JP2000295000A - Device for inspecting and manufacturing wire harness - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To visually inspect the connection state between the terminal of a wire harness and an electric wire reliably and efficiently. SOLUTION: The image of a pressure-welding part that has been picked up is subjected to be binarization processing so that a terminal (t) of a metal luster part becomes a white pixel and the jacketing of the other electric wire (a) and the non-luster part such a connector C become 'black' pixels. A window w1, in contact with a tip position X when the electric wire (a) of the binary image, is properly subjected to pressure welding, and a window w2 being separated to the side of the depth of a cavity (s) are set. When they have been subjected to pressure welding, all of the inside of the first window w1 correspond to the part of the jacketing of the electric wire (a), a so that they become 'black' pixels. On the other hand, since no electric wire (a) does not enter the inside of the second window w2, this becomes a 100% 'white' pixel. Those deviating from the state are determined to be malfunctioning. In this manner, and inspection is performed reliably and efficiently the connection state of the electric wire (a) can be visually inspected in noncontact manner.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for inspecting a connection between an electric wire and a terminal in a manufacturing process of a wire harness incorporated in an automobile, an electric machine, and the like, and a manufacturing apparatus and a manufacturing method of a wire harness including the same. About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a wire harness for an automobile is
As shown in FIG. 19, a plurality of connectors C ₁ , C ₂ , C ₃
(General code C) to which the electric wire a is connected.
Press connection (hereinafter simply referred to as press connection) is frequently used for connection between the electric wire and the terminal from the viewpoint of workability.
For the terminal t having both the slot wall u and the barrel portion b as shown in FIG. 21, the press contact portion 22u (32u) for press-fitting the electric wire a into the slot wall u and the barrel caulking portion 22b (32b) as shown in FIG. Pressing mold 22 (3
Perform pressure welding using 2).

Conventionally, as a judgment on the quality of the connection state by the pressure contact, a mechanical inspection for checking the connection strength and an electrical inspection for checking the presence or absence of conduction are performed.

[0004] For example, in a mechanical inspection, it is determined whether or not a force (sticking force) when a wire is pulled out by applying a force to the wire connected to the terminal t is equal to or more than a standard value.

[0005]

However, such a determination method has the following problems.

[0006] Even if the wire is connected to the terminal t, if the connection position is shifted in the length direction of the wire, for example, if the wire protrudes abnormally from the tip of the terminal t in the length direction of the wire. However, even if the wire harness W alone satisfies the continuity test, there is a possibility that the core wire of the wire harness W comes into contact with another metal part after being mounted on the main body (automobile) to cause a short circuit.

In the case where the pressure welding and the pressure bonding are performed at the same time, if the barrel b is not properly swaged at the pressure bonding portion even if the pressure bonding is performed well, the mechanical and electrical inspections are also performed in this case. In some cases, it cannot be discovered that the barrel portion b is insufficiently swaged.

Further, since such a mechanical and electrical inspection is performed in contact with the inspection object, there is a possibility that the product may be damaged.

Therefore, in order to judge the quality of the connection between the electric wire and the terminal, not only the above-mentioned mechanical and electrical inspections, but instead of them, the connection state is grasped by the appearance. It is necessary to judge by the appearance.

At this time, there is a problem that the visual operation by hand is inefficient and the reliability is low because the degree of judgment varies depending on the operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a reliable and efficient appearance inspection of the connection state between the terminal of a wire harness and an electric wire.

[0012]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention captures an image of the connection portion, performs a binarization process, and includes in the binary image a determination element for determining whether the connection is good or bad. A window is set around the determination element, and the ratio of white or black pixels corresponding to the determination element in the window is compared with a case where the connection is normally performed, and the connection is determined. The quality was determined.

For example, when the quality of the connection is determined based on the tip position of the wire, the outer surface of the wire or the bottom surface of the terminal is used as the determination element, and the wire is in contact with the tip position when the wire is properly connected. The first window is set, and the second window is located at a predetermined length-wise distance from the front end position of the electric wire on the side where the first window does not exist, with the front end position as a boundary. And the second
The connection is determined to be satisfactorily made when the ratio of the pixels occupied by the white and black pixels in the first window and the white or black pixels in the first window coincides with each other within a predetermined tolerance when the connection is made normally. For details, refer to embodiments (FIGS. 11 to 14) described later.

