JP2012094327A - Manufacturing method of wire protection structure part and wire protection structure part - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress variation in the form of a thermoplastic material covering a wire bundle.SOLUTION: A manufacturing method of a wire protection structure part includes: (a) winding a sheet-like nonwoven material 20 around the wire bundle W to cover the wire bundle W; (b) holding the form in which the nonwoven material 20 is wound around the wire bundle W in the winding operation of (a) by attaching the sheet-like nonwoven material 20 to the periphery of the wire bundle W or the periphery of a sheet-like nonwoven material 20 already wound around the wire bundle W; and (c) molding the nonwoven material 20 held in the form in which the nonwoven material 20 is wound around the wire bundle W in the holding operation of (b) by heating and compression.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for protecting an electric wire bundle.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for protecting an electric wire bundle. More specifically, in Patent Document 1, a flat circuit body is sandwiched between two covering bodies made of a thermoplastic material, press-molded, the covering body is brought into close contact with the flat circuit body, and the covering bodies are welded together. Forming a wire harness.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-197038

  However, when the wire bundle is protected by a method as in Patent Document 1, the two thermoplastic materials are in a state of being movable relative to each other and the wire bundle, and are formed by pressing to form a protective portion. There is a risk that the form of covering the wire bundle will vary in the meantime. In particular, when the electric wire bundle in which the electric wire is bundled in a circular shape, an elliptical shape, or a rectangular shape in cross section is to be protected, the form of the thermoplastic material covering the electric wire bundle tends to vary.

  Then, an object of this invention is to suppress the dispersion | variation in the form of the thermoplastic material which covers an electric wire bundle.

  The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on a 1st aspect is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part by which the electric wire bundle is protected, Comprising: (a) Winding a sheet-like thermoplastic material around the said electric wire bundle The step of covering the wire bundle, and (b) the sheet-like thermoplastic material with respect to the outer periphery of the wire bundle or the outer periphery of the sheet-like thermoplastic material already wound around the wire bundle. The sheet-like shape held in the form wound around the wire bundle in the step (a), and (c) the sheet-like shape held around the wire bundle in the step (b). Forming a thermoplastic material by heating and compression.

  The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to the second aspect is the manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to the first aspect, and is attached in advance to the sheet-like thermoplastic material in the step (b). The sheet-like thermoplastic material is bonded with the adhesive material, and is held in the state wound around the wire bundle in the step (a).

  The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on a 3rd aspect is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on a 1st or 2nd aspect, Comprising: In the said process (a), the said sheet-like thermoplastic material is used. The at least two layers are wound around the wire bundle to cover the wire bundle.

  The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on a 4th aspect is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on any one aspect of a 1st-3rd aspect, Comprising: In the said process (a), the said sheet form A strip-shaped material is used as the thermoplastic material.

  The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to the fifth aspect is the manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to the fourth aspect, and in the step (a), the strip-shaped thermoplastic material is The wire bundle is covered by wrapping around the wire bundle while overlapping half of the width dimension.

  The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on a 6th aspect is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on any one aspect of a 1st-3rd aspect, Comprising: In the said process (a), the said sheet form A rectangular material is used as the thermoplastic material.

  The electric wire protection structure according to the seventh aspect is an electric wire protection structure in which the electric wire bundle is protected, and a sheet-like thermoplastic material is wound around the outer peripheral portion of the electric wire bundle or the electric wire bundle. By a protective part that is molded by being heated and compressed in a state of being held in a form wound around the wire bundle in advance by being adhered to the outer peripheral part of the sheet-like thermoplastic material. The wire bundle is covered.

  According to the manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to the first aspect, the sheet-like thermoplastic material is applied to the outer peripheral part of the electric wire bundle or the outer peripheral part of the sheet-like thermoplastic material already wound around the electric wire bundle. The thermoplastic material is held in a form wound around an electric wire bundle, and then the thermoplastic material is heated and compressed to be molded. For this reason, the relative movement of the thermoplastic material with respect to the wire bundle can be suppressed, and variations in the form of the thermoplastic material covering the wire bundle can be suppressed.

  According to the method for manufacturing the electric wire protection structure according to the second aspect, the adhesive material previously attached to the sheet-like thermoplastic material is used to hold the sheet-like thermoplastic material in a form wound around the electric wire bundle. Step (a) and step (b) can be smoothly performed in a series of flows, and work efficiency can be improved.

  According to the method for manufacturing the electric wire protection structure according to the third aspect, the sheet-like thermoplastic material is at least doubled and wound around the electric wire bundle, so that the protection performance can be improved.

  According to the method for manufacturing the electric wire protection structure part according to the fourth aspect, because the belt-like sheet-like thermoplastic material is used, it can be wound flexibly corresponding to the shape of the electric wire bundle even at a bent portion, etc. The wire bundle can be covered more reliably.

  According to the method for manufacturing the electric wire protection structure according to the fifth aspect, the belt-shaped thermoplastic material is wound around the electric wire bundle while being overlapped by half of the width dimension, so that it is efficiently doubled with respect to the protection target portion of the electric wire bundle. It can wind, can improve protection performance and can reduce the amount of thermoplastic material used.

  According to the method for manufacturing the electric wire protection structure portion according to the sixth aspect, since the rectangular sheet-like thermoplastic material is used, it is possible to more easily cover the protection target portion in a wide range.

  According to the electric wire protection structure portion according to the seventh aspect, the sheet-like thermoplastic material is bonded to the outer peripheral portion of the electric wire bundle or the outer peripheral portion of the sheet-like thermoplastic material already wound around the electric wire bundle. Thus, a protective portion that is heated and compressed and covers the outer periphery of the wire bundle is formed in a state in which the wire bundle is previously wound around the wire bundle. For this reason, the relative movement of the thermoplastic material with respect to the wire bundle can be suppressed, and variations in the form of the thermoplastic material covering the wire bundle can be suppressed.

It is a figure which shows the strip | belt-shaped sheet-like nonwoven material to which the adhesive material was adhered. It is a figure which shows the form which wound the strip | belt-shaped sheet-like nonwoven material around the electric wire bundle. It is a figure which shows the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the rectangular sheet-like nonwoven material to which the adhesive material was adhered. It is a figure which shows the form which wound the rectangular sheet-like nonwoven material around the electric wire bundle. It is a figure which shows the electric wire protection structure part which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part and electric wire protection structure part which concern on embodiment is demonstrated. This electric wire protection structure part is the structure which covered the electric wire bundle with the thermoplastic resin so that a protection and a form may be maintained.

  As an electric wire bundle, what comprises the wire harness routed to a vehicle etc. is assumed. This electric wire bundle is configured such that a plurality of electric wires are stacked so as to be adjacent to each other in the radial direction (a plurality of directions), and are bundled into a substantially circular shape, a substantially rectangular shape, or the like in cross section.

<First Embodiment>
First, the wire protection structure 10 according to the first embodiment will be described (see FIGS. 1 to 3). The wire protection structure 10 has a configuration in which the protection 22 covers the outer periphery of the wire bundle W (see FIG. 3). The protection portion 22 is molded by being heated and pressurized (that is, hot pressed) in a state where the thermoplastic material covers the portion to be protected in the wire bundle W. The portion to be protected of the wire bundle W is a portion within a range including a portion of the wire bundle W that is desired to be protected from contact with the outside in the extending direction or a portion that is desired to be maintained in a form corresponding to the routing route. Say it.

  The hot press means that a thermoplastic material to be processed is sandwiched between molds, and the thermoplastic material is molded by applying pressure while the mold is heated. More specifically, it may be performed using a pair of molds having a mold surface for molding the protection part 22 corresponding to the shape of the protection target portion of the wire bundle W. That is, by placing a thermoplastic material covering the wire bundle W on one mold and heating the pair of molds while moving the other mold relatively close to the one mold, Mold plastic material. Thereby, the electric wire protection structure part 10 which covered the electric wire bundle W with the protection part 22 of the state in which the thermoplastic material became hard is obtained. However, the mold is not limited to a pair of molds, and may be formed of three or more divided molds.

  Here, the thermoplastic material will be described. The thermoplastic material is a material that is partially or wholly melted or softened by heating and is solidified by cooling. And this thermoplastic material can maintain the shape | molded predetermined shape by being shape | molded and cooled in the state which was heated and fuse | melted or became soft. Here, an example in which the nonwoven material 20 is used as the thermoplastic material will be described.

  As the nonwoven material 20, a material that can be partially or wholly melted or softened through a heating process and then hardened through a cooling process can be used. As the nonwoven material 20, a material containing basic fibers and an adhesive resin (also called a binder) can be used. The adhesive resin is a resin having a melting point lower than the melting point of the basic fiber. Then, by heating the nonwoven material 20 to a temperature lower than the melting point of the basic fiber and higher than the melting point of the adhesive resin, the adhesive resin is melted and soaks between the basic fibers. Thereafter, when the temperature of the nonwoven material 20 decreases, the adhesive resin solidifies. Thereby, the nonwoven material 20 can be maintained in the molding state during heating. Here, a non-woven material 20 (also called a non-woven fabric) formed in a sheet shape is used (see FIG. 1).

  As a basic fiber of the nonwoven material 20, it is only necessary to maintain the fiber state at the melting point of the adhesive resin, and various fibers can be used in addition to the resin fiber. The adhesive resin may be a thermoplastic resin fiber having a melting point lower than that of the basic fiber. For example, as a combination of a basic fiber and an adhesive resin, a resin fiber of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) may be used as the basic fiber and a copolymer resin of PET and PEI (polyethylene isophthalate) may be used as the adhesive resin.

  Hereinafter, the wire protection structure 10 will be described following the manufacturing process. Here, an example of protecting a portion arranged in a straight line in the wire bundle W is shown, but the wire protection structure can be configured in the same manner for a portion arranged in a curved shape. .

  First, the sheet-like nonwoven material 20 is wound around the electric wire bundle W to cover the entire portion to be protected of the electric wire bundle W (step (a)). Preferably, the sheet-like nonwoven material 20 is wound around the outer periphery of the wire bundle W so as to overlap at least twice. However, the thickness (number of overlaps) of the non-woven material 20 on the outer peripheral portion of the wire bundle W is determined experimentally or empirically in consideration of the specification of the vehicle in which the wire bundle W is incorporated, the routing location, etc. Good. In terms of the bias of the wire bundle W, the nonwoven material 20 is preferably wound so as to have the same thickness in the entire circumferential direction of the wire bundle W.

  In the present embodiment, a strip-shaped non-woven material 20 is used. And the said strip | belt-shaped sheet-like nonwoven material 20 is wound around the electric wire bundle W, overlapping each half of the width dimension. In other words, the non-woven material 20 is wound around the wire bundle W while shifting by half the width dimension in the extending direction of the wire bundle W. In addition, it is good to wrap two times, winding the non-woven material 20 over the already wound part as a whole so that the winding start part and the winding end part may overlap twice.

  The width dimension of the nonwoven material 20 may be determined empirically or experimentally in consideration of the shape of the protection target portion of the wire bundle W and the like. For example, when the portion to be protected is a straight line, the width dimension may be increased in order to improve work efficiency, and when it is a curved line, the width dimension may be decreased so as to flexibly cope with the shape. Further, the longitudinal dimension of the nonwoven material 20 may be determined empirically or experimentally in consideration of the size (outer shape) of the wire bundle W, the range of the portion to be protected, the number of overlaps, and the like.

  Here, the adhesive material 40 is attached to the back surface (surface located inside at the time of winding) of the both ends of the belt-shaped sheet-like nonwoven material 20 in advance. In the winding operation, the nonwoven material 20 may be wound with one end bonded to the outer periphery of the wire bundle W (see FIG. 1). Here, a double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape is employed as the adhesive material 40 and is attached in advance to the back surfaces of both ends of the nonwoven material 20.

  Thus, since the belt-like sheet-like nonwoven material 20 is wound with substantially the same thickness in each part with the electric wire bundle W as an axis, the electric wire bundle W is a tubular nonwoven material 20. (See FIG. 2).

  Next, the sheet-like non-woven material 20 is bonded to the outer peripheral surface of the wire bundle W or the outer peripheral portion of the non-woven material 20 that is already wound around the wire bundle W, whereby the electric wire in step (a). The shape wound around the bundle W is held (see step (b), FIG. 2). Here, as described above, the double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape as the adhesive material 40 is attached to the other end of the strip-shaped nonwoven material 20. And the form of the nonwoven material 20 is hold | maintained by adhere | attaching (attaching) the other end part of the nonwoven material 20 with respect to the outer peripheral part of the already wound part. Thereby, it is suppressed that the nonwoven material 20 loosens or remove | deviates with respect to the electric wire bundle W until hot press. But the other end part of the nonwoven material 20 may be adhere | attached with respect to the outer peripheral surface of the electric wire bundle W by the adhesive material 40 similarly to one end part.

  Moreover, the adhesive material 40 may be an adhesive tape having an adhesive portion on one side, an adhesive, or the like, and is not limited to being attached in advance, and may be attached at any time during the winding operation. In addition, the adhesive material 40 is not limited to being attached to both ends of the nonwoven material 20, and may be attached to a plurality of other portions in the longitudinal direction or the entire back surface. Moreover, it is not restricted to adhere | attaching with the adhesive material 40, The nonwoven material 20 may be heated, adhesive resin may be fuse | melted, and an other end part and the part which overlaps may be adhere | attached.

  And the sheet-like nonwoven material 20 hold | maintained at the form wound around the electric wire bundle W at the process (b) is hot-pressed and shape | molded (process (c)). Here, the hot press time, pressure, and the like may be determined experimentally or empirically so that the wire bundle W has hardness according to the specification of the vehicle to which the wire bundle W is routed, the route location, and the like. Then, when the hot-pressed nonwoven material 20 is cooled, the adhesive resin soaked in the base fiber is solidified to maintain the form after molding, and the protective part 22 covering the wire bundle W is formed (FIG. 3). In addition, after hot pressing, you may wait until the temperature of a nonwoven material falls naturally, and you may cool.

  The electric wire protection structure 10 can be manufactured through the above steps. And in this electric wire protection structure part 10, the nonwoven material 20 is hard in the state which shifted | deviated and overlapped in the extending direction on the outer periphery of the electric wire bundle W. FIG. For this reason, on the surface of the protection part 22, the spiral trace T of the side edge part of the elongate strip-like nonwoven material 20 remains. In addition, a spiral trace T from the outer peripheral portion of the wire bundle W toward the outer peripheral surface of the protective portion 22 remains at the end of the protective portion 22. In addition, in FIG. 3, the linear trace T is shown with the dashed-two dotted line. In addition, an adhesive material 40 used to hold the nonwoven material 20 is also interposed in the protective portion 22.

  Moreover, according to the manufacturing method which concerns on this embodiment, the branch part of the wire bundle W can also be protected. For example, the non-woven material 20 may be hooked around the crotch portion of each branch line so as to cover the outer periphery of the branch portion, wound and held with an adhesive material, and hot pressed in the held state.

  So far, the configuration has been described in which the nonwoven material 20 is wound so as to overlap at least twice on the outer periphery of the wire bundle W. However, it is sufficient that the nonwoven material 20 can be wound and covered so as not to expose the portion to be protected. .

  According to said electric wire protection structure part 10 and its manufacturing method, after holding the nonwoven material 20 in the form wound around the wire bundle W, the said nonwoven material 20 is heated and compressed and shape | molded. For this reason, the relative movement of the nonwoven material 20 with respect to the wire bundle W can be suppressed, and variations in the form of the nonwoven material 20 covering the wire bundle W can be suppressed. In addition, the non-woven material 20 may be wound around the wire bundle W before hot pressing.

  Moreover, since the sheet-like nonwoven material 20 is wound around the electric wire bundle W to cover the electric wire bundle W, the electric wire bundle W can be positioned at a position closer to the center with respect to the non-woven material 20 and in the inner and outer directions. Relative movement can be suppressed. As a result, the heat and pressure applied to the wire bundle W during hot pressing become more uniform, and variations in the wire bundle W can be suppressed. In the manufactured wire protection structure 10, the wire bundle W in the protection portion 22 can be reduced. The bias can be suppressed. Thereby, variation in thickness and hardness of the protection part 22 in the circumferential direction can be suppressed, and the same level of protection performance can be obtained at any position, and the protection performance can be improved as a whole.

  Moreover, in order to adhere | attach with the adhesive material 40 previously adhered to the nonwoven material 20, and hold | maintain the said nonwoven material 20 in the form wound around the wire bundle W, a process (a) and a process (b) are series. It is possible to carry out smoothly in accordance with the flow of work and improve the working efficiency.

  Moreover, since the nonwoven material 20 is piled up at least twice and wound around the wire bundle W, the protection performance can be improved. And since the nonwoven material 20 is wound so that it may become substantially uniform thickness in the whole circumferential direction on the outer periphery of the electric wire bundle W, in the electric wire protection structure part 10 manufactured, the electric wire bundle W is the protective part 22. The protective performance can be improved by being located at the approximate center of the.

  Moreover, since the belt-shaped sheet-like non-woven material 20 is used, the wire bundle W can be wound flexibly corresponding to the shape of the wire bundle W even at a bent portion or the like, and the wire bundle W can be covered more reliably. . Moreover, even when the range of the protection target portion of the wire bundle W is changed, the range covered with the non-woven material 20 can be easily changed by changing the overlap amount (that is, the shift amount).

  Further, since the non-woven material 20 is wound around the wire bundle W while being overlapped by half of the width dimension, it can be efficiently wound around the portion to be protected of the wire bundle W, improving the protection performance and reducing the non-woven material. The amount of the woven material 20 used can be reduced.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, the electric wire protection structure 110 according to the second embodiment will be described (see FIGS. 4 to 6). In addition, about the component similar to the electric wire protection structure part 10 which concerns on 1st Embodiment, while attaching | subjecting the same code | symbol, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  The wire protection structure 110 is hot-pressed in a state in which a substantially rectangular sheet-like nonwoven material 120 is wound around the wire bundle W in advance and is held in a form covering the wire bundle W. The wire bundle W is covered and formed by the molded protective portion 122 (see FIG. 6).

