EP3410547B1 - Method and device for processing a cable - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing a cable.

To produce a cable harness, cables are cut to length from a supply of cables. To save space with long cables, the cable can be shaped into a cable loop.

One variant is in US5153839A shown. The cables are drawn vertically in a loop by this device and then brought to the individual processing stations via a carousel. Such a machine is very space-saving in the horizontal plane. With cable lengths of six meters and more, the construction becomes very complex.

Another approach to processing very long cables in a relatively short machine is to use cable cassettes in which the individual cables are coiled ( US5125154A , US5153839A ). The length of the processed cables can be much longer compared to the size of other machine concepts. The device off EP0182592A2 uses containers to bring long cables through a processing machine. The cable lies in loops in the container.

However, all of the aforementioned solutions can only be used with difficulty, if at all, for equipping connector housings with a large number of cables.

A device for the machine production of a partial wiring harness with long cables, which is suitable for processing connector housings with a large number of cables, is, for example, from EP2421102A1 known. A cable is fed to the machine from a supply of cables. A loop is formed with the cable, which is lengthened by pulling it horizontally. The two cable ends are then transported to the processing stations and finally inserted into the corresponding connector housing. The individual cable loops remain in a cable tray until the partial wiring harness is removed.

However, if long cables are only processed on one side and a connector is equipped with a large number of contacts, the loose ends of the cables will get caught. This is done by pulling the adjacent cable loops with the loose cable ends first. The loose ends of the cables move in the opposite direction, which leads to loops and entanglement of the cables. Removing the partial wiring harness from the machine is made considerably more difficult and can lead to major production disruptions.

For the manual processing of cables there is a solution for preventing entanglement. Out US3360135A hubs are known around which the cables are laid. One end of the cable is clamped for later removal. The cables cannot get caught by the hubs because the direction of movement of the cables is restricted.

JP 01186777 A describes an apparatus for processing and processing electrical wires. JP 2002298664 A describes a wire rod guide for a wire rod manufacturing facility that cuts to length.

The object of the invention is to provide a method and a device which prevents open cable loops from getting caught and thereby makes it considerably easier to remove the cable harness sections.

• Aufziehen einer Schlaufe des Kabels über einen auf einer Schlaufenablagefläche angeordneten Führungskörper, wobei die Schlaufe unter Verwendung eines angetriebenen Mitnehmers bis zu einer vorbestimmten Länge aufgezogen wird; und
• Ablegen der Schlaufe von dem Mitnehmer auf die Schlaufenablagefläche, wobei die Schlaufe über den Führungskörper abgelegt wird.

According to the invention, this object is achieved with a method for processing a cable and with a device for processing a cable having the features according to the independent claims. The process has the following steps:

• Pulling up a loop of the cable over a guide body arranged on a loop support surface, the loop being pulled up to a predetermined length using a driven driver; and
• Depositing the loop from the driver onto the loop depositing surface, the loop being deposited over the guide body.

• eine Schlaufenablagefläche, auf der zumindest ein Führungskörper angeordnet ist; und
• einen angetriebenen Mitnehmer, der dazu ausgebildet ist, eine Schlaufe des Kabels aufzuziehen und über den Führungskörper abzulegen.

Furthermore, the device for processing a cable is presented, the device having the following features:

• a loop storage surface on which at least one guide body is arranged; and
• a driven driver, which is designed to pull a loop of the cable and place it over the guide body.

Possible features and advantages of embodiments of the invention can be viewed, inter alia and without restricting the invention, as being based on the ideas and findings described below.

For example, the cable can be fed to the machine from a cable store. The process can then proceed as follows: The supplied cable is looped and pulled to the required length. To do this, the driver of the loop pull-out module is brought into the inner area of the loop and from there pulls the loop to the desired length. Then the loop is released from the loop pull-out module and falls onto the loop storage surface via at least one guide body. One end of the cable is also released so that the loop that is now open is only pulled through the processing machine at one end. The guidance through the guide body prevents areas of the cable from shifting in the opposite direction to the intended direction. By controlling the direction of movement, small, twisted loops loosen and a possible twist in the cable slowly untwists itself. The end of the cable that is held runs through the individual processing stations, with the rest of the cable being pulled. Finally, the held cable end is brought into the connector housing provided with its contact at the connector assembly station. The cables of the partial wiring harness processed in this way are held in a known manner by struts over a cable trough until they are removed.

A plug can be equipped with a large number of contacts without the cable getting caught. This makes it much easier to remove the partial wiring harness from the machine, and production disruptions can be prevented.

In a first preferred embodiment, the loop storage surface is an essentially horizontally oriented work surface for laying down at least one loop of the cable. To open the loop, the driver is in a The initial loop is moved in or the initial loop is placed around the driver. The driver is moved with a vertical distance above the loop storage surface. The driver has a plurality of elevations which are designed to reduce the contact area between the cable and the driver.

The rounding of the elevations can be smaller than a minimum permissible bending radius of the cable. The number and distribution of the elevations, on the other hand, is selected so that the cable does not fall below the minimum permissible bending radius, which prevents permanent deformation of the cable.

The minimum permitted bending radius of the cable is the smallest radius into which the cable can be bent without being damaged. By reducing the contact area, the cable can slide around the driver with less friction. This is positively supported by an appropriately chosen surface. The driver also has an inlet geometry for the cable. The inlet geometry can be designed, for example, as an inlet area and an outlet area, so that the cable does not rub against a sharp edge.

The driver is moved above the guide body by a drive. In order to place the loop over the guide body, the driver is moved upwards out of the loop.

The guide body is essentially cylindrical, with a radius larger than the minimum permissible bending radius of the cable. The contour of the guide body is flush with the loop support surface, so that the cable cannot be jammed. The guide body has a taper in the form of a point or a ridge at its upper end. The tip or the ridge are preferably rounded. As a result of the tapering, the guide body can penetrate a comparatively narrow loop. When it is laid down, gravity causes the cable to fall down from the driver over the tip of the guide body onto the loop support surface. The tip of the guide body is aligned with the center axis of the loop. The tip of the guide body is also arranged laterally offset to the central axis of the guide body. The guide body is inclined for this purpose cut. An oblique cut results in a kind of elongated tip with a high degree of robustness. An upper surface of the guide body is arranged at a non-right angle, for example between 10 ° and 85 °, preferably between 30 ° and 70 °, to the vertical.

One side of the loop slides laterally over an incline of the guide body, while the other side of the loop falls essentially vertically downwards onto the loop storage surface. The guide body is magnetically attached to the loop support surface. The guide body can thus be fastened in a reversibly changeable manner at various positions along the loop support surface. This makes it easy to set different lengths for the loop.

Different areas of loop lengths can be covered at the same time by additional guide bodies. For this purpose, the guide bodies are arranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of the loop storage surface and are spaced from one another.

One half of the cable loop is pulled off the loop storage surface around the guide body by the further transport of the held cable end to the processing stations. This prevents the adjacent cable ends from being dragged along in an undesired direction. At the same time, a possible twist in the cable can loosen.

A second preferred embodiment provides that the loop storage surface is contoured. A slope or inclination of the loop support surface can be so flat or slight that the cable remains lying due to its weight. This reduces the risk that the neighboring cables will drag each other along.

Another preferred embodiment has a driver with at least one rotatable roller which minimizes the friction between the cable and the driver. When using a single pulley, the radius of the pulley is larger than the minimum permitted bending radius of the cable. By using several rollers or deflection rollers, the friction between the cable and the driver can be further minimized and the tendency for lagging can be reduced. This protects the cable as much as possible. The inlet geometry is, for example, beveled and / or rounded. The inlet geometry can also be designed, for example, in the shape of a funnel. Due to the inlet geometry, the cable can run around the carrier without damaging it when it is pulled. To put the loop down, the driver is moved out of the loop. For example, the driver can be moved back while the loop remains open. Then the loop falls over the guide body.

It should be noted that some of the possible features and advantages of the invention are described herein with reference to different embodiments. A person skilled in the art recognizes that the features of the method and the device can be combined, adapted or exchanged in a suitable manner in order to arrive at further embodiments of the invention defined in the claims.

• Fig. 1 zeigt eine Darstellung einer Vorrichtung zum Verarbeiten eines Kabels gemäss einem Ausführungsbeispiel;
• Fig. 2 zeigt eine Darstellung eines Führungskörpers einer Vorrichtung zum Verarbeiten eines Kabels gemäss einem Ausführungsbeispiel;
• Fig. 3 zeigt eine Darstellung eines Mitnehmers und eines Führungskörpers einer Vorrichtung zum Verarbeiten eines Kabels gemäss einem Ausführungsbeispiel;
• Fig. 4 zeigt eine Darstellung eines Mitnehmers für eine Vorrichtung zum Verarbeiten eines Kabels gemäss einem Ausführungsbeispiel;
• Fig. 5 zeigt eine Darstellung eines Mitnehmers in Rollenform für eine Vorrichtung zum Verarbeiten eines Kabels gemäss einem Ausführungsbeispiel; und
• Fig. 6 zeigt eine Darstellung eines Mitnehmers mit mehreren Rollen für eine Vorrichtung zum Verarbeiten eines Kabels gemäss einem Ausführungsbeispiel.

Embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, neither the drawings nor the description being to be construed as restricting the invention.

• Fig. 1 shows an illustration of a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment;
• Fig. 2 shows a representation of a guide body of a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment;
• Fig. 3 shows a representation of a driver and a guide body of a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment;
• Fig. 4 shows a representation of a driver for a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment;
• Fig. 5 shows a representation of a driver in roll form for a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment; and
• Fig. 6 shows a representation of a driver with several rollers for a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment.

The figures are only schematic and not true to scale. In the various figures, the same reference symbols denote the same or equivalent features

Fig. 1 shows an illustration of a device 100 for processing a cable 102 according to an embodiment. The device 100 is here a component of a wire harness processing machine. The device 100 has a loop storage surface 104 and a plurality of guide bodies 106 arranged thereon. The guide bodies 106 protrude upward beyond the loop storage surface 104. The guide bodies 106 have a circular cross-sectional area. A motor-driven driver 108 is arranged above the loop storage surface 104. The driver 108 is mounted so as to be linearly movable in a pull-out direction. The driver 108 is designed to pull out a loop 110 of the cable 102 to a desired length and to place it on the loop storage surface 104 via at least one of the guide bodies 106.

To pull it out, the driver 108 is moved to a cable output device 112 by its drive device (not shown here). There the driver 108 is moved into an initial loop or the initial loop is wrapped around the driver 108. The driver 108 is then moved in the pull-out direction by the drive device and pulls the loop 110 open.

The loop 110 is long enough if both ends of the cable 102 together result in a desired cable length. When the loop 110 is long enough, that is to say the driver 108 has been moved to a position predetermined by the desired cable length, the driver 108 places the loop 110 on the loop storage surface 104 via at least one of the guide bodies 106. For this purpose, the driver 108 is pulled out of the loop 110 by the drive device. It is also possible to move the driver 108 by the drive device in a direction opposite to the elevator direction, so that the cable 102 drops from the driver 108 onto the loop support surface 104.

When the loop 110 has the desired length, the end of the loop 110 connected to the cable supply is severed at the cable output device 112. This end is thus free.

The cable 102 is pulled off around the guide body 106 in order to be processed further in the wire harness processing machine. The loose end of the cable 102 relaxes when it is pulled off. The remaining twist is stripped off the cable 102 by the guide body 106.

Figure 2 shows a representation of a guide body 106 with a cylindrical base body. The guide body essentially corresponds to one of the guide bodies in FIG Fig. 1 . In order to form a point, the guide body 106 is cut obliquely at the top. As a result of the inclined cut, the guide body 106 has on its upper side a continuous surface 200 which is inclined on one side and over which the cable slides laterally when it is deposited over the guide bodies 106. The tip is arranged offset laterally to the lateral surface of the cylinder.

Fig. 3 shows a representation of a driver 108 and a guide body 106 of a device for processing a cable 102 according to an embodiment. The guide body 106 and the driver essentially correspond to the illustrations in FIG Figures 1 and 2 . In addition, the driver 108 has a friction-reducing surface design. For this purpose, the driver 108 has a plurality of elevations 300 oriented transversely to the cable 102, for example in the form of ribs oriented transversely to a curvature of the driver 108, on which the cable 102 rests and which reduce the contact area with the loop surface. The cable 102 does not touch the driver 108 between the elevations 300 and thus cannot cause any friction. The configuration of the elevations 300 and their surface properties are based on the properties of the cable 102 to be processed.

The distribution and number of elevations 300 is selected such that the minimum permissible bending radius of the cable 102 is not undershot, below which the cable 102 is plastically deformed. Furthermore, the contour of the elevations 300 is selected such that displacements of the cable insulation material are reduced to a minimum. Further the driver 108 has an inlet area on each side in order to minimize damage to the cable 102 due to its own vibrations when the loop 110 is pulled.

The tip of the guide body 106 is aligned with the central axis 114 of the loop 110. One side of the loop 110 slips to the side over the inclined surface of the guide body 106 and both sides of the loop 110 come to lie on different sides of the guide body 106.

Fig. 4 shows a representation of a driver 108 for a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment. The driver 108 essentially corresponds to the driver in FIG Fig. 3 . The driver 108 has an essentially semi-cylindrical base body 400. Eight elevations 300 are arranged on the curved part of its lateral surface. The elevations are aligned parallel to a longitudinal axis of the base body 400.

