JP2012133927A - Manufacturing method of wiring harness and wiring harness - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method of a wiring harness which easily manufactures the wiring harness in which cables are bundled without causing defects, and to provide the wiring harness.SOLUTION: This invention relates to a manufacturing method of a wiring harness 11 in which multiple cables 15 are bundled. The manufacturing method includes an arrangement process in which the cables 15 are bundled and arranged in a mold part, a filling process in which the mold part is filled with a foamed resin, and a foam molding process in which a bundle of the cables 15 is covered with a foamed mold body 21 formed by the foamed resin by expanding the foamed resin in the mold part.

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a wire harness wired to an instrument panel, a door panel, or the like of a vehicle and a wire harness.

  Various electrical components are attached to an instrument panel or a door panel of a vehicle such as an automobile, and a wire harness is connected to these electrical components for power supply or the like.

  Conventionally, for the purpose of waterproofing between wires, for example, the periphery of the exposed portion of the core wire filled with a water-stopping material is covered with a mold, and the filling space in the mold is filled with resin. An exposed portion is molded (for example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2009-71980 A

  By the way, when resin is molded into the wire harness, the resin enters between the cables of the wire harness and is firmly integrated. Therefore, as described above, when the resin is molded into the wire harness, in the curing process after the mold to cool and cure the molten resin filled in the mold, due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the wire harness and the resin, A large tension is applied to the cable or the resin mold of the wire harness, and the cable or the resin mold may be defective.

  For this reason, when molding a resin on a wire harness, it is necessary to confirm the compatibility between the cable and the resin that can suppress the tension during cooling curing as much as possible in the development stage. It took a lot of work.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the situation mentioned above, The objective is to provide the manufacturing method of a wire harness and a wire harness which can manufacture the wire harness in which the cable was bundled easily without a malfunction. It is in.

In order to achieve the above-described object, a method for manufacturing a wire harness according to the present invention is characterized by any one of (1) to (3) below.
(1) A method of manufacturing a wire harness in which a plurality of cables are bundled,
A routing step of bundling the cables in a mold and routing;
A filling step of filling the mold with foamed resin;
A foam molding step of covering the periphery of the bundle of cables with a foamed mold body made of the foamed resin by foaming the foamed resin in the mold.
(2) In the method for manufacturing a wire harness according to (1), the foaming resin is filled as the foamed resin in the filling step, and the foamed bead is heated and foamed in the foaming step.
(3) In the method for manufacturing a wire harness according to (1) or (2), a foamed bead obtained by first foaming a bead previously formed from a particulate polymer material is used as the foamed bead.

In the method of manufacturing the wire harness having the configuration (1), the cables are bundled by foaming a foamed resin around the bundle of a plurality of cables to form a foamed mold body. The foamed mold body made of this foamed resin has a smaller adhesive force with the cable than the resin mold that penetrates and integrates between the cables, so even if the thermal expansion coefficient between the cable and the foamed mold body is different. During cooling and curing after molding, slip occurs between the cable and the foam mold. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the application of tension due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the cable and the foamed mold body as much as possible during cooling curing after molding. Thereby, the malfunction to the cable and foaming mold body by tension | tensile_strength being provided at the time of cooling curing can be eliminated.
In addition, since tension during cooling curing is suppressed, the cable can be bundled with a foamed mold over the longitudinal direction of the cable.
In addition, since it is not necessary to consider the tension during cooling curing, it is possible to eliminate the need for a complicated operation for confirming the compatibility between the cable and the foamed resin, thereby facilitating the production.
In the method of manufacturing the wire harness having the configuration (2), since the foamed beads are used as the foamed resin, the fixing force with the cable can be further reduced, and the application of tension during cooling curing can be reliably prevented. In addition, the manufacturing can be further facilitated.
In the method of manufacturing the wire harness having the configuration of (3) above, by using foamed beads obtained by first foaming beads previously formed from a particulate polymer material, the penetration between the cables is suppressed. The fixing force can be further reduced. Moreover, the foaming mold body can be easily molded.

In order to achieve the above-described object, the wire harness according to the present invention is characterized by the following (4) or (5).
(4) A wire harness in which a plurality of cables are bundled,
The periphery of the bundle of cables is covered with a foamed mold body made of foamed resin.
(5) In the wire harness configured as described in (4) above, the foamed mold body is fused to each other by foaming foamed beads.

In the wire harness having the above configuration (4), the periphery of a bundle of a plurality of cables is covered with a foamed mold body made of foamed resin, so that the weight can be significantly reduced as compared with that molded with resin. be able to. Moreover, since the tension | tensile_strength provision by the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of the cable at the time of manufacture and a foaming mold body is suppressed as much as possible, it can manufacture without the malfunction to a cable or a foaming mold body.
In the wire harness having the above configuration (5), the foamed mold body is obtained by foaming foam beads and fusing them together, so that further weight reduction can be achieved.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the manufacturing method and wire harness of a wire harness which can manufacture the wire harness in which the cable was bundled easily without a malfunction can be provided.