In the case where the quality of the connection is determined by the degree of caulking of the barrel portion of the terminal, the outer surface of the barrel in the caulked state is used as the third determination element, and the outer surface of the barrel is used as the third determining element. A third window is set around the window, and when the proportion of black or white pixels in the third window matches within a predetermined tolerance when barrel caulking is performed normally, the connection is established. It is determined that the operation has been performed well. For details, refer to an embodiment (FIG. 15) described later.

[0015] By doing so, the appearance inspection of the pressure welding is performed automatically and in a non-contact manner, so that a highly reliable and efficient inspection can be performed.

Further, according to the inspection method by image processing of the inspected portion as described above, the inspection of the connection state between the electric wires and the terminals can be simultaneously performed on a plurality of electric wires, so that the inspection efficiency is remarkably improved. improves.

As a device for manufacturing a wire harness, a terminal mounting machine for mounting a terminal on a connector, a pressure welding machine for pressing an electric wire to the terminal, an inspection device for performing the above-described inspection, and the electric wire are pressed. If the connector cover mounting machines for mounting the covers on the connectors are arranged in series in this order, a highly reliable quality wire harness can be efficiently manufactured by the interlocking movement of these devices.

In the manufacturing apparatus, the connector cover can be mounted by the connector cover mounting machine only on the connector which has been judged by the inspection apparatus to be in good contact with the connector. Unnecessary attachment of the cover can be avoided, the steps can be omitted, and the waste of materials can be eliminated, and the productivity can be further improved.

[0019]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. This embodiment corresponds to FIG.
After the electric wire a is connected to the terminal t as shown in FIG. 17 to the respective housings C ₂₁ and C ₂₂ of the connector C ₂ composed of the upper connector housing C ₂₁ and the lower connector housing C ₂₂ shown in FIG. , Both housings C
Fitted with _21, C _22, is intended to obtain a wire harness W. The connectors C ₁ , C ₂ ,
C ₃ is, C _2, C ₃ are those shown in FIG. 18, C ₁ is one number of terminals (the number of cavities) is one more.

The terminal t is the slot wall u shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 18 (a), a required number of terminal strips T each of which is cut one by one is inserted into the cavity s of the housing C from the horizontal direction, as shown in FIG. You. Upper connector housing C
₁₁ , C ₂₁ , and C ₃₁ are connected to each other by cutting the upper lid, and FIG.
By inverting as shown by the arrow in (b), FIG.
(Refer to Japanese Patent Application No. 9-1453 for details)
No. 28).

As shown in FIG. 8 described later, a press-connecting die for connecting the electric wire a to the terminal t includes press-connecting blades 22a and 32a and a pressing blade 2a.
2p and 32p, and the tips of the press contact blades 22a and 32a have the press contact portions 22u (32) as shown in FIG.
u) and the barrel caulking portion 22b (32b), and the press-contacting mold 22 (32) is pressed to perform press-contact.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a production line for the wire harness W as described above. The lower left of the figure is the upstream side of the line, and the upper right is the downstream side. In this production line, a rail R is provided on a gantry H, and a terminal mounter A that mounts a terminal t on a connector (housing) C along the rail R, a wire pressing device B that presses the wires described above, An inspection / assembly apparatus E for performing an appearance inspection of a connection result and attaching a connector cover (fitting of an upper connector) is arranged in series in this order.

The pressing apparatus B has two pressing machines 20, 3
0 is provided, and an electric wire measuring and sending machine 40 is attached to the pressure welding machine 20 on the upstream side. At the end of the line, a setting section D of the lower connector C and a stocker Q of the upper and lower connectors are provided. The above is the arrangement of each device in this manufacturing line. Next, the configuration and operation of each device will be described in detail along the manufacturing flow.

First, each connector (housing) C is manually fitted (placed) from the stocker Q into the recess of the pallet P shown in FIG. 1, the terminal mounter A passes through the gantry H as indicated by the dashed line arrow.
Leads to.

