JPH0574886B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for assembling terminated wires into electrical connectors to form harnesses.

[Prior Art] In electrically operated devices and products, when electrical signals are conveyed between printed circuit board assemblies or circuit components by means of electrical conductors, at least one end of the terminating wire is connected to a connector. It is common to use assembled harnesses.

In order to manufacture the above-mentioned harness, it is necessary to terminate the conductive wire to the terminal provided on the connector. In this case, after the conductive wire is terminated to the terminal, the terminal may be installed in the connector housing, or the conductive wire may be terminated to a terminal provided in the connector housing in advance.

Techniques for attaching the terminals inside the connector housing after terminating the conductive wire to the terminals are disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-33828 ``Apparatus for Attaching Connectors to Covered Wires'' and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-83 ``Regrouping''. ``Apparatus for automatically connecting a large number of electrical conductors on a member'' and JP-A No. 59-219811 ``Method for positioning and storing electric wires with terminals'' are well known.

In addition, as a technique for terminating a conductive wire to a terminal provided in advance in a connector housing, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-112789 ``Positioning and Insertion Method and Apparatus for Electric Wire'' and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-38707 "Automatic terminal processing method for multi-core cables", Japanese Patent Publication No. 1986-
No. 114291 "Multi-connection connector", JP-A-57-
No. 182988 ``A device for identifying wires and attaching them to connectors'' is known.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In all of the above-mentioned conventional techniques, the lengths of the plurality of conductive wires that are terminally connected are made to be approximately the same length. There are cases where it is desired that the lengths of the plurality of conductive wires that are terminated in the connector be set to a predetermined length, each having a different length, but the conventional technology has not been able to meet such a request.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide a device for assembling wires to be terminated into a connector one at a time and at different heights within the connector.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a Y-movement table that supports an X-movement table and a connector that feeds the connector into the insertion station in a manner that aligns the wire-receiving slot of the first terminal of the connector with the wire-insertion blade that moves in the Z-direction. means for advancing the X-direction movement table stepwise in the forward direction with a predetermined amount of momentum; means for positioning the Y-direction movement table in one of at least two predetermined positions; and means for moving a wire insertion blade to at least two predetermined depths.

The device according to the invention is of the type for assembling wires in a connector having two or more terminal stages, in which all the wire-receiving slots of the terminals are spaced apart along each of these stages. It can be used in conjunction with known devices.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device that allows wires of varying lengths to be assembled at different heights within a connector, one at a time.

To this end, the present invention includes a connector in which a plurality of individual conductive wires are electrically connected, the housing of the connector having a plurality of terminals arranged along at least two terminal stages, each of which is arranged in a constant manner. Apparatus for manufacturing electrical cable harnesses of the type installed at intervals of means for orienting the connector in the X direction along the terminal stage so as to place the terminals one at a time into the termination station;
means for aligning the free end of the conductive wire with a terminal disposed on the termination station; and means for inserting the free end of the conductive wire into the insulation sheathing slot means provided on the termination station; an electrical cable harness having a wire insertion blade for the termination of the wire, the termination being mounted so that the blade moves along an insertion stroke of a predetermined length in the Z direction perpendicular to the X direction. In the manufacturing apparatus, the means for aligning the conductive wires includes a feeding roll and a wire length encoder wheel for feeding the conductive wires by a predetermined length in the Y direction mutually perpendicular to the X and Z directions. and further comprising means for cutting a terminal end of the conductive wire fed by the wire feed roll to form the free end near the termination station, the directing means , a directional nest movable in the X and Y directions to receive at least one of the connectors;
said insertion blade comprises means for selectively moving said terminals in said termination station one at a time in a predetermined sequence and aligning each terminal with said free end of said wire; at least two insertion strokes of different lengths, one for each row of terminals, for inserting the free ends of the wires into the insulation-cutting slot means of each terminal located in each row; Provided is an electrical harness manufacturing device characterized by the following.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of assembling a harness in which each wire has an individual terminal connector connected to one end.

