JP2008096185A - Wire harness inspection apparatus, anisotropic conductive film used for it, circuit board for inspecting wire harness, and wire harness inspection method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inspect a wire harness or an electronic device connected to it without using a connector for inspection. <P>SOLUTION: This inspection apparatus 7 of a wire harness 1 has a flat cable 2 where a plurality of conducting wires 5 covered with an insulator are arranged integrally along a plane. The inspection apparatus 7 comprises an inspection substrate 8 having an electrode 12 corresponding to a conducting wire exposed section 6 of the flat cable, an anisotropic conductive film 9 that is stacked on the inspection substrate 8, is pressed onto the conducting wire exposed section, and conducts the electrode and the conducting wire, and a supporting member 19 made of insulating material and supports the conducting wire exposed section. A positioning groove 22 for positioning the conducting wire exposed section is disposed in the anisotropic conductive film or/and the supporting member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a wire harness inspection apparatus, an anisotropic conductive film used therefor, a circuit board for wire harness inspection, and a wire harness inspection method. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wire harness inspection apparatus or the like that can perform an electrical inspection of a wire harness or an electronic device connected to the wire harness without using an inspection connector or the like.

  A wire harness is used to connect to a printed circuit board or various electronic devices. The wire harness is a wiring component in which a cable, a connector, and other components are assembled and integrated.

  The cable is configured by integrally bundling a plurality of conducting wires covered with an insulator, and a flat cable in which the plurality of conducting wires are arranged is often employed. The connector or the like is pressed by removing the insulator at the end or middle of the cable.

As described in Patent Document 1, the wire harness or the electronic device connected thereto is inspected by connecting a connector provided at the end of the cable to an inspection connector connected to the inspection device. Often done.
JP 2004-164916 A JP2004-265844

  In the conventional inspection method as described in Patent Document 1, a large number of connectors to be inspected must be repeatedly connected to one inspection connector, so that the inspection connector is easily damaged. Further, as described in the above patent document, there is a possibility that the connector on the wire harness side may be damaged by the inspection terminal on the inspection apparatus side.

  In addition, there are a wide variety of connector electrodes, and it is necessary to prepare a dedicated inspection connector for each connector.

  Furthermore, in order to perform a highly accurate inspection, the connectors must be securely connected to each other. However, it is very troublesome to attach and detach the small connector, and there is a high risk of damaging the connector. In addition, it is difficult to automate the inspection.

  The present invention has been devised in order to solve the above-described problems, and pays attention to the fact that the conductive wire in the vicinity of the connection portion to the connector of the flat cable is exposed, and this portion is an anisotropic conductive film. By conducting to a circuit board via (Patent Document 2), an electrical inspection of a wire harness or an electronic device connected thereto is performed.

  The invention described in claim 1 of the present application is a wire harness inspection apparatus having a flat cable in which a plurality of conductor wires covered with an insulator are integrally arranged, and corresponds to the conductor exposed portion of the flat cable. A circuit board provided with the electrode, an anisotropic conductive film which is laminated on the circuit board and pressed against the conductor exposed portion to conduct the electrode and the conductor, and an insulating material and And a support member that supports the conductor exposed portion, and a positioning groove that positions the conductor exposed portion is provided in the anisotropic conductive film or / and the support member.

  The configuration of the wire harness is not particularly limited, and the inspection apparatus according to the present invention can be applied as long as it includes a flat cable.

  In order to connect a connector or the like to the flat cable, the insulation coating of the cable is removed to expose the conductive wire, and the electrode of the connector is pressed into this portion. The conductor exposed portion is set to be longer than the length required for connection to the connector, and a portion of the conductor extending from the connector or the like is often exposed. In the present invention, inspection is performed by conducting the conductive wire exposed portion and the electrode of the circuit board through the anisotropic conductive film.

  That is, as in the invention described in claim 2 of the present application, the circuit board and the support member are configured so as to sandwich a conductor exposed portion extending from a connector provided at an end portion or an intermediate portion of the flat cable. can do.

  The inspection device according to the present invention can be applied to a flat cable before connecting the connector, and can also be applied to a flat cable after connecting the connector. In addition, when there is no suitable conductor exposed part to which the inspection apparatus can be applied, a conductor exposed part for the inspection apparatus according to the present invention can be provided in an appropriate part of the flat cable.