The terminal mounter A is composed of a terminal reel 10 and a terminal cutting / inserting unit 11, and a terminal band T in which terminals t are connected in parallel in a strip shape is sent from the reel 10 to the terminal cutting / inserting unit 11, and the terminal t is inserted into the terminal cutting machine A. In the unit 11,
Each terminal t is cut off and inserted into the cavity s at a required position of the housing C on the pallet P. When the insertion of the terminal t is completed, the pallet P is fed by a required amount by a transfer mechanism such as a ball screw (not shown) provided along the rail R, and is transferred to the wire pressing apparatus B in the next step.

The electric wire pressure welding apparatus B comprises two pressure welding machines 20 and 30
And an electric wire measuring and feeding device 40 and an electric wire transfer / swivel unit 50 attached to the press-connecting machine 20 on the upstream side. The wire measuring feeder 40 includes a wire brake unit 41, a wire feed amount encoder unit 42, and a wire feed unit 43, and a required number of wires a of a required color and a required length are fed to the press-connecting machine 20 on the upstream side. (Refer to JP-A-10-154423 and JP-A-10-212068 for details of the electric wire measuring and delivering machine 40).

The upstream press machine 20 is shown in detail in FIGS. 2 to 5. The ball press 21a driven by the servomotor 21 raises and lowers an arbitrary press mold 22 to connect the electric wire a to the terminal t in the cavity. Connect to Refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-106374 for the configuration and operation of the press welding machine 20.

An electric wire guide 23 is provided below the plurality of press-connecting dies 22 so as to be able to move up and down. Horizontal slit 25 opening on the surface
The required number of electric wires a are fed from the electric wire measuring and sending machine 40 in the raised state. An electric wire aligning tool 26 which can be moved up and down is provided on the front surface of the guide 23, and the electric wire a inserted into the guide 23 is aligned by lowering the electric wire aligning tool 26. The guide 23 and the aligning tool 26 are lowered at the same time as the pressing (at the same time as the pressing mold 22 is lowered). Guide 2
3 is substantially the same as the configuration of the chuck 53 described later, and see FIG. 8 and JP-A-10-97888.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, two downstream pressure welding machines 30 are provided, and both have the same construction as the upstream pressure welding machine 20. That is, an arbitrary pressing mold 3 can be formed by a ball screw 31a driven by the servomotor 31.
2 (this also has the same shape as the press-connecting mold 22;
2u (32u) and the barrel caulking portion 22b (32b)) move up and down to connect the wire a to the terminal t in the cavity.
Connect to The reason why two units were provided is that the terminal shape of the connector C
This is to make it easier to cope with different arrangements. The two pressure welding machines 30 on the downstream side are slid as indicated by arrows in FIG. 6 so as to correspond to the pressure contact position of the housing C on the pallet P. Each of the crimping machines 20 and 30 is provided with a crimping bottom dead center stroke sensor 27 and 37 to detect a required crimping depth in a guaranteed manner.

The electric wire transfer turning unit 50 includes a motor 51
, A chuck 53 is provided at the tip of an arm 52 that reciprocates 180 degrees. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, the chuck 53 has a guide 56 having a slit 54 in the vertical direction, a slit 55 orthogonal to the slit 54 and opening on the front and rear surfaces, and a slide plate having a slit 57 fitted in the guide 56. 58. The slide plate 58 moves forward and backward as indicated by the arrow in FIG.
As shown in (b), the electric wire a is gripped by the guide 56 and chucked.

As shown in FIG. 8, the press-connecting dies 22, 32 are press-contact blades 22a, 32a for pressing and crimping the electric wire a.
And the pressing blades 22p and 32p that come into contact with the electric wire a protruding from the chuck 53 (guide 23). For this reason, as the connection operation (pressure contact), the pressure contact blades 22a and 32a are inserted through the slits 54 and 24 as shown by the dashed line in the drawing.
The wire a therein is press-fitted into the slot wall u of the terminal t, and the barrel portion b of the terminal t is caulked and connected, and at the same time, the presser blades 22p and 32p move the wire a protruding downward following the connection operation. By pushing down, the wire a is prevented from bending or the like, and a smooth connecting action is performed.

Now, when the pallet P is sent from the terminal mounter A to the wire pressure welding device B, as shown in FIG. 2, the arm 52 pivots toward the pressure welding machine 20 on the upstream side and the chuck 53 thereof. Along the guide 23, and in that state, the required number of wires a is fed from the wire measuring and feeding machine 40 into the required number of guides 23 and the chucks 53 (slits 25 and 55).
The feed amount of the tip is determined so that a required press-contact length is obtained when a later-described chuck 53 corresponds to another press-contact machine 30. After the sent electric wire a is aligned by the aligning tool 26 (FIG. 3), the air cylinder 59 operates to be clamped by the slide plate 58.

Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the arm 52 pivots toward the pressing machine 30 on the downstream side, and the pallet P also moves toward the pressing machine 30 on the downstream side. The pallet P may have been shifted in advance. At this time, the wire measuring and sending machine 40 measures and sends out each wire a to a required length. As shown in FIG. 6, when the chuck 53 moves along the press-contacting machine 30 on the downstream side, the press-contacting machine 30 operates, and at this time, the pallet P moves left and right, and the electric wire a is connected to a required housing C and a required terminal t. Are connected at one end. Hereinafter, the pressure welding machine 30
For convenience, the end of the wire a connected is referred to as an A end, and the other connection end is referred to as a B end (as will be described later, the B end is connected to the terminal t by the upstream pressure welding machine 20). Is done). At the time of connecting the A end, the suction force of the air cylinder 59 is controlled according to the number of electric wires to be chucked,
The connection is always made with an optimal gripping force. When the connection of the A ends of all the chucked electric wires a is completed, the pallet P moves to the pressure welding machine 20 on the upstream side.

When the pallet P corresponds to the press-connecting machine 20, the press-connecting die 22 moves down together with the guide 23, and the pallet P moves right and left, and the B end of the electric wire a is connected to the required housing C and terminal t. You. At this time, the electric wire a is cut by the press-connecting mold 22 together with the connection operation.
That is, in this embodiment, the pressure welding machine 20 also serves as an electric wire cutting machine. The cutting of the electric wire by the press mold 22 is disclosed in
See JP-A-106374.

When the connection of the B ends of all the electric wires a sent out from the guides 23 is completed, the arm 53 again pivots toward the pressure welding machine 20 on the upstream side, as shown in FIG. The operation is repeated, and the electric wire a is connected to the housing C.
Is connected. The pallet P for which the connection of the electric wires to the connector has been completed is transferred to the inspection / assembly apparatus E in the next step. In addition,
The operation of moving the pallet P with respect to the pressure welding machines 20 and 30 and connecting the electric wires a in a cross shape or the like is described in
See 241473.

In the inspection / assembly apparatus E, the housing C mounted on the pallet P is subjected to an image processing by the visual inspection apparatus 60 in the first half to perform an external inspection (connection) of the connection state between the electric wire a and the terminal t. Is determined, and the cover is attached to the connector (the upper connector is fitted) by the latter half of the assembling apparatus. Next, the appearance inspection in the first half will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, FIG. 10 is a plan view of the connector C in a state where the electric wire a is not yet connected. s is a cavity, t is a terminal, u is a slot wall of the terminal t, and b is a barrel.

In the present embodiment, the following three items are detected as the appearance inspection.

(1) Position of the tip end of the wire a When the wire a is pressed properly, as shown in FIG. 11, the tip of the wire a faces toward the back of the cavity s from the end face of the slot wall u. It is necessary to protrude a predetermined amount d, but the degree of protruding of the electric wire a is detected.

(2) Presence or absence of electric wire a in terminal t This detects whether or not the electric wire a is in the terminal t (miswiring detection).

(3) The degree of caulking of the barrel b The above three items are inspected by image processing by the visual inspection device 60. The device configuration includes an image input device, a lighting device, an image output device, and an image processing device. And a host computer. Hereinafter, each of the constituent devices will be described.