Fig. 5 shows a representation of a driver 108 in roll form for a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment. The driver 108 can, for example, as the driver in Fig. 1 be used. The driver 108 here has a rope pulley 502 rotatably mounted about an axis of rotation 500. The pulley 502 has a circumferential groove for laterally guiding the cable. The driver 108 also has an inlet geometry 504. The inlet geometry 504 adjoins the pulley 502 on both sides and can be rotated with the pulley 502 about the axis of rotation 500. The inlet geometry 504 is designed on both sides as an inclined collar protruding beyond the pulley 502. The inlet geometry 504 prevents the cable from running off the pulley 502, even if the cable does not run perpendicular to the axis of rotation 500.

In other words, a single deflection roller here forms the driver 108 for cables with very soft and adhesive insulation material.

Fig. 6 shows a representation of a driver 108 with a plurality of rollers 600 for a device for processing a cable according to an embodiment. The driver 108 essentially corresponds to the driver in FIG Fig. 4 . In contrast to this, the driver 108 here has four rotatably mounted rollers 600 instead of the elevations on. The rollers 600 are mounted in recesses made of a bottom disk 602 and a cover disk 604. The rollers 600 are cylindrical and their distribution and number are selected so that the minimum permissible bending radius of the cable 1020 is not undershot. The bottom disk 602 and the cover disk 604 are essentially semicircular and protrude beyond the semicircularly arranged rollers 600. At least the bottom disk 602 has an inlet geometry 504. The inlet geometry 504 is designed here as a semicircular circumferential chamfer.

In other words, the driver 108 has a group of rollers 600 which have a small rotational moment of inertia, which results in a low tracking behavior of the rollers 600. The forces acting on the cable are greatly reduced, which is important for sensitive cables with a very small cross-section and thin insulation.

Finally, it should be pointed out that terms such as “having”, “comprising”, etc. do not exclude any other elements or steps and that terms such as “a” or “an” do not exclude a multitude. Reference signs in the claims are not to be regarded as a restriction.

Claims (12)

1. Method for processing a cable (102), wherein the method comprises the following steps:

   pulling a loop (110) of the cable (102) over a guide body (106) arranged on a loop placement surface (104), wherein the loop (110) is pulled up to a predetermined length using a driven driver (108) and wherein the guide body has a taper at its upper end; and

   placing the loop (110) from the driver (108) onto the loop placement surface (104), wherein the loop (110) is placed over the guide body (106) in such a way that the cable (102) falls by gravity downward from the driver (108) onto the loop placement surface (104) over the taper of the guide body (106) and in the process one side of the loop (110) slides over a slope of the guide body (106).
2. Method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of pulling, a first end of the cable (102) is fixed and the loop (110) is pulled around the driver (108).
3. Method according to either of the preceding claims, wherein in the step of pulling, the loop (110) is pulled over at least one further guide body (106) arranged on the loop placement surface (104).
4. Method according to any of the preceding claims, comprising a step of removing, wherein a first end of the loop (110) is pulled and the cable (102) is removed from the loop placement surface (104) around the guide body (106).
5. Device (100) for processing a cable (102), wherein the device (100) comprises the following features:

   a loop placement surface (104) on which at least one guide body (106), which has a taper at the upper end thereof, is arranged; and

   a driven driver (108) which is configured to pull a loop (110) of the cable (102) and to place it over the guide body (106) in such a way that the cable (102) falls by gravity downward from the driver (108) onto the loop placement surface (104) over the taper of the guide body (106) and in the process one side of the loop (110) slides over a slope of the guide body (106).
6. Device (100) according to claim 5, wherein the guide body (106) is cut obliquely.
7. Device (100) according to either of the preceding claims 5 and 6, wherein a tip of the guide body (106) is aligned with a central axis (114) of the loop (110).
8. Device (100) according to any of the preceding claims 5 to 7, wherein the guide body (106) is magnetically attached to the loop placement surface (104).
9. Device (100) according to any of the preceding claims 5 to 8, wherein the driver (108) has an infeed geometry (504) for the cable (102).
10. Device (100) according to any of the preceding claims 5 to 9, wherein the driver (108) has a plurality of elevations (300) which are configured to reduce a contact surface between the cable (102) and the driver (108), the distribution and number of elevations (300) being selected such that the bending radius of the cable 102 does not fall below the minimum permissible bending radius thereof.
11. Device (100) according to any of claims 5 to 10, wherein the driver (108) has a rotatable roller (600), a radius of the roller (600) being greater than the minimum permissible bending radius of the cable (102).
12. Device (100) according to any of claims 5 to 10, wherein the driver (108) has a plurality of rotatable rollers (600), the distribution and number of rollers (600) being selected such that the bending radius of the cable (102) does not fall below the minimum permissible bending radius thereof.

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