JPH0644423B2 - Wire harness manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an improvement in a method for manufacturing a wire harness.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, as shown in FIG. 6, a wire harness has a plurality of branch line portions W ₁ , W ₂ , W ₃ ... For a main line portion W _{0 formed} by focusing a plurality of electric wires a ₁ , a ₂ ... It has a two-dimensional structure that is branched corresponding to the arrangement of various loads, switches, and other groups of electric components. Terminals b are connected to the ends of each electric wire, and a connector housing c is attached.

As a method for manufacturing such a wire harness, the applicant arranges a plurality of wiring boards d ₁ , d _2, ... On the work plate e in advance with product intervals shown by the connector housing c in FIG. At the same time, a plurality of wire-laying locking pins f are provided in a protruding manner, and an electric wire is attached to, for example, a wire-board stand d by a wire-laying head (not shown) that scans (X-Y axis) on the work plate e.
After locked to _1, then routed toward the other of the wiring board d _2, the electric wires to the wiring board d ₂ cut engaged, the following sequence distribution wires to a desired wiring board inter After searching, each wiring stand d ₁ , d ₂ ...
A method and a device for stripping the wire end and crimping the terminal fitting at the position of ... have been proposed (JP-A-57-90816, U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,629).

However, the above method has the following problems.

1) A wire stripping device and a terminal crimping device are required for each terminal of the distributed electric wires.

2) When the product is changed, the wiring stand, the wiring locking pin, the stripping device and the like must be moved as a whole, which requires a lot of time and labor for switching.

3) Since the connector housings attached to the terminals are scattered as shown in FIG. 6, automation is difficult.

4) Since there are a large number of wire stripping devices, terminal crimping devices, etc., the initial cost is high and maintenance thereof is troublesome.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

As a result of intensive studies to solve the above-mentioned problems, the inventors of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1A, have branch lines W ₁ , W ₂ , W ₃ ... Grouped into the connector housing units.
The intermediate portion of the branch line is appropriately detoured by using the pin 2 to secure a necessary electric wire length of each branch line portion, and an appropriate interval l ₁ , l is provided so that both ends of each grouped branch line portion do not overlap.
By arranging ₂ , 1, _3, ..., It is not always necessary to arrange the wire ends two-dimensionally according to the product interval, and both ends of each branch line can be aligned and arranged on one side of the work plate. The present invention has been completed based on the idea of good things.

That is, an object of the present invention is to greatly reduce the number of various devices such as a terminal crimping device necessary for the terminal treatment of electric wires after the wiring of a plurality of electric wires constituting a wire harness, and to automate the mounting of a connector housing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a wire harness that can be easily handled and can promptly deal with a change in a wiring route, thereby reducing the manufacturing cost.

Configuration of the Invention [Means for Solving the Problems] Referring to the drawings, a method for manufacturing a wire harness according to the present invention is a wiring method in which a plurality of pins 2 are erected as shown in FIG. At least one side edge of the plate 1 is detachably provided with a chain-shaped clamp 4 in which a plurality of wire clamps 5 are arranged side by side at a predetermined interval, and (a) a first wire clamp 5 selected from the chain-shaped clamps 4. and wiring the wire 16 towards the second wire clamp 5 ₂ along a plurality of pins 2 which corresponds to a predetermined path from _1, (ii) routed to both ends of said first and second wires 16
The wire clamp that is locked to the wire clamp 5 ₁ , 5 ₂ and the wire that is locked is cut as necessary to form a terminal, and (c) and (b) to (b) are sequentially repeated to obtain a predetermined wire. After arranging and locking the electric wires with a desired pattern between the clamps, (d) removing the chain-shaped clamp 4 from the wiring board 1 with the electric wires 16 still locked. It is characterized by that.

