JP2011055683A - Grommet - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To lock a grommet to a flanged through-hole of a vehicle body panel, without fail. <P>SOLUTION: The grommet made of a rubber or elastomer includes a small-diameter cylinder portion, in which a wire harness to be laid in a vehicle is tightly inserted; a diameter-widening cylinder portion for widening in diameter and continuous with one end of the small-diameter cylinder portion; and an annular vehicle body locking portion 6, formed closer to the large-diameter part of the diameter-widening cylinder portion. The grommet is inserted in the through-hole of the vehicle body panel with the small-diameter cylinder portion, the through-hole, having a flange formed on its periphery to project in the direction of insertion of the small-diameter cylinder portion. The axial width of the bottom face 7 of the vehicle body locking portion is equal to the projection length of the flange B. The bottom face of the vehicle body locking portion is sandwiched between a first sidewall 10 and a second sidewall 11, where the first sidewall closer to the small-diameter cylinder portion is inclined with respect to the bottom face at an obtuse angle, while the opposed second sidewall closer to the large-diameter side is sloped against the bottom face at an acute angle and is projected outside the first sidewall. A seal rib 13 is formed on a projecting end of the second sidewall, and an annular slit 15 or recession is formed on the bottom face of the vehicle body locking portion. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a grommet that is externally mounted on a wire harness arranged in an automobile and is inserted and locked into a through hole of a vehicle body panel, and in particular, in a grommet that is inserted and locked into a through hole from which a burring protrudes. It is intended to ensure that the insertion force is reduced.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, many grommets including a patent application filed by the present applicant have been provided which are externally mounted on a wire harness routed in an automobile and attached to a through-hole of a vehicle body panel to achieve waterproofing, dustproofing, sound insulation and the like. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-171646 provides a grommet G shown in FIG. 8A, and the grommet G is burring B from the periphery of the through hole H of the vehicle body panel P toward the outside of the engine room or the like. Is protruding. That is, the burring B protrudes in the direction opposite to the insertion direction X1 of the grommet G inserted from the outdoor side. Further, in the grommet G, the side surface 101a on the inclined wall 100 side that sandwiches the vehicle body locking recess 101 protrudes at an acute angle with respect to the bottom surface 101b and is inclined toward the side surface 101c facing the side surface 101a.
In this case, when the grommet G is inserted from the outdoor side to the indoor side, the inclined wall 100 of the grommet G is pressed by the burring B and bent inward, and when the burring B passes the tip 100a of the inclined wall 100. As shown in FIG. 8B, the burring B and the vehicle body panel P continuous to the burring B fall into the vehicle body locking recess 101 of the grommet G, and the tip of the inclined wall 100 abuts on the outer surface Pa of the vehicle body panel P. Further, the protruding end Ba of the burring B is in a state of being inserted into the recess 101d of the side surface 101c on the front end side of the vehicle body locking recess 101.

In the case where the burring B protrudes in the opposite direction X1 to the protruding direction of the burring B, that is, the same direction X1 as the insertion direction X1 of the grommet G, and the vehicle body panel P is a dash panel that partitions the engine room and the vehicle compartment, The burring B may protrude from the provided through hole toward the passenger compartment.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 9A, when the small-diameter cylindrical portion 110 of the grommet G is inserted toward the vehicle compartment side from the engine room side with the small-diameter cylindrical portion 110 inserted, the grommet G pulls in the indoor direction. As a result, the inclined wall 100 of the grommet G is pressed by the burring B and the inclined wall 100 which is thin is extended. In addition, since the side surface 101a of the inclined wall 100 is inclined toward the opposite side surface 101c, the tip side of the inclined wall 100 is crushed toward the vehicle body locking recess 101 as shown in FIG. 9B. It deforms as follows. When the inclined wall 100 is extended, the vehicle body panel P may come into contact with the front end side wall while the protruding side of the burring B holds the front end of the inclined wall 100. That is, the burring B is brought into contact with the inclined wall 100 that has fallen into the vehicle body locking recess 101 and is not locked in a state where the burring B is dropped into the vehicle body locking recess 101, and there is no locking holding force. Moreover, waterproofness is also impaired.

