JPH01132009A - Chain clamp for wire harness - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to hole terminals of wired cables protruded at least at one edge of a wiring plate at predetermined intervals by composing the titled device of a base part and pairs of holding members installed standing on the base part formed of synthetic resin, and providing the holding members which inclined guide surfaces which open to each other at the top end of the members. CONSTITUTION:In a wiring plate 1 provided on endless transfer rail frames A to be movable freely are provided a plurality of pins 2 at the center, and linked clamps 4 are fixed consisting of a plurality of cable clamps 5 linearly disposed in parallel on one side of the plate along its length. The cable clamp 5 is formed of synthetic resin, and it consists of a base part 5a of a rectangular rod and pairs of holding members 5b, 5b installed standing on it, where the holding members 5b include inclined guide surfaces 5c open at their top for facilitating insertion of a cable, being of a structure to hold a cable securely. All both the ends of cables composing a wire harness can thus be held protruding on one side of the wiring plate 1 and in parallel to each other at predetermined intervals.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Light skin Dansen (Industrial application field).

The present invention relates to a wire clamp used for manufacturing wire harnesses.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, as shown in FIG. 6, a wire harness has a main wire section W0 formed by converging a plurality of electric wires AL-SAG... and a plurality of branch wire sections W, W, W,... It has a two-dimensional structure with branches corresponding to the arrangement of groups of various loads, switches, and other electrical components in a car, and a terminal is connected to the end of each wire, and a connector housing C
Attach.

As a method for manufacturing such a wire harness, the applicant has proposed a method using a plurality of wiring stands dl, dt...
are placed on the work plate e in advance with the product spacing shown by the connector housing C in FIG.
After locking the wires to, for example, a wiring table d, using a wiring head (not shown) that connects the wiring head (Y axis), route the wires toward another wiring table d2, and then lock the wires to this wiring table d2. After stopping and cutting the wires, successively route the wires between the desired wiring stands, then strip the ends of the wires and make terminals at the positions of each wiring stand d, d2... proposed a method and device for crimping metal fittings (Japanese Patent Application No. 57-9081, U.S. Patent No. 4,476.629)
No. Specification).

However, the above method has the following problems.

1) A wire stripping device and a terminal crimping device are required at each end of the scattered wires.

2) When changing the product, the entire wiring table, wiring locking pin, peeling device, etc. must be moved, which requires a great deal of time and effort.

3) Since the connector housings attached to the terminals are scattered as shown in FIG. 6, automation is difficult.

4) Since there are a large number of wire stripping devices, terminal crimping devices, etc., the initial cost is high and maintenance management thereof is troublesome.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventors of the present invention found that the branch line portions are divided into groups W, , W2 , W, . . . as shown in Fig. 1. We came up with the idea that by appropriately detouring the middle part of the wire using a pin, the wire ends do not necessarily need to be arranged two-dimensionally according to the above product spacing, but can be routed aligned to one side of the work plate. The invention has been completed.

That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a wire clamp capable of protruding the ends of wires to at least one side edge of a wiring board and holding them at regular intervals, thereby facilitating the production of wire harnesses. This is intended to facilitate the process and reduce costs.

[Means for solving the problem] The wire clamp for wire harnesses of the present invention is made of synthetic resin and consists of a base and a pair of clamps erected on the base. The clamp is characterized in that its upper end is provided with a guiding slope for the mutually expanding electric wires.

[For production]

The electric wire clamp for a wire harness of the present invention is designed to be used as a chain clamp by arranging the clamps in parallel in a chain at predetermined intervals.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. The electric wire 16 is routed from the selected first electric wire clamp 5I toward the second electric wire clamp 5□ along a plurality of pins 2 corresponding to a predetermined route, and (+1) the wire 16 that has been routed is Both ends are locked in the first and second wire clamps 5I and 5□, and the locked wires are cut if necessary. By routing and locking the wires in a desired pattern between the wire clamps, both ends of the wires constituting the wire harness all protrude to one side of the wiring board, and the wire clamps of the chained clamps They are held parallel with a predetermined interval.

Therefore, by removing the entire chained clamp from the wiring board, it is possible to store and stockpile it in a warehouse and perform processing such as peeling and terminal crimping as needed for production planning. There is no need to interrupt the wiring of electric wires due to the time required for the processing process, and productivity can be increased.

In addition, if the chain clamp is transferred to a station adjacent to or different from the wiring board, and processing equipment such as wire stripping equipment, sensors, and terminal crimping machines are placed on the negative side, all the wires can be With one device each, it is possible to automatically perform steps such as stripping, terminal crimping, and mounting of a connector housing.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically explained based on drawings showing examples.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus.

