JPH0254603B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A. Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a harness, and more specifically, to a method of manufacturing a harness for connecting pressure-contact type connectors.

B. Prior Art Conventionally, various wiring harnesses have been used to transfer signals and power within the housing of electrical equipment. Conventionally, crimp-type connectors using pressure-contact type connectors have been the mainstream connectors used in harnesses that interconnect electrical components within the housings of these electrical devices. A crimp-type connector is a round wire, that is, a core wire of an electric wire with the end of the insulated wire removed, and a crimp barrel provided on a crimp-type connector is crimped to secure the wire and connector. However, it is a connector assembled by inserting a wired crimp connector into a separately provided insulating housing, and is a type of connector that is connected to another connector (in most cases, a plug-type connector). To explain how to manufacture a wiring harness using this crimp-type connector, first cut long insulated wires to the length necessary to connect each electrical component, and then The coating on both ends is stripped off, and then crimp-type connectors are connected to both ends using the crimping process described above for each wire (in most cases, this step is not done with an automatic machine). Depending on the type and number of single wires required for a particular harness, a large number of single wire elements consisting of wires of different lengths with crimp-type connectors connected at both ends are produced, and these single wire elements are Temporarily store the element. After that, according to the length of these single wire elements and the color coding of the coating, both ends of the plurality of single wire elements are aligned to form one group of wires, and such wire groups are arranged in a predetermined positional relationship, A harness assembly is created in which multiple connectors are connected to one harness by bundling them together into a larger wire harness and inserting crimp-type connectors into the plastic housing. It will be done. Typically, after completing a harness assembly, a wiring test is performed on the entire harness, including the wired connectors.

On the other hand, there is a batch (multi) connection type connector in contrast to the crimp type connector described above. Conventionally, a typical example of this type of connector is a pressure contact connector as described below. Displacement connectors have traditionally been commonly used with flat cables to make electrical connections from a number of connectors or terminals in one location to the same number of connectors or terminals in separate locations. There is. As is well known, a flat cable has constant spacing between conductors, that is, a constant pitch between the conductors, and is made in the form of an integral ribbon by fixing the conductors side by side with an insulator.

As shown in FIG. 3, the insulation displacement connector 30 is
The upper end of the connector is formed into a Y-shaped sharp blade 1
A flat cable (not shown) is press-fitted into the pressure-contact type connector 31 of the series using the lid of the connector housing 32 or a jig (not shown), and the insulation surrounding the conductor is cut. , connector 31 and electric wire 42
The electrical connection with the core wire 33 can be made all at once with a single touch. In this way, by cutting the insulation coating of the flat cable with the Y-shaped tip of the pressure welding connector 31 and pinching the core wire of the flat cable with the U-slot 35 at the base of the Y-shape,
Such a pressure welding connector 31 for making an electrical connection is well known, and various kinds of pressure welding connectors incorporating such a pressure welding connector are commercially available, but in this specification, these connectors will be collectively referred to. It is called a pressure welding connector. In the example of the insulation displacement connector 30 shown in FIG. 3, the U slots 35 of the insulation displacement connector 31 are in one row, so the pitch of the U slots is the same as the pitch of the insulation displacement connector 30.

C Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional production of harnesses used in connectors using the crimp-type connectors described above, the harnesses are assembled mainly by hand, so there is a high possibility of wiring errors in the harnesses. There is a problem with efficiency and work efficiency.

On the other hand, the flat cable that connects the above-mentioned insulation displacement connectors has a constant spacing between the conductors, that is, the core wire pitch and core wire thickness, and is made as a long cable integrated into a ribbon shape with an insulating material. Therefore, there are limitations in the manner of use, and it is impossible to connect a pair of pressure welding connectors with different pitches to each other. In addition, flat cables have the disadvantage of being more expensive than round cables.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to make electrical connections that can be inserted and removed between electrical components by making extensive use of various types of pressure-contact connectors, instead of using a harness that primarily uses crimp-type connectors. To provide a method for manufacturing a new harness that can further simplify or automate the connection work between electrical parts, prevent wiring mistakes, improve work efficiency, and save labor. There is a particular thing.

D. Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is directed to a method of manufacturing a novel harness consisting of a single coated wire, which has advantages over conventional flat cable connection methods. The harness manufacturing method of the present invention involves laying out in advance the specifications of a plurality of pairs of insulation displacement connectors used to connect a plurality of electrical components and various distances between electrical components to be interconnected. Therefore, after designing the thickness, length, and core pitch of the wires included in each of the plurality of wire groups constituting the harness for each pressure welding connector pair, one end of the plurality of wire groups is designed. , the wires are fixed in parallel at a predetermined pitch in a first position, the length of the wires is determined according to the predetermined number of wire groups, and the other end of the plurality of wire groups is placed in a second position. After fixing the wires side by side at a predetermined pitch and fixing the wire group at the intermediate portion between the first and second positions, both ends of the wire group are integrally fixed to form the first and second wires. An integrated harness is formed by forming an end fixing part and integrally fixing a group of electric wires in an intermediate part to form an intermediate fixing part, and then,
At the boundary of each wire group, in order to separate into a plurality of pressure-welding fixing parts on both sides of the intermediate fixing part,
The method includes a step of tearing the first and second wire end fixing portions along the core wire direction.

E. Examples Before describing examples of the harness manufacturing method of the present invention, a novel harness manufactured by the manufacturing method of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway view showing a harness manufactured by applying the manufacturing method of the present invention. The illustrated harness is
This figure shows a harness made up of a group of many coated wires (hereinafter referred to as electric wires) for interconnecting many electrical components that are arranged in isolation from each other. The harness is connected to the insulation displacement connector of the insulation displacement connector, as explained below with reference to FIG.
It is fitted with a connector (either male or female) provided separately on the electrical components to complete the electrical connection between the electrical components. In the harness shown in FIG. 1, the two wire groups 13 including the wire ends represent the wire groups to be connected to the insulation displacement connector for the two-terminal electric component "A" (FIG. 2); The two wire groups 13', including the ends of the same wire, are connected to another electrical component "B" having a two-terminal insulation displacement connector, which is separate from the component "A", via a harness. It shows a group of wires for connection. That is,
In FIG. 1, wire group 13 is shown as one wire end of a juxtaposed wire group on one side of the harness, and wire group 13' is shown as the same wire group juxtaposed on the other side of the harness. shown as the other wire end.

Similarly, a group of six electric wires 14 including the ends of the electric wires
is a group of wires on one side of the harness that are arranged side by side at a predetermined pitch, and is a part of the harness that is connected to a 6-pole insulation displacement connector that makes electrical connection with electrical component "C". On the other hand, a wire group 14'a including the end portions of four wires in the wire group 14 constitutes one wire group that is arranged side by side at a predetermined pitch on the other side of the harness. It is a part of the harness that is connected to the insulation displacement connector of the "D" electrical component that is connected to the component. A wire group 14'b including the ends of two wires in the wire group 14 constitutes another wire group on the other side of the harness, and is designated by "C".
It is away from any parts and “D” parts,
This is the part of the harness that connects to the insulation displacement connector for the "E" electrical component, which makes the electrical connection to the "C" component. To put this structure in other words, in Figure 2,
Independent wire group 14 belonging to one side of the harness
The harness is divided into two independent wire groups having different lengths on the other side of the harness, and has two wire groups 14'a and 14'b. Generally speaking, the structure of harnesses made in accordance with the present invention is such that a single group of wires at one end of the harness has a plurality of wires with a separate group of wire ends at the other end of the harness. This means that it can contain structures that separate into groups.

The part indicated by the reference numeral 12 (including those with subscripts) indicates a fixed part in which the ends of the wires are integrally fixed to the ends of the respective wire groups by, for example, lamination processing, and in this specification, this is not used. is called the pressure welding fixing part. In other words, the crimping fixing part means a part in which the ends of the number of electric wires necessary to connect to the crimping connector are arranged side by side at a predetermined pitch and fixed together, and It will be understood that the core pitch of the wire is the same as the pitch of the insulation displacement connector to be assembled and connected to the associated insulation displacement connector. If the fixing process is applied to the vicinity of the end of the electric wire 42, as in the case of the press-fitting fixing part 34 shown in FIG. At this time, the possibility of poor contact between the connector 31 and the core wire 33 of the electric wire 42 can be reduced.

The wire groups 16 and 16' are similar to the wire groups described above,
They are shown as groups of wires on either side of a harness for interconnecting separate electrical components. At the other end of the harness, the wire group 16'a differs from the wire group 16'b in that it is not laminated. However, in the illustrated harness, most of the wire groups are provided with press-fitting fixing parts that are laminated, such as the press-fitting fixing parts 12f for the wire group 17', etc. Caution is required.

The fixed part indicated by reference numeral 11 is an intermediate fixed part that is provided in the middle part of the harness, preferably approximately halfway between the shortest left end and the shortest right end of the ends of the electric wires constituting the harness, and fixes the entire electric wire. and is shown as laminated. It is necessary to pay attention to the important requirement that the intermediate fixing portion be fixed at an intermediate position through which all the electric wires forming the harness pass. However, if the entire harness is long, two or more intermediate fixing portions 11 may be provided. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the intermediate fixing portion 11 shows a mode in which all the wires are closely arranged in parallel on one plane, but if there are many wires composing the harness, this portion may be compacted. For this purpose, the wires may be stacked and fixed together.

