Structure of installing wire harness for sliding door

Details Structure of installing wire harness for sliding door Structure of installing wire harness for sliding door

2001-06-28

2003-02-04

Nguyen, Chau N. (Department: 2831)

Electricity: conductors and insulators

Conduits, cables or conductors

Combined

C174S069000, C191S02300R, C296S155000, C439S162000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06515229

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure of installing a wire harness for a sliding door, and more particularly to the structure of installation in which the wire harness is installed from a sliding door side toward a vehicle body side employing a harness protective tube such as a corrugated tube in an oval shape so that slack of the wire harness following opening and closing movement of the sliding door can be absorbed.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been proposed various kinds of structures of installing wire harnesses for sliding doors in order to supply electric power from a vehicle body (power supply) to functional components in the sliding doors which are employed in a one boxed car or a station wagon, or to send electric signals from the sliding door to the vehicle body.
The sliding door is equipped with various functional components such as a power window motor, door lock unit, speaker, switch unit, electronic control unit, etc. to or from which electric power or signal currents are supplied or received. It is necessary to supply or receive the electric power not only while the door is closed but while the sliding door is open.
FIGS. 6A and 6B
show an example of a conventional structure of installing a wire harness for a sliding door which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 7-222274.
In this structure, a reel
120
capable of feeding and taking up an electric wire (wire harness)
119
according to opening and closing movement of a sliding door
118
is provided on a vehicle body
121
. One end of the wire
119
is connected to a speaker
123
which is a door side functional component by means of hinge
122
, and the other end of the wire
119
is connected to an audio apparatus (not shown) which is a vehicle body side functional component.
When the sliding door
118
is closed as shown in
FIG. 6A
, the wire
119
is fed from the reel
120
and extends, and when the sliding door
118
is opened as shown in
FIG. 6B
, the wire
119
is rolled up on the reel
120
. The sliding door
118
moves forward in tight contact with the vehicle body when it is closed, and moves backward apart from the vehicle body outwardly when it is opened. In this manner, the sliding door
118
moves at least in two dimensions.
However, there has been an anxiety in the above described structure that the wire
119
may be damaged because the wire
119
has to be rolled up many times on the reel
120
. There has been a further problem that application has been difficult, since the wire harness including a number of circuits (electric wires) has poor flexibility.
There has been proposed another structure of installing a wire harness for a sliding door in which a flexible flat cable is arranged from the vehicle body to the sliding door, so that door strokes can be absorbed by bending the flat cable according to opening and closing movement of the sliding door.
However, this structure has had a problem that because the flat cable is composed of printed circuit conductors and insulating sheets having small sectional areas, its power supply capacity is too small and can be only used to supply of electric current having small capacity or signals, but cannot be used for power supply.
There has been a further problem that in case where a small number of electric wires are connected to various functional components by a junction switch system, this would result in an increase of cost.
In order to solve the above described problems, the applicant has proposed in a prior patent application a slack absorbing apparatus for a wire harness in which the wire harness is contained in a sliding door in a state of semi-circular curve, and pushed upward by a leaf spring.
The wire harness is covered with a protective tube such as a corrugated tube made of synthetic resin. The corrugated tube is a tube which is circular in cross section and provided with circumferential grooves and ridges alternately formed in a longitudinal direction.
With opening operation of the sliding door, the sliding door retreats while moving outward away from the vehicle body, and the wire harness inside the sliding door is contracted in diameter. When the sliding door is fully opened, a portion of the wire harness extending from the sliding door to the vehicle body is pulled in a forward direction. On the other hand, with closing operation of the sliding door, the sliding door advances while moving close to the vehicle body, and the wire harness inside the sliding door is enlarged in diameter, and the portion of the wire harness extending from the sliding door to the vehicle body is pulled in a backward direction. In this manner, the slack of the wire harness can be absorbed.
In the above described structure, however, the wire harness has to be arranged diagonally upward from the sliding door to the vehicle body, especially in case where the harness slack absorbing apparatus at the sliding door side or a guide out portion of the wire harness from the harness slack absorbing apparatus is at a lower position than a wire harness at the vehicle body side. Therefore, there has been an anxiety that the wire harness may be caught between the sliding door and the vehicle body.
More particularly, the wire harness is brought near a step (made of a metal panel) of the vehicle body just before the sliding door is closed. On this occasion, the wire harness tends to hang lower than the step, and it has been feared that the wire harness may be caught between the step and a door trim of synthetic resin inside the sliding door. If the wire harness should happen to be caught, the protective tube covering the wire harness may be damaged or the electric wires composing the wire harness may be broken in the worst case. In such a case, power supply to the sliding door and transmission of signals from the sliding door are interrupted, to stop up and down operations of the power windows and opening/closing motions of the sliding door which are electrically driven.
In order to prevent the wire harness from being caught, it has been considered that stronger resiliency may be given to the leaf spring for pushing the wire harness upward. In this case, however, strong pressure is exerted to the wire harness and the protective tube even in a fully open state or a fully closed state of the sliding door in which the leaf spring is not required, and the protective tube is likely to be damaged. In addition, the cost for the leaf spring will be increased.
In case where the wire harness is arranged diagonally upwardly from the sliding door to the vehicle body, it has been feared that the wire harness may be bent at an angle as large as 90 degree, exerting superfluous stress to the bent portion. In this case too, the wire harness may be damaged, or expanding and contracting movement of the wire harness following the opening and closing operation of the sliding door may not be smoothly conducted.
Further, because the corrugated tube has a relatively large diameter and requires a large space for arrangement, there has been problems with respect to space and design that the harness slack absorbing apparatus may become large-sized, and the door trim must be bulged into the vehicle room.
In view of the above described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a structure of installing a wire harness for a sliding door in which the wire harness will not be caught between the sliding door and the vehicle body with closing operation of the sliding door, superfluous bending force or pressure will not be exerted on the wire harness when the sliding door is opened and closed, or stands still, and which can prevent the wire harness including a protective tube from being damaged or deformed without incurring a cost, and can smoothly and reliably absorb slack of the wire harness at opening and closing of the sliding door, preventing upsizing of the harness slack absorbing apparatus, and improving aesthetic appearance of a door trim.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to attain the

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