JP2003187943A - Terminal feed device and terminal mounting device using the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To supply steadily the terminal T cut from the terminal belt TB to the pallet 15. <P>SOLUTION: A fixed cutter 260 for cutting the connected member Tc from a terminal belt TB at the predetermined cutting position P is provided. A movable cutter 270 for cutting the connected member Tc with the fixed cutter 260 is provided. A holding means 290 for holding the terminal portion Td to be cut is provided integrated with the movable cuter 270. The terminal portion Tb held by this holding means 290 is cut out and separated and supplied to the pallet 15 as a terminal T. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal supply device and a terminal mounting device using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, when manufacturing a wire harness, it is necessary to construct a predetermined circuit network by electrically connecting a plurality of electric wires constituting the wire harness with a connector or the like.

The above-mentioned connector comprises a terminal electrically connected to the covered electric wire and a housing for accommodating the terminal. As the terminal, a crimp terminal in which a barrel is crimped to the end portion of the covered electric wire, or a pressure contact terminal including a press contact blade which is cut into the covered portion of the covered electric wire and electrically connected to the core wire portion is used. These terminals are usually integrally connected to a belt-shaped carrier via connecting pieces. Then, in the process of manufacturing the wire harness, the terminal is cut from the terminal strip and connected to the covered electric wire. Further, the terminals cut from the terminal strip are housed in the housing before and after being connected to the covered electric wire.

[0004]

In the automatic production of the wire harness as described above, recently, a terminal loading chamber capable of loading a plurality of types of terminals has been provided in response to the diversification of terminals employed in the wire harness. Adopt a pallet
A method may be adopted in which the terminal cut from the terminal strip by this pallet is conveyed to the next step. When the terminals are loaded into the terminal loading chamber of such a pallet, the loading may be very difficult depending on the shape of the terminals and the like. In particular, when the press-contact terminal is loaded on the pallet, it is difficult to load the small-piece terminal cut from the terminal strip on the pallet because the coated electric wire is not connected to the terminal itself.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a terminal supply device and a terminal mounting device using the same, which can surely deliver the terminals cut from the terminal strip to the pallet. It is an issue.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention cuts a terminal strip from a terminal strip in which the terminal strip is connected to a strip-shaped carrier in a direction orthogonal to each other through a connecting piece. In a terminal supply device for supplying terminals, a fixed cutter for cutting the connecting piece from the carrier of the terminal strip at a preset cutting position, and a relatively displaceable relative to the fixed cutter. A movable cutter that shears the connecting piece at the position in cooperation with the fixed cutter, a cutting drive unit that drives the movable cutter between the top dead center and the bottom dead center that sandwich the cutting position, and the cutting cutter. In synchronization with the cutting operation of the movable cutter by the drive unit, the terminal strip is fed from the carrier guide to the fixed cutter so that the terminal portion to be cut is fed to the above cutting position. And a delivery unit, to the movable cutter holds the terminal portion to be cut,
The terminal supply device is provided with a holding means for delivering the terminal held at the supply position set to the bottom dead center.

In the present invention, the cutting drive unit lowers the movable cutter from the top dead center at a predetermined timing, so that the movable cutter cooperates with the fixed cutter to cut the connecting piece of the terminal strip in the cutting position, The terminal portion can be separated from the terminal strip to feed the terminal to the supply position set at the bottom dead center. At this time, since the movable cutter is provided with a holding means for holding the terminal portion to be cut, the holding means holds the terminal portion separated by the movable cutter, so that the terminal is held by the movable cutter. Will be transported to the supply position.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a plurality of the above-mentioned terminal supply devices juxtaposed along a preset juxtaposition direction, and a terminal for removably accommodating the terminals supplied by each terminal supply device at a supply position. A pallet in which a loading chamber is formed, a pallet conveyor that reciprocates the pallet along the juxtaposed direction, and a pallet conveyor and each terminal supply device are controllably provided, and the operation sequence of each terminal supply device is controlled. And a pallet control means for controlling the pallet so as to receive the cut terminals of the pallet in synchronization with the operation of the terminal supply device by the supply device control means. It is a terminal mounting device.

In this aspect, the plurality of terminals (for example, terminals of different types) can be mounted on the same pallet by controlling the plurality of terminal supply devices by the supply device control means. Then, under the control of the pallet control means, a plurality of terminals can be mounted on the pallet in a desired arrangement.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a rear view showing a schematic structure of a terminal mounting apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the same.

