JPH04328211A - Flat cable its manufacture and mounting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate operations to insert a flat cable to a printed circuit board, etc., and also provide possibility of mounting flat cable automatically by preventing the pitch of electric wires, which are exposed from the covering of the flat cable, from becoming out of uniformity. CONSTITUTION:The covering material 7 of electric wires 2 of a flat cable is cut so as to expose them from the covering 3. The cut covering material 7 is cut still shorter to provide a spacer 4 which is shorter than the exposure length of wires 2. A gap 5 is generated between this spacer 4 and the covering 3. The ends of wires 2 retained by the spacer 4 are coordinated with insert holes 22, and then the flat cable 1 is pushed. The spacer 4 retreats along the wires 2, which are thus inserted into the holes 22 under guidance of the spacer 4.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a flat cable that can be easily inserted into a printed wiring board, etc., a simple method for manufacturing the flat cable, and a method for attaching the flat cable to a printed wiring board, etc. Regarding.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b) are a sectional view and a plan view of a flat cable 51 according to a conventional example. The flat cable 51 has two or more electric wires 52 arranged in parallel covered with a covering material 53 made of an insulating material such as vinyl chloride.

[0003] Such a flat cable 51 is used, for example, as an internal wiring (long jumper wire, etc.) of a printed wiring board 54 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 0, divided printed wiring boards 54, 54
It is used to connect one another, or, as shown in FIG. 11, it is used to connect a plug 55 to a printed wiring board 54 for connection to an external device or circuit.

[0004] Since the flat cable 51 immediately after manufacture is long, the flat cable (flat cable base material) 51 cut into an appropriate size is cut to the end of the electric wire 52, as shown in FIG. It is covered with a covering material 53. It would be inefficient if this coating was stripped off one by one on the circuit assembly line, so the flat cable 51 is cut to the required size in advance, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (a), the ends of the covering material 53 are completely removed using a stripper or the like to expose an appropriate size of the electric wire 52. Next, when mounting the flat cable 51 on a lead-through type printed wiring board 54, each electric wire 52 exposed at the end of the flat cable 51 is printed wiring by hand as shown in FIG. 12(b). Insert into the land hole 56 of the plate 54. At this time, it is necessary to form the flat cable 51 in advance to prevent it from coming off as shown in FIG. 12(c), or to bend the electric wire 52 inserted into the land hole 56. Thereafter, the flat cable 51 is connected to the printed wiring board 54 by flow soldering or the like together with other electrical and electronic components mounted on the printed wiring board 54.
4 is soldered.

However, in a flat cable 51 with a wire 52 protruding from the end as shown in FIG. 12(a), when inserting the wire 52 into the land hole 56 of the printed wiring board 54, the wire must be carefully 52 is easily deformed, and if it is deformed, the wire 52 must be straightened again before it can be inserted. For this reason, conventionally, the flat cable 51 has been manually inserted into the printed wiring board 54. could not be installed automatically.

[0006] Furthermore, if the flat cable is inserted into the printed wiring board at an early stage, it will interfere with the assembly of other parts, so it is desirable to insert the flat cable in the final process. When trying to insert the flat cable in the final process, the work was difficult because the already assembled parts got in the way. Therefore, there has been a desire to automate the attachment of flat cables to printed wiring boards, etc.

[0007] For this reason, various means have been proposed in the past for making flat cables compatible with automatic attachment. FIG. 13 shows an example of the automatic mounting means. In this method, a socket 57 is attached to the printed wiring board 54 in advance, and the electric wire 52 is easily inserted into the land hole 56 of the printed wiring board 54 while being guided by the tapered hole 58 of the socket 57. That's what I do.

However, the wires 52 of the flat cable 51 with exposed wires 52 are easily deformed due to interference with each other during transportation or stocking, and if the pitch between the wires 52 becomes uneven, the socket 57 is Even when used, it could not be inserted as is, and it was necessary to once straighten the electric wires 52 to make them parallel, so that a sufficient effect could not be obtained. Further, even when automatic mounting is to be carried out, the electric wire 52 is easily bent in the magazine or parts feeder, and if the end of the electric wire 52 is bent, automatic insertion is not possible, so automation is difficult.

Furthermore, since the socket 57 must be attached to the printed wiring board 54 in advance, there are problems such as an increase in the number of component mounting steps, high cost, and an increase in the mounting space for the flat cable 51. Ta.

FIG. 14 shows another automatic attachment means for the flat cable 51. In this case, a connector 59 is attached to a printed wiring board 54, and a connector 60 provided on a flat cable 51 is connected to the connector 59 of the printed wiring board 54 after the assembly of the printed wiring board 54 is completed.

With this method of using connectors 59 and 60, it is possible to automatically attach connector 59 to printed wiring board 54, but it is not possible to automatically supply flat cable 51 provided with connector 60. Therefore, complete automation was not possible. Further, since a pair of connectors 59 and 60 are required, there is a drawback that the cost is high.

0012

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the drawbacks of the conventional examples described above, and its purpose is to facilitate the insertion work into printed wiring boards, etc., and therefore to automatically The objective is to provide a flat cable that can be attached to the body.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a simple method for manufacturing the flat cable and a method for easily attaching the flat cable to a printed wiring board or the like.

[0014]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The flat cable of the present invention is a flat cable in which a plurality of electric wires are covered by a sheathing portion, and the ends of the plurality of electric wires arranged in parallel are exposed from the sheathing portion. A spacer for maintaining the pitch between the wires is slidably attached to the exposed part of the wire, and the length of the spacer is made shorter than the exposed length of the wire to create a gap between the spacer and the covering part. It is characterized by the fact that it was formed.

Further, in the flat cable manufacturing method of the present invention, in a flat cable base material in which the entire length of the electric wire is covered with a sheathing material, the end of the sheathing material is cut off from the part that will become the sheathing part, and the end of the sheathing material is separated from the end of the sheathing material. It is characterized in that a spacer for maintaining the pitch between the wires is formed by extracting the wire along the wire and cutting off a portion of the end of the covering material.

Furthermore, the flat cable mounting method of the present invention includes holding the coated end of the flat cable,
After aligning the end of the wire whose space between the wires is maintained by the spacer with the wire insertion hole, by pushing the flat cable in the direction of the wire insertion hole, the spacer is moved back along the wire and the end of the wire is It is characterized by allowing the part to be inserted into the wire insertion hole.

[0017]

[Function] In the flat cable of the present invention, a spacer is slidably attached to the end of the wire exposed from the sheath, so it can be easily used during transportation of the flat cable or automatic feeding from a parts feeder, etc. The wires do not deform, and the pitch between the wires can be kept constant until the flat cable is attached.

Furthermore, since the length of the spacer is shorter than the exposed length of the electric wire to form a gap between the spacer and the sheath, the flat cable can be aligned with the electric wire insertion hole, and the flat cable can be inserted into the electric wire. When pushed toward the insertion hole, the spacer retreats and the wire is inserted into the wire insertion hole. At this time, the spacer allows the wires to be inserted while keeping the pitch between the wires constant. Also, since the spacer serves as a wire insertion guide, the wires do not bend during insertion, and the flat cable can be easily connected to the wires of printed wiring boards, etc. It can be attached to the insertion hole.

Therefore, with the flat cable and the method for attaching the flat cable of the present invention, the work of attaching the flat cable to a printed wiring board or the like can be made extremely easy. In particular, it becomes possible to have the flat cable installation work performed by an automatic machine.

Furthermore, in the flat cable manufacturing method of the present invention, since the spacer can be formed using the covering material that covers the electric wire during the manufacturing of the flat cable, no separate member is required. The flat cable can be manufactured easily and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[0021]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) show a plan view and a side view of a flat cable 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 2 denotes a plurality of electric wires that are passed in parallel inside a sheathing part 3 made of an insulating material such as vinyl chloride, and the ends of the electric wires 2 are exposed from the sheathing part 3 by a length L, and the electric wires A spacer 4 having a dimension g shorter than the exposed length L is slidably attached to the exposed portion of the spacer 2 . This spacer 4 is for maintaining the line pitch p of the exposed portion of the electric wire 2 at the same pitch as the line pitch within the sheathing part 3, and the spacer 4 covers the exposed portion of the electric wire 2 up to the end. A gap 5 having a dimension s slightly wider than the thickness of the printed wiring board is formed between the spacer 4 and the covering portion 3.

FIGS. 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c) show a method of manufacturing the flat cable 1 described above. FIG. 2(a) shows a flat cable base material 6 cut into appropriate dimensions. First, the end of the sheathing material 7 of this flat cable base material 6 is cut away from the part that will become the sheathing part 3 along line CC in FIG. 2(a), and the end of the sheathing material cut off as shown in FIG. 2(b). 8 from the wire 2, cut a portion of the sheathing material end 8 with the D-D wire (you may also cut a portion of the wire 2 along with the sheathing material end 8), and use the remaining portion as a spacer. It is set at 4. Therefore, the covering part 3 and the spacer 4 are made of the same material and have the same cross-sectional shape, and a gap 5 is formed between the covering part 3 and the spacer 4, so that the spacer 4 can slide along the electric wire 2. It becomes. By manufacturing the flat cable 1 in this way, the spacer 4 can be formed using parts that were conventionally discarded, and the flat cable 1 can be manufactured at low cost without the need for separate parts. . Further, the flat cable 1 can be easily manufactured from the flat cable base material 6.

[0023] The above-mentioned flat cable 1 can facilitate the insertion work even when manually inserted into a printed wiring board, but it is particularly useful when automating the attachment to a printed wiring board etc. using an automatic machine. effective.

FIG. 3 shows the head 1 of an automatic insertion machine for automatically attaching the flat cable 1 to a printed wiring board, etc.
FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the structure of FIG. The flat cable insertion head 11 has a pair of chuck claws 12a, 12b, and the inner surfaces of both chuck claws 12a, 12b are provided with a protrusion 13 for clamping the end of the covering portion 3 of the flat cable 1. A guide portion 14 is provided on the distal side of the protrusion 13 to guide the spacer 4 and prevent the flat cable 1 from being deformed. Here, from the viewpoint of the effect of regulating the position of the tip of the spacer 4, it is desirable that the length f of the guide portion 14 is long. However, the length f of the guide part 14 needs to be slightly shorter than the length g of the spacer 4 (f<g), so when the end of the covering part 3 is gripped between the projections 13, the spacer 4 protrudes from the tip of the guide portion 14 by a protrusion length h that is slightly longer than the dimension s of the gap 5.

When inserting the flat cable 1 into the printed wiring board 21, the flat cable 1 is supplied to the head 11 and the end of the flat cable 1 is held between the chuck claws 12a and 12b, and the printed wiring board 21 is inserted into the printed wiring board 21. Board 21
Then, while holding the flat cable 1, move the head 1 to the position of the wire insertion hole 22 such as a land hole that has been input in advance (or the position of the wire insertion hole 22 detected by the sensor, etc.). , the electric wire 2 as shown in Figure 4
to the wire insertion hole 22. After this, head 1
When the spacer 1 is pushed out, the spacer 4 is pushed by the printed wiring board 21 and retreats while the electric wire 2 is inserted into the wire insertion hole 22. At this time, since the line pitch p of each electric wire 2 is maintained by the spacer 4 until just before insertion, the line pitch p
does not deviate from the pitch of the wire insertion hole 22, the wire 2 is inserted straight into the wire insertion hole 22 while being guided by the spacer 4, and the flat cable 1 is smoothly installed. Moreover, since the spacer 4 retreats while being guided by the guide portions 14 of the chuck claws 12a and 12b, when the flat cable 1 is inserted, the electric wire 4
The exposed parts etc. will not bend. Furthermore, the distance k between the guide parts 14 when the flat cable 1 is gripped is set to a size that can correct the deflection and bending of the flat cable 1 and hold the electric wire 2 so that it does not come off from the electric wire insertion hole 22. It is desirable that the thickness be slightly wider than the thickness of . When the electric wire 2 is inserted into the electric wire insertion hole 22, the tip of the electric wire 2 is clinched on the back side of the printed wiring board 21 to prevent it from coming off, and then the chuck claws 12a and 12b are opened and the flat cable 1 is released. Ru.

[0026] As for the method of supplying the flat cable to the head, there is a method using a matrix tray, a method using a magazine, or a method in which the head is directly connected to the flat cable manufacturing process in which the flat cable is manufactured from hoop material. is possible.

[0027] The head can automatically insert a flat cable into a printed wiring board with a simple structure when the cable has a high buckling strength and is difficult to bend, such as an electric wire in which at least the exposed portion of the stranded wire is soldered. In addition,
Since it can be miniaturized, it is effective for wiring boards that have severe adjacency conditions in terms of space during insertion. On the other hand, if the wire is flexible and easily bends when inserted,
An automatic insertion machine having a head structure as shown in FIG. 5 may be used.

The head 31 shown in FIG. 5 includes a pair of covering chuck claws 32a and 32b and a pair of spacer chuck claws 3
3a, 33b, and the covering portion chuck claws 32a, 32
Spacer chuck claws 33a, 33b are arranged on the outside of b, and the covering portion chuck claws 32a, 32b and the spacer chuck claws 33a, 33b are configured to be able to open/close and advance and retreat independently.

[0029] Therefore, the flat cable 1 is connected to the head 3.
1, the ends of the covering part 3 are gripped by the covering part chuck claws 32a and 32b, and the entire spacer 4 is gripped by the spacer chuck claws 33a and 33b, as shown in FIG. 5(a). The electric wire 2 is moved to the insertion hole 22, and the end face of the electric wire 2 is fitted into the electric wire insertion hole 22 while positioning the spacer 4 using the spacer chuck claws 33a and 33b. Next, as shown in FIG. 5(b), after opening the spacer chuck claws 33a and 33b to release the spacer 4,
While keeping the spacer chuck claws 33a, 33b stationary, the covering portion chuck claws 32a, 32b are pushed out, and the spacer 4 is retreated along the wire 2, while the wire 2 is inserted into the wire insertion hole 22.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the automatic insertion machine,
2 is a sectional view showing a device for automatically inserting both ends of the flat cable 1 into a printed wiring board 21. FIG. This device is provided with a pair of heads 41 and 42, which are spaced apart from each other by a constant distance Q, and can be moved independently in the insertion direction. .

[0031] When fitting both ends of the flat cable 1 into the wire insertion holes 22 and 23 separated by a distance R, first bend the flat cable 1 into an inverted U shape as shown in Fig. 6. Each end is gripped by a respective head 41, 42. Next, both heads 41 and 42 are moved, and only one head 41 is advanced to align one side of the flat cable 1 with the wire insertion hole 22 as shown in FIG. 7(a), and the head 41 is further pushed out. The electric wire 2 at one end of the flat cable 1 is inserted into the electric wire insertion hole 22, and the tip of the inserted electric wire 2 is clinched to prevent it from coming off. Open the head 41 to release one end of the flat cable 1,
After the head 41 is moved backward and the other head 42 is moved forward, both heads 41, 42 or the printed wiring board 21 are moved by RQ and are grabbed by the other head 42 as shown in FIG. 7(b). Align the wire 2 at the other end of the flat cable 1 with the wire insertion hole 23, and insert the head 4.
2 is further pushed out, and the electric wire 2 at the other end of the flat cable 1 is inserted into the electric wire insertion hole 23, and the electric wire 2 is similarly clinched to prevent it from coming off. According to such a method, the work of inserting both ends of the flat cable can be automated regardless of the distance between the wire insertion holes.

