JP2011192464A - Connection method of electric wire flux - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method enhancing connection performance of an electric wire flux, with respect to a terminal. <P>SOLUTION: The connection method of an electric wire flux 20, with respect to a terminal fitting 30, includes a welding process for welding a terminal section 25 of the electric wire flux 20 with a plurality of electric wires 10 put together; a cutting process for cutting and trimming a tip of the terminal section 25 of the electric wire flux 20, after the welding process; an insertion process for inserting the terminal section 25 of the electric wire flux 20 into a barrel section 35 of the terminal fitting 30, after the cutting process; and a crimping process for crimping the terminal section 25 of the electric wire flux 20 to the barrel section 35, by caulking the barrel section 35 with the terminal section 25 being inserted after the insertion process. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for connecting wire bundles.

  For example, in an electric circuit using a large current, such as an EV vehicle, since the wire size (wire diameter) is large, there is a problem that the wire is difficult to bend and the occupation area is large. As a method for overcoming such a problem, it is conceivable to use a plurality of electric wires in a bundle. As one method for connecting a plurality of electric wires and terminal fittings, there is a caulking connection using a so-called closed barrel terminal having a cylindrical barrel at the electric wire connecting portion. This is done by bundling and welding the wires whose core wires are exposed by stripping the coating at the tip, and then inserting the wires into the barrel. Thereafter, pressure is applied in the radial direction of the electric wire using a die from the outside of the barrel, and the terminals / electric wires are plastically deformed to connect them. However, if the positions of the electric wires in the front-rear direction are shifted when they are bundled, the compression rate of the core wire inserted into the barrel varies depending on the position, and the connection quality deteriorates.

  In order to solve this type of problem, Patent Document 1 below proposes to align the bundled core wires with a jig.

JP 2002-369329 A

  However, when welding is performed after aligning the core wires of the wire bundle, the aligned wire bundle may be misaligned during welding, and there is room for further improvement.

  This invention is completed based on the above situations, Comprising: It aims at improving the connection performance of the wire bundle with respect to a terminal metal fitting.

  The present invention is a method for connecting an electric wire bundle to a terminal fitting, wherein a welding step of welding a terminal portion of the electric wire bundle in which a plurality of electric wires are converged is performed after the welding step, and the electric wire bundle A cutting step of cutting and aligning the tip of the terminal portion, and performed after the cutting step, an insertion step of inserting the terminal portion of the wire bundle into a barrel portion of the terminal fitting, and performed after the insertion step, A crimping step of crimping the terminal portion of the wire bundle to the barrel portion by crimping the barrel portion through which the terminal portion is inserted.

  According to this method, after the end portion of the wire bundle is welded, the tip end of the end portion is cut off to align the tip position of the core wire of each wire constituting the wire bundle. From the above, it becomes possible to crimp the barrel portion in a state where the core wires of the electric wires are aligned, and the terminal portion of the wire bundle can be reliably connected to the barrel portion.

-As an embodiment of this invention, it is preferable to set it as the following structures.
In the cutting step, the tip of the end portion of the wire bundle is cut perpendicularly to the axis of the wire bundle. If it does in this way, the front-end | tip of the terminal part of an electric wire bundle will become a vertical surface, for example, if a back wall is formed in the barrel part, a vertical surface can be used for the contact surface with respect to the back wall of a barrel part.

  According to the present invention, the connection performance of the wire bundle to the terminal fitting can be improved.

The front view of the wire bundle which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention Process diagram showing wire bundle connection method (shows welding process) Process diagram showing connection method of wire bundle (showing welding process) Process diagram showing connection method for wire bundle (showing cutting process) Process diagram showing connection method of wire bundle (showing insertion process) Process diagram showing connection method of wire bundle (showing crimping process) Sectional view showing the shape of the welding horn Sectional view of the barrel (with the end inserted) Figure showing a modification

<One Embodiment>
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. In this embodiment, a method for connecting the wire bundle 20 to the terminal fitting 30 will be described.

  First, the structure of the wire bundle 20 and the terminal fitting 30 to be connected will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the electric wire bundle 20 is a bundle of a plurality of covered electric wires 10. Each coated electric wire 10 is obtained by coating a core wire 15 formed by twisting a plurality of thin metal wires (aluminum wire, copper alloy wire, etc.) spirally with a resin insulating coating. The core wire 15 is exposed by peeling off.

  The electric wire bundle 20 is obtained by bundling these plural covered electric wires 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as electric wires) with the exposed core wires 15 facing in the same direction (left direction in the drawing).

  The terminal fitting 30 is made of metal, and includes an annular terminal portion 31 attached to an electric device such as a battery, and a barrel portion 35 provided behind the terminal portion 31 (see FIG. 5). The barrel portion 35 is a so-called closed barrel type and has a closed annular shape. The barrel portion 35 is configured such that a terminal portion 25 (a bundle of exposed core wires 15 of each wire) 25 is inserted from the rear. The barrel portion 35 is formed with a back wall 37 and is configured to be non-penetrating back and forth. Further, the wall surface of the back wall 37 is a vertical surface.

  And the above-mentioned electric wire bundle 20 is connected with respect to the terminal metal fitting 30 by performing four processes (a welding process, a cutting process, an insertion process, a crimping | compression-bonding process) demonstrated below.

1. Welding process In the welding process, welding work of the wire bundle 20 is performed. That is, first, as shown in FIG. 2, the wire bundle 20 is aligned with respect to the ultrasonic welding machine (not shown) so that the terminal portion 25 is placed horizontally on the anvil 51. Thereafter, the welding horn 55 vibrates in the horizontal direction while pressing the terminal portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 from above by the operation of the ultrasonic welding machine (see FIG. 3).

  Thereby, high frequency vibration is applied to the terminal portion 25, and the terminal portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 is ultrasonically welded. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, the shape of the welding horn 55 has a U-shaped cross section (a bowl shape), and the cross-sectional shape of the terminal portion 25 becomes a substantially square shape by welding. (See FIG. 8). Thus, when the terminal portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 is welded, a cutting step is performed next.

2. Cutting Process In the cutting process, as shown in FIG. 4, the wire bundle 20 is placed horizontally on a cutter table 60 provided with a cutter blade 61 that moves up and down. The tip of the end portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 is cut off vertically (perpendicular to the axis L of the wire bundle 20) by the cutter blade 61. Thus, the tip 25A of the terminal portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 becomes a vertical surface. In other words, by performing the cutting process, the tip positions of the core wires 15 of the electric wires 10 constituting the electric wire bundle 20 are aligned.

  Further, the cutting position of the terminal portion 25 is such that the length of the straight portion of the terminal portion 25 after cutting (F1 size in FIG. 4) is longer than the depth of the barrel portion 35 (F2 size in FIG. 5). It is good to decide the position. If it does in this way, it will become possible to insert the terminal part 25 in the back of the barrel part 35 in the insertion process performed next.

3. Insertion Step In the insertion step, as shown in FIG. 5, the operation of inserting the terminal portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 from the rear is performed on the barrel portion 35 of the terminal fitting 30. By this insertion operation, the terminal portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 is inserted into the barrel portion 35 from the tip 25A until the tip 25A hits the back wall 37. In this case, since the tip 25A of the terminal portion 25 of the wire bundle 20 is a vertical surface, the tip 25A of the terminal portion 25 comes into contact with the back wall 37 of the barrel portion 35 when insertion is completed. And if the insertion process of the terminal part 25 with respect to the barrel part 35 is completed, a crimping | compression-bonding process will be performed next.

4). Crimping step In the crimping step, the barrel portion 35 of the terminal fitting 30 is set in a crimping die (not shown). Thereafter, as the crimping mold is closed, the barrel portion 35 is sandwiched between the crimping molds (specifically, the upper mold and the lower mold) and is strongly crimped. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 6, the upper part and the lower part of the barrel part 35 are crushed inward, and are compressed and deformed. Thereby, the barrel part 35 is crimped | bonded to the terminal part 25 of the electric wire bundle 20, and the barrel part 35 and the terminal part 25 are connected. Thus, the connection work of the wire bundle 20 to the terminal fitting 30 is completed.