In the above explanation, in order to form the intermediate fixing part and the pressure bonding part, it is explained that the wire is fixed by laminating process. Thermal welding method, in which the insulation coatings are directly melted and fixed to each other without the use of a Therefore, a method of physically adhering may be used, and it should be noted that the method of forming the adhering portion under the present invention is not limited to the method using lamination processing.

The wire groups 17', 17a, 17b, 17c are
They have the same relationship as the wire groups 14 and 14', 16 and 16'b, etc. described above, and form a wire end group at the end of the harness, which is laminated to connect to the insulation displacement connector. A pressure welding fixing portion is provided. However,
As will be described later, even if the spacing between the core wires of the electric wires included in the pressure-welding fixing parts, that is, the core wire pitch, is not the same throughout all the pressure-welding fixing parts, the features of the present invention that can be applied favorably should be noted. It is necessary to aim at

The harness having the structure as described above is used for connecting electrical components in the housing of an electrical device via a pressure welding connector, but the connection mode is similar to that of the electrical components and pressure welding connector shown in Fig. 2. This is illustrated by the layout of the arrangement. Continuing the description of the harness manufactured according to one embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIG. ), the pressure welding fixing portion 12a of the wire group 13 is
In this example, two electric wires are fixed by lamination with a core wire pitch of 2.5 mm, and this pressure welding fixed part 12a is pressure welded to the pressure welding connector for component "A", and this pressure welding connector is connected to the pressure welding connector for component "A". By fitting with the connector, connection to another component, that is, component "B" is established via the harness. On the other hand, at the other end of the harness having the wire group 13' corresponding to the pressure welding fixing part 12a,
The pitch (e.g. 1.6 mm pitch) and number of pins (2
A wire group 13' consisting of two wires is fixed to form a pressure bonding fixing portion 12d with a core wire pitch of 1.6 mm so as to fit the wire group 13'. A pressure welding connector with a pitch of 1.6 mm is connected to this pressure welding fixing portion 12d.
By fitting this two-pole pressure contact connector with the connector provided on component "B", the connection between electrical components "A" and "B" via the harness is completed.

The wire group 14 belonging to one end of the harness is 6
The pressure welding connector for component "C" (for example, 6 pins with a pitch of 1.6 mm) is connected to the pressure welding fixing part 1b arranged in parallel with the core wire pitch corresponding to the pitch of the pressure welding connector of electrical component "C" which has a pressure welding connector of 1.6 mm. ) is connected and mated with the connector of part "C", and an electrical connection is made through the harness. To explain the wire group 14'a that belongs to the other side of the harness and corresponds to the wire group 14, it has a core wire pitch of, for example, 2.5 mm pitch, which is the same size as the pitch of the insulation displacement connector for the 4-pole component "D". The wire group 14'a arranged in parallel has a pressure welding fixing part 12e.
is provided, and the pressure welding fixing part 12e is "D"
Part “D” is connected to the insulation displacement connector for
mate with the connector to complete the connection. Similarly,
In order to mate with the connector of component "E" and make an electrical connection via the harness, a pressure welding fixing part for the wire group 14'b is formed which is equivalent to the number of poles and pitch of the connector of component "E". The fixing part for pressure welding is the first
In the figure, it is indicated by the reference numeral 12, which relates to wire group 14'b.

Similarly, wire group 1 belonging to one side of the harness
5, 16, 17a, 17b, 17c, etc., and the wire groups 16'b, 17', etc. corresponding to the above wire groups belonging to the other side of the harness are pressure-connected to the ends of these wire groups. The press-fitting fixing portion 12 is formed in accordance with the number of poles and pitch specifications of the connector.

As already explained, the reason why the wire group 16'a is not laminated is that the wire group 16'a
This is because it is necessary to manually crimp the crimp-type connectors to the ends of the wires, and this was done to make this work easier, but even if those ends are laminated, they cannot be connected to the crimp-type connectors. Of course it is possible to obtain it.

By using a pressure welding connector for a harness with the structure described above, it is possible to simplify the attachment of the connector to the harness, prevent incorrect wiring, and easily incorporate connectors of different pitches into the same harness. It will be appreciated that a new harness is provided that can be used.