The wire to be routed may be one that has been cut to a predetermined length in advance or one that is long, and the locking / cutting of the wire may be performed by first locking one end and then locking the other end, or It is possible to hold the wires with a jig (not shown) during wiring, and then cut both ends by locking them with wire clamps. It suffices that the electric wires that are arranged on one side of the wiring board 1 by the clamp and project for a predetermined length in one direction can be removed from the wiring board together with the chain-shaped clamp. Further, the wiring of the electric wire and the removal of the chain-like clamp may be performed by any of a manual method, a semi-automatic method and an automated method.

[Work]

The wire harness obtained according to the present invention is in a state in which both ends of the electric wires constituting the wire harness are projected to a side edge of the wiring board by a predetermined length, and are held in parallel by a chain clamp at a predetermined interval.

Therefore, a large number of electric wires 1 forming the main line portion and the plurality of branch line portions
By removing the entire chain clamp from the wiring board while keeping both ends of 6 locked, keep it in the warehouse and store it as it is, and peel it off, crimp terminals, etc. as needed for production planning etc. Because of the time required for these processing steps, the wiring of the electric wires is not interrupted and the productivity can be improved.

In addition, if the chain clamp is transferred to a station adjacent to or different from the wiring board and a wire peeling device, sensor, terminal crimping machine, or other processing device is placed on one side of it, all wire With each one device, peeling, crimping of terminals, or mounting of a connector housing can be sequentially and automatically performed.

By arranging the plurality of pins 2 at positions appropriately separated during the wiring of the electric wire, as shown in FIG. 1A, the main wire portion W ₀ and the branch wire portions W ₁ , W ₂ , W ₃ of the wire harness are arranged.
… Each electric wire that composes the chain clamp 4
In, the wire clamps 5 adjacent to each other are selected and used. Therefore, if the required points of the wired electric wires, for example, the trunk line parts U ₁ , U ₂ and the branch parts U ₃ , U ₄ ... In FIG.
A wire harness having a two-dimensional structure exactly the same as that of the conventional example shown in FIG. 6 can be obtained. The selection of the electric wire clamp 5 and the pin 2 forming the wiring route is performed by a program input in a wiring head control device described later.

When changing the specifications of the wire harness, all that is necessary is to move the pin 2 and change the program, and all the ends of the routed wires are held in parallel with one side of the wiring board. Therefore, the processing device such as the peeling device can be used as it is.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings illustrating an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a wire harness manufacturing apparatus.

In the figure, A indicates a base, on which a wiring board 1 is movably mounted on a pair of rails 7 arranged in opposing safety guides 8 extending in the longitudinal direction. A plurality of pins 2 are provided at the center of the wiring board 1, and a chain-like clamp 4 in which a plurality of electric wire clamps 5 are linearly arranged in parallel is detachably attached to one side edge in the longitudinal direction. .

The wiring plate 1 is provided so as to be reciprocally movable in its longitudinal direction (X axis) by a ball screw shaft 9 rotated by a restricted rotation motor M.

B is a wiring head for arranging electric wires, and is provided so as to be reciprocally movable in a direction (Y axis) orthogonal to the wiring plate 1 by rotation of a ball screw shaft 10 mounted between the safety guides 8. There is. M'is the restricted rotation motor.

Further, a plurality of electric wire holders 11 are arranged facing the chain-shaped clamps 4 in the wiring board 1 together with the electric wire locking and cutting device C (see FIG. 4). Reference numeral 12 is a support plate for the electric wire holder 11, which is reciprocated in the X-axis direction by a ball screw shaft 14 mounted on a gate-shaped mount 13 erected on the safety guide 8 so that the wiring head B is desired. The electric wire holder 11 can be selected. The pedestal 13 is provided with a plurality of electric wire feed rolls 15 on the upper part thereof, and a plurality of electric wires 16 having different wire diameters and colors of insulating coatings drawn from the electric wire reel station D are smoothly supplied. M ″ is a regulated rotation motor for the ball screw shaft 14.

E is a control device, and as described later, X of the wiring board 1
In order to control a series of wire harness manufacturing processes, such as wire installation by axial traveling and Y-axis traveling of the wiring head B, selection of the electric wire locking and cutting device C and the wiring head B of the electric wire holder 11, and the like. Device.

