Electricity: conductors and insulators – Conduits – cables or conductors – Insulated
Patent
1999-06-18
2000-12-19
Reichard, Dean A.
Electricity: conductors and insulators
Conduits, cables or conductors
Insulated
H01B 702
Patent
active
061629944
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to the sheathing of bunches or bundles, especially bundles of electrical conductors in motor vehicles.
PRIOR ART
In motor vehicles in particular, electrical conductors are being increasingly used because of the many new functions that are offered to users, such as, for example, the operation of window lifters, seat adjustments and centralized locking. The numerous electrically conducting wires are grouped together into bundles so as to limit the space occupied in the various parts of the vehicle. However, grouping them into bundles has also raised the problem of seeking and finding the means of producing suitable sheaths able to receive and protect the wire bundles in an effective manner. More particularly, the sheath must withstand the temperatures developed, for example, in the engine compartment, must be sealed, so as to isolate the wire bundles, must exhibit acoustic insulation properties, so as to reduce to a minimum the noise which could be perceived by the users, and finally must have good mechanical strength in order to prevent premature wear due to rubbing on the structure of the vehicle to which the sheath is fixed. Such a list is far from being exhaustive.
Various techniques are known which allow the bundled wires to be held in place in motor vehicles: adhesive or non-adhesive tape which is wound, by turning around the bundle, in order to form a winding with overlapping turns; this method makes it possible to obtain well-grouped bundles but requires bulky machines and its productivity is limited; which the wires are introduced by forcing the slit to open, which slit then closes up by virtue of the elasticity of the rings. This type of sheath may be made of a polyamide, which gives it good temperature resistance and makes it possible for it to be used in car engine compartments. However, these sheaths have many drawbacks: their stiffness prevents them from being bent to a small radius, the edges of the slit and the ends are sharp and may injure the fingers of operators and the insulating protection for the wires; it is practically impossible to close the slit in a sealed manner and the wires may generate noise by impact with the wall of the sheath if the latter is not covered on the inside with a damping material; the form of a gutter around the wires and the two edges of which then have to be joined together in order to provide a sheath. A tape, coated with adhesive on its inner face, may be used and the two edges may be joined together by bringing the two adhesive edges face to face in order to obtain an assembly in the form of a flag, or, according to another method of assembly described in FR-2,664,850, a strip of heat-sealable material may be used, the two edges of which are welded in an autogenous manner by means of a blast of hot air. At the present time, the materials from which the strips intended for such a use are made are polyethylene foams, because of their good flexibility and their heat-sealability. Since the mechanical strength of this material is low, it is proposed to use a polyethylene foam reinforced for a polyamide mesh: the mesh structure for the reinforcement is necessary so that the face of each of the edges can be welded together when the two edges of the sheath overlap. By using closed-cell polyethylene foams, the sheath obtained is virtually sealed but, in the case of joining the two edges together in the form of a flag, there is a risk of the edges debonding due to the effect of the temperature, and this joining technique results in bundles which are more bulky and cannot be easily passed through perforations. Moreover, these polyethylene sheaths have a fairly low tear resistance and do not withstand high temperatures, thereby limiting their field of use.
Complex laminated materials comprising a layer of foam joined to a layer of nonwoven are known and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,283, GB 2,112,319 and JP 05,229,045. These complex materials are used for covering walls or for manufacturing panels for the interior lining of vehicles,
REFERENCES:
patent: 3614299 (1971-10-01), Grail
patent: 3855051 (1974-12-01), Lania et al.
patent: 4045611 (1977-08-01), Torgerson
patent: 4707569 (1987-11-01), Yoshimura et al.
patent: 4851283 (1989-07-01), Holtrop et al.
patent: 5113039 (1992-05-01), Guipe et al.
Durand Herve
Nicole Brigitte
Nguyen Chau N.
Plasto S.A.
Reichard Dean A.
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