JP2007324065A - Flat cable and its manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flat cable and its manufacturing method capable of surely following movement of a movable member by preventing loosening and buckling of the flat cable even if a reinforcing member such as a belt-like steel plate and a cable guide is not installed. <P>SOLUTION: This is the belt-like flat cable provided with a conductor composed of a conductive metal foil or a flat rectangular conductive metal material, and an insulating material covering and integrating the conductor. In the whole length of the length direction extended in a belt-like state, a perpendicular cross section orthogonal to the length direction is molded in an arc shape, one face side is made as a recessed face and the other face side is made a convex face. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a flat cable and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to allow a flat cable spanned between a fixed member such as a vehicle body and a movable member such as a slide door to smoothly follow the movable member.

Conventionally, a sliding door type sliding door has been adopted as a side door of a vehicle such as a one-box car, and recently, two sliding doors that are moved in the front-rear direction of the vehicle are provided and separated from each other when the door is opened. Sliding doors that are moved in the direction are also provided.
This sliding door is provided with a power window drive motor, a limit switch, and the like, and it is necessary to route a harness from the vehicle body side to the sliding door in order to supply power to these devices.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-177392 (Patent Document 1) provides a harness that spans between a vehicle body and a slide door. The flat cable 1 provided in Patent Document 1 is arranged so as to be folded back in a U shape between the vehicle body and the slide door to give an extra length, and can follow the opening and closing of the slide door. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, a strip-shaped steel plate 4 is superimposed on a flat cable 1 in which a strip-shaped conductor 2 is covered with an insulating resin material 3, and these are held in a heat-shrinkable tube 5.

  Similarly, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-147469 (Patent Document 2), a link member 7a is linearly connected as shown in FIG. A routing structure has been proposed in which a plurality of flat cables 1 are stacked in a caterpillar-shaped cable guide 7.

As described above, the shape of the curved portion of the flat cable 1 folded back into a U-shape is obtained by placing the strip steel plate 4 along the flat cable 1 or by inserting the flat cable 1 through the caterpillar-shaped cable guide 7. It is possible to prevent the flat cable 1 from being loosened and buffering and damaging the surrounding members or buckling at a position folded back in a U shape.
However, in order to prevent the flat cable 1 from slacking and buckling and to smoothly follow the flat cable to the sliding door, in addition to the flat cable 1, a reinforcing member such as the strip steel plate 4 and the cable guide 7 as described above is additionally required. There is a problem that the number of parts increases and the cost also increases, and the number of man-hours required for manufacturing the harness also increases.

JP 2000-177392 A JP 2004-147469 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is provided between a fixed member such as a vehicle body and a movable member such as a slide door, and does not include a reinforcing member such as a strip steel plate or a cable guide. However, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flat cable that can prevent the flat cable from slacking and buckling and follow the movement of the movable member and a method for manufacturing the flat cable.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the first invention is configured in a strip shape with a conductive metal foil or a conductor made of a flat rectangular conductive metal material and an insulating material that covers and integrates the conductor. And
In the entire length in the length direction extending in the band shape, a vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction is formed into an arc shape, one surface side is a concave surface and the other surface side is a convex surface. A flat cable is provided.

As described above, in the flat cable of the present invention, a strip-like flat cable made of a conductor and an insulating material is orthogonal to the length direction without using a reinforcing member in the flat cable provided in the above-mentioned conventional publication. The vertical cross section is formed into an arc shape, and one surface side is formed as a concave surface and the other surface side is formed as a convex surface. In this way, it is not shaped by the reinforcing member, but is formed in an arc shape at the time of molding, thereby restricting the spread of the flat cable to the outside and improving the straightness and buckling at the position where it is folded back into a U shape. The radius of curvature of the curved portion can be reduced while preventing.
Therefore, since there is no need to provide a separate reinforcing member, the number of parts and cost can be reduced, the total weight and wiring area of the harness can be reduced, and the flat cable can be moved while preventing the slack and buckling of the flat cable. It becomes possible to follow the cable smoothly.

The radius of curvature of the circular arc shape in the vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the flat cable is a curve when the flat cable is bent in a U shape on a fixed member such as a vehicle body and a movable member such as a slide door. It is preferable that the radius of curvature of the portion is about twice.
With the above configuration, even when the flat cable is bent in a U shape, the flat cable can be smoothly bent without causing buckling, and can smoothly follow the movable cable.

  In addition, as described above, the belt-like flat cable includes a conductor made of conductive metal foil or a flat rectangular conductive metal material, and an insulating material that covers and integrates the conductor. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a flat cable that has excellent insulating properties and can be flexibly deformed thinly and flexibly.

  Furthermore, the flat cable preferably includes one or a plurality of conductor layers in which a plurality of the conductors are arranged in parallel at intervals, and in the case of a plurality of layers, the insulating material is preferably interposed between the conductor layers. . That is, the conductor may be divided into a plurality in the width direction, or may be laminated with the insulating material interposed in the thickness direction.

As the conductor, for example, copper foil, stainless steel, copper alloy, phosphor bronze and the like can be used, and in particular, tin-plated copper foil is preferably used.
Moreover, as said insulating material, insulating resin materials, such as polyester, polyolefin, a polyurethane, can be used, for example.
In particular, as the insulating resin material, an insulating resin film provided with a hot melt adhesive layer on one side is used, and the conductor is sandwiched between the upper and lower insulating resin films facing the hot melt adhesive layer and thermocompression bonded. It is preferable.
As the hot melt adhesive provided in advance on the insulating resin film, for example, a polyester-based hot melt adhesive is preferably used.

The flat cable of the present invention is preferably bridged between a vehicle body of the automobile and a movable member movably connected to the vehicle body, and the vertical cross section in the bridge direction is preferably arcuate.
In particular, the movable member is a sliding door, and a flat cable is bridged between the sliding door and the vehicle body so as to form a U-shape, and the concave surface of the flat cable at the curved portion of the U-shape is It is preferable that
As described above, with the concave surface of the flat cable as the outer peripheral side, it is possible to further improve the straightness of the flat cable by laying the flat cable between the sliding door and the vehicle body, and the flat cable is slackened. Therefore, the flat cable can smoothly follow the movement of the sliding door.

Moreover, it is also possible to bridge a bundle of a plurality of the flat cables between the vehicle body and the movable member with the concave surface as the outer peripheral side as described above. In that case, it is preferable that a plurality of flat cables are bound and fixed on one end side, while the other flat cables are bundled in a free state so as to be slidable.
Examples of the movable member include a rotary door other than a slide door, a seat (a slide seat, a lift-up seat for a welfare vehicle), a sunroof, a slope for a welfare vehicle, and the like.

A second invention is a method of manufacturing a flat cable according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A strip-shaped flat cable material in which the conductor is covered with the insulating material is continuously provided,
The flat cable material is shaped into an arc through a pair of upper and lower heating rollers composed of a roller whose diameter is increased at the center in the axial direction and a roller whose diameter is reduced at the center in the axial direction. The manufacturing method of the flat cable characterized by having solidified by is provided.

  As described above, the flat cable material provided continuously is passed between a pair of upper and lower heating rollers composed of a roller whose diameter is increased at the central portion in the axial direction and a roller whose diameter is reduced at the central portion in the axial direction. Thus, the shape of the vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the flat cable can be continuously shaped into an arc shape, and further solidified in the shaped state, thereby being shaped into the flat cable. The arc shape can be held for a long time.

Specifically, for example, a continuous flat flat cable material obtained by sandwiching a continuous strip-shaped conductor between upper and lower strip-shaped insulating resin films and thermocompression bonding is used for a pair of heating rollers having the above-described shape. By supplying and passing between them, the vertical cross section orthogonal to the length direction of the flat cable material is formed into an arc shape. Continuously, a continuous flat cable in which the shape of the vertical cross section is solidified into an arc shape by passing between a pair of upper and lower cooling rollers having the same shape as the pair of heating rollers. Is obtained, and the flat cable of the present invention can be manufactured by cutting this into a required length.
In addition, although the temperature of a heating roller changes also with kinds of hot-melt-adhesive agent, it is preferable to set it as about 80 to 150 degreeC. On the other hand, the temperature of the cooling roller is preferably about room temperature.

  However, the flat cable manufacturing method of the present invention is not limited to the above-described method. For example, a flat cable material formed into a flat plate shape and cut to a required length is used, and each length direction of the flat cable material is applied to a cylindrical member. Wrapped so as to match, and fixed with self-adhesive tape, heated at about 80 ° C. to 150 ° C. for about 1 hour, cooled at room temperature for about 5 minutes to 1 hour, and then the self-adhesive tape was By removing the flat cable of the present invention, the vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the flat cable is formed into an arc shape.

