JP7481315B2 - Wire protection parts and wire harnesses - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a wire protection component and a wire harness.

Conventionally, wire harnesses mounted on vehicles are provided with wire protection parts that protect the electric wires from interference with surrounding components. The wire protection parts are equipped with exterior members such as corrugated tubes through which the electric wires are inserted. For example, this type of wire protection part and wire harness is disclosed in the following Patent Document 1. The wire harness of Patent Document 1 exposes the electric wires from between divided exterior members at the lower end position of the wiring path, and covers the exposed parts of the electric wires with a protector with drainage holes, thereby draining water that has entered the exterior member and protecting the exposed parts of the electric wires.

JP 2010-68666 A

However, conventional wire protection parts and wire harnesses have split exterior members to allow for water drainage, which increases the number of parts. Furthermore, conventional wire protection parts and wire harnesses require protectors to protect the wires that are exposed when the exterior members are split, which also increases the number of parts. Thus, conventional wire protection parts and wire harnesses may lead to higher costs due to the increased number of parts.

Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to provide a wire protection component and a wire harness that can prevent the rise in cost.

In order to achieve the above object, the wire protection component of the present invention comprises an exterior member that protects an electric wire from the inside, the exterior member having a tubular shape and a pipe section through which the electric wire is inserted into the pipe, and at least one set of protrusion groups that are a collection of a plurality of protrusions that protrude from an outer peripheral wall of the pipe section at the same position on the axis of the pipe section and communicate an internal space with the inside of the pipe section, at least one of the plurality of protrusions in the protrusion group has an opening that opens the internal space to the outside, and a fixing member that is assembled to the exterior member from the outside and attached to a vehicle, one of the plurality of protrusions in the protrusion group that has the opening is defined as a main protrusion, and the fixing member has an exposure opening that exposes the opening of the main protrusion to the outside and an insertion portion into which a protrusion in the protrusion group other than the main protrusion is inserted, and is attached to the vehicle in a state in which the opening of the main protrusion exposed from the exposure opening is open facing vertically downward .

In order to achieve the above object, a wire harness according to the present invention includes an electric wire and a wire protection component that protects the electric wire, the wire protection component includes an exterior member that protects the electric wire from the inside, the exterior member includes a tube portion formed in a tubular shape, through which the electric wire is inserted, and at least one set of projection groups that are a collection of a plurality of projections that protrude from an outer circumferential wall of the tube portion at the same position on an axial line of the tube portion and communicate an internal space with the inside of the tube portion, and at least one of the plurality of projections in the projection group communicates the internal space with the outside. the fixing member has an opening that opens to a portion of the exterior member, the fixing member being assembled to the exterior member from the outside and attached to a vehicle, and of the multiple protrusions in the protrusion group, one of the protrusions with the opening is a main protrusion, the fixing member has an exposure opening that exposes the opening of the main protrusion to the outside, and an insertion portion into which a protrusion in the protrusion group other than the main protrusion is inserted, and the fixing member is attached to the vehicle in a state in which the opening of the main protrusion exposed from the exposure opening is open facing vertically downward .

The wire protection component and wire harness according to the present invention can utilize the openings of the protrusions provided on the exterior member as drainage holes, so there is no need to divide the exterior member as in the past to drain water. This allows the wire protection component and wire harness to reduce the number of parts. Furthermore, the wire protection component and wire harness according to the present invention do not require a protector to protect the wires that become exposed when the exterior member is divided, as in the past. This also allows the wire protection component and wire harness to reduce the number of parts. In this way, the wire protection component and wire harness according to the present invention can reduce the number of parts, thereby preventing rising costs.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a wire protection component (exterior member) of an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the wire protection component (exterior member) of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 2, illustrating the projections before and after cutting. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a wiring path of the wire harness according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 2, and is an explanatory view illustrating the hinge-type fixing member. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the state of the protrusion before cutting in the cutting step, together with the hinge-type fixing member. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the state after cutting of the protrusion in the cutting step, together with the hinge-type fixing member. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX in FIG. 2, and is an explanatory view for explaining the split-type fixing member. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a step of cutting off the protrusion, together with a split-type fixing member.

