JP6349162B2 - Manufacturing method of wire harness - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle harness structure.

  Many electric devices such as various lamps and motors and switch devices for operating these are mounted on the vehicle. These various electrical devices are connected to a wire harness for supplying electric power supplied from a battery or the like, a control signal for controlling these electrical devices, and the like. This wire harness includes a plurality of electric wires and connectors. The electric wire includes a conductive core wire and an insulating covering portion that covers the core wire. The connector includes a terminal fitting attached to the end of the electric wire and connected to the wire, and a connector housing made of an insulating resin that accommodates the terminal fitting.

  Further, in recent years, as a communication system for controlling a plurality of vehicle electrical components mounted on a vehicle, a plurality of electronic control units that control each vehicle electrical component are connected by a common multiplex communication line, and the multiplex communication line is connected. A vehicle network system is used in which multiplexed signals are transmitted and received and the operation of each vehicle electrical component is controlled based on the signals (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  By the way, as for the wire harness routed in a vehicle, for example, a plurality of circuit-specific sub-harnesses sub-divided for each system circuit are combined to form a whole wire harness. As system circuits, for example, standard circuits that constitute essential electrical equipment for automobiles such as headlamps and wipers, and electrical equipment that is selected according to the vehicle type, grade, etc. such as security and rear fog lights, etc. There is an optional circuit to do. And when manufacturing such a wire harness for motor vehicles, it determines so that the whole wire harness may become suitable, considering the arrangement | positioning of a connector, a terminal, the kind of electric wire, etc. FIG.

For example, the conventional wire harness 500 shown in FIG. 7A includes three sub-harnesses A, B, and C. Each sub-harness A, B, C has connectors a1, b1, c1 on the side connected to a control unit (not shown) at the base end (left end in the figure), and at the branch end (right end in the figure). Has device-side connectors a2, b2, and c2 that are connected to connection destination connectors provided in a controlled device (electrical equipment) to be controlled by the control unit.
When an optional controlled device is added to the wire harness 500, for example, as shown in FIG. 7B, a device-side connector connected to a connection destination connector of the optional controlled device A wire harness 510 having sub-harnesses D and E in which c3 and b3 are connected to branch lines is prepared.

JP 2004-268630 A

However, like the wire harnesses 500 and 510 shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B described above, the sub-harnesses D and E each having the device-side connectors c3 and b3 for each optional controlled device to be additionally connected. When adding, the product number of the wire harness increases. If the number of the wire harness to be assembled increases, the assembly work in the wire harness assembly line becomes complicated, and the efficiency of the wire harness assembly work decreases. For this reason, there exists a problem that the mass productivity of a wire harness falls and the cost of each component and wire harness itself rises.
On the other hand, regardless of the presence or absence of an optional controlled device, when the wire harness 510 shown in FIG. 7B is used to reduce the number of the wire harness, the component ( Device-side connectors c3 and b3, which are so-called “discard”, are generated, and the waste of the wire harness increases, which also increases the cost of the wire harness.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said condition, The objective is to provide the manufacturing method of the wire harness which can eliminate the discard of a wire harness while aiming at the common part number of a wire harness.

The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following configuration.
(1) a sub-manufacturing process for manufacturing a plurality of sub-harnesses including at least one of a communication line, a power line, a signal line, and a ground line;
A branch connection step of branching and connecting one end of the additional connection member, the other end of which is connected to the electrical equipment with respect to at least one of the sub-harnesses;
A harness assembly step of combining and integrating a plurality of the sub-harnesses;
Equipped with a,
One end of the additional connection member is provided with a harness branch connection mechanism for press-connecting to at least one of the communication line, the power line, the signal line, and the ground line,
The harness branch connection mechanism includes a case configured by an upper case and a lower case that are connected to each other by a hinge so as to be opened and closed, and a pressure contact portion that is accommodated in the case and connected to one end of the additional connection member. ,
In the branch connection step, the press contact portion is press-connected to the conductor by sandwiching the conductor of the sub-harness between the upper case and the lower case .