JP 2002-171646 A

  As shown in FIG. 9, when the burring protrudes from the periphery of the through hole of the vehicle body panel for inserting and locking the grommet in the same direction as the insertion direction of the grommet, the vehicle body locking recess provided in the grommet is provided. It is an object to be able to reliably drop and lock the burring of the through hole and reduce the insertion force of the grommet.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, as a first invention, a small-diameter cylindrical portion that closely inserts a wire harness routed in an automobile, an enlarged-diameter cylindrical portion that is continuous with one end of the small-diameter cylindrical portion, and the enlarged-diameter A grommet made of rubber or elastomer having a body locking recess provided annularly on the large-diameter side of the cylindrical portion,
Inserting into the through hole of the vehicle body panel from the small diameter cylinder part side, and at the periphery of the through hole there is a burring protruding in the insertion direction of the small diameter cylinder part,
The axial width of the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is equal to the protruding length of the burring, and the first side wall on the small-diameter cylindrical portion sandwiching the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is inclined at an obtuse angle with respect to the bottom surface On the other hand, the second side wall on the opposite large diameter side is inclined at an acute angle with respect to the bottom surface and protrudes outward from the first side wall, and a seal rib is provided at the protruding end of the second side wall,
Furthermore, a grommet is provided in which a slit or a recess is annularly provided in the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess.

In the grommet of the present invention, the first side wall sandwiching the vehicle body locking recess is standing at an obtuse angle from the bottom surface even if it is inserted into the through hole of the vehicle body panel and deformed so as to be crushed by the contact burring. The first side wall does not fall into the vehicle body locking recess. And, since a slit or a recess is provided on the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess, the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is deformed so as to open around the slit or recess provided between the first side wall and the second side wall, The first side wall is not deformed so as to close the vehicle body locking recess toward the second side wall. In addition, as a result of the groove width of the vehicle body locking recess extending due to the expansion of the slit or the depression, the vehicle body panel does not contact the first side wall while the tip of the burring remains pressed against the first side wall. When the body panel comes into contact, the tip of the burring is detached from the first side wall. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9B, the first side wall of the vehicle body locking recess is in a collapsed state, and the burring does not remain on the collapsed first side wall. It can be dropped and locked.
The dent is preferably a narrow dent and is V-shaped or U-shaped.

Further, when the grommet is inserted, the slit of the vehicle body locking recess is opened, so that the inclined wall is easily extended in the inserting direction of the grommet and is reduced in diameter, so that the insertion force for getting over the inclined wall can be reduced.
Furthermore, when the burring falls into the vehicle body locking recess and enters the locked state, the tip of the inclined wall of the one side wall is detached from the burring, so that the inclined wall and the first side wall return to the original shape, and Since there is no tension load on the bottom surface of the locking recess, the slit also returns to its original position, and the width of the vehicle body locking recess is equal to the protruding amount of the burring. Therefore, the tip of the burring that has fallen into the vehicle body locking recess hits the first side wall, and the grommet can be reliably held in the through hole of the vehicle body panel.
In addition, the second side wall of the vehicle body locking recess to be brought into contact with the vehicle body panel protrudes outward from the first side wall and is inclined at an acute angle with respect to the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess, and a seal rib is provided at the protruding end. When it is easy to come into contact with the vehicle body panel and a tensile load is applied to the grommet from the vehicle compartment side, the seal rib is firmly pressed against the vehicle body panel, so that the waterproof property can be improved.

  The first side wall sandwiching the vehicle body locking recess preferably has a standing angle θ1 from the bottom of greater than 90 ° and 160 or less. In addition, the second side wall preferably has a standing angle θ2 from the bottom surface of less than 90 ° and 60 ° or more.

In addition, as a second invention, a small-diameter cylindrical portion that closely inserts a wire harness that is routed in an automobile, an enlarged-diameter cylindrical portion that expands continuously at one end of the small-diameter cylindrical portion, and the large-diameter cylinder A grommet made of rubber or elastomer having a body locking recess provided annularly on the large diameter side of the part,
Inserting into the through hole of the vehicle body panel from the small diameter cylinder part side, and at the periphery of the through hole there is a burring protruding in the insertion direction of the small diameter cylinder part,
The axial width of the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is equal to the protruding length of the burring, and the first side wall on the small-diameter cylindrical portion sandwiching the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is inclined at an obtuse angle with respect to the bottom surface On the other hand, the second side wall on the opposite large diameter side is inclined at an acute angle with respect to the bottom surface and protrudes outward from the first side wall, and a seal rib is provided at the protruding end of the first side wall,
Further, a refracting portion refracted toward the second side wall is provided at the tip of the first side wall to form a hook shape, and an accommodation space for inserting the tip of the burring is provided between the refracting portion and the bottom surface. The grommet characterized by this is provided.

