JP6282929B2 - Electric wire twisting device, twisted cable manufacturing device, electric wire twisting method, and twisted cable manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a device for twisting a plurality of wires (particularly two wires), and more particularly to a device for manufacturing a twisted (twisted) cable mainly used for in-vehicle use.

  A twisted cable (twisted pair electric wire, twisted electric wire) is obtained by twisting two electric wires whose ends are end-treated (terminal crimping, etc.), and is mainly used for blocking noise caused by electromagnetic waves. Since it is cheaper than a coaxial cable for the same purpose, it is widely used as various signal lines mounted on automobiles. Twisted cables of various lengths (0.55m to 3.5m) are required, and in order to keep the electrical characteristics constant, the gap between the wires is small, and the twist pitch is constant according to the length. The value must be For this purpose, the lengths of the two electric wires are the same, and it is necessary to twist the wires while holding them with an appropriate tension. In particular, since the length of the electric wire becomes shorter than the length of a single unit by twisting, it is necessary to adjust the distance and tension between both ends following the progress of twisting.

  As an example of a method for producing such a twisted cable, an electric wire (terminal crimped electric wire, etc.) having both ends treated in advance is prepared, and two of them are manually attached to a twisting device and twisted by the same device. There is a way to match. As such a twisting device, a device that twists the wires in the same direction has been proposed so as to prevent a gap between the wires due to untwisting (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  However, since the process of preparing the end-processed electric wire and the process of twisting the electric wire are not continuous, it takes time and production efficiency does not increase.

  By the way, the present inventors have proposed an apparatus for manufacturing two terminal crimped electric wires in parallel with one apparatus (see Patent Document 2). When this mechanism for processing two wires in parallel is applied to a mechanism for twisting the wires, the step of preparing the terminal crimped wire and the step of twisting the wires can be performed on one device.

JP 2008-47387 A Patent No. 5060657

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electric wire twisting apparatus or the like having a high electric wire length accuracy and an appropriate tension applying mechanism. Furthermore, it aims at providing the twist cable manufacturing apparatus etc. with short tact time while performing wire end processing, such as terminal crimping, and twisting with one apparatus. Furthermore, it aims at providing the twisted cable manufacturing apparatus etc. with which the quality of the twisted cable to manufacture is high.

An electric wire twisting device serving as a base of the present invention includes a top clamp that holds one end of a plurality of electric wires arranged in parallel, a tail clamp that holds the other end of the plurality of electric wires, and the top clamp. And / or a clamp rotating means for rotating the tail clamp, and a clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism for adjusting a clamp interval which is a mutual interval between the top clamp and the tail clamp, and tension applied to the plurality of electric wires. And comprising.

  In the first electric wire twisting device according to the present invention, the clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism biases the moving table on which the top clamp or the tail clamp is mounted, and the moving table in a direction in which the clamp interval is widened. And an urging means for allowing the clamp to move in a direction in which the clamp interval is narrowed as the electric wire is twisted, and a stopper for determining a stroke end of the moving base in the direction in which the clamp interval is widened. And a stopper moving actuator that changes the position of the stopper, and when starting to twist the wire, the stopper is moved in a direction in which the clamp interval is widened to remove the slack of the wire. .

  At the beginning of twisting, the stopper is moved and the urging means is activated to remove the slack of the wire. Thereafter, the electric wires are twisted together while applying tension by the urging force of the urging means to the electric wires. Using a relatively simple mechanism, it is possible to start loosening of wires and smooth twisting in a short time.

  A first twisted cable manufacturing apparatus serving as a base of the present invention includes: an electric wire feeding unit that feeds a plurality of electric wires arranged in parallel; a top peeling unit that peels a covering of a top portion of the electric wire; A top end processing means for processing the processed top portion; a top drawing means for pulling out the processed top portion; a wire cutting means for cutting the wire into an arbitrary length; and a tail portion of the cut wire Tail peeling means for peeling the coating of the tail, tail end processing means for processing the peeled tail portion, and electric wires having the following A to D for twisting the plurality of parallel electric wires processed at both ends A twisting device; A) a top clamp for gripping the top portions of the plurality of wires; B) a tail clamp for gripping the tail portions of the plurality of wires; C) a front top clamp. And / or rotating means for rotating the tail clamp, and D) a clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism for adjusting a mutual interval between the top clamp and the tail clamp and a tension applied to the plurality of electric wires, Top passing means for receiving the top portion of the electric wire from the top pulling means and passing it to the top clamp of the electric wire twisting device, and passing the tail portions of the plurality of electric wires to the tail clamp of the electric wire twisting device Tail passing means.

  The second twisted cable manufacturing apparatus of the present invention is provided with a mechanism for narrowing a pitch between wires, which is an interval between the plurality of wires arranged in parallel, before passing the wires to the wire twisting device. It is characterized by.

  When peeling or cutting the ends of a plurality of electric wires arranged in parallel, the pitch between the plurality of electric wires arranged in parallel has to be widened to some extent (for example, 20 mm). This is because a space is required to accommodate the parallel peeling and cutting tools and devices. However, in the twisting step, it is necessary to make the pitch between wires narrower (for example, 10 mm) in order to reduce the load on the wires (described later). Then, after finishing electric wire cutting / peeling / end processing, before passing the electric wire to the electric wire twisting device, a mechanism for narrowing the pitch between the electric wires, which is the interval between a plurality of electric wires arranged in parallel, is provided. Thereby, the quality of a twist cable can be improved, enabling parallel processing of a plurality of electric wires.

The third twisted cable manufacturing apparatus of the present invention is characterized in that the mechanism for narrowing the pitch between the wires is provided in the top drawing means or the top passing means and the tail passing means. These means are suitable for providing a mechanism for narrowing the pitch between the wires.

The 4th twist cable manufacturing apparatus relevant to this invention is provided in the said electric wire feeding means, The feed line length meter which measures each fed distance of the said some electric wire, The said top drawer A lead wire length meter that measures the length drawn by the means, and whether each wire length measured by the feed line length meter has a predetermined difference or more from each other, is measured by the feed line length meter It further comprises wire length abnormality determining means for determining that there is an abnormality when a difference of a predetermined value or more occurs between each of the measured wire lengths and the length measured by the lead wire length meter.

  The fifth twisted cable manufacturing apparatus of the present invention controls a roller provided in the wire feeding means for clamping and feeding each of the plurality of wires, and a pressing force by which the roller presses the wires. And when the wire is fed by driving the roller, the pressing force is relatively high, and when the roller is in a freely rotating state and the wire is pulled out by the top pulling means, the roller and the wire The pressing force is relatively low in a range in which the slip does not slip.

  A sixth twisted cable manufacturing apparatus related to the present invention includes a moving table for moving the top passing means in the electric wire length direction, and an electric wire clamp for the top passing means mounted on the moving table. A mechanism for moving in a direction perpendicular to the length direction, and a resin cushion belt that spreads below the electric wire to be processed and conveyed on the tail side of the moving table and moves in the electric wire length direction together with the moving table It is characterized by having.

  Another twisted cable manufacturing apparatus related to the present invention includes the top passing means, the moving table for moving the top clamp in the length direction of the electric wire, and the top passing means mounted on the moving table. And a mechanism for moving the electric wire clamp in a direction perpendicular to the electric wire length direction.

  The second wire twisting device of the present invention is characterized in that an anti-swaying device is provided to stop the wire from twisting during twisting.

  The third wire twisting device of the present invention further includes a discharge tray for placing the twisted wires that fall after the top clamp and the tail clamp are released after the wire twisting, and the top The clamp and / or the tail clamp, the rotating means of the clamp, and the clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism that moves the clamp while being urged are suspended from a table disposed above the discharge tray. It is characterized by being arranged. When dropping the clamp-open product after twisting, eliminate the part where the product falling on the discharge tray (chute) is caught as much as possible. Thereby, work troubles can be prevented.

  In the first twisted cable manufacturing method of the present invention, a top that is one end of a plurality of electric wires is clamped by a top clamp, and a tail that is the other end of the plurality of electric wires is clamped by a tail clamp. While adjusting the mutual distance between the top clamp and the tail clamp and the tension applied to the electric wire, the top clamp and / or the tail clamp are rotated, and a plurality of electric wires are twisted to produce a twisted electric wire. It is a method, Comprising: The said wire twisting apparatus is used, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  The second twisted cable manufacturing method of the present invention includes a step of feeding an electric wire, a top peeling step of peeling a coating on a top portion of the fed electric wire, and a terminal is crimped to the peeled top portion. A top end processing step for performing a treatment such as a wire cutting step, a wire cutting step for cutting the end-treated electric wire of the top portion into an arbitrary length, and a tail peeling step for peeling the covering of the tail portion of the cut electric wire A method of manufacturing a twisted cable, comprising: a tail end processing step for end-treating the peeled tail portion; and a twisting step for twisting a plurality of wires end-treated at both ends, A twist cable manufacturing apparatus is used.