  The circuit board includes an electrode corresponding to a conductive wire of a flat cable. The said electrode should just be arrange | positioned corresponding to the space | interval of conducting wire. In addition, a circuit board having more electrodes than the number of conductors to be inspected can be applied to a plurality of types of flat cables, as long as the conductors have the same pitch.

  The kind of the anisotropic conductive film is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to employ a film having a large amount of elastic compression and recovery. For example, the anisotropic conductive film described in Patent Document 2 developed by the inventors of the present invention can be elastically compressed and recovered to about one-fourth of the thickness. Suitable for the device.

  By adopting an anisotropic conductive film with a large elastic deformability and a large recovery amount, even if there is a variation in the height of the conductive wire held by the support member, the variation is absorbed and conducted to the circuit board electrode. be able to. In addition, the contact area with the cylindrical outer surface of the conductive wire is increased, and even when the exposed portion of the conductive wire is small, highly accurate inspection can be performed.

  The conductive wire exposed portion is inspected and held between the insulating support member and the anisotropic conductive film so that the anisotropic conductive film is compressed and deformed. The material and configuration of the support member are not particularly limited as long as the support member has an insulating property and can hold the conductor of the flat cable along a plane.

  The conductive wires are insulated and held at a constant interval by an insulating coating. However, when the insulating coating is removed, there is a possibility that the interval of the conductive wires fluctuates and does not coincide with the electrodes of the circuit board. In the present invention, in order to avoid the inconvenience, the anisotropic conductive film or / and the support member are provided with a positioning groove for positioning the exposed wire portion. The positioning groove can be provided in one or both of the anisotropic conductive film and the support member.

  The positioning groove may be in any form that can hold the conducting wire at a constant interval. For example, positioning grooves having a V-shaped cross section can be formed at intervals of conductive wires. By providing the positioning groove, it is possible to make the intervals between the exposed conductors constant and to perform a highly accurate inspection.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the conductor-exposed portion and the anisotropic conductive film are provided with pressing means for clamping between the circuit board and the support member.

  In order to perform inspection with high accuracy, it is preferable that the anisotropic conductive film is brought into contact with the electrode and the conductor of the circuit board with a constant pressure. For this reason, it is preferable to employ a pressing means that can fix one of the circuit board and the support member and can be displaced in proximity while maintaining the parallel state of the other.

  The pressing means can be configured such that a constant pressure is applied by a spring or the like. Further, the anisotropic conductive film can be configured to be compressed and deformed by a certain amount.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the circuit board, the anisotropic conductive film, and the support member are provided at a plurality of locations at predetermined intervals, and inspection is performed at the plurality of locations of the flat cable.

  In flat cables, connectors and other parts are often provided in the middle. By employ | adopting the said structure, the test | inspection apparatus which test | inspects simultaneously in the several location of one wire harness can be comprised.

  The invention described in claim 5 is an anisotropic conductive film for wire harness inspection having a flat cable in which a plurality of conductor wires coated with an insulator are integrally arranged, and the conductor of the flat cable is formed on the surface. A positioning groove that can accommodate the exposed portion is provided.

  By mounting the anisotropic conductive film detachably on the inspection apparatus according to claims 1 to 4, it is possible to inspect various forms of flat cables with one inspection apparatus.

  The invention described in claim 6 is a conductive portion arrangement region formed of a porous fluororesin film that is elastically compressible and recoverable in the thickness direction and in which hollow conductive portions that are conductive in the thickness direction are arranged. The anisotropic conductive film provided is applied to the inspection apparatus according to the present application.

  In the anisotropic conductive film, a plurality of through holes penetrating from the front surface to the back surface are formed at a plurality of locations of the insulating porous resin film, and a conductive metal is attached to the resin around the inner wall of the through hole. Thus, a conductive portion having conductivity in the thickness direction can be provided and formed. The conduction part arrangement region in which the conduction parts are arranged is provided corresponding to the width of the wire harness.