In the figure, A indicates an endless conveyor rail platform, and a wiring board l movably placed on it has a plurality of pins 2 protruding from the center and a plurality of electric wires on one side in the longitudinal direction. A chain-like clamp 4 in which clamps 5 are arranged linearly in parallel is fixed.

Reference numeral P indicates a wire routing station, Q a wire terminal processing station, and R a wire harness removal station.

At the station P, both sides of the transport rail platform A are protected by safety guides 8 of the base 7. Within the guide 8, the wiring board 1 is provided so as to be able to reciprocate in its longitudinal direction (X-axis) by a ball screw shaft 9 rotated by a regulating rotation motor M. Reference numeral B denotes a wiring head for wiring electric wires, and is provided so as to be able to reciprocate in a direction (Y-axis) orthogonal to the wiring board l by rotation of a ball screw shaft 10 installed between the safety guides 8, 8. There is. M
' is its regulated rotation motor. Further, a wire locking and cutting device C (
(see Figure 4) and multiple wire holders 1), 1)',
... is placed. Reference numeral 12 denotes a support plate for the wire holder 1), which is a gate-shaped pedestal 1 erected on the safety guide 8.
The wiring head B can select a desired wire holder 1) by reciprocating in the X-axis direction by a ball screw shaft 14 mounted on the wire holder 1). The pedestal 13 is provided with a plurality of wire feed rolls 15 on the upper part, so that a plurality of wires 16 drawn out from the wire reel station D and having different wire diameters, insulation coating colors, etc. are smoothly supplied. In addition, M″ is the ball screw shaft 14
It is a regulated rotation motor.

At station Q, chain clamp 4 of wiring board 1
A wire straightening device E, a stripping device F, a detection device G, a terminal crimping device H, and a case fitting device 1 are arranged in this order facing the wire. Known devices can be used as these devices, and the mounting of the connector housing can also be automated by the case fitting device I.

J is a control device, and as described later,
In addition to the wiring of electric wires by axis traveling and Y-axis traveling of the wiring head B, electric wire locking and cutting device C or terminal crimping device G
This is a device for controlling a series of wire harness manufacturing processes using a case fitting device I and the like.

3a is an enlarged perspective view of the chain-like clamp 4, and FIG. 3 is a plan view of the wire clamp 5. This chain-like clamp is preferably used by arranging a plurality of wire clamps 5 in parallel at predetermined intervals using a long support rod 6.

The wire clamp 5 is made of synthetic resin, metal, hard rubber, etc., and has a pair of clamps 5b, 5 on a prismatic base 5a.
It consists of erecting b. The clipper 5b has a guide slope 5C widened at the upper end, a protrusion 5d is provided on one opposing surface, and a recess m5e is provided on the other surface to facilitate insertion of the electric wire,
It has a structure that allows it to be held securely. Further, a through hole 5f is provided in the base 5a, and a large number of wire clamps 5 are connected through the through hole 5f through screw pins 5g, etc. The support rod 6 has a support ring 6C protruding from the lower end of the insertion frame 6a relative to the base 5a, with a ■-shaped holding groove 6b horizontally provided on the side surface. It is fitted into the matching groove and fixed by a locking means (not shown).

As another means of arranging the wire clamps 5 in a chain, a plurality of pairs of clamps 5b, 5b may be integrally molded, or the base 5a may be
By providing a convex portion on one side and a concave portion (not shown) on the other side, and fitting the convex portion and the concave portion of adjacent bases, the support rod 6
It is also possible to omit the use of . It should be noted that the chain clamps 4 do not necessarily need to be arranged over the entire length of the wiring board 1, but may be arranged at a location necessary for locking the electric wires.

FIGS. 4a-4c are diagrams showing the mutual relationship of the wiring head B, the wire locking/cutting device C, and the wire holder 1) when the wiring board 1 is viewed from the end side.

In these figures, the wiring head B is equipped with a pair of clamp plates 17 and 17' that open and close vertically relative to the wire holder 1), and the upper clamp plate 17 has a pair of clamp plates 17 and 17' that fit into the recess 1) a of the wire holder 1). A locking pin 17a is provided to protrude. The wire holder 1) is equipped with a vertical wire insertion tube 1)b provided with a wire holding spring (not shown) inside, and a wiring nozzle Ilc made of a coil spring is provided at the tip of the tube 1)b. There is.

Further, the electric wire locking and cutting device C includes a chain clamp 4 a
It consists of an electric wire pressing plate 18 that faces E and is attached above and below the safety guide 8, and a pair of left and right electric wire cut pieces 20. 1
Reference numeral 9 denotes a mounting head incorporating an actuator (not shown) such as a hydraulic cylinder, and the wire pressing plate 18 is movable up and down. The wire cutting blade 20 is provided so as to be movable up and down and opened/closed by a mounting head 21 incorporating a known crank mechanism.