Below, an embodiment of the wire protection component and wire harness according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

[Embodiment]
One embodiment of a wire protection component and a wire harness according to the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 9 .

Reference numeral 1 in Figs. 1 to 4 indicates the wire protection component of this embodiment. Reference numeral WH in Fig. 4 indicates the wire harness of this embodiment. The wire harness WH includes an electric wire We and a wire protection component 1 that protects the electric wire We. This wire harness WH is mounted on a vehicle AM and routed along a predetermined path (Fig. 4).

The wire protection component 1 includes at least an exterior member 10 that protects the wire We from the inside (FIGS. 1 to 9). In addition to the exterior member 10, the wire protection component 1 shown here includes a fixing member 20 that is assembled to the exterior member 10 from the outside and is attached to the vehicle AM (FIGS. 5 to 9).

The exterior member 10 is formed into a tubular shape using an insulating material such as synthetic resin. This exterior member 10 houses the electric wire We inside the tube, thereby protecting the electric wire We inside the tube from interference with surrounding components, etc.

The exterior member 10 is formed in a tubular shape and has a tubular section 11 through which the electric wire We is inserted (FIGS. 1 to 3). The tubular section 11 is formed in a tubular shape with its axis aligned with the wiring path. The tubular section 11 is also formed to have a straight tubular section 11a. The straight tubular section 11a is formed to have a straight tubular shape with smooth outer and inner circumferential walls.

The pipe section 11 also has a bent section (not shown) that connects the two crossed straight pipe sections, depending on the wiring path. The bent section may be a section that has been bent in advance into a shape that follows the wiring path. The bent section may also be a bendable flexible pipe section that can be bent along the wiring path. The flexible pipe section has flexibility that allows it to be bent, and is formed into a bellows shape like a corrugated tube. For example, the pipe section 11 shown here has multiple straight pipe sections 11a and at least one flexible pipe section.

The pipe section 11 shown here is formed in a circular pipe shape (Figs. 1 to 3). Also, the pipe section 11 in the figures shown here is an extracted straight pipe section 11a.

Furthermore, this exterior member 10 has at least one set of protrusions 12A, which is a collection of multiple protrusions 12 that protrude from the outer peripheral wall of the tube section 11 at the same position on the axis of the tube section 11 and connect the internal space to the inside of the tube section 11 (Figs. 1 to 3). The multiple protrusions 12 in this protrusion group 12A are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral wall of the tube section 11. Here, four protrusions 12 are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction.

The protrusion 12 is a cantilever with the outer wall side of the tube portion 11 as a fixed end, and is formed in a hollow shape with an internal space that communicates with the inside of the tube portion 11 (Figs. 1 to 3). This protrusion 12 has a cylinder axis that intersects with the axis of the tube portion 11, and is formed in a tubular shape with one end in the axial direction opening into the tube of the tube portion 11. The protrusion 12 shown here is formed in a cylindrical shape with a cylinder axis that is perpendicular to the axis of the tube portion 11.

Here, at least one of the multiple protrusions 12 in the protrusion group 12A has an opening 12a that opens the internal space to the outside (Figure 3). In this exterior member 10, the opening 12a of one of the protrusions 12 in the protrusion group 12A is used as a drainage hole, and water that has entered the pipe section 11 is discharged to the outside through the opening 12a. Therefore, this exterior member 10 is attached to, for example, the body of the vehicle AM with the opening 12a facing vertically downward. Furthermore, in this exterior member 10, the protrusion group 12A is provided at the lowest end of the wiring path in the pipe section 11. In the exterior member 10 shown here, a straight pipe section 11a is placed at the lowest end of the wiring path in the pipe section 11 (Figure 4), and the protrusion group 12A is provided on this straight pipe section 11a.

