JP2018137197A - Wire harness with braid cover and manufacturing method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a wire harness with a braid cover of a novel design, which enables protection and binding according to protection requirements different by each portion of the wire harness, with a smaller number of components and good work efficiency, and a manufacturing method thereof.SOLUTION: A wire harness with a braid cover 10 has a braid cover 14 configured to sheathe a wire harness 12. The braid cover 14 adheres on a surface 16 of the wire harness 12 and continuously extends along an extension direction of the wire harness 12, while the braid cover 14 integrally includes a protection part 28 having a denser braid and a non-protection part 30 having a less dense braid than the protection part 28.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a wire harness with a braided cover in which a braided cover is extrapolated to a wire harness and a method for manufacturing the same.

  Conventionally, wire harnesses that are routed between various electrical components from an automobile battery and perform power supply, etc. are fixed to various parts of the vehicle body by clamps and the like while being bound and fixed by a binding tape, etc. Thus, a protective member such as a corrugated tube and a protector described in JP-A-5-168122 (Patent Document 1) is extrapolated to be protected from interference with other members.

  As described above, conventionally, in order to configure a wire harness, a bundle of covered wires is bound and fixed with a binding tape or the like, and a protective member such as a corrugated tube is extrapolated to the bundle of covered wires that are bound and fixed. Work to install and fix in place. Therefore, two members, a binding member such as a binding tape and a protective member such as a corrugated tube, are required. In addition, many types of protective members need to be prepared depending on differences in the diameter, length, bent shape, and the like of the bundle of covered electric wires that are bound and fixed.

  Since the wire harness having such a conventional structure has a large number of parts and complicated manufacturing operations, some countermeasures that can reduce them have been required.

  In Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-49356 (Patent Document 2), a braided cover formed by knitting a plastic wire or a metal wire into a stretchable cylindrical net is shown in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 2. As shown in FIG. 2 of Patent Document 2, the braided cover is stretched in the axial direction and covered with the bundle of the covered wires after being pushed and shrunk in the axial direction and passed through the bundle of the covered wires. Thus, it is proposed that the braided cover is brought into close contact with the periphery of the bundle of covered electric wires to perform binding and protection.

  However, also in such a braided cover, it is necessary to prepare many types depending on the difference in the diameter and length of the bundle of covered electric wires to be mounted, as in the case of the conventional protective member. Further, the protection level is constant, and there is a possibility that material is wasted at a portion where the protection level is low. In addition, there is a need to tape-fix a plurality of divided braid covers at least at both ends to the wire harness, and further improvements have been desired in terms of reducing the number of parts and improving workability.

JP-A-5-168122 Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 63-49356

  The present invention has been made in the background of the above-mentioned circumstances, and the solution is to enable protection and bundling according to different protection requirements depending on the part of the wire harness with fewer parts and good workability. An object of the present invention is to provide a wire harness with a braided cover having a novel structure and a method for manufacturing the same.

  A first aspect of the present invention relating to a wire harness with a braided cover is the wire harness with a braided cover having a braided cover that is extrapolated to the wire harness, wherein the braided cover is in close contact with the surface of the wire harness and the wire The braided cover integrally includes a protected portion having a high braid density and a non-protected portion having a braid density lower than the protect portion while continuously extending along the extending direction of the harness. It is characterized by.

  According to this aspect, since the braided cover is in close contact with the surface of the wire harness and extends continuously along the extending direction of the wire harness, the braided cover holds the bundled state of the wire harness. Can do. As a result, it is possible to eliminate or reduce the tape winding and fixing work of the wire harness that has been conventionally required. Further, the braided cover has a protected part having a high braid density and a non-protected part having a braid density lower than that of the protected part. Therefore, for parts that require high protection, it is possible to achieve protection without the need for extraneous members such as protectors and corrugated tubes, which are conventionally required, by covering the periphery with a protection part of the braided cover. . Furthermore, the portion of the wire harness that only needs to be bound can be covered with the non-protected portion to realize binding of the wire harness with the braided cover without causing material waste.

  As a result, since the wire harness can be protected and bound by a single braided cover that extends continuously, the number of parts can be reduced and workability can be improved as compared with the conventional structure. In addition, since the braided cover has a protected part and a non-protected part with different braid densities, by installing a braided cover in which the protected part and the non-protected part are braided according to the protection requirement at the site of the wire harness. It is possible to achieve appropriate wire harness protection with a cost-effective extrapolation member that eliminates or reduces the problem of imparting unnecessary protection.

  A second aspect of the present invention relating to a wire harness with a braided cover is the wire harness with a braided cover according to the first aspect, wherein the wire harness has a main line and a branch line branched from the main line, A branch line is inserted through the mesh of the braided cover and protrudes to the outside.

  According to this aspect, since the branch line of the wire harness passes through the mesh of the braid cover and protrudes to the outside, the braid cover is moved in the longitudinal direction of the wire harness by engaging the branch line with the mesh of the braid cover. On the other hand, the positioning is fixed. Therefore, the braided cover extending in the longitudinal shape can be positioned and fixed with respect to the wire harness without using any fixing member by skillfully using the branch portion of the wire harness. Thereby, the protected part and the non-protected part can be disposed and held at a predetermined part, and the number of parts and work processes can be further reduced.

  A first aspect of the present invention relating to a method of manufacturing a wire harness with a braided cover is a method of manufacturing a wire harness with a braided cover in which a braided cover formed by braiding braided yarn is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness. A wire harness installation step of inserting the wire harness from below the braiding machine, and braiding the braided yarn while pulling the wire harness upward from the braiding machine, so that the braiding machine lowers the braiding machine from the braiding start end. A braid cover forming step in which the braid cover is closely formed on the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness while being braided, and the braid cover forming step has slowed the speed of pulling up the wire harness above the braiding machine. A protection part forming step of forming a protection part having a high braid density by braiding the braided yarn in a state; A non-protection part that forms a non-protection part having a lower braid density than the protection part by braiding the braided yarn in a state where the wire harness is pulled up above the braiding machine at a higher speed than the protection part forming step. And a part forming step.

  According to this aspect, in the braid cover forming step, the braid cover is continuously and closely braided on the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness, whereby the wire harness can be bound advantageously and reliably. Moreover, in the braided cover forming process, by slowing or speeding up the wire harness, according to different protection requirements depending on the part of the wire harness, a protection part is formed at a part where the protection demand is high. It is possible to easily form a non-protected portion at a site where the protection requirement is low as long as it is only bundled. As a result, it is possible to provide a braided cover that can be protected and bundled according to different protection requirements depending on the part of the wire harness by an excellent single operation for forming the braided cover around the wire harness. Therefore, the workability is much superior to conventional structures that required many work processes such as tape bundling, mounting of multiple protectors and corrugated tubes, and mounting and fixing of multiple braided covers. Therefore, it is possible to manufacture a wire harness with a braided cover that can be protected and bound according to different protection requirements depending on the part of the wire harness.

  According to the present invention, since the braided cover is in close contact with the surface of the wire harness and continuously extends along the extending direction of the wire harness, the bundled state of the wire harness can be maintained by the braided cover. Therefore, the work of fixing the wire harness with the tape can be eliminated or reduced. In addition, since the braid cover has a protected portion having a high braid density and a non-protected portion having a lower braid density than the protected portion, the protector or Protection can be realized without requiring an extrapolating member such as a corrugated tube. Further, for a portion that only needs to be bound, the wire harness can be bound by the braided cover without causing waste of material by covering the periphery with the non-protected portion. As a result, since the wire harness can be protected and bound by a single braided cover that extends continuously, the number of parts can be reduced and workability can be improved.

The front view which shows the wire harness with a braided cover as one Embodiment of this invention. The front view which shows the braiding machine used in order to manufacture the wire harness with a braid cover of this embodiment. It is a front view for demonstrating the manufacturing method of the wire harness with a braided cover of this embodiment, Comprising: The figure ((a) Before a wire harness installation process, (b) After a protection part formation process, (c ) Non-protected part forming step (after braiding to just before the branch part), (d) Non-protected part forming process (after braiding the braided part), (e) After the non-protected part forming step and terminal processing).

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows a wire harness 10 with a braided cover as an embodiment of the present invention. The wire harness 10 with a braided cover has a braided cover 14 that is externally attached to the wire harness 12. The braided cover 14 is in close contact with the surface 16 of the wire harness 12, and the extending direction of the wire harness 12 (in FIG. 1). , Vertically extending). Accordingly, the bundled state of the wire harness 12 is held by the braided cover 14. In the following description, “upper” refers to the upper side in FIG. 1, “lower” refers to the lower side in FIG. 1, and “axial direction” refers to the vertical direction in FIG. 1, and “radial direction” refers to FIG. The left-right direction of In order to facilitate understanding, in FIG. 1, a binding tape 42 to be described later is indicated by a virtual line.

