JPH0526311B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a cable joint protector used for insulating and mechanically protecting the joint of a flexible flat cable.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, flexible flat cables, in which a plurality of strip-like foil conductors are sandwiched and bonded between upper and lower synthetic resin films, are being used for electrical circuit wiring in automobiles and aircraft, for example. Various methods are used for joint processing and insulation processing when connecting pieces together.

For example, in automotive wiring harnesses, the joints are wrapped with tape, but as the number of wires increases, the joints become thicker, which impairs the flatness that is an advantage of flexible flat cables. In addition, in order to connect the foil conductors of flexible flat cables, conventionally terminals are sometimes connected to the foil conductors by methods such as crimping or soldering, but in either case the thickness of the joint increases. This creates the problem of

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, in order to maintain the advantage of the thinness of the flexible flat cable, it is desirable to join the foil conductors together by ultrasonic welding. but,
Since ultrasonic welding uses ultrasonic waves to weld conductive wires together, the problem is that the welded conductive wires tend to separate when tensile force is applied, rather than creating a perfect bond like soldering. There is.

The purpose of the present invention is to increase the resistance to tensile force of the joint portions of flexible flat cables joined in this way, and to make it possible to insulate the joint portions of a large number of flexible flat cables at once. An object of the present invention is to provide a protector for a cable joint.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the cable joint protector according to the present invention includes a joint section where flexible flat cables are connected together and a pair of electrically insulating protection plates that sandwich these from both sides. These protection plates are integrally molded with a large number of pin-shaped protrusions for passing through small locking holes provided in the insulation between the foil conductors near the joint of the flat cable, and A through hole is provided through which the tip of the pin-shaped protrusion of the mating protection plate is inserted, and the plurality of flat cables are stacked with the joint portions sequentially shifted between the two protection plates, and the locking The tip of the pin-shaped protrusion passing through the small hole and the through hole of the mating protection plate is melted and solidified to fasten the pair of protection plates.

[Effect]

The cable joint protector having the above structure has pin-shaped protrusions on the protection plate that penetrate the numerous small locking holes provided in the joint of the flexible flat cable, so it is electrically insulating. At the same time, the pin-shaped protrusion becomes a strong resistor against tensile force, and the mechanical protection of the joint part is completed.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained in detail based on illustrated embodiments.

1 and 2 are exploded views showing an embodiment of the present invention, and 1 and 2 are a plurality of foil conductive wires 1, respectively.
It is a flexible flat cable having cables 1 and 2a, and 3 indicates a joint where the ends of both flat cables 1 and 2 are joined together by ultrasonic welding. In the vicinity of this joint portion 3, as shown in FIG. 2, a large number of small locking holes 4 are arranged in a row and pass through the insulation portion between the foil-shaped conductive wires. This joint portion 3 and its vicinity are sandwiched between a pair of upper and lower protection plates 5 and 6. The protection plates 5 and 6 are molded of electrically insulating and relatively flexible synthetic resin material, and both or at least one of them has a large number of pin-shaped protrusions that pass through the small locking holes 4. The body 7 is integrally molded, and a through hole 8 through which the pin-shaped projections 7 pass is provided on the other side. However, in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, two identical parts are used as the protection plates 5 and 6, facing each other, so both pin-like protrusions 7 and through holes 8 are used. Similarly, when the pin-shaped protrusions 7 of the protective plate 5 are opposed to each other, the pin-shaped protrusions 7 of the protective plate 5
The pin-shaped protrusion 7 of the protection plate 6 is inserted into the through hole 8 of the protection plate 5.
It is designed to fit into the through hole 8 of. The heights of these pin-like protrusions 7 are mixed depending on the location, and the number of columns or rows can be selected arbitrarily.

