JP5454374B2 - Corrugated tube connection parts - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a corrugated tube connecting component, and more particularly, to a component that connects corrugated tubes to each other when a corrugated tube having a different diameter is mounted on a wire harness routed in a vehicle.

Corrugated tubes are widely used as protective sheathing materials for wire harnesses that are routed in vehicles. The corrugated tube is made of a resin molded product in which annular crests and troughs are alternately provided in the length direction, and can be bent, twisted and stretched, so that it is suitably used as an exterior material for a wire harness.
The corrugated tube is often sheathed on the trunk of the wire harness, but as shown in FIG. 9A, the branch line W / H-2 branches from the trunk W / H-1 of the wire harness W / H. And since the diameter of a trunk line becomes thin gradually, it is preferable to make the diameter of the corrugated tube to coat differ. This is because the wire harness pulled out from the tip of the corrugated tube is wrapped and fixed to the outer peripheral surface of the end of the corrugated tube with adhesive tape, but if there is a large difference between the diameter of the wire harness and the corrugated tube, the tape winding Work becomes difficult and the corrugated tube is crushed. Therefore, it is preferable to coat with a corrugated tube corresponding to the diameter of the wire harness.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 9B, when both sides of the wire harness are passed through the protectors PT-1 and PT-2, the corrugated tube is fitted and locked to the inner peripheral surface of the end of the through hole of the protector. Although the locking projections are provided, if the diameters of the locking projections of the protectors on both sides are different, the corrugated tube having a different diameter needs to be externally mounted on the wire harness.

As described above, when the small-diameter corrugated tube CT-A and the large-diameter corrugated tube CT-B are mounted on the continuous line of the wire harness as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, FIG. As shown in (E), the end of the small corrugated tube CT-A is inserted into the end of the large corrugated tube CT-B and overlapped, and the adhesive tape T is wrapped around the outer periphery of the overlapping portion and connected. doing.
However, when connected as described above, the overlapping dimensions of the small-diameter corrugated tube inserted into the large-diameter corrugated tube tend to vary. If the outer diameter of the small corrugated tube is the same as the inner diameter of the large corrugated tube, it can be used. is there.

  Conventionally, as a holder for connecting the ends of two corrugated tubes having different diameters, a holder shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B is provided in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1378299. The holder includes a main body portion 100 and a cover portion 101 of the base portion. After covering both sides of the main body portion 100 to the lower half circumference of the small-diameter corrugated tube CT-A and the large-diameter corrugated tube CT-B, the cover portion 101 is attached. Then, the connecting piece 101 a provided on the cover portion 101 is inserted and locked to the locking portion 100 a provided on the main body portion 100.

  The connection holder has a complicated configuration in which both the main body portion 100 and the cover portion 101 are connected to the large diameter side and the small diameter side by the flexible connection portions 100b and 101b, and the main body portion 100 and the cover portion. There are two parts 101, and there is a problem that costs are high.

Design Gazette No. 1378299

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and is composed of one simple part as a connecting part for connecting corrugated tubes having different diameters, and can be connected to one corrugated tube and then connected to the other corrugated tube. The problem is to provide connecting parts.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention comprises a resin molded product in which a large-diameter side fitting portion and a small-diameter side fitting portion are integrally projected at both ends of a connecting portion, and the large-diameter side fitting portion and Each of the small-diameter side fitting portions has one end of a pair of semi-annular portions connected by a hinge portion, the other end is provided with a lock portion and a locked portion, and the pair of semi-annular portions of the large-diameter side fitting portion A locking rib that fits and locks the valley of the large-diameter corrugated tube protrudes from the inner peripheral surface of the small-diameter corrugated tube, and the valley of the small-diameter corrugated tube protrudes from the inner peripheral surface of the pair of semi-annular portions of the small-diameter side fitting The corrugated tube connecting component is provided with a locking rib that is fitted and locked to the portion.

The connecting portion is connected to a split end edge of one semi-annular portion of the large-diameter side fitting portion and a split end edge of one semi-annular portion of the small-diameter side fitting portion, and both end surfaces of the joint portion are It is preferable to project inward from the inner peripheral surfaces of the large-diameter side fitting portion and the small-diameter side fitting portion to form the corrugated tube abutting surface.
Further, it is preferable that the connecting portion is formed of a semi-annular connecting piece having a substantially U-shaped cross section, and both end surfaces of the connecting piece are used as the corrugated tube abutting surfaces.