As shown in FIG. 16, the image input device is CC
A D camera 61 is used, and a ring illumination 62 is used for illumination to obtain uniform illumination. 62a is a cover of the ring light 62. The CCD camera 61 is installed above the ring light 62 with its optical axis L aligned with a vertical axis passing through the center of the ring of the ring light 62. The ring illuminator 62 illuminates the inspection unit with epi-illumination to illuminate the metal terminal t, so that portions other than the non-metal terminal t, that is, the outer sheath of the electric wire a and the connector C are not illuminated.

Then, the image picked up by the CCD camera 61 is subjected to a binarization process by the image processing device, and the metallic gloss portion is represented by “white” pixels, and the other non-glossy portions are represented by “black” pixels. It represents. The host computer of the image processing apparatus is a personal computer 63. A monitor 64 is used as an output device for the binary image.

In the binarized image, a judgment element for judging pass / fail is determined, and a window surrounding the judgment element is set.

Regarding the detection of (1) “the end position of the electric wire a”, two windows w ₁ ,
It is arranged w _2. The first window w ₁ is a rectangular frame whose one side is smaller than the outer diameter of the electric wire a, and the side of the rectangular frame is defined as a tip position X when the electric wire a is normally pressed.
And the opposite side is set on the side of the electric wire a.
The “determination element of the connection quality” in the _first window w ₁ is the outer skin of the electric wire a, and the corresponding pixel is “black”.

[0046] As the window w ₂ in second, from the window w ₁ of the first one in a position a short distance toward the back of the cavity s, sets the small rectangular frame than the outer diameter of the electric wire a length of one side are doing. The “pass / fail judgment element” in the _second window w2 is the bottom surface of the terminal t, and the corresponding pixel is “white”.

The reason why the sizes of the two windows w ₁ and w ₂ of the rectangular frame are contained within the outer diameter of the electric wire a is that the background of the image of each “quality judgment element” is made simple to make the judgment. This is because it is easier. For example, if the windows w ₁ and w ₂ have dimensions and shapes that protrude greatly from the outer diameter of the electric wire a,
This is because the side wall of the terminal t, the wall of the cavity, and the like are added in the window and the window becomes complicated. These two windows w
_1, determines as follows acceptability of pressure by w _2.

In the case of normal pressure contact, as shown in FIG. 11, all of the inside of the _first window w1 corresponds to (the surface of) the outer skin of the electric wire a. "
Becomes On the other hand, the electric wire a is in the window w ₂ in second without intrusion, since the window w ₂ corresponding to the bottom surface of the terminal t, the pixel is 100% "white".

Therefore, in order for the tip position of the electric wire a to be determined to be “good”, the pixels in the _first window w ₁ must be 10 pixels.
0% "black" and the pixel in the _second window w2 is 1
It must be 00% "white". Thus, the quality of the tip position of the electric wire a is determined.

Conversely, if there is even a slight black pixel in the _second window w2, as in the case of the wire a shown by the symbol in FIG. You are doing too much.

Further, as in the case of the electric wire a shown by a symbol in FIG. 13, the inside of the _second window w ₂ is 100%
Although the pixel is a “white” pixel, if the pixel in the _first window w ₁ is not 100% “black”, it means that the wire a
Does not reach the regular tip position X and is short when it is short.

The above is the electric wire a using the windows w ₁ and w _2.
It is a method of judging the poor start-up, but this is only a basic judgment method that does not consider "tolerance", and when considering "tolerance" in practice, the following Become like

For example, the window w ₁ is on the inner side of the electric wire a, and as described above, “black” in the window w ₁
13 is detected based on the ratio of pixels, but the position where the leading end position is d ₁ downward from the regular leading end position X as shown by the reference numeral in FIG. Up to the "short side" tolerance, the one in which the tip of the wire a is located in the meantime is in the category of non-defective products, in which case, as shown in FIG. The percentage is not 100% "black".