Next, manufacturing of a wire harness by wiring, locking, and cutting electric wires will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 4a, the regulation rotation motor M'' rotates in either the forward or reverse direction according to a command from the control device J, and the desired electric wire holder 1) is selected by the regulation rotation of the ball screw shaft 14. Clamp plate 17 in wiring head B
, 17'. At the same time, the wiring head B also travels along the Y axis toward the wire holder 1) due to the rotation of the regulating rotation motor M', and grips the selected wire holder 1) by the clamp plate 17, 17'. Furthermore, the wiring board 1 also travels along the X axis due to the rotation of the regulating rotation motor M, and is moved to a position where a desired wire clamp 51 (see FIG. 1a) faces the wire holder 1). This state is defined as the "starting point".

(Wire Routing) (i) As shown in FIG. The end of the electric wire 16 that has been drawn in is press-fitted by lowering the electric wire pressing plate 18, and the electric wire is locked.

Press-fitting of the electric wire is smoothly performed by the guide slope 5C of the clamp 5b. Further, the electric wire is held in a W shape by the protrusion 5d and the groove 5e provided on the opposing surface of the clamp 5b, and it is possible to reliably prevent the electric wire from coming off or slipping during wiring.

(ii) After the wires are press-fitted and locked, the wiring board 1 and the wiring head B move simultaneously along the X-axis and the Y-axis according to a command from the control device J. Thereby, the electric wires 16 are routed in a predetermined pattern along the plurality of pins 2 (see FIG. 1a).

When wiring, the wire holder 1) is equipped with a wiring nozzle llc made of a coil spring, so the wire can be pulled out smoothly and the wire will not be bent or otherwise bent.

(iii) The wire 16 that has been routed is positioned across the selected second wire clamp 5□, as shown in FIG. 4C. At this point, the wiring head B and the wiring board 1 stop running, and one process of wiring is completed.

The wire pressing plate 18 press-fits and locks the wire 16 into the wire clamp 5 □ in the same manner as described above, and at the same time, the pair of cutting blades 20 rises.
Cut the wire.

This state is defined as the "end point".

(iv) If it is necessary to change the type of wire to be routed at "r end point", the preparation state of the "start point" is entered, and if it is not necessary, the wiring board 1 is moved (i.e., a new wire clamp is installed). 5 selection), return to (i) and follow (iv
By repeating the steps up to ), a wire harness having a desired pattern can be obtained.

The wiring board L, on which the wires have been routed, is released from the ball screw shaft 9 and transferred to the station Q on the conveyor rail platform A. After straightening the wire ends, the wires are stripped and whether or not the conductors are exposed is checked. Processing such as detection and terminal crimping is performed.

(Correcting wires) The terminals of each wire held by the chain clamp 4 are partially bent during the locking and cutting process, which becomes an obstacle when crimping the terminals. In addition to straightening it, the insulation coating is stripped off by the stripping device F. In order to keep the length of the exposed conductor constant, it is preferable to perform trimming at the same time.

(Crimping of electric wires) The straightened and stripped electric wires are intermittently moved on the conveyor table A by the movement of the wiring board 1, and the presence or absence of conductor exposure is determined by the sensor (not shown) of the detection device G. After the terminals are crimped and processed by the terminal crimping device H, the connector housing is mounted by the case fitting device I.

Each device G-1 can be easily implemented by reusing a known device, so the description thereof will be omitted.

(Removal of wire harness) After installing the connector housing or crimping the terminals, the wiring board 1 is transferred to station R, and the important points U,, U! Wrap it with tape and remove it from the wiring pin 2. As a result, a finished wire harness is obtained.

(Removal of chained clamps) In addition, when removing the chained clamps 4 from the wiring board 1 when the end treatment of the wires is omitted, as shown in FIG. Important points of harness U,, U,
Do this after wrapping the tape etc.

The above has described an example in which wiring of electric wires is carried out in cooperation with the wiring board 1 running on the X-axis and the wiring heel +:B running on the Y-axis. It goes without saying that the known example (US Pat. No. 4,476.629) of traveling along the X-Y axes may also be followed. In this case, X-Y
The wiring head that runs on the axis may grip the wire holder 1) according to the selection, as shown in this embodiment.
In addition, a plurality of wire holders 1) are provided at the wiring end,
A desired one may be selected from these and moved up and down.

