JP2009254218A - Flexible tube and harness arranging structure of sliding door with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a flexible tube 1 whose bending direction can be regulated to a prescribed direction. <P>SOLUTION: The flexible tube 1 includes a tubular body having first to fourth walls 21 to 24 and a substantially rectangular form in cross-section and a bellows part 13 formed over the first to third walls 21 to 23 in at least part of the area in the axial direction of the tubular body. The fourth wall 24 of the tubular body is formed as a flat wall. Thus, the flexible tube 1 is hardly bent in directions A and B and easily bent in directions C and D. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a flexible tube that can be used, for example, as a grommet for a wire harness, and a harness arrangement structure for a slide door including the flexible tube.

  2. Description of the Related Art As a door that opens and closes a vehicle compartment opening that opens to the side of the vehicle body, a slide door that opens and closes the vehicle compartment opening by sliding in the vehicle longitudinal direction is conventionally known. A wire harness is disposed between the vehicle body side and the slide door in order to supply power from the vehicle body side to such a power window device or door lock device of the slide door.

  The wire harness is inserted into the grommet from the viewpoint of waterproofing and dustproofing, but the sliding door slides greatly in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, so that the grommet can be followed by a corrugated tube, for example. It is adopted (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Such a corrugated tube includes a bellows portion in which peaks and valleys formed over the entire circumference of a cylindrical body having a circular cross section are alternately arranged in the entire region in the cylinder axis direction. Thus, the corrugated tube can be freely bent and deformed in any direction around the central axis at an arbitrary position in the cylinder axis direction. Therefore, the corrugated tube whose one end is fixed to the vehicle body side and the other end is fixed to the slide door side can be bent and deformed as the slide door slides in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, and can follow the large slide movement. it can.

  However, as described above, since the corrugated tube can bend and deform freely in all directions around the central axis, for example, when the sliding door slides, the corrugated tube contacts the sliding door or the vehicle body. Therefore, there is a risk that abnormal noise may occur or the wire harness may be damaged.

Therefore, in the harness arrangement structure disclosed in Patent Document 1, the guide rail is attached to the slide door side, and the corrugated tube in which the wire harness is inserted is fixed to the guide that moves along the guide rail. I have to. The restricting member including the guide rail and the guide restricts the corrugated tube to bend only in a predetermined direction when the sliding door slides.
JP 2002-19546 A

  As described above, in the harness arrangement structure of the slide door that employs the corrugated tube, a regulating member for regulating the bending direction of the corrugated tube in a predetermined direction is necessary. However, the necessity of such a restriction member has the disadvantage that the number of parts increases, the number of assembly steps increases, the cost increases, and the vehicle weight increases.

  The present invention has been made in view of such points, and an object of the present invention is, for example, a flexible tube used in a harness arrangement structure of a slide door, and the bending direction thereof is set to a predetermined direction. It is to provide a flexible tube that can be regulated.

  According to an aspect of the present invention, the flexible tube includes a first wall and a third wall that face each other in a first direction, and a second wall and a fourth wall that face each other in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. A cylindrical body having a substantially rectangular cross section, and a bellows portion provided in at least a part of the cylindrical body in the cylindrical axis direction, and in which peaks and valleys are alternately arranged in the cylindrical axis direction The bellows portion is formed across the first to third walls, and the fourth wall is formed as a flat wall and is curved outwardly in the cross section. Has been.

  According to this configuration, in the cylindrical body having a substantially rectangular cross section, the first, second, and third walls are formed with bellows portions, while the fourth wall is not formed with bellows portions, The fourth wall is a flat wall.

  As a result, when the flexible tube is bent in the first direction, the fourth wall is bent in the wall spreading direction perpendicular to the wall thickness direction. That is, the fourth wall has an elongated shape in the bending direction and has a large section modulus, so that the bending rigidity is increased. As a result, even if the bellows portion is formed, the flexible tube is difficult to bend in the first direction.

  In contrast, when the flexible tube is to be bent in the second direction, the fourth wall is bent in the thickness direction of the wall. That is, the fourth wall has a flat shape in the bending direction and has a small section modulus, so that the bending rigidity is low. As a result, the flexible tube is easily bent in the second direction at the position where the bellows portion is formed.

  Further, when the flexible tube is bent in the second direction so that the second wall is compressed and the fourth wall is pulled, the fourth wall curved outward is deformed so as to be recessed inward. As a result, the fourth wall is extended by the amount of deformation. Thereby, the flexible tube is further easily bent in the second direction, and the bending direction of the flexible tube, that is, the characteristic that the flexible tube is not easily bent in the first direction and is easily bent in the second direction becomes more remarkable.

