JP2014123478A - Insulating cable and production method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an insulating cable capable of improving efficiency of wiring work by retaining a bent shape by itself and its production method.SOLUTION: An insulating cable W includes a central conductor 10 and an insulating coating. The insulating coating 20 has a bent part having a bent shape in at least a part in the axial direction, is higher in bending rigidity than the central conductor 10 and is thus capable of retaining the shape of the bent part. The insulating cable W is used by softening the insulating coating of the insulating cable material by heating, bending into a target shape and decreasing temperature of the bent part to fix the shape of the bent part.

Description

  The present invention relates to an insulated coated electric wire routed in an automobile or the like and a method for manufacturing the same.

  The insulated wire includes a central conductor and an insulation coating that covers the central conductor. When such an insulated wire is routed in an automobile or the like, it is used while being bent at an appropriate location so as to have a shape suitable for the location. In addition, in the case of an electric wire given a large diameter for flowing a large current, for example, an electric wire connecting battery terminals close to each other, a restraining tool different from the insulation-coated electric wire is used to maintain the bent shape. May be.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure including a tube and a pair of protectors as a wiring structure for protecting an insulation-coated electric wire while holding it in a bent state. The tube has a bellows shape, and protects the bent portion while allowing the insulation-coated electric wire inserted through the tube to be bent in the tube. The protector is attached to the insulated wire at positions on both sides of the tube, and the protector is fixed to an appropriate part of the vehicle body in a state where the insulated wire is bent at the position of the tube. The insulation-coated electric wire is fixed to the vehicle body in a bent state.

JP 2006-60934 A

  In the above structure, in order to maintain and protect the bent state of the electric wire to be routed, a special member such as a bellows-like tube and a protector must be used in combination. It becomes troublesome.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an insulated wire that can be easily routed in an appropriate shape without requiring a complicated structure and troublesome work and can maintain the bent shape. An object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of easily manufacturing an insulated coated electric wire.

  An insulation-coated electric wire provided by the present invention comprises a central conductor and a synthetic resin material having insulation properties, and an insulation coating that covers the central conductor, wherein the insulation coating is at least part of the axial direction thereof. In addition to having a bent portion with a bent shape at a location, it has a bending rigidity higher than the bending rigidity of the central conductor and can maintain the shape of the bent portion.

  Further, the method provided by the present invention is a method for manufacturing the insulation-coated electric wire, comprising a center conductor and a thermoplastic resin material having an insulating property, covering the center conductor, and moreover than the center conductor. Preliminary process of preparing an insulated wire material having an insulation coating having high bending rigidity, and the thermoplastic resin material constituting the insulation coating softens the insulation coating at a part of the insulation coated wire material in the axial direction. A bending process in which the heated part is bent and deformed to a target shape, and a shape fixing process in which the temperature of the bent part is lowered to fix the shape of the part.

  The insulated wire has a bent portion in at least a part of its axial direction, and the shape of the bent portion is held by the high bending rigidity of the insulating coating itself, so that it is insulated at the wiring site. The operation | work which bends a covered electric wire with big force, and the operation | work which attaches special members, such as a protector, in order to maintain the bending state are unnecessary. Therefore, the efficiency of the routing work is dramatically improved. Moreover, unlike an electric wire that retains its shape by the bending rigidity of the center conductor (not the insulation coating), it is not necessary to bend the center conductor with a large force. Therefore, the shape of the bent portion can be maintained without generating excessive stress on the center conductor.

  Specifically, the material for the insulating coating is preferably selected from polypropylene, polybutylene terephthalate, polyamide, and polyethylene naphthalate. The insulating coating having the material has sufficient bending rigidity to hold the bent portion and sufficient strength to protect the central conductor inside.

  According to the method for manufacturing an insulated wire, the bent portion has the bent portion at an appropriate position and the shape of the bent portion is maintained even though the insulating coating has high bending rigidity as described above. It is possible to efficiently manufacture an insulated coated electric wire (that is, bends at an appropriate portion and retains its shape by itself).

  Specifically, the bending step corresponds to a first member having a concave surface having an inner diameter corresponding to a target outer diameter that is a radius of curvature outside the target shape, and a target inner diameter that is a radius of curvature inside the target shape. And a second member having a convex surface having an outer diameter and a heater that heats an insulating coating that is provided on at least the second member and contacts the second member. The convex surface of the second member is brought into contact with the insulating coating of a specific portion of the insulating coated electric wire material to locally heat and soften the insulating coating, and the convex surface is pressed against the softened portion. It is preferable that the insulating covering electric wire material is sandwiched between the concave surface of the first member. In this method, heating and bending of a specific part of the insulation-coated wire material can be efficiently performed using a common jig.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily route and maintain the bent shape while being bent into an appropriate shape without requiring a complicated structure and troublesome work. An insulating coated electric wire and a method capable of efficiently manufacturing the insulating coated electric wire are provided.

