JPH0445945B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a method of forming and cutting necessary as a pretreatment for attaching the terminal portion of a flat multicore cable to a connector or a printed circuit board.

[Conventional technology]

A method of processing conventional flat multi-core cable terminals using a batch processing machine will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6.

To process the terminals of a flat multicore cable, first, as shown in FIG. 4, the insulation coating (hereinafter referred to as jacket) 2 at the end of the flat multicore cable 1 is peeled off to expose the core wire 3. Reference numeral 2' indicates a peeled jacket, which has not been completely removed from the core wire 3. The core wire 3 exposed in this way is finally, for example, as shown in FIG.
It is shaped so that it can be distributed one by one into a straight signal line 5 and a bent ground line 6.
For this purpose, a batch processing machine 20 shown in FIG. 6 is used. That is, a table 17 is placed on a single-axis table 10 which is fixed to a base (not shown) and has a screw 11 having a step motor 12 at one end thereof, and is movable from side to side. A molding block is arranged so that the comb-shaped upper mold 14 and lower mold 13 are pressed. Further, a transmission type photoelectric sensor consisting of a light emitting element 15 and a light receiving element 16 is mounted at a distance l from the center of the molded block between the table 17 and the upper plate 18. The output of the light receiving element 16 is input to a counter 21, and the output of the counter 21 is connected to the step motor 12 for driving the single-axis table 10 via a pulse generator 22 and a drive control circuit 23.

On the other hand, a cable clamp 8 is attached to the pedestal 7 via a cylinder 9 across the single-axis table 10, and is configured to clamp the jackets 2, 2' at the end of the flat multicore cable 1. There is.

As shown in FIG. 4, the batch processing machine 20 thus constructed first peels off the jacket 2' at the end of the flat cable 1 to expose the core wire 3 and fix it to the cable clamp 8. The step motor 12 of the one-axis table 10 is driven to rotate the screw 11 to move the table 17 and move the molding block and the transmission type photo sensor consisting of a light emitting element 15 and a light receiving element 16 to the right. This movement is performed by turning on the counter 21 and moving the single-axis table 10 by l to align the center core wire 3 of the flat cable 1 with the centers of the upper and lower molds 13 and 14. When this center alignment is achieved, the upper mold 14 of the molding block is driven by a hydraulic device (not shown) or the like to lower it to the lower mold 13, and the mold 1
3 and 14 are closed so that the core wire 3 is connected to the signal wire 5.
and the ground wires 6, the signal wires 5 are kept straight, and the ground wires 6 are bent and processed and cut into predetermined dimensions at once. Next, the upper and lower molds 13 and 14 are opened and the counter 2
1 is reset, a signal is sent from the counter 21 to the pulse generator 22, and this output signal drives the step motor 12 of the single-axis table 10 via the drive control circuit 23 to move the table 17 of the forming block to the left. At the same time as returning to the original position, the cable clamp 8 that had fixed the flat multicore cable 1 is opened by operating the cylinder 9, and the series of flat multicore cables are terminated.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, molding using such a batch processing machine,
Even if the center of the flat multicore cable 1 is accurately aligned with the center of the mold in the cutting method, the core wire pitch error may occur between the three core wires of the flat multicore cable 1 due to cable manufacturing constraints. Therefore, if this accumulates, the core wires at both ends of the flat multicore cable 1 in the width direction will not necessarily fit properly on the mold with the correct dimensions, which may damage the core wire 3 during molding or cutting, or cause processing defects. It was causing a negative result. In addition, if the core wires are brought too close to each other for some reason before being formed or cut, a set of two core wires may be counted as one core wire, or conversely, vibrations during table movement may cause the core wires to become too close to each other. In some cases, the core wires were counted as two.

This invention was made with the purpose of eliminating these drawbacks, and it is possible to form a flat multicore cable without causing damage or molding defects even if the core wire of a flat multicore cable has a certain pitch error. The purpose is to enable cutting operations. Another object of the present invention is to provide a processing method in which when the core wire pitch error exceeds a certain value, the cable is automatically rejected to prevent defective products from being sent to the next process.

[Means and actions for solving problems]

Therefore, in this invention, the core wire is divided into a plurality of units consisting of a signal line and a ground line, and a mold corresponding to this unit is used, instead of performing batch processing using the comb-shaped upper and lower molding molds. The molding and cutting processes are repeated individually for each single unit. Then, using a microcomputer, the core wire pitch is calculated from the information obtained from the sensor, and flat multi-core cables with a mismatch in the number of core wires or whose core wire pitch exceeds a certain limit are rejected as defective products before processing. That's what I do.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, a method of forming and cutting a flat multicore cable terminal portion of the present invention using the forming and cutting device shown in FIG. 1 will be explained. The main difference from the method using the batch processing machine 20 shown in FIG. 6 explained in the above-mentioned conventional technique is that there is a comb-shaped batch molding in which there are as many upper and lower molds as there are core wires in the molding block; From the cutting molds 13 and 14, one signal line and 1 to 2
The main points are that the molds 31 and 32, which process each unit made of ground wires, have been replaced, and the counter that counted the number of core wires has been eliminated, and the sensor signals are now directly input to the microcomputer. . In addition, in terms of operation, with conventional cables, the upper and lower molds are aligned at the stage of detecting the position of the core wire in the center of the flat multicore cable, and processing is immediately started. In this method, the core wire pitch is sensed in advance over the entire width of the flat multicore cable, this information is temporarily stored in the microcomputer memory, and the number of core wires matches the specified value or the core wire pitch is formed The point is that we check whether it is within the possible range before processing.

Hereinafter, the same members shown in the prior art will be given the same reference numerals, and the processing machine 40 for each unit applied to the present invention will be explained. In FIG. 1, a movable table 17 is disposed on a single-axis table 10 having a ball screw 11, and on this table one signal line 5 and one or two ground lines 6 constituting a molded block are connected. An upper mold 31 and a lower mold 32 corresponding to the core wire unit are attached, and the upper mold 31 is arranged so as to be movable up and down by, for example, a plunger of a hydraulic device. and,
Light emitting elements 15 are provided at the ends of the table 17 and the upper plate 18.
An optical fiber type transmission sensor consisting of a light receiving element 16 and a light receiving element 16 is attached. Further, a cable clamp 8 is disposed on the pedestal 7 via a cylinder 9 so as to straddle the single-axis table 10. The lower plate 8a of the clamp 8 is raised by the operation of a cylinder 9 to clamp and fix the jackets 2 and 2' of the flat multicore cable 1. The light receiving element 16 of the photo sensor, the cable clamp 8 and the molded block are each connected to the arithmetic unit 3 of the microcomputer.
5, and the output of this arithmetic unit 35 is connected via a drive control circuit 36 to the step motor 12 that drives the single-axis table 10.

Next, a method of forming and cutting a flat multicore cable end portion using the unit processing machine 40 configured as described above will be explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the flat multicore cable 1 is
As shown in FIG. 4, the core wire 3 is exposed when the jacket 2 at the end portion is peeled off. The jacket 2' cut off at this time is left without being completely peeled off from the core wire 3 so as not to disturb the pitch of the core wire during molding and cutting. For the cable 1 constructed in this way, the cylinder 9 is released and the lower plate 8a of the cable clamp 8 is lowered, and the jackets 2 and 2' of the cable terminals are inserted and the cylinder 9 is actuated to raise the lower plate 8a. and fix it. Subsequently, the step motor 12 is driven to return the single-axis table 10 to its origin. Next, step motor 1 again
The flat cable 1 fixed to the cable clamp 8 is driven by a fiber-type transmission sensor consisting of a light-emitting element 15 and a light-receiving element 16 arranged at the end of the table 17. The core wire pitch of the exposed core wire 3 is measured. This measured value is temporarily stored in the arithmetic unit 35 of the microcomputer. Then, calculations are performed to determine whether the number of core wires matches the measured number and whether all core wire pitches are within the specified range.

If the result of this calculation is cleared, a signal is output from the calculation device 35 to the drive control circuit 36 that drives the step motor 12. This signal is output by calculating the feed amount of the single-axis table 10 by adding the sensed core wire pitch. Next, the step motor 12 is operated via the drive control circuit 36 to control one of the flat multicore cables 1 fixed to the cable clamp 8.
The upper and lower molds 31 and 32 are aligned with the core line at the end. Then, while the uniaxial table 10 is being fed, the forming and cutting process is repeated for each unit over the entire width of the flat multicore cable 1. At this time, the opening/closing of the upper and lower molds 31, 32 and the opening/closing of the cable clamp 8 are also performed by a microcomputer-based computing device 35.
This is done using the output from

In addition, in sensing by the calculation device 35, if the number of core wires does not match the specified number or if the core wire pitch is not manufactured within the specification, the output of the calculation device 35 is output from a control panel provided on an operation panel (not shown) or the like. The signals are sent to signal lights and sounders to issue an alarm to notify that there is a malfunction.

When sensing is performed by the photo sensor using the light emitting element 15 and the light receiving element 16, a disturbed sensing waveform due to vibrations of the apparatus or the like as shown in FIG. 2A is input. Then, the original core wire 3 is changed to 2
When using a conventional counter, it would end up counting as 12 books when it should have been counted as a book. In this example, first, the missing portions of the detection signal 37 of 2 bits or less are filled in, and then the second
Perform waveform shaping as shown in Figure B, and further perform 6
Detection signals smaller than one bit are deleted, and a completely corrected sensing waveform as shown in FIG. 2C is finally obtained. Therefore, the sensing operation is performed at the rising point 38 and the falling point 39 of the signal.
The core wire position can be determined reliably. Therefore, the reliability of the sensing operation is significantly improved compared to that using a conventional counter.

In the above example, an optical fiber-type transmission photoelectric sensor is used as the sensor, and the mold is moved by a 1-axis table. However, a 1-dimensional sensor such as a CCD camera is used as the sensor. Alternatively, the same effect can be obtained by keeping the upper and lower molds and sensors fixed and moving the cable clamp. In addition, although we have explained an example in which a combination of a ball screw and a step motor is used to feed a single-axis table, a DC servo motor or AC servo motor may also be used as long as a constant feed can be achieved by sending pulses. Of course, a linear pulse motor may also be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, conventional comb-shaped bulk molding dies often caused scratches and processing defects due to constraints in the manufacturing of flat multicore cables, but instead of processing each unit individually. According to the present invention, even a flat multicore cable with a relatively large core wire pitch error can be formed and cut without being damaged. This is because the mold positioning is performed for each signal line by measuring the core wire pitch in advance. Further, even if there is a core wire pitch error, processing can be carried out except when it is extremely large, and the yield can be significantly improved, and defective products can be prevented from being sent to the next process.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus used in the flat multicore cable forming and cutting method of the present invention, and Fig. 2 A, B, and C are waveforms for explaining the waveform shaping of the core pitch sensing waveform. Figure 3 is the first
FIG. 4 is a plan view of a flat multicore cable with the jacket of the terminal part partially peeled off before being formed and cut, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the present invention using the apparatus shown in the figure. FIG. 6, a perspective view of the flat multicore cable after cutting, is a configuration diagram of a conventional forming and cutting device. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Flat multicore cable, 10... Single-axis table, 12... Step motor, 15, 16... Light emitting element, light receiving element (sensor), 31, 32...
Upper mold, lower mold.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. (a) A step of measuring the core wire pitch of a flat multicore cable from which a portion of the insulation coating has been previously peeled off using a sensor fixed in a positional relationship with the mold; (b) A step of measuring the core wire pitch The amount of movement is calculated from the positional relationship between the mold and the flat multicore cable at the end of the measurement and the detected position of the first core wire, and the cable or mold is moved using a uniaxial table to align the core wire with this mold. Process, (c) Divide the core wire of the flat multicore cable into multiple units, and move the cable or mold while moving the unit based on the amount of movement calculated by a calculation device based on the core wire pitch measured in advance for each unit. A method for forming and cutting a terminal portion of a flat multicore cable, which comprises the steps of forming and cutting each time.