As shown by the position of the electric wire a in FIG. 12, for example, the “longer generation tolerance” is d ₂
If such a size, the window w ₂ from the normal tip position X of the electric wire a, if so to dispose in a form separated by a distance of d _2, the tip of the electric wire a is between the d ₂ While some are in the category of non-defective, what tip has penetrated even slightly to the window w _2, the wires a corresponds to complete out of the range of tolerance "Projection length long poor". Therefore, in this case, the pixels in the window w ₂ in a non-defective must be 100% "white".

In this embodiment, the windows w ₁ ,
Although w ₂ is set as above, the window w ₁ as shown in FIG. _{12 (b) ', w 2} ' may be performed setting.

That is, instead of the window w ₁ , which is in contact with the end position X of the regular electric wire a and the opposite side is located inside the electric wire a, the opposite side of the side contacting the regular end position X is used. the upper diagram (outside the wire a, the bottom surface of the terminal t) disposed the window w ₁ 'provided on, in place of the window w ₂ in which has been provided on the outer side of the electric wire a, the inside of the electric wire a, the normal The window w ₂ ′ is disposed apart from the tip position X of the electric wire a by the shorter tolerance margin. The basic determination method in this case is that when the electric wire a is connected at a regular position, the inside of the window w ₁ ′ is 100% “white” and the inside of the window w ₂ ′ is 100% “black”. The operation method for the tolerance is the same as the above case, and the description is omitted.

Next, in the determination of “2.
The two windows w ₁ and w ₂ (or windows w ₁ ′ and w ₂ ′) of ( ₁ ) are used as they are. That is,
As shown in FIG. 14, if the electric wire a is not in the terminal t, the pixels in the two windows w ₁ and w ₂ correspond to the bottom surface of the terminal t, and therefore both become 100% “white”. Therefore,
Pixels in both windows w ₁ and w ₂ are both 100%
In the case of "white", it is determined that "there is no electric wire".

In the same figure, the electric wire a of the symbol “exists” in the cavity s, but the two windows w
₁ and w ₂ are both 100% “white”. In this case, the tip position of the electric wire a in the above (1) is extremely retracted, and in this case also, it is determined that “there is no electric wire”. It is.

In the case of (2), the “determination element of connection quality” is also the “outer skin of the electric wire a” or the “terminal t of the terminal t” in both windows w ₁ and w ₂ (or windows w ₁ ′ and w ₂ ′). Bottom ".

As for (3) “Crimping condition of barrel b”, as shown in FIG. 15, the “chamfer f” portion of the barrel b in the crimped state is used as a “judgment element of connection quality”. This is because when the barrel b is swaged, when the barrel b is viewed in a plan view (projected on a plane), the outer surface of the barrel b occupies a large area in the projection plane. It was.

[0061] Since the barrel b is two positions, in each position, it sets a rectangular frame surrounding the periphery of the "chamfering f" of the determination factors as window w _3, w _3.

[0062] A barrel b as wires a sign of ,, the view completely, and, when being satisfactorily crimped, each window w ₃ Correspondingly, the part of "chamfering f" of the barrel b Exist as “white” pixels.

On the other hand, in the case of the electric wire a, the pixel in the window w ₃ is almost “black”, which corresponds to the outer skin of the electric wire a, and the barrel b is not swaged at all. Therefore, it is determined that “barrel b is not properly caulked”.

In the case of this determination as well, considering the specifications of the tolerance and the accuracy of the inspection, if the ratio of the “white” pixels when the best caulking condition is obtained is “100%”, the non-defective product is always 100%.
It does not need to be%, and is set to a value of 100% or less based on the tolerance.

The inspection items (1) to (3) have been described above. However, the quality of one connector C is determined to be “non-defective” as a whole when all of these are satisfied. is there.

If a defect is detected in the appearance inspection of the connection state, the fact is reported, and a cover is not attached to the defective connector.
The action indicated with not illustrated operation is shown in Figure 18, obtain a pair of housings C ₁₁ and C _12, C ₂₁ and C _22, C ₃₁ and C ₃₂ Mate with the wire harness W shown in FIG. 19. Wire a
The connector housing C in which the connection has failed is recovered as a defective product while the wire a remains connected (defective connection). Thus, based on the result of the visual inspection,
Since unnecessary attachment of the cover to the defective connector can be avoided, the operation rate can be improved and the material cost can be reduced. The upper connector housings C ₁₁ , C ₂₁ , C
The fitting lower hole point of ₃₁ is determined by the stroke sensor 71.