The manufacturing method of the present invention for manufacturing this novel harness will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a manufacturing apparatus for explaining the above-mentioned harness manufacturing method, and a reel around which a long electric wire 42 is wound, that is, an electric wire storage section 41 is shown on the left side of the drawing. To explain the operation of this manufacturing device, first, a grip (not shown) that grasps one end of the wire is used to move the required number of wires from a number of reels to the wire holding part 43, and the end of the wire is Align the parts in parallel and pull them out. The wire holding section 43 is a device for arranging and fixing the drawn out wires at pitches corresponding to the pitches of the pressure-welding connectors to be pressure-welded. The wire arrangement unit 44 is a device that feeds out the drawn out wires at predetermined intervals. Similarly to the wire holding section 43, the wire arrangement section 44 also includes means for arranging each wire at a core wire pitch equal to the pitch of the pressure welding connector to be connected, that is, a pitch setting means (not shown). There is. Wire juxtaposition part 4
Reference numeral 5 denotes a device that is located between the wire arrangement section 44 and the wire holding section 43 and arranges the drawn out wires in parallel at a predetermined pitch as described above. Arranging the sheaths of the electric wires juxtaposed in the wire juxtaposition portion 45 so as to juxtapose them closely helps to make the harness more compact. The above-mentioned devices, the wire holding section 43, the wire alignment section 44, the wire juxtaposition section 45, the pitch setting means, etc., can be manufactured in various ways using conventional techniques if the operation is explained. The explanation of the structure of is omitted. The parts indicated by reference numerals 46 and 47 are length-determined according to a predetermined number of wire groups in order to divide these many wires into different wire groups according to the length of the wires. This is a length determining device that performs this process, and will be explained in detail below.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of such a length determining device 46. Reference number 51 is wire arrangement section 4
4. A large number of electric wires are shown drawn out to the wire holding part 43 through the electric wire juxtaposition part 45. In order to simplify the drawing, each line 51 shown in the figure is shown as a single thick line, but it represents a wire group including a plurality of wires arranged perpendicularly to the plane of the paper, and each line 51 is shown as a single thick line. A group of electric wires is shown in a perspective view. Reference numeral 52 is a roller for smoothly moving the plurality of electric wires, and 53 is a rod device for determining the length of the electric wires. The rod device 53 is equipped with a pulley 64 or a hook portion at the end, and is a device that captures and draws a predetermined number of electric wires from the wire path. This is a device that can determine the length of the wires belonging to each wire group by controlling the amount of wires pulled in.

The operation of the length determining device 46 will be explained as follows.
While all the wires in the wire holding section provided on the right side of FIG. After loosening and operating the rod device 53 as described above, the wires passing through the wire juxtaposition section 45 and the wire arrangement section 44 are fixed again. In this way, by operating the necessary number of rod devices according to the predetermined number of wire groups, or by providing a process in which one rod device is used several times for each wire group, the length of time can be increased. It is easy to understand that groups of wires of different sizes can be created.

In this way, for a large number of electric wires whose one end is juxtaposed and held in the wire holding part 43,
A desired number of wire groups are made almost simultaneously by the length determining device 46, and the length determining process for the wire group belonging to the right side of the wire juxtaposition section 45 is completed. Next, all the electric wires passing through the electric wire arrangement part 45 are maintained at fixed positions, and the fixation of a predetermined electric wire among the electric wires passing through the electric wire arrangement part 44 is loosened. Next, in order to divide the electric wires between the electric wire juxtaposition section 45 and the electric wire arrangement section 44 into a plurality of electric wire groups, a second length determining device 47 having the same function as the already described length determining device 46 is provided.
make it work. After determining the length of this wire group, all the wires in the wire arrangement section 44 are fixed again. In many cases, the number of rod devices and the width of the active wheels of the length determining device 47 are usually different from those of the length determining device 46, but they are set to exactly the same conditions for the reasons described later. Sometimes it is done.

After completing the length determination process for the entire wire,
The ends of the wire groups that are juxtaposed and fixed to the wire holding part 43 and the wire arrangement part 44 are fixed by laminating treatment, etc., and in order to integrate all the wires, the entire wire passing through the wire juxtaposition part is fixed. Processing is performed to form an intermediate anchoring portion. The fixing process of the wire holding part and the wire arrangement part is normally performed on almost all of the large number of wires arranged in parallel in the pitch setting part. It will be understood that the fixing treatment may not be applied to electric wires used in After this process, all the electric wires arranged in parallel in the electric wire arrangement section 44 are cut in a direction perpendicular to the core wire.
It is obvious that this cutting process may be performed after determining the length of the electric wire and before the fixing process.