The corrugated tube connecting part having the above-described configuration is such that the end of the large-diameter corrugated tube is placed on the inner peripheral surface of one semi-annular portion of the large-diameter side fitting portion, and the tip of the large-diameter corrugated tube is connected to the corrugated portion The abutment surface is brought into contact with the tube abutting surface, and in this state, the engagement rib is fitted and engaged with the valley portion of the half circumference of the end portion of the large-diameter corrugated tube. After that, the other semi-annular part is covered, and the engaging rib is fitted and locked to the valley part on the other half circumference of the large-diameter corrugated tube, and the pair of semi-annular parts of the large-diameter side fitting part are locked. . Next, the end portion of the small-diameter corrugated tube is placed on one semi-annular portion of the small-diameter side fitting portion, and is set in contact with the corrugated tube abutting surface of the joint portion. In this state, after fitting the locking rib to the half-circular valley, cover the other semi-annular portion and fit and lock the locking rib to the other half-circular valley of the small-diameter corrugated tube. A pair of semi-annular portions of the side fitting portions are lock-coupled. In this state, the large-diameter corrugated tube and the small-diameter corrugated tube are fixedly connected to the large-diameter side fitting portion and the small-diameter side fitting portion that are connected by the connecting portion of the corrugated tube connecting component.
In addition, after attaching a small diameter side corrugated tube to a small diameter side fitting part previously, you may attach a large diameter side corrugated tube to a large diameter side fitting part.

Moreover, since the tip of the corrugated tube is abutted and attached to the corrugated tube abutting surface of the connecting part, the overlapping dimension of the connecting part and the corrugated tube can be managed with high accuracy.
Furthermore, since it consists of one component, it is possible to reduce manufacturing costs and management costs.

The width of the connecting portion may be as short as the width of one trough portion of the corrugated tube, and is preferably about 0.5 mm to 1 mm in consideration of the damage of the electric wire.
The connecting portion is formed by a pair of diametrically opposed connecting pieces that connect both ends to one semi-annular portion of the large-diameter side fitting portion and one semi-annular portion of the small-diameter side fitting portion. However, you may connect this pair of connection piece with the circumferential direction connection part which provided the uneven | corrugated | grooved part of the axial direction in the circumferential direction.

Moreover, you may provide a concealment piece in the division | segmentation edge of the semi-annular part of the said small diameter side fitting part.
Further, the locking ribs provided on the inner peripheral surfaces of the large-diameter side fitting portion and the small-diameter side fitting portion may be provided in plural, such as two, at intervals in the axial direction.

You may provide the clamp part which consists of a locking hole which inserts and locks the stay which protrudes from a vehicle body in the said large diameter side fitting part or a small diameter side fitting part.
Thus, if the function of a corrugated clamp is also added to a connection component, attachment of a corrugated clamp can be made unnecessary.

As described above, the corrugated tube connecting component according to the present invention has a large-diameter side fitting portion connected to the large-diameter corrugated tube and a small-diameter side fitting portion connected to the small-diameter corrugated tube on both sides of the connecting portion. The large-diameter side fitting part and the small-diameter side fitting part can be connected and fixed to the corrugated tube independently of each other. Therefore, the worker can fix the corrugated tube to the large-diameter corrugated tube and the small-diameter corrugated tube one by one, thereby improving workability. In addition, since the corrugated tube abutting surface is provided and the tip of the corrugated tube is abutted and set, the dimension inserted and fixed to the corrugated tube connecting part can be managed with high accuracy.
In particular, since the corrugated tube connecting part of the present invention consists of one part, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost and the management cost.

1st Embodiment of the connection component of this invention is shown, (A) is an expanded view, (B) is a side view of (A). (A) is a perspective view of a connection component, and (B) is an enlarged view of a main part of (A). (A), (B), and (C) are drawings which show a connection process. It is an expanded view which shows the 1st modification of 1st Embodiment. The 2nd modification of 1st Embodiment is shown, (A) is an expanded view, (B) is usage explanatory drawing. The 3rd modification of 1st Embodiment is shown, (A) is an expanded view, (B) is drawing which shows a connection process. It is an expanded view of the connection components of 2nd Embodiment. (A)-(D) are drawings which show the usage example of the connection component of 2nd Embodiment. (A)-(E) are drawings which show a prior art example. (A) and (B) are drawings showing other conventional examples.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
All of the corrugated tube connecting parts (hereinafter abbreviated as connecting parts) of the embodiment connect a large-diameter corrugated tube and a small-diameter corrugated tube that are externally mounted on the same line of a wire harness routed to an automobile. In addition, it is used also as a connection part of the corrugated tube exterior to the wire harness routed to the two-wheeled vehicle.