The pallet P on which the completed wiring harness W with the covers C ₁₁ , C ₂₁ and C ₃₁ mounted on the housings C ₁₂ , C ₂₂ and C ₃₂ is transferred to the setting section D,
Here, the wire harness W is manually collected. On the pallet P from which the wire harness W has been removed, new housings C ₁₂ , C ₂₂ and C ₃₂ are arranged and sent to the terminal mounter A. By repeating the above operation, FIG.
The wire harness W shown in FIG. 9 is manufactured continuously.

In the appearance inspection of the connection state of this embodiment, the windows w ₁ , w ₂ (w ₁ ′,
Inspection of the contents of (1) to (3) was performed by setting w ₂ ′) and w ₃ , but in addition, a window is set near the slot wall u to determine the quality of the “press-contact height”. You can also. That is, when an epi-illumination is applied to the slot wall u of the terminal t into which the electric wire a is press-fitted and viewed from above, the upper surface of the slot wall u shines, so that the pixel becomes a “white” pixel in the binary image. Is performed, the electric wire a falls under the slot wall u, so that a “white” pixel corresponding to the upper surface of the slot wall u appears in the window. Conversely, in the case where the wire a climbs on the upper surface of the slot wall u without being properly press-fitted, for example, when a foreign substance is mixed into the slot or the wire a is double-welded, the slot wall is not moved. Since the upper surface of u becomes the underlay of the electric wire a and the image of that portion becomes the image of the outer skin of the electric wire a and becomes a “black” pixel,
No "white" pixels appear in the window and the window becomes black. Therefore, it is also possible to determine the quality of the “press-contact height”.

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention, a connection portion between an electric wire and a terminal by pressure welding is imaged and subjected to a binarization process, and a judgment element of connection quality is determined in the binary image.
A window is set around the judging element, and the ratio of white or black pixels corresponding to the judging element in the window is compared with a case where the connection is normally performed, to judge the quality. Since there is no omission of judgment as in the case of mechanical and electrical inspection, the inspection is performed in a non-contact, non-destructive manner, and since it is not a manual visual inspection,
Inspection with excellent reliability, high speed, and reproducibility can be performed.

For example, when the quality of the connection is determined based on the position of the tip of the electric wire, the outer surface of the electric wire or the bottom surface of the terminal is used as the judging element, the judging element is surrounded, and the electric wire is properly connected. In contact with its tip
The second window is set at a position away from the front end position of the electric wire by a predetermined amount on the side where the first window does not exist, with the front end position as a boundary, When the ratio of the white or black pixels occupied in the second window and the first window coincides with each other within a predetermined tolerance when the connection is normally performed, it is determined that the connection is successfully performed. .

Further, when the quality of the connection is determined by the degree of caulking of the barrel portion of the terminal, the outer surface of the barrel in the caulked state is used as the third determination element, and the outer surface of the barrel is used as the third determining element. A third window is set around the window, and when the proportion of black or white pixels in the third window matches within a predetermined tolerance when barrel caulking is performed normally, the connection is established. It is determined that the operation has been performed well.

Further, according to the inspection method using the image processing of the inspected portion as described above, the inspection of the connection state between the electric wires and the terminals can be simultaneously performed on a plurality of electric wires, so that the inspection efficiency is remarkably improved. improves.

As a device for manufacturing a wire harness, a terminal mounting machine for mounting a terminal on a connector, a pressure welding machine for pressing an electric wire to the terminal, an inspection device for performing the above-described inspection, and the electric wire were pressed. If the connector cover mounting machines for mounting the covers on the connectors are arranged in series in this order, a highly reliable quality wire harness can be efficiently manufactured by the interlocking movement of these devices.