Fig. 1 shows a state in which the locking hole 4 of the first flat cable F1 having the joint part 3 is fitted into the lower protection plate 6 and the pin-shaped protrusion 7. In the example, there is a joint part 3 between the protection plates 5 and 6.
It is designed to hold 8 flat cables with . Therefore, as shown in FIG.
3,... are stacked with their respective joint parts 3 sequentially shifted, and then the upper protective plate 5 is placed over the pin-shaped protrusions 7 of the protective plate 6 and inserted into the through holes 8 of the protective plate 5.
At the same time, the pin-shaped protrusions 7 of the protection plate 5 are inserted into the through holes 8 of the protection plate 6, and the tips of the pin-shaped protrusions 7 that pass through the through holes 8 and protrude outward are heat-sealed. Alternatively, the upper and lower protection plates 5 and 6 are fastened together by melting and solidifying by a method such as ultrasonic welding. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 7a indicates the tip of the pin-shaped protrusion 7 that is thermally welded. In this case, it is sufficient that the tip of the low pin-shaped protrusion 7 is fitted into the through hole 8 of the other party. Furthermore, if hook-shaped connecting pieces 9 as shown in FIG. 1 are integrally molded on the protective plates 5 and 6, multiple sets of similar joint parts can be stacked and connected in multiple stages. .

Figures 4a to 4e show the protective plates 5 and 6 illustrated in Figure 1.
First, as shown in (a), several flat cables F each having a joint part are stacked on one of the protective plates 6, and then the other flat cables F are stacked as shown in (b). The protective plates 5 are combined and tightened with a tie band, and the tips of the pin-shaped protrusions 7 protruding outward are heat welded and fixed in the state shown in (c) to form a set of joint parts. In this state, the connecting pieces 9 formed on the protective plates 5 and 6 are symmetrically located on opposite sides. When connecting a plurality of sets of joint parts combined in this way, as shown in (d), the connecting piece 9 provided on the first set of protection plates 5 is connected to the second set of protection plates 6.
If you push it downward in the drawing so that it hooks on the inner surface, the two sets of joint parts will be joined as shown in (e). After that, by sequentially repeating the same procedure, any number of pairs can be combined.

In the above example, the upper and lower protection plates 5 and 6 that sandwich the flat cable are the same part, but as shown in FIG. , if only the protection plate 5 on the other side is provided with a through hole 8 through which the pin-shaped protrusion 7 passes,
Assembling workability can be improved. In addition,
In any case, the number of pin-like protrusions 7 can be appropriately reduced by changing the number of flat cables F1, F2, F3, etc. Can be fixed. Also,
A pair of upper and lower protection plates 5 and 6 may be joined at a hinge portion and molded together, and the hinge portion may be folded and folded, and several flat cables F may be sandwiched inside.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, each flat cable F
1, F2, F3, ... are jointed in the longitudinal direction, but in some cases, as shown in Fig. 6, the jointed flat cable F may be bent in the middle, for example, in the right angle direction. pull it out,
It is also possible to sandwich and fix this bent portion between the upper and lower protection plates 5 and 6.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the cable joint protector according to the present invention has a pair of protective plates that sandwich the joint of a flexible flat cable fitted together by, for example, ultrasonic welding, so that the joint can be electrically protected. The mechanically protected pin-shaped protrusion, which is integrated with the protection plate, is inserted into the small locking hole near the cable joint, which acts as a strong resistor against tensile force and prevents the flat cable from tensile force. There is no risk that the conductors at the joint will separate even if the joint is applied. Another great advantage is that the joints of several flat cables can be fixed together at once and can be reliably insulated.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the cable joint protector according to the present invention, FIGS. 1 and 2 are perspective views of one embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a side view of the assembled state.
4a to 4e are sectional views of the assembly process, FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a protection plate of another embodiment, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of another embodiment. Symbols 1, 2, F, F1, F2, F3, ... are flat cables, 1a, 2a are foil conductors, 3 is a joint part, 4 is a small hole for locking, 5, 6 is a protection plate, 7
is a pin-shaped protrusion, 8 is a through hole, and 9 is a connecting piece.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Consists of a joint part where flexible flat cables are connected together, and a pair of electrically insulating protection plates that sandwich them from both sides, and these protection plates include a joint part that connects flexible flat cables to each other, and a pair of electrically insulating protection plates that sandwich them from both sides. A large number of pin-like protrusions are integrally molded to pass through the small locking holes provided in the insulating part of the mating protection plate, and through-holes are provided through which the tips of the pin-like protrusions of the mating protection plate are inserted. The plurality of flat cables are stacked with the joint portions sequentially shifted between both protection plates, and the tip of the pin-shaped protrusion passes through the small locking hole and the through hole of the mating protection plate. A protector for a cable joint portion, characterized in that the pair of protection plates are fastened together by melting and solidifying the portions.