  The wire harness 12 has a trunk line 18 configured by bundling a plurality of electric wires (not shown) and a branch line 20 configured by branching from the trunk line 18, and connectors 22 a, 22 b, and 22 c are provided at the terminals, respectively. It has been. The connector housings 24a, 24b, and 24c constituting the connectors 22a, 22b, and 22c are all substantially block-shaped, and are integrally formed by, for example, injection molding using a synthetic resin such as polypropylene (PP) or polyamide (PA). ing. A plurality of cavities (not shown) are formed in the connector housings 24a, 24b, and 24c so as to penetrate in the longitudinal direction of the trunk line 18 and the branch line 20 constituting the wire harness 12, and are provided at the ends of the plurality of electric wires. Connector terminals (not shown) are respectively inserted into the plurality of cavities and arranged at predetermined positions in the plurality of cavities. Then, the connectors 22a, 22b, and 22c are fitted to mating connectors (not shown) so that the wire harness 12 is electrically connected to the not shown wiring harness extending from the mating connector. It has become.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the surface 16 of the trunk line 18 constituting the wire harness 12 formed in this way is covered in a close state by the braided cover 14, and the electric wires constituting the trunk line 18 are held in a bundled state. By doing so, the wire harness 10 with a braided cover is comprised. More specifically, the braided cover 14 is formed by braiding a braided yarn 26 composed of a plurality of chemical fiber yarns, metal yarns, etc. in close contact with the surface 16 of the trunk line 18 constituting the wire harness 12 and meshing. In addition, a substantially cylindrical protected portion 28 having a high braid density and a substantially cylindrical non-protected portion 30 having a braid density lower than the protect portion 28 are integrally provided. In the present embodiment, the protect portion 28 is provided on the upper connector 22a side, while the non-protect portion 30 is provided on the lower connector 22b side. The branch line 20 of the wire harness 12 is branched from the surface 16 of the trunk line 18 to which the non-protected portion 30 is in close contact, and the braided cover 14 is a gap between the braided yarns 26 forming the non-protected portion 30. It passes through the mesh 32 and protrudes outward. The braided cover 14 can be slightly expanded and contracted in the radial direction and the longitudinal direction due to the flexibility of the chemical fiber yarn, the metal yarn, and the like. Further, as the chemical fiber yarn constituting the braided yarn 26, for example, polyamide fiber having a certain degree of wear resistance, oil resistance and flexibility is used, while the metal yarn may be a conductive metal material. Preferably, lightweight aluminum or an alloy thereof is preferably used.

  As shown in FIG. 1, terminal processing portions 38 a and 38 b are respectively formed on the upper end portion 34 of the protection portion 28 and the lower end portion 36 of the non-protection portion 30 of the braided cover 14. The terminal processing portions 38a and 38b are formed by a braided yarn 26 made of a plurality of chemical fiber yarns or metal yarns knitted in a mesh shape, and the upper end of the protect portion 28, which is one end side in the longitudinal direction of the braid cover 14. At the lower end portion 36 of the non-protected portion 30 which is the portion 34 and the other end in the longitudinal direction, the terminal treatment is performed by covering the welded portion by winding the binding tape 40 around the welded portion and covering the welded portion as necessary. ing. The terminal processing units 38a and 38b are formed so as to protrude from the upper end 34 of the protection unit 28 and the lower end 36 of the non-protection unit 30 toward the connectors 22a and 22b, respectively, while the terminal processing unit 38a. , 38b are taped and fixed to the surface 16 of the main wire 18 of the wire harness 12 together with the upper end 34 of the protected portion 28 and the lower end 36 of the non-protected portion 30 by a binding tape 42 as required. ing. Further, in the present embodiment, the upper end 34 of the protected portion 28 of the braided cover 14 is the braided start end, while the lower end 36 of the non-protected portion 30 of the braided cover 14 is the braided end end.

  Next, an embodiment of the present invention relating to a method of manufacturing a wire harness with a braided cover that can be suitably used for manufacturing such a wire harness with a braided cover 10 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. explain.

  First, the wire harness 12 shown in FIG. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 2, a wire harness installation process is performed in which the wire harness 12 is inserted from below the braiding machine 44. More specifically, the braiding machine 44 includes a disk-shaped base plate 48 having a wire harness insertion hole 46 having a substantially circular cross-sectional shape penetrating in the center portion in the plate thickness direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2), and the base plate 48. A braided yarn 26 made of a chemical fiber yarn, a metal yarn or the like is supplied from a plurality of bobbins 50 provided thereon to a composition point of the braid. A plurality of braided yarns 26 are formed on the surface 16 of the wire harness 12. The braided cover 14 is braided by cross-turning. As such a braiding machine 44, for example, a known device can be used as a braiding device for braiding around a core body such as a mandrel. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, the braided yarn 26 is taken out from the plurality of bobbins 50 and welded, and a bundling tape 40 is wound around the tip as necessary to form the terminal processing portion 38a. Subsequently, the wire harness 12 is configured by inserting the wire harness 12 from below the braiding machine 44 through the wire harness insertion hole 46 and through the gaps of the braiding yarns 26 extending from the plurality of bobbins 50 connected to the terminal processing unit 38a. The connector housing 24a is protruded upward. And the wire harness installation process is completed by positioning and arranging the terminal processing unit 38a at a predetermined position on the surface 16 of the trunk line 18 of the wire harness 12.

  Next, the upper end portion of the wire harness 12 positioned and arranged in the braiding machine 44 is held as described above, and the braiding machine 44 is operated to perform the braiding and pull up the wire harness 12 toward the upper side of the braiding machine 44. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 3B to 3E, the surface 16 which is the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness 12 while braiding from the braid start end which is the upper end portion 34 toward the lower side of the braiding machine 44. A braided cover forming step of closely forming the braided cover 14 is performed.

  The braid cover forming step includes a protected portion forming step for forming the protected portion 28 having a high braid density and a non-protected portion forming step for forming the non-protected portion 30 having a braid density lower than that of the protected portion 28. Has been. More specifically, first, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper end portion of the wire harness 12 positioned and arranged in the braiding machine 44 is held, and the speed at which the wire harness 12 is pulled up toward the upper side of the braiding machine 44 is set. The braided yarn 26 is braided on the surface 16 of the trunk line 18 of the wire harness 12 in the delayed state, thereby forming a protect portion 28 that forms a protect portion 28 having a high braid density, as shown in FIG. A forming step is performed. In the present embodiment, the protect portion 28 formed by the protect portion forming step is provided from the braid start end that is the upper end portion 34 to a position that does not reach the branch line 20 of the wire harness 12. Subsequently, while the braiding machine 44 is operated to perform braiding, the braiding yarn 26 is braided in a state where the speed at which the wire harness 12 is pulled up above the braiding machine 44 is higher than that in the protection portion forming step. As shown in (e) to (e), a non-protected portion forming step for forming a non-protected portion 30 having a braid density lower than that of the protected portion 28 is performed. In this embodiment, the non-protection part 30 is first formed from the lower end part of the protection part 28 to a position that reaches the branch line 20 of the wire harness 12 as shown in FIG. In this state, the entire branch line 20 protrudes upward through the gaps of the braided yarn 26 extending from the plurality of bobbins 50 (see the branch line 20 described by a solid line in FIG. 3C). In this way, the entire branch line 20 is held in a state of protruding upward, and the formation of the non-protected portion 30 is continued to the state shown in FIG.

  Furthermore, by continuing the formation of the non-protected portion 30, the non-protected portion forming step is completed as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the branch line 20 of the wire harness 12 is returned to the original position (see FIG. 3E). Thereby, it is possible to easily configure the branch line 20 of the wire harness 12 so as to pass through the mesh 32 of the braided cover 14 that is a gap between the braided yarns 26 forming the non-protected portion 30 and protrude outward. It is like that. Finally, after the unprotected portion forming step, the braided yarn 26 is collected and welded at the lower end portion 36 of the unprotected portion 30 of the braided cover 14, and the binding tape 40 is attached to the welded portion as necessary. The terminal processing is performed by covering the welded portion by winding and the terminal processing unit 38b is formed. As a result, the wire harness 10 with a braided cover in which the braided cover 14 formed by braiding the braided yarn 26 on the surface 16 which is the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness 12 is attached can be obtained.

  According to the wire harness 10 with a braided cover obtained by such a manufacturing method, the braided cover 14 to be externally inserted into the wire harness 12 is in close contact with the surface 16 of the wire harness 12 and along the extending direction of the wire harness 12. Since the braided cover 14 is formed so as to extend continuously, the bundled state of the wire harness 12 is maintained. Thereby, it is possible to eliminate or reduce the work of bundling a plurality of unillustrated electric wires constituting the wire harness 12 conventionally required and tape-fixing. The braided cover 14 is configured integrally with a protected portion 28 having a high braid density and a non-protected portion 30 having a braid density lower than the protect portion 28. Therefore, for a portion that only needs to be bundled in the wire harness 12, the uncovered portion 30 covers the surface 16, thereby realizing the bundling of a plurality of unillustrated electric wires constituting the wire harness 12 by the braided cover 14. be able to. On the other hand, with respect to a portion of the wire harness 12 that is required to be protected, the protection portion 28 covers the surface 16 of the wire harness 12 without the need for extraneous members such as a protector and a corrugated tube that are conventionally required. Therefore, protection and binding of the surface 16 of the wire harness 12 by the braided cover 14 can be realized without causing waste of material. Furthermore, since the surface 16 of the wire harness 12 can be protected and bound by the single braided cover 14 extending continuously, the number of parts can be reduced and the workability can be improved as compared with the conventional structure.

