JP2010073583A - Method for forming splice part of electric wire and splice part of electric wire - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size and thickness of a splice part of a plurality of electric wires at low cost, and also to reduce the diameter and weight of a wire harness mounting the splice part on the outer peripheral face of a trunk line. <P>SOLUTION: The splice part is provided by fitting and connecting each of terminals connected to a plurality of electric wire terminals to each of a plurality of connecting terminal parts projecting from a joint section of a joint bus bar at an interval, respectively. A softened insulating resin sheet is set on the splice part, and an outer surface of the splice part is covered with the insulating resin sheet by a vacuum forming method or a press molding method. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for forming a splice portion of an electric wire and to the splice portion of an electric wire formed by the forming method, and more particularly, to easily provide a protective material for a plurality of electric wire splice portions and reduce the thickness and weight. .

Conventionally, a joint connector has been used for splicing of a plurality of electric wires, and the present applicant has disclosed a joint connector 1 having a joint bus bar 3 shown in FIG. 6 in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-176628 (Patent Document 1). providing.
The joint connector 1 includes a joint bus bar 3 housed in a housing 2 made of a resin molded product. A plurality of connection terminal portions 3b projecting from the joint portion 3a of the joint bus bar 3 with a gap are projected into the cavity 2a of the housing 2, and the terminals 4 of the plurality of electric wires w inserted into the cavity 2a are connected. Splice portions are formed by fitting and connecting to the terminal portions 3b.

However, in the joint connector 1 as described above, since the joint bus bar 3 is accommodated in the housing 2 of a resin molded product formed by a mold, the manufacturing cost increases and the joint connector 1 is increased in size and weight. . Further, the number of terminal accommodating chambers provided in the housing differs depending on the number of wires to be spliced, the number of empty terminal accommodating chambers to be shared increases, and the joint connector becomes large.
When the joint connector 1 is used to connect a plurality of electric wires w branched from the trunk line W / H-1 of the wire harness W / H wired in the vehicle, the joint connector 1 is connected to the wire harness W / H as shown in FIG. When it is arranged on the outer peripheral surface of the main line W / H-1 and fixed by tape winding or the like, the joint connector 1 protrudes from the outer peripheral surface of the main line W / H-1, and the wire harness W / H is partially enlarged and large. There is a problem that a wiring space is required and the weight of the entire wire harness W / H is also increased.

JP 2001-176628 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a protective member that accommodates the splices of a plurality of electric wires is reduced in thickness and weight at a low cost, and the small diameter of the wire harness in which the splice is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the main line. The challenge is to make it possible to reduce the weight and weight.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, as a first invention, a plurality of connection terminal portions protruding at intervals from a joint portion of a joint bus bar are fitted and connected to terminals connected to a plurality of wire terminals, respectively. Provided,
Cover the splice part with a softened insulating resin plate,
There is provided a method for forming a splice portion of an electric wire, wherein the insulating resin plate is covered with an outer surface of the splice portion by a vacuum forming method or a pressure forming method.

  As described above, each connection terminal portion of the joint bus bar and each terminal of the electric wire end are fitted and connected to form a splice portion, and the outer surface of the splice portion is covered with an insulating resin plate by a vacuum forming method or a pressure forming method. It is configured. According to this configuration, the splice part can be firmly insulated and protected by the insulating resin plate covering the outer surface without providing a housing made of a resin molded product such as a conventional joint connector, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. In addition, since the insulating resin plate is curved and covered along the outer peripheral surface of the splice portion, the outer diameter covered with the insulating resin plate can be reduced in the small splice portion, and the size can be reduced.

  The splice portion covered with the insulating resin plate is flexible and thin and lightweight. Therefore, even when the splice part having the above-described configuration is formed to connect a plurality of electric wires branched from the main line of the wire harness, the thin splice part is fixed with tape while smoothly extending along the outer periphery of the main line of the wire harness. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the wire harness from increasing in diameter and weight due to the fixing of the splice portion.

In addition, as a second invention, while providing a plurality of intermediate core wire exposed portions in which a core wire is exposed by separating the insulation coating on the terminal side of one electric wire at intervals in the lengthwise direction, a plurality of other electric wire terminals The terminal core wire exposed part which peeled off the insulation coating and exposed the core wire was provided,
Each of the intermediate core wire exposed portions is provided with a splice portion by crimping and connecting the terminal core wire exposed portions of the plurality of electric wires with intermediate crimp terminals,
Cover the splice part with a softened insulating resin plate,
There is provided a method for forming a splice portion of an electric wire, wherein the insulating resin plate is covered with an outer surface of the splice portion by a vacuum forming method or a pressure forming method.

In the second invention, the splice portion is formed by intermediate splicing of a plurality of electric wires. Similar to the first invention, the outer surface of the intermediate splice is configured to be covered with an insulating resin plate by a vacuum forming method or a pressure forming method.
In other words, the splice part has a simple structure in which the terminal core wire exposed parts of the other plurality of electric wires are respectively crimped and connected to the plurality of intermediate core wire exposed parts provided on one electric wire by the intermediate crimp terminals, The splice portion covered with the insulating resin plate is thinner and lighter than the splice portion of the first invention. Therefore, the diameter and weight of the wire harness in which the splice portion is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the main line can be more easily realized.

As the insulating resin plate, an insulating resin plate selected from polypropylene, polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate having a thickness of 0.2 mm to 3 mm is preferably used.
As a vacuum forming method for covering the outer surface of the splice part with the insulating resin plate, for example, a vacuum is formed by placing the splice part inside a vacuum forming machine in which a suction pipe for sucking air is connected to the bottom plate part with a concave cross section. It is preferable to perform molding. Specifically, it is preferable that a mounting table on which the splice unit is mounted protrudes from the bottom plate portion of the vacuum forming machine, and an intake hole connected to the suction pipe is provided on the mounting surface and the side surface of the mounting table. . After the splice part is placed on the mounting table, the insulating resin plate is set on the upper surface side of the splice part placed in a state where the insulating resin plate is heated and softened to a predetermined temperature, and the suction pipe and the mounting table By vacuum suction from the suction hole, the entire outer surface of the mounted splice part can be covered with an insulating resin plate. As the insulating resin plate, an insulating resin sheet having a thickness of about 0.2 to 3 mm or a laminating sheet is preferably used.

On the other hand, the outer surface is covered with an insulating resin plate by placing heated and softened insulating resin plates above and below the splice portion and stacking them together, and sandwiching the laminate between upper and lower molds and performing pressure molding. Splice parts can be formed.
As described above, when the insulating resin sheets are arranged above and below the splice part and are heated by pressing between the upper and lower molds, the insulating resin sheet is in a state of laminating the splice part and bonded to each other.

  As a third invention, there is provided a splice portion of an electric wire formed by the above-described splice portion forming method.

Furthermore, as a fourth invention, a wire harness routed in a vehicle,
Provided is a wire harness characterized in that the splice portion is formed by a plurality of electric wires branched from the trunk line of the wire harness, and the splice portion is taped and mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the trunk line. Yes.

  As described above, since the splice portion of the third invention has the same insulation protection function as the conventional joint connector and is much thinner and lighter than the joint connector, the splice portion is mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the main line. The wire harness of the fourth aspect of the invention can also be significantly reduced in diameter and weight as compared with the conventional one.

  As described above, according to the first invention, each connection terminal portion of the joint bus bar and each terminal of the wire terminal are fitted and connected to form a splice portion, and the splice portion is formed by a vacuum forming method or a pressure forming method. The outer surface of the splice is covered with an insulating resin plate, so that the splice can be firmly insulated and protected by the insulating resin plate covering the outer surface without providing a housing made of resin molded products such as conventional joint connectors. Further, the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

  In addition, since the splice portion covered with the insulating resin plate is flexible and thin and lightweight, the splice portion having the above-described configuration is used to connect a plurality of electric wires branched from the trunk line of the wire harness. Even when formed, the thin splice can be taped and fixed smoothly along the outer circumference of the main wire of the wire harness, preventing the wire harness from increasing in diameter and weight due to the fixing of the splice. can do.

  Further, according to the second invention, the splice portion is simply connected by caulking the terminal core wire exposed portions of the other plurality of electric wires to the plurality of intermediate core wire exposed portions provided on one electric wire with the intermediate crimp terminals. Because of this simple structure, the splice part whose outer surface is covered with an insulating resin plate is thinner and lighter, and the wire harness with the splice part fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the trunk line can be made smaller and lighter more easily. .

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 4 show a first embodiment.
FIG. 1 shows a splice portion 10 of this embodiment for connecting a plurality of electric wires w branched from a trunk line W / H-1 of a wire harness W / H routed in a vehicle. The splicing portion 10 of the present invention is formed by coating the outer surface of the splice portion 11 before coating with a resin plate 14 with an insulating resin plate 14 by a vacuum forming method.

  The splice part 11 before coating the resin plate has a configuration in which the female terminals 13 connected to the electric wire w terminal are respectively fitted and connected to a plurality of connection terminal parts 12b protruding from the joint part 12a of the joint bus bar 12 at intervals. [FIGS. 2B and 2C].

The splice 11 before coating the resin plate is set in a vacuum forming machine 20 shown in FIG. 3, and the insulating resin plate 14 is covered on the outer surface of the splice 11.
The vacuum forming machine 20 has a concave cross section, and a suction pipe 20b that sucks air is connected to the bottom plate portion 20a. Further, a mounting table 21 on which the splice unit 11 is mounted is provided on the bottom plate 20a, and a plurality of intake holes 21c connected to the suction pipe 20b are provided on the mounting surface 21a and the side surface 21b of the mounting table 21. Yes.

In vacuum forming, first, the splice unit 11 is mounted on the mounting table 21 of the vacuum forming machine 20. The splice part 11 uses the surface which becomes a lower surface side when tape-fixing with the outer peripheral surface of the trunk line W / H-1 of the wire harness W / H as a contact surface with the mounting surface 21a.
The heated and softened insulating resin plate 14 is set on the upper surface side of the splice portion 11 placed on the placement table 21 [FIG. 3 (A)]. In this embodiment, a polypropylene resin plate 14 having a thickness of 1.5 mm is used as the insulating resin plate 14, and the heating temperature is about 130 ° C.
Subsequently, air is sucked from the suction pipe 20b and the suction hole 21c of the mounting table 21 to be in a vacuum state, and the insulating resin plate 14 is brought into close contact with the outer surface of the splice portion 11 and the side surface 21b of the mounting table 21 [FIG. ].
After cooling, the splice 10 covered with the insulating resin plate 14 is removed from the mounting table 21, and the shape of the splicing portion 10 according to the present invention shown in FIG. Obtainable.
As shown in FIG. 4, the splice 10 is taped around the outer peripheral surface of the main line W / H-1 of the wire harness W / H, thereby completing the mounting of the splice 10 on the wire harness W / H.

  As described above, each connection terminal portion 12b of the joint bus bar 12 and each terminal 13 of the electric wire w terminal are fitted and connected to form the splice portion 11, and the outer surface of the splice portion 11 is covered with the insulating resin plate 14 by a vacuum forming method. Since it is configured to cover, the splice portion 11 can be firmly insulated and protected by the insulating resin plate 14 covering the outer surface without providing a housing made of a resin molded product such as a conventional joint connector, and the manufacturing cost is also reduced. Can be reduced.

  In addition, since the splice portion 10 whose outer surface is covered with the insulating resin plate 14 is flexible and thin and lightweight, the splice portion 10 is connected to the outer peripheral surface of the main line W / H-1 of the wire harness W / H. The tape winding can be fixed while being smoothly applied, and the diameter and weight of the wire harness W / H accompanying the fixing of the splice portion 10 can be prevented.

  In the first embodiment, the insulating resin plate 14 is coated on the outer surface of the splice portion 11 by a vacuum forming method. However, the insulating resin plates 14 that are heated and softened above and below the splice portion 11 are arranged and overlapped. The splice portion 10 of the present invention can also be formed by pressure molding by sandwiching the laminate between upper and lower molds. At that time, when a laminate material is used as the insulating resin plate 14, the splice portion 10 can be laminated with the insulating resin plate 14, and the laminate materials can be bonded to each other.

FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment.
In 2nd Embodiment, the intermediate core wire exposure part w1a is provided in the length direction at the terminal side of one electric wire w1 among the some electric wires w branched from the trunk line, and other electric wires w2 Except that the terminal core wire exposed portion w2a is caulked and connected to each intermediate core wire exposed portion w1a by the intermediate crimp terminal 30 to form the splice portion 11 before resin plate coating shown in FIG. The same as in the embodiment.

  As described above, the splice portion 11 is connected by crimping the terminal core wire exposed portions w2a of the other plurality of electric wires w2 to the plurality of intermediate core wire exposed portions w1a provided on one electric wire w1 by the intermediate crimp terminals 30 respectively. Therefore, the splice portion 10 covered with the insulating resin plate 14 becomes thinner and lighter, and the wire harness W / H of the wire harness W / H in which the splice portion 10 is fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the trunk line W / H-1 is used. Smaller diameter and lighter weight can be realized more easily.

It is a schematic perspective view which shows the splice part of 1st Embodiment. (A) is a schematic perspective view showing a splice part before resin plate coating, (B) is a schematic perspective view of a joint bus bar constituting the splice part, and (C) is a connection terminal part of the joint bus bar and a terminal of the electric wire terminal. It is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the fitting state. The process which coat | covers the outer surface of a splice part with an insulating resin board by vacuum forming is shown, (A) is a schematic sectional drawing which shows the state just before vacuum forming, (B) is the state immediately after vacuum forming. It is a schematic perspective view of the wire harness which tape-wrapped and mounted the splice part of 1st Embodiment on the outer peripheral surface of the trunk line. (A) is a schematic plan view of the splice part before resin plate coating in 2nd Embodiment, (B) is a schematic plan view which shows an intermediate core wire exposure part, (C) is a principal part enlarged view of (A), (D ) Is an AA cross-sectional view of (C). It is a figure which shows a prior art example. It is a figure which shows a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Splice part 11 Splice part before resin board coating 12 Joint bus bar 12a Joint part 12b Connection terminal part 13 Terminal 14 Insulating resin board 20 Vacuum molding machine 20a Bottom plate part 20b Suction pipe 21 Mounting table 21a Mounting surface 21b Side surface 21c Intake hole 30 Intermediate crimp terminal w, w1, w2 Electric wire w1a Intermediate core wire exposed part w2a Terminal core wire exposed part

Claims (4)

A plurality of connection terminal portions projecting at intervals from the joint portion of the joint bus bar, and a splice portion is provided by fitting and connecting the terminals connected to the plurality of wire terminals,
Cover the splice part with a softened insulating resin plate,
A method for forming a splice portion of an electric wire, wherein the insulating resin plate is covered with an outer surface of the splice portion by a vacuum forming method or a pressure forming method. While providing a plurality of intermediate core wire exposed portions where the insulation coating is peeled and the core wire is exposed at intervals in the length direction on the terminal side of one electric wire, the insulation coating of the other plurality of wire terminals is peeled off to form the core wire The terminal core wire exposed part that exposed
Each of the intermediate core wire exposed portions is provided with a splice portion by crimping and connecting the terminal core wire exposed portions of the plurality of electric wires with intermediate crimp terminals,
Cover the splice part with a softened insulating resin plate,
A method for forming a splice portion of an electric wire, wherein the insulating resin plate is covered with an outer surface of the splice portion by a vacuum forming method or a pressure forming method.   The splice part of the electric wire currently formed with the formation method of Claim 1 or Claim 2. A wire harness routed in a vehicle,
The splice portion according to claim 3 is formed by a plurality of electric wires branched from a trunk line of the wire harness, and the splice portion is taped and mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the trunk line. Harness.

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