In the projection group 12A, all of the projections 12 may have openings 12a, or some of the projections 12 may have openings 12a and some do not. The projections 12 with openings 12a have openings 12a at the other end in the axial direction. The projections 12 without openings 12a have the other end closed in the axial direction. Here, one projection 12 with an opening 12a among the projections 12 in the projection group 12A is designated as the main projection 12d, and the opening 12a of this main projection 12d is used as a drain hole. In the projection group 12A shown here, only one of the four projections 12 has an opening 12a, and the projection 12 with the opening 12a is designated as the main projection 12d (FIG. 3).

In this exterior member 10, openings 12a are formed in the protrusions 12 by cutting at least the free end side of the protrusions 12 that do not have openings 12a with a blade (Figure 3). Therefore, the protrusions 12 that have openings 12a have cut surfaces 12b on the same plane as the openings 12a around the periphery of the openings 12a.

This exterior member 10 is fixed to the vehicle AM by attaching the fixing member 20 assembled from the outside to, for example, the vehicle body of the vehicle AM. The fixing member 20 is molded from an insulating material such as synthetic resin. This fixing member 20 may have only the function of fixing the exterior member 10 to the vehicle AM, or may have, in addition to this fixing function, a protective function as a protector that protects the electric wire We from the outside of the exterior member 10.

The fixing member 20 has an exposure opening 20a that exposes the opening 12a of the main protrusion 12d to the outside, and an insertion portion 20b into which a protrusion 12 other than the main protrusion 12d in the protrusion group 12A is inserted (FIGS. 5 and 8). The fixing member 20 is attached to the vehicle AM with the opening 12a of the main protrusion 12d exposed from the exposure opening 20a facing vertically downward. For example, the fixing member 20 has a fixed portion that is inserted and fixed into a through hole in the vehicle body (not shown).

The fixing member 20A shown in Figs. 5 to 7 has two semi-cylindrical storage sections 21a, 21a obtained by dividing a cylinder along the cylindrical axis, and a hinge section 21b provided between the two storage sections 21a, 21a. In this fixing member 20A, the two storage sections 21a, 21a can be rotated relatively around the axis of the rotation axis of the hinge section 21b. For example, in this fixing member 20A, the two storage sections 21a, 21a can be rotated relatively between the open state (Fig. 6) before being assembled to the exterior member 10 and the cylindrical closed state (Figs. 5 and 7) after being assembled to the exterior member 10. In the fixing member 20A shown here, the hinge section 21b is a living hinge, and the two storage sections 21a, 21a and the hinge section 21b form an integrated structure.

In this fixing member 20A, the two storage sections 21a, 21a are in a cantilevered state with the hinge section 21b side as the fixed end, and a semicircular notch 21c, 21c is formed at each free end of the two storage sections 21a, 21a (Figures 5 and 6). In this fixing member 20A, when the two storage sections 21a, 21a are in the closed state, a circular through hole is formed by the notch 21c, 21c at each free end, and this through hole is used as the exposure opening 20a.

In addition, in the fixing member 20A, one fitting portion 20b is provided for each of the two storage portions 21a, 21a. Furthermore, in the fixing member 20A, two divided portions 21d, 21d are provided that divide the fitting portion 20b into one storage portion 21a side and the other storage portion 21a side so that one fitting portion 20b is formed when the two storage portions 21a, 21a are in a closed state. The fitting portion 20b shown here is formed in a cylindrical shape with one end closed, and the protrusion portion 12 is arranged approximately concentrically. In addition, the two divided portions 21d, 21d are formed in a semi-cylindrical shape that divides the cylindrical fitting portion 20b in two, and when the two storage portions 21a, 21a are in a closed state, they come together to form one cylindrical fitting portion 20b.

The fixing member 20A is installed in the jig 100 in an open state (FIG. 6). The jig 100 has a first installation section 101 that houses one of the storage sections 21a, a second installation section 102 that houses the other storage section 21a, and a hinge section 103 provided between the first installation section 101 and the second installation section 102 (FIG. 6). The jig 100 can rotate the first installation section 101 and the second installation section 102 relatively around the axis of the rotation axis of the hinge section 103. The jig 100 rotates the first installation section 101 and the second installation section 102 relatively between an open state (FIG. 6) in which the fixing member 20A in an open state can be installed and a closed state (FIG. 7) in which the respective spaces of the first installation section 101 and the second installation section 102 are combined to form a single space.

In this jig 100, when the first installation section 101 and the second installation section 102 are in an open state, the two open storage sections 21a, 21a are housed in the first installation section 101 and the second installation section 102, respectively. In this jig 100, an exterior member 10 is placed on one of the storage sections 21a housed in the first installation section 101. In this jig 100, by relatively rotating the second installation section 102 together with the other storage section 21a from the open state to the closed state toward the first installation section 101, the two open storage sections 21a, 21a are closed, and the exterior member 10 is sandwiched between the two closed storage sections 21a, 21a.

Between the two storage sections 21a, 21a, a locking mechanism using a claw or the like is provided to keep them closed (not shown).

Here, the second installation section 102 is provided with a cutting blade 104 that cuts off the protrusion 12 that becomes the main protrusion 12d (FIGS. 6 and 7). In this jig 100, when the first installation section 101 and the second installation section 102 change from an open state to a closed state, the cutting blade 104 cuts off the protrusion 12. In addition, the second installation section 102 is provided with a disposal passage 105 that discards the cut protrusion 12 outside the jig 100 (FIGS. 6 and 7).

The fixing member 20B shown in FIG. 8 has a split structure in which a semi-cylindrical first storage portion 22a and a semi-cylindrical second storage portion 22b are assembled. This fixing member 20B forms a single cylindrical space by assembling the first storage portion 22a and the second storage portion 22b, and stores the exterior member 10 in the space, sandwiching the exterior member 10 between the first storage portion 22a and the second storage portion 22b.

In addition, in the fixing member 20B, the fitting portion 20b is divided into a divided portion 22c on the first housing portion 22a side and a divided portion 22d on the second housing portion 22b side so that a single fitting portion 20b is formed when the first housing portion 22a and the second housing portion 22b are assembled (Figure 8). These two divided portions 22c, 22d fit together to form a single fitting portion 20b when the first housing portion 22a and the second housing portion 22b are assembled. In the fixing member 20B, two sets of divided portions 22c, 22d are provided.

The first storage section 22a has a through hole that becomes the exposed opening 20a (FIG. 8). In this first storage section 22a, by storing the exterior member 10 in a semi-cylindrical space, the protrusion 12 that becomes the main protrusion 12d is inserted into the exposed opening 20a and then protrudes outward, and the other two protrusions 12 are fitted into the divisions 22c, 22c, respectively (FIGS. 8 and 9). This first storage section 22a is stored in advance in the space 111 of the jig 110. The exterior member 10 is stored in the first storage section 22a stored in the space 111. Although not shown, the jig 110 has a through hole that allows the protrusion 12 that becomes the main protrusion 12d to protrude outward. Here, the cutting blade 112 is moved relative to the jig 110, or the jig 110 is moved relative to the cutting blade 112, so that the protrusion 12 protruding from the through hole of the jig 110 is cut by the cutting blade 112.

After the protrusion 12 is cut off with the cutting blade 112, the second housing portion 22b is placed over the exterior member 10 and assembled to the first housing portion 22a (Figure 8). The second housing portion 22b is formed with a through hole 22e to avoid the protrusion 12 on the opposite side of the exterior member 10 from the main protrusion 12d.

As described above, the wire protection component 1 and wire harness WH of this embodiment can utilize the openings 12a of the protrusions 12 provided on the exterior member 10 as drainage holes, so there is no need to divide the exterior member 10 as in the past to drain water. This allows the wire protection component 1 and wire harness WH to reduce the number of parts. Furthermore, the wire protection component 1 and wire harness WH of this embodiment do not require a protector to protect the wires that are exposed when the exterior member is divided, as in the past. This also allows the wire protection component 1 and wire harness WH to reduce the number of parts. In this way, the wire protection component 1 and wire harness WH of this embodiment can reduce the number of parts, which helps prevent rising costs.

In addition, in conventional wire protection components and wire harnesses, the exterior members are divided, and the gaps can become points through which water or mud can enter from the outside. However, the wire protection component 1 and wire harness WH of this embodiment can reduce the number of points through which water or mud can enter, thereby preventing a decrease in the durability of the wires We inside.

In addition, the wire protection component 1 and wire harness WH of this embodiment are cut at the protrusions 12 while installed in the jigs 100 and 110, so the positional accuracy of the openings 12a of the main protrusions 12d after cutting can be ensured with a simple operation.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 electric wire protection component 10 exterior member 11 pipe section 11a straight pipe section 12 projection section 12A projection group 12a opening 12b cut surface 12d main projection section 20, 20A, 20B fixing member 20a exposure opening 20b fitting section We electric wire WH wire harness

Claims (6)

The electric wire is provided with an exterior member for protecting the electric wire from the inside.
the exterior member has a tube portion formed in a tubular shape, through which the electric wire is inserted, and at least one set of projection groups which are a collection of a plurality of projections which protrude from an outer peripheral wall of the tube portion at the same position on an axis line of the tube portion and communicate an internal space with the interior of the tube portion,
At least one of the plurality of protrusions in the protrusion group has an opening that opens the internal space to the outside,
a fixing member that is assembled to the exterior member from the outside and that is attached to a vehicle;
Among the plurality of protrusions in the protrusion group, one protrusion having the opening is defined as a main protrusion,
The fixing member has an exposure opening that exposes the opening of the main protrusion to the outside, and an insertion portion into which a protrusion other than the main protrusion in the group of protrusions is fitted, and the wire protection component is attached to the vehicle with the opening of the main protrusion exposed from the exposure opening facing vertically downward. the protrusion has a cylindrical axis intersecting an axis line of the tubular portion, and is formed in a cylindrical shape with one end in the cylindrical axis direction opening into the tube of the tubular portion,
the protrusion having the opening has the opening at the other end in the cylindrical axis direction,
The wire protection component according to claim 1 , wherein the protrusion having no opening closes the other end in the axial direction of the cylinder. The wire protection component according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the protrusion having the opening has a cut surface on the same plane as the opening at the periphery of the opening. The wire protection component according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the plurality of protrusions in the group of protrusions are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the outer peripheral wall of the tube portion. The wire protection component according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the tube portion has a plurality of straight tube portions formed in a straight tube shape and at least one flexible tube portion that can be bent. Electric wires and
A wire protection component for protecting the electric wire;
Equipped with
The wire protection component includes an exterior member that protects the wire from the inside,
the exterior member has a tube portion formed in a tubular shape, through which the electric wire is inserted, and at least one set of projection groups which are a collection of a plurality of projections which protrude from an outer peripheral wall of the tube portion at the same position on an axis line of the tube portion and communicate an internal space with the interior of the tube portion,
At least one of the plurality of protrusions in the protrusion group has an opening that opens the internal space to the outside,
a fixing member that is assembled to the exterior member from the outside and that is attached to a vehicle;
Among the plurality of protrusions in the protrusion group, one protrusion having the opening is defined as a main protrusion,
The fixing member has an exposure opening that exposes the opening of the main protrusion to the outside, and an insertion portion into which a protrusion other than the main protrusion in the protrusion group is inserted, and the wire harness is attached to the vehicle with the opening of the main protrusion exposed from the exposure opening facing vertically downward.

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