  Further, when a compressive load is applied to the flexible tube in the cylinder axis direction, as described above, the second wall and the fourth wall are not in the first direction in which the first wall and the third wall are opposed to each other. The second wall is bent in the second direction, but the fourth wall is bent outward so that the second wall is also compressed and the fourth wall is pulled in the second direction. It becomes easy.

  Therefore, the flexible tube having this configuration has a characteristic that it is difficult to bend in the first direction and is easy to bend in the second direction, and the second wall is compressed and fourth in the second direction. It is particularly easy to bend so that the walls are tensioned. Therefore, the bending direction can be restricted to a predetermined direction.

  The bellows part may be formed over the entire region of the cylindrical body in the cylinder axis direction.

  By doing so, the flexible tube can be bent in the second direction at an arbitrary position in the cylinder axis direction of the flexible tube.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, the harness arrangement structure of the sliding door is attached so as to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body with respect to the flexible tube and the vehicle compartment opening that opens to the side of the vehicle body. A sliding door that opens and closes the opening of the vehicle compartment, one end of which is connected to the vehicle body side, the other end is connected to the sliding door side, and an intermediate portion thereof is inserted into the flexible tube. The flexible tube has one end fixed to the vehicle body side and the other end fixed to the slide door side between the vehicle body and the slide door. .

  As described above, the flexible tube is not easily bent in the first direction and is easily bent in the second direction. Therefore, the flexible tube is used as a grommet for the wire harness and has a predetermined orientation between the slide door and the vehicle body. When the sliding door is slid, the grommet is reliably bent and deformed in a predetermined direction. That is, when the flexible tube is disposed so that the second direction is the vehicle width direction, the flexible tube is bent and deformed in the vehicle width direction, and the second direction is the vertical direction. When the flexible tube is disposed, the flexible tube is bent and deformed in the vertical direction.

  This eliminates the need for regulating members such as guides and guide rails for regulating the direction of bending of the grommet, which reduces the number of parts in the power supply device for the sliding door and the assembly man-hour associated therewith. Also reduces weight.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the cylindrical body having the first to fourth walls and having a substantially rectangular cross section, the first to third walls are provided in at least a partial region in the cylinder axis direction. The bellows portion is formed over the first wall, and the fourth wall is a flat wall so that the first and third walls are unlikely to be bent in the first direction, and the second and fourth walls are opposed to each other. It can be easily bent in two directions, and the bending direction of the flexible tube can be restricted to a predetermined direction.

  In particular, by bending the fourth wall, which is a flat wall, outward, the second wall can be easily bent in the direction in which the second wall is compressed and the fourth wall is pulled.

  In addition, by applying the flexible tube to the grommet of the wire harness in the harness arrangement structure of the sliding door, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and assembly man-hours, thereby reducing the cost. Thus, the vehicle weight can be reduced.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that the following description of the preferred embodiment is merely illustrative in nature, and is not intended to limit the present invention, its application, or its use.

  FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a flexible tube 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the flexible tube 1 is used in a harness arrangement structure 50 of a slide door 53 that opens and closes a vehicle compartment opening 52 of a vehicle (vehicle body) 51.

  The harness arrangement structure 50 includes a power window of a slide door 53 that is slidably mounted in a vehicle body front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 2) with respect to a vehicle compartment opening 52 that opens to the side of the vehicle 51. This is a structure for supplying power to an electrical component such as a device or a door lock device, and includes a wire harness 54 disposed between the slide door 53 and the vehicle body 51.

  As shown by a solid line in FIG. 2, the slide door 53 is located in the vehicle compartment opening 52 and closes the opening 52, and is located behind the vehicle body in the vehicle width direction outside the closed state. A state in which the vehicle compartment opening 52 is opened after moving through the intermediate state (see the alternate long and short dash line in the figure) to the rear of the vehicle body further outward in the vehicle width direction than the intermediate state (see the two-dot chain line in the figure) Up to the above, it is attached to the vehicle body 51 so as to be slidable by a rail (not shown).

  Although the detailed illustration is omitted, the wire harness 54 is configured by bundling a plurality of electric wires, and one end portion (rear end portion) of the wire harness 54 is a vehicle body side connector 55 by the vehicle body opening portion 52 in the vehicle body front-rear direction. It is fixed to the vehicle body 51 in the vicinity of the rear side edge. On the other hand, the other end portion (front end portion) of the wire harness 54 is fixed to the slide door 53 at the front side position of the slide door 53 in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body by the door-side connector 56. The door-side connector 56 is attached to the slide door 53 so as to be swingable about an axis extending in the vertical direction (direction orthogonal to the paper surface of FIG. 2). Along with the opening / closing operation of the door 53, the fixed angle with respect to the slide door 53 is changed.