Further, as is easily assumed, the chain-like clamps 4 for locking the electric wires can be provided on both side edges of the wiring board 1 as shown in FIG. 5a. In this case, it is possible to speed up the wire terminal processing. In addition, if a wiring head that runs on the X-Y axis is used, the chain clamp 4 can be
They do not necessarily need to be straight as shown in Figure 6 and Figure 5a, but may be curved or bent in parallel like a semicircular shape 4' (or figure 7) as shown in Figure 6. The convex portion and the concave portion provided on the base portion 5a of the electric wire clamp 50 described above may be rotatably fitted to each other so that the adjacent electric wire clamps 5 have flexibility. In this case, the chain-like clamps 4 can be transported along the endless conveyor rail, and the terminal processing after wiring the electric wire can be performed continuously and quickly.

By using the wire clamp of the present invention as a chain clamp, all the ends of the wires constituting the wire harness protrude to one side and are held at a predetermined interval by the wire clamp, and are held in that state. It can be removed from the wiring board.

Therefore, you can simply store and stockpile them in a warehouse and perform processing such as stripping and crimping terminals as needed, without interrupting the wiring of the wires due to the time required for these processing steps. Productivity can be increased.

Furthermore, since the wire ends are aligned on one side, processing such as stripping the wire and crimping the terminal can be performed with a single device, and it is also possible to automate the process from stripping to the connector housing device. Furthermore, since less processing equipment is required, equipment costs are low and maintenance is easy. As a result, the cost of manufacturing the wire harness can be significantly reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1a is an explanatory diagram of a method for manufacturing a wire harness using the electric wire clamp of the present invention, Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the stock state of the same wire harness as above, and Fig. 2 is an example of an apparatus implementing the present invention. FIG. 3a is an enlarged perspective view of the chain-like clamp 4, FIG. 3 is a plan view of the wire clamp, and FIGS.
5a and 5b are explanatory diagrams showing other forms of wire harnesses manufactured using the wire clamp of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional wire harness. It is an explanatory view of a manufacturing method of a wire harness. A...Transportation rail stand, B...Wiring head, C...
Electric wire locking and cutting device, D... Reel station, E
... Electric wire straightening device, F... Stripping device, G...
Detection device, H...Terminal crimping device, ■...Case fitting device, J...Control device, M, M', M''...Regulation rotation motor, 1...Wiring plate, 2 ...Pin, 4... Chain clamp, 5... Wire clamp, 6-... Support rod, 8... Safety guide, 9.10, 14... Ball screw shaft, 1)... Electric wire holder, 15...
Wire feed roll, 16...Electric wire, 17.17'...
Clamp plate, 18... Wire pressing plate, 19.21...
Mounting head, 20...Electric wire cutting blade. Patent Applicant Yazaki Sogyo Co., Ltd. (b) Figure 4 Procedural Amendment (Voluntary) March 15, 1985 Commissioner of the Patent Office No. J1 Month I Rosuo Tono 1, Hanyu's Patent Application No. 288356 of 1988 2. Name of the invention Electric wire clamp for wire harness 3. Relationship with Hanyu who makes the amendment Patent applicant address 1-4-28 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo Name (689) Yazaki Sogyo Co., Ltd. 4. Agent 5. Amendment Date of order: Showa, month, day 6
, Number of inventions increased by amendment Details of amendment (Japanese Patent Application No. 62-288356) 1. Amend "Figure 6 b" to "Figure 5 b" in the 7th line from the bottom of page 17 of the specification. . 2. Correct Figure 3 as shown in the attached sheet. Patent applicant Yazaki Sogyo Co., Ltd.

Claims (7)

[Claims] (1) It is made of synthetic resin, etc., and consists of a base and a pair of clamps erected on the base, and the clamps are provided with guide slopes for the electric wires that spread out from each other at their upper ends. An electric wire clamp for wire harnesses. (2) The electric wire clamp for a wire harness according to claim 1, wherein a protrusion is provided on one opposing surface of a pair of opposing clamps, and a groove is provided on the other opposing surface. (3) An electric wire clamp for a wire harness according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of electric wire clamps are arranged in parallel in a chain at predetermined intervals. (4) The wire harness clamp according to claim 3, wherein the bases of the plurality of wire clamps are integrally molded. (5) A claim in which the base of the electric wire clamp has a convex portion on one side and a concave portion on the other side, and a plurality of electric wire clamps are arranged in a chain by fitting the convex portion and the concave portion of adjacent bases. Wire clamp for wire harness as described in Section 3. (6) The electric wire clamp for a wire harness according to claim 3, wherein a through hole is provided at the base of the electric wire clamp, and a screw pin is inserted into the through hole so that a plurality of electric wire clamps are arranged in a chain. (7) For the wire harness according to any one of claims 3 to 6, in which a plurality of wire clamps are arranged in a chain by inserting the base of the wire clamp into a support rod having a long insertion frame. Wire clamp.