As described above, according to the present invention, a vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction of a belt-like flat cable is formed into an arc shape, and one surface side is a concave surface and the other surface side is a convex surface. Even if a separate reinforcing member is not provided, it is possible to regulate the outward spread of the flat cable to improve straightness and to reduce the curvature radius of the curved portion while preventing buckling at the position where it is folded back into a U shape. it can.
Therefore, since there is no need to provide a separate reinforcing member, the number of parts and cost can be reduced, the total weight and wiring area of the harness can be reduced, and the flat cable can be moved while preventing the slack and buckling of the flat cable. It becomes possible to follow the cable smoothly.

  In addition, as described above, the flat cable is bridged between the slide door and the vehicle body with the concave surface of the flat cable as the outer peripheral side, so that it is possible to further improve the straightness of the flat cable, and the flat cable is slackened. Therefore, the flat cable can smoothly follow the movement of the sliding door.

  In addition, according to the flat cable manufacturing method of the present invention, a flat cable material provided continuously includes upper and lower rollers composed of a roller whose diameter is increased in the central portion in the axial direction and a roller whose diameter is reduced in the central portion in the axial direction. Because it passes between a pair of heating rollers, the shape of the vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction of the flat cable can be continuously shaped into an arc shape, and further solidified in the shaped state The arc shape formed on the flat cable can be held for a long time. According to the said manufacturing method, the strip | belt-shaped flat cable of this invention can be manufactured very easily.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention, and a flat cable 10 includes a conductor 11 made of a plurality of (three in the present embodiment) strip-like flexible conductive metal foil, an insulating material 12, 13 is covered and integrated. In the entire length of the flat cable 10 extending in the strip shape, a vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction is formed into an arc shape, and the one surface side 10a is a concave surface and the other surface side 10b is a convex surface. The radius of curvature of the arc shape is about twice the radius of curvature r of the curved portion 17 when the flat cable 10 is bent in a U shape and routed between the vehicle body 20 and the slide door 21 of the automobile. .

A flat cable 10 according to the present embodiment shown in FIG. 1A is a flat flat plate in which three strip-like conductors 11 arranged in parallel with a gap in the width direction are sandwiched between upper and lower insulating materials 12 and 13 and laminated. The cable material 10x [shown in FIG. 1 (C)] is obtained by shaping so that the vertical cross section has the arc shape.
In addition, as the conductor 11, a tin-plated copper foil with high conductivity is used, and as the insulating materials 12 and 13, a polyethylene terephthalate film (hereinafter referred to as a PET film) in which polyester hot melt adhesives 12a and 13a are applied to the inner surface side. ) 12b and 13b are used.

Hereinafter, the manufacturing method of the flat cable 10 of this embodiment is demonstrated.
First, as shown in FIG. 2, the three strip-shaped conductors 11 are drawn from a conductor roll (not shown) and supplied to the thermocompression roller 14. The PET films 12b and 13b coated with the polyester-based hot melt adhesives 12a and 13a on the inner surface side are drawn out from upper and lower film rolls (not shown) and supplied to the thermocompression roller 14. At this time, the three strip-shaped conductors 11 are supplied so as to be sandwiched between the PET films 12b and 13b supplied to the thermocompression roller 14 in a state of being arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval.
Thus, by passing the strip-shaped conductor 11 and the upper and lower PET films 12b and 13b between the thermocompression-bonding rollers 14, the polyester-based hot melt adhesive 12a applied to the inner surface side of the PET films 12b and 13b, 13a melts and the conductor 11 is covered and integrated with the PET films 12b and 13b. By cooling the conductor 11 at room temperature, a continuous flat flat cable material 10x is obtained.

Subsequently, the continuous flat cable 10x is supplied to the pair of upper and lower heating rollers 15a and 15b. As shown in FIG. 2B, of the pair of upper and lower heating rollers 15a and 15b, the lower heating roller 15a has a shape in which the central portion in the direction of the axis L1 is enlarged, while the upper heating roller 15b has a shape in which the central portion in the direction of the axis L2 is reduced, and the temperature of the heating rollers 15a and 15b is maintained at 140 ° C.
Further, a pair of upper and lower cooling rollers 16a and 16b having the same shape as the heating rollers 15a and 15b are provided at the subsequent stage of the heating rollers 15a and 15b in order to cool and solidify in a state of being formed into an arc shape. The temperature of 16a, 16b is kept at 30 ° C.

  By passing a continuous flat flat cable material 10x between the heating rollers 15a and 15b, a vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction is shaped into an arc shape. Subsequently, by passing it between the cooling rollers 16a and 16b and cooling and solidifying it, a continuous flat cable 10 whose vertical cross section is solidified into an arc shape is obtained, and this is cut to a required length. The flat cable 10 of this embodiment is manufactured.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the flat cable 10 is routed in a U shape between a vehicle body 20 and a slide door 21 of an automobile in a plan view. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3C, the flat cable 10 is extended in the horizontal direction with the concave surface 10a of the flat cable 10 as the outer peripheral side, and is bent and bent into a U shape. A portion 17 is provided to provide an extra length between the vehicle body 20 and the slide door 21. In addition, a connector (not shown) connected to the terminal by fixing a required portion on the vehicle body side of the flat cable 10 to the vehicle body panel with a clip or the like is connected to the connector of the wire harness terminal routed to the vehicle body 20, while the flat cable The required position of the sliding door 10 is also fixed to the door panel with a clip or the like, and the terminal connector (not shown) is connected to the door harness terminal connector routed in the sliding door 21.

  3A shows the fully closed state of the slide door 21, and as shown in FIG. 3B, when the slide door 21 is slid in the direction of the arrow and released from the fully closed state, the slide door side of the flat cable 10 is moved. Following the movement of the sliding door 21, the bending portion 17 also moves in the sliding door opening direction.

According to the said structure, the perpendicular | vertical cross section orthogonal to the length direction of the strip | belt-shaped flat cable 10 is shape | molded by circular arc shape, and the one surface side is made into the concave surface 10a, and the other surface side is made into the convex surface 10b, reinforcement like the past. Even if a member is not provided separately, it is possible to increase the straightness by restricting the outward spread of the flat cable 10 and to reduce the curvature radius of the bending portion 17 while preventing buckling at a position where the flat cable 10 is folded back. it can.
Therefore, the number of parts and the cost can be reduced by eliminating the need for a separate reinforcing member, the total weight and wiring area of the harness can be reduced, and the sliding door 21 can be moved while preventing the flat cable 10 from being loosened or buckled. It is possible to smoothly follow the flat cable 10.

  In addition, as described above, the flat cable 10 is bridged between the slide door 21 and the vehicle body 20 with the concave surface 10a of the flat cable 10 as the outer peripheral side, so that the straightness of the flat cable 10 can be further improved. The flat cable 10 can smoothly follow the movement of the slide door 21 without the flat cable 10 slackening.

  Furthermore, according to the manufacturing method of the flat cable 10 as described above, the flat flat cable material 10x provided continuously has a roller 15a whose diameter is increased in the central portion in the direction of the axis L1, and the central portion in the direction of the axis L2. Is passed between a pair of upper and lower heating rollers 15a, 15b composed of a roller 15b having a reduced diameter, so that the shape of the vertical cross section can be continuously shaped into an arc shape, and further solidified in the shaped state By doing so, the shaped arc shape can be held for a long time. According to the manufacturing method, the flat cable 10 of the present embodiment can be manufactured very easily.

  FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. The flat cable 30 of the present embodiment shown in FIG. 4B is obtained by cutting a continuous flat-plate flat cable material 10x obtained in the same manner as in the first embodiment into a predetermined length, which is shown in FIG. The shape of the vertical cross section is formed into an arc shape by winding the cylindrical member 18 as shown in FIG. Specifically, after the cut flat cable material 10x is wound around the cylindrical member 18, the self-bonding tape 19 is further wound and fixed, and this is fixed in a constant temperature bath (not shown) at 120 ° C. by about 1 The flat cable 30 of this embodiment is obtained by holding the time and shaping the arc shape and then removing the self-bonding tape 19 after cooling for 1 hour at room temperature (23 ° C.). As in the first embodiment, the radius of curvature of the arc shape is about twice the radius of curvature r of the curved portion when the flat cable 30 is bent in a U-shape, and the others are also in the first embodiment. It is the same as the form.

  Also in the flat cable 30 manufactured by the above method, since the vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction is formed in an arc shape, the outward extension of the flat cable 30 is restricted to improve the straightness, and the U-shape. At the folded position, the curvature radius of the curved portion can be reduced while preventing buckling.

  In the third embodiment, a plurality of (in the present embodiment, five) flat cables 10 manufactured in the first embodiment are bundled so that the concave surface 10a is on the outer peripheral side, and the vehicle body 20 and the sliding door of the automobile are bundled. The second embodiment is the same as the first embodiment except that it is arranged in a U-shape between the first and second embodiments. At that time, a plurality of flat cables are bound and fixed on one end side, and on the other end side, the flat cables 10 are bundled in a free state so as to be slidable.

