Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Insulated
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-24
2003-03-25
Reichard, Dean A. (Department: 2831)
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Insulated
C174S1170FF
Reexamination Certificate
active
06538205
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a bundle of wires, that is, a cable, used in a wiring system of a vehicle, electric and electronic apparatus, etc., more particularly relates to a cable formed by arranging a plurality of flat cables into a bundle and process of production of the same.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As the conventional cable, that is, wire harness, used as the electric wiring in an automobile or other vehicle, there is known for example the one disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No. 58-26114. The wire harness
10
disclosed in this publication is obtained, as shown in
FIG. 1
, by arranging in a flat plane a plurality of covered electric conductors
10
a
comprised of conductors
10
b
exhibiting a circular cross-section covered by an insulating material and connecting the adjoining covered electric conductors
10
a
to each other.
These plurality of covered electric conductors
10
a
have female engagement portions
10
d
exhibiting recessed cross-sections formed so as to extend along a longitudinal direction, and male engagement portions
10
e.
The male engagement portions exhibiting projecting cross-sections fitting with the female engagement portions
10
d
at symmetric positions 180 degrees apart on the insulating materials
10
c
of the covered electric conductors
10
a.
The electric conductors
10
a
are connected in a flat plane by fitting the female engagement portions
10
d
and male engagement portions
10
e
of adjoining covered electric conductors
10
a
with each other.
Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No. 58-26114 also discloses a wire harness in which insulating materials
10
c
of adjoining covered electric conductors
10
a
are connected to each other by heat bonding without providing the female engagement portions
10
d
and male engagement portions
10
e
as described above on the insulating materials
10
c
of the covered electric conductors
10
a.
Further, as the conventional flat cable, the one shown in
FIG. 2
has been known. This flat cable
11
is formed by sandwiching and heat bonding between a pair of insulating sheets
11
b
and
11
b
having resinous bonding layers
11
a
at opposing surfaces a plurality of ribbon-like conductors
11
c
exhibiting schematically rectangular cross-sections arranged in parallel at constant intervals.
In the production of a wire harness
12
using the above flat cable
11
, insulating sheets
11
b
and
11
b
having a broader width than those shown in
FIG. 2
are used and a larger amount of ribbon-like conductors
11
c
are sandwiched and heat-fused between these insulating sheets
11
b
and
11
b
to produce the wire harness
12
as shown in FIG.
3
.
This wire harness
12
is used, in accordance with the design of the wiring, by using a not illustrated cutter or the like to form a plurality of cuts
12
c
extending along the longitudinal direction over predetermined lengths so as to form a plurality of branch cables
12
b
each including one or more ribbon-like conductors
11
c
, attaching a not illustrated bundling connector to a front end having aligned end surfaces and connecting the same to a control portion or the like, and attaching not illustrated connectors to the other ends of the branch cables
12
b
and connecting them to different parts.
Further, as another wire harness using the flat cable
11
, there exists one formed by superimposing a plurality of flat cables
11
as shown in FIG.
2
and partially bundling them by a bundling tape or the like.
In the wire harness
10
disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication (Kokai) No. 58 -26114, the cross-section of the conductor
10
b
is circular, therefore if conductors
10
b
having different cross-sections are used for the covered electric conductors
10
a
in accordance with the magnitude of the current used, the sectional shape of the entire wire harness
10
becomes unbalanced due to the difference of thicknesses of the covered electric conductors
10
a
and therefore the wiring becomes hard, so therefore usually conductors
10
b
having the same cross-sections must be used for the covered electric conductors
10
a.
Accordingly, it is difficult to select the sectional areas of the conductors
10
b
in the covered electric conductors
10
a
in accordance with the used current, so the degree of freedom of the wiring is lowered.
On the other hand, in the wire harness
12
shown in
FIG. 3
, by making thicknesses of the ribbon-like conductors
11
c
constant and making the widths thereof appropriately different, ribbon-like conductors
11
c
having sectional areas in accordance with the magnitudes of the used electric currents can be assembled. However, in the design of the wiring, the lengths of the branch cables
12
b
are different in many cases, therefore the cutaway portions
12
d
which are to be cut away, indicated by hatching in
FIG. 3
, become large and the result is uneconomical—resulting in the cost rising by that amount. Further, at the time of wiring, the cuts
12
c
must be formed by a cutter or the like, so the wiring work is troublesome and the cost becomes higher.
Further, when a plurality of flat cables
11
cut into necessary lengths are partially bundled by a bundling tape or the like to form a wire harness, there are no longer any cutaway parts
12
d
as mentioned above, but the bundling is troublesome, so the cost becomes higher. Further, when passing the cable through a wiring protection tube or a wiring hole at the time of wiring, the bundling tape of each bundling portion sometimes become obstacles.
The problems described above can be solved by for example arranging a plurality of flat cables
11
as shown in
FIG. 2
closely together in parallel and connecting adjoining flat cables
11
to each other by heat bonding them so as to produce a wire harness.
However, in such a flat cable
11
, in order to prevent the connection portions from peeling, it is necessary to make the width of an ear portion
11
d
(refer to
FIG. 2
) of a side edge larger than the pitch of the plurality of ribbon-like conductors
10
arranged.
Accordingly, in the wire harness formed by connecting flat cables
11
with each other by the heat bonding, as described above, the interval between the ribbon-like conductors
11
c
located at the two sides of connection portions becomes considerably larger than the intervals between the ribbon-like conductors
11
c
at other positions, so the width of the wire harness becomes larger by that amount.
With such a wire harness having a large width, a larger wiring space becomes necessary when wiring in a limited space such as a vehicle or a housing of an electronic apparatus. Further, when inserting an end of a wire harness into a connector, an ordinary connector having a standard terminal pitch cannot be attached to the end, so it is necessary to provide a special connector.
On the other hand, if making the interval between the ribbon-like conductors
10
c
located at the two sides of the connection portion the same as the intervals of the ribbon-like conductors
11
c
at other positions by superposing the ear portions lid of the adjoining flat cables
11
on each other and then connecting them by heat bonding, a step difference is created at the connection portion and therefore it becomes hard to insert the result into the connector and the bending rigidity of this connection portion becomes high and therefore the wiring becomes difficult.
Further, a wire harness
12
formed by connecting flat cables
11
to each other by the heat bonding has a weak area at the connection portion, a susceptibility of the flat cables
11
to separation during handling, and faster melting of the bonding layer
11
a than the insulating sheet
11
b
at the time of heat bonding and consequently protrusion of the bonded layer
11
a
from the connection portion. This protruded bonding layer
11
a
becomes soft under a relatively high temperature environment and is liable to mess up the wire harness
12
itself or peripheral members around i
Mayo III William H.
Reichard Dean A.
The Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd.
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