1 to 3 show a first embodiment.
The connecting part 1 consists of one part made of a resin molded product, and connects the large diameter corrugated tube 2 and the small diameter corrugated tube 3.
The large-diameter corrugated tube 2 and the small-diameter corrugated tube 3 are annular ridges 2a and valleys 2b, and similarly, ridges 3a and valleys 3b are alternately continued in the axial direction. The corrugated tube has a slit s in the axial direction, but may have no slit.

The connecting component 1 has a large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and a small-diameter side fitting portion 11 that are integrally projected at both ends of a connecting portion 12.
The large-diameter side fitting portion 10 includes a pair of semi-annular portions 10a and 10b, one end of which is connected by a hinge portion 10c, and the other end is provided with a lock portion 10d and a locked portion 10e. The lock portion 10d and the locked portion 10e are formed in an annular shape that is externally fitted and fixed to the large-diameter corrugated tube 2 in a locked state. Further, locking ribs 10r (10r1, 10r2) extending in the circumferential direction are provided on the inner peripheral surfaces of the pair of semi-annular portions 10a and 10b, respectively, so as to protrude in the axial direction. The locking rib 10r has a protruding amount that fits into the valley 2b of the large-diameter corrugated tube 2, and the locking ribs 10r1 and 10r2 protrude from the valley 2b at the same interval.

Similarly, the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 also includes a pair of semi-annular portions 11a and 11b, one end of which is connected by a hinge portion 11c, and the other end is provided with a lock portion 11d and a locked portion 11e. 11d and the locked part 11e are made into the annular | circular shape which carries out external fitting fixation to the small diameter corrugated tube 3 in the state which carried out the lock coupling | bonding. Further, locking ribs 11r (11r1, 11r2) extending in the circumferential direction are provided on the inner peripheral surfaces of the pair of semi-annular portions 11a and 11b so as to protrude in the axial direction. The locking rib 11r has a protruding amount that fits into the valley portion 3b of the small-diameter corrugated tube 3, and the locking ribs 11r1 and 11r2 protrude from the valley portion 3b at the same interval.
The locking ribs 10r1, 10r2, 11r1, and 11r2 provided on the semi-annular parts 10a and 11b connected by the connecting part 12 are semicircular, but the locking ribs provided on the non-connected semi-annular parts 10b and 11a. 10r1, 10r2, 11r1, and 11r2 are each divided into two in the circumferential direction. By dividing into two, water can be drained from the gap so that water does not collect between the corrugated tubes on both sides and the connecting part 1.

  The width L of the connecting portion 12 provided between the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 is about 0.5 mm to 1 mm. The direction of the width L is the axial direction of the corrugated tube. The connecting portion 12 includes a connecting piece 15 having a semicircular shape and a substantially U-shaped cross section. One semi-annular portion 10 a of the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and one semi-annular portion 11 b of the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 are connected by the connecting piece 15. The semi-annular portion 10a of the large-diameter side fitting portion is an upper semi-annular portion in the figure, and the semi-annular portion 11b of the small-diameter side fitting portion is a semi-annular portion on the lower side in the figure. The large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 are connected by being displaced by a half circumference portion by the portion 12.

  Specifically, the connecting piece 15 includes a semi-annular one end face 15a, a semi-annular other end face 15b, an inner peripheral edge 15a-2 of the one end face 15a, and an inner peripheral side of the other end face 15b. It consists of a connecting side surface 15c that connects the end edge 15b-2, and the one end surface 15a, the connecting side surface 15c, and the other end surface 15b form a substantially U-shaped cross section. Moreover, the outer peripheral side edge 15a-1 of the one end surface 15a is connected to the split end edge 10a-1 of one semi-annular part 10a of the large diameter side fitting portion 10, and the outer peripheral side edge 15b- of the other end surface 15b. 1 is connected to the divided edge 11b-1 of one semi-annular portion 11b of the small-diameter side fitting portion 11. That is, one end surface 15a of the connecting piece 15 protrudes inward from the inner peripheral surface of the large diameter side fitting portion 10, and the other end surface 15b protrudes inward from the inner peripheral surface of the small diameter side fitting portion. The one end surface 15a is a large diameter corrugated tube abutting surface, and the other end surface 15b is a small diameter corrugated tube abutting surface. The one end face 15a is a large diameter corrugated tube butting face, and the other end face 15b is a small diameter corrugated tube butting face.

