JPH07262839A - Electric wire feed device and slackened quantity control unit employed by the device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the device to surely cope with any requirement for speeding up the operation of an automatic wire harness manufacturing means, and for handling many kinds of electric wires. CONSTITUTION:The electric wire feeding speed of a feed unit 12 is controlled so as to be increased in response to a slackening signal from a detecting means 13E before the slackened quantity of an electric wire reaches the minimum allowable limit value. By this constitution, the quantity of safety can be assured for the period of time until the slackened quantity of the electric wire W has reached the minimum allowable limit value while being kept decreased since control on electric wire feeding speeds was started. This constitution can thereby surely prevent the electric wire W from being over-stretched, and this constitution also enables the device to cope with any requirement for feeding the electric wire at high speeds, and for handling many kinds of electric wires.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electric wire feeder and a slack amount control unit used for the electric wire feeder, and more particularly to an electric wire feeder suitable for an automatic wire harness manufacturing apparatus and a slack amount control unit used for the electric wire feeder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, an automatic wire harness manufacturing apparatus intermittently conveys a large number of automatically fed electric wires,
The wire harness is manufactured by performing predetermined processing such as measuring, peeling, and crimping of terminals. In order to feed an electric wire to such an automatic manufacturing apparatus, various electric wire feeding apparatuses and a slack amount control unit used therefor have been conventionally proposed.

For example, an electric wire feeder and a slack amount control unit used therefor disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 3-60713 are:
As shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of electric wire feeding units 1012, 101 sequentially arranged from the upstream side along the electric wire feeding direction.
5, 1013a. Each electric wire feeding unit 10
The slack of the electric wire W is formed between 12, 1015, and 1013a so that an excessive tension is prevented from acting on the electric wire W. Downstream electric wire feeding unit 1013a
Is attached to the wire harness automatic manufacturing apparatus 1013 and is for intermittently feeding the electric wire W. In addition, other wire feeding units 1012, 1
Reference numeral 015 is for feeding the electric wire W to the most downstream electric wire feeding unit 1013a, and the feeding speed of each is changeable. The electric wire feeding units 1012, 1015, and 1013a are in a relationship in which the electric wire W is fed from the downstream side faster than the upstream side.

In order to detect the amount of slack of the electric wire W, the slack control unit 1021 is provided in the configuration of FIG. The slack control unit 1021 includes rods 1020, 10 attached to a stationary member 1014.
It is connected to 25. The rods 1020, 1025 are
A base end portion that is rotatably supported by the stationary member 1014, free ends 1020a and 1025a that slidably hold a slack portion of the electric wire W formed between the reel 1012 and the pre-feeder 1015, and the electric wire W. And a sensor for detecting that the amount of slack of the has reached the minimum allowable limit value.

Referring to FIG. 7, in the above-mentioned prior art example, as described above, the electric wire feeding units 1012, 1015, 10 are connected.
13a has a relationship in which the downstream side feeds the electric wire W faster than the upstream side, so if the feeding of the electric wire W is continued, the slack of the electric wire W is reduced and the minimum allowable limit value is reached. Reach When the slack control unit 1021 detects this,
The feeding speed of the feeding unit 1012 (or the feeding unit 1015) on the upstream side of the slack that has reached the minimum allowable limit value is increased, and the predetermined slack is formed again.

[0006]

In the electric wire feeding device and the slack amount control unit used for the electric wire feeding device as described above,
What has been recently demanded is that it can cope with high-speed operation of an automatic wire harness manufacturing apparatus and can cope with various types of electric wires. However, the above-mentioned conventional configuration cannot sufficiently meet these demands.

That is, in the configuration of FIG. 6, since the slack control unit 1021 detects the minimum allowable limit value of the amount of slack to control the speed of the feeding units 1012, 1015, as shown in FIG. 1020 and 1025 detect the minimum allowable limit value, and then the feeding units 1012 and 1
The amount of slack in the wire W is further reduced until the 015 is accelerated to form slack (hereinafter, this state is referred to as “overstretch” in this specification), and excessive tension acts on the wire W. As a result, the covered portion is stretched and the processing accuracy of the wire harness automatic manufacturing apparatus 1013 is reduced. In particular, there is a problem that overstretching is likely to frequently occur depending on the case where the feeding speed by the feeding unit 1013a of the automatic manufacturing apparatus 1013 is set to a high speed or the type of the electric wire W.

Further, since the rods 1020, 1025 of the slack control unit 1021 are merely pivotally supported so as to be rotatable, the rods 2020, 1025 are easily affected by the jump of the electric wire W and the like, as shown in FIG. Moreover, the detection signal S from the sensor is not stable, which causes a malfunction. The malfunction due to the jumping of the electric wire W becomes significant when acceleration of the feeding unit 1013a is large or when the type of the electric wire W is frequently changed.

Further, the feeding unit 1015 employed in FIG. 6 has a feeding roller pair 101 that simply presses an electric wire.
Since only 5a and 1015a are adopted, the wire W and the feed roller pair are not used when the wire W is automatically conveyed by the wire harness automatic manufacturing apparatus 1013 or when the wire diameter is changed. Sliding or distortion occurred between 1015a and 1015a, and the desired feeding accuracy could not be obtained.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an automatic wire harness manufacturing apparatus has a high speed, and an electric wire feeder capable of reliably dealing with various kinds of electric wires, and an amount of slack used in the electric wire feeder. The purpose is to provide a control unit.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the structure according to claim 1 is arranged in a predetermined electric wire feeding path, and an electric wire is provided at a downstream side of the electric wire feeding path. A feeding unit that feeds the electric wire in a state where slack is formed, a detection unit that detects the slack amount of the electric wire and outputs a slack signal, and the slack amount of the electric wire increases before reaching the minimum allowable limit value. As described above, the electric wire feeding device is provided with the control means for controlling the electric wire feeding speed of the feeding unit in response to the slack signal of the detecting means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the electric wire feeding device according to the first aspect, the control means slidably engages with the slack portion of the electric wire to adjust the amount of slack in the slack portion. It includes a displacing member that displaces in response to the displacing member, and an urging unit that urges the slack portion of the electric wire in a direction of slackening the electric wire through the displacing member. Furthermore, the structure according to claim 3 is slidably locked to the slack portion of the electric wire loosened in the predetermined electric wire feeding path,
A displacement member that is displaced according to the amount of slack in the slack portion, a detection unit that detects the amount of slack in the electric wire from the amount of displacement of the displacement member, and outputs a slack signal, and a slack amount in response to the slack signal from the detection unit. In the slack amount control unit having a maintaining means for maintaining the wire within a predetermined range, a urging means for urging the slack portion of the electric wire in a direction of slackening the electric wire via the displacement member is provided. It is a slack amount control unit.

[0013]

In the structure according to the first aspect, the control means controls the wire feeding speed of the feeding unit to increase the slack amount before the slack amount of the wire reaches the minimum allowable limit value. A safe amount from the start of the control of the feed rate until the slack amount of the electric wire further decreases and reaches the minimum allowable limit value is secured. In addition, since the amount of slack in the wire increases before the minimum allowable limit value is reached, the amount of change in the amount of slack becomes smaller than in the control based on the minimum allowable limit value.

Further, according to the second and third aspects, the urging means urges the slack portion of the electric wire in the direction of slackening the electric wire via the displacement member, so that the feeding speed of the electric wire changes rapidly. , Even if the force of bouncing the wire acts on the slack part,
As a result of the slack portion of the electric wire being pressed against the displacement member by the urging force of the urging means, the electric wire is fed in a state in which the slack is maintained without jumping up.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an electric wire feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a main part of an electric wire feeding unit used in the electric wire feeding device of FIG. FIG. 3 is a perspective view, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of a slack amount control unit adopted in the electric wire feeding device of FIG. 1.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the electric wire feeding device 10 includes a stationary member 11 mounted on a mounting surface. The stationary member 11 is configured by integrally forming a rectangular base portion 11A extending in the left-right direction, a main body portion 11B erected on the base portion 11A, and a hollow support portion 11C fixed to the main body portion 11B. is there. The base portion 11A, the main body portion 11B, and the column portion 11C are
Both are assembled by welding angle members and sheet metal members, and are installed together with an automatic wire harness manufacturing apparatus (not shown).

The stationary member 11 is a support 1
The feeding unit 12 attached to the upper end of 1C and the slack amount control unit 13 attached to the lower end of the column 11C are integrally provided. The feeding unit 12 is
The electric wire W is drawn out from the roll body 14 in which a large number of electric wires W are wound, and is fed to the above-mentioned automatic manufacturing apparatus (not shown) via a predetermined feeding path PH. On the other hand, the slack amount control unit 13 is for maintaining the slack amount of the electric wire W formed on the downstream side of the feeding unit 12 in the feeding path PH.

First, referring to FIG. 2, the feeding unit 12 will be described in detail. The feeding unit 12 includes a substrate portion 12A fixed to a column portion 11C. On the front surface of the substrate portion 12A, the carrying roller 1 which rolls into contact with the electric wire W and conveys the electric wire W to the downstream side of the feeding path PH.
2B is rotatably attached. Transport roller 12
B is a motor 12 mounted on the back surface of the board portion 12A.
It is rotationally driven by C in a shiftable state.

Next, the substrate portion 12A has a pair of pressing rollers 1
2E is provided. The pressure roller pair 12E is an upstream roller 121E disposed on the upstream side of the feeding path PH.
And a downstream roller 122E disposed on the downstream side are integrally supported by a connecting member 12F, and face each other along one tangential direction of the transport roller 12B. The connecting member 12F is configured to be able to approach and separate in the normal direction to the tangential direction by the air cylinder 12G, and together with the air cylinder 12G, the pressing amount of the wire with the conveying roller 12B by the pressing roller pair 12E. It constitutes an adjusting means for adjusting. The feeding unit 12 of this embodiment includes a guide roller 12H that is rotatably attached to the board portion 12A. The guide roller 12H is the upstream roller 12 of the pressing roller pair 12E.
It is for guiding the electric wire W between 1E and the conveyance roller 12B.

Next, the slack amount control unit 13 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. The slack amount control unit 13 of the present embodiment includes a frame body 13A fixed to the above-mentioned column portion 11C. This frame body 1
3A is an integrally molded product made of steel or the like, and a side plate portion 131A fixed to the front surface of the lower end portion of the column portion 11C.
And the end face portion 1 extending at a right angle to one end of the side plate portion 131A.
32A and an opposing plate portion 133A that extends integrally with the end surface portion 132A and faces the side plate portion 131A in parallel are integrally provided.

The side plate portion 131A rotatably supports the rotary shaft 13B. A swing rod 13C as a displacement member extending at a right angle to the rotary shaft 13B is fixed to the rotary shaft 13B. As shown in FIG. 1, this swing rod 13C
Is rotatably supported by the rotating shaft 13B, so that its free end can swing in a direction intersecting the feeding path PH of the electric wire W. A rolling roller 131C is rotatably attached to the free end of the rocking rod 13C, and the rocking rod 13C is slidably locked to the electric wire W via the rolling roller 131C.

Returning to FIG. 3, one end of the rotary shaft 13B enters the inside of the column 11C. A phase detector 13E is attached to one end of the rotary shaft 13B. The phase detector 13E is composed of a variable resistor, a potentiometer, a rotary encoder, or the like, and measures the rotation amount of the rotary shaft 13B to change the angle of the swing rod 13C to a slack signal S1 ( Figure 4
(A)) for detection. In the present embodiment, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 1, when the wire W is at the maximum slack position, the voltage of the slack signal S1 becomes 0, and the slack amount of the wire W decreases from this state, and the swing rod The voltage of the output signal is set to increase as the rolling roller 131C of 13C is displaced upward (see FIG. 4A). This phase detector 13E includes a control circuit 13F (see FIG.
Reference) and is configured to give an angle signal corresponding to the detected angle to the control circuit 13F.
Then, as will be described later, the control circuit 13F causes the feeding unit 12 described above according to the phase angle of the swing rod 13C.
The number of rotations of the motor 12C is variable.

The control circuit 13F may be a logic circuit composed of a comparator or a variable resistor, or may be a digital circuit such as a microcomputer. The control circuit 13F of the present embodiment increases the voltage applied to the motor 12C by displacing the rolling roller 131C of the swing rod 13C from the maximum slack position to increase the voltage of the motor 12C.
The rotation speed of C is set to increase (Fig. 4
(See (B)). As a result, in this embodiment, the amount of slack of the wire W is increased before reaching the minimum allowable limit value,
It constitutes a control means for controlling the wire feeding speed of the feeding unit 12 in response to the slack signal S1 of the phase detector 13E.

A pinion gear 13G is fixed to the other end of the rotary shaft 13B. A rack gear 13H meshes with the pinion gear 13G. Rack gear 13
A rod 131J of the air cylinder 13J is fixed to the end of H and is urged in the direction B shown. The air cylinder 13J includes the end surface portion 13 of the frame body 13A.
2A through the frame member 13A by the fixing member 13K
Is fixed to the counter plate portion 133A. As will be described later, the air cylinder 13J constitutes a biasing means for biasing the slack portion of the electric wire W in the direction A in which the electric wire W is loosened via the swing rod 13C. The force is transmitted from the rack gear 13H to the swing rod 13C via the pinion gear 13G and the rotary shaft 13B. In this embodiment, the counter plate portion 133A
13L has a rail 13L attached to the outer side surface thereof and has a substantially U-shaped link member 13 guided by the rail 13L.
By mounting M on the rack gear 13H, the rack gear 13H is configured to be capable of precisely reciprocating horizontally.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described in detail.
First, the electric wire W is fed in the same manner as the conventional configuration,
The feeding unit 12 moves the electric wire W at a speed slightly slower than the average feeding speed of an automatic wire harness manufacturing apparatus (not shown).
To send. This allows the electric wire W to have the same structure as the conventional one.
The amount of slack in the tape gradually decreases.

At this time, in the configuration of the present embodiment, the control circuit 13F is provided before the slack amount of the electric wire W reaches the minimum allowable limit value.
Increases the rotation speed of the motor 12C of the feeding unit 12 for a predetermined time to increase the slack amount. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the slack amount of the wire W is further increased after the control of the wire feeding speed is started. The safety amount SF until it decreases and reaches the minimum allowable limit value is secured. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reliably prevent overstretching by the safety amount SF, and thus to cope with high-speed feeding of the electric wire W and various kinds of electric wires W.

Further, in the configuration of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, since the amount of slack in the wire W increases before the minimum allowable limit value is reached, compared to the control based on the minimum allowable limit value, The amount of change in the amount of slack becomes smaller. Therefore, when the amount of slack is detected by the oscillating rod 13C, there is an advantage that the inertia acting on the oscillating rod 13C can be reduced and more precise control can be performed.

Moreover, since the electric wire unwinding speed for unwinding the electric wire W from the roll body 14 does not change rapidly, the electric wire W is not entangled in the vicinity of the roll body 14 and stable unwinding is performed. Next, in the configuration of this embodiment, the electric wire W to be fed is the conveying roller 12B and the pressing roller pair 1.
It is pinched between 2E and both rollers 12B, 12E (12
1E, 122E) and is fed in the feeding direction while making rolling contact. At this time, in this embodiment, the air cylinder 1
By driving the connecting member 12F in the normal direction of the transport roller 12B by the 2G, it becomes possible to change the pinching interval of the electric wire W by both rollers according to the type of the electric wire W. Therefore, even if the wire W is transported at a higher speed by the automatic wire harness manufacturing apparatus or if the wire diameter is changed, it is possible to reliably prevent slippage or the like between the wire W and both rollers. However, there is an advantage that desired feeding accuracy can be obtained.

Further, in this embodiment, since the air cylinder 13J urges the slack portion of the electric wire W in the direction of slackening the electric wire W via the swing rod 13C, the feeding speed of the electric wire W changes rapidly. However, even if the force of bouncing up the electric wire W acts on the slack portion, the slack portion of the electric wire W is pressed against the rocking rod 13C by the urging force of the air cylinder 13J, so that the slack is maintained without bouncing. Sent. As a result, in the present embodiment, the slack portion of the electric wire W can be fed in a stable state, and the swing rod 13C does not vibrate.
As shown in (A), the slack signal S1 is stable, and it is possible to reliably prevent detection failure.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to speed up the automatic manufacturing apparatus of the wire harness and surely deal with various electric wires W. In addition, the above-mentioned embodiment,
However, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, which are merely examples of preferred embodiments of the present invention. For example, an accumulation roller may be interposed between the feeding unit 12 and the roll body 14 to adjust the tension acting on the electric wire W between them.

Alternatively, an elastic body such as a spring member can be used as the urging means. However, when the air cylinder 13J is adopted as in the present embodiment, the urging force for urging the electric wire W can be easily changed according to the type of the electric wire W, so that workability is improved. Moreover, there is an advantage that the setting can be performed with high accuracy. Further, the displacement member is not limited to the swing rod 13C, but a member such as a hook or an accumulative roller slidably engageable with the electric wire W can be substituted.

Needless to say, various design changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0033]

As described above, in the structure according to the first aspect of the present invention, the safety amount from the start of the control of the electric wire feeding speed to the further reduction of the electric wire slack amount to reach the minimum allowable limit value. Since this ensures the safety, overstretching can be reliably prevented by this safety amount, and it is possible to cope with high-speed feeding of electric wires and various types of electric wires. In particular, when the configuration according to claim 2 is adopted, the amount of slack in the wire increases before the minimum allowable limit value is reached, so that the amount of change in the slack portion is greater than that in control based on the minimum allowable limit value. Therefore, when the amount of slack is detected by the displacement member, there is an advantage that the inertia acting on the displacement member can be reduced and more precise control can be performed.

Further, since a rapid change in the speed at which the wire is unwound from the roll body 14 is suppressed, there is no entanglement in the vicinity of the roll body 14 and stable unwinding is performed. On the other hand, in the constitutions of claims 2 and 3, even if the feeding speed of the electric wire changes rapidly and the force of bouncing the electric wire acts on the slack portion,
The slack portion of the electric wire is pressed against the displacement member by the urging force of the urging means, and as a result, the slack portion of the electric wire is fed while maintaining the slack, so that the slack portion of the electric wire can be fed in a stable state. Besides, since the displacement member does not vibrate, it is possible to reliably prevent the detection failure.

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is a remarkable effect that the automatic manufacturing apparatus of the wire harness can be operated at high speed and various electric wires can be surely dealt with.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an electric wire feeding device according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of an electric wire feeding unit adopted in the electric wire feeding device of FIG.

3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of a slack amount control unit adopted in the electric wire feeding device of FIG. 1. FIG.

4A and 4B are graphs for explaining the configuration of the control means of the embodiment of FIG. 1, in which FIG. 4A is a diagram showing the relationship between the slack signal and the phase angle of the displacement member, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the conveyance speed of a feeding unit, and a slack signal.

5 is a graph showing changes in the amount of slack of the electric wire according to the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional wire feeding device,

FIG. 7 is a graph showing changes in the amount of slack of the electric wire according to the configuration of FIG.

8 is a diagram showing a relationship between a slack signal and a phase angle of a displacement member according to the configuration of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 12 Feeding Unit 13 Looseness Control Unit 13C Swing Rod (Displacement Member) 13E Phase Detector (Detecting Means) 13F Control Circuit (Control Means) 13J Air Cylinder (Biasing Means)

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A feeding unit which is arranged in a predetermined electric wire feeding path and which feeds the electric wire in a state where a slack of the electric wire is formed at a downstream side of the electric wire feeding path, and a slack of the electric wire. Detection unit that detects the amount and outputs a slack signal, and the wire feeding speed of the feeding unit in response to the slack signal of the detection unit so that the amount of slack in the wire increases before reaching the minimum allowable limit value. An electric wire feeder comprising: a control unit for controlling the electric wire. 2. The electric wire feeding device according to claim 1, wherein the control means is slidably locked to the slack portion of the electric wire to displace the displacement member in accordance with the slack amount of the slack portion, and The urging means includes means for urging the slack portion of the electric wire in a direction in which the electric wire is slackened via the displacement member. 3. A displacement member that displaces in accordance with the amount of slack in the slack portion by slidably engaging the slack portion of the slackened wire in a predetermined wire feeding path, and the displacement of the displacement member. In a slack amount control unit including a detection unit that detects a slack amount of the electric wire from the amount and outputs a slack signal, and a maintaining unit that maintains the slack amount within a predetermined range in response to the slack signal of the detection unit, A slack amount control unit, comprising: urging means for urging a slack portion of the electric wire in a direction in which the electric wire is slackened via the displacement member.