In the above embodiment, the spacer is formed using a covering material, but a separately formed spacer may be attached to the exposed portion of the electric wire or may be formed on the exposed portion of the electric wire. For example, since the covering material is molded from a flexible material, if it is desired to prevent the spacer from deflecting in the width direction, a spacer molded from a hard resin may be used. Furthermore, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the use of attaching a flat cable to a printed wiring board, but can also be used for purposes other than printed wiring boards.

[0033]

[Effects of the Invention] According to the flat cable and the method for installing the same of the present invention, since the pitch between the electric wires is maintained by the spacer, the wire is not exposed from the sheathing part of the electric wire before supplying the flat cable or when inserting the electric wire. In addition, since the wires are guided by the spacer when inserted, the wires do not bend or bend, and the work of installing the flat cable can be carried out smoothly. Furthermore, since the pitch between the electric wires is kept constant, it can easily be adapted to automatically attach flat cables. Furthermore, compared to the conventional method, since no sockets or connectors are used, the installation space on a printed wiring board etc. can be reduced, and the installation cost of the flat cable can also be reduced.

Furthermore, according to the flat cable manufacturing method of the present invention, the spacer can be formed using the covering material covering the electric wire during the manufacturing of the flat cable, which simplifies the manufacturing of the flat cable. At the same time, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(a) and 1(b) are a plan view and a side view of a flat cable according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c) are partially cutaway plan views showing a method of manufacturing the same flat cable.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the head structure of an automatic insertion machine for automatically inserting the flat cable as described above.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a method of automatically inserting a flat cable into a printed wiring board using the same head as described above.

FIGS. 5(a) and 5(b) are cross-sectional views showing the operation of automatically inserting a flat cable into a printed wiring board using a head having a different structure.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the head of an automatic insertion machine for automatically inserting both ends of a flat cable into a printed wiring board.

7(a) and 7(b) are cross-sectional views illustrating a procedure for inserting both ends of a flat cable into a printed wiring board using the same automatic insertion machine as above.

FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b) are a sectional view and a plan view showing a conventional flat cable.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of use of the flat cable.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing another usage example of the flat cable.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing yet another usage example of the flat cable.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a conventional method for inserting a flat cable into a printed wiring board, in which (a) is a plan view of the flat cable, and (b) is a part of the flat cable inserted into the printed wiring board. FIG. 3(c) is a partially broken side view of a flat cable that has been inserted into a printed wiring board and then subjected to forming processing.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view showing a conventional method of inserting a flat cable into a printed wiring board using a socket.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing another conventional method of inserting a flat cable into a printed wiring board using a connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Flat cable 2 Electric wire 3 Covering part 4 Spacer 5 Gap 6 Flat cable base material 7. Covering material 22, 23 Wire insertion hole

Claims (3)

[Claims] Claim 1: A flat cable in which a plurality of electric wires are covered by a sheathing part, in which the ends of the plurality of electric wires arranged in parallel are exposed from the sheathing part, and the pitch between the electric wires is maintained. A flat cable characterized in that a spacer is slidably attached to an exposed part of an electric wire, and the length of the spacer is shorter than the exposed length of the electric wire to form a gap between the spacer and the covering part. 2. In a flat cable base material in which the entire length of the electric wire is covered with a sheathing material, the end of the sheathing material is cut off from the part that becomes the sheathing part, the end of the sheathing material is pulled out along the wire, and the end of the sheathing material is removed. 1. A method of manufacturing a flat cable, comprising forming a spacer for maintaining the pitch between the wires by cutting out a portion of the wire. 3. After holding the sheathed end of the flat cable according to claim 1 and aligning the end of the wire whose inter-wire space is maintained by the spacer with the wire insertion hole, A flat cable installation method characterized by pushing the spacer in the direction of the wire insertion hole, thereby inserting the end of the wire into the wire insertion hole while retreating the spacer along the wire.