wall, and wherein the rear wall, the top wall, the bottom wall, and the pair of opposed sidewalls define the depth extending enclosure portion and the longitudinally extending enclosure portion.
35. The enclosure of claim 25, wherein a rear wall, a top wall, a bottom wall, and a pair of opposed sidewalls define a height extending enclosure portion that extends along an enclosure height direction, and wherein the rack portion includes a height extending rack portion that extends along a rack height direction and is configured to fit in at least a portion of the height extending enclosure portion when the rack portion is in the first rack position.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 28, 2022
Publication Date: Jul 6, 2023
Inventors: Christian Roa-Quispe (Laval), Lucas Rakoto-Sam (Montreal), Jacques-Olivier Boucher (Saint-Laurent)
Application Number: 18/147,064