Referring to these drawings, the terminal mounting apparatus 10
Is a body base 12 movable by casters 11, and a pallet conveyor 1 provided on the body base 12.
4, a pallet 15 that is transported to the pallet conveyor 14, a terminal strip cutting device 100 and a plurality of terminal supply devices 200 that are sequentially arranged from the upstream side of the transport path of the pallet 15.

The base 12 is a frame body formed in a rectangular shape in plan view, and has the pallet conveyor 14 along its longitudinal direction.

The pallet conveyor 14 has a base 1
2 and a supply path 14a provided above the supply path 14a.
Return path 14b provided in the lower part of the base 12 in parallel with a
And a lift mechanism 14c for returning the pallet 15 returned from the return path 14b to the supply path 14a. Note that the movement of the pallet 15 from the supply path 14a to the return path 14b is provided in the wire connecting device that is installed side by side with the terminal mounting device 10. The pallet conveyor 14 has a feed mechanism capable of reciprocally moving the pallet 15 on the supply path 14a. The pallet 15 is reciprocated according to a processing procedure by the feed mechanism, whereby the terminal strip cutting device 10
It is possible to introduce the terminal 30 cut from the terminal strip B by 0 and the pressure contact terminal T cut from the terminal strip TB supplied by the terminal supply device 200 into the pallet 15.

The pallet 15 is a tray-shaped member extending in a rectangular shape, and a large number of partition plates 15a forming a terminal loading chamber for accommodating terminals are juxtaposed on the upper surface thereof (see FIG. 3). . The terminal loading chamber formed in the partition plate 15a of the pallet 15 accommodates the terminals supplied from the terminal strip cutting device 100 and the terminal supply device 200 in a predetermined order. . Further, cantilevered locking projections 15b (see FIGS. 5 to 7) are respectively formed in the terminal loading chambers of the pallet 15, and the pressure contact terminals supplied from above to below by the locking projections 15b. The attachment / detachment position of T can be fixed.

The terminal strip cutting device 100 and the terminal supply device 200 respectively include terminal strip supply reels 101 and 201 that supply the set terminal strips, and processing units 110 and 210 that process the supplied terminal strips. Have

FIG. 3 shows a terminal supply device 20 according to this embodiment.
0 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of No. 0, FIG. 4 is a front view of the terminal supply device 200 according to the present embodiment, and FIGS. 5 to 7 are schematic side sectional views showing an operation procedure of the device 200.

Referring to these drawings, each terminal supply device 2
The terminal strip TB to be processed by 00 is a strip-shaped carrier T
In the direction orthogonal to a through the connecting piece Tc, the terminal portion T
d (press contact terminal T when cut) is connected. It should be noted that the plurality of terminal supply devices 200 used in the terminal mounting device 10 of FIG. 1 have basically the same configuration, and only differences in size, shape, etc. due to differences in product numbers. The single device 200 will be described in detail.

The processing unit 210 of the terminal supply device 200
Has a machine body portion 211 erected on the base 12 of the terminal mounting apparatus 10.

The machine body portion 211 has an end wall 211a whose plane extends along the supply passage 14a of the pallet conveyor 14 and a side plate extending in a posture in which the plane intersects the end wall portion 211a at right angles and which extends to the opposite side of the supply passage 14a. The part 211b and the seating part 2 provided on the lower part thereof and seated on the base 12
11c is a structure having integrally. In the following description, the direction in which the end wall portion 211a faces the supply path 14a is assumed to be the front.

A feeding unit 220 is attached to the body 211. The feeding unit 220 includes a transport guide 240 integrally attached to the machine body part 211.
And a feed mechanism 250 for feeding the terminal strip TB guided by the transport guide 240.

The transport guide 240 has an assembly plate 241 integrated with the machine body 211. The assembling plate 241 is provided on the supply path 14 of the pallet conveyor 14.
In order to feed the terminal strip TB supplied from the terminal strip supply reel 201 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) along a to the cutting position P (see FIG. 4) set in the processing unit 210 of the terminal supply device 200. belongs to. In order to guide the terminal strip TB from the terminal strip supply reel 201 to the assembly plate 241, the end wall 211a of the machine body part 211 is provided with an upper guide 244 for guiding the upper side of the terminal strip TB. The lower guide 245 that cooperates with the upper guide 244 and receives the lower surface of the terminal strip TB is the base 12
, And each free end is fixed to the assembly plate 241.