5. Description of effect In this thing, after welding the terminal part 25 of the electric wire bundle 20, the front-end | tip of the terminal part 25 was cut off and the front-end | tip of the terminal part 25 was arrange | equalized. From the above, as shown in FIG. 6, the core wires 15 of each electric wire 10 are aligned, specifically speaking, the tip of the core wire 15 of each electric wire 10 is firmly inserted to the back wall 37 of the barrel portion 35. In this state, the barrel portion 35 is crimped. Therefore, the core wire 15 of each electric wire 10 constituting the electric wire bundle 20 can be evenly sandwiched by the barrel portion 35, and the compression rate of each core wire 15 becomes equal. Therefore, the terminal part (core wire 15 of each electric wire 10) 25 of the electric wire bundle 20 can be reliably connected to the barrel part 35.

  Here, if even one of the electric wires 10 has a shallow insertion, crimping is insufficient and the wire 10 is easily detached. If one electric wire 10 is disconnected at some time, a gap is formed by that, so the remaining electric wires 10 are also easily disconnected. In this regard, in the present configuration, as described above, when crimping, the front and rear positions of the core wires 15 are always aligned, so there is no concern about the above.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  (1) Although the barrel part 35 with the back wall 37 was illustrated as the terminal metal fitting 30 in the said embodiment, the back wall 37 is not necessarily required and the structure (terminal part) without the back wall 37 is not necessarily required. It is also possible to adopt a configuration that penetrates in the insertion direction of 25.

  (2) In the above embodiment, an example in which the tip of the terminal unit 25 is cut vertically has been shown. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the tip of the terminal unit 25 is cut obliquely, and the tip 25A of the terminal unit 25 is cut. It is also possible to align them diagonally. If it does in this way, it will become easy to insert the terminal part 25 with respect to the barrel part 35, and it can be anticipated that workability | operativity will improve.

  Further, when the terminal portion 25 is cut off obliquely, the bottomed barrel portion 35 having the back wall 37 comes into a state where only the tip of the inclined surface hits the back wall 37. The entire terminal unit 25 cannot be inserted all the way. Therefore, when the terminal portion 25 is dropped obliquely, it is preferable to set it with a penetrating barrel portion that does not have the back wall 37.

  (3) In the above embodiment, the ultrasonic welding is exemplified as the welding method of the terminal portion 25. However, the welding method can be a method other than the ultrasonic welding, for example, resistance welding. Further, the cutting method of the terminal portion 25 is not limited to the method using the cutter table, and other cutting tools such as a grinder can be used.

  (4) In the above embodiment, a U-shaped welding horn is used, and the cross-sectional shape of the terminal portion is a substantially square shape. However, by using a circular or elliptical horn shape, the shape after ultrasonic welding is used. May be semicircular or semielliptical.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Covered electric wire 15 ... Core wire 20 ... Electric wire bundle 25 ... Terminal part 30 ... Terminal metal fitting 31 ... Terminal part 35 ... Barrel part 37 ... Back wall 51 ... Anvil 55 ... Welding horn

Claims (2)

A method of connecting a wire bundle to a terminal fitting,
A welding step of welding a terminal portion of the bundle of wires bundled with a plurality of wires;
A cutting step that is performed after the welding step, and cuts and aligns the ends of the end portions of the wire bundle;
An insertion step that is performed after the cutting step and inserts the terminal portion of the wire bundle into the barrel portion of the terminal fitting;
A crimping step that is performed after the insertion step and crimps the end portion of the wire bundle to the barrel portion by crimping a barrel portion through which the end portion is inserted. Connection method.   The wire bundle connection method according to claim 1, wherein, in the cutting step, a tip of the terminal portion of the wire bundle is cut perpendicularly to an axis of the wire bundle.

Images