  The present invention has been briefly described above. Further, details of the present invention will be further clarified by reading through the modes for carrying out the invention described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a lean hose in an instrument panel to which a wire harness according to an embodiment is attached. FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the wire harness according to the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the wire harness according to the embodiment. FIG. 4 is a view for explaining the method for manufacturing the wire harness according to the embodiment, and FIG. 4A to FIG. 4E are perspective views for explaining one process thereof. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a molding apparatus that molds a foam mold body constituting the wire harness. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the foamed resin, and FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) are diagrams for explaining the foamed resin constituting the foamed mold body.

  Hereinafter, examples of embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  1 is a schematic view of a lean hose in an instrument panel to which a wire harness according to the embodiment is attached, FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing the wire harness according to the embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a cross-section of the wire harness according to the embodiment. FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the wire harness 11 is for having an electric wire connected to an instrument or the like around an automobile instrument panel. For example, the wire harness 11 is routed along the longitudinal direction of a lean hose that is a reinforcing member. ing.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the wire harness 11 includes a trunk line 12 and a plurality of branch lines 13 branched from the trunk line 12. The main line 12 routed along the longitudinal direction of the lean hose is provided with clamps 12a, and the wire harness 11 is fixed to the lean hose by fixing these clamps 12a to the bracket of the lean hose. Moreover, the connector 14 is provided in the branch line 13 of the wire harness 11, and these connectors 14 are connected to the instrument etc. around an instrument panel.

  As shown in FIG. 3, in the trunk line 12 of the wire harness 11, the periphery of the plurality of cables 15 that are bundled together to form the wire harness 11 is covered with a foamed mold body 21 made of foamed resin.

  The foamed mold body 21 is made of foamed polystyrene obtained by foaming a plurality of foamed beads 21 a, and a plurality of cables 15 constituting the wire harness 11 are bundled by the foamed mold body 21.

  Next, the case where the said wire harness 11 is manufactured is demonstrated.

  4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a method of manufacturing a wire harness according to the embodiment. FIGS. 4A to 4E are perspective views illustrating one process, and FIG. 5 illustrates the wire harness. A schematic cross-sectional view of a molding apparatus for molding a foam mold body, FIGS. 6 (a) and 6 (b) are diagrams for explaining a foam resin constituting the foam mold body.

  Here, the case where the wire harness 11 including the three sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C formed with the connector 14 connected in advance is manufactured will be described as an example.

(Routing process)
First, as shown in FIG. 4A, a lower mold 31 that serves as a jig plate is prepared. The lower mold 31 is used for the cable 15 of the wire harness 11 to be routed, and has a mold portion 32 formed on the surface thereof by standing a wall body upward. Further, the lower mold 31 is provided with a holding portion 33 that holds an end portion or a branch portion of the cable 15.

Then, the cable 15 of the sub-harness 11 </ b> A is arranged in the mold part 32, and the end harness vicinity part is held by the holding part 33, thereby routing the sub-harness 11 </ b> A to the lower mold 31.
Similarly, as shown in FIG. 4B, the sub-harness 11B is routed to the lower mold 31, and further, the sub-harness 11C is routed to the lower mold 31 as shown in FIG. .

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 4D and 4E, the clamp 12 a is held at a predetermined position in the mold portion 32 of the lower mold 31.

(Filling process)
When the sub-harnesses 11A, 11B, and 11C are routed to the lower mold 31 and the clamp 12a is held by the above operation as shown in FIG. 4 (e), the lower mold as shown in FIG. An upper mold 34 is attached to the mold 31 and set in the molding apparatus 40.

  The molding apparatus 40 includes a fixed-side master frame 41 and a moving-side master frame 42, and a lower mold 31 and an upper mold 34 are interposed between the fixed-side master frame 41 and the moving-side master frame 42. It is attached.

  The moving side master frame 42 is provided with a mold opening / closing mechanism 43. The mold opening / closing mechanism 43 includes a piston 44 that is advanced or retracted by hydraulic pressure or air pressure, and the tip of the piston 44 is attached to the moving-side master frame 42.

  In the fixed side master frame 41 and the moving side master frame 42, steam supply pipes 45 and 46 are disposed, and steam heated from these steam supply pipes 45 and 46 is fixed side master frame 41. And supplied to the inside of the moving-side master frame 42.

  Further, the fixed-side master frame 41 is provided with a cylinder 47, and this cylinder 47 is connected to the upper mold 34. Then, the foamed beads 21a before foaming, which is foamed resin, are supplied from the cylinder 47.

  When the lower mold 31 and the upper mold 34 are set in the molding apparatus 40, the piston 44 of the mold opening / closing mechanism 43 is extended to clamp the lower mold 31 and the upper mold 34, and in this state, the lower mold The foam beads 21 a are filled from the cylinder 47 into the molding space S formed by the mold part 32 of the mold 31 and the upper mold 34 by air.

  Here, the foam beads 21a to be filled are obtained by first foaming particulate polystyrene beads 21b as shown in FIG. 6 (a) so as to be about the size of rice grains as shown in FIG. 6 (b). is there.

  The foam beads 21 a may be filled in the molding space S before the lower mold 31 and the upper mold 34 are set in the molding apparatus 40.

(Foam molding process)
In this state, heated steam is supplied from the steam supply pipes 45 and 46. Then, the foam beads 21a in the molding space S are heated to about 140 ° C. and foamed. As a result, the foamed beads 21 a that have been heated and foamed are fused together to form the foamed mold body 21, and the foamed mold body 21 covers the wire harness 11 that covers the periphery of the plurality of cables 15 bundled together. Become. The wire harness 11 is taken out from the molding apparatus 40 after cooling.

  Thus, according to the method for manufacturing the wire harness according to the present embodiment, the foamed molded body 21 is molded by foaming the foamed resin around the bundle of the plurality of cables 15. The foamed mold body 21 made of the foamed resin is foamed and solidified in a state including air in the foamed beads 21a and between the foamed beads 21a. The fixing force with 15 is reduced. Thereby, even if there is a difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion between the cable 15 and the foamed mold body 21, slip occurs between the cable 15 and the foamed mold body 21 during the cooling curing after molding. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the application of tension due to the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the cable 15 and the foamed mold body 21 as much as possible during cooling curing after molding. Thereby, the malfunction to the cable 15 and the foaming mold body 21 by the tension | tensile_strength at the time of cooling curing being provided can be eliminated.

  Further, in the case where the cable 15 is integrated with a resin mold that enters between the cables 15 and increases the fixing force, only a part of the cable 15 in the longitudinal direction can be partially integrated in order to suppress problems due to tension. However, according to the present embodiment, since the tension during the cooling curing is suppressed, the foamed mold body 21 can be bundled along the longitudinal direction of the cable 15.

  In addition, since it is not necessary to consider the tension during cooling curing, it is possible to eliminate the need for complicated confirmation work of the compatibility between the cable 15 and the foamed resin, thereby facilitating the production.

  Moreover, since the foam beads 21a are used as the foam resin, the fixing force with the cable 15 can be further reduced, the application of tension during the cooling curing can be surely prevented, and the manufacture can be further facilitated. Can be planned.

  In particular, by using foam beads 21a obtained by first foaming particulate polystyrene beads 21b in advance, so-called bead method, the penetration between the cables 15 is suppressed and the fixing force to the cables 15 is further reduced. Can do. In addition, the foamed mold body 21 can be easily molded. In addition, although embodiment demonstrates the case where a polystyrene is utilized as a particulate polymer material to be primarily foamed, a polymer material such as polypropylene or polyethylene may be utilized.

  And according to the wire harness manufactured by the manufacturing method of said wire harness, since the circumference | surroundings of the bundle | flux of the several cable 15 were covered with the foaming molding body 21 which consists of foaming resin, it molded with resin. The weight can be drastically reduced compared to those. Moreover, since the tension | tensile_strength provision by the difference in the thermal expansion coefficient of the cable 15 and the foaming mold body 21 at the time of manufacture is suppressed as much as possible, it can manufacture without the malfunction to the cable 15 and the foaming mold body 21. FIG.

  Further, since the foamed mold body 21 is obtained by foaming the foamed beads 21a and fusing them together, further weight reduction can be achieved.

  Further, in the above-described routing step, the foamed mold body 21 may be molded in such a state that the metal plate is held at a predetermined position in the mold portion 32 of the lower mold 31. With this metal plate, the magnetic shield performance of the wire harness 11 can be enhanced. Furthermore, when filling the foam beads 21a from the cylinder 47 into the molding space S formed by the lower mold 31 and the upper mold 34, metal powder is sprinkled with air together with the foam beads 21a to form a molded mold. The body 21 may include metal powder. Thereby, the magnetic shielding performance of the wire harness 11 can be improved like the foaming mold body 21 in which the metal plate is contained.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, A deformation | transformation, improvement, etc. are possible suitably. In addition, the material, shape, dimensions, number, arrangement location, and the like of each component in the above-described embodiment are arbitrary and are not limited as long as the present invention can be achieved.

11 Wire harness 15 Cable 21 Foamed mold body 21a Foamed beads 21b Polystyrene beads 32 Mold part (mold)

Claims (5)

A method of manufacturing a wire harness in which a plurality of cables are bundled,
A routing step of bundling the cables in a mold and routing;
A filling step of filling the mold with foamed resin;
A foam molding step of covering the periphery of the bundle of cables with a foamed mold body made of the foamed resin by foaming the foamed resin in the mold.   The method for manufacturing a wire harness according to claim 1, wherein foaming beads are filled as the foamed resin in the filling step, and the foamed beads are heated and foamed in the foaming step.   The method for manufacturing a wire harness according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a foamed bead obtained by first foaming a bead previously formed from a particulate polymer material is used as the foamed bead. A wire harness that bundles multiple cables,
A wire harness characterized in that the cable bundle is covered with a foamed mold body made of foamed resin.   The wire harness according to claim 4, wherein the foamed mold bodies are fused to each other by foaming foamed beads.