JPH08114419A - Wire gage - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable highly accurate measurement with limited measuring errors by reducing variations in the distance between an electric wire and a camera. CONSTITUTION: Window parts of an electric wire 4 are pinched between a lower holder 5 and an upper holder 7 and are taken with a camera to measure dimensions of the respective window parts. The upper holder 7 is supported with the lower holder 5 and a slide rail 14 allowed to slide across the width of the electric wire 4 and having a recess part 13 formed thereon is arranged below a rotatable wheel 12 mounted on the lower holder 5. The slide rail 14 is moved across the width of the electric wire 4 with a drive body 15. The wheel 12 sinks into the recess part 13, causing the lower holder 5 to separate from the upper holder 7 and the pinching of the electric wire 4 with both the holders 5 and 7 is released. When the rail 14 is moved in the opposite direction, the wheel 12 rides on the outside of the recess part 13 to let the lower holder 5 approach the upper holder 7 thereby allowing the pinching of the electric wire 4 with both the holders 5 and 7.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The electric wire size measuring device of the present invention is
The size of a window formed at a predetermined position of the electric wire is measured by an image-type camera (for example, a CCD camera) for measurement, and the electric wire is prevented from being lifted or displaced during measurement. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A card electric wire used by inserting it into a connector is formed by cutting a long electric wire 4 as shown in FIG. 9 into a predetermined length. In the electric wire 4, as shown in FIG. 7, the outer periphery of two or more conductors 1 arranged in the lateral direction at appropriate intervals is covered with a resin, and the window portions 3 are formed at even intervals in the longitudinal direction of the covering layer 2. . There are various types of the electric wire 4. As one of them, the electric wire 4 shown in FIG. 8 (a) is called the same direction type, and the coating layers 2 on both the front and back surfaces of the conductor 1 are peeled off to expose both the front and back surfaces of the conductor 1, and one surface of the conductor 1 is exposed. The reinforcing tape 16 is attached to the. The electric wire 4 shown in FIG. 8B is of a different direction type, and the coating layers 2 on both front and back surfaces are peeled off to expose both the front and back surfaces of the conductor 1, so that the conductors 1 of the adjacent window portions 3 have different surfaces. The reinforcing tapes 16 are alternately attached. Electric wire 4 in FIG. 8 (c)
Is also called the same direction type, and only the coating layer 2 on one side of the conductor 1 is peeled off to expose only one side of the conductor 1.
The reinforcing tape 16 is provided on the outside of the coating layer 2 which is left without being peeled off.
Is pasted.

Conventionally, such an electric wire 4 is cut at each window 3 as shown in FIG. 9 to have a uniform length (usually several tens of mm to several hundreds of meters).
m), and a card electric wire in which the conductors 1 are exposed at both ends in the longitudinal direction is obtained. Since the end portion of the card electric wire is inserted into the connector, a size suitable for the size of the connector is required. In recent years, connectors are becoming smaller and higher in density, and accordingly, particularly high dimensional accuracy is required.

As a maker of card electric wires, in order to meet such demands, before cutting the electric wire 4 from the window portion 3, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, each window portion 3 of the electric wire 4 is photographed by the camera 9, the state of each window portion 3 is monitored by an image, and the width TW of the conductor 1 of each window portion 3 shown in FIG. Dimensions such as the pitch P between the conductors 1, the width M from both side surfaces in the width direction to the outer conductor 1 and the pitch TP between the conductors 1 at both ends are measured.

When measuring the above-mentioned various dimensions, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 4, the electric wire 4 wound around the winding drum 21 is used.
Through the gap 17 between the lower light-transmitting plate 6 of the lower holder 5 and the upper light-transmitting plate 8 of the upper holder 7 through the inlet-side width-shifting guide 22, and through the outlet-side width-shifting guide 23. And draw it up on the take-up drum 25. At this time, when the window portion 3 of the electric wire 4 comes between the lower transparent plate 6 of the lower holder 5 and the upper transparent plate 8 of the upper holder 7, the movement of the electric wire 4 is stopped. At this time, the light source 26 below the lower light-transmitting plate 6 irradiates the window portion 3 of the electric wire 4 with light, and the electric wire 4
When the electric wire 4 is viewed from above, a difference in brightness can be made between the portion having the conductor 1 and the portion not having the conductor 1 (the portion having only the coating layer 2) so that the conductor 1 and the other portion can be separated from each other. The camera (CCD camera) 9 is used so that it can be clearly identified. In this state, the window 3 is photographed by the two cameras 9 and the monitor TV is displayed.
The external state of the window 3 is confirmed with and the various dimensions described above are measured based on the signal from the camera 9. When the dimension measurement is completed, the movement of the electric wire 4 is restarted, and when the next window portion 3 comes between the lower light-transmissive plate 6 and the upper light-transmissive plate 8, the electric wire 4 is stopped again, and as in the case described above. Monitor and measure. After that, the electric wire 4 is intermittently moved by repeating this process, and the windows 3 are sequentially photographed by the camera 9 to measure the dimensions. In this case, the stop movement of the electric wire 4 is controlled by the upper window detection sensor 27a and the lower window detection sensor 27b arranged in front of the inlet side width guide 22 shown in FIGS. Is detected and is performed based on the detection signal.