According to the invention, a connector is provided in which a plurality of individual conductive wires are electrically connected, the housing of the connector having pre-loaded terminals arranged in a constant manner along at least two terminal stages, respectively. A method of manufacturing an electrical cable harness of the type installed at intervals of A method of manufacturing an electrical cable harness comprising the steps of: placing a conductive wire on a station and aligning a free end of a conductive wire with a predetermined point on said terminal; and inserting the free end of the wire into an insulation sheathing slot means of said terminal. In this case, the direction along the terminal stages in which the terminals are arranged is defined as the X direction, and the direction in which the free ends of the wires are inserted is defined as the Z direction, and the conductive wire is stretched to a predetermined length in the Y direction, which is perpendicular to the X direction and the Z direction. The method further comprises the step of: feeding the wire, cutting the wire near the terminal connection station, and forming a rear end of the fed and cut wire as a free end at the predetermined point. A method of manufacturing an electrical cable harness is provided.

This method allows each individual harness wire to be of varying length.

[Examples] Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with respect to each of the above-mentioned features with reference to the accompanying drawings, but it should be noted that these are given by way of example only and are not intended to limit the invention thereto. Please be careful.

First, let us explain about Figures 1 and 2.
The illustrated device has a horizontal wire feeding unit 9. The wire feeding unit 9 includes a wire straightener 10 for straightening the wire 11 fed from a reel (not shown), a wire length encoder wheel 12, a wire pressing wheel 14, and a wire feeding drive roll 16. Furthermore, the wire feeding unit 9 includes an encoder/step motor and a printed circuit board for control and wire handling. This circuit board performs two functions:

(a) Can be programmed to process wires into 35 (minimum) different lengths and then terminate each wire.

(b) Feeding the wire in stages to perform the same function as above. (i) a predetermined portion A1 of the wire length A, for example 50 mm;
to be delivered.

(ii) operating individual rotatable or retractable termination units (not shown);

(iii) Operate the wire clamp unit described below in the half-open position (feeding position).

(iv) Feeding the remaining portion A2 of the wire length A.

The device further includes a mounting unit 20,
This mounting unit 20 is mounted on a mounting plate 21 (Fig. 2).
It is equipped with This mounting plate makes it possible to feed a chain 23 of insulated interfering terminal (IDT) connectors 24, formed as plug sockets, in a horizontal direction, at right angles to the wire feeding direction. In this case, two further processing units (not shown) are required, the first being a unit for feeding the connector chain coming off the reel and the second being a unit for feeding this connector chain. On the other hand, there is a connector separation unit located on the opposite side of the device and outside the wire insertion area described below. These connectors are delivered from flat reels with their terminal placement grooves and terminal and wire receiving slots opening vertically upward.

Alternatively, a loose piece type connector such as 24 can be manually supplied to the mounting plate 21.

The mounting unit 20 further includes an X-movement table 25 mounted on a Y-movement table 26. The mounting plate 21 is mounted on an X-motion table, which is movable along the X-axis in the connector feeding direction. The Y-movement table is movable along the Y-axis at right angles to the connector feeding direction. The XY table is actuated by two cams (not shown) connected to each other and controlled by a step motor (45° minute intervals).

Connector 24 is progressively advanced along mounting plate 21 to the "start" position in which upper stage 30 (FIG. 4) of terminal wire receiving slot 31 is
Wire insertion blade 3 that can move in the vertical Z direction
The insertion station is located directly below 3. The insertion blade is configured to be driven downwardly by a pneumatic insertion cylinder 35;
There is a movable stop at two height (or depth) positions of the insertion stroke of the blade, one position is shown in FIG. 5 (with the blade inserted in step 30 above) and the other. is shown in FIG. 6 (the blade is inserted into the lower step 37). The terminal wire receiving slots 31 are all
in a unique position along steps 30, 37 in the direction;
Adjacent slots 31 each have two stages 30, 37
It is located in After inserting the wire into the first slot 31, the X-table is stepped by one slot, while the Y-table is moved to align the next adjacent slot 31 of the lower rung 37 with the insertion station. . Thereafter, in the same way, the X table is moved step by step forward only to move the terminated wire away from the insertion station, and the Y table is moved sequentially to align the upper and lower steps of the terminal wire receiving slots with the insertion station. will be moved to

The wire feeding guide 40 is connected to the wire cutting blade 4
2, the cutting blade is actuated by the insertion cylinder each time the insertion blade 33 is driven downwards.

In order to control the cutting of the wires as well as the insertion and termination of each cut wire into the connector, the apparatus further includes a wire gripper unit 45, the details of which are described in the third section. As shown in the figure. This unit 45 includes the insertion blade 3
3 and is supported from the insertion cylinder 35, and has a closed position (wire gripping position) and a half-open position (wire guiding position).
and a fully open position (wire release position). The wire gripper unit 45 includes an upper jaw member 47 fixed to the insertion blade 33, a rotatable lower jaw member 48 that swings from the fixed jaw member first to a half-open position and then to a fully open position. closed position,
A dual pneumatic piston/cylinder arrangement, generally indicated at 50, is provided for actuating the clamp between a half-open position and a fully open position. Pressurized air is directed to either side of the main piston 51 to close or fully open the clamp. When the clamp is in the closed position, pressurized air supplied to the lower side of the piston 51 holds the second piston 52 in the displaced position within the cylinder 53 against the spring 54 acting on the upper surface of the second piston 52. be done. When the closing force of the air decreases relative to the force of spring 54, the clamp opens by a predetermined amount controlled by the downward movement allowed to piston 52. The piston 52 is
It is held in engagement with the piston 52 by a spring 54. The pressurized air that fully opens the clamp is
It is supplied to the cylinder 53 and sent to the upper side of the piston 51 through the fluid port of the piston 52.

The device is operated as follows.

Connector 24 is advanced and first terminal wire receiving slot 31 is placed in the insertion station. The wire gripper unit 45 is moved to the half-open position. The wires are provided with one length A or two lengths A1 for the first wire by the unit 9 in order to terminate the rear end of the wire in a rotatable or retractable termination unit.
and A2. The wire gripper unit is then closed. The wire cutting blade 42 is then actuated and the wire is moved and inserted by the insertion blade while being held by the wire gripper unit 45. The wire gripper unit 45 is then moved to the fully open position, the connector 24 is fed by the movement of the XY table, the second wire receiving slot is aligned with the insertion station, and the device continues through the operating cycle described above. Repeat, wire gripper unit 4
5 moves into its half-open or feeding position to receive and guide the next wire. Figure 7 shows conductive wire 1.
1 indicates a terminally connected connector 24. The wires 11 shown have different lengths in the upper and lower stages.

After the wire sections, for example six, cut to length have been connected to the connector in this way, the next connector chain 23 is advanced and the new connector is aligned with the insertion station. At the same time or intermittently, the completed harness is separated from the harness chain.

XY combined in double-height insertion unit
The exercise table can be used with the "Megomat" ASM1000 (trade name) in the same way as with standard presses, but in this case a special right-hand wire gripper of type ASM1000 is used instead of the wire gripper unit 45 mentioned above. be done.

XY motion table 24 connected to double height insertion unit 35 and wire gripper unit 45
and 25 can be used in conjunction with the wire feeding and measuring unit (Megomat) described above to produce single harnesses and jack harnesses automatically or semi-automatically.

Utilizing the split wire feeding features described above, each end of the harness wire can be terminated individually using an auxiliary stripper/crimper unit, or double-ended using an IDT press. It is also possible to form an IDT type harness.

All harnesses use wire sections cut from a single wire. A wire marking unit may be used to identify the various wire sections.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention has the advantage of providing an apparatus and method for assembling conductive wires of varying lengths at different heights within a connector, one at a time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a part of an automatic device of the present invention for manufacturing a harness by assembling wires to be terminated into connectors, FIG. 2 is a front view thereof, and FIG.
The figure shows an end view of the wire gripper unit, the fourth
5 and 6 are schematic views showing a series of wire insertion steps, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view schematically showing a part of the harness manufactured according to the present invention. 9... Wire feeding unit, 10... Wire straightener, 11... Wire, 12... Wire length encoder, 14... Wire pressing wheel,
16...Wire feeding drive unit, 20...Mounting unit, 24...Connector, 25...X direction table, 26...Y direction table, 31...Slot, 33...Insertion blade, 35...Insertion cylinder , 40... wire feeding unit, 45... wire gripper unit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A connector having a plurality of individual conductive wires electrically connected thereto, the housing of the connector having a plurality of terminals arranged at regular intervals along at least two terminal stages. Apparatus for manufacturing electrical cable harnesses of the type in which the electrical cable harnesses are mounted with an electrically conductive wire, the terminals of which have insulating cut-in slot means for terminating conductive wires,
a terminating station; means for orienting the connector in an X direction along said terminal stage so as to place the terminals of said connector one at a time in said terminating station; a wire insertion blade for inserting the free end of the conductive wire into the insulation sheathing slot means; The blade is
In an electrical cable harness manufacturing apparatus comprising a terminal connector mounted to move along an insertion stroke of a predetermined length in the Z direction perpendicular to the Z direction, the means for aligning the conductive wires 11 comprises: A feeding roll 16 and a wire length encoder wheel 12 for feeding the conductive wire 11 by a predetermined length in the Y direction mutually perpendicular to the X and Z directions.
and further comprising means 40, 42 for cutting the terminal end of the conductive wire 11 fed by the wire feed roll 16 to form the free end near the termination station, Said directing means 20 comprises a directing host 25, 26 movable in said X and Y directions to receive at least one of said connectors, and further comprises a directing host 25, 26 movable in said X direction and a Y direction to receive at least one of said connectors;
and means for selectively moving in the direction and the Y direction to place the terminals one at a time in a predetermined sequence on said termination station and aligning each terminal with the free end of said wire 11; The insertion blade 33 has insertion strokes of at least two different lengths, one for each row of terminals, and inserts the free ends of the wires 11 into the connection sheathing slot means 31 of each terminal located in each row. An electric cable harness manufacturing device characterized by inserting a. 2 The above-mentioned directing means consists of an X table 25 movable in the X direction and a Y table 25 movable in the Y direction to which this
The electric cable harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a table 26. 3. The electrical cable harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined sequence is an order in which terminals are picked up alternately from the two rows. 4. A connector having a plurality of individual conductive wires electrically connected thereto, the housing of the connector having pre-loaded terminals mounted at regular intervals along at least two terminal stages. , a method for manufacturing an electrical cable harness of the type in which the terminals have insulation-jacketed slot means for terminating conductive wires, the method comprising: placing the terminals of said connector in a terminating station; , a method of manufacturing an electrical cable harness comprising the steps of aligning the free ends of the conductive wires at predetermined points on the terminals and inserting the free ends of the wires into the insulation sheathing slot means of the terminals. The conductive wire 11 is fed by a predetermined length in the Y direction, which is perpendicular to the X direction and the Z direction, with the direction along the terminal stage being the X direction and the direction in which the free end of the wire is inserted being the Z direction, Manufacturing an electrical cable harness, further comprising the step of cutting the wire near the terminal connection station and forming the rear end of the fed and cut wire as a free end at the predetermined point. Method. 5. The connector according to claim 4, wherein the terminals are attached in a plurality of rows, and the connector includes the step of alternately terminating the terminals of one row with the terminals of the other rows as the connector is advanced in the X direction. Method of manufacturing electrical cable harness.