In the above-mentioned fixing process performed by the wire holding part 43 and the wire arrangement part 44, for example, in the case of the harness shown in FIG. …
...12c is integrated and fixed, and pressure bonding fixing parts 12d, 12e...1 on the left side thereof
2f is also integrated and fixed in the same way, so in order to make these into independent pressure-welding fixing parts, the pressure-welding fixing parts 12 at both ends of the harness are split parallel to the core wire at the boundary between the wire groups. cut off In this way, one harness having pressure-welding fixing portions according to the length of the wire group as shown in FIG. 1 is provided.

As described above, the ends of the multiple electric wires cut in the wire arrangement section 44 are pulled out to the wire holding section 43 by the grip, and the above-described process is repeated. Although the length determining device in FIG. 5 has been described as having a plurality of rod devices 53, the number of rod devices can be reduced by performing the length determining process multiple times. Also, as already mentioned, when the wire is long, it is possible to use an intermediate processing stage with two or more wire juxtaposition sections 45, which are obvious changes for those skilled in the art, so no further explanation will be given. Omitted. Furthermore, in the apparatus shown in FIG. 4, the conditions of the length determining devices 46 and 47 are set to be exactly the same to create a left-right symmetrical harness, and then the intermediate fixing part integrated with the wire juxtaposition part 45 is made. If cut at right angles to the wire, a harness with a central control side and a load side can be created (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-94704).
It is possible to make two or more separate pressure welding fixing parts at once, and to connect two or more separate pressure welding fixing parts to the same pressure welding connector with one touch, you can perform the fixing process again later to create a more complicated It is also possible to construct a harness.

F. Effects of the Invention The harness manufacturing method of the present invention has the advantages of a connection method using a flat cable that can easily interconnect a pair of pressure welding connectors with different pitches, and can be connected all at once, and a single wire. It is possible to provide a compact harness that has the combined advantages of the above connection method. In addition,
As shown in Figure 2, complex harnesses can be manufactured by determining the physical mutual arrangement of electrical components and the number of poles, pitch, and wire thickness of the insulation displacement connectors used for those components. But it can be easily automated.

Additionally, conventional harness manufacturing typically requires a large amount of space, including numerous shelves to store wires with crimp connectors that are color-coded by length or type of connector. In the present invention, this is not necessary, and inventory management of harness parts can be easily performed. Further, with the harness manufactured according to the present invention, checking the wiring is much easier than in the past, preventing erroneous wiring and saving labor in manufacturing the harness and connector assembly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway plan view of an example of a harness manufactured by applying the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a partially cut-away view showing how the harness manufactured by the present invention is used, and FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway view showing a pressure welding fixing portion being pressure-welded to a pressure-welding connector shown with a portion omitted. FIG. 4 is a diagram schematically showing a manufacturing apparatus for explaining the manufacturing method of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a state in which the length of a large number of electric wires is determined according to the number of groups of predetermined electric wire groups. It is a figure for explaining the length determining device which performs. 11... Intermediate fixed part, 12, 12a, 12f, 3
4... Fixed part for pressure welding, 13, 13', 16'... Electric wire group, 30... Pressure contact connector, 31... Pressure contact connector, 4
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Electric wire storage part, 42... Electric wire, 43... Electric wire holding part, 44... Electric wire arrangement part, 45... Electric wire juxtaposition part, 4
6, 47... Length determining device for electric wire group, 53... Rod device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1 (a) A plurality of wire storage sections storing electric wires are arranged, and the end of each electric wire is transferred from each storage section to the first storage section.
(b) in the first processing stage, one end of the drawn out electric wires is juxtaposed and fixed at a predetermined pitch; (c) separated from the first processing stage; In order to arrange the electric wires passing through the intermediate processing stage at a predetermined pitch and to form a group of electric wires having different lengths between the first processing stage and the intermediate processing stage, (d) after performing the first length determination, fixing the wire in the intermediate processing stage; (e) The drawn out electric wires are arranged side by side at a predetermined pitch in a second processing stage that is separated from the intermediate processing stage, and the intermediate processing stage and the second processing stage are arranged side by side at a predetermined pitch.
(f) performing a second length determination on the electric wire according to a predetermined number of the electric wire groups in order to form electric wire groups having different lengths between the electric wires and the processing stage; (g) fixing the ends of the electric wires that are fixed in parallel to each other in the first and second processing stages; Forming integral first and second wire end fixing parts,
(h) fixing all the electric wires fixed to the intermediate processing stage to form an intermediate fixing section; The first and second wire fixing portions are placed at the boundary of the wire group,
A method of manufacturing a harness comprising: tearing parallel to the core wire;