  Further, the branch line 20 of the wire harness 12 is protruded toward the outside through the mesh 32 of the braid cover 14 which is a gap between the braided yarns 26 forming the non-protected portion 30. Thereby, the branch line 20 is engaged with the mesh 32 of the braided cover 14, and the braided cover 14 is positioned and fixed with respect to the longitudinal direction of the wire harness 12. Therefore, the braided cover 14 extending continuously along the extending direction of the wire harness 12 without the need for any fixing member can be obtained by skillfully utilizing the branch structure of the wire harness 12. It can be positioned and fixed with respect to. Therefore, for example, it is possible to omit the tape winding fixing of the upper end portion 34 and the lower end portion 36 by the binding tape 42 shown in FIG. 1 or the longitudinal intermediate portion of the braided cover 14 is positioned with respect to the wire harness 12. A step of binding a binding band or the like to be fixed can be omitted. Therefore, the number of parts and work processes can be further reduced.

  In addition, according to the manufacturing method of the present embodiment, the protection part 28 having a high braid density is provided at a portion where the protection requirement is high by slowing or increasing the speed at which the wire harness 12 is pulled up in the braid cover forming step. On the other hand, it is possible to easily form the non-protected portion 30 having a braid density lower than that of the protected portion 28 in a portion where the protection requirement that is simply bound is low. Therefore, the parts of the wire harness 12 have much better workability compared to the conventional structure that required many work processes such as binding by tape winding and protection by attaching a protector or corrugated tube. Therefore, it becomes possible to manufacture the wire harness 10 with a braided cover that can be protected and bound according to different protection requirements.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited by these specific description. For example, in the wire harness 10 with a braided cover according to the present embodiment, the protected portion 28 and the non-protected portion 30 are each provided only at one place of the wire harness 12, but may be provided at a plurality of places. Further, the positions where the protect part 28 and the non-protect part 30 are provided can be arbitrarily set according to the protection request of each part of the wire harness 12. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, only one branch line 20 is provided in the wire harness 12, but the present invention is also applicable to a wire harness in which a plurality of branch lines 20 are provided and a wire harness in which the branch lines 20 are not provided. It goes without saying that the invention is equally applicable. In addition, in the present embodiment, the branch line 20 is inserted outside through the mesh 32 of the non-protected portion 30, but may be protruded outside through the mesh of the protected portion 28.

10: Wire harness with braided cover, 12: Wire harness, 14: Braided cover, 16: Surface, 18: Trunk, 20: Branch line, 26: Braided yarn, 28: Protected part, 30: Unprotected part, 32: Mesh, 34: Upper end (braiding start end), 44: Braiding machine

Claims (3)

In a wire harness with a braided cover having a braided cover that is extrapolated to the wire harness,
While the braided cover extends in close contact with the surface of the wire harness and continuously along the extending direction of the wire harness,
A wire harness with a braid cover, wherein the braid cover integrally includes a protected portion having a high braid density and a non-protected portion having a braid density lower than the protect portion.   The wire harness with a braided cover according to claim 1, wherein the wire harness has a trunk line and a branch line branched from the trunk line, and the branch line is inserted through a mesh of the braided cover and protrudes to the outside. A method of manufacturing a wire harness with a braided cover in which a braided cover formed by braiding braided yarn is attached to the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness,
A wire harness installation process for inserting the wire harness from below the braiding machine;
By braiding the braided yarn while pulling up the wire harness above the braiding machine, the braid cover is closely formed on the outer peripheral surface of the wire harness while braiding from the braiding start end to the lower side of the braiding machine. A braided cover forming step,
The braid cover forming step forms a protect portion having a high braid density by braiding the braided yarn in a state of slowing the speed at which the wire harness is pulled up above the braiding machine; and
A non-protection part that forms a non-protection part whose braid density is lower than that of the protection part by braiding the braided yarn in a state where the wire harness is pulled up above the braiding machine faster than the protection part forming step. A method of manufacturing a wire harness with a braided cover, comprising: a part forming step.

Images