JP2001035278A - Wire harness forming method, wire harness formed by the method and joint connector - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sub-harness which is easily adaptable to a circuit change by reducing the number of electric wires and eliminating the need for a post- insertion terminal. SOLUTION: A wire harness is assembled by bundling plural provisionally bound sub-harnesses, and joint connectors 10, 11 are connected to one end of the wire of each sub-harness, and two conductive materials of the sub-harness are connected to bus bars 20, 21 in the joint connector. One electric wire is used as in a loop form W1-W8, both the side parts of the wire are connected to required bus bars respectively, and the wire is divided into the two conductive materials by cutting the folded tip part of the loop-shaped electric wire.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of forming a wire harness for an automobile, and a wire harness and a joint connector formed by the method, and more particularly, to a method of reducing the number of electric wires and using a temporarily bound sub-harness. The purpose of the present invention is to eliminate a post-insertion terminal and to easily cope with a circuit change.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Assembling a wire harness for an automobile involves the following steps.
As shown in FIG. 10, a plurality of sub-harnesses (sub-harnesses) 1, 2, 3,... Are manufactured separately, and these temporarily tied sub-harnesses 1, 2, 3,. After the wire is held and wired by a wiring jig, a tape harness or the like is applied thereto and the wire is tightly bound to assemble a wire harness.

In the temporary binding step for forming the sub-harness, the terminal of the electric wire w is inserted into the connector 4, but the electric wire connected to another sub-harness and the terminal 5 of the electric wire terminal connected to the equipment are connected. In the state of the sub-harnesses 1, 2, and 3, which are temporarily bound, the sub-harness is a so-called bra terminal in a state where the sub-harness is not inserted into the connector and is exposed. Therefore, the terminals are likely to be deformed or damaged, and a work of inserting another sub-harness into the connector is required at the time of the final binding, which requires a lot of labor.

In order to solve the above problem, the present applicant has previously disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-208566, as shown in FIG. , 4B, 4C, and is formed as a complete type. When the sub-harnesses 1 ′, 2 ′ are fully bound,
Provided is a wire harness assembling method in which required connectors 4B and 4C are fitted into a joint box 6, and connectors of other sub-harnesses are connected through a conductive path 7 in the joint box 6 to form a branch circuit. ing.

[0005]

With the above configuration,
There is an advantage that the sub-harness can eliminate the post-insertion terminal, but the number of wires increases, and the terminals and terminals are connected to these wire ends, respectively. There is a problem that the number of steps increases.

For example, in the sub-harnesses A, B, C, and D shown in FIG.
(2) is inserted into the sub-harness C, the electric wires (7) and (8) of the sub-harness B are inserted into the sub-harness D, and the electric wires (3) and (5) of the sub-harnesses A, B, C and D are inserted. ), (9), (11), and (4), and wires (4), (6), and (1) of sub-harnesses A, B, C, and D.
When it is necessary to connect (0) and (12), if the above-mentioned complete type sub-harness is used, the configuration shown in FIG. 12B is obtained.

That is, the wires (1) to (4) of the sub-harness A are connected to the connector 4A ', and the wires (5) to (8) of the sub-harness B are connected.
To the connector 4B ', and the electric wire (9) of the sub-harness C
To (12) to the connector 4C 'and the electric wire (13) of the sub-harness D
To (16) are connected to the connector 4D ',
A 'and 4B' are sub-assayed to the joint box 6A ', connectors 4C' and 4D 'are sub-assayed to the joint box 6B', and finally the joint boxes 6A 'and 6B' are joined. .

[0008] Comparing the configuration with the post-insertion terminal shown in FIG. 12A with the complete type configuration without the post-insertion terminal in FIG. 12B, the number of wires increases by two. The actual number of electric wires of the sub-harness is large, and therefore the number of electric wires to be inserted is also large. Therefore, when considering from the wiring harness arranged in the entire vehicle, there is a problem that the number of electric wires is extremely increased. In addition, there is a problem that the number of connectors connected to these electric wires also increases, and accordingly, component costs and work costs also increase.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and reduces the number of electric wires, eliminates post-insertion terminals, eliminates splice connection between electric wires, and reduces the number of connectors to reduce parts and assembly work. It is an object of the present invention to reduce the number of circuits and to easily cope with circuit changes according to vehicle types and grades.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a wire harness in which a plurality of temporarily bound sub-harnesses are bundled, and a joint connector is provided at one end of a conductive material of each sub-harness. The two conductive materials of the sub-harness connected to the conductive material in the joint connector are connected to each other, and one conductive material is used as a loop, and both sides of the conductive material are used as required in the joint connector. There is provided a method of forming a wire harness which is connected to a conductive material for connection, and is cut into two conductive materials by cutting a folded back portion of the loop-shaped conductive material.

As described above, if the conductive material such as the electric wire of the sub-harness to be connected to the conductive material of the joint connector is formed in a loop shape, one electric wire can be connected to the conductive material of the joint connector as two electric wires. The number of electric wires connected to the joint connector can be reduced by half. For example, assuming that the number of electric wires connected to the joint connector in one sub-harness is four, two loop-shaped electric wires are used,
When both sides of these loop-shaped electric wires are respectively connected to the conductive material of the joint connector, and the folded portion at the end of the loop is cut, it becomes equivalent to two electric wires.

The loop-shaped conductive material such as an electric wire is connected to a terminal and a connector at both ends opposite to the folded end. Moreover, you may connect directly with an apparatus as needed.

[0013] According to the above method, since the number of electric wires is reduced and the bra harness which is inserted later in the sub-harness can be eliminated in the sub-harness, the number of work steps in the main bundling can be reduced and the terminal is deformed. It is also possible to eliminate a decrease in electrical connection reliability. Further, a conductive material such as an electric wire of a sub-harness to be connected to the joint connector is conventionally connected to the connector, and the connector is fitted with the joint connector. The direct connection eliminates the need for assembling with a connector and eliminates the need to connect a terminal to the wire terminal, thereby reducing the number of parts and labor required. Also, the splice process can be eliminated when connecting wires of different sub-harnesses.

Further, if the electric wire connected to the joint connector of the sub-harness is assembled as a loop,
By changing the connection between the conductive material such as the electric wire of the sub-harness and the conductive material for connection in the joint connector, the circuit can be changed easily, and it can be easily handled when the circuit is changed according to the vehicle model or grade. . Therefore, the sub-harness in which the electric wire is formed in a loop shape can be used in common even if the vehicle type and grade are different.

The present invention provides a wire harness formed by the above method. In the wire harness, in a wire harness in which a plurality of temporarily bound sub-harnesses are bundled and assembled, at least a conductive material connected to a conductive material of another sub-harness is directly connected to a connecting conductive material housed in a joint connector. The joint connectors that are electrically connected and connected to the conductive materials of these sub-harnesses are fitted to each other at the time of the final bundling, the required conductive materials for connection are connected, and the conductive materials of different sub-harnesses are connected. It is characterized by.

The wire harness having the above structure is preferably formed using the above-mentioned loop-shaped electric wire from the viewpoint of reducing the number of electric wires, but by connecting the joint connector and the sub-harness without a connector, the number of parts is reduced. The circuit can be easily changed simply by reducing the number of work steps and changing the connection point between the conductive material for connecting the joint connector and the conductive material of the sub-harness.Also, the circuit can be changed by changing the joint connector to be connected to each other However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the sub-harness in which the electric wire is formed in a loop shape.

The conductive material of the sub-harness connected to the conductive material for connection of the joint connector is a conductive material connected to a conductive material of another sub-harness, or a conductive material whose circuit is changed according to a vehicle type and a grade. Including. In addition,
All the electric wires of the sub-harness may be looped, and terminals may be connected to both ends opposite to the folded side and connected to a connector, or may be directly connected to equipment as necessary. On the other hand, the looped side may be connected on both sides to the conductive material of the joint connector to form a branch connection circuit as required. In the case of this configuration, the number of electric wires of the sub-harness can be halved as compared with the case where the electric wires of the sub-harness are not formed as loops but are formed as a single wire.

The conductive material of the sub-harness is made of an electric wire, a flat cable, or the like, and may be any person who can form a loop in an elongated strip shape. On the other hand, as a conductive material for connection housed in the joint connector, a bus bar, an electric wire, a flat cable, or the like is used. The conductive material of these sub-harnesses and the conductive material for connection in the joint connector are directly connected by pressure connection, pressure connection via pressure connection terminals, or welding.

For example, if the conductive material of the sub-harness is an electric wire and the connecting conductive material of the joint connector is a bus bar, a press-contact slot is provided in the bus bar to press-connect the electric wire. When the conductive material of the sub-harness is a flat cable, and the conductive material for connection of the joint connector is also a flat cable, the connection is performed by welding. If both the conductive material of the sub-harness and the conductive material for connection of the joint connector are electric wires, they are connected via pressure terminals provided with two pressure-contact slots.

Preferably, vertical bus bars are used as connecting conductive materials to be accommodated inside the case of the joint connector, and are arranged in parallel. A press-contact slot is provided at a required position at the upper end of the vertical bus bar, and A loop-shaped electric wire of the harness is wired in a direction orthogonal to the vertical bus bar, and both side portions of the electric wire are pressed into a press-fitting slot of a required vertical bus bar and connected by press-fitting. It is formed. In this joint connector, at the time of final binding, the vertical bus bars of each joint connector are connected directly or via a relay terminal to a required vertical bus bar in the mating joint connector of the mating partner.

Further, the present invention provides a joint connector formed by the above method and connected to the electric wire of the sub-harness for each sub-harness to be temporarily bound,
Inside the case of the joint connector, a plurality of connecting conductive materials such as bus bars are arranged in parallel in a direction orthogonal to the wires of the sub-harness and crossed with the wires. It is connected.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 schematically shows a main part of the structure of a wire harness according to the present invention. Of the wires of the sub-harnesses A, B, C and D to be temporarily bound, wires that need to be connected to wires of other sub-harnesses To the joint connector 10,
It is press-connected to a conductive material for connection composed of the bus bars 20 and 21 housed in the press-contact 11 in advance. Specifically, the electric wires of the sub-harnesses A and B are connected to the bus bar 2 of the joint connector 10.
0, the electric wires of the sub-harnesses C and D are connected to the bus bar 21 of the joint connector 11, and the joint connectors 10 and 11 are connected to connect the bus bars 20 and 21.

The method of connecting the electric wires of the sub-harnesses A to D and the bus bars 20 and 21 of the joint connectors 11 and 12 will be described. First, as shown in FIGS. If the number of wires that need to be connected to each of the sub-harnesses A to C is four, two wires are formed from one loop-shaped wire. The looped wires protrude from the connectors 13A to 13D at the other ends.

That is, in the sub-harness A, two electric wires w1 and w2 in a loop shape are used. Similarly, the sub-harness B uses loop-shaped wires w3 and w4, the sub-harness C uses loop-shaped wires w5 and w6, and the sub-harness D uses loop-shaped wires w7 and w8. These electric wires w1 to w8 are, as representatively shown by the electric wire w1 in FIG. 2B, both sides w1-1 and w1-2 of the folded portion w1-3.
Terminals T1 and T2 are connected to the ends of
Connected to A. The other loop-shaped electric wires w2 to w8 also have both side portions w2-1 and w2-2 of the folded portions w2-3 to w8-3.
Terminals are connected to terminals w8-1 and w8-2 and connected to connectors 13B to 13D.

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the joint connectors 10 and 11 are composed of vertical bus bars using a flat bus bar with a wide width as a vertical direction.
A plurality of sheets 1 are accommodated in parallel on the lower case 14 at intervals. In the illustrated embodiment, six bus bars 20 and 21 are accommodated respectively. These bus bars 20, 21
As shown in FIG. 4, the press contact blade 2 is
A press-connecting portion 25 is formed by cutting a press-contact slot 25b provided on the inner peripheral surface of the press-connecting portion 25 from the upper end. The bus bars 20, 21 arranged in parallel with each other are phased so that the positions of the press-connecting portions 25 are not the same.

As shown in FIG. 3, the sub-harnesses A and B provided with the loop-shaped electric wires w1 to w4 are wired on the upper side in a direction orthogonal to the bus bar 20 of the joint connector 10. These electric wires w1 to w4 are connected to a plurality of bus bars 20.
And from the one end side to the other end side, and the folded portions w1-3 to w4-3 are located at positions protruding from the lower case 14 at the other end side. Similarly, the sub-harnesses C and D provided with the loop-shaped electric wires w5 to w8 are wired in a direction orthogonal to the bus bar 21 of the joint connector 11, and are folded back portions w5-3 to w8-3 at positions protruding from the lower case lower case 14. Position.

The loop-shaped electric wire w1 cross-wired with the bus bar 20 is folded at the folded portion, so that both sides w1-1 and w1-2 cross the bus bar 20 and are in a double track state. The same applies to the other loop-shaped electric wires w2 to w8, and both side portions w2-1 and w2-2 to w8-1 and w8-2 intersect with the bus bars 20 and 21, respectively.

Since each bus bar 20 and 21 is provided with a single press-connecting portion 25, each of the loop-shaped electric wires w1 to w8 has both side portions w1-1 and w1-2.
A part of w8-1 and w8-2 passes through the press-connecting connection part 25. As shown in FIG.
And press the electric wires into the press-contact slots 25b to cut the insulation coating of the electric wires with the press-contact blades 25b.
5b are brought into contact with each other and w
1-1, w1-2 to w8-1, and w8-2 are press-connected to any one of the bus bars 20, 21.

After the above pressure connection, the folded portions w1-3 to w8-3 of the loop-shaped electric wires w1 to w8 projecting rearward from the lower case 14 are cut as shown by the dashed lines in FIG. Thereby, both side parts w1-1, w1-2 to w8-1, and w8-2 of the loop-shaped electric wires w1 to w8 are cut off to become a single line, and become two electric wires. Therefore, four wires from the sub-harness A and four wires from the sub-harness B are connected to the six bus bars 20 in the joint connector 10.
Among them, a state is established in which the required bus bar 20 is pressed and connected. In the embodiment, the electric wires w2-1, w3-1, w2-2
And w3-2 are connected to the same bus bar 20, and the other electric wires are connected to different bus bars 20, respectively.

After the electric wires of the sub-harnesses A and B are connected to the bus bar 20 of the joint connector 10 and the electric wires of the sub-harnesses C and D are connected to the bus bar 21 of the joint connector 11 as shown in FIG. Next, the upper case 15 is put on the lower case 14 and the joint connectors 10 and 11 are assembled.

The joint connectors 10 and 11 are connected at the time of the main binding to connect the bus bars 20 and 21. Therefore, while the fitting hole 10a is provided on one side surface of the joint connector 10, the fitting protrusion 11a is provided on one side surface of the joint connector 11, and the fitting protrusion 11a is provided.
a is inserted into the fitting hole 10a to be connected. Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, a connection tab 26 is protruded from an end face of the bus bar 20 located at the joint portion, while a press contact terminal 27 is connected to an end face of the bus bar 21, and the press contact terminal 27 The connection tab 26 is inserted into the insulation displacement slot 27a.
Are inserted to connect the bus bars 20 and 21.

As described above, the joint connector 10 subassembled with the sub-harnesses A and B, and the joint connector 11 subassembled with the sub-harnesses C and D
Are combined in the main binding step as shown in FIG. In this state, as shown in FIG. 1, the bus bars 20 of the joint connector 10 and the bus bars 21 of the joint connector 11 are connected, and the sub-harnesses A and B connected to the bus bar 20 are connected.
Required electric wires w1-1 to w4-2 and the electric wires w5-1 to w8-2 of the sub-harnesses C and D connected to the bus bar 21 are connected to each other via the bus bars 20 and 21. .

Connector 13A of sub-harness AB
13D are connected to the connectors 28A to 28D connected to the terminals of the other harness as shown in FIG.
Alternatively, it is connected to a connector connected to the device. The connectors 13A to 13A are connected to the terminals of the sub-harnesses A to D.
Instead of attaching D, the device may be attached directly.

As described above, the electric wires connected to the bus bars 20 and 21 of the joint connectors 10 and 11 are
Assuming that the electric wires are looped and made into a double wire, as shown in FIG. 7, four sub-harnesses A to D each require a total of 16 electric wires, but two sub-harnesses A to D each require two electric wires. , A total of eight electric wires will be sufficient, and the electric wires will be longer, but the number of electric wires can be reduced by half.

In the above embodiment, the sub-harness A
The electric wires No. to D do not show all the electric wires of each sub-harness, and there are some electric wires which are connected by a connector as in the related art. And, as shown in FIG. 8, between the sub-harnesses A and B to be sub-assayed via the joint connector 10,
In some cases, a terminal is connected to the terminal of the electric wire w10 of the sub-harness A, and this terminal is inserted into the connector 13B of the sub-harness B. Also in this case, since the sub-harnesses A and B are sub-assayed, the terminal of the electric wire w10 does not become a bra terminal.

Although the joint connectors 10 and 11 are connected in the horizontal direction to connect the internal bus bars 20 and 21, the joint connectors 10 and 11 are connected vertically and arranged vertically. The bus bars 20 and 21 may be connected to each other with a vertically extending relay terminal interposed therebetween or directly protruding male and female terminal portions.

In the above embodiment, the electric wire of the sub-harness is connected to the bus bar of the joint connector.
As shown in FIG. 9A, when the conductive material of the sub-harnesses A to D is a flat cable 30, the joint connector 1
The conductive material for connection of 0 and 11 is also a flat cable 31,
A required portion of the cross-arranged flat cables 30 and 31 may be connected by welding P. Further, as shown in FIG. 9 (B), the conductive material of the sub-harness is an electric wire w, and the conductive material for connection of the joint connectors 10 and 11 is also an electric wire w ′. The pressure connection may be performed by the formed pressure contact slots 32a and 32b.

Further, if all the electric wires of the sub-harnesses A to D are connected to one end with a connector as shown in FIG. Even in the case where the branch connection configuration of the circuit is different, it is possible to easily cope with a circuit change simply by changing the connection position between the both sides of the looped electric wire and the connection conductive material of the joint connector. Therefore, if the sub-harnesses A to D are manufactured in a state where the loop-shaped electric wires are attached, the sub-harnesses can be used even when the vehicle type or grade is different, and the common use of the sub-harnesses can be achieved.

[0039]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the conductive material such as the electric wire of the sub-harness to be connected to the conductive material of the joint connector is formed in a loop shape and both ends of one electric wire are formed. In order to connect with the conductive material of the joint connector, the folded end is cut and divided into two electric wires, and the number of electric wires connected to the joint connector can be reduced by half.

Also, since the connection conductive material inside the joint connector and the conductive material of the sub-harness are connected to form a branch connection circuit, if the sub-harness is configured to have a loop-shaped electric wire attached thereto, the structure of the automobile may be reduced. Even if there is a change in the circuit configuration according to the vehicle type or grade, it is only necessary to change the connection position with the connection conductive material in the joint connector, and it is possible to share the sub-harness.

Furthermore, since the number of electric wires is reduced, the brass terminal to be inserted later in the final binding can be eliminated in the sub-harness, so that the number of working steps in the final binding can be reduced, and the terminal is deformed to improve the electrical connection reliability. Can also be reduced. Further, a conductive material such as an electric wire of a sub-harness to be connected to the joint connector is conventionally connected to the connector, and the connector is fitted with the joint connector. The direct connection eliminates the need for assembling with a connector and eliminates the need to connect a terminal to the wire terminal, thereby reducing the number of parts and labor required. In addition, when connecting wires of different sub-harnesses, there are various advantages such that splicing can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a connection circuit configuration between a sub-harness and a joint connector according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a schematic view of a sub-harness, and FIG. 2B is a drawing showing electric wires of the sub-harness.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a state where a sub-harness is sub-assayed.

FIG. 4A is a schematic view showing a connection form between a connection conductive material of a joint connector and an electric wire of a sub-harness.
(B) is a schematic diagram showing a position of a press contact portion provided on a connecting conductive material formed of a bus bar, and (C) is a schematic perspective view showing a press contact connection state between the bus bar and an electric wire.

5A is a schematic sectional view of a joint connector, FIG.
(B) is a schematic perspective view which shows the connection method of the bus bars in a joint connector.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a final binding state in which a joint connector is coupled.

FIG. 7 is a drawing comparing the number of electric wires according to the method of the present invention with the number of electric wires according to the conventional method.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a modification.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are schematic diagrams showing other modified examples.

FIG. 10 is a view showing a conventional method of forming a wire harness.

FIG. 11 is a view showing another conventional method for forming a wire harness.

FIGS. 12A and 12B are schematic diagrams showing a conventional problem.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A to D Sub-harness w1 to w8 Loop-shaped electric wire w1-3 to w8-3 Folding portion w1-1, w1-2 to w8-1, w8-2 Both sides 10, 11 Joint connector 13A to 13D connector 14 Lower case 15 Upper Case 20, 21 Bus bar 25 Press-connecting portion 25b Press-connecting slot

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A wire harness is assembled by bundling a plurality of temporarily bound sub-harnesses, and a joint connector is connected to one end of a conductive material of each sub-harness, and is connected to a conductive material in the joint connector. The two conductive materials of the sub-harness to be used are such that one conductive material is used as a loop shape, and both sides of the conductive material are connected to required connection conductive materials in the joint connector, respectively. A method for forming a wire harness in which a folded back portion of a material is cut and divided into two conductive materials. 2. A wire harness formed by the method according to claim 1. 3. In a wire harness in which a plurality of temporarily bound sub-harnesses are bundled and assembled, at least a conductive material connected to a conductive material of another sub-harness is directly connected to a connecting conductive material housed in a joint connector. The joint connectors that are electrically connected and connected to the conductive materials of these sub-harnesses are fitted to each other at the time of the final bundling, the required conductive materials for connection are connected, and the conductive materials of different sub-harnesses are connected. A wire harness characterized by the above. 4. The conductive material of a sub-harness connected to the conductive material for connection of the joint connector is a conductive material connected to a conductive material of another sub-harness, and a conductive material whose circuit is changed according to a vehicle type and a grade. The wire harness according to claim 2, further comprising a material. 5. The conductive material of the sub-harness is made of an electric wire or a flat cable, and the conductive material for connection accommodated in the joint connector is made of a bus bar, an electric wire or a flat cable. The wire harness according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the wire harness is directly connected to the conductive material for connection by pressure connection, pressure connection via a pressure terminal, or welding. 6. A vertical bus bar is used as a conductive material for connection to be accommodated inside the case of the joint connector, and is arranged in parallel. A press-contact slot is provided at a required position at an upper end of the vertical bus bar, and the sub-harness is provided. Is looped in a direction orthogonal to the vertical bus bar, and both side portions of the wire are pressed into the press-contact slots of the required vertical bus bar and press-connected, and the bent end portion of the wire is cut to form a joint connector. 6. In this binding, the vertical bus bar of each joint connector is connected to a required vertical bus bar in the mating joint connector of the mating partner directly or via a relay terminal. The wire harness according to any one of the preceding claims. 7. A joint connector formed by the method according to claim 1 and connected to an electric wire of the sub-harness for each sub-harness to be temporarily bound, wherein the sub-harness is provided inside a case of the joint connector. A joint connector in which a plurality of conductive materials for connection, such as bus bars, are arranged in parallel in a direction orthogonal to the wires of the harness and cross the wires, and the conductive materials for connection are connected to the wires at required positions.