JP2000340328A - Flat cable mounting structure in cable reel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To remove a part protruding from an inner case without trimming it when a flat cable of a cable reel is slantwise welded to an inner case fixed to a bus bar. SOLUTION: A notch 20h is provided on an inner case 20 to be separately fixed to the stationary body and movable body of a cable reel, and a protuberance 21a to be engaged with the notch 21h is provided on a cover 21 to cover the inner case 20. When the cover 21 is applied after the conductor 4a of a flat cable is welded to a bus bar 6 fixed to the inner case 20, a part of the flat cable 4b-1 protruding from the inner case is bent by the protuberance 21a and is sandwiched between it and the notch 20h, so as not to be protruded from the inner case.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a connection structure between a flat cable and a bus bar in a cable reel and a method for forming a flat cable, and more particularly, to a fixed body attached to a steering device of an automobile and the like. An annular cable accommodating chamber is formed with the movable body rotatably assembled and the flat cable is spirally accommodated in the cable accommodating chamber. The cable reel connected to the bus bar fixed to the fixed body and the movable body via the inner case and wound up or down according to the rotation of the movable body has an improved structure for attaching both ends of the flat cable to the inner case. Is what you do.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 6, this type of cable reel has an annular shape formed by a movable body 1 which rotates in conjunction with a steering wheel and a fixed body 2 which is fixed to a fixed shaft on the vehicle body side. The flat cable 4 is spirally accommodated in the cable accommodation room 3 of FIG. Both ends in the length direction of the flat cable 4 are fixed to the movable body 1 and the fixed body 2 as shown in FIGS.
The conductor 10 of the flat cable 4 is welded and connected to one end of a narrow bus bar 6 fixed in parallel inside, while the other end of the bus bar 6 is connected to an electric wire 7.

More specifically, a strip-shaped conductor 10 is formed by separating both ends in the longitudinal direction of the flat cable 4 from the vicinity of the tip and by laminating a laminate layer made of insulating resin on both sides with predetermined dimensions.
Are exposed, each conductor 10 is arranged on the upper surface of each bus bar 6, and spot welding or ultrasonic welding is performed. Also,
A portion 7 having a laminate layer left on the distal end side from the welded portion with the bus bar 6 is provided to hold the conductors 10 in parallel at a required pitch so that the positioning with the bus bar 6 can be performed accurately. Ten reinforcements are planned.

[0004]

When the conductor 10 is welded to the bus bar 6 by inserting both ends of the flat cable 4 into the inner case 5, the flat cable 4
As shown in FIG. At this time, if the tip of the flat cable 4 on the lower end side in the cable housing chamber 3 projects slightly even less than 1 mm from the tip of the inner case 5, an overload is applied to the projecting portion 4a, and noise occurs when the flat cable 4 rotates. There is a problem that occurs.

Therefore, conventionally, a portion 4a of the flat cable 4 protruding from the inner case 5 is cut by trimming. Thus, the flat cable 4
Must be inspected to see if it protrudes from the inner case 5, and if it protrudes, it must be trimmed, which requires a lot of work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems. Even when the conductor of a flat cable is inclined and welded to a bus bar fixed to an inner case, and the lower end of the flat cable slightly projects from the inner case, An object of the present invention is to eliminate a protrusion without the above-described inspection and trimming, thereby preventing generation of abnormal noise.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an annular cable receiving chamber formed by a fixed body and a movable body rotatably mounted on the fixed body, A flat cable is spirally accommodated in the cable accommodating chamber, and both ends in the length direction of the conductor of the flat cable are connected to a bus bar fixed to the fixed body and the movable body via an inner case, and are movable. In a cable reel that is wound or unwound according to the rotation of the body, in a state where the conductor of the flat cable is welded to the bus bar fixed to the inner case, a cover is placed on the inner case so as to sandwich the flat cable, A notch is provided at the end of the inner case, which sandwiches the edge of the flat cable serving as the lower end in the cable accommodating chamber, and the end of the cover is provided. Is provided with a projection that fits into the notch,
Provided is a flat cable mounting structure in a cable reel in which a flat cable does not protrude from between an inner case and a cover when the lower end of the flat cable is inclined and protrudes with a projection of a cover to a cutout side.

The flat cable portion bent by the notch of the inner case and the protrusion of the cover is mainly a lower end portion on the distal end side inserted into the inner case.
This is a portion having the laminate layer left on the distal end side from the portion where the conductor is welded to the bus bar by peeling the laminate layer. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to this part, and if the part having the laminate layer on the main body side also protrudes from the inner case with the welded part with the bus bar being separated from the inner case, be careful not to bend and protrude with the protrusion of the cover and the notch of the inner case. Is preferred.

The above-mentioned cover is connected at the upper end side of the inner case via a hinge, bent so as to sandwich a flat cable, overlaps with the inner case, and is lock-coupled to the inner case, or separately from the inner case. The present invention can also be applied to a device which is attached to a fixed body and a movable body and is locked and coupled thereto.

As described above, when the notch is provided in the inner case and the projection is provided on the cover, the projection of the flat cable is bent only by covering the cover, so that the flat cable does not protrude from the inner case, and trimming is unnecessary. be able to.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 5 show an embodiment, which is applied to a cable reel attached to a steering device of an automobile. The overall structure of the cable reel is the same as that of FIG. 5, and the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals.

A flat cable 4 is spirally housed in an annular cable housing chamber 3 formed by a movable body 1 which rotates in conjunction with a steering wheel and a fixed body 2 fixed to a fixed shaft on the vehicle body side. are doing. Both ends of the flat cable 4 in the length direction are connected to one end of a narrow bus bar 6 fixed in parallel in the inner cases 20, 20 fixed to the movable body 1 and the fixed body 2, respectively. The other end of the bus bar 6 is connected to the electric wire 7 while the conductor 4a is connected by welding.

The inner case 20 is formed by insert-molding the bus bar 6 and, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of strip-shaped bus bars 6 are formed in grooves 20 b provided in parallel with the substrate 20 a of the inner case 20. On the side where the bus bar 6 is inserted and the conductor 10 of the flat cable 11 is welded, an opening 20c is provided in the substrate 20, and the bus bar 6 is bridged over the upper surface of the opening 20c.

The inner case 20 is provided with a contact portion 20f on which the distal end of the flat cable 11 is placed at a position beyond the opening 20c from the distal end 20e on the flat cable mounting side. The lower end surface 20g of the contact portion 20f has an upper surface width of 0. 0 along the flat cable mounting side edge.
A notch 20h having a tapered shape of about 5 mm is provided.

The inner case 20 is covered with a cover 21 with the flat cable 4 interposed therebetween. In the present embodiment, the cover 21 is separate from the inner case 20, and is attached to a cover attachment portion (not shown) provided on the movable body 1 and the fixed body 2, and is locked with the movable body 1 and the fixed body 2. Like that. In addition, the inner case 2
0 may be connected to the cover 21 via a hinge so as to be openable and closable.

The cover 21 has an inner case 20
A protrusion 21a is provided at a position facing the notch 20h so as to be fitted downwardly by about 1 mm and protruded in a tapered shape to be fitted with the notch 20h,
With the cover 21 attached to the inner case 20, the projection 21a fits into the notch 20h so as to form the same plane as the lower end surface 20g of the contact portion 20f.

As shown in FIG. 3, the flat cable 4 has a plurality of strip-shaped conductors 4a arranged in parallel, and both sides thereof are covered with a laminated layer 4b made of an insulating resin. Both ends of the laminate layer 4b on the tip side
, A welding opening 4d is provided in which the laminate layers on both sides are peeled off from the vicinity of the tip to expose the conductor 4a.
The lamination layer 4b on the tip side is a portion placed on the upper surface of the contact portion 20f of the inner case 20.

The flat cable 4 is connected to the inner case 20
When mounting the flat cable 4 on the contact portion 20f of the inner case 20,
The exposed conductors 4a are positioned on the bus bars 6, respectively. In this state, the conductor 4a and the bus bar are subjected to ultrasonic welding or spot welding. At this time, when the flat cable 4 is inclined and disposed in the inner case 20, the lower end 4b-1 of the flat cable laminate portion 4b on the contact portion 20f projects beyond the lower end surface 20g of the contact portion 20f. There is.

Next, the cover 21 is attached to the inner case 20.
, The lower end portion 4b-1 of the laminated portion projecting from the lower end surface 20g of the contact portion 20f of the inner case 20 is bent by the projection 21a of the cover 21, and the notch 20h is formed.
Between the inner case 20 and the projection 21 a so as not to protrude from the lower end surface of the inner case 20.

As described above, even if the flat cable 4 is welded to the inner case 20 at an inclined position from the proper position, the flat cable 4 can be corrected only by covering the cover 21, so that it is not necessary to cut off the portion protruding from the inner case 20 by trimming. .

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, while the notch is provided in the inner case, the projection to be fitted in the notch is provided in the cover attached to the inner case. Even if the flat cable is displaced from the proper position and is welded, it should not be bent and projected from the inner case by bending the flat cable that protrudes from the inner case by simply covering the cover without trimming later. Can be.

As described above, since the flat cable protruding from the inner case can be removed not only by covering the cover, the workability when setting the flat cable in the inner case is improved. Further, abnormal noise generated when the flat cable protrudes from the inner case can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a cable reel according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2A is a schematic perspective view showing a main part of an inner case fixed to the cable reel, FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along the line BB of FIG. 2A, and FIG. It is the schematic which shows a part.

FIG. 3 shows a flat cable, (A) is a front view,
(B) is a sectional view.

FIG. 4A is a front view showing a state where a flat cable is welded to an inner case at a proper position, and FIG. 4B is a front view showing a state where the flat cable is inclined and welded to the inner case.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a state in which a cover is put on the inner case.

FIG. 6 is a schematic sectional view of a cable reel.

7A is an exploded perspective view of a flat cable and an inner case to which a bus bar is fixed, and FIG. 7B is an enlarged view showing a connection portion of the flat cable with the bus bar.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a conventional problem.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Movable body 2 Fixed body 3 Cable accommodation room 4 Flat cable 4a Conductor 4b Lamination layer 4b-1 Portion protruded from inner case 6 Bus bar 20 Inner case 20h Notch 21 Cover 21a Projection

Claims (2)

[Claims] An annular cable housing is formed by a fixed body and a movable body rotatably mounted on the fixed body, and a flat cable is spirally housed in the cable housing. In the cable reel, both ends of the conductor of the flat cable in the length direction are connected to a bus bar fixed to the fixed body and the movable body via an inner case, and are wound or unwound according to the rotation of the movable body. In a state where the conductor of the flat cable is welded to the bus bar fixed to the inner case, the inner case is covered so as to sandwich the flat cable, and sandwiches the edge of the flat cable serving as the lower end in the cable housing chamber. A notch is provided at the tip of the inner case, and a protrusion is provided at the tip of the cover. Mounting structure of a flat cable in the cable reel is folded projections cover the cutout side when projecting inclined, flat cable from between the inner case and the cover has a configuration that does not protrude. 2. A portion of the flat cable which is bent by the notch of the inner case and the projection of the cover is a portion where a laminate layer is peeled off and a conductor is welded to a bus bar at a lower end portion on a tip side inserted into the inner case. The mounting structure for a flat cable in a cable reel according to claim 1, wherein the mounting portion is a portion having a laminate layer left more on the distal end side.