Next, the connection process of the large diameter corrugated tube 2 and the small diameter corrugated tube 3 using the connecting component 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, as shown in FIG. 3A, a large-diameter corrugated tube with a pair of semi-annular portions 10a and 10b and 11a and 11b of the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 opened. 2 is placed on the semi-annular portion 10 a of the large-diameter side fitting portion 10, and the small-diameter corrugated tube 3 is placed on the semi-annular portion 11 b of the small-diameter side fitting portion 11.
Next, the distal end surface of the large-diameter corrugated tube 2 is abutted against the large-diameter corrugated tube abutting surface 15 a of the connecting portion 12. Similarly, the front end surface of the small diameter corrugated tube 3 is abutted against the small diameter corrugated tube abutting surface 15 b of the connecting portion 12.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, the locking rib 11 r of the semicircular ring portion 11 b of the small diameter side fitting portion 11 is inserted and locked to the valley portion 3 b of the small diameter corrugated tube 3. Thereafter, the other semicircular ring portion 11 a is placed on the half circumference of the small diameter corrugated tube 3, and the locking rib 11 r is fitted and locked to the valley portion 3 b on the other half circumference of the small diameter corrugated tube 3. In this state, the lock part 11d of the small diameter side fitting part 11 is inserted into the locked part 11e, and the semi-annular parts 11a and 11b are lock-coupled.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, the locking rib 10 r (10 r 1, 10 r 2) of the semi-annular portion 10 a of the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 is connected to the valley portion of the semi-circumferential portion at the end of the large-diameter corrugated tube 2. 2b is fitted and locked. After that, the other semicircular ring portion 10 b is covered and the locking ribs 10 r 1 and 10 r 2 are fitted and locked to the valley portion 2 b on the other half circumference of the large-diameter corrugated tube 2. In this state, the lock portion 10d of the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 is inserted into the locked portion 10e, and the semi-annular portions 10a and 10b are locked and coupled.
The small diameter side fitting portion 11 may be fixed to the small diameter corrugated tube 3 after the large diameter side fitting portion 10 is fixed to the large diameter corrugated tube 2.

  When the large-diameter corrugated tube 2 and the small-diameter corrugated tube 3 are connected by the connecting component 1 as described above, the wire group of the wire harness can be slightly seen from the outside by the connecting portion 12 of the connecting component 1, but the width of the connecting portion Can be made almost invisible. Moreover, if it is set as the structure shown in FIG. 6 mentioned later, an electric wire can be completely covered with this connection component.

As described above, when the connecting component 1 is used, after fixing one fitting portion to one corrugated tube, the other corrugated tube can be fixed and can be stopped one by one.
Therefore, since the worker can work one by one while holding the corrugated tube, the workability is good, and the connection work can be reliably performed by one worker.

And since the corrugated tube butting surface is provided on the connecting component 1 and the tip of the corrugated tube is butted against the butting surface, the overlapping dimension of the connecting component 1 and the large and small corrugated tubes 2 and 3 can be managed with high accuracy.
Further, since the entire width of the connecting part 1 is short, there is an advantage that the flexibility of the corrugated tube is not impaired.
Furthermore, since the connecting part 1 consists of one part, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost and the management cost.

FIG. 4 shows a first modification of the first embodiment.
In these first modified examples, the connecting position by the connecting portion 12 is changed.
That is, the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 that are connected by the connecting portion 12 are provided in parallel without being misaligned, and the large-diameter fitting portion 10 and the small-diameter fitting portion 11 are connected by the connecting portion 12. The lower semi-annular parts 10b and 11b in the figure are connected.
Since other configurations and operations are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same reference numerals are given and description thereof is omitted.

5A and 5B show a second modification of the first embodiment.
In the second modified example, the connecting positions of the connecting portion 12, the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 on both sides are the same as in the first modified example, but the locking ribs 10r and 11r are arranged in the axial direction. One is not installed in parallel.
In this way, the number of locking ribs can be reduced by shortening the total length of the connecting component 1 even when the clearance α is not sufficient due to vehicle layout restrictions, as shown in FIG. α clearance can be secured.

FIGS. 6A and 6B show a third modification of the first embodiment.
In the third modified example, the electric wire of the wire harness is not exposed to the outside as much as possible at the connecting portion 12.
That is, in the connecting portion 12, the semi-annular portion 10a of the large-diameter side fitting portion 10 and the semi-annular portion 11b of the small-diameter side fitting portion 11 are connected by a semi-annular connecting piece 17, and the small-diameter side fitting A concealing piece 18 protruding from the side end of the semi-annular portion 11a of the joint portion 11 toward the connecting portion side is provided. The concealing piece 18 is inserted into the inside of the large diameter corrugated tube 2 that is fixed to the large diameter side fitting portion 10 so as to contact the inner peripheral surface of the valley portion of the large diameter corrugated tube.
As described above, the semicircular side of the connecting portion 12 is covered with the semicircular connecting piece 17, and the other half peripheral side is covered with the concealing piece 18 so that the electric wire of the wire harness is exposed to the outside at the connecting portion 12. While being able to reduce, the disconnection by the clearance of the connection part of corrugated tubes can be prevented.

7 and 8 show the connecting component of the second embodiment.
The connecting component 1 of the second embodiment provides a corrugated clamp function to either the large diameter side fitting portion 10 or the small diameter side fitting portion 11.
In the present embodiment, the small diameter side fitting portion 11 is provided with a corrugated clamp function, a clamp portion 30 is provided on each of the semicircular ring portions 11a and 11b, and a locking stay ( A locking hole 31 for inserting and locking a not-shown) is provided.

The length of the small-diameter corrugated tube 3 (or / and the large-diameter corrugated tube 2) is adjusted to match the protruding position of the locking stay on the vehicle body side, as shown in FIGS. Then, the connecting component 1 may be aligned with the locking stay on the vehicle body side.
As described above, when the function of the corrugated clamp is imparted to the connecting component 1, the corrugated clamp can be eliminated, and the number of installation work steps and components can be reduced.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Connection component 2 Large diameter corrugated tube 2b Valley part 3 Small diameter corrugated tube 3b Valley part 10 Large diameter side fitting part 10a, 10b Semicircular ring part 10c Hinge part 10r Locking rib 11 Small diameter side fitting part 11a, 11b Semicircle Ring portion 11c Hinge portion 11r Locking rib 12 Connecting portion 15, 17 Connecting piece 15a, 15b Corrugated tube abutting surface

Claims (5)

Consists of a resin molded product that integrally projects both ends of the connecting portion between the large-diameter side fitting portion and the small-diameter side fitting portion,
The large-diameter side fitting portion and the small-diameter side fitting portion both have one end of a pair of semi-annular portions connected by a hinge portion, the other end is provided with a lock portion and a locked portion, and the large-diameter side fitting portion A locking rib that fits and locks into the valley of the large-diameter corrugated tube is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the pair of semi-annular portions of the joint portion, and the inside of the pair of semi-annular portions of the small-diameter side fitting portion A corrugated tube connecting component characterized in that a locking rib for fitting and locking to a trough of a small-diameter corrugated tube is provided on the peripheral surface.   Connecting both side edges of the connecting portion to a split end edge of one semi-annular portion of the large-diameter side fitting portion and a split end edge of one semi-annular portion of the small-diameter side fitting portion; The corrugated tube connecting component according to claim 1, wherein the end surface is a corrugated tube abutting surface that protrudes inwardly from the inner peripheral surfaces of the large diameter side fitting portion and the small diameter side fitting portion.   The corrugated tube connecting component according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connecting portion is formed of a connecting piece having a semicircular shape and a substantially U-shaped cross section, and both end surfaces of the connecting piece are used as the corrugated tube abutting surfaces.   The corrugated tube connecting component according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a concealing piece is provided at a divided end edge of the semi-annular portion of the small diameter side fitting portion.   The clamp part which consists of a locking hole which inserts and stops the stay which protrudes from a vehicle body in the said large diameter side fitting part or the small diameter side fitting part is provided. Corrugated tube connecting parts.

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