3a is an enlarged perspective view of the chain clamp 4, FIG. 3b is a plan view of the electric wire clamp 5, and FIG. 3c is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the electric wire clamp. In this chain clamp, it is preferable to use a plurality of electric wire clamps 5 arranged in parallel at a predetermined interval by a long support rod 6.

The electric wire clamp 5 is made of synthetic resin, metal, hard rubber, or the like, and has a pair of holders 5b, 5 on a prismatic base 5a.
b is erected. The holding element 5b has a guide slanted surface 5c which is widened at the upper end thereof, a ridge 5d is provided on one opposing surface, and a concave groove 5e is provided on the other surface to facilitate insertion of an electric wire and ensure It is a structure that can be held. Further, a through hole 5f is provided in the base portion 5a, and a large number of electric wire clamps 5 are connected to the through hole 5f by passing screw pins 5g and the like. The support rod 6 is formed by projecting a support rod 6c having a V-shaped holding groove 6b laterally provided on the side surface at the lower end of the insertion frame 6a with respect to the base portion 5a. The support rod 6c is fitted to the wiring board 1 (not shown). It fits in the mating groove and is fixed by locking means (not shown).

As another means for arranging the electric wire clamps 5 in a chain, a plurality of pairs of holding elements 5b, 5b may be integrally formed, or may be formed as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the convex portion 5h is on one side of the base 5a and the concave portion 5i is on the other side.
It is also possible to omit the use of the support rod 6 by providing the above and fitting the convex portion 5h and the concave portion 5i of the adjacent base portions 5a to each other. The chain-shaped clamp 4 is not always the wiring board 1
Need not be arranged over the entire length of the wire, and may be arranged at a portion necessary for locking the electric wire.

4 (a) to 4 (c) are diagrams showing the interrelationship of the wiring head B, the electric wire locking / cutting device C, and the electric wire holder 11 when the wiring plate 1 is viewed from the end side.

In these figures, the wiring head B is provided with a pair of clamp plates 17 and 17 ′ that are opened and closed with respect to the electric wire holder 11, and the upper clamp plate 17 has locking pins that fit into the recessed holes 11 a of the electric wire holder 11. 17a is projected. The electric wire holder 11 is provided with a vertical electric wire insertion tube 11b in which an electric wire pressing spring (not shown) is provided, and a wiring nozzle 11c made of a coil spring is provided at the tip of the tube 11b.

The electric wire locking / cutting device C is composed of an electric wire pressing plate 18 facing the chain clamp 4 and attached to an upper portion of the safety guide 8, and a pair of right and left electric wire cutting blades 20. Reference numeral 19 is a mounting head that incorporates an actuator (not shown) such as a hydraulic cylinder, and the electric wire pressing plate 18 can be moved up and down.
The electric wire cutting blade 20 is vertically movable and opened / closed by a mounting head 21 having a known crank mechanism.

Next, the production of a wire harness by arranging, locking and cutting an electric wire will be described.

As shown in FIG. 4a, the regulation rotation motor M ″ rotates in either forward or reverse directions in response to a command from the control device E, and the desired rotation of the ball screw shaft 14 causes the desired electric wire holder 11 to be selected and the cloth to be held. Clamp plate 1 in wire head B
Move to the facing surface of 7, 17 '. At the same time, the wiring head B is moved to the electric wire holder 11 side by the rotation of the regulation rotation motor M '.
The wire rod 11 travels axially and holds the wire holder 11 selected by the clamp plates 17 and 17 '. Further, the wiring board 1 also travels on the X-axis by the rotation of the regulation rotation motor M, and the desired electric wire clamp 5 _{1 with} respect to the electric wire holder 11 (see FIG. 1A).
Move to the opposite position. This state is called the "starting point".

As shown in «wiring of the electric wire» (i) Fig. 4 b, the wiring head B is slightly moved in the arrow direction with respect to the wiring board 1, the pair of挾持Ko 5b of the wire clamp 5 _1, 5b The end portion of the electric wire 16 which is drawn in over the space is press-fitted by lowering the electric wire pressing plate 18 to lock the electric wire.

The press-fitting of the electric wire is smoothly performed by the guide inclined surface 5c of the holding element 5b. Further, the electric wire is locked in a W shape by the protrusion 5d and the concave groove 5e provided on the opposing surface of the holding element 5b, and the slippage and displacement during the wiring can be reliably prevented.

(Ii) After the electric wire is press-fitted and locked, the wiring board 1 and the wiring head B simultaneously run on the X-axis and the Y-axis according to a command from the control device E.
As a result, the electric wires 16 are arranged in a predetermined pattern along the plurality of pins 2 (see FIG. 1a).

At the time of wiring, the electric wire holder 11 includes the wire laying nozzle 11c made of a coil spring, so that the electric wire holder 11 can be smoothly drawn out, and the electric wire does not have a habit such as bending.

(Iii) The routed electric wire 16 is, as shown in FIG.
It is positioned across the second wire clamp 5 ₂ selected. At this point, the running of the wiring head B and the wiring board 1 is stopped, and one wiring process is completed.

Wire pressing plate 18 is sealed pressed engagement the wire 16 similarly to the the wire clamp 5 _2, increases cutting blades 20 at the same time,
Cut the wire.

This state is called the "end point".

(Iv) If it is necessary to change the type of electric wire to be routed at the "end point", the preparation state of the "start point" is entered, and if there is no need, the wiring board 1 is moved (that is, a new electric wire clamp is used). 5) only, the process returns to (i) and the steps up to (iv) are repeated to obtain a wire harness having a desired pattern.

<< Removal of Chain Clamp >> To remove the chain clamp 4 from the wiring board 1, after returning the wiring board 1 shown in FIG. 2 to one side of the base A, as shown in FIG. This is performed after tape-wrapping the key points U ₁ , U _2, ... Of the wire harness arranged on the wiring board 1.

Through the steps described above, it is possible to obtain a wire harness in which both end portions of the electric wires protrude to one side of the chain clamp and are held at a predetermined interval. Then, the removed chain-shaped clamps 4 are mounted on the pedestal 22 as shown in FIG. 1B, and are stocked until the necessary terminal treatment is performed as described above.

FIG. 1c is a view in which a terminal b is crimped to the end of each electric wire 16 of the wire harness intermediate of FIG. 1a, and FIG. 1d is a connector housing c in units of branch lines W ₁ , W _2, ...
Shows the one with the attached.

The above description has been made on the example in which the wiring is routed by the wiring board 1 traveling on the X axis and the wiring head B traveling on the Y axis in cooperation with each other. Needless to say, a known example (US Pat. No. 4,476,629) for traveling in the Y-axis may be used. In this case, the wiring head that travels in the X-Y axis is the electric wire holder 11 as shown in this embodiment.
May be grasped in accordance with the selection, or the wiring head may be provided with a plurality of electric wire holders 11, and a desired one may be selected from these to be raised and lowered.

Further, as easily assumed, the chain-like clamps 4 for locking the electric wires can be provided on both side edges of the wiring board 1 as shown in FIG. 5a. In this case, it is possible to speed up the end treatment of the electric wire. In addition, if a wiring head that travels in the X-Y axis is used, the chain-shaped clamp 4 can be moved to the first position.
As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 5a, it is not necessarily required to be linear, and as shown in FIG. 5b, a semicircular shape 4 '(or V-shape).
It is also possible to bend or bend them in parallel and arrange them side by side. Further, the convex portion and the concave portion provided on the base portion 5a of the electric wire clamp 5 described above are rotatably fitted so that the adjacent electric wire clamps 5 have flexibility. You may do it. In this case, the chain-shaped clamp 4 can be transferred along an endless transport rail base (not shown), and terminal treatment after the wiring of the electric wire can be continuously and quickly performed.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the method for manufacturing a wire harness of the present invention, all of the ends of the electric wires forming the wire harness are held by the chain clamp at one side of the wiring plate with a predetermined interval and the wiring plate is held. Removed from.

Therefore, it can be stored and stored in the device as it is, and subjected to processing such as peeling terminal crimping if necessary, without interrupting the wiring of wires due to the time required for these processing steps. Productivity can be increased.

Further, since the wire ends are aligned on one side, it is possible to perform the work such as stripping of the wire and crimping of the terminal with one device, and automation from stripping to the connector housing device. In addition, since a small number of processing devices are required, there is no equipment cost and maintenance is easy. Even when the specifications of the wire harness are changed, it is possible to quickly respond by moving the wiring pin position and by making the program input to the control device easy. As a result, the cost of manufacturing the wire harness can be greatly reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1a is an explanatory view of a method for manufacturing a wire harness of the present invention, FIG. 1b is an explanatory view showing a stock state of the same wire harness, and FIG. 1c is an electric wire of a wire harness intermediate of FIG. 1a. Fig. 1 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a terminal b is crimped, Fig. 1d is an explanatory view showing a state in which a connector housing c is also attached to each branch line unit, and Fig. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of an apparatus for carrying out the present invention. 3a is an enlarged perspective view of the chain clamp 4, FIG. 3b is a plan view of the electric wire clamp, FIG. 3c is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the electric wire clamp 5 of FIG. 3a, and FIG. 5a to 5c are cross-sectional views showing the starting and ending points of the wiring of electric wires as seen from the end side of the wiring board 1, and FIGS. 5a and 5b show other forms of the wire harness manufactured by the method of the present invention. Explanatory drawing shown, FIG. 6 is manufacturing of conventional wire harness It is explanatory drawing of a method. A ... conveying rail base, B ... wiring head, C ... electric wire locking / cutting device, D ... reel station, E ... control device, M, M ', M "... regulating rotation motor, 1 ... Wiring plate, 2 ... Pin, 4 ... Chain clamp, 5 ... Electric wire clamp, 6 ... Support rod, 8 ... Safety guide, 9,
10, 14 ... Ball screw shaft, 11 ... Electric wire holder, 15 ... Electric wire feed roll, 16 ... Electric wire, 17, 1
7 '... Clamp plate, 18 ... Electric wire pressing plate, 19, 21
...... Mounting head, 20 ...... Wire cutting blade.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Norio Isobe 252 Kawashimada, Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, Yazaki Parts Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Sanae Suzuki, 252, Kawashimada, Gotemba, Shizuoka, 252 Yazaki Parts, Co., Ltd. Gotemba City Kawashimada 252 Yazaki Parts Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshihiro Inoue Gotemba City Shimada 252 Yazaki Parts Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshisumi Yoshizumi Gotemba City Kawashimada 252 Yazaki Parts Co., Ltd. (56) Reference Documents JP-A-51-136186 (JP, A) JP-A-51-140181 (JP, A) JP-A-55-6732 (JP, A) JP-A-57-90618 (JP, A) JP-A-57- 170409 (JP, A) Actually open Sho 61-77513 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method of manufacturing a wire harness comprising a main line portion and a plurality of branch line portions, wherein terminals of the main line portion and the branch line portions are equipped with connector housings connected to in-vehicle electrical components and the like. A detachable chain-like clamp in which a plurality of electric wire clamps are juxtaposed at a predetermined interval on at least one side edge of a wiring plate on which the pins of FIG. From the wire clamp of the second along the plurality of pins corresponding to the predetermined path
Wire is routed toward the wire clamp of (2), and both ends of the wire thus wired are locked to the first and second wire clamps, respectively, and the locked wire is cut as necessary. (C) The following steps (a) to (b) are repeated in sequence, and after the wires are wired and locked with a desired pattern between the predetermined wire clamps, (d) the chain-shaped clamp is connected to the wire A method for manufacturing a wire harness, wherein the wire harness is removed from the wiring board while being locked.