According to the method of manufacturing the wire harness having the configuration (1), the sub-harness of the wire harness that is commonly attached to a plurality of attachment target vehicles is shared, and the electrical equipment attached to the attachment target vehicle is It is retrofitted through an additional connecting member whose one end is branched and connected to at least one of a communication line, a power line, a signal line and a ground line in the harness. Therefore, each sub-harness does not have a component to be discarded.
Furthermore, since the additional connection member is branched and connected to each sub-harness according to the number of electrical devices attached to the attachment target vehicle, no discarded components are generated in the entire wire harness.
Further, in the conventional method for manufacturing a wire harness, the number of optional electrical equipment has increased, and the part number of the entire wire harness has increased with the number of combinations to which the optional electrical equipment can be attached. On the other hand, in the method of manufacturing the wire harness having the configuration (1), it is only necessary to secure the part number of the additional connection member corresponding to the optional electrical equipment. Thereby, management of manufactured parts becomes easy, and reduction of wire harness manufacturing cost can be aimed at.

Furthermore, according to the manufacturing method of the wire harness having the configuration ( 1 ), the additional connection member that connects the sub-harness and the electrical equipment is branched and connected to the connection portion with the sub-harness by the harness branch connection mechanism. The harness branching connection mechanism is attached to the sub-harness so that the insulation covering portion covering at least one of the conductors of the communication line, the power supply line, the signal line, and the ground line in the sub-harness is pressed. And the pressure contact part is connected to this conductor. Therefore, the connection between the sub-harness and the electrical equipment can be completed simply by attaching the harness branch connection mechanism to the sub-harness.

  According to the method for manufacturing a wire harness according to the present invention, it is possible to make the wire harness part number common and to eliminate the discarding of the wire harness.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, the details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through a mode for carrying out the invention described below (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) with reference to the accompanying drawings. .

It is a mimetic diagram of a wire harness manufactured by a manufacturing method of a wire harness concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is the schematic diagram which decomposed | disassembled and showed the sub in the wire harness shown in FIG. It is the schematic diagram which decomposed | disassembled and showed the subharness shown in FIG. 2, and the additional connection member. (A) is a partially broken perspective view of a harness branch connection mechanism used in the method for manufacturing a wire harness according to the present embodiment, (b) is a plan view of the harness branch connection mechanism shown in (a), and (c) is ( The front view of the harness branch connection mechanism shown to a), (d) is AA sectional drawing of the harness branch connection mechanism shown to (a). It is a top view of an additional connection member, (a) shows the additional connection member by which the sub harness side connector and the equipment side connector were respectively connected to the sub harness side end and electrical equipment side end of an electric wire, (b) is an electric wire. The sub-harness side end of this shows an additional connection member that is directly connected to the harness branch connection mechanism, and (c) is an addition in which the sub-harness side end and the electrical equipment side end of the electric wire are directly connected to the harness branch connection mechanism and the electrical equipment. A connection member is shown. It is a top view of the branch connection mechanism in which a branch connector is connected between electrical equipment. (A) is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the conventional wire harness, (b) is a schematic diagram which shows the other example of the conventional wire harness shown to (a).

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wire harness 1 manufactured by a method of manufacturing a wire harness according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the wire harness 1 according to the present embodiment includes three sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C. Each sub-harness 11A, 11B, 11C has connectors a1, b1, c1 on the side connected to a control unit (not shown) at the base end (left end in the figure) and at the branch end (right end in the figure). Has device-side connectors a2, b2, and c2 that are connected to connection destination connectors provided in a controlled device (electrical equipment) to be controlled by the control unit.

  Each of the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C according to the present embodiment is attached to a plurality of attachment target vehicles in common and includes three types of electric wires (a power line 23 as a trunk line, a communication line 25, and a ground line (GND) 27) (see FIG. 4)). In addition to this, the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C may be further added with other electric wires such as signal lines (not shown). Multiple signals are passed through the communication lines 25 in the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C. A single signal flows through the signal lines in the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C.

  As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the plurality of additional connection members 13 have one ends on at least one of the power line 23, the communication line 25, and the ground line (GND) 27 in the sub-harnesses 11 </ b> B and 11 </ b> C, respectively. Branch connection is made later. In the illustrated example, two additional connection members 13 are branched and connected to the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C, respectively. Thus, in the wire harness 1 of the present embodiment, the wire harness 1 is configured by branching and connecting the plurality of additional connection members 13 at arbitrary positions of the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C. These additional connection members 13 connect the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C and the electrical equipment 29, respectively.

  At least one electrical equipment 29 attached to the attachment target vehicle is connected to the other end of each additional connection member 13. The retrofitting method for retrofitting the electrical equipment 29 to the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C via the additional connecting member 13 may be any method that can be connected to the sub-harness, such as “pressure welding”, “adhesion”, and “welding”. Good. In this embodiment, the case where the additional connection member 13 is branched and connected to the power line 23, the communication line 25, and the ground line 27 of the sub-harnesses 11 </ b> B and 11 </ b> C by a harness branch connection mechanism 31 described later will be described as an example.

  As shown in FIGS. 1-3, the manufacturing method of the wire harness 1 which concerns on this embodiment is the sub manufacture which manufactures three sub harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C containing the communication wire 25, the power wire 23, and the earth wire 27. A step (see FIG. 3), a branch connection step (see FIG. 2) for branching and connecting one end of the additional connecting member 13 whose other end is connected to the electrical equipment 29 to the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C; A harness assembling step (see FIG. 1) for combining and integrating the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C.

  First, in the sub-manufacturing process, a plurality of electric wires including the communication line 25, the power supply line 23, and the ground line 27 are wired along a predetermined wiring path on the wiring board, and connectors a1 and a2 are connected to the ends. , B1, b2, c1, c2, etc. are connected, or the electric wire bundle is covered with an insulating tape or a corrugated tube, and the desired sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, 11C are respectively manufactured (see FIGS. 2 and 3). .

Next, in the branch connection process, for example, one end of the additional connection member 13 whose other end is connected to the optional electrical equipment 29 is retrofitted to the communication line 25, the power supply line 23, and the ground line 27 of the subharnesses 11 </ b> B and 11 </ b> C. Branch connection (see FIG. 2).
At this time, in the method for manufacturing the wire harness according to the present embodiment, one end of the additional connection member 13 is branched and connected to an arbitrary position of the sub harnesses 11B and 11C by the harness branch connection mechanism 31.
As shown in FIG. 4, the harness branch connection mechanism 31 of the present embodiment includes a pressure contact portion 33 that is connected to the conductor of the additional connection member 13 and is pressure-connected to the conductors of the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C. The pressure contact portion 33 is configured by erecting a plurality of pressure contact blades 35, for example, and is connected to a predetermined circuit on the circuit board 37. The circuit board 37 is accommodated in a case made of insulating resin constituted by an upper case 39 and a lower case 41. The upper case 39 and the lower case 41 are connected so as to be openable and closable by, for example, a thin hinge (not shown).

The harness branch connection mechanism 31 sandwiches the power line 23, the communication line 25, and the ground line 27 in the sub-harnesses 11 </ b> B and 11 </ b> C with the upper case 39 and the lower case 41, so that the insulation coating of each line is cut by the press contact blade 35. The pressure contact portion 33 is pressure-connected to the conductor. The harness branch connection mechanism 31 that sandwiches the power line 23, the communication line 25, and the ground line 27 in the sub harnesses 11B and 11C is locked at the arbitrary positions of the sub harnesses 11B and 11C by locking the upper case 39 and the lower case 41. Fixed.
That is, according to the method for manufacturing the wire harness according to the present embodiment, the connection between the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C and the electrical equipment 29 can be simply performed by simply attaching the harness branch connection mechanism 31 to any position of the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C. Complete. In addition, when the ground wire of the electrical equipment 29 is body-grounded, the branch connection by the additional connection member 13 of the ground wire 27 in the sub harnesses 11B and 11C becomes unnecessary.

Further, the additional connection member 13 according to the present embodiment is provided with a harness branch connection mechanism 31 for branch connection to the power line 23, the communication line 25, and the ground line 27 in the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C at one end. A device connection mechanism 61 for connecting to the device 29 is provided at the other end. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5A, the additional connecting member 13 includes an electric wire 55, a subharness side connector 47 connected to the harness branch connection mechanism 31 at the subharness side end of the electric wire 55, and an electric wire. 55 has a device-side connector 51 connected to the electrical device 29 at the electrical device side end. The additional connection member 13 is connected to a device connection mechanism 61 configured with the device-side connector 51 together with the connector 63 provided in the electrical equipment 29, and the sub-harness-side connector 47 is a board-mounted connector of the harness branch connection mechanism 31. 43.
That is, the additional connection member 13 of the present embodiment can connect the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C and the electrical equipment 29 via the electric wire 55 having a desired length, and therefore is mounted according to the position of the electrical equipment 29. Can be obtained, and high versatility can be obtained.

In addition, the form of the additional connection member which concerns on this invention is not limited to the additional connection member 13 of the said embodiment, A various form can be taken.
For example, in the additional connection member 13A shown in FIG. 5B, the sub-harness side end of the electric wire 55 is directly connected to the pressure contact portion 33 of the harness branch connection mechanism 31, and the device-side connector 51 is the connector of the electrical equipment 29. 63 is connected to the connector.
Further, in the additional connecting member 13B shown in FIG. 5C, the sub-harness side end of the electric wire 55 is directly connected to the pressure contact portion 33 of the harness branch connection mechanism 31, and the electric equipment side end of the electric wire 55 is It is directly connected to the circuit of the electrical equipment 29 and is configured integrally with the electrical equipment 29. Of course, the sub-harness side connector 47 provided at the sub-harness side end of the electric wire 55 may be connected to the board mounting connector 43 of the harness branch connection mechanism 31 (see FIG. 5A).

  A branch connector 79 is connected between the additional connecting member 13 </ b> C shown in FIG. 6 and the electrical equipment 29. In this additional connection member 13 </ b> C, a branch connector 79 is coupled to the device-side connector 51. The branch connector 79 is provided with a plurality of (four in the illustrated example) coupling portions. The device side connector 51 of the electric wire 55 is coupled to the first coupling portion 83 of the branch connector 79. The connector 63 of the electrical equipment 29 is coupled to the second coupling portion 85 of the branch connector 79. The connector 86 of the additional harness 89 is coupled to the third coupling portion 87 of the branch connector 79. Therefore, the branch connector 79 can branch-connect other electrical equipment 29 via the connector 88 of the additional harness 89 in addition to the electrical equipment 29. Of course, the electric wire 55 in the additional connecting member 13C described above is configured such that the sub-harness side end is directly connected to the pressure contact portion 33 of the harness branch connection mechanism 31 and the electrical equipment side end is directly connected to the circuit of the branch connector 79. It can also be.

In addition, the electric wire 55 in the additional connection members 13 and 13A to 13C described above has a function of the electric wire depending on the type of the electrical equipment 29 (whether or not an electronic control unit is provided). For example, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, when the electrical equipment 29 having an electronic control unit (not shown) is provided at the electrical equipment side end of the electrical wire 55, the electrical wire 55 communicates with the power supply line 23 </ b> A. It is constituted by a line 25A and a ground line 27A.
Of course, the branch connection step is omitted for the sub-harness 11A that does not require the optional electrical equipment 29 to be connected.

And in the last harness assembly process, the wire harness 1 is manufactured by combining and integrating the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C manufactured separately (see FIG. 1).
Furthermore, the wire harness 1 is assembled with a protective member such as a protector, a joint box, and the like.