The feeding mechanism 250 includes a transport guide 240.
Of the feed claws 251 for cutting and feeding the terminal parts Td one by one by engaging with the terminal parts Td passing through the assembling plate 241 and a link for interlocking the feed claws 251 with a cutting drive unit 280 described later. And a lever 252. This feed mechanism 250 is, in principle, a so-called side-feed type terminal crimping device (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
1-67415), it is equivalent to a feeding mechanism of a unit, and its detailed description is omitted.

Next, a fixed cutter 260 for cutting the connecting piece Tc of the terminal portion Td fed to the cutting position P is placed on the seating portion 211c of the machine body section 211.

As shown in FIG. 4, the fixed cutter 260 is
It is a block-shaped member. Further, the fixed cutter 260 is
The taper introduction is continuously provided downstream of the assembly plate 241 of the transport guide 240 in the transport direction along the supply path 14a of the pallet conveyor 14, and receives the carrier Ta of the terminal strip TB transported to the assembly plate 241. Groove 261
And a guide groove 262 communicating with the introduction groove 261 and sending the carrier Ta introduced from the introduction groove 261 to the cutting position P. And the guide groove 2
The edge portion of 62 cooperates with the movable cutter 270 described below to shear the connecting piece Tc.
A discharge hole 263 is formed at the downstream end of the guide groove 262 for discharging the carrier Ta from which the connecting piece Tc has been cut.

The movable cutter 270 is embodied by a protrusion-shaped punch. This movable cutter 270 is driven between a top dead center P1 and a bottom dead center P2 which sandwich the cutting position P vertically as shown in FIGS.
The movable cutter 270 can cut the connecting piece Tc in cooperation with the fixed cutter 260. Further, in the illustrated embodiment, the fixed cutter 270 is integrated with a suction unit 290 that constitutes a holding means for holding the pressure contact terminal T separated from the terminal strip TB.

As is apparent from FIG. 3, the adsorption unit 2
90 has a rectangular box portion 291 and the movable 270 is continuously provided on the bottom surface of the box portion 291. For example, three air nozzles 293 are attached to the box portion 291, and an opening portion thereof penetrates the movable cutter 270 and faces downward. A negative pressure air source (not shown) is connected to the air nozzle 293, and the air nozzle 293 can suck the terminal portion Td from the lower side of the movable cutter 270.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic structure of the suction unit 290 according to the embodiment of the present invention. (A) is a side view, (B) is a front partial schematic view, and (C) is a bottom view.

With reference to FIGS. 8A to 8C, the movable cutter 270 is undulated corresponding to the terminal portion Td to be processed, and thereby constitutes the connection portion of the terminal portion Td. Part of the part can be fitted in the cutting position P with the lower surface joined to the upper surface of the terminal portion Td.

As a result, each air nozzle 293 penetrating the movable cutter 270 can suck the terminal portion Td while being pressed against the upper surface of the terminal portion Td. Therefore, the terminal portion Td can be held by the suction unit 290 even after being cut by the raising / lowering operation of the movable cutter 270, and can be lowered integrally with the movable cutter 270.

In order to move the movable cutter 270 up and down together with the suction unit 290, the terminal supply device 200 is provided with a cutting drive unit 280.

Referring to FIGS. 3 to 7, the cutting drive unit 280 includes a press device 281 (only the connecting portion is shown in FIG. 4) and a shank 2 connected to the press device 281.
82 and a guide rail 283 provided on the front surface of the end wall portion 211a for vertically guiding the shank 282.
And have. The connecting bracket 294 protruding from the suction unit 290 is pressed by the bolt 295 to the pressing plate 2.
By being fixed to the shank 282 together with 96,
The movable cutter 270 and the suction unit 290 are integrally driven up and down.

The pressing device 281 has a motor as a driving source, a driving force converting portion for converting the rotational motion of the motor into a vertical motion, and a shank 282 for the converted driving force.
In the illustrated example, the motor is driven under the control of the control unit 286 (see FIG. 9).

A cam arm 284 connected to the link lever 252 of the feeding mechanism 250 is fixed to a side portion of the shank 282, and the press contact terminal T is not pressed when the press contact terminal T is not crimped in accordance with the lifting operation of the shank 282. Can be fed to the cutting position P one by one.

In the illustrated embodiment, this suction unit 2
In order to position the tip portion of the terminal portion Td positioned at the cutting position with a space in which 90 can move up and down,
The positioning member 246, which is substantially L-shaped in a plan view, serves as the conveyance guide 2.
It is fixed to the downstream front end of 40.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the terminal mounting apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG.

With reference to FIG.
A controller 17 is provided. The control device 17 is connected to the control unit 286 provided in the cutting drive unit 280 of the terminal supply device 200. As a result, in the present embodiment, the control device 17 constitutes a supply device control means that controls the pallet conveyor 14 and each terminal supply device 200, and controls the operation sequence of each terminal supply device.

Further, the control device 17 includes the terminal strip cutting device 1
00, the terminal supply device 200 are synchronized, and the pallet conveyor 14 is driven to convey the pallet 15 in accordance with these operations. Thus, in the present embodiment, the control device 17 constitutes a pallet control means for controlling the pallet so as to receive the cut terminals of the pallet in synchronization with the operation of the terminal supply device.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

Referring to FIG. 1, in the above configuration, the terminal strip cutting device 100 and the plurality of terminal supply devices 200 are driven by the control of the control device 17, and the terminal strip supply reels 101 and 201 respectively drive the terminal strips. B and TB are fed out, the corresponding processing units 110 and 210 sequentially cut the terminals, and the cut terminals are driven by the pallet conveyor 14
5 in the terminal loading chamber 15a.

Here, the terminal supply device 20 according to the present embodiment
In the initial state of 0, the movable cutter 270 is positioned at the top dead center P1 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this state, when the press device 281 of the cutting drive unit 280 lowers the shank 282 under the control of the control device 17, the feeding mechanism 250 of the feeding unit 220 connected to this shank 282 causes the feeding mechanism 250 to move to the claw 251.
To drive one terminal portion Td of the terminal strip TB guided by the assembly plate 241 of the transport guide 240,
Send to the downstream side.

In parallel with this operation, the pressing device 2
When 81 is lowered, the movable cutter 270 fixed to the press device 281 is also lowered. Therefore, the movable cutter 270 of the suction unit 290 integrated with the movable cutter 270 is fitted into the connection portion of the terminal portion Td to be cut from the state shown in FIG. 5 as shown in FIG. It comes into close contact with the upper surface of the portion Td. At this point, the air nozzle 293 opening on the bottom surface of the movable cutter 270 is in a state capable of sucking the terminal portion Td and holding the terminal portion Td.

When the pressing device 281 is further lowered, the movable cutter 270 cuts the connecting piece Tc to be cut between the movable cutter 270 and the edge portion of the fixed cutter 260, and the terminal portion Td.
Is separated from the terminal strip TB to obtain the pressure contact terminal T. Since the pressure contact terminal T is held by the movable cutter 270 of the suction unit 290 immediately before being separated from the terminal strip TB, even after the pressure contact terminal T is separated as the pressure contact terminal T.
It remains held at the bottom of 70.

In this state, the press device 281 moves to the bottom dead center P2.
When lowered to the supply position set to, the pressure contact terminal T held in the lower part of the movable cutter 270 is introduced into the terminal loading chamber of the pallet 15. Here, the terminal T is mounted on the pallet by cutting the negative pressure of the suction unit 290. In this state, the press device 281 moves to the top dead center P
When returning to 1, due to the holding force of the locking projection 15b,
The press contact terminal T is transferred into the terminal loading chamber of the pallet 15.

In this embodiment, the cutting drive unit 280 moves the movable cutter 270 to the top dead center P1 at a predetermined timing.
When the movable cutter 270 cooperates with the fixed cutter 260 by lowering it from the terminal strip T at the cutting position P.
It is possible to cut the connecting piece Tc of B, separate the terminal portion Td from the terminal strip TB, and send the terminal to the supply position set at the bottom dead center P2. At this time, the movable cutter 27
0 is provided with the suction unit 290 as a holding means for holding the terminal portion Td to be cut. Therefore, the suction unit 290 holds the terminal portion Td separated by the movable cutter 270, so that the terminal is movable. 270
The sheet is conveyed to the supply position while being held at. As a result, in the present embodiment, even when the pressure contact terminal T is supplied to the supply position (bottom dead center P2) separated from the cutting position P, the separated pressure contact terminal T is supplied.
It is possible to carry the sheet while keeping the posture of the sheet in a desired state. Then, in this state, the pressure contact terminal T is introduced into the storage chamber of the pallet 15 waiting at the supply position (bottom dead center P2), and is transferred by cutting the negative pressure of the suction unit 290. As a result, a pallet 15 having a terminal loading chamber in which a plurality of types of terminals can be loaded is adopted, and when the pressure contact terminal T cut from the terminal strip TB by this pallet 15 is conveyed to the next step, the cut pressure contact terminal T is cut. Even if the shape is complicated or small, it is easy and sure to load the press contact terminal T into the pallet 15, and there is an advantage that the yield is increased.