The grommet of the second invention is characterized in that an accommodation space is provided in which the tip of the first side wall is refracted in advance and the burring tip is inserted. Other configurations including the standing angle from the bottom surface of the second side wall are the same as in the first invention.
As in the first invention, an annular slit may be provided on the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess, or a slit may not be provided. When no slit is provided on the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess, the grommet of the second invention preferably has a larger width in the axial direction of the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess than the grommet of the first invention.
In the grommet of the second invention, the protruding end of the burring is accommodated in the accommodating space provided on the bottom surface side of the vehicle body engaging recess, so that the holding power of the grommet can be enhanced and the waterproof property can be enhanced. it can.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when the burring protrudes from the peripheral edge of the through hole for inserting and locking the grommet, and the burring protrudes in the same direction as the insertion direction of the grommet, The protruding first side wall has an obtuse angle and the second side wall has an acute angle. In the first invention, since the slit is provided in the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess, the burring is reliably dropped into the vehicle body locking recess provided in the grommet. The grommet can hold the grommet on the vehicle body panel, and can secure waterproofness. Further, it is possible to reduce the insertion force during the insertion locking. In the second invention, the first side wall of the vehicle body locking recess is refracted and an accommodation space for inserting the tip of the burring is provided on the bottom side, so that the holding power of the grommet can be increased and the waterproof property is also provided. Can be improved.

It is drawing which shows the through-hole of the vehicle body panel which inserts and locks the wire harness which attached the grommet of this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing of the grommet of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is drawing which shows the process of penetrating the grommet of 1st Embodiment through the through-hole of the said vehicle body panel. It is principal part sectional drawing of the modification of the grommet of 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing which shows the grommet of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the state which latched the grommet of 2nd Embodiment in the through-hole of the said vehicle body panel. It is sectional drawing which shows the grommet of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. (A) (B) is drawing which shows the grommet of a prior art example. (A) (B) is drawing which shows the problem of the conventional grommet.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 3 show a grommet 1 of the first embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the grommet 1 is attached to a wire harness W / H that passes through a through hole H provided in a dash panel DP that partitions an automobile engine room (ER) and a vehicle compartment (IR). A burring B protrudes from the periphery of the through hole H toward the passenger compartment (IR).

The grommet 1 is formed of rubber or elastomer, and has a small diameter cylindrical portion 2 that allows a plurality of electric wires W constituting the wire harness W / H to be in close contact with each other, and a diameter expansion cylinder that expands from one end of the small diameter cylindrical portion 2. A vehicle body locking recess 6 provided in an annular shape is provided between the portion 3, the relatively thin inclined wall 4 of the enlarged diameter cylindrical portion 3, and the thick portion 5 at the tip on the large diameter side.
The vehicle body locking recess 6 has a bottom surface 7 sandwiched between a first side wall 10 on the inclined wall 4 side and a second side wall 11 on the thick part 5 side.

The width (a) of the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body locking recess 6 in the axial direction is equal to the protruding length of the burring B.
The first side wall 10 sandwiching the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body locking recess 6 is inclined toward the inclined wall 4 side with an angle θ1 with respect to the bottom surface 7 being an obtuse angle. The angle θ1 is greater than 90 ° and 160 ° or less, and in the present embodiment, θ1 is about 135 degrees.
On the other hand, the second side wall 11 on the large diameter side facing the first side wall 10 has an angle θ2 with respect to the bottom surface 7 as an acute angle, less than 90 ° and 60 ° or more, and in this embodiment, θ2 is about 70 °.
Further, the second side wall 11 protrudes outward from the first side wall 10, and a sealing rib 13 is provided at the protruding end of the second side wall 11.

  Furthermore, a slit 15 is provided in an annular shape at the approximate center in the axial direction of the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body locking recess 6. Instead of the slit 15, a U-shaped recess 15A may be used as shown in FIG.

  The grommet 1 having the above-described shape expands the small-diameter cylindrical portion 2 through an expanding jig (not shown), and in this state, a large number of electric wires W constituting the wire harness W / H are inserted and the thick portion on the opposite side Pulled out from the hollow of 5. Thereafter, the adhesive tape T is wound from the tip of the small diameter cylindrical portion 2 to the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness W / H, and the grommet 1 is externally fixed to the wire harness W / H.

  The wire harness W / H to which the grommet 1 is attached is routed through the through hole H of the dash panel DP from the engine room (ER) to the passenger compartment (IR) in the automobile assembly line.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the grommet 1 attached to the wire harness W / H has a small-diameter cylindrical portion 2 as a distal end on the insertion side and, as shown by an arrow X1 in the through hole H, from the engine room (ER) to the passenger compartment (IR). insert. That is, while pushing in from the engine room (ER) in the X1 direction, the engine room (IR) is pulled in in the X1 direction.

The grommet 1 inserted into the through-hole H from the small-diameter cylindrical portion 2 is inclined with the burring B coming into contact with the inclined wall 4 from the time when the outer diameter of the inclined wall 4 of the enlarged-diameter cylindrical portion 3 matches the inner diameter of the through-hole H. Press the wall 4. Further, since the grommet 1 is pulled in the X1 direction, the grommet 1 is pulled so that the bottom surface 7 is opened with the slit 15 of the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body locking recess 6 as a fulcrum, and the first side wall 10 is further inclined at an inclination angle θ1. It opens and becomes obtuse, and the protruding height of the first side wall 10 is lowered.
The pressing force by the burring B is maximized when the first side wall 10 of the vehicle body locking recess 6 is moved over. However, the protruding amount of the first side wall 10 is lowered by the opening of the slit 15, so that the pressing force by the burring B can be reduced. Accordingly, the insertion force for pulling the grommet 1 is reduced.

  As described above, when the grommet 1 is inserted through the through hole H, the first side wall 10 is inclined so as to open toward the inclined wall 4 side, and the slit 15 is opened. It is possible to prevent the first side wall 10 from being crushed by the burring B so as to fall toward the bottom surface 7.

  When the grommet 1 is further inserted and the tip Ba of the burring B is disengaged from the tip of the first side wall 10, the burring B is dropped into the vehicle body locking recess 6, and the inner peripheral surface Bi of the burring B is the vehicle body locking recess 6. It contacts the bottom surface 7. The first side wall 10 returns to its original shape when the pressure by the burring B is released, and the tensile force on the slit 15 is also released and the slit 15 also returns to its original shape. Since the length (a) in the axial direction of the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body engaging recess 6 is the same as the length of the burring B, the tip Ba of the burring B abuts against the first side wall 10 without a gap. And the seal rib 13 of the front-end | tip of the 2nd side wall 11 which protruded at an acute angle to the engine room side surface DPa of the dash panel DP continuous with the base end of burring B press-contacts.

  As a result, the burring B is positioned and held along the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body locking recess 6, the tip Ba of the burring B is pressed against the first side wall 10, and the dash panel on the base side of the burring B is joined to the seal rib 13 on the second side wall. Can be pressed to ensure waterproofness.

5 and 6 show a grommet 1A according to the second embodiment.
The grommet 1A differs from the grommet 1 of the first embodiment in the shape of the first side wall 20 of the vehicle body locking recess 6. Other configurations are the same.
The first side wall 20 has a hooked shape provided with a refracting portion 20a refracted substantially horizontally from the protruding end of the inclined wall 4 toward the second side wall 11, and the protruding amount of the first side wall 20 is the same as that of the first embodiment. It is smaller than the protruding amount of the side wall 10. An accommodating space 21 into which the tip Ba of the burring B is inserted is provided between the refracting portion 20 a and the bottom surface 7.
The dimension d between the tip of the refracting portion 20a and the second side wall 11 is made larger than the dimension of the burring B, and the standing angle θ2b of the second side wall 11 is made smaller than the angle θ2 of the first embodiment. And is largely inclined toward the first side wall.
The width (a1) in the axial direction of the bottom surface 7 including the accommodation space 21 is larger than the width (a) in the first embodiment.

The grommet 1A is attached to the wire harness W / H, and inserted and locked into the through hole H from which the burring B protrudes, as in the first embodiment.
At that time, the first side wall 20 on the inclined wall 4 side is pressed by the burring B. However, since the protruding amount of the first side wall 20 is small, the insertion force can be reduced. Since the gap between the refracting portion 20 a of the first side wall 20 and the second side wall 11 is larger than the size of the burring B, the burring B can be dropped to the bottom surface 7 between the refracting portion 20 a and the second side wall 11. . The dash panel DP is pushed back toward the first side wall 20 by the second side wall 11 in a state where the burring B is lowered, and the tip Ba of the burring B is inserted into the accommodating space 21 between the refracting portion 20 a and the bottom surface 7.
As a result, the tip Ba of the burring B comes into pressure contact with the first side wall 20 in the accommodation space 21, the seal rib 13 of the second side wall 11 comes into pressure contact with the dash panel on the base end side of the burring B, and the grommet 1 enters the through hole H. It can be securely held and waterproof.

FIG. 7 shows a grommet 1B of the third embodiment.
The grommet 1B is a combination of the first embodiment and the second embodiment, and an annular slit 15 is provided on the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body locking recess 6 as in the first embodiment. Similarly to the second embodiment, a burring accommodation space 21 is provided on the first side wall 20 on the side of the inclined wall 4 and provided with a refracting portion 20 a directed toward the second side wall 11.

In the third embodiment, since the bottom surface 7 of the vehicle body engaging recess 6 is expanded by the slit 15, the length (a2) in the axial direction of the bottom surface 7 including the accommodation space 21 can be made smaller than that in the second embodiment.
Since the operational effects are the same as those of the first and second embodiments, the description thereof is omitted.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1A, 1B Grommet 2 Small diameter cylinder part 3 Diameter expansion cylinder part 4 Inclined wall 6 Car body latching recessed part 7 Bottom face 10, 20 1st side wall 20a Refraction part 11 2nd side wall 15 Slit 21 Housing space DP Dash panel H Through hole B Burring W / H Wire harness W Electric wire

Claims (4)

A small-diameter cylindrical portion that is inserted in close contact with a wire harness that is routed in an automobile, an expanded-diameter cylindrical portion that expands continuously at one end of the small-diameter cylindrical portion, and annulus on the large-diameter side of the expanded-diameter cylindrical portion A grommet made of rubber or elastomer having a provided vehicle body locking recess,
Inserting into the through hole of the vehicle body panel from the small diameter cylinder part side, and at the periphery of the through hole there is a burring protruding in the insertion direction of the small diameter cylinder part,
The axial width of the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is equal to the protruding length of the burring, and the first side wall on the small-diameter cylindrical portion sandwiching the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is inclined at an obtuse angle with respect to the bottom surface On the other hand, the second side wall on the opposite large diameter side is inclined at an acute angle with respect to the bottom surface and protrudes outward from the first side wall, and a seal rib is provided at the protruding end of the second side wall,
Furthermore, the grommet which provided the slit or the hollow in the bottom face of the said vehicle body latching recessed part cyclically | annularly.   2. The grommet according to claim 1, wherein the first side wall sandwiching the vehicle body locking recess has a standing angle θ <b> 1 from the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess of 90 ° to 160 ° or less. A small-diameter cylindrical portion that is inserted in close contact with a wire harness that is routed in an automobile, an expanded-diameter cylindrical portion that expands continuously at one end of the small-diameter cylindrical portion, and annulus on the large-diameter side of the expanded-diameter cylindrical portion A grommet made of rubber or elastomer having a provided vehicle body locking recess,
Inserting into the through hole of the vehicle body panel from the small diameter cylinder part side, and at the periphery of the through hole there is a burring protruding in the insertion direction of the small diameter cylinder part,
The axial width of the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is equal to the protruding length of the burring, and the first side wall on the small-diameter cylindrical portion sandwiching the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess is inclined at an obtuse angle with respect to the bottom surface On the other hand, the second side wall on the opposite large diameter side is inclined at an acute angle with respect to the bottom surface and protrudes outward from the first side wall, and a seal rib is provided at the protruding end of the second side wall,
Furthermore, it has a hooking shape in which a refracting part refracted toward the second side wall is provided at the tip of the first side wall, and an accommodation space for inserting the tip of the burring is provided between the refracting part and the bottom surface. Grommet characterized by that.   The grommet according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the second side wall sandwiching the vehicle body locking recess has a standing angle θ2 from the bottom surface of the vehicle body locking recess of 60 ° or more and less than 90 °. .

Images