  The anisotropic conductive film can be formed using, for example, a polytetrafluoroethylene film (porous PTFE film) having a porosity of 20 to 80% as a base film. Since the base material is porous and the porous PTFE resin around the inner wall has a large number of the above-described through-holes, the elastic deformability and recovery ability are very high. In particular, the anisotropic conductive film (Patent Document 2) developed by the inventors of the present application is elastically compressible and recoverable up to about a quarter of the thickness. For example, when an anisotropic conductive film having a thickness of 600 μm is employed, the inspection can be performed by compressing the anisotropic conductive film to a thickness of 450 μm. For this reason, the height and bending of a conducting wire can be absorbed and a reliable contact can be performed corresponding to the electrode of a circuit board. In order to make the electrical resistance of the anisotropic conductive film not more than the resistance value required for the inspection, it is preferable to perform the inspection after compressing and deforming 20 μm or more.

  The invention described in claim 7 relates to a circuit board for wire harness inspection, and includes an electrode corresponding to a conductor of a flat cable of the wire harness, and the anisotropy according to claim 5 or 6. A conductive film is laminated and held.

  By stacking the circuit board and the anisotropic conductive film integrally and detachably attaching to the inspection apparatus, the apparatus can be handled easily. In particular, in the present invention, since it is necessary to employ a very narrow circuit board and an anisotropic conductive film, the inspection apparatus can be miniaturized by integrating the circuit board and the anisotropic conductive film. Can be simplified. The method for integrating the anisotropic conductive film and the circuit board is not particularly limited, and can be integrated through mechanical means. Moreover, the peripheral part of the conduction | electrical_connection part arrangement | sequence area | region of the said anisotropic conductive film can also be adhere | attached and integrated with respect to the said circuit board. Further, the anisotropic conductive film can be integrated with the circuit board so as to be detachable so that the anisotropic conductive film can be replaced.

  The invention described in claim 8 of the present application is a method for inspecting a wire harness by conducting a conductive wire exposed portion of a flat cable and an electrode of a circuit board through an anisotropic conductive film, wherein the conductive wire exposed portion is The conductive wire exposed portion and the electrode of the circuit board are conducted to be inspected by positioning and clamping the conductive wire exposed portion by a supporting member and / or a positioning groove formed in the anisotropic conductive film. It is a feature.

By inspecting a wire harness using the wire harness inspection apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to perform a highly accurate inspection even when there is variation in the height of the conductor or when there are few conductor exposed portions. It becomes possible.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a wire harness inspected by the inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

  The wire harness 1 is a wiring component in which a cable 2, a connector, and other intermediate members 4 are assembled and integrated. In the wire harness 1 according to this embodiment, the shield members 3 are connected to both ends of the flat cable 2 before connecting the connector or the like, and the present invention is applied to the inspection of the wire harness 1 before connecting the connector. is there. The flat cable 2 is configured by arranging a plurality of conductive wires 5 that are insulated and coated with a flexible resin at regular intervals, and the shield member 3 is connected by removing the insulating coating at the ends.

  In the portion where the flat cable 2 extends from the shield member 3, a conductor exposed portion 6 where the conductor 5 from which the insulation coating has been removed is exposed with a width of several millimeters appears. In this embodiment, the circuit board is electrically connected to the conductive wire exposed portion 5 to perform inspection.

  2 to 5 show a first embodiment of the inspection apparatus according to the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the main part showing a state in which the wire harness is placed on the inspection apparatus 7. The inspection device 7 includes a detection unit 10 configured by integrally laminating a circuit board 8 and an anisotropic conductive film 9, and a base 11 on which the wire harness 1 can be placed.

  The circuit board 8 includes electrodes 12 corresponding to the arrangement intervals of the conductive wires 5 and a detection cable 13 that converts the pitch in the board and is connected to an inspection device or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the anisotropic conductive film 9 according to this example forms through holes 15 penetrating from the front surface to the back surface at a plurality of locations of the insulating porous resin film 14. By attaching the conductive metal 16 to the resin around the inner wall, a conductive portion 17 having conductivity in the thickness direction is formed.

  The anisotropic conductive film 9 can be formed using, for example, a polytetrafluoroethylene film (porous PTFE film) having a porosity of 20 to 80% as a base film. Since the base material is porous, and the porous PTFE resin around the inner wall has a structure having a large number of the through holes 15 provided with conductivity, the elastic deformation ability and the recovery ability are very high. In particular, in the present embodiment, the anisotropic conductive film 9 employs a film that can be elastically deformed and recovered up to about a quarter of its thickness. For example, when an anisotropic conductive film having a thickness of about 600 μm is employed, the inspection can be performed by compressing the film until the thickness of the film reaches 450 μm. In order to perform reliable contact, it is preferable to inspect the anisotropic conductive film by deforming it by 20 μm or more. By adopting the anisotropic conductive film 9, even if there is a variation in the holding height of the conducting wire, it becomes possible to absorb the variation in height by deformation in the thickness direction of the anisotropic conductive film 9, It becomes possible to perform a highly accurate inspection.

  The detection unit 10 is integrally configured by adhering the peripheral part of the conductive part array region where the conductive parts of the anisotropic conductive film 9 are arrayed and the peripheral part of the electrode forming region of the circuit board. ing. In addition, the said anisotropic conductive film 9 can also be hold | maintained on the said circuit board by methods other than adhesion | attachment. For example, if the circuit board is disposed on the lower side and pressed from above, the anisotropic conductive film 9 may be simply laminated and held on the circuit board.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the base 11 includes a base portion 18 made of an insulating material, and a conductive wire 5 of the flat cable 2 that is made of an insulating material and laminated and fixed to the base portion 18. And a pressing means 20 capable of pressing the detecting unit 10 while positioning the detecting unit 10 with respect to the supporting member 19.

  The base portion 18 is formed in a stepped shape so that the flat cable 2 can be held along a plane, and the shield member 3 and the like of the wire harness do not interfere with the inspection.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the support member 19 is formed of a plate-like insulating material having a width direction length corresponding to the width of the flat cable 2. A V-shaped positioning groove 22 is formed on the upper surface of the support member in accordance with the diameter of the conducting wire.

  As shown in FIG. 3, pressing means 20 including a spacer 23 and a compression spring 24 is provided on both sides of the support member 19. The compression spring 24 is configured to elastically bias the detection unit 10 downward. A space for inserting the shield member 3 by lifting the detection unit 10 with a finger or the like against the elasticity of the compression spring 24 is provided, and the conductor exposed portion 6 is placed on the support member 19. When a finger or the like is released from the detection unit 10, the anisotropic conductive film 9 held on the lower surface of the detection unit 10 is pressed against the conductive wire exposure unit 6 with a predetermined elasticity by the elasticity of the compression spring 24, and the circuit board. The eight electrodes 12 and the conductive wire 5 are conducted through the anisotropic conductive film 9 to be inspected. A spacer 23 is provided inside the compression spring 24 so that the detection unit 10 is not pushed down from a predetermined position, and the anisotropic conductive film 9 is placed by the spacer 23 as shown in FIG. It is comprised so that a test | inspection can be performed in the state deformed by quantitative compression.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to inspect a wire harness or an electronic device connected thereto without using an inspection connector or the like. In addition, since the anisotropic conductive film 9 that can be elastically deformed is pressed against the conductor exposed portion 6 for inspection, the conductor is not damaged.

  6 and 7 show a second embodiment. In this embodiment, the positioning groove 222 of the conductor exposed portion 206 is provided on the anisotropic conductive film 209 side.

  FIG. 8 shows the structure of the anisotropic conductive film 209 provided with positioning grooves. This figure shows a state in which the positioning groove 222 faces upward for easy understanding. Even when the positioning groove 222 is provided in the anisotropic conductive film 209, as in the first embodiment, the conductive wire 205 is positioned and clamped at a predetermined interval to be conducted to the electrode 212 of the circuit board 208. Inspection can be performed.

  The positioning groove 222 can be formed by various methods. For example, it can be formed from a film having a constant thickness using a photochemical etching method using laser, synchrotron radiation, or the like, or a machining method. Further, the positioning groove can be formed before or after the conductive portion 17 is formed.