As described above, the present embodiment has a remarkable effect that the terminal T cut from the terminal strip TB can be reliably delivered to the pallet 15.

Further, in the aspect of the present embodiment, the plurality of terminal supply devices 200 are the control device 17 as the supply device control means.
The plurality of terminals (for example, terminals of different types) can be mounted on the same pallet 15 by being controlled by. Then, under the control of the control device 17, a plurality of terminals can be mounted on the pallet 15 in a desired arrangement. As a result, there are advantages that the loading modes of the terminal T are various and it is possible to meet various design specifications.

The above-described embodiments are merely examples of preferred examples of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. It goes without saying that various design changes are possible within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the terminal cut by the movable cutter is held by the holding means, it is conveyed to the supply position while being held by the movable cutter. Even if the shape of the formed terminal is complicated or small, it is possible to maintain the posture of the terminal at the time of transportation in a desired state. As a result, even when a pallet having a terminal loading chamber capable of loading a plurality of types of terminals is adopted and the terminals cut from the terminal strip by this pallet are conveyed to the next step, the terminals can be easily loaded into the pallet. There is an advantage that it is reliable and the yield is high.

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is a remarkable effect that the terminals cut from the terminal strip can be reliably transferred to the pallet.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a rear view showing a schematic configuration of a terminal mounting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a terminal mounting device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a schematic configuration of a terminal supply device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the terminal supply device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a schematic side sectional view showing an operation procedure of the terminal supply device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side sectional view showing an operation procedure of the terminal supply device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side sectional view showing an operation procedure of the terminal supply device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows a suction unit 290 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
It shows a schematic configuration of (A) is a side view, (B)
Is a schematic front view, and (C) is a bottom view.

9 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a terminal mounting device according to the embodiment of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10-terminal mounting device 14 Pallet conveyor 15 pallets 17 Control device 30 terminals 200 terminal supply device 210 processing unit 220 feeding unit 260 fixed cutter 270 movable cutter 280 Cutting drive unit 290 Adsorption unit (an example of holding means) P cutting position P1 top dead center P2 bottom dead center (supply position) Ta carrier TB terminal band Tc connection piece Td terminal part

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takeshi Koike             Sumitomo Den 1-14 Nishi-Suehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture             Sozo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akihito Otani             Sumitomo Den 1-14 Nishi-Suehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture             Sozo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshio Itai             Sumitomo Den 1-14 Nishi-Suehiro-cho, Yokkaichi-shi, Mie Prefecture             Sozo Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5E063 HA04 HB11 HB12 HB16

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A terminal supply device which cuts the terminal part from a terminal band in which the terminal part is connected to a band-shaped carrier in a direction orthogonal to the band-shaped carrier through a connecting piece to supply a terminal, the carrier of the terminal band. A fixed cutter for cutting the connecting piece at a preset cutting position and a relative displaceable relative to the fixed cutter, and the connecting piece is sheared in cooperation with the fixed cutter at the cutting position. And a cutting drive unit that drives the movable cutter between a top dead center and a bottom dead center sandwiching the cutting position, and the cutting operation is performed in conjunction with the cutting operation of the movable cutter. And a feeding unit for feeding the terminal strip from the carrier guide to the fixed cutter so as to feed the terminal portion to the cutting position.
A terminal supply device, which is provided with holding means for holding the terminal portion to be cut and for delivering the terminal held at the supply position set to the bottom dead center. 2. A terminal mounting device using the terminal supply device according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of the terminal supply devices juxtaposed along a preset juxtaposition direction and terminals supplied by each terminal supply device. A pallet in which a terminal loading chamber for detachably accommodating at a supply position is formed, a pallet conveyor that reciprocates the pallet along the juxtaposed direction, and the pallet conveyor and each terminal supply device are controllably provided. Supply device control means for controlling the operation sequence of each terminal supply device, and pallet control means for controlling the pallet so as to receive the cut terminals of the pallet in association with the operation of the terminal supply device by the supply device control means. And a terminal mounting device.