  According to the said structure, since it arrange | positions so that the concave surface 10a of each flat cable 10 may become an outer peripheral side, it becomes possible to further improve the straightness of the flat cable 10, and the slack of the flat cable 10 can be prevented. . In addition, since one end side of each flat cable 10 is slidably bundled in a free state, each flat cable 10 can smoothly follow the movement of the slide door 21.

As shown in FIG. 5, the flat cable 40 according to the fourth embodiment is manufactured in the same manner as in the first embodiment except that two layers of conductors 11 and 22 are provided, and between the vehicle body and the sliding door. To route to.
As shown in FIG. 5 (B), the flat cable 40 has a polyester hot melt adhesive 23a between upper and lower PET films 12b and 13b coated with polyester hot melt adhesives 12a and 13a on the inner surface side. , 23b is applied to both surfaces as an insulating material 23, and a single wide conductor 22 is sandwiched between the PET films 12b and 23c, and the PET film 23c and 13b are disposed in parallel. The three conductors 11 are sandwiched and laminated.
The continuous flat cable material 40x of FIG. 5 (C) obtained as described above is formed into an arc shape in a vertical section in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and FIG. 5 (A) is obtained. The flat cable 40 of this embodiment as shown is obtained.

  Also in the flat cable 40 having the above-described configuration, the vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction is formed in an arc shape, so that the flat cable 40 is restricted from spreading outward to improve straightness, and is folded back into a U shape. Then, it is possible to reduce the curvature radius of the curved portion while preventing buckling.

(A) is a schematic perspective view of the flat cable which concerns on 1st Embodiment, (B) is drawing which shows the structure of a flat cable raw material, (C) is a schematic perspective view of a flat cable raw material. (A) is drawing which shows the manufacturing process of the flat cable which concerns on 1st Embodiment, (B) is a schematic perspective view of a pair of upper and lower heating rollers. A state where a flat cable is bridged between the vehicle body and the slide door is shown, (A) is a schematic plan view showing the fully closed state of the slide door, and (B) is a state where the slide door is slid in the opening direction. A schematic plan view, (C) is a schematic perspective view of a flat cable in a state of being spanned. (A) It is drawing which shows the state which has formed the circular arc shape in the flat-shaped flat cable raw material in 2nd Embodiment, (B) is a schematic perspective view of the flat cable which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. (A) is a schematic perspective view of the flat cable which concerns on 4th Embodiment, (B) is drawing which shows the structure of a flat cable raw material, (C) is a schematic perspective view of a flat cable raw material. It is drawing which shows a prior art example. It is drawing which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

10, 30 40 Flat cable 10x, 40x Flat cable material 10a Concave surface 10b Convex surface 11, 22 Conductor 12, 13, 23 Insulation material 12a, 13a 23a, 23b Hot melt adhesive 12b, 13b 23c PET film 14 Thermocompression roller 15a, 15b Heating rollers 16a and 16b Cooling roller 17 Curved portion 18 Cylindrical member 19 Self-fusing tape 20 Car body 21 Slide door

Claims (5)

A conductive metal foil or a conductor made of a flat rectangular conductive metal material, and an insulating material that covers and integrates the conductor are configured in a band shape,
In the entire length in the length direction extending in the band shape, a vertical cross section perpendicular to the length direction is formed into an arc shape, one surface side is a concave surface and the other surface side is a convex surface. Flat cable.   2. The flat cable according to claim 1, wherein one or a plurality of conductor layers in which a plurality of the conductors are arranged in parallel at intervals are provided, and in the case of a plurality of layers, the insulating material is interposed between the conductor layers.   3. The flat according to claim 1, wherein the flat section is bridged between a vehicle body and a movable member movably connected to the vehicle body, and a vertical section in the bridge direction is an arc shape. cable.   The movable member is a sliding door, and is bridged between the sliding door and a vehicle body so as to exhibit a U shape, and the concave surface of the flat cable is an outer peripheral side in the U-shaped curved portion. The flat cable according to 3. It is a manufacturing method of the flat cable according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A strip-shaped flat cable material in which the conductor is covered with the insulating material is continuously provided,
The flat cable material is shaped into an arc through a pair of upper and lower heating rollers composed of a roller whose diameter is increased at the center in the axial direction and a roller whose diameter is reduced at the center in the axial direction. A flat cable manufacturing method characterized by being solidified with

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