It is a perspective view of an insulation covering electric wire concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a perspective view which shows the jig | tool used for manufacture of the said insulation coating electric wire. It is a front view which shows the state which set the insulation coating electric wire raw material to the said jig | tool. It is a front view which shows the state which bent the said insulation coating electric wire raw material with the said jig | tool. It is a perspective view which shows the type | mold used for manufacture of the said insulation coating electric wire.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an insulated coated wire W according to this embodiment. The insulated wire W includes a center conductor 10 and an insulation coating 20 that covers the center conductor 10. The center conductor 10 only needs to have high conductivity, and is composed of, for example, a single or a plurality of strands made of a highly conductive metal material such as copper. The insulating coating 20 is a synthetic resin material having insulation properties and is made of a resin material having thermoplasticity.

  This insulated wire W has a bent portion 30 at least at a portion (two locations in FIG. 1) in the axial direction, and has a shape bent in an appropriate direction at each bent portion 30. Furthermore, as a characteristic of the insulated wire W, the insulation coating 20 has a bending rigidity higher than the bending rigidity of the center conductor 10 and a bending rigidity capable of maintaining the shape of the bent portion. Specifically, the material of the insulating coating 20 is preferably selected from polypropylene, polybutylene terephthalate, polyamide, and polyethylene naphthalate. The insulating coating 20 having the material has sufficient bending rigidity to hold the bent portion 30 and sufficient strength to protect the central conductor 10 inside thereof.

  In addition to having the bent portion 30, the insulation-coated electric wire W is held by the high bending rigidity of the insulation coating 20 itself. There is no need to bend by force or to attach a special member such as a protector to maintain the bent state. Therefore, the efficiency of the routing work is dramatically improved. Moreover, unlike the case of maintaining the shape by the bending rigidity of the center conductor 10 (not the insulating coating), it is not necessary to bend the center conductor 10 with a large force. Therefore, the shape of the bent portion 30 can be maintained without causing excessive stress on the central conductor 10.

  The specific shape of the bent portion 30 is not limited. In FIG. 1, a bent portion 30 bent at 90 ° is shown, but the “bent portion” according to the present invention is, for example, a bent portion having an acute angle or an obtuse angle, or a bent portion having a large curvature radius. May be.

  The insulation-coated electric wire W described above can be manufactured reasonably and easily, for example, by a method including the following steps.

1) Preliminary process (insulation coated wire material preparation process)
In this step, an ordinary insulated wire material having the central conductor 10 and the insulation coating 20 (that is, the thickness and the diameter of the insulation coating 20 are uniform) is prepared. This insulating coated electric wire material can be produced by, for example, extrusion molding in the same manner as a normal coated electric wire. The material of the insulating coating 20 is as described above.

2) Bending step In this step, the insulating coating 20 in a part of the insulating coated electric wire material in the axial direction is heated to a temperature at which the thermoplastic resin material constituting the insulating coating 20 is softened, and the heating The bent portion is bent and deformed into a target shape (that is, the bent portion 30 having a desired shape is formed).

  This bending process can be performed efficiently by using, for example, a jig as shown in FIGS. The jig includes a first member 40, a second member 50, and a plurality of heaters 48 and 54.

  The first member 40 includes a concave surface 43, and the concave surface 43 has an inner diameter (curvature radius) corresponding to a target outer diameter that is a radius of curvature outside the target shape (final shape) of the bent portion 30 of the insulated wire W. ). Specifically, the first member 40 according to this embodiment has a curved plate shape as a whole, and includes a central portion 42, a pair of intermediate portions 44 that extend from the central portion 42 to the left and right outer sides, and each intermediate portion. And a pair of support portions 46 extending horizontally from the tip of 44. The central portion 42 has a curved shape that is convex downward at an angle of approximately 45 °, and the inner side surface, that is, the upper surface thereof constitutes the concave surface 43. Each intermediate portion 44 extends linearly obliquely upward from the left and right ends of the central portion 42. Each of the support portions 46 extends in the horizontal direction from the upper end of each intermediate portion 44 to both outer sides, and the upper surface of the support portions 46 constitutes a wire material placement surface.

  The second member 50 has a cylindrical shape, and an outer peripheral surface thereof forms a convex surface having an outer diameter corresponding to a target inner diameter that is a radius of curvature inside the target shape. In the case of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2, it is sufficient that the convex surface of the second member 50 exists at the lower part of the second member 50, and therefore the upper part of the second member 50 may have another shape. The second member 50 is disposed so as to be movable up and down above the concave surface 43 of the first member 40.

  The heaters 48 and 54 are embedded in the members 40 and 50, respectively. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the heater 48 is embedded in the center portion 42 and the left and right support portions 46 of the first member 40, and the heater 54 is embedded in the center portion of the second member 50. Of these, the heater 48 provided on the first member 40 can be omitted.