Next, the effect | action of the manufacturing method of the wire harness 1 which has said structure is demonstrated.
In the method for manufacturing the wire harness 1 according to this embodiment, the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C of the wire harness 1 that are commonly attached to a plurality of attachment target vehicles are shared, and the electrical equipment that is attached to the attachment target vehicle. 29 is retrofitted through the additional connection member 13 (13A to 13C) whose one end is branched and connected to the power line 23, the communication line 25, the signal line, and the ground line 27 in the sub harnesses 11B and 11C. Therefore, the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C do not have discarded components.
Furthermore, since the additional connecting member 13 is branched and connected to each of the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C according to the number of electrical devices 29 attached to the attachment target vehicle, the entire wiring harness 1 is discarded. There are no components.

  Further, in the conventional method for manufacturing a wire harness, the number of optional electrical equipment has increased, and the part number of the entire wire harness has increased with the number of combinations to which the optional electrical equipment can be attached. On the other hand, in the manufacturing method of the wire harness 1 of this embodiment, it is only necessary to secure the part numbers of the additional connecting members 13 (13A to 13C) corresponding to the optional electrical equipment 29. Thereby, management of manufactured parts becomes easy, and reduction of wire harness manufacturing cost can be aimed at.

  Moreover, in the manufacturing method of the wire harness 1 of this embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the additional connection member 13 which connects the subharnesses 11B and 11C and the electrical equipment 29 is connected to the subharnesses 11B and 11C at the connection portion. Branch connection is made by the branch connection mechanism 31. The harness branch connection mechanism 31 is attached to the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C so that an insulating covering portion that covers the conductors of the power line 23, the communication line 25, the signal line, and the ground line 27 in the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C is provided. The pressure contact portion 33 is cut and the pressure contact portion 33 is connected to the conductor. Therefore, the connection between the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C and the electrical equipment 29 is simply completed simply by attaching the harness branch connection mechanism 31 to the sub-harnesses 11B and 11C.

  Therefore, according to the method for manufacturing the wire harness 1 according to the present embodiment, the wire harness 1 can be made common in product number and the discard of the wire harness 1 can be eliminated.

Here, the features of the embodiment of the method of manufacturing the wire harness according to the present invention described above are briefly summarized and listed below.
[1] Sub-manufacturing process for manufacturing a plurality of sub-harnesses (11A, 11B, 11C) including at least one of the communication line (25), the power supply line (23), the signal line, and the ground line (27). When,
A branch connection step of branch connecting one end of the additional connection member (13) whose other end is connected to the electrical equipment (29) with respect to the at least one sub-harness (11B, 11C);
A harness assembly step of combining and integrating a plurality of the sub-harnesses (11A, 11B, 11C);
A method of manufacturing a wire harness (1), comprising:
[2] A method of manufacturing the wire harness (1) having the configuration of [1],
In the branch connection step, a harness branch connection mechanism (31) for press-connecting to at least one of the communication line (25), the power line (23), the signal line, and the ground line (27). The method of manufacturing the wire harness (1), characterized in that one end of the additional connection member (13) is branched and connected to the sub-harness (11B, 11C) afterward.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Wire harness 11A, 11B, 11C ... Subharness 13 ... Additional connection member 23 ... Power supply line 25 ... Communication line 27 ... Ground wire 29 ... Electrical equipment 31 ... Harness branch connection mechanism

Claims (1)

A sub-manufacturing process for manufacturing a plurality of sub-harnesses including at least one of a communication line, a power line, a signal line, and a ground line;
A branch connection step of branching and connecting one end of the additional connection member, the other end of which is connected to the electrical equipment with respect to at least one of the sub-harnesses;
A harness assembly step of combining and integrating a plurality of the sub-harnesses;
Equipped with a,
One end of the additional connection member is provided with a harness branch connection mechanism for press-connecting to at least one of the communication line, the power line, the signal line, and the ground line,
The harness branch connection mechanism includes a case configured by an upper case and a lower case that are connected to each other by a hinge so as to be opened and closed, and a pressure contact portion that is accommodated in the case and connected to one end of the additional connection member. ,
In the branch connection step, the press contact portion is press-connected to the conductor by sandwiching the conductor of the sub-harness between the upper case and the lower case .

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