  As can be seen from FIG. 8, by forming the positioning groove 222, the end of the conducting portion is exposed on the slope of the V-shaped groove, and is easily in close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the conducting wire. For this reason, the conducting wire 205 and the electrode 212 of the circuit board 208 can be reliably conducted with a small compressive force.

  In addition, in the said Example, although the detection part 210 was provided above, the detection part provided with an anisotropic conductive film was provided in the base side, the holding plate 219 was moved below, and the said conductor exposed part 206 was made to move downward. It can be configured to press.

  Moreover, in the said Example, although the test | inspection apparatus based on this invention was applied to the test | inspection of the wire harness before the connector connection which provided the shield member 3 in both ends, also in the wire harness which provided the connector, conducting wire exposure from a connector It is also possible to inspect the circuit board through the part.

  Moreover, although the anisotropic conductive film which this inventor invented in this Example was employ | adopted in the Example, if it has an elastic deformability, the anisotropic conductive film of another form can also be employ | adopted.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments. The embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative in all respects and should not be construed as being restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined not by the above-mentioned meaning but by the scope of the claims, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of the claims.

Using the wire harness inspection according to the present invention, electrical inspection of the wire harness or the electronic device connected thereto can be performed with high accuracy.

It is a figure which shows an example of the wire harness which test | inspects with the test | inspection apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is sectional drawing of the principal part which shows the state which mounted | wore the inspection apparatus with the wire harness shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the III-III line | wire in FIG. It is a perspective view of the principal part which shows the state which made the exposure part of conducting wire located in the positioning groove. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which a conducting wire is clamped in the inspection apparatus according to FIG. 3. It is a figure which shows 2nd Embodiment and is sectional drawing equivalent to FIG. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where a conducting wire is clamped in the inspection apparatus shown in FIG. 6. It is a perspective view which shows the cross-section of an anisotropic conductive film.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Wire harness 2 Flat cable 5 Conductor 6 Conductor exposed part 7 Inspection apparatus 8 Circuit board 9 Anisotropic conductive film 12 Electrode 19 Support member 22 Positioning groove

Claims (8)

A wire harness inspection apparatus having a flat cable in which a plurality of conductive wires covered with an insulator are integrally arranged,
A circuit board provided with electrodes corresponding to the conductive wire exposed portions of the flat cable;
An anisotropic conductive film that is laminated and held on the circuit board and is pressed against the conductive wire exposed portion to conduct the electrode and the conductive wire,
A support member that is formed of an insulating material and supports the conductor exposed portion;
The wire harness inspection apparatus which provided the positioning groove | channel which positions the said conductor exposed part in the said anisotropic conductive film or / and the said support member.   The wire harness inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuit board and the support member are configured to sandwich a conductor exposed portion provided at an end portion or an intermediate portion of the flat cable.   The wire harness inspection apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a pressing unit that presses the conductive wire exposed portion and the anisotropic conductive film between the circuit board and the support member.   The wire harness inspection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the circuit board, the anisotropic conductive film, and the support member are provided at a plurality of locations, and the electrical inspection is performed at the plurality of locations of the flat cable. . An anisotropic conductive film for wire harness inspection having a flat cable in which a plurality of conductor wires covered with an insulator are integrally arranged,
An anisotropic conductive film, wherein a positioning groove capable of accommodating the conductor exposed portion of the flat cable is formed on the surface.   6. The different from claim 5, further comprising a conducting portion arrangement region formed of a porous fluororesin film that is elastically compressible and recoverable in the thickness direction and in which hollow conducting portions that are conducted in the thickness direction are arranged. Isotropic conductive film. A circuit board for wire harness inspection,
A circuit board for wire harness inspection, comprising an electrode corresponding to a conductive wire of a flat cable of a wire harness and configured by laminating and holding the anisotropic conductive film according to claim 5 or 6. A method for inspecting a wire harness by conducting a conductive wire exposed portion of a flat cable and an electrode of a circuit board through an anisotropic conductive film,
The conductive wire exposed portion and the electrode of the circuit board are electrically connected by positioning and clamping the conductive wire exposed portion by a positioning groove formed in the anisotropic conductive film and / or a support member that supports the conductive wire exposed portion. An inspection method for a wire harness, wherein the inspection is performed.

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