The inlet side width guide 22 and the outlet side width guide 23 shown in FIG. 4 are for positioning the electric wire 4 as shown in FIG. 5, and are provided on the guide jig 29 supported by the mounting base 28. The position of the electric wire 4 can be adjusted by moving the mover 30 in the width direction of the electric wire 4 along the groove.

In FIG. 4, two cameras 9 are used, one of which is fixed and one end of the electric wire 4 in the width direction is placed in the field of view.
The other one is movable so that the other end in the width direction of the electric wire 4 can be accommodated in the field of view, and two units can accommodate the entire width direction of the electric wire 4 in the field of view. In this case, one camera may be used as long as it has a wide field of view. However, such cameras are expensive.

[0008]

In the size measuring device of FIG. 4, the electric wires 4 are smoothly passed through the gap 17 between the lower light-transmitting plate 6 and the upper light-transmitting plate 8 so that the light-transmitting plates can be smoothly passed. The width of the gap 17 (FIG. 6) between 6 and 8 is set to 0.6 mm, which is wider than the thickness of the electric wire 4, which is 0.28 to 0.35 mm. Therefore, when the electric wire 4 is distorted or swung in the vertical direction, the distance (depth of field) between the electric wire 4 and the camera 9 may vary by up to about 0.3 mm. In this case, depending on the characteristics of the camera 9 used, in the experiment, a measurement error of about 0.01 mm occurs if the depth of field differs by 0.3 mm.
This error is 0.12 to 0.
The error is large with respect to 20 mm, and it is difficult to measure with high accuracy, and it is difficult to guarantee the quality of the electric wire 4.

An object of the present invention is to provide an electric wire dimension measuring apparatus which reduces variations in the distance between the electric wire and the camera, has a small measurement error, enables highly accurate measurement, and can also assure the quality of the electric wire. is there.

[0010]

In the electric wire size measuring apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention, the outer circumference of two or more conductors 1 arranged at a predetermined interval as shown in FIG. Layer 2
1, the electric wire 4 formed by peeling off a predetermined portion in the longitudinal direction of the electric wire 1 to form the window portion 3 in which the conductor 1 is exposed is held by a lower holder 5 provided below the electric wire 4 as shown in FIG. Light plate 6,
It is moved in the longitudinal direction through the space between the upper light-transmitting plate 8 held by the upper holder 7 provided above, and each window 3 is photographed by the camera 9 from above the upper light-transmitting plate 8. In the apparatus for measuring the size of an electric wire for measuring the dimension of 3, the lower holder 5 is provided with the spring 10 and the iron ball 11 pushed up by the spring 10, and the iron ball 11 supports the upper holder 7 and the lower holder 5 A rotatable wheel 12 is attached to the slide rail 14, and a slide rail 14 is provided below the wheel 12 which is slidable in the width direction of the electric wire 4 and provided with a recess 13 for dropping the wheel 12 at a predetermined position in the sliding direction. 1
4 is provided with a driving body 15 for moving it in the width direction of the electric wire 4.

The electric wire size measuring apparatus according to claim 2 of the present invention is the electric wire size measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower holder 5 is provided with a spring 10 and an iron ball 11 pushed up by the spring 10, and the iron ball 11 is provided. The upper holder 7 is supported by.

[0012]

In the electric wire size measuring apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the upper holder 7 is supported by the lower holder 5, the rotatable wheel 12 is attached to the lower holder 5, and the width of the electric wire 4 is provided under the wheel 12. Slide rail 1 which is slidable in the sliding direction and has a recess 13 for dropping the wheel 12 at a predetermined position in the sliding direction.
4 is arranged, and the slide rail 14 is provided with a driving body 15 for moving it in the width direction of the electric wire 4. Therefore, when moving the electric wire 4 between the upper and lower light-transmitting plates 6 and 8, it is shown in FIG. In this way, the wheel 12 of the lower holding tool 5 is dropped into the recess 13 of the slide rail 14, and the lower holding tool 5 is lowered one step.
As a result, the lower transparent plate 6 held by the lower holder 5 is
The gap 17 between the upper holding member 7 and the upper light-transmitting plate 8 held by the upper holding member 7 is widened, and the electric wire 4 can smoothly move through the gap 17.

When the electric wire 4 is fixed by being sandwiched between the upper and lower translucent plates 6 and 8, the slide rail 14 is pulled to the left side in FIG. 3 by the driving body 15 as shown in FIG. The wheel 12 is allowed to ride out of the recess 13 of the slide rail 14, and the lower holding tool 5 is raised further. As a result, the lower transparent plate 6 held by the lower holder 5 rises together with the lower holder 5, pushing up the electric wire 4 and pressing it against the upper transparent plate 8 held by the upper holder 7, Is fixed. As a result, the electric wire 4 is not distorted or shaken in the vertical direction, the distance (depth of field) between the electric wire 4 and the camera 9 is constant, and the measurement error is almost eliminated.

In the electric wire size measuring device according to the second aspect, the lower holder 5 is provided with the spring 10 and the iron ball 11 pushed up by the spring 10, and the iron ball 11 supports the upper holder 7, so that the lower holder is provided. Even if the electric wire 4 is clamped between the upper retainer 7 and the electric wire 4 by raising 5, the clamping force is not
Since it is absorbed by 0, an excessively strong force is not applied to the electric wire 4 and the electric wire is not damaged. Further, since there is the iron ball 11, there is no direction when the raised lower holding tool 5 presses against the upper holding tool 7, and even if the lower holding tool 5 rises slightly obliquely, the lower holding tool 5 smoothly moves to the upper holding tool 7. Hit against.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the wire size measuring device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. Reference numeral 4 in FIG. 1 denotes an electric wire, which is the same as that shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 (a) (b) (c).

Reference numeral 32 in FIG. 1 denotes an electric wire fixing tool for holding and fixing the window portion 3 of the electric wire 4 from above and below, and an upper holding tool 7 arranged above the electric wire 4. The lower holder 5 is formed separately from the electric wire 4 and is arranged below the electric wire 4. The upper holder 7 is the upper see-through window 3
An upper light-transmitting plate 8 such as a transparent glass plate or a plastic plate is attached to the lower surface of 5. The lower holder 5 has a lower see-through window 36.
The lower transparent plate 6 such as a transparent glass plate or a plastic plate is attached to the upper surface of the. It is desirable that these translucent plates 6 and 8 have good light transmittance and are not easily scratched.

The lower holder 5 has two opposite receiving edges 3
As shown in FIG. 2, housing holes 39 are formed at two positions of 7 and 38, and the spring 10 is housed in each housing hole 39 so that the upper part thereof protrudes upward from the housing hole 39. An iron ball 11 that is pushed up by it is arranged on the top. Then, the upper holder 7 is placed on the iron ball 11 so that the upper light-transmitting plate 8 faces the lower light-transmitting plate 6.
Further, as shown in FIG. 2, rotatable wheels 12 are attached to four positions on the bottom surface of the lower holding tool 5, and the wheels 12 are placed on the slide rails 14. The slide rail 14 is formed in a rectangular frame shape, and concave portions 13 into which the wheels 12 are dropped are formed on both side edges of the slide rail 14 toward both longitudinal ends thereof.
A drive member 15 such as a cylinder for moving the slide rail 14 in the longitudinal direction (width direction of the electric wire) is connected to the slide rail 14.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 22 is an inlet side width guide, and 23 is an outlet side width guide. These move the moving element 30 back and forth within the groove of a guide jig 29 arranged side by side in the moving direction of the electric wire 4. This is for determining the movement position of the electric wire 4 by allowing the movement and adjusting the position of the moving element 30.

[0019]

Example of use of the electric wire size measuring device of the present invention: To use the electric wire size measuring device of the present invention, the electric wire wound on the winding drum 21 as in the conventional size measuring process shown in FIG. 4 is pulled out, passed through the inlet-side width-shifting guide 22, and further passed through the gap 17 between the lower light-transmitting plate 6 of the lower holding tool 5 and the upper light-transmitting plate 8 of the upper holding tool 7, and the outlet-side width-shifting guide. It is pulled out by a take-up roll 24 through
Roll up to 5. At this time, when the window portion 3 of the electric wire 4 comes between the lower transparent plate 6 of the lower holder 5 and the upper transparent plate 8 of the upper holder 7, the movement of the electric wire 4 is stopped and the dimension is measured. When the dimension measurement is completed, the movement of the electric wire 4 is restarted, and the next window portion 3 has the lower transparent plate 6 of the lower holder 5 and the upper transparent plate 8 of the upper holder 7.
If it comes in between, stop it again. Hereinafter, the electric wire is intermittently moved by repeating this. In this case, the control of stopping and resuming the movement of the electric wire 4 is performed by the upper window detection sensor 27a and the lower window detection sensor 27b arranged in front of the inlet side width guide 22 of FIG. Is detected and is performed based on the detection signal.

When moving the electric wire 4, as shown in FIG. 2, the arm of the driving body (for example, an air cylinder) 15 is extended and the slide rail 14 is pushed to the right side of the drawing, so that the wheel 12 of the lower holding tool 5 is slid on the slide rail 14. Drop into the recess 13 of
The lower holding tool 5 is lowered by one step. As a result, the gap 17 between the lower light-transmitting plate 6 held by the lower holder 5 and the upper light-transmitting plate 8 held by the upper holder 7 is widened, and the electric wire 4 moves smoothly through the gap 17. It can be so.

When the electric wire 4 is fixed by sandwiching it between the upper and lower translucent plates 6 and 8, the arm of the driving body 15 is contracted and the slide rail 14 is pulled to the left side of the drawing as shown in FIG. As a result, the wheels 12 of the lower holder 5 are allowed to ride out of the recess 13 of the slide rail 14, and the lower holder 5 is raised further. As a result, the lower transparent plate 6 held by the lower holder 5 rises together with the lower holder 5, pushing up the electric wire 4 and pressing it against the upper transparent plate 8 held by the upper holder 7, Pinch and fix.

When the image processing of the electric wire 4 and the dimension measurement are completed and the window portion 3 having the dimension defect is detected, the defect mark is displayed by the marker 45 (FIG. 4) near the defective window portion.

[0023]

The wire size measuring device according to claim 1 of the present invention has the following effects. ． Since the electric wire is stable during measurement, there is almost no measurement error,
Highly accurate dimension measurement is possible. ． The allowable range of the camera sensitivity setting and illumination position (transmission amount) setting can be widened due to the difference in the terminal structure of the electric wire, which facilitates the setting. ． Even if the camera and lighting equipment are not expensive (expensive), the measurement accuracy is improved.

In addition to the above effects, the wire size measuring device according to the second aspect of the present invention has the following effects. ． Since there is a spring, even if the lower holding tool is raised and the electric wire is sandwiched between the upper holding tool and the upper holding tool, the electric wire is not subjected to excessive force and is not damaged. ． Since there is an iron ball, there is no direction when the raised lower holder is pressed against the upper holder, and even if the lower holder is lifted slightly obliquely, it can be smoothly pressed against the upper holder.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing one embodiment of an electric wire dimension measuring device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line C-C ′ of the dimension measuring device of FIG. 1 when the electric wires are unpinched.

FIG. 3 is a view of C- when a wire is fixed in the dimension measuring device of FIG.
C'arrow sectional view.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an electric wire dimension measuring method.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional wire size measuring device.

6A is a sectional view taken along the line AA 'in FIG. 5, and FIG. 6B is a sectional view taken along the line BB' in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a card electric wire.

8A, 8B, and 8C are side views of card electric wires in which a reinforcing tape is attached and a conductor is exposed differently.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the electric wire before cutting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 is a conductor 2 is a coating layer 3 is a window 4 is an electric wire 5 is a lower holder 6 is a lower transparent plate 7 is an upper holder 8 is an upper transparent plate 9 is a camera 10 is a spring 11 is an iron ball 12 is a wheel 13 Is a concave portion 14 is a slide rail 15 is a driver

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. Two or more conductors (1) arranged at predetermined intervals
The electric wire (4) is obtained by coating the outer periphery of the resin with a resin, and peeling off a predetermined portion of the coating layer (2) in the longitudinal direction to form a window (3) exposing the conductor (1). ), A lower holding plate (5) of the lower holder (5) and an upper holding plate (7) of the upper holder (7) provided above the electric wire (4) are passed through the electric wire. (4) is moved in the longitudinal direction so that each window (3) can be photographed by the camera (9) from above the upper translucent plate (8) so that the size of each window (3) can be measured. In a wire size measuring device, a lower holder (5) supports an upper holder (7), a rotatable wheel (12) is attached to the lower holder (5), and an electric wire is attached under the wheel (12). A slide rail (which is slidable in the width direction of (4) and has a recess (13) for dropping the wheel (12) at a predetermined position in the sliding direction ( 4) Place a dimension measuring apparatus of an electric wire, characterized driver that moves in the width direction to become provided (15) of the wire (4) it to the slide rail (14). 2. The electric wire size measuring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lower holder (5) is provided with a spring (10) and an iron ball (11) pushed up by the spring (10), and the iron ball (11) holds the upper holder. An electric wire size measuring device characterized by supporting (7).