  It is assumed that a double-sided pressure-sensitive adhesive tape as the adhesive material 140 is attached to the back surface of the substantially rectangular sheet-like nonwoven material 120 along both ends (see FIG. 4). Moreover, the width dimension (dimension of the direction along the extension direction of the wire bundle W) of the nonwoven material 120 is set larger than the protection object part.

  First, the substantially rectangular sheet-like nonwoven material 120 is wound around the wire bundle W to cover the wire bundle W (step (a)). More specifically, the non-woven material 120 may be attached to the outer peripheral portion of the wire bundle W with one end thereof in a posture along the extending direction of the wire bundle W, and the winding operation may be performed.

  Then, the non-woven material 120 was wound around the wire bundle W by adhering the other end of the non-woven material 120 to the outer peripheral portion of the already wound portion with the adhesive material 140. The shape is maintained (see step (b), FIG. 5). Here, it is preferable that the non-woven material 120 is wound so as to overlap evenly over the entire circumferential direction of the wire bundle W, as in the first embodiment, and in this embodiment, the winding starts in the circumferential direction. It is preferable that the position and the end position substantially coincide.

  After holding in the wound form, the nonwoven material 120 held in the form is hot-pressed and molded. Thereby, the overlapping parts of the nonwoven material 120 are bonded to each other by the melted adhesive resin, and the nonwoven material 120 is hardened to form the protective portion 122 (see FIG. 6).

  The electric wire protection structure 110 can be manufactured through the above steps. And in this electric wire protection structure part 110, the other end part of the nonwoven material 120 is hard in the state which overlapped with the part wound previously in the form along the extension direction of the electric wire bundle W. For this reason, the linear trace T of the other end part of the nonwoven material 120 remains on the surface of the protection part 122. Further, in a cross-sectional view, a spiral trace T from the outer peripheral portion of the wire bundle W toward the outer peripheral surface of the protection portion 122 remains. In FIG. 6, the linear trace T is indicated by a two-dot chain line. In addition, an adhesive material 140 used to hold the nonwoven material 120 is also interposed in the protective portion 122.

  According to the electric wire protection structure 110 and the manufacturing method thereof, since the rectangular sheet-like nonwoven material 120 is used, a wide range of protection target parts can be covered more easily.

10, 110 Electric wire protection structure 20, 120 Non-woven material 22, 122 Protection part 40, 140 Adhesive material W Electric wire bundle

Claims (7)

A method of manufacturing an electric wire protection structure in which an electric wire bundle is protected,
(A) winding a sheet-like thermoplastic material around the wire bundle and covering the wire bundle;
(B) Adhering the sheet-like thermoplastic material to the outer periphery of the wire bundle or the outer periphery of the sheet-like thermoplastic material already wound around the wire bundle, holding in the form wound around the wire bundle in a);
(C) a step of heating and compressing and molding the sheet-like thermoplastic material held in the form wound around the wire bundle in the step (b);
The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part provided with. It is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to claim 1,
In the step (b), the sheet-like thermoplastic material is bonded with an adhesive material previously attached to the sheet-like thermoplastic material, and is wound around the wire bundle in the step (a). The manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part hold | maintained. It is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to claim 1 or 2,
In the step (a), the sheet-like thermoplastic material is wrapped around the wire bundle at least twice and covered with the wire bundle, thereby covering the wire bundle. It is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
In the step (a), a method for manufacturing an electric wire protection structure portion using a strip-like material as the sheet-like thermoplastic material. It is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to claim 4,
In the step (a), a method for manufacturing an electric wire protection structure, wherein the sheet-like thermoplastic material is wound around the electric wire bundle while being overlapped by half of the width dimension to cover the electric wire bundle. It is a manufacturing method of the electric wire protection structure part according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
In the step (a), a method for manufacturing an electric wire protection structure, wherein a rectangular material is used as the sheet-like thermoplastic material. A wire protection structure part in which the wire bundle is protected,
The sheet-like thermoplastic material is preliminarily wound around the wire bundle by being adhered to the outer periphery of the wire bundle or the outer periphery of the sheet-like thermoplastic material already wound around the wire bundle. The electric wire protection structure part in which the said wire bundle is covered with the protection part currently shape | molded by being heated and compressed in the state hold | maintained to the attached form.

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