JPH0770262B2 - A device that incorporates terminated conductors into a connector to form an electrical harness - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a device for forming a harness by incorporating a terminated wire into an electrical connector, and more particularly to a device capable of forming a harness in which the order of wires is not the same at each end. Pertain to.

2. Description of the Prior Art It is common to use harnesses that incorporate a terminating conductor in a single connector at least at one end to pass electrical signals between printed circuit board assemblies or components by conductors in electrical equipment. For this reason, JP-A-61
An electric harness manufacturing apparatus as shown in −277115 is known. In some cases, the ends of the conductors in the conductor group may not be arranged in the same horizontal order. In such a case, when forming the electric harness, a crossing device for changing the order of the conductors of the conductor group is required. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-166110 proposes a device therefor. That is, it is a device for forming an intersecting passage on a table and guiding conductors between electric connectors in an electric connector harness to establish an intersecting state and changing the order of the conductors.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

According to the above-mentioned conventional technology, since the means for forming the cross passage on the table is used, the apparatus becomes large in size, and there is a certain limit in improving the driving speed of the apparatus. Therefore, the present invention is to provide an electric harness forming device having a conductor crossing device which is small in size and capable of improving processing speed.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an apparatus for forming an electric harness by incorporating a terminated wire into a connector,
In an apparatus for forming an electrical harness having a crossing device for changing the order of the wires of a group of wires when the order of the wires is not the same at each end, the crossing device for changing the order of the wires in the wire group includes A first guide 203 for clamping the conductor group adjacent to one end of both ends of the conductor, and a second guide 202 for clamping the conductor group adjacent to the other end.
And an auxiliary gripper 25 that clamps each conductor separately.
0, a crossing gripper 25 adjacent to the first guide 203 and holding a single conductor between the two guides 203, 202.
6, 252, and these cross grippers 256, 252 are arranged in the Y direction along the axial direction of the conductor and in the X direction along the transverse direction of the conductor.
Direction and means for moving the intersecting grippers 256, 252 in the Z direction perpendicular to the Y direction and the X direction, the intersecting grippers 256, 252 for grasping a conducting wire between the intersecting grippers 256, 252 and the first guide 203. Included tip grippers 258, 254 and means for moving the tip grippers 258, 254 along with the cross grippers 256, 252 along the X and Z directions, the tip grippers 258, 254 being capable of gripping the wire in the Y direction. The present invention provides a device for forming an electric harness by incorporating a conductor wire configured as described above into a connector.

〔Example〕

First, the entire electric harness forming apparatus is shown according to FIGS. 1 to 3. Such an apparatus is substantially the same as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-277115 previously disclosed by the present applicant. That is, the left and right hand shuttle table towers 100 and 101 are provided, and these hand shuttle table towers can be relatively moved toward and away from each other by the lead screw 102, and the length of the harness to be assembled is selected. Above each tower is a shuttle table system consisting of three square shuttle tables 106 1
04, 104a, which can move relative to each other in the following order: That is, the order is one in which four positions around a closed, straight, rectangular path are sequentially followed one by one as shown by arrow GFEH in FIG. The shuttle table system 104, 104a is a left-handed system as shown in Figures 1-3.
Operate 104 tables clockwise and the right hand system tables counterclockwise and vice versa. Each table has a purely linear movement, the table moves in the direction indicated by the arrow GFEH, and each table carries a long, slotted truck-like fixture 110, which is a separate connector. Alternatively, it has tracks for positioning the sticks of interconnected connectors. The fixtures 110 are supported by the table, the tracks are all parallel to each other, the fixtures 110 of the left hand shuttle table system 104 are located along the right hand edge of the table, respectively, and the fixtures of the right hand shuttle table system 104a.
110 are arranged along the left hand edge of the table.

The table fixture 110 of the shuttle table system 104, 104a is sequentially moved in the direction indicated by arrow F, for example, the stick of the connector is placed in the connector loading station loaded on the fixture truck and then indicated by arrow E. In the vacant position e and then in the direction indicated by the arrow H into the terminal station h where the conductor w is terminated in the connector stick.
It is then moved in the direction indicated by arrow G to test the assembled harness and then put into a test and discharge station g which is removed from the fixture truck and transferred to the discharge truck.

Associated with each shuttle table system is a linearly moving feed / location member, which is shown in FIG. 2 by the double-headed arrow C and slides back and forth in the directions of arrows E and G. Air operated slide 1
It is in the form of a plate 112 supported by a rotary actuator 114 mounted on 15. The actuator 114 operates to alternately position the plate 112 over the loading station f and the discharging station g, both of which are indicated by an arrow B with a double arrow. Positioning teeth 116 are lined up on both sides of the plate 112, and wire receiving recesses 161 (FIGS. 8 and 9) of the connector stick s are held by the tracks of the fixture 110 arranged at the loading station f and the discharging station g. To place. The dentition 116 is spaced to engage one tooth of each of the connector stick recesses 161. Recesses 161 are formed at each circuit point of each connector stick. Therefore, the teeth 116 engage the connector sticks s and
When sliding the actuator 114 back and forth in the + and C-directions, a loading movement is made along the fixture track and then a unloading movement. The actuator was previously actuated, rotating plate 112 in the B + and B- directions.

Preposition shuttle components associated with each shuttle table system 104, 104a
The load actuator 120 supports a track block having a track 121 and has a connector stick s
Guide parallel to the track of the fixture 110 mounted on the shuttle table. Each actuator 120 is attached to an air-actuated slide and slides back and forth in the directions A + and F in the directions H + F as indicated by the arrow A with double-ended barbs on its connector stick track. aligned with that of the fixture 110 of f, and its connector stick in direction A-
Fixture with truck located at loading station f
Align with the connector stick loading track, which is parallel to 110 but offset outwards. Emission truck 126
Is provided for the connector s of the assembled harness,
These are aligned with the trucks of the fixture 110 located at the test / release station g. The connectors or connector sticks are loaded into the loading track by bowl feed, tape reel feed or by hand.

The tape reel feed mechanism and the bowl feed mechanism are shown at 130 and 131 in FIG. 3, respectively.

The conductors are delivered from reels of individual conductors w, or ribbon cables may be used. The individual conductors w are fed over the switching drum 134 (FIG. 3) and the conductors are measured. The drum is selected according to the size of the conductor w and then straightened through the conductor slack 135. Behind the shuttle table towers 100,101, conductors are fed across the load / unload trucks 124,126 and mechanically processed by conductor guides 201,202,203,204 shown schematically in FIG. The carriage wire guide 201 is supported for transverse movement between a fixed position 201A and a selected position 201B by a carriage 136 which can move back and forth on a track rod 137 (Fig. 1), and the guide is a wire guide 204. When open, it moves between the jaws of the wire cutting station guide 204. Carriage wire depending on the distance from the left-hand tower 100 to the right-hand tower 101
Position 201B of guide 201 has been selected, and positions 201A and 201B remain at the same positions as shown in FIG. 2 for towers 100 and 101, respectively. The wire guide 204 is movable between two positions fixed relative to the tower 100 shown in FIG. 2, and at position 204A it is at each fixture 110 located at the terminal station h, and at the wire cutting station z. Align with. The left hand conductor guide 202 associated with the left hand tower 100 and the right hand conductor guide 203 associated with the right hand tower 101 are movable back and forth along the length of the loading and unloading trucks 124, 126. Guide 2
The rearmost position 202A of 02 is outside the path of motion of the carriage 136, and in the second wire gripping position 202B of the guide 202 it is the wire guide 201,20 inward of the position 201A, 204B, 204A.
It is aligned orthogonal to 4 and in the third or furthest position 202C of the guide 202 it is aligned with the end position h of the inner left hand shuttle table system 100. The two positions 203A, 203B of the guide 203 are the positions that it always holds with respect to the tower 101, the positions 202B,
202C, and the guides 202,203 have their position 202
It moves in unison between B, 203A and 202C, 203B.

In the first setting of the device, the wire w is fed through the wire guide 201 located at 201A, and when the wire guide 204 is at position 204A, ie wire cutter z.
When in the position of grasping the conductor during cutting of the conductor by, the conductor is over-fed through the conductor guide 204. The guide 204 is not closed at this stage. Left hand guide 202 and right hand guide 203 are open and located at 202A and 203A. The guide 201A closes to squeeze the wire and actuates the wire cutter z to cut the wire w, thereby aligning the wire ends at the wire cutting station z. In the operation of the device, the wire guide automatically operates in the following sequence. The guide 201 moves from 201A to 201B to move the cut end of the wire to align it with the right-hand end station h. guide
Feed extra wire through 203, then close guide 203 and grab the wire. Then open guide 201, return to 201A, and close again. At this stage, the end of the wire which is being gripped by the guide 203 is treated by the stripping unit T which strips the insulating coating of the wire which ends at one end. However, in this example, IDT connectors are used at each end. The wire guide 202 then moves to 202B and then closes to grab the wire adjacent to the left hand tower 100. The wire guide 204A then closes and disconnects the desired length harness wire w from the wire it was sent at station z. Then, the wire guide 201 is opened, and the wire guide 204 moves to 204B to pull the end of the fed wire again.

Next, the wire guides 202 and 203 are aligned and are 202C and 203B, respectively.
To move the wire end of the harness to the wire insertion station h. Operate the terminal press P supported on each of the shuttle table towers,
A conductor is terminated at a connector stick s located at the termination station h. Then, open the wire guides 202, 203,
Then move to positions 202A and 203A respectively.

The carriage wire guide 201 then closes over the wire w at the input feed. At the same time, the wire guide 204 opens to allow passage of the carriage wire guide to position 201B when the automatic wire feed cycle resumes.

The apparatus described above is very effective in making a harness in which the conductors are in the same order at each end of the harness. However, it is not always possible to design the printed circuit board assemblies or components that are to be connected to the harness in the same order. The device shown in FIG. 4 can be crossed.

As shown in FIG. 4, this crossing device is an auxiliary gripper 250,
Two cross grippers 252, 256 are provided, each cross gripper having a wire tip gripper 254, 258.

Use the device of FIG. 4 with guide 203 when guide 203 is in position 203A and guide 202 is in position 202B, holding the conductors to be cut to a length between them. To do. An auxiliary gripper 250 is mounted to move from the right to a position where it almost abuts the guide 203, where it engages the end of the wire extending beyond the guide 203.
The gripper 250 consists of a pair of jaws operating individually for each conductor, each pair of jaws having two positions, an open position in which it is moved relative to the conductor and a closed position in which it grips and secures the end of the conductor. Have.

The cross grippers 252 and 256 are their tip grippers 25.
4 together with 4 and 258 from the inactive or stopped position behind the device of FIG. 4 across the conductor in the direction x'of FIG. 4 (where they do not interfere with the movement of the guides 202, 203). It is mounted so that it can move to the operating position shown in.

The spacing of the cross grippers in the x direction is fixed,
Then, the cross grippers 252 and 256 can move independently, but the respective tip grippers 254 and 258 are positioned vertically in the z direction. Further, the cross grippers 252 and 256 are respectively arranged in the y direction, that is, in the axial direction of the conductors, respectively.
It can move independently with 254 and 258 vertical.

The jaws of guide 203 have three operating positions. That is, the open position where the guide jaws are away from the conductors:
There are three positions where the jaws allow axial movement of the conductor while preventing lateral movement of the conductor: and closed positions where the jaw grips the conductor.

The use of the crossing device is illustrated by moving the conductor from position number 4 to position number 10. The conductor is secured by the guide 203, and the auxiliary gripper 250 is in a position to close its jaws to grab the conductor and abut the guide 203.
The cross grippers with the tip grippers are then moved from their rest position across the conductor until the grippers 256, 258 are above the conductor at position number four. Then the grippers 256,258 are lowered and the grippers 2
56 is closed on the wire and grabs it. Auxiliary gripper 25
The appropriate jaws of 0 are opened to release the wire, and the gripper 256 is moved in the Y direction until the wire is released until the wire gripper clears the guide 203, and then the gripper 258 closes to grab the wire. Then the gripper holding the conductor
256,258 raised, i.e. pulling wire, position number 10
Move the wire to and lower it. The tip gripper 258 is then opened and the cross gripper 256 is moved to the right in FIG. 4 to thread the tip of the wire through the guide 203 and into the auxiliary gripper 250, which causes the auxiliary gripper 250 to move. , The grippers 256 and 258 can be retracted to grasp the tip of the lead wire. If you place the conductor from position 4
Simply moving to 10, guide 203 is closed, auxiliary gripper 250 is opened and retracted.

If, for example, two wires are to be replaced, then both gripper clamps 252 and 256 are used. The procedure is the same as described above, with one clamp picking up one conductor, the other clamp picking up the second conductor, said one clamp being emptied by the second conductor. The first conductor in the open space, and the other clamp repositions the second conductor in the space vacated by the first conductor.

The above-mentioned exchange of space in the guide 203 is accomplished by a single cross gripper. The conductor space is used to leave the first conductor while repositioning the second conductor and the first conductor is then retrieved and repositioned.

More complex intersections can be made in the basic manner by holding the conductors in one cross gripper and then using a second cross gripper to retrieve and reposition the second conductor. .

A tip gripper is provided on the cross gripper as described above.
If this is not done, the tip of the conducting wire will bend and will not align with the passage of the guide 203. This is because the habit of the conductor cannot be completely eliminated by the technique for straightening the habit of the conductor described above. However, the curl of the conductor does not matter. This is because the chip grippers 254 and 258 can be processed.

The repositioned conductors will inevitably run through the long path between the guides 202 and 203, so the repositioned conductors should be
It does not go out beyond 202. This problem is eliminated by slackening the conductors before starting the crossing process described above. For example, by looping the wire with a conventional looper system or the guides 202 and 2
The initial spacing to 03 can be made larger than desired and then sagging by reducing the spacing to the desired value before beginning the crossover.

〔The invention's effect〕

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when the electric harness is manufactured semi-automatically or fully automatically, the order of the conductive wire groups can be changed when the order of the conductive wires is not the same at each end. The crossing device has advantages that it can be downsized and that the operation speed can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a harness assembly device. 2 and 3 are schematic diagrams showing the operation of the apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the crossing device of the present invention. Explanation of symbols 100,101 …… Hand shuttle table tower 102 …… Lead screw 104,104a …… Shuttable table system 106 …… Shuttable table 110 …… Table fixture 112 …… Plate 114 …… Rotary actuator 115 …… Air operated slide 116 …… Positioning tooth 120 …… Preposition shuttle component Load actuator 121 …… Truck 124 …… Loading track 126 …… Discharging track 130 …… Tape reel Feed mechanism 131 …… Bowl feed mechanism 134 …… Switching drum 135 …… Conduit curl Tori 136 …… Carriage 137 …… Track rod 201,202 …… Conductor guide 203,204 …… 〃 201A …… Fixed position 201B …… Selection position 202A …… The rearmost position of guide 202 202B …… Grip the second conductor of guide 202 Position 202C …… The frontmost position of the guide 202 250 …… Supplement Gripper 252,256 …… Crossing gripper 254,258 …… Conductor tip gripper g …… Test and discharge station h …… End station P …… End press s …… Connector stick T …… Unit w …… Conductor Z …… Conductor cutting station f… … Loading station

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus for incorporating terminated wires into a connector to form an electrical harness, comprising crossing means for changing the order of the wires of a wire group when the order of the wires is not the same at each end. In an apparatus for forming an electric harness, the crossing device for changing the order of the conductors in the conductor group includes a first guide 203 for clamping the conductor group adjacent to one end of both ends of the conductor, and a second guide at the other end. A second guide 202 for adjacently clamping a group of conductors, an auxiliary gripper 250 for separately clamping the conductors, and a conductor adjacent to the first guide 203 and between the two guides 203, 202. Crossing grippers 256, 252 for gripping the crossing grippers 256, 252, and the crossing grippers 256, 252 in the Y direction along the axial direction of the conductor, the X direction along the transverse direction of the conductor, and the Z direction perpendicular to the Y direction and the X direction. Up in the direction Cross gripper
Means for moving 256, 252, and said cross gripper 256, 2
Tip grippers 258 and 254 provided on the cross grippers 256 and 252 for gripping the wire between the 52 and the first guide 203.
And crossing grippers 256, 252 along the X and Z directions
Means for moving the tip grippers 258, 254 together, the tip grippers 258, 254 being configured to be able to grab the conductor in the Y direction to incorporate the conductor into a connector to form an electrical harness. Device to do.