  As the twisting progresses, the length of the wires twisted gradually decreases. According to the present invention, when two (a plurality of) electric wires are twisted together, one end of the electric wire is pulled to give tension, and the same end in the longitudinal direction of the electric wire according to the contraction allowance of the electric wire. Since it moves, an electric wire can be maintained with appropriate tension. Therefore, a twisted cable having a uniform twisting pitch and a small gap between wires can be manufactured. Furthermore, if this twisting device is incorporated into a two-wire (multi-wire) terminal crimping device, the twisting operation can be carried out continuously after the wire end treatment (peeling, terminal crimping, etc.). Production efficiency can be increased without the need for mounting on a twisting device. Alternatively, a twist cable manufacturing apparatus with a short tact time can be provided. In addition, a twisted cable manufacturing apparatus with high quality of the manufactured twisted cable can be provided.

It is a top view which shows typically the whole structure of the twist cable manufacturing apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a side view of an electric wire feeder. It is a side view of a top drawer device. It is a side view which shows the positional relationship of an electric wire feeder and a top drawer | drawing-out apparatus. It is a side view of the clamp part of a top drawer device. It is a top view of the clamp part of a top drawer device. It is a side view which shows the structure of a top delivery apparatus and a movement table. It is a top view which shows the structure of the top delivery apparatus of FIG. 7, and a movement table. It is the front view seen from the top side which shows the structure of the top delivery apparatus of FIG. 7, and a movement table. FIG. 10A is a side view of the table moving mechanism, and FIG. 10B is a front view. It is the side view seen from the discharge | emission side of a tail delivery apparatus, and the raising / lowering mechanism of a clamp is mainly shown. It is the front view seen from the top side of a tail delivery device, and mainly shows the clamp interval change mechanism (electric wire pitch change mechanism) of a clamp. It is a top view of a tail delivery apparatus. It is the side view which looked at the top rotation unit from the discharge side. This is the state before starting the wire twisting operation. It is the side view which looked at the top rotation unit of FIG. 14 from the discharge side. It is the state after the end of the wire twisting operation. The pneumatic piping system of the biasing cylinder is also schematically shown. It is the bottom view which looked at the top rotation unit of Drawing 14 from the bottom. Similarly to FIG. 14, it is a state before the start of the wire twisting operation. It is the front view which looked at the top rotation unit of FIG. 14 from the tail side. It is the figure which looked at the tail side from the top side of the wire twisting apparatus for showing tail side electric wire steadying and X direction center part electric wire steadying. It is a typical top view for explaining a twist cable manufacturing process. It is a typical top view for explaining a twist cable manufacturing process. It is a typical top view for explaining a twist cable manufacturing process. It is a flowchart explaining a twist cable manufacturing process. It is a typical top view which shows an example of a twist cable.

Good form for carrying out the invention

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Overall Configuration of Twist Cable Manufacturing Device With reference to FIG. 1, the overall configuration of a twist cable manufacturing device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. The twisted (twisted) cable is a cable obtained by twisting two electric wires W1 and W2 that are end-treated such as crimping a terminal T on both ends as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the twist cable manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the following main parts.
Similar to the two-wire crimped wire manufacturing device proposed by the present inventors (Patent No. 5060657), a wire feeding device that feeds the wire from each of the two wire bundles and clamps the tip of the wire ( Means) 100.
A peeling device (means) 200 for peeling off the coating on the tip (top) of the electric wire.
A terminal crimping device (means) 210 for crimping a terminal to the end of the peeled electric wire.
An electric wire cutting device (means) 230 for cutting an electric wire having a terminal crimped to the tip into an arbitrary length.
A clamping device (means) 240 for clamping the rear end (tail) portion of the cut electric wire.
Peeling device (means) 250 for peeling the covering of the rear end of the cut electric wire.
A terminal crimping device (end processing means) 260 for crimping a terminal to the peeled rear end.

Furthermore, the twisted cable manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the following main parts that are not present in the two-wire crimped electric wire manufacturing apparatus of the above-mentioned patent.
A top pulling device (means) 1300 for grasping the leading end portion of the electric wire cut by the cutting device 230 and crimped to the terminal and pulling it out to an arbitrary length. The top drawing device 1300 can narrow the distance between the axes of the two electric wires W1 and W2 (the dimension in the Y direction, the pitch between the wires) from 20 mm at the time of drawing to 10 mm after the drawing of the wires.
Wire twisting device 1400 that twists two wires with terminals crimped at both ends.
The wire twisting device 1400 has a top rotating unit (rotating means) 1400A that rotates by gripping the tip (top) of the cut wire, and a tail rotation that rotates by gripping the rear end (tail) of the wire. Unit 1400B. A discharge tray 1800 that accommodates the manufactured twisted cable is disposed below both units.

Furthermore, the twisted cable manufacturing apparatus 1 is also provided with the following main parts.
A top delivery device (delivery means) 1600 for transferring the top of the cut electric wire from the top drawing device 1300 to the top rotating unit 1400A of the twisting device.
A tail transfer device (delivery means) 1700 for transferring the tail of the cut electric wire from the tail clamp device 240 to the tail rotation unit 1400B of the twisting device. The tail delivery device 1700 can narrow the distance between the shaft centers of the two received wires W1 and W2 (the dimension in the Y direction, the pitch between wires) from 20 mm when pulled out to 10 mm.

(Priority basic application 0034)
In the following description, the electric wire remaining on the electric wire bundle side after being cut by the cutting device 230 is referred to as a residual electric wire or a primary electric wire, and the previous electric wire cut from the electric wire bundle is referred to as a cut electric wire or a secondary electric wire ( (See FIG. 1). Also, the wire feeding direction by the wire feeding device 100 (the length direction of the wire is referred to as the X direction, the front side (+ side) in the X direction is referred to as the top side, and the rear side (−X side) is referred to as the tail side. In addition, the direction in which the secondary electric wires are sent perpendicular to the X direction is referred to as the Y direction, the original side (− side) in the Y direction is referred to as the anti-discharge side, and the front side (+ side) is referred to as the discharge side.

  In the initial state in which the primary side electric wire is started to be sent to the wire feeder 100 to manufacture the next twisted cable product, the wire feeder 100, the cutting device 230, the tail clamp device 240, and the top drawing device 1300 are: The wires drawn from the two wire bundles are arranged in series in series in a direction (X direction) with a predetermined interval therebetween. The position in the Y direction of the wire feeding device 100 in the initial state is referred to as a wire feeding position Y0 (also referred to as an origin). Further, the X-direction position in the initial state of the top drawer device 1300 is referred to as an initial position X0.

  The wire feeding device 100 is movable in the −Y direction from the wire feeding position Y0. The top peeling device 200 is disposed at a position Y1 (top peeling position) that is a predetermined distance away from the wire feeding position Y0 in the -Y direction, and the top terminal crimping device 210 is further from the top peeling position Y1 in the -Y direction. It is arrange | positioned in the position (top terminal crimping | compression-bonding position) Y2 which was distant.

  The tail clamp device 240 is movable in the + Y direction from the wire feed position Y0. The tail peeling device 250 is disposed at a position Y3 (tail peeling position) that is a predetermined distance away from the wire feed position Y0 in the + Y direction, and the tail terminal crimping device 260 is further separated from the tail peeling position Y3 in the + Y direction. Is located at the position Y4 (tail terminal crimping position).

The top drawer device 1300 is movable in the X direction from the origin position X0.
The wire twisting device 1400 is disposed at a position Y5 that is a predetermined distance away from the tail terminal crimping position Y4 in the + Y direction. The tail rotation unit 1400B is fixed in the XY direction, but the top rotation unit 1400A is movable in the X direction (details will be described later).

Next, each device will be described.
Wire feeder 100
The electric wire feeder will be described with reference to FIG. The electric wire feeder 100 basically has the same configuration and operation as the two-wire crimped electric wire manufacturing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5060657.

  The electric wire feeding device 100 arranges and clamps the tops of the electric wires fed out from the two electric wire bundles in parallel with the electric wire feeding direction, and sends out these electric wires along the electric wire feeding direction. The apparatus 100 includes a roller unit 110 that feeds and grips an electric wire. The roller unit 110 includes a left and right roller pair 120, a motor 130 that drives each of the left and right roller pair 120, a left and right roller pair support plate 140, and a base plate 150 on which these are mounted. Since these rollers clamp and send the electric wire, they can also be called feed / clamp rollers.

  The left and right roller support plates 140 are disposed on the left and right sides of the base plate 150 so as to be parallel to the wire feeding direction. Two upper and lower arms 141 and 142 extending forward are attached to the upper portion of each roller support plate 140 so as to be rotatable. Upper and lower rollers 121 and 122 constituting a roller pair 120 are rotatably attached to the tips of the arms 141 and 142. The interval between the upper and lower rollers 121 and 122 can be changed by turning the arms 141 and 142 by the cylinder 148. Further, the pressing force between the upper and lower rollers 121 and 122, that is, the pressure applied to the coating surface of the electric wire held by both rollers can be adjusted. More specifically, the air pressure applied to the cylinder 148 is controlled by the electric control pressure adjustment valve 149 in the pneumatic line 147. Detailed configurations of the roller, arm, and cylinder are described in FIG. 12.5 of Japanese Patent No. 5060657 and paragraphs 0053 to 67 of the specification.

  In the present embodiment, a relatively high pressing force is applied to the electric wire when the electric wire is clamped and fed by the roller 120, and a comparatively low pressing force (a degree to avoid slipping of the roller) is applied when the electric wire is extracted by the top drawing device 1300. Thereby, it can prevent that an indentation etc. adhere to the electric wire coating surface at the time of electric wire drawing-out. The value of the pneumatic pressure can be selected depending on the size and material of the electric wire.

  Gears are coaxially fixed to the upper and lower rollers 121 and 122 of the pair of left and right rollers, and these gears mesh with the upper and lower drive gears 125 and 126, respectively. The upper and lower drive gears 125 and 126 are arranged to mesh with each other. A timing belt 133 is wound between a pulley fixed on the same axis as the lower drive gear 126 and a pulley fixed to the output shaft of the motor 130. With such a configuration, when the motor 130 is stopped, the electric wire is sandwiched and clamped between the outer peripheral surfaces of the upper and lower rollers 121 and 122, and when the motor 130 is driven, the upper and lower drive gears 125 and 126 are used to The rollers 121 and 122 rotate in the opposite direction, and the electric wire is sent out. A nozzle 135 through which the electric wire is inserted is attached in front of the contact surfaces of the upper and lower rollers 121 and 122.

  The motor 130 is a servo motor with a built-in encoder. The motor feeds back the rotation angle signal measured by the encoder to the control unit (semi-closed control), and controls the operation amount so as to reach the target movement amount. It is also possible to make only the encoder function by releasing the electromagnetic brake and making it servo-free. That is, when the electric wire is pulled out in a free rotating state without driving the motor, the rotating shaft of the motor rotates, so that the pulling amount can be measured by the encoder. Thereby, while being able to send out each of two electric wires independently, the sending length for every electric wire can be known.

  Each roller support plate 140 is biased upward by a spring (not shown) with respect to the base plate 150 so that the upper limit height is a predetermined wire feed height between the upper and lower rollers 121 and 122. Is set. Furthermore, each roller support plate 140 is supported so as to be movable in the vertical direction with respect to the base plate 150, and the height of the contact surface of the upper and lower rollers 121, 122 is lowered following the crimping at the time of terminal crimping. (Sink mechanism). Thereby, it can prevent that an electric wire bends or bends to middle-high at the time of terminal crimping.

The base plate 150 is supported on the table 160 so as to be movable in the X direction by a moving mechanism 151 including a ball screw, a motor for driving the ball screw, a linear guide, and a slider. At the time of peeling or terminal crimping, the base plate 150 moves forward in the X direction, and the peeling work or terminal crimping work is performed.
Further, the table 160 is supported so as to be movable in the Y direction on the machine base 3 by a moving mechanism 161 composed of a turning arm, a motor for driving the turning arm, a linear guide, a slider, and the like. Thereby, the electric wire feeder 100 moves to the top peeling position Y1 or the top terminal crimping position Y2.

Like cutting device 230 and peeling device 200 will now be described a cutting device and peeling device. The cutting device 230, the top peeling device 200, the top terminal crimping device 210, the tail peeling device 250, the tail terminal crimping device 260 and the tail clamp device 240 are basically a two-wire crimping wire manufacturing device (Patent No. 5060657). ) Have the same configuration and operation as each device. The outline of these will be described below.

  The cutting device 230 has two sets of cutting blades for cutting two electric wires arranged in parallel, and cuts the two electric wires at the same time. The tail clamp device 240 has a clamp portion that holds the tail side end portions of two electric wires arranged in parallel, and is movable from the wire feed position Y0 to the tail peeling position Y3 and the tail terminal crimping position Y4. The top and tail peeling devices 200, 250 have two sets of blades for peeling two wires in parallel, and peel the two wires at the same time. The top and tail terminal crimping apparatuses 210 and 260 include a pair of terminal crimping machines, and perform terminal crimping processing with two wires one by one at different times.

Top drawer Apparatus Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the overall structure of the top drawer device.
The top drawing device 1300 moves the clamp portion 1310 that grips the tips of the two wires fed from the wire feeding device 100 (FIG. 1) and the clamp portion 1310 in the X direction at the origin position Y0 in the Y direction. And a moving mechanism 320 to be moved. The moving length in the + X direction is determined by the length of the twisted cable product before twisting (for example, about 3.5 m).

  The clamp unit 1310 includes a total of two sets for holding each of the two electric wires W1 and W2, and includes a pair of upper and lower clamps 1311 and an opening / closing mechanism (described later) for the clamps 1311. The clamp portion 1310 is attached to the tail side end of the horizontally long support plate 315.

  The moving mechanism 320 includes a linear guide 321 laid on a fixed base (not shown) so as to extend in the X direction, two sliders 322 engaged with the guide 321, a timing belt 325, and a timing belt 325. And a motor 327 for driving the motor. The length of the linear guide 321 is about 4 m. A pulley 329 is disposed near both ends of the linear guide 321, and the rotation shaft of the motor 327 is connected to the rotation shaft of one (top side) pulley 329. A timing belt 325 is wound between the pulleys. The tension of the timing belt 325 is adjusted by pressing rollers 331 at a plurality of locations. The motor 327 is a servo motor with an encoding.

  A support plate 315 that supports the clamp portion 1310 has a slider 322 that is engaged with the linear guide 321 attached to the back surface, and is fixed to the timing belt 325 by a connecting plate 317. When the motor 327 is driven, the timing belt 325 circulates between the pulleys 329. By appropriately reversing the rotation direction of the motor 327, the connection plate 317 together with the timing belt 325 moves between the pulleys 329 in both directions in the X direction along the linear guide 321. Both movement limits of the fixed plate 317 are detected by a sensor or the like.

  By the movement of the connecting plate 317, the clamp portion 1310 can also move in the X direction at the origin position Y0 in the Y direction. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the clamp portion 1310 is separated from the tip of the nozzle 135 of the wire device feeder 100 by a predetermined distance (about 160 mm, for example) + X direction at the origin position X0 in the X direction. Waiting for position. Then, the wire moves by the distance in the −X direction and approaches the wire feeding device 100 (clamp position, X1). After holding the top of the wire held by the device 100, the wire moves in the + X direction and moves to the wire. Is pulled out from the wire feeder 100. The pull-out distance can be any distance up to 3500 mm in this example. Since the motor 327 includes an encoder, the moving distance (cable drawing length) from the clamp position (X1) of the clamp portion 1310 is calculated based on the number of rotations of the rotation shaft of the motor 327.

  Here, when each wire feeding motor 130 of the wire feeding device 100 is servo-free and the top drawing device 1300 draws the wire (moves in the + X direction), the drawing length (the moving distance of the clamp portion 1310) There can be three types of values (L1, L2) for each electric wire calculated by the encoder of each motor 130 of the feeding device 100 and a value (M) calculated by the encoder of the motor 327 of the top drawing device 1300. become. Ideally, these values are the same, but depending on the effect of wire slip or wire elongation, the values of L1 and L2 are different, or even if the values of L1 and L2 are the same, this value is M Can be different. In such a case, there is a concern that defects may occur in the electrical characteristics of the manufactured twisted cable. Therefore, in such a case, it can be determined that the process is abnormal. Specifically, it is determined that there is no problem if the difference between L1 and L2, the difference between M and L1, and the difference between M and L2 is equal to or less than a preset threshold value, and if it is greater than this, it is determined that the process is abnormal In addition, inspection and adjustment of the device can be performed.

Clamp part 1310 of top drawer device 1300
Next, a specific embodiment of the clamp portion 1310 of the top drawer device 1300 will be described with reference to FIGS. The clamp part 1310 of this embodiment is characterized by having a clamp interval (inter-wire pitch) changing mechanism 1350.
FIG. 5 is a side view of the clamp portion 1310 of the top drawer device 1300.
FIG. 6 is a plan view of the clamp portion 1310 of the top drawer device 1300.

  The clamp portion 1310 of the top drawer device 1300 is mounted on the tail side end portion of the movable table 1371 (corresponding to the support plate 315 in FIG. 3) shown in the lower right of FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the clamp portion 1310 has a pair of clamps (an anti-discharge side clamp 1311 and a discharge side clamp 1311 ′) that face each other in the Y direction. Each clamp 1311 grips one of the two electric wires W1 and W2. Each clamp 1311 has a clamp opening / closing link mechanism 1313 individually. In addition, a clamp interval changing mechanism 1350 is provided for changing the axial center distance K in the Y direction of both the clamps 1311 (substantially corresponding to the pitch between the wires).

  First, the clamp 1311 itself will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the clamps 1311 are a pair of upper and lower similar ones that open and close like a shed. Here, the upper clamp 1311 will be described. The clamp body 1324 and its base arm 1325 are rod-shaped and rotate around the pin 1327. A claw 1321 is attached to the tip of the clamp body 1324 via a pin 1323. The claw 1321 is pressed against the outer surface of the insulating coating of the wire W when the clamp is closed. At this time, since the claw 1321 is rotatable around the pin 1323, the claw 1321 hits uniformly in each part in the X direction and parallel to the outer surface of the wire W coating. This prevents the edge of the claw 1321 from being on one side of the outer surface of the insulating coating of the wire W and scratching the insulating coating.

  A clamp opening / closing link mechanism 1313 including a link A 1329 (integrated with the arm 1325), a link B 1333, a pin 1331, and a pin 1335 is connected to the root of the arm 1325 via a pin 1327. The pin 1335 is driven in the X direction by the rod 1338 (FIG. 6) of the clamp opening / closing cylinder 1339 via the clevis 1334. FIG. 5 shows the state in which the clamp 1311 is open. When the pin 1335 moves from here to the top side (+ X), the clamp 1311 is closed and the wire W is gripped. The link mechanism 1313 is arranged in the frame 1330.

  Next, the clamp interval changing mechanism 1350 will be described mainly with reference to FIG. The mechanism 1350 is shown in the lower part of FIG. 5, and moves the frame 1330 of the clamp opening / closing link mechanism 1313 and the plate 1351 on which the clamp opening / closing cylinder 1339 is mounted in the Y direction (the front-rear direction in FIG. 5). It is. An air chuck slider 1353 and a linear guide slider 1361 are attached to the lower surface of the plate 1351. The air chuck slider 1353 is driven in the Y direction on the air chuck rail 1355 by the air pressure supplied to the air chuck body 1357. The linear guide slider 1361 slides on the linear guide rail 1363. Commercially available air chucks and linear guides can be used. The reason why both the air chuck and the linear guide are used together is to smoothly move the clamp portion 1310 that is long in the X direction.

  One set of the clamp interval changing mechanism 1350 is provided for each of the clamps 1311 for the two electric wires W1 and W2. As described above, the mechanism 1350 moves the clamps 1311 and 1311 ′ by 5 mm in the directions approaching each other after the wire top is pulled out, thereby narrowing the pitch of the two wires W1 and W2 to 10 mm. The stroke to be moved can be changed by adjusting the position of the head on the upper side of the drawing of the stroke adjusting bolt 1347 shown in the right-side interruption portion of FIG. In other words, half of the dimension K1 between the head of the bolt 1347 and its opposing surface is the movement dimension of the clamps 1311 and 1311 ′.

Top delivery device 1600
Next, the top delivery device 1600 and the moving table 1401 for moving the device 1600 and the top rotary unit 1400A in the X direction will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 7 is a side view showing the configuration of the top delivery device 1600 and the moving table 1401.
FIG. 8 is a plan view showing the configuration of the top delivery device 1600 and the moving table 1401 of FIG.
FIG. 9 is a front view of the top delivery device 1600 and the moving table 1401 shown in FIG.

  The top transfer device 1600 receives the top portions of the two parallel wires W1 and W2 shown in the upper left of FIG. 8 from the drawing device 1300 (see FIGS. 1 and 3), and from there along the imaginary arrow in the figure , Carried to the discharge (+ Y) side, then carried to the top side, and delivered to the top rotating unit 1400A indicated by an imaginary line at the bottom of the figure.

The top delivery device 1600 includes the following main parts.
Clamp part 1610 that holds the electric wire.
A rotary stage 1615 that rotates the clamp portion 1610 by 180 °.
A ball screw 1625, a slider 1622, and a rail 1621 for driving and guiding the rotation stage 1615 and the clamp portion 1610 in the Y direction.
An X moving table 1640 that moves in the X direction with ball screws 1625 and rails 1621 mounted.
A ball screw 1647, screw drive motor 1650, rails 1661 and 1662 for driving and guiding the X moving table 1640 in the X direction.
A moving table 1401 that mounts each part and moves greatly in the X direction according to the product wire length.

  The clamp portion 1610 includes a pair of clamps 1611 that grip the two electric wires W1 and W2, and an air chuck 1613 that opens and closes the pair of clamps 1611. The chuck 1613 is attached to an arm 1614 of a rotary stage 1615 that rotates about a horizontal axis in the X direction. By this rotating stage 1615, the clamp 1611 holds the electric wire W held by the drawing device 1300 (see FIGS. 1 and 3), and then rotates 180 ° downward about the horizontal axis in the X direction (also FIG. 9). reference).

  The rotation stage 1615 is fixed to the tail side of an abutment 1617 that stands up, as best shown in FIG. The bottom surface of the abutment 1617 is mounted on the linear guide slider 1622. The slider 1622 slides along a rail 1621 extending in the Y direction. The abutment 1617 is also connected to the nut holder 1626. The nut holder 1626 has a built-in ball nut that meshes with the ball screw 1625. When the ball screw 1625 is rotated by a motor 1627 (also shown at the upper end of FIG. 8), the nut holder 1626, the abutment 1617, the rotary stage 1615, and the clamp portion 1610 moves along the rail 1621 in the Y direction.

  The rail 1621 and the ball screw 1625 extending in the Y direction are mounted on an X moving table 1640 extending in the Y direction, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, a linear guide slider 1642 and a nut holder 1644 are fixed to the lower surface of the X moving table 1640. As shown in FIG. 8, the linear guide slider 1642 slides along two parallel rails 1661 and 1662 extending in the X direction. The nut holder 1644 and the X moving table 1640 are driven to slide by a ball screw 1647 extending in the X direction. A screw rotation drive motor 1650 is connected to the top side end of the ball screw 1647.

  The clamp portion 1610 is driven and guided in the Y direction by the Y direction ball screw 1625 and the rail 1621 described above. Thereby, the two electric wires W1 and W2 received from the top drawing device 1300 (see FIGS. 1 and 3) are carried to the same Y direction position as the rotation axis of the top rotation unit 1400A. Thereafter, the X direction ball screw 1647 and rails 1661 and 1662 drive and guide the clamp portion 1610 to the X direction top side, and carry the two electric wires W1 and W2 to the clamp portion 1410 of the top rotation unit 1400A.

Moving table 1401
Next, the movement table 1401 will be described. As shown in FIG. 8, the moving table 1401 is a substantially rectangular plate that extends widely in the XY plane (horizontal plane). The moving table 1401 is also shown near the bottom of FIGS. This moving table 1401 is equipped with a top delivery device 1600 and a top rotating unit 1400A, and is driven by a table driving device described below to move greatly in the X direction in accordance with the product wire length.

  With reference to FIG. 10, the moving mechanism of the moving table 1401 on which the top delivery device and the top rotating unit are mounted will be described. FIG. 10A is a side view of the table moving mechanism, and FIG. 10B is a front view. As described above, the moving table 1401 is movable in the X direction in accordance with the top drawer device 1300 (see FIGS. 1 and 3).

  10B, two rows of linear guides 651 are laid in parallel (in the X direction) with the linear guides 321 of the top drawer device. A slider 652 that slides along the linear guide 651 is attached to the back surface of the table 1401. The linear guide 651 guides the table 1401 so as to go straight in the X direction.

  A belt connecting portion 667 hangs under the moving table 1401. The belt connecting portion 667 is fixed to a timing belt 659 for driving the moving table 1401, and along with the driving of the timing belt 659, the belt connecting portion 667 and the moving table 1401 are driven in the X direction. As shown in FIG. 10A, pulleys 655 and 656 are disposed at both ends of the timing belt 659, respectively. The top pulley 655 is driven forward and backward by a motor 657 via a belt 658. The two pulleys 655 move in both directions in the X direction. Both movement limits of the table 1401 are detected by a sensor or the like. As the table 1401 moves, the cushion belt 660 described below also travels in the X direction.

On the outer periphery of the timing belt 659, a resin cushion belt 660 is disposed so as to circulate. Both ends of the cushion bell 660 are fixed to the lower surfaces of both ends in the X direction of the moving table 1401. The cushion belt 660 is rotatably supported by four pulleys 663 outside the timing belt 659.

  The width of the cushion belt 660 in the Y direction is substantially equal to the width of the moving table 1401 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 18, the resin cushion belt 660 extends on the tail side of the moving table 1401 below the wires to be processed and conveyed. While the wire moves from the wire feeding position to the twisting position, the middle part of the wire is transported on the belt 660, so it is possible to avoid a situation where the wire is caught or damaged by other members or parts. it can.

Tail delivery device 1700
Next, the tail delivery device will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the tail transfer device 1700 receives the tail side end portion of the secondary electric wire from the tail clamp device 240 at the tail terminal crimping position (Y4), and conveys it to the twisting position (Y5). This is passed to the tail rotation unit 1400B. In this example, a mechanism using a clamp part and a swing arm that moves the clamp part can be used.

FIG. 11 is a side view of the tail delivery device 1700 as viewed from the discharge side, and mainly shows the vertical mechanism of the clamp.
FIG. 12 is a front view of the tail delivery device 1700 as seen from the top side, and mainly shows a clamp interval changing mechanism (cable pitch changing mechanism) of the clamp.
FIG. 13 is a plan view of the tail transfer device 1700.

  This tail delivery device 1700 receives the tail side end portion of the electric wire W from the tail clamp device 240 shown in FIGS. 11 and 1 (holds the tail side end portion of the electric wire when peeling the electric wire tail and crimping the terminal), After the pitch between the wires is narrowed (20 mm → 10 mm), the wire is passed to the clamp 1410 of the tail rotating unit 1400B of the wire twisting device 1400. The tail delivery device 1700 mainly includes the following parts (enumerated in the order of being arranged from the lower part to the upper part in FIG. 12).

Position fixing clamp 1749; grips the non-discharge side electric wire W1.
Position movable clamp 1799; grips the discharge-side electric wire W2. When changing the distance between the shaft centers of the two wires W1 and W2 (wire pitch), the wire moves to the non-discharge side.
Pitch changing cylinder 1770 between wires: The above-described overhead clamp position movable clamp 1799 is moved in the Y direction.
Clamp upper / lower cylinder 1720: Moves both clamps 1749 and 1799 up and down.
Hanging rod 1711 and swivel mechanism 1701; both clamps 1749 and 1799 and their pitch-variable mechanism and vertical mechanism are suspended and swung on a horizontal plane (XY plane) (see FIG. 1).
In addition, the code | symbol 1706 shown in FIG. 12 is a cover for electric wire catch prevention.

  As shown in the lowermost part of FIG. 12 (front view) and the uppermost part of FIG. 13 (plan view), the position fixing clamp 1749 grips the non-discharge side electric wire W1 and has a pair of claws facing in the Y direction. Consists of. The upper portion of the clamp 1749 is connected to the arm 1747 of the air chuck 1740 as shown in FIG. By supplying pneumatic pressure to the air chuck 1740, the clamp 1749 is opened and closed via the arm 1747. The air chuck 1740 of the position fixing clamp 1749 is fixed to the upper and lower bases 1731 shown in FIG. 13 and moves in the vertical direction (details will be described later, and also swivels with the hanging rod 1711).

  As shown in the lowermost part of FIG. 12 (front view) and the upper part of FIG. 13 (plan view), the position movable clamp 1799 holds the discharge-side electric wire W2, and includes a pair of claws facing in the Y direction. . As shown in FIG. 11, the upper portion of the position movable clamp 1799 is bent and extended in an obliquely upward direction on the top side, and the tip thereof is connected to the arm 1797 of the air chuck 1790. By supplying pneumatic pressure to the air chuck 1790, the clamp 1799 is opened and closed via the arm 1797. The air chuck 1790 of the position fixing clamp 1799 is fixed to the moving plate 1781 shown in FIG. 13 and moves in the Y direction and the up and down direction (details will be described later, and also swivels together with the hanging rod 1711).

  Next, the clamp up-and-down mechanism in the tail delivery device 1700 will be described. This clamp up-and-down mechanism operates when both the clamps 1749 and 1799 are moved up and down to remove the electric wires from the clamp of the tail clamp device 240 and when the electric wires are dropped into the clamp portion 1410 of the tail rotating unit 1400B.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the cylinder body 1721 of the clamp upper and lower cylinders 1720 is fixed to the lower part of the hanging rod 1711. A cylinder rod 1723 protrudes above the cylinder body 1721. Up and down sliders 1725 exist on the top side and upper side of the cylinder body 1721. The vertical slider 1725 is driven up and down by a cylinder rod 1723 and is guided up and down by a linear guide in the cylinder body 1721. The vertical slider 1725 is an L-shaped member, and includes a base portion 1727 guided up and down along the side surface of the cylinder body 1725 and a tip portion 1729 along the top surface of the cylinder body 1725 that is bent at a right angle from the upper end. Have. A cylinder rod 1723 is connected to the lower surface of the tip portion 1729. Such an air cylinder with a slider can use a commercial item.

  A cylinder connecting portion 1733 of the upper and lower platform 1731 is fixed to the upper surface of the tip portion 1729 of the upper and lower slider 1725. As shown in FIG. 13, the upper and lower platform 1731 is an inverted Z-shaped platform. An upper and lower plate connecting portion 1735 is formed on the upper and lower bases 1731 on the discharge side of the cylinder connecting portion 1733. An extension portion 1737 is formed on the tail side of the same portion 1735 so as to extend to the tail side. An air chuck connection portion 1739 extending toward the discharge side is formed at the tip of the extension portion 1737. As described above, the air chuck 1740 that opens and closes the anti-discharge side position fixing clamp 1749 is fixed to the part 1739.

Next, the inter-wire pitch changing mechanism in the tail delivery device 1700 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 12, the upper and lower plates 1761 are fixed to the lower surface of the upper and lower plate connecting portions 1735 of the upper and lower platforms 1731 so as to hang downward. On the tail side of the lower portion 1763 of the upper and lower plates 1761 (see FIG. 13), as described below, the main body 1771 of the wire-to-wire pitch changing cylinder 1770 that moves the position of the position movable clamp 1799 in the Y direction is suspended. It is fixed in shape.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the inter-wire pitch changing cylinder 1770 includes the main body 1771, the cylinder rod 1773, and a horizontal slider 1775 in an L shape. This cylinder 1770 is a commercially available product similar to the upper and lower cylinders 1720 described above. A horizontal movement plate 1781 is fixed to the upper surface of the upper portion 1777 of the horizontal slider 1775. As shown in FIG. 13, an open / close air chuck 1790 of a position movable clamp 1799 is fixed to the tail side of the horizontal movement plate 1781. The open / close air chuck 1790 can be moved by 10 mm to a position on the opposite side to the discharge side (position where the pitch between the wires becomes narrow) indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG.

  In this way, the clamp 1799 on the discharge side has a wide inter-wire pitch (20 mm) state shown in FIGS. 13 and 12, and a narrow inter-wire pitch indicated by an imaginary line (two-dot chain line) in both figures. Displaceable to (10mm) state. When receiving the wire tail part with terminals from the tail clamp device 240, it is received in a state where the pitch between the wires is wide, then the pitch between the wires is narrowed, and in this state, the tail side end of the wire is clamped by the tail rotating unit 1400B. Pass to part 1410. Thereby, the distance of the edge part of the two electric wires W1 and W2 at the time of wire twisting can be narrowed, and the spreading angle (Y-shaped angle) of the wire at the twisting end part can be reduced. As a result, there is an effect that the force and deformation applied to the electric wire can be reduced and the risk of damage to the electric wire can be reduced.

Twisting device 1400
Next, the twisting apparatus 1400 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the twisting device 1400 includes a top rotating unit 1400A that rotates by gripping the top portion of a cut electric wire (secondary side wire), and a tail that rotates by gripping the tail portion of the electric wire. A rotation unit 1400B. Both units are arranged to face each other on the twisting position Y5 in the Y direction. Although the tail rotating unit 1400B is fixed (immovable in the X direction and the Y direction), the top rotating unit 1400A is mounted with a top delivery device 1600 on a table 1401 movable in the X direction as shown in FIG. Is arranged. The electric wire gripping mechanism and rotating mechanism of both rotating units 1400A and B are common.

The top rotation unit 1400A will be described.
FIG. 14 is a side view of the top rotation unit 1400A of the present embodiment as viewed from the discharge side. This is the state before starting the wire twisting operation.
FIG. 15 is a side view of the top rotary unit 1400A of FIG. 14 as viewed from the discharge side. It is the state after the end of the wire twisting operation. The pneumatic piping system of the biasing cylinder 1510 is also schematically shown.
FIG. 16 is a bottom view of the top rotation unit 1400A of FIG. 14 as viewed from below. Similarly to FIG. 14, it is a state before the start of the wire twisting operation.
FIG. 17 is a front view of the top rotation unit 1400A of FIG. 14 as viewed from the tail side.

The top rotation unit 1400A is composed of the following main parts.
Clamp part 1410 that holds the top part of the wires to be twisted (with an opening / closing mechanism such as an opening / closing cylinder 1447, also called a top clamp).
Clamp rotation means such as clamp rotation motor 1450.
Clamp interval and tension adjustment mechanism that moves the clamp while urging it, such as the urging cylinder 1510 and the movable table 1455.
Wire slack removal mechanism 1460 such as stopper 1463 and its moving cylinder 1462.

  The top clamp, the clamp rotating means, the clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism for moving the clamp while urging it, and the wire slack eliminating mechanism 1460 are connected to the aforementioned table 1401 as shown in FIGS. The base 1470 is suspended. This is to eliminate as much as possible a portion where the product falling on the chute (discharge tray) is caught when the clamp is opened and the product is dropped after the wires are twisted together.

First, the clamp part 1410 and its opening / closing mechanism will be described.
The clamp portion 1410 has a clamp piece 1411 that holds and rotates the two electric wires W1 and W2 and twists them. As shown in FIG. 17, the clamp pieces 1411 are a pair of facing each other, close to each other (close), hold the two electric wires W1 and W2, and separate (open) to release the electric wires. The clamp piece 1411 has a right-angled triangular main body 1413 having a wide base portion 1414 side and a narrow tip side. The reason why the shape of the clamp piece 1411 is used is that the electric wire can be firmly gripped without being deformed even when a strong clamping force is applied. A taper 1415 is formed at the front facing portion of the clamp piece 1411 so that the electric wire W is not caught when inserted between the clamp pieces 1411.

As shown in FIG. 16, the clamp opening / closing mechanism includes a link mechanism including links 421 and 422 connected to the base of the clamp piece 1411, an opening / closing link housing 1420 for housing the mechanism, a shaft 1427 for driving the link mechanism, It includes a bearing 1435 that rotatably supports it, a holder 1430 of the bearing 1435, a clamp opening / closing cylinder 1447 that moves the holder 1430 in the X direction, a joint 1443, and the like. Details of these are described in Japanese Patent Application No. 2013117153 (Japanese Patent No. 5400981). Reference numeral 1408 denotes an electric wire steadying (details will be described later).

Next, the clamp rotating means will be described. The clamp piece 1411 and the open / close link housing 1420 for opening and closing the clamp piece 1411 are integrally driven with the shaft 1427 and driven to rotate by a motor 1450. The motor 1450 and the shaft 1427 are connected by a coupling 1449. The center axis of rotation of these rotating objects is approximately the middle of the two electric wires W1 and W2. The open / close link housing 1420 is arranged at a large deviation from the center of rotation, so it is an unbalanced weight, but the counterweight 1429 for offsetting the unbalance rotates with the open / close link housing 1420 at the end of the shaft. It is provided at a position facing each other across the shaft.

Next, the clamp interval / tension adjustment mechanism will be described. As shown in FIG. 15, the mechanism is mainly composed of a moving table 1455 for suspending the clamping device 1410 and its rotating motor 1450, and an urging cylinder 1510 for urging (pulling) the moving table 1455 to the top side. ing.

  A linear guide slider 1476 arranged in the X direction is attached to the upper surface of the moving table 1455. The slider 1476 and the moving table 1455 move in the X direction along a linear guide rail 1475 extending in the X direction on the lower surface of the base 1470. A rail 1474 (see FIG. 16) is also provided in parallel with the rail 1475. The forward limit (tail side limit) of the movable table 1455 is, as shown in FIG. 15, a shock absorber 1406 fixed to the tip of an L-shaped stay 1473 connected to the tail side end of the base 1470, It is determined by the contact of the tail side end of the movable table 1455. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 14, the backward limit (top side limit) of the movable table 1455 is a contact between a shock absorber 1459 fixed to the top side end of the movable table 1455 and a stopper 1463 (movable, described later). It depends on.

  The urging cylinder 1510 of the moving base 1455 is suspended and attached to the lower surface of the base 1470 so as to extend in the X direction, as indicated by a solid line and a broken line in FIG. A rod 1511 extends from the biasing cylinder 1510 to the tail side. The distal end (tail side end) of the rod 1511 is connected to the mounting portion 1456 on the upper surface of the movable table 1455.

  The biasing cylinder 1510 is a pneumatic cylinder in this example. As shown in FIG. 15, a rod side conduit 513 is connected to the rod side chamber of the cylinder 1510, and a piston side conduit 514 is connected to the opposite rod side chamber. Each pipe line is connected to a pneumatic pressure source 519 via open / close switching valves 517 and 518. The rod side pipe 513 is also provided with a pressure adjustment valve 516.

  The pressure adjustment valve 516 adjusts the pressure applied to the rod side of the piston 512, and draws air from the rod side pipe 513 at a predetermined pressure or higher, and draws air into the rod side pipe 513 at a predetermined pressure or lower. As a result, the pneumatic pressure applied to the rod-side surface of the piston 1512 is controlled to be substantially constant, and the pulling force of the rod 1511, that is, the tension applied to the electric wire during twisting is controlled to be substantially constant. Then, as the twisting of the electric wire progresses and the length of the electric wire becomes shorter, the rod 1511 of the urging cylinder 1510 is drawn out to the tail side (actually, the rod 1511 is pulled out by the twisted electric wire).

Wire slack removal mechanism 1460
Next, the wire slack eliminating mechanism 1460 including the stopper 1463 and the stopper moving cylinder 1462 will be described. As shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the cylinder 1462 is fixed to the discharge side surface of the plate 1468 that hangs down from the base 1470. The rod 1461 of the cylinder 1462 can be extended to the tail side. A stopper 1463 is connected to the tip of the rod 1461. In addition, a stopper guide rod 1465 extending to the top side is provided above and below the stopper 1463. The guide rod 1465 is guided to upper and lower guide holes (not shown) of the stopper moving cylinder 1462.

  The operation of the wire slack eliminating mechanism and the clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism will be described. In the state before the start of wire twisting in FIG. 14, the stopper 1463 is at the tail side limit. At this time, in the urging cylinder 1510, air pressure is applied to the rod side, and a force in the retracting direction is applied to the rod 1511. The moving table 1455 is positioned at the standby position (electric wire slack position) by the contact between the stopper 1463 and the shock absorber 1459. At this time, the urging cylinder 1510 is in a state close to the rod pull-in limit, but only the dimension (30 mm in this example) for removing the electric wire can be further pulled.

  From this standby state, the electric wire top portion delivered from the above-described top delivery device 1600 is gripped by the clamp portion 1410. However, at this time, the force F applied to the cylinder rod 1511 is balanced with the force F ′ received by the shock absorber 1459 from the stopper 1463, and the same force F is not applied to the clamp portion 1410 or the electric wire W. Then, before starting the clamp rotation, the stopper moving cylinder 1462 is driven to move the stopper 1463 to the top side by 30 mm (see FIG. 15). Then, it is pulled by the urging cylinder 1510, and the moving base 1455 and the clamp part 1410 move to the top side, and the electric wire W is loosened and tension is applied to the electric wire W.

  Here, the clamp unit 1410 is rotated by the rotary motor 1450. Then, the two electric wires W are twisted together and gradually shortened. The rod 1511 of the urging cylinder 1510 is pulled out to the tail side while applying a substantially constant pulling force to the wire W by being pulled by the shortened wire W. In this example, the stroke of the urging cylinder 1510 is 250 mm. FIG. 15 shows a state where the cylinder rod 1511 is extended. As will be described below, the urging cylinder 1510 has not yet reached the delivery limit, leaving a surplus stroke.

Next, after the twisting is finished will be described.
After the clamp portions 1410 of both rotary units 1400A and 1400B rotate a predetermined number of times, the urging cylinder 1510 further extends the rod 1511, the top rotary unit 1400A moves to the tail side by about 50 mm, and the electric wire is slightly loosened. Thereafter, the clamp portions 1410 of both units are rotated so that the clamp 1411 is in the vertical direction, and then the clamp 1411 is opened and the electric wire is discharged. Since the electric wires are twisted in a tensioned state, if the clamp 1411 is opened in this state, the electric wires may jump and may not fit in the discharge tray 1800. For this reason, after moving the top rotating unit 1400A to loosen the tension of the electric wire, it is dropped on the discharge tray 1800 only by its own weight.

In the apparatus of this example, the stroke 250 mm of the urging cylinder 1510 is generally used as follows.
30 mm maximum for removing slack of wires at the start of twisting.
Along with the shortening of the wire during twisting, the maximum amount of wire that can be fed while applying tension is 170mm (depending on the product length).
Up to 50 mm to loosen the wire (twisted cable) after twisting.

Next, in the wire twisting device, for wire steadying means it will be described.
As the wire steadying means, this device is provided with the following three wire steadying members.
Top-side electric wire steady rest 1408; a shape extending in the Y direction almost directly above the upper surface of the taut wire on the tail side and above the clamp portion 1410 of the above-described top rotating unit 1400A (FIGS. 15 and 17) (FIG. 17) Is provided. The upward swing of the rotating electric wire is suppressed, and the clamp portion 1410 is prevented from vibrating. In addition, a cleaner wire twist shape is obtained.
Tail side wire steady rest 1403 and X direction center portion wire steady rest 1404;

  FIG. 18 is a view of the tail twisting device viewed from the top side to show the tail-side wire steady rest 1403 and the X-direction central portion wire steady rest 1404. In the figure, the tail side rotation unit 1400B and its clamp part 1410 are shown in the upper left. On the other hand, a tail-side shock absorber 1406, which is a part of the top-side rotation unit 1400A, and a stay 1473 to which the tail-side shock absorber 1406 is attached can be seen in the lower right of FIG. A line connecting the centers of the two rotating units (electric wire rotation center line) is drawn with a one-dot chain line.

  As shown in FIG. 18, the tail-side electric wire steady rest 1403 is provided on the top side / above the clamp portion 1410 of the tail rotation unit 1400B (FIG. 1) so as to extend in the Y direction almost directly above the upper surface of the electric wire rotation center line. It has been. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 18, the central portion of the electric wire steadying 1404 is disposed above the substantially central portion in the X direction (longitudinal direction) of the wires to be twisted, in the Y direction substantially above the upper surface of the electric wire rotation center line, and discharged. It is provided so as to extend diagonally upward. The effects of these electric wire steady rests 1403 and 1404 are as described above.

  A product discharge tray 1800 is also shown at the bottom of FIG. The above-mentioned resin cushion belt 660 is also shown on the opposite side of the discharge tray 1800.

Twisted Cable Manufacturing Process Next, an example of a process for manufacturing a twisted cable with a twisted cable manufacturing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 19A, the clamp 1310 of the top pulling device 1300 has received (gripped) the top portions of the two parallel wires W1 and W2 fed by the wire feeder 100 and crimped on the terminals. State. Of the two wires, the non-discharge side electric wire W1 is held by the anti-discharge side clamp 1311 of the clamp portion 1310, and the discharge side electric wire W2 is held by the discharge side clamp 1311 ′. At this time, the distance (pitch) between the centers of the two electric wires W1 and W2 is 20 mm. This pitch of 20 mm is a dimension that is considered to be difficult to narrow further due to structural limitations of the wire feeding device 100 and the peeling device 200.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 19 (B), the clamp part 1310 of the drawer device 1300 is pulled out to the top side by a predetermined length (a length corresponding to the length of the product), and at the same time, the electric wire is Do the side director. Next, as shown in FIG. 19 (B ′), the clamp interval changing mechanism 1350 (air chuck) of the top pulling device 1300 is driven to move both clamps 1311 and 1311 ′ toward each other by 5 mm. Narrow the pitch of the wires W1 and W2 to 10mm. In addition, since the two electric wires W1 and W2 are moved evenly in this way, the postures of the two electric wires are the same (not only one of the electric wires is inclined). Therefore, the load applied to both wires and the environment of the process such as cutting and peeling of the tail side can be made uniform. In addition, the figure which attaches | subjects to figure number like FIG.19 (B ') is the process added to the twisted cable manufacturing process demonstrated by FIGS. 12-14 of patent 5400981.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 19C, after the drawn electric wire is clamped by the tail clamp device 240, the electric wire is cut by the cutting device 230. Thereby, the tail side end portion of the drawn electric wire (secondary side electric wire) is transferred to the tail clamp device 240. At almost the same timing, the top-side end portion of the drawn wire is transferred from the clamp portion 1310 of the pull-out device 1300 to the clamp portion 1610 of the top transfer device 1600. At this time, the clamp portion 1610 of the top delivery device 1600 clamps the electric wire at a position on the inner side (closer to the tail) than the clamp portion 1310 of the drawer device 1300.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 19D, the X moving table 1640 on which the top delivery device 1600 is mounted moves slightly to the tail side, and the electric wire between the clamps is loosened. Thereby, at the time of processing (peeling, terminal crimping) on the tail side, the tail can easily move in the direction of the electric wire axis and the direction perpendicular thereto. During this time, the tail clamping device 240 moves to the tail peeling position, and the tail side end portion is stripped by the peeling device 250.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 20E, the tail clamp device 240 moves to the tail terminal crimping position, and the terminal is crimped by the terminal crimping device 260. At approximately the same timing, the clamp portion 1610 of the top delivery device 1600 rotates 180 ° around the bottom. Next, as shown in FIG. 20F, the X moving table 1640 moves to the top side so that the tail transfer device 1700 can easily change the tail side end portion from the tail clamp device 240. Thereby, the slack of the electric wires W1 and W2 can be removed, and the clamps 1749 and 1799 of the tail transfer device 1700 can easily pinch the electric wires. The tail delivery device 1700 receives the tail end of the electric wire, and the clamps 1749 and 1799 clamp the electric wire end (slightly on the top side of the clamp portion of the tail clamp device 240).

  Next, as shown in FIG. 20 (F ′), the discharge side clamp 1799 of the tail transfer device 1700 moves 10 mm to the opposite discharge side, and narrows the pitch of the two electric wires W1 and W2 to 10 mm. The reason why only one clamp 1799 is moved in the inter-wire pitch changing mechanism of the tail delivery device 1700 is to make the mechanism simpler and lighter. In the process of FIG. 18 (F ′), the uniformity of the postures of the two electric wires W1 and W2 is not a problem.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 21G, the tail transfer device 1700 and the top transfer device 1600 simultaneously move to the twisting position. Then, the tail side end of the electric wire is transferred from the clamps 1749 and 1799 of the tail delivery device 1700 to the clamp part 1410 of the tail rotating unit 1400B. Further, the top side end portion of the electric wire is transferred from the clamp portion 1610 of the top delivery device 1600 to the clamp portion 1410 of the top rotation unit 1400A. In addition, each clamp part 1410 of each rotation unit 1400 clamps an electric wire in the position outside the clamp part of each delivery device (near the end of an electric wire).

  In the state of FIG. 21G (when receiving the electric wire of the rotating unit), the rod 1511 of the urging cylinder 1510 is slightly extended from the retracting limit. The movable table 1455 on which the clamp device 1410, its open / close cylinder 1447, the rotary motor 1450, and the like are mounted is pulled to the top side. At this time, the moving base 1455 is stopped by coming into contact with the top side limit stopper 1463 via the shock absorber 1459. In the state of FIG. 21 (G), the electric wire is loose between the two rotary units 1400A and 1400B.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 21H, the stopper moving cylinder 1462 of the moving base 1455 of the top rotating unit 1400A is driven to move to the top side by 30 mm. Thereby, the urging cylinder 1510 of the top clamp can be retracted. As a result, the urging cylinder 1510 pulls the top clamp portion 1410 to the top side, and the slack of the electric wire can be taken.

  After removing the slack of the electric wire, the units 1400A and 1400B start to rotate. Then, as shown in FIG. 21 (I), the two electric wires are twisted together by rotating the clamp portion 1410 by an appropriately selected speed and number of rotations. At the time of twisting, the cylinder rod 1511 is fed out by the amount of contraction due to twisting while applying a predetermined tension to the electric wire by the urging cylinder 1510. After the motors of both units 1400A and 1400B have finished rotating by a predetermined number of revolutions, the urging cylinder 1510 extends the further rod 1511 (in this example, the cable is slightly loosened by 50 mm. After that, the clamp part 1410 of both units Is opened, and the twisted wires are discharged onto the discharge tray 1800 without jumping.

  In this way, the length of the two wires is high, and twisting is performed while applying appropriate tension to the wires, so a twisted cable with a substantially uniform twisting pitch and a small gap between the wires is manufactured. it can.

The outline of each of the above steps will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, in S1, an electric wire is fed by the electric wire feeder, and then in S2, the top of the electric wire is sandwiched by the drawing device and pulled out by a predetermined distance. Thereafter, in S3, the electric wire is cut. After cutting, the electric wire (primary electric wire) remaining on the electric wire bundle side is peeled off at S4 while being pinched by the electric wire feeder, and the terminal is crimped at S5. On the other hand, in the cut electric wire (secondary side electric wire), the tail is peeled off in S6, and then the terminal is crimped in S7. Thereafter, the tail and the top are respectively transferred to the rotating unit, and the electric wires are twisted together by the unit. After the close together, the manufactured twisted cable is discharged in S9.
As shown by the broken line in the figure, the primary side electric wire after the terminal is crimped in S5 is fed by the electric wire feeder in the next cycle, and after passing through S2 and S3 cutting, as the secondary side electric wire. It is processed.

  As described above, after the wire is cut, the end treatment work of the primary side wire and the end treatment work of the secondary side wire are independent, and these work and the wire twisting work are completely independent. Therefore, these operations can be performed in parallel. Specifically, after the top of the secondary-side electric wire is transferred from the top drawing device to the top transferring device means, the wire end processing work is performed regardless of the wire twisting device, such as returning the top drawing device to the initial position. can do. In particular, since the twisting work is a relatively time-consuming work, the next electric wire can be prepared during the twisting work. Therefore, the tact time of the entire apparatus can be shortened.

  In the above description, a twisted cable using an electric wire with terminals crimped at both ends has been described, but an electric wire with both ends soldered, an electric wire with one end soldered and the other end crimped with a terminal, Or the twisted cable by these combination can also be manufactured. In this case, in the apparatus of FIG. 1, a soldering apparatus is installed instead of the terminal crimping machine.

  Note that only the wire twisting device 1400 of the twisted cable manufacturing device 1 of the present invention can be used alone. In this case, wires that have been end-treated in advance are prepared, and the ends of the two wires are manually clamped between the clamps 410 of the rotary units 400A and 400B. Also in this case, similarly to the above description, the electric wire can be held with an appropriate tension even when the twisting proceeds.

  Moreover, the twist cable manufacturing apparatus 1 of this invention can be used as an apparatus which manufactures two end process electric wires, when not performing an electric wire twisting operation | work. In this case, if the electric wire side length using the electric wire feeding device 100 and the top drawing device 1300 described above is performed, two end-treated electric wires with high length accuracy can be manufactured.

W1 and W2; Electric wire 1; Twist cable manufacturing device, 3; Machine base, 100; Electric wire feeder, 110; Roller unit,
120; left and right roller pair, 121/122; roller, 125/126; drive gear,
130; wire feed motor, 133; timing belt, 135; nozzle,
140; left and right roller pair support plate, 141/142; upper and lower arms, 147; pneumatic pipe line,
148; Cylinder, 149; Electrically controlled pressure regulating valve
150; base plate, 151; moving mechanism,
160; table, 161; moving mechanism
200; Top peeling device, 210; Top terminal crimping device, 230; Cutting device
240; tail clamping device, 250; tail peeling device, 260; tail terminal crimping device
315; support plate, 317; connection plate, 320; moving mechanism, 321; linear guide,
322; Slider, 325; Timing belt, 327; Motor, 329; Pulley,
331; presser roller,
421 ・ 422; Link,
513; Rod side pipe line, 514; Piston side pipe line,
516; Pressure regulating valve, 517/518; Open / close switching valve, 519; Air pressure source
659; Timing belt, 655/656; Pulley, 657; Motor, 658; Belt
660; cushion belt, 662; belt end, 663; pulley, 667; belt connection,
1300; Top drawer device, 1310; Clamp part, 1311; Clamp,
1313; Clamp opening / closing link mechanism,
1321; claw, 1323; pin, 1324; clamp body, 1325; arm,
1327; Pin, 1329; Link A,
1330; Frame, 1331; Pin, 1333; Link B, 1334; Clevis, 1335; Pin, 1338; Rod, 1339; Clamp open / close cylinder, 1347; Stroke adjustment bolt,
1350; Clamp interval changing mechanism, 1351; Plate, 1353; Air chuck slider,
1355; Air chuck rail, 1357; Air chuck body,
1361; Linear guide slider, 1363; Linear guide rail, 1371;
1400; Wire twisting device, 1400A; Top rotation unit, 1400B; Tail rotation unit
1401; Table, 1403; Tail-side wire steady rest, 1404; X-direction central wire steady rest, 1406; Shock absorber, 1408; Top-side wire steady rest
1410; clamp part, 1411; clamp piece, 1413; body, 1414; root part, 1415; taper,
1420; Open / close link housing, 1427; Shaft, 1429; Counterweight
1430; Holder, 1435; Bearing
1443; Joint, 1447; Clamping cylinder, 1449; Coupling,
1450; Clamp rotation motor, 1455; Moving base, 1456; Mounting part, 1459; Shock absorber
1460; Wire slack eliminating mechanism, 1461; Rod, 1462; Stopper moving cylinder,
1463; Stopper, 1465; Stopper guide rod, 1468; Plate
1470; Base, 1473; Stay, 1474/1475; Linear guide rail,
1476; Linear guide slider
1510; bias cylinder, 1511; rod, 1512; piston,
1600; Top delivery device,
1610; clamp part, 1611; clamp, 1613; air chuck, 1614; arm,
1615; rotating stage, 1617; abutment,
1621; Rail, 1622; Slider, 1625; Ball screw, 1626; Nut holder,
1627; motor,
1640; X moving table, 1642; linear guide slider, 1644; nut holder,
1647; Ball screw, 1650; Screw drive motor, 1651; Linear guide,
1652; Slider, 1661 and 1662; Rail,
1700; tail transfer device, 1706; cover, 1701; swivel mechanism, 1711; hanging rod
1720; Clamp upper and lower cylinders, 1721; Cylinder body, 1723; Cylinder rod,
1725; Up and down slider, 1727; Original part, 1729;
1731; Upper and lower platform, 1733; Cylinder connection, 1735; Upper and lower plate connection,
1737; Extension, 1739; Air chuck connection
1740; air chuck, 1747; arm, 1749; position clamp,
1761; top and bottom plates, 1763; bottom
1770; Cylinder for changing pitch between wires, 1771; Body, 1773; Cylinder rod,
1775; Horizontal slider, 1777; Top, 1781; Moving plate
1790; Air chuck, 1797; Arm, 1799; Position movable clamp
1800; discharge tray

Claims (8)

Wire feeding means (100) for feeding a plurality of wires in parallel;
A top stripping means (200) for stripping the coating on the top of the wire;
Top end processing means (210) for processing the peeled top portion;
A top pull-out means (1300) for pulling out the processed top portion;
Electric wire cutting means (230) for cutting the electric wire into an arbitrary length;
Tail peeling means (250) for peeling the covering of the cut tail portion of the wire;
Tail end processing means (260) for processing the peeled tail portion;
A wire twisting device (1400) having the following A to D for twisting the plurality of parallel wires processed at both ends;
A) A top clamp (1410) for gripping the top portion of the plurality of wires.
B) A tail clamp (1410) for gripping the tail portions of the plurality of electric wires,
C) Rotating means (1450) for rotating the front top clamp and / or the tail clamp, and
D) Clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism (1510) for adjusting the mutual interval between the top clamp and the tail clamp and the tension applied to the plurality of wires.
Top passing means (1600) for receiving the top portions of the plurality of wires from the top drawing means (1300) and passing them to the top clamp (1410) of the wire twisting device;
Tail passing means (1700) for passing the tail portions of the plurality of wires to the tail clamp (1410) of the wire twisting device;
A twisted cable manufacturing apparatus comprising:
Before passing the wires to the wire twisting device (1400), there is provided a mechanism (1350/1770) for narrowing the pitch between wires, which is the distance between the plurality of wires arranged in parallel. Twist cable manufacturing equipment.   The mechanism (1350/1770) for narrowing the pitch between the wires is provided in the top pulling means (1300) or the top passing means (1600) and the tail passing means (1700). The twisted cable manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1.   The mechanism (1350) for narrowing the pitch between the wires provided in the top drawing means (1300) narrows the pitch between the wires by bringing two wires evenly. Item 3. A twisted cable manufacturing apparatus according to item 1 or 2. The tail passing means (1700)
Two sets of clamps (1749/1799) that hold each of the two wires,
A mechanism (1770) for moving one of the clamps (1799) to narrow the pitch between the wires;
A mechanism (1720) for raising and lowering the two sets of clamps;
The twisted cable manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2 or 3, characterized by comprising: The twist cable manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , further comprising a steady stop (1403, 1404, 1408) that stops the swing of the electric wires during twisting. 6. The twist cable manufacturing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the steady rests (1403, 1404, 1408) are provided in the vicinity of the top clamp and the tail clamp and at a position between the clamps. Further, after the combined wire twisted, twisted cable manufacturing according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a discharge tray for placing the wire after twisting the top clamp and the tail clamp to drop is released (1800) A device ,
The top clamp (1410) and / or the tail clamp (1410), the rotating means (1450) of the clamp, and the clamp interval / tension adjusting mechanism (1510) for moving the clamp while being urged, A twisted cable manufacturing apparatus , wherein the twisted cable manufacturing apparatus is suspended from a base (1470) disposed above the discharge tray (1800). A process of feeding electric wires;
A top peeling process to peel off the coating on the top of the supplied wire;
A top end treatment process for performing a treatment such as crimping a terminal on the peeled top portion;
An electric wire cutting step of cutting the end-treated electric wire of the top portion into an arbitrary length;
A tail peeling process to peel off the covering of the tail part of the cut electric wire;
A tail end processing step for performing end processing on the peeled tail portion;
A twisting step of twisting a plurality of wires end-treated at both ends;
A twisted cable manufacturing method comprising:
A twisted cable manufacturing method using the twisted cable manufacturing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7 .

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