  Thus, when the slide door 53 is in the closed state, the wire harness 54 is arranged to extend in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, while the slide door 53 changes from the closed state to the open state through the intermediate state. Accordingly, the vehicle is bent outward in the vehicle width direction while moving the bent position from the front end side to the rear end side.

  The wire harness 54 is disposed between the slide door 53 and the vehicle body 51 in a state in which the wire harness 54 is inserted into the flexible tube 1 to be described in detail later. It functions as a grommet for waterproofing and dustproofing.

  The flexible tube (grommet) 1 is a hollow cylindrical body extending in the longitudinal direction as shown in FIGS. As will be described later, the flexible tube 1 may be made of a material that can be bent. For example, the flexible tube 1 may be made of a synthetic resin such as a thermoplastic elastomer. Moreover, what is necessary is just to manufacture the flexible tube 1 by blow molding, for example.

  Both ends of the flexible tube 1 in the cylinder axis direction are mounting portions 11 and 12 fixed to the vehicle body 51 side and the slide door 53 side, respectively.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the flexible tube 1 includes first and third walls 21 and 23 facing the first direction (vertical direction in FIG. 6), and a second direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 6). The second and fourth walls 22, 24 opposite to each other have a substantially rectangular cross section. The first to fourth walls 21 to 24 are set to have the same thickness.

  In the cross section, the first and third walls 21 and 23 extend linearly, whereas the second and fourth walls 22 and 24 are slightly curved so as to protrude outward. .

  Furthermore, in this substantially rectangular cross section, the corners between the first and second walls 21 and 22 and the corners between the third and second walls 23 and 22 are each in a predetermined round shape, The corners between the first and fourth walls 21 and 24 and the corners between the third and fourth walls 23 and 24 are not rounded, but are square.

  Thus, the first to third walls 21, 22, and 23 in the flexible tube 1 are formed as bellows portions 13 in which peaks 13 a and valleys 13 b are alternately arranged in the cylinder axis direction. The portion 13 extends over the entire region in the cylinder axis direction excluding the attachment portions 11 and 12 at both ends. The peaks 13a and valleys 13b in the bellows portion 13 are continuous across the first to third walls 21, 22, 23, respectively, as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, the fourth wall 24 in the flexible tube 1 is not the bellows portion 13, and therefore, the fourth wall 24 extends over the entire region in the cylinder axis direction as shown in FIGS. And formed flat.

  When the flexible tube 1 having this configuration is to be bent in the A direction or the B direction (first direction) shown in FIG. 6, the first wall 24 has an elongated cross-sectional shape in the first direction. Bending acts in the direction. For this reason, the section modulus of the fourth wall 24 is increased and the bending rigidity is increased. As a result, although the first to third walls 21 to 23 are the bellows portion 13, the flexible tube 1 is unlikely to bend in the A direction and the B direction.

  On the other hand, when the flexible tube 1 is to be bent in the C direction or D direction (second direction) shown in FIG. 6, the fourth wall 24 having a flat cross-sectional shape in the second direction Since bending acts in the second direction, the section modulus is reduced and the bending rigidity is reduced. As a result, since the first to third walls 21 to 23 are the bellows portion 13, the flexible tube 1 is easily bent in the C direction or the D direction compared to the A direction and the B direction. .

  In addition, since the fourth wall 24 is curved outward, the fourth wall 24 is recessed inward when the flexible tube 1 is bent. For this reason, when the flexible tube 1 is bent in the C direction, tension is applied to the fourth wall 24, but the fourth wall 24 has an extension in the cylinder axis direction corresponding to the recess. Further, when a compressive load is applied to the flexible tube 1 in the cylinder axis direction, the second wall 22 and the fourth wall 24 are not the first direction in which the first wall 21 and the third wall 23 face each other. The second wall 24 bends in the opposite second direction, but the fourth wall 24 buckles in the direction in which the flexible tube 1 bends in the C direction because the fourth wall 24 is curved outward. As a result, the flexible tube 1 is much easier to bend in the C direction.

  Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the flexible tube 1 can be easily bent from a straight state shown by a solid line in the drawing to a bent state shown by an example by a one-dot chain line, for example. Therefore, bending in a direction orthogonal to the paper surface in FIG. 4 is restricted. Moreover, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, since the bellows part 13 is formed over the whole region of the cylinder axis direction of the flexible tube 1, it bends the flexible tube 1 in the arbitrary positions of a cylinder axis direction. Can do.

  Therefore, in the harness arrangement structure 50 of the slide door 53 shown in FIG. 2, the flexible tube 1 is oriented so that the second wall 22 is outward in the vehicle width direction and the fourth wall 24 is inward in the vehicle width direction. By disposing the flexible tube 1, the flexible tube 1 is shown as a solid line in the figure without the need for providing a regulating member such as a guide rail that regulates the bending direction of the flexible tube 1 as the slide door 53 opens and closes. It is possible to change from the state shown by (2) to the state shown by the two-dot chain line by bending outward in the vehicle width direction, and from the state shown by the two-dot chain line to the state shown by the solid line. That is, as the slide door 53 changes from the closed state to the open state through the intermediate state, the flexible tube 1 moves outside the vehicle width direction while moving its bent position from the front end side to the rear end side. For example, bending in the vertical direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 2) is restricted.

  Thus, since this flexible tube 1 can regulate the bending direction to a predetermined direction, this flexible tube 1 is used as a grommet for the wire harness 54 in the harness arrangement structure 50 of the slide door 53. If there is, the harness arrangement structure 50 is simplified. That is, since the number of parts is reduced and the number of assembling steps is reduced, it is possible to greatly reduce the cost and to reduce the vehicle weight.

  In addition, as a flexible tube, it is not limited to the structure shown in FIG. For example, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, in the first wall 21 and the third wall 23, the portion in the vicinity of the fourth wall 24 may be a non-bellows portion 14 that does not have the peaks 13 a and valleys 13 b. The non-accordion portion 14 is formed so as to extend over the entire tube axis direction excluding the attachment portions 11 and 12 at both ends of the flexible tube 10. In addition, in this flexible tube 10, about the same structure as the said flexible tube 1, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected.

  The flexible tube 10 provided with the non-accordion portion 14 can be made more difficult to bend in the A direction and the B direction without changing the bending characteristics in the C direction (or D direction). Therefore, when the flexible tube 10 is applied to the harness arrangement structure 50, the bending of the flexible tube 10 in the vertical direction can be more reliably regulated.

  In the harness arrangement structure 50 described above, the flexible tubes 1 and 10 are bent outward in the vehicle width direction as the slide door 53 slides. 10 is disposed between the slide door 53 and the vehicle body 51 so that the second direction is the vertical direction, so that the flexible tubes 1 and 10 are moved in the vertical direction as the slide door 53 slides. It may be bent.

  Further, the use of the flexible tubes 1 and 10 is not limited to the grommet of the harness arrangement structure 50 of the slide door 53. The flexible tube according to the present invention can be widely applied to applications that need to regulate the direction of bending.

  Further, the bellows portion 13 is not limited to be formed over the entire region of the flexible tubes 1 and 10 in the cylinder axis direction. Depending on the application to which the flexible tube is applied, for example, the bellows portion 13 may be provided only in a partial region in the cylinder axis direction. Moreover, you may provide the bellows part 13 in each of several places mutually separated in the cylinder axis direction.

  As described above, the present invention can regulate the bending direction of the flexible tube to a predetermined direction. Therefore, the present invention can be used as a grommet for a wire harness in a power supply device for a sliding door, for example. is there.

It is a perspective view of the flexible tube which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the harness arrangement | positioning structure of a slide door. It is a front view of a flexible tube. It is a top view of a flexible tube. FIG. 5 is a VV end view of FIG. 3. It is VI-VI sectional drawing of FIG. It is a perspective view of the flexible tube which concerns on other embodiment. It is a cross-sectional view (corresponding to FIG. 6) of a flexible tube according to another embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1 Flexible tube (cylindrical body)
10 Flexible tube (cylindrical body)
13 Bellows 21 First Wall 22 Second Wall 23 Third Wall 24 Fourth Wall 52 Opening 53 Slide Door 54 Wire Harness

Claims (3)

A cylindrical body having a substantially rectangular cross section, which includes a first wall and a third wall facing the first direction, and a second wall and a fourth wall facing the second direction orthogonal to the first direction;
A bellows portion provided in at least a part of the cylindrical body in the cylindrical axis direction, and in which peaks and valleys are alternately arranged in the cylindrical axis direction,
The bellows portion is formed across the first to third walls,
The fourth wall is a flexible tube configured to be a flat wall and to be curved outward in the cross section. The flexible tube of claim 1,
The said bellows part is a flexible tube currently formed over the whole region of the cylinder axis direction in the said cylindrical body. The flexible tube according to claim 1 or 2,
A sliding door that is slidably mounted in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body with respect to the vehicle compartment opening that opens to the side of the vehicle body, and that opens and closes the vehicle compartment opening;
A wire harness having one end connected to the vehicle body side, the other end connected to the slide door side, and an intermediate portion inserted through the flexible tube;
The flexible tube has a sliding door harness arrangement structure in which one end is fixed to the vehicle body side and the other end is fixed to the slide door side between the vehicle body and the slide door.

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