  Insulation-coated wire material W ′ (that is, a conventional ordinary coated wire) is set on such a jig as shown in FIG. That is, the insulation coated wire material W ′ is placed on these support portions 46 in a posture extending in the direction connecting the both support portions 46 (left and right direction in FIG. 3), and further, the insulation cover at the intermediate position between the support portions 46. The first member 50 is pressed against the wire material W ′ from above. Further, the heaters 48 and 54 are driven to heat the members 40 and 50 and the insulated coated wire material W ′ in contact therewith.

  In the initial state shown in FIG. 3, because of the high bending rigidity of the insulating coating 20 constituting the insulating coated electric wire material W ′, the insulated coated electric wire material W ′ has a linear shape regardless of the pressing from above the second member 50. However, when heating by the heaters 48 and 54 proceeds and the insulation coating 20 softens, the insulation coated wire material W ′ bends at the portion where the second member 50 is pressed, as shown in FIG. The second member 50 and the first member 40 are sandwiched from above and below. As a result, a bent portion 30 having an inner diameter (inner radius of curvature) corresponding to the outer diameter of the second member 50 and an outer diameter (outer radius of curvature) corresponding to the inner diameter of the concave surface 43 of the first member 40 is formed. .

3) Shape fixing step In this step, the temperature of the bent portion, that is, the bent portion 30 as described above is lowered to fix the shape of the bent portion 30. When the jig is used, the driving of the heaters 48 and 54 is stopped in the state shown in FIG. 4, and the insulation-coated wire material W ′ is naturally cooled or forced to room temperature, for example, while maintaining the positions of the members 40 and 50 as they are. It only has to be cooled. By this cooling, the insulating coating 20 regains the bending rigidity sufficient to maintain the shape of the bent portion 30. In this way, the insulated coated electric wire W that can hold a desired bent shape with its own rigidity is manufactured.

  The manufacturing method of the insulation coating electric wire W is not restricted to what uses the said jig | tool. Further, when the insulation-coated wire material W ′ is bent, the whole may be heated. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a halved lower mold 60A and an upper mold 60B having grooves 62A and 62B corresponding to the final target shape of the insulated coated wire W are prepared, and the whole is heated and softened. The insulation covered electric wire material thus fitted is fitted into the groove 62A while being bent, for example, along the shape of the groove 62A of the lower mold 60A, and then the upper mold 60B is put on the lower mold 60A, and both grooves 62A, Also by the method of cooling the insulation covered wire material while holding the insulation covered wire material in 62B, it is possible to manufacture the insulation covered wire W that holds the shape corresponding to the grooves 62A and 62B by itself.

W Insulated coated electric wire W 'Insulated coated electric wire material 10 Central conductor 20 Insulated coating 30 Bent part 40 First member 43 Concave surface of first member 48, 54 Heater 50 Second member

Claims (5)

In order to manufacture an insulating coated electric wire having a central conductor and an insulating coating covering the central conductor, having a bent portion in at least one place in the axial direction and capable of maintaining the shape of the bent portion The method of
A preliminary step of preparing an insulation-coated electric wire material having the center conductor and the insulation coating made of a thermoplastic resin material having insulation properties and covering the center conductor and having higher bending rigidity than the center conductor;
A bending step of heating the insulating coating of a portion of the insulating coated electric wire material in the axial direction to a temperature at which the thermoplastic resin material constituting the insulating coating is softened and bending the heated portion into a target shape;
A shape fixing step of fixing the shape of the portion by lowering the temperature of the bent and deformed portion.   The method for manufacturing an insulation-coated electric wire according to claim 1, wherein the material of the insulation coating is selected from polypropylene, polybutylene terephthalate, polyamide, and polyethylene naphthalate.   The method for manufacturing an insulated wire according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the bending step includes a first member having a concave surface having an inner diameter corresponding to a target outer diameter which is a radius of curvature outside the target shape, A second member having a convex surface having an outer diameter corresponding to a target inner diameter that is a radius of curvature inside the target shape, and a heater that is provided on at least the second member and heats the insulating coating that comes into contact with the second member; The convex portion of the second member is brought into contact with the insulating coating at a specific portion of the insulating coated wire material, and the insulating coating is locally heated and softened, and the softened portion. And pressing the convex surface to sandwich the insulating coated wire material between the convex surface and the concave surface of the first member. An insulated wire,
A central conductor;
An insulating coating made of a synthetic resin material having an insulating property and covering the central conductor,
The insulating coating has a bent portion bent at at least a part in the axial direction, and has a bending rigidity higher than the bending rigidity of the central conductor and can maintain the shape of the bent portion. Insulation-coated electric wire with high bending rigidity.   The insulation-coated electric wire according to claim 4, wherein the material of the insulation coating is selected from polypropylene, polybutylene terephthalate, polyamide, and polyethylene naphthalate.

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