In the manufacturing apparatus, if the connector cover is mounted by the connector cover mounting machine only on the connector judged by the inspection apparatus to be in good contact with the connector, an extra cover can be mounted on the defective product. Can be avoided, the process can be omitted and materials can be wasted, and the productivity can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall perspective view of one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of an operation of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view in which the electric wire aligning tool of FIG. 3 is removed.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a main part of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of another crimping machine part of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a chuck portion.

9A is an exploded perspective view of the chuck, and FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view showing a chucking state of an electric wire.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of a connector housing.

FIG. 11 is a plan view showing the connector housing in a state where the wires are properly connected.

FIG. 12A is a plan view showing a failure of a wire to be extended (when it is long), and FIG. 12B is a plan view showing another example of a window.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing poor outgoing wire (in the case of a short wire).

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing a state without wires;

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing barrel crimping failure.

FIG. 16 is a schematic perspective view showing a visual inspection device.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of a pallet part.

FIGS. 18A and 18B are perspective views for explaining a fitting operation of the connector housing, wherein FIGS. 18A and 18B show a state before fitting, and FIG.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view of an example of a wire harness.

FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing a terminal.

FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing a press-contact mold and its operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

A terminal mounting machine B wire pressing device _{C, C 1, C 2,} C 3, C 11, C 12, C 21, C 22,
C ₃₁ , C ₃₂ Connector housing D Connector setting part E Inspection / assembly equipment H Frame P Pallet W Wire harness a Electric wire t Terminal s Cavity b Barrel (part) u Slot wall w ₁ , w ₂ , w ₃ , w ₁ ′, w ₂ ′ window 11 terminal cutting / inserting unit 20, 30 pressure welding machine 22, 32 pressure welding mold 22 a, 32 a pressure welding blade 22 u (32 u) pressure welding portion 22 b (32 b) barrel crimping portion 22 p, 32 p press blade 40 wire measuring feeder 50 Wire transfer and rotation unit 60 Appearance inspection device 61 CCD camera 62 Ring illumination 63 Personal computer 64 Monitor

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method for inspecting a connection between an electric wire and a terminal in a wire harness, wherein an image of the connection portion is taken, a binarization process is performed, and a determination element for determining the quality of the connection is determined in the binary image. A window is set around the determination element, and the ratio of black or white pixels corresponding to the determination element in the window is compared with the case where the connection is normally performed, to determine whether the connection is good or bad. A method for inspecting a connection between an electric wire and a terminal in a wire harness, characterized in that the judgment is made. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the quality of the connection is determined based on an end position of the electric wire, wherein a surface of the outer surface of the electric wire or a bottom surface of the terminal is used as the judgment element, the judgment element is surrounded, and the electric wire is properly connected. The first window is set in contact with the tip position in the case where the first window does not exist, and a predetermined amount is set in the length direction from the tip position of the electric wire on the side where the first window does not exist with the tip position as a boundary. The second window is set at a distant position, and the ratios of the white and black pixels in the second window and the first window are both within the predetermined tolerance and when the connection is normally performed. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that the connection has been made satisfactorily when the values match. 3. A case in which the quality of the connection is determined by the degree of caulking of a barrel portion of the terminal, wherein the outer surface of the barrel in a caulked state is used as the third determination element, and the outer surface of the barrel is provided. The third window is set so as to surround the frame, and when the ratio of black or white pixels in the third window coincides with a case where barrel caulking is performed normally within a predetermined tolerance, the connection is established. The method according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that the connection has been performed satisfactorily. 4. The connection between a wire and a terminal in a wire harness according to claim 1, wherein the inspection of the connection between the wire and the terminal is performed on a plurality of wires simultaneously. Inspection method. 5. A terminal mounting machine for mounting a terminal on a connector, a press-connecting machine for pressing an electric wire to the terminal,
5. An apparatus for manufacturing a wire harness, comprising: an inspection device for performing the inspection according to any one of items 1 to 4, and a connector cover attaching machine for attaching a cover to the connector to which the electric wire is pressed, in this order. 6. When a wire harness is manufactured by the manufacturing apparatus according to claim 5, mounting of the connector cover after the pressure contact is performed only on the connector determined by the inspection to be properly pressed. A method for manufacturing a wire harness, comprising: