JPH11149827A - Shape holding wire harness, its manufacture, and vacuum mold - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To impart rigidity and waterproof performance to a wire harness by supply adhering and connecting upper and lower film s to each other, which pinch a wire to provide a shape thereto. SOLUTION: Upper and lower films 20, 21 are adhered surely and connected to each other by processes of mounting the lower film 20 on a molding surface 12, on which a fine irregularities 19 has been formed and vacuum-sucking them to transcribe the fine irregularities 19 on the lower film 20, mounting the lower film 20 and a plurality of wires 16 on the molding surface 12 and covering them with the upper film 21, and connecting the upper and lower films 20, 21 to each other by vacuum-sucking them from a vacuum mold.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a shape-retaining wire harness and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a vacuum forming die used for manufacturing a shape-retaining wire harness.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 9 to 12 show a conventional method for flattening a wire harness and maintaining a predetermined wiring shape. In this method, a vacuum forming die 1 shown in FIG. 9 is used. The vacuum forming die 1 has a plurality of ribs 3 protruding from a flat forming surface 2, and a wiring recess 4 is formed between the opposed ribs 3. The molding surface 2 has a plurality of suction holes (not shown).

In manufacturing a wire harness, a lower mold film (not shown) is put on a molding surface 2 of a vacuum forming die 1 and a plurality of electric wires 5 are then placed along a wiring recess 4 as shown in FIG. To route. After this wiring, as shown in FIG. 11, the upper film 6 is heated and then put on the vacuum forming die 1, and the electric wire 5 is sandwiched between the lower film and the upper film 6.

In this state, the lower film and the upper film 6 are brought into close contact with each other by vacuum suction through the suction holes.
Glue the upper and lower films. Thereby, the wiring concave portion 4
Is given to the electric wire 5, and the shape-imparting wire harness 7 shown in FIG. 12 is manufactured. Note that FIGS. 10 and 11
In the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a connector, which is connected in advance to a necessary terminal portion of the electric wire 5.

[0005]

However, the electric wire 5
When thin films are used as the upper and lower films that sandwich the film, the adhesive strength of the bonding surfaces of the upper and lower films is reduced. This is because the upper and lower films do not adhere to each other, and an adhesive portion and a non-adhesive portion are generated between the upper and lower films. As a result, there is a problem that rigidity and waterproofness are reduced. For this reason, conventionally, a film having a certain thickness or more has to be used, which causes inconvenience that the degree of freedom in selecting a film is reduced.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a shape-retaining wire harness having sufficient rigidity and waterproofness even when a thin film is used. Further, another object of the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method capable of suitably manufacturing the shape maintaining wire harness and a vacuum forming die used in the manufacturing method.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wire harness in which a wiring shape is maintained by joining upper and lower films sandwiching a plurality of electric wires. Wherein the upper and lower films are joined in a state where minute irregularities are formed.

[0008] In this wire harness, fine irregularities are formed on the upper and lower films, so that even if the films are thin, the films are in close contact with each other and bonded. For this reason,
A shape retaining wire harness having high rigidity and reliable waterproofness can be provided.

The manufacturing method according to the second aspect of the present invention includes a step of placing a lower film on a molding surface of a vacuum forming die having minute irregularities formed thereon, and transferring the minute irregularities to the lower film by vacuum suction. After placing the lower film and the plurality of electric wires on the molding surface, a step of covering the upper film, and a step of joining the upper and lower films by vacuum suction from a vacuum forming mold. I do.

According to the present invention, minute irregularities on the molding surface are transferred to the lower film by vacuum-suctioning the lower film placed on the molding surface of the vacuum mold. Thereby, a lower film having minute unevenness can be obtained.

Thereafter, the lower film and a plurality of electric wires are placed on a vacuum forming die, and the upper film is covered with the upper film and vacuum suction is performed. The upper and lower films adhere to each other in this state. For this reason, a shape maintaining wire harness having rigidity and waterproofness can be manufactured. Therefore, even if a thin film is used, a good quality wire harness can be manufactured.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a vacuum forming mold having a fine unevenness formed thereon, wherein the lower film provided with the fine unevenness and a plurality of electric wires are placed on a molding surface of the vacuum mold. It is characterized in that the upper film is put on the upper film, and the upper and lower films are joined by vacuum suction from a vacuum mold.

In the present invention, the lower film is previously provided with fine irregularities. This lower film is placed on the forming surface of the vacuum forming die, and multiple wires are sandwiched between the upper film and vacuum suction, so that the upper film adheres to the lower film while giving fine irregularities. Then, the upper and lower films are joined. For this reason, even if a thin film is used, a shape maintaining wire harness having good rigidity and waterproofness can be manufactured.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vacuum forming mold wherein upper and lower films sandwiching a plurality of electric wires are placed on a forming surface, and the upper and lower films are joined by vacuum suction. It is characterized in that minute irregularities are formed on the molding surface.

In this vacuum forming die, since minute irregularities are formed on the molding surface, the minute irregularities can be transferred to the film by vacuum suction of the flat film. Further, since the upper and lower films are brought into close contact with each other by vacuum suction of the upper and lower films, the upper and lower films can be securely bonded.

[0016]

1 to 6 show the steps of manufacturing an embodiment of a shape-retaining wire harness according to the present invention. In these figures, reference numeral 11 denotes a vacuum forming die.

The upper surface of the vacuum forming die 11 is a forming surface 12, on which a plurality of ribs 13 are protruded so as to face each other. The ribs 13 are fixed in a projecting manner on the molding surface 12 by bonding, screwing, or the like, and the wiring recesses 14 and 16 (see FIG. 4) are formed between the ribs 13. At both ends of the rib 13, connector insertion holes 16 into which connectors 17 at both ends of the electric wire 16 are inserted are provided.

The wiring recess 14 gives the wire harness 15 a shape. In this embodiment, the plurality of ribs 13 are bent into an L-shape, and the routing concave portions 14 formed between the ribs 13 are formed as shown in FIG.
The wire harness 15 having the character shape is formed.

On the entire molding surface 12 of the vacuum molding die 11,
Fine irregularities 19 are formed. The fine irregularities 19 may be embossed, and fine mesh grooves in the vertical and horizontal directions,
Others may be used. By these minute irregularities 19,
The upper and lower films 20 and 21 can be brought into close contact with each other, and minute irregularities can be transferred to the lower film 20.

The molding surface 12 of the vacuum mold 11 has
A plurality of suction holes (not shown) are opened, and vacuum suction can be performed from the molding surface 12 by connecting the suction holes to a pump via a hose or the like.

Next, the manufacture of the wire harness 15 according to this embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the film 23 is placed on the forming surface 12 of the vacuum forming die 11 with the connector insertion hole 18 closed by the lid 22. The film 23 is made of a flat film and is placed so as to cover the entire molding surface 12.

After this mounting, vacuum suction is performed from the molding surface 12. The film 23 adheres to the molding surface 12 by the vacuum suction, and the minute irregularities 19 of the molding surface 12 are transferred to the film 23 by this adhesion. Then, stop the vacuum suction,
When the film 23 is peeled off from the molding surface 12, as shown in FIG. 2, a transfer film 25 provided with minute irregularities 24 is obtained. This transfer film 25 is the original of the lower mold film 20. Note that the rib portions 26 to which the ribs 13 of the molding surface 12 have been transferred are simultaneously formed on the transfer film 25 by vacuum suction.

With respect to the transfer film 25, a rib 26
Perform punching according to. The punching is performed so as to leave the rib portion 26 and the inside of the rib portion 26, and further, the outer portion of the rib portion 26 to some extent. As shown in FIG.
Is formed.

This lower mold film 20 is mounted on the molding surface 12 of the vacuum molding die 11 again. This mounting is performed by the rib 26
Are fitted to the ribs 13 of the molding surface 12, whereby the lower mold film 20 can be fixed while being positioned on the molding surface 12.

Thereafter, as shown in FIG.
6 is placed on the molding surface 12. The plurality of electric wires 16 are
The wire 16 is set on the lower film 20 by being set so as to be fitted in the wiring recess 14 between the three. In this case, the connectors 1 at both ends of the electric wire 16
7 is fixed by being fitted into a connector insertion hole 18 of the molding surface 12.

FIG. 5 shows a subsequent step. After the connector insertion hole 18 is closed by the lid 22, the molding surface 12 is covered with the upper film 21. The upper film 21 is made of a flat film. After the film is heated, the electric wire 16 is sandwiched between the upper film 21 and the lower film 20 by covering the entire molding surface 12. A hot melt adhesive (not shown) is applied to the lower surface of the upper film 21 in advance.

With the upper film 21 covered, vacuum suction is performed from the molding surface 12. The upper film 21 adheres to the lower film 20 from above the electric wires 16 by vacuum suction. However, since the fine irregularities 19 are formed on the molding surface 12, the upper film 21 can surely adhere to the lower film 20.
Thereby, the lower mold film 20 and the upper mold film 21 are adhered and joined to form the shape-maintaining wire harness 15 having a shape.

FIG. 6 shows that after the above molding, the vacuum molding die 11
5 shows a wire harness 15 formed by removing from a peripheral portion, punching out an extra portion of the periphery, and removing the portion by cutting or the like.

In the above-mentioned joining, since the lower mold film 20 and the upper mold film 21 are joined by the minute unevenness 13 on the molding surface 12, the joining can be surely made in close contact, and the wire harness 15 having rigidity and waterproofness. It can be. Therefore, even if thin films are used as the lower film 20 and the upper film 21, the wire harness 15 having rigidity and waterproofness can be manufactured.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show a process of wiring the wire harness 15 manufactured as described above to a base material 27 such as an automobile door. The base material 27 includes a plurality of steps 28, 29,
The wiring harness 15 is provided along the steps 28, 29, and 30, so that wiring in the three-dimensional direction can be performed.

In the present invention, the minute irregularities 24 are previously transferred to the lower mold film 20 by another device without transferring the minute irregularities 24 to the lower mold film 20 by vacuum suction of the molding surface 12 of the vacuum mold 11. You may give. And
By using the lower mold film 20 provided with minute unevenness and treating in the same manner as described above, the wire harness 15 having rigidity and waterproofness can be manufactured even when a thin film is used.

Further, the lower surface of the molding film 12 is kept flat without giving any minute irregularities of the lower mold film 20.
And vacuum suction together with the flat upper mold film 21 may be performed. Also in this case, since the lower mold film 20 and the upper mold film 21 can be satisfactorily adhered by the minute unevenness 19 of the molding surface 12, even if a thin film is used, a wire harness having rigidity and waterproofness can be obtained. can do.

[0033]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, fine irregularities are formed on the upper and lower films. Rigidity and reliable waterproofness can be provided.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, minute irregularities on the molding surface are transferred to the lower film, and a plurality of electric wires are sandwiched between the lower film and the upper film to perform vacuum suction to join the upper and lower films. A shape maintaining wire harness having rigidity and waterproofness can be manufactured.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the lower film provided with the fine unevenness in advance is used, the trouble of giving the fine unevenness to the lower film can be omitted, and the shape maintaining wire harness can be manufactured quickly. can do.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the minute irregularities are formed on the molding surface, the minute irregularities can be transferred to a flat film, and the upper and lower films can be vacuum-suctioned. The upper and lower films can be securely joined.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a relationship between a vacuum forming die and a film according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state where minute irregularities are transferred to a film by vacuum suction.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a step of producing a lower mold film.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a step of setting an electric wire on a forming surface of a vacuum forming die.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a step of setting an upper film on a molding surface of a vacuum molding die.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a step of taking out the manufactured shape retaining wire harness from a vacuum forming die.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a case where the manufactured shape maintaining wire harness is routed to a base material.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state in which the manufactured shape maintaining wire harness is arranged on a base material.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a vacuum forming die used for manufacturing a conventional wire harness.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing an electric wire routing step in a conventional manufacturing method.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing an upper film set in a conventional manufacturing method.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a wire harness conventionally manufactured by a manufacturing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 11 vacuum forming die 12 forming surface 15 wire harness 16 electric wire 19 minute unevenness 20 lower film 21 upper film

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI // B29L 31:34

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A wire harness in which a wiring shape is maintained by joining upper and lower films sandwiching a plurality of electric wires, wherein the upper and lower films are joined in a state where minute irregularities are formed. A shape maintaining wire harness, characterized in that: 2. A step of placing a lower film on a molding surface of a vacuum forming die on which minute irregularities are formed, transferring the minute irregularities to the lower film by vacuum suction, and the lower film and a plurality of electric wires. And a step of bonding an upper film and a lower film by vacuum suction from a vacuum forming die after placing the film on the forming surface. . 3. After placing a lower film and a plurality of electric wires provided with minute irregularities on a molding surface of a vacuum forming die having minute irregularities formed thereon, cover the upper film with an upper film,
A method for producing a shape-retaining wire harness, comprising joining upper and lower films by vacuum suction from a vacuum forming die. 4. A vacuum forming mold in which upper and lower films sandwiching a plurality of electric wires are placed on a forming surface, and the upper and lower films are joined by vacuum suction, wherein minute unevenness is formed on the forming surface. A vacuum forming mold characterized by the fact that: