12 Fiber MPO to 16 Fiber MPO Conversion Module
A cassette module has three 16 fiber MPOs and four 12 fiber MPOs wherein each 16 fiber MPO has 4 fiber receiving areas with four fibers going to each fiber receiving area and each 12 fiber MPO has 3 fiber receiving areas with four fibers going to each fiber receiving area. Fibers are routed from certain areas of the 16 fiber MPOs to those of the 12 fiber MPOs in order to convert a base 12 communication system to a base 16 communication system.
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This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/088,724, filed Nov. 4, 2020, which claims benefit to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/932,170, filed on Nov. 7, 2019, the entireties of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates generally fiber optic communications and more specifically to cassettes for converting base 12 communications systems to base 16 communication systems.
BACKGROUNDMany large corporate accounts with on-premise data centers have invested heavily over the last 10+ years in LOMMF (Laser Optimized MultiMode Fiber) cabling systems based on “plug and play” 12-fiber MPO (multi-fiber push-on) connectivity (12 fiber trunks and 12 fiber breakout cassettes, see
In order to minimize costs for customers who have existing BASE12 array/MPO cable plant (as noted above) and obviate the need for “rip & replace” such for the deployment of SR8 optics, we suggest “SR8 mitigation” cassettes be attached to each end to convert the BASE12 cable plant to BASE16. These modules would repurpose/reposition/re-deploy the fibers from four, BASE12 MPO trunk units (48 fibers total) into three, BASE16 MPO connectors (48 fibers total) in the form of a module that has four 12 fiber MPO connector adapters in the rear and three 16 fiber MPO connector adapters in the front.
SUMMARYA cassette module has three 16 fiber MPOs and four 12 fiber MPOs wherein each 16 fiber MPO has 4 fiber receiving areas with four fibers going to each fiber receiving area and each 12 fiber MPO has 3 fiber receiving areas with four fibers going to each fiber receiving area. Fibers are routed from certain areas of the 16 fiber MPOs to those of the 12 fiber MPOs in order to convert a base 12 communication system to a base 16 communication system. There are fibers going from the first, second, and third fiber receiving areas of MPO Front Port 1 to the first, second, and third fiber receiving areas of MPO Rear Port 4, fibers going from the third fiber receiving area of MPO Front Port 1 to the second fiber receiving area of MPO Rear Port 3. In addition, there can be fibers going from the first and fourth fiber receiving areas of MPO Front Port 2 to the first and third fiber receiving areas of MPO Rear Port 3, fibers going from the second and third fiber receiving areas of MPO Front Port 2 to the first and third fiber receiving areas of MPO Rear Port 2, fibers going from the second fiber receiving group of MPO Front Port 3 to the second fiber receiving area of MPO Rear Port 2, and fibers going from the first, third, and fourth fiber receiving area of MPO Front Port 3 to the first, second, and third fiber receiving areas of MPO Rear Port 1.
The inside pinout of the 12 to 16 conversion modules can be as shown in
As can be seen in
The transceiver which will primarily be used in the link and accepts the 16 fiber MPO with these conversion cassettes has a Transceive (Tx) and Receive (Rx) pinout as shown in
Various cassette form factors can be used as carriers for the fanout described above. Smaller profile cassettes (1) as shown in
In a similar fashion, the cassette (3) of
An alternate embodiment to having the conversion module would be to instead have cable assembly (harness) which have three 16 fiber MPO connectors on one end of the assembly, and four 12 fiber MPO connectors on the other end of the assembly. This assembly could be attached to the existing cabling infrastructure by way of MPO coupler panels. The pinout depicted above would be identical to the pinout and polarity seen in this cable harness assembly.
While particular embodiments and applications of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction and compositions disclosed herein and that various modifications, changes, and variations may be apparent from the foregoing without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as described.
Claims
1. A module for connecting 16 fiber MPOs to 12 fiber MPOs comprising:
- a first, second, and third 16 fiber MPO, each MPO having a plurality fiber receiving areas, each fiber receiving area at least two fibers entering the fiber receiving area;
- a first, second, third, and fourth 12 fiber MPO, each 12 fiber MPO having a plurality fiber receiving areas, each fiber reception area has at least two fibers entering the fiber receiving area;
- fibers connecting a first and second fiber receiving area of the first 16 fiber MPO to a first and second fiber receiving area of the fourth 12 fiber MPO.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 13, 2023
Publication Date: Oct 26, 2023
Applicant: Panduit Corp. (Tinley Park, IL)
Inventors: Benjamin J. Berridge (Griffith, IN), Robert A. Reid (Battle Ground, IN)
Application Number: 18/209,196