JP2009083770A - Flexible flat harness, and electricity-feeding device for slide door - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve water-proofing of a connector portion with an inexpensive structure in a flexible flat harness. <P>SOLUTION: The flexible flat harness 13 is provided with a flexible flat cable 14 having a plurality of flat square lead lines; a plurality of round-like cable 16; a connection terminal; a housing 30; and a connector 18. The connection terminal is connected to the flat square lead line of the flexible flat cable 14 to form a first connection part, and is connected to the round-shaped cable 16 to form a second connection. The housing 30 is constituted so as to store the connection terminal, including the first connection part and the second connection part to perform water-proofing. The housing 30 is arranged at a non-water-proofing zone Z1, and an end part of the round-shaped cable 16 drawn out from the housing 30 is arranged at the water-proofing zone Z2. Further, in the water-proofing zone Z2, the connector 18 is mounted to the end of the round-shaped cable 16. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention mainly relates to a configuration of a flexible flat harness including a flexible flat cable.

  In recent years, there has been an increasing need for vehicles equipped with sliding doors such as one-box cars and wagon cars. In such a sliding door vehicle, various devices (for example, a sliding door automatic opening / closing device motor, a power window motor, a half door detection sensor, etc.) are provided in the sliding door to meet the needs such as comfort. , Speakers, etc.).

And in order to supply electric power from the vehicle body side to the various apparatuses of the said slide door irrespective of opening and closing of a slide door, the constant electric power feeder is proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a power supply device for a sliding door using a flexible flat cable that can significantly reduce an allowable bending radius as compared with a round wire harness. Patent Document 1 assumes that this configuration can provide a small-sized and long-term reliability power supply device for a sliding door.
JP 2006-21689 A

  Although the flexible flat cable has excellent flexibility as described above and is advantageous for downsizing of the device, it is difficult to waterproof the connector portion, and there remains room for improvement in this respect. That is, in the case of a wire harness using a round wire, the waterproof treatment can be easily performed by a method such as using a known waterproof connector provided with a silicon rubber wire seal. On the other hand, since the flexible flat cable is a thin ribbon-like wire, the silicon rubber is easily damaged at the sharp end. Therefore, waterproofing using a wire seal has many problems in terms of waterproof reliability. Although waterproofing using grease is also conceivable, it is also difficult to satisfy the requirements in terms of waterproofing reliability, durability, and the like.

  Therefore, conventionally, a configuration has been adopted in which a non-waterproof connector is installed at the end of the flexible flat cable and a waterproof structure is separately provided on the vehicle side so that water or the like does not enter the non-waterproof connector. However, in this configuration, the waterproof structure becomes large, and there is room for improvement from the viewpoint of miniaturization and cost reduction.

  In addition, after extending the edge part of a flexible flat cable long to the existing waterproof zone, installing a non-waterproof connector in the part is also considered, In this case, it becomes unnecessary to provide a waterproof structure separately on the vehicle side. However, this configuration generally requires an expensive flexible flat cable to be extended and causes an increase in cost.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to realize waterproofing of a connector portion with an inexpensive structure in a flexible flat harness.

Means and effects for solving the problems

  The problems to be solved by the present invention are as described above. Next, means for solving the problems and the effects thereof will be described.

  According to the 1st viewpoint of this invention, the flexible flat harness of the following structures is provided. That is, the flexible flat harness includes a flexible flat cable having a plurality of flat conductors, a plurality of round cables having a substantially circular cross section, and a core of the flat conductor and the round cable at an end of the flexible flat cable. A connection terminal for electrically connecting a wire; a first connection portion between the flat conductor and the connection terminal; a second connection portion between the round cable and the connection terminal; the connection terminal; A housing for housing and waterproofing the connection portion and the second connection portion, and a connector attached to the round cable. And while the said housing is arrange | positioned in a non-waterproof zone, the edge part of the said round cable pulled out from this housing is arrange | positioned in a waterproof zone. The connector is disposed in the waterproof zone.

  With this configuration, after connecting the flexible flat cable to the round cable in the housing, the low-cost round cable can be pulled out to the waterproof zone, and the connector can be installed there. Further, since the connection portion between the cables is waterproofed by the housing, there is no fear of short circuit even if it is arranged in the non-waterproof zone. Therefore, it is possible to achieve both cost reduction and waterproofing of the cable and to connect the harness without using a special connector for the flexible flat cable.

  In the flexible flat harness, the connector attached to the round cable is preferably a non-waterproof type.

  With this configuration, it is possible to prevent a short circuit by arranging the connector in the waterproof zone while realizing cost reduction of the connector.

  In the flexible flat harness, it is preferable that the housing, the round cable, and the connector are respectively provided on both ends of the flexible flat harness.

  With this configuration, the cost of parts such as cables and connectors can be further reduced by using round cables at both ends of the harness.

  The flexible flat harness preferably has the following configuration. That is, the housing includes an accommodation space for the connection terminal, the first connection portion, and the second connection portion. In addition, the housing space is filled with a sealing material so as to cover the whole of the connection terminal, the first connection portion, and the second connection portion.

  With this configuration, the connection terminal can be reliably waterproofed using the sealing material, and a flexible flat harness having high waterproof reliability can be provided.

  According to the 2nd viewpoint of this invention, the electric power feeder of a sliding door provided with the said flexible flat harness is provided.

  Next, embodiments of the invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an overall configuration of a sliding door power supply apparatus including a flexible flat harness.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the slide door power feeding device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a door side member 11 attached to the slide door side of the automobile, a vehicle body side member 12 attached to the vehicle body side, and from the vehicle body side to the slide door side. And a flexible flat harness 13 for supplying electric power.

  The flexible flat harness 13 includes a plurality of flexible flat cables (FFC) 14. This flexible flat cable 14 is configured by disposing an insulator on the outside of a plurality of conductors arranged side by side at a predetermined interval in the width direction.

  The conducting wire of the flexible flat cable 14 is configured as a so-called flat conducting wire (flat conducting wire) having a flat thin cross-sectional shape. This flat conductive wire can be formed, for example, by molding copper, aluminum, or an alloy material thereof. The insulator of the flexible flat cable 14 is made of a synthetic resin such as polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polyamide, or polyimide. The flexible flat cable 14 can be formed by forming the insulator in a film and laminating the flat conductor so as to cover the flat conductor or by extrusion-coating a resin on the flat conductor.

  The door side member 11 is formed with a mounting hole 21 for accommodating the flexible flat cable 14. On the other hand, the vehicle body side member 12 is formed with an attachment groove 22 for accommodating the flexible flat cable 14. With this configuration, a plurality of the flexible flat cables 14 are stacked in the thickness direction, and are fixed to the door side member 11 and the vehicle body side member 12 with the width direction thereof being directed in the vertical direction.

  The flexible flat harness 13 includes a protective member 15 formed in a corrugated shape by a flexible material. The protection member 15 is disposed between the door side member 11 and the vehicle body side member 12 and is configured to cover and protect the outer side of the multiple flexible flat cables 14 stacked.

  One end of the round cable 16 is connected to the end of the flexible flat cable 14 on the vehicle body side via a waterproof joint portion 17. The round cable 16 is a general-purpose cable having a circular cross section, and has a configuration in which a single wire or a stranded wire is covered with an insulating coating. The waterproof joint portion 17 is disposed in the vicinity of the vehicle body side member 12.

  Each flat wire of the flexible flat cable 14 is electrically connected to the round cable 16 through a connection structure provided in the waterproof joint portion 17. The waterproof joint portion 17 includes a housing 30 that houses a connection portion between the flexible flat cable 14 and the round cable 16. In addition, the detailed structure of the waterproof joint part 17 is mentioned later.

  In the sliding door power supply device 1, the central portion in the longitudinal direction of the flexible flat cable 14 is arranged so as to connect the vehicle body side and the door side, and this place is an area where water or the like may enter (non-waterproof zone). Z1). Further, the vehicle body side member 12 and the waterproof joint portion 17 (housing 30) are also arranged in the non-waterproof zone Z1.

  On the other hand, the round cable 16 connected to the housing 30 of the waterproof joint portion 17 is pulled out by a predetermined distance, and its end portion is disposed in a waterproof zone Z2 set in another place of the vehicle. The waterproof zone Z2 is set inside a waterproof box or the like that is installed in the vehicle, and various components (for example, a substrate and the like) that require waterproofing are disposed. In this waterproof zone Z2, a non-waterproof type connector 18 is disposed at the end of the round cable 16, and the connector 18 is connected to the mating connector.

  With the above configuration, the door-side member 11 moves in the direction of the white arrow in FIG. The sliding door power supply device 1 follows the movement and deforms the flexible flat cable 14 to maintain the electrical connection between the vehicle body side and the sliding door side, thereby realizing the constant power supply to the sliding door side. ing.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the waterproof joint portion 17 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a waterproof joint part of the flexible flat harness. FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a state where the flexible flat cable and the round cable are attached to the protective case of the waterproof joint part, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the state where the cover is fixed to the protective case filled with resin.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the waterproof joint portion 17 includes a box-shaped protective case 31 that is open on one side, and a cover 32 that closes the open side of the protective case 31. The housing 30 is constituted by the protective case 31 and the cover 32, and is configured to receive and waterproof a connection terminal 40 described later.

  As shown in FIG. 1, one waterproof joint portion 17 is provided for each of the plurality of flexible flat cables 14. In addition, the same number of round cables 16 as the number of the rectangular conductive wires 19 included in the flexible flat cable 14 are connected to each waterproof joint portion 17. In the example of FIG. 2, the flexible flat cable 14 includes four flat conductors 19, and the number of round cables 16 connected to the waterproof joint portion 17 is also four.

  One end of the flexible flat cable 14 and one end of the round cable 16 are accommodated in the protective case 31.

  FIG. 3 shows a process for manufacturing the waterproof joint portion 17. As shown in FIG. 3, the flat conducting wire 19 included in the flexible flat cable 14 and the core wire of the round cable 16 are electrically connected via a connection terminal 40. The connection terminal 40 may be referred to as a WF terminal after the initial of “Wire to Flexible-Flat-Cable”.

  The connection terminal 40 is disposed in the protective case 31 so as to correspond to each of the rectangular conductive wires 19 provided in the flexible flat cable 14. The connection terminal 40 is formed by punching a conductive metal plate into an appropriate shape and bending it into an elongated shape, and is arranged so that its longitudinal direction is parallel to the rectangular conductor wire 19.

  The connection terminal 40 includes a rectangular tube-shaped base portion 41 disposed at the center in the longitudinal direction, a piercing portion 42 extending from one end of the base portion 41, a barrel portion 43 extending from the other end of the base portion 41, It has.

  The piercing part 42 is fixed to the flexible flat cable 14 by penetrating the flat conducting wire 19 and the insulating film of the flexible flat cable 14 in the thickness direction. By this piercing, the first connection portion 46 is formed, and the connection terminal 40 and the flat wire 19 are electrically connected by the first connection portion 46.

  The barrel portion 43 is crimped and crimped to a portion (core wire) from which the covering of the round cable 16 has been removed. The second connection portion 47 is formed by this crimping, and the connection terminal 40 is fixed to the round cable 16 by the second connection portion 47 and the core wire of the round cable 16 and the connection terminal 40 are electrically connected. Connected.

  The protective case 31 is made of an insulating synthetic resin and is formed in a wide box shape having a shallow concave portion (accommodating space) 51 with one side open. The protective case 31 has a slightly elongated shape along the longitudinal direction of the flexible flat cable 14 and the round cable 16. On the inner bottom surface of the protective case 31, a plurality of elongated partition walls 52 are formed in a convex shape along the longitudinal direction of the protective case 31. The partition walls 52 are arranged at equal intervals and are formed so as to separate the connection terminals 40.

  Further, a fixing projection 53 is formed in a convex shape on the inner bottom surface of the protective case 31 at a position between the adjacent partition walls 52 and a position between the partition wall 52 and the side wall of the protective case 31 (inner wall of the recess 51). Has been. On the other hand, a positioning hole 45 through which the fixing projection 53 can be inserted is formed in the base 41 of the connection terminal 40.

  In the vicinity of the connection terminal 40, the flexible flat cable 14 is bent substantially vertically to form a bent portion 61. Similarly, the round cable 16 is bent substantially vertically at a position near the connection terminal 40 to form a bent portion 62. The bent portions 61 and 62 are formed so that the flexible flat cable 14 and the round cable 16 are along the inner surface of the recess 51 of the protective case 31 when the connection terminal 40 is disposed in the protective case 31. .

  In order to assemble the waterproof joint portion 17 with the above configuration, first, the protective case 31 is brought into a state where the open side faces upward as shown in FIG. Next, the flexible flat cable 14 is set in the protective case 31 from the upper side in a state where the round cable 16 is connected to the respective flat rectangular conductors 19 via the connection terminals 40. Thereby, the connection terminal 40 and the bent portions 61 and 62 are accommodated in the recess 51 of the protective case 31.

  At this time, the connection terminal 40 is disposed between the partition wall 52 and the partition wall 52 (or between the partition wall 52 and the inner wall of the recess 51), and the positioning hole 45 formed in the base portion 41 includes the protective case 31. It fits into the fixed projection 53 on the inner bottom surface. Therefore, even when an external force is applied to the flexible flat cable 14 or the round cable 16 during the assembly operation, the displacement of the connection terminal 40 is prevented.

  Next, the recess 51 of the protective case 31 is filled with resin. Various resins can be used as the filling resin. For example, a resin having insulating properties such as urethane and silicon can be used. When a predetermined amount of resin is injected, the entire connecting terminal 40 and the bent portions 61 and 62 accommodated in the protective case 31 are buried in the resin 70 as shown in FIG.

  Subsequently, a resin cover 32 is attached to the protective case 31 so as to close the recess 51 of the protective case 31. Similar to the protective case 31, the cover 32 is formed to be slightly elongated along the flexible flat cable 14 and the round cable 16. A snap fit portion 81 is integrally formed on the cover 32, and a locking projection 54 that can be engaged with the snap fit portion 81 is integrally formed on the side surface of the protective case 31. Therefore, the cover 32 can be fixed to the protective case 31 by engaging the snap fit portion 81 with the locking projection 54.

  With the waterproof joint portion 17, each of the flat conductive wires 19 included in the flexible flat cable 14 can be connected (converted) to the round cable 16 inside the waterproof structure. Therefore, by pulling out the round cable 16 to the waterproof zone Z2 and disposing the connector 18 at the end thereof, the flexible flat harness 13 can be realized at a low cost while ensuring waterproofness.

  As described above, the flexible flat harness 13 of the present embodiment includes the flexible flat cable 14 having a plurality of flat conductive wires 19, the plurality of round cables 16 having a circular cross section, and the end of the flexible flat cable 14. A connecting terminal 40 for electrically connecting the rectangular conducting wire 19 and the core of the round cable 16, a first connecting portion 46 between the rectangular conducting wire 19 and the connecting terminal 40, and the round cable 16 And the connection terminal 40, the housing 30 for housing and waterproofing the connection terminal 40, the first connection part 46, and the second connection part 47, and the round cable 16. Connector 18 is provided. The housing 30 is disposed in the non-waterproof zone Z1, the end of the round cable 16 drawn from the housing 30 is disposed in the waterproof zone Z2, and the connector 18 is disposed in the waterproof zone Z2. Yes.

  With this configuration, after connecting the flexible flat cable 14 to the round cable 16 in the housing 30, the low-cost round cable 16 can be pulled out to the waterproof zone Z2 and the connector 18 can be installed there. Further, since the connection portion between the flexible flat cable 14 and the round cable 16 is waterproofed by the housing 30, there is no possibility of short circuit even if the housing 30 is disposed in the non-waterproof zone Z1. Therefore, both cost reduction and waterproofness of the cable can be achieved. Further, a general-purpose connector for the round cable 16 can be used as the connector 18, and in this sense, the cost of the wire harness can be reduced.

  Moreover, in the flexible flat harness 13 of this embodiment, the connector 18 attached to the said round cable 16 is comprised as a non-waterproof type connector.

  With this configuration, it is possible to prevent a short circuit by disposing the connector 18 in the waterproof zone while reducing the cost of the connector 18.

  In FIG. 1, the housing 30, the round cable 16 and the connector 18 are shown only on one side (vehicle body side). However, the housing and connector are connected to both ends of the flexible flat harness 13 (that is, the vehicle body side and the door). (Both sides) can also be provided.

  In the case of this configuration, by using round cables at both ends of the flexible flat harness 13, the cost of parts such as cables and connectors can be more effectively reduced.

  The housing 30 includes a recess 51 that accommodates the connection terminal 40, and the recess 51 is filled with a resin 70 so as to cover the entire connection terminal 40.

  With this configuration, the housing 30 is filled with the resin 70 so that reliable waterproofing is realized, and the flexible flat harness 13 having high waterproof reliability can be provided.

  Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the above configuration can be changed as follows, for example.

  The waterproof joint portion 17 (housing 30), the round cable 16 and the connector 18 are provided on the other side (door side) instead of being provided on one side of the flexible flat harness 13 (the vehicle body side in the sliding door power supply device 1). Can be changed as follows.

  In the above-described embodiment, the cover 32 is attached to the protective case 31 after the concave portion 51 is filled with the resin 70. However, instead of this, the cover 32 may be attached to the protective case 31 so as to close the recess 51, and then the resin 70 may be filled in the closed recess 51. In this case, the resin 70 can be filled in the waterproof joint portion 17 without a gap.

  The connection between the flexible flat cable 14 and the round cable 16 is not limited to the WF terminal, and can be changed to be performed by a connection terminal having another configuration.

  The waterproof joint part 17 can be fixed to the vehicle body side member 12 or can be changed so as to be accommodated. This is advantageous in that the configuration can be made compact and the length of the relatively expensive flexible flat cable 14 can be further shortened.

  For example, a plurality of the flexible flat cables 14 can be arranged in the width direction and arranged so as to be connected to one common protective case 31.

  The number of flat conducting wires 19 included in the flexible flat cable 14 can be changed as appropriate according to the configuration and application of the sliding door power feeding device. Further, the shape of the connector 18 can be variously changed according to the specification of the vehicle having the slide door.

  The flexible flat harness of this invention can be used for electric power feeders other than the sliding door electric power feeder 1 of a vehicle. It can also be used for products other than vehicles. However, the flexible flat harness of the present invention is particularly suitable when used in a portion requiring waterproofing, such as a module located in a vehicle door or an engine room. Moreover, it can also use for the harness for transmitting a signal not only to electric power feeding.

The top view which shows the whole structure of a sliding door electric power feeder provided with the flexible flat harness which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. The perspective view which shows the waterproof joint part of a flexible flat harness. The disassembled perspective view which shows a mode that a flexible flat cable and a round cable are attached to the protective case of a waterproof joint part. The perspective view which shows a mode that a cover is fixed to the protective case filled with the sealing material.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Sliding door electric power feeder 11 Door side member 12 Car body side member 13 Flexible flat harness 14 Flexible flat cable 16 Round cable 17 Waterproof joint part 18 Connector 19 Flat conductor (flat conductor)
30 Housing 31 Protective Case 32 Cover 40 Connection Terminal 45 Positioning Hole 46 First Connection Portion 47 Second Connection Portion 51 Recessed Case (Accommodating Space)
52 Bulkhead 53 Fixing protrusion 61, 62 Bending part 70 Sealing material

Claims (5)

A flexible flat cable having a plurality of flat conductors;
A plurality of round cables having a substantially circular cross section; and
A connection terminal for electrically connecting the flat conductor and the core of the round cable at an end of the flexible flat cable;
A first connection portion between the flat conducting wire and the connection terminal;
A second connection portion between the round cable and the connection terminal;
A housing that houses and waterproofs the connection terminal, the first connection portion, and the second connection portion;
A connector attached to the round cable;
With
The housing is disposed in the non-waterproof zone, and the end of the round cable drawn from the housing is disposed in the waterproof zone,
The flexible flat harness, wherein the connector is disposed in the waterproof zone. The flexible flat harness according to claim 1,
A flexible flat harness, wherein the connector attached to the round cable is a non-waterproof type. The flexible flat harness according to claim 1 or 2,
The housing, the round cable, and the connector are provided on both ends of the flexible flat harness, respectively. The flexible flat harness according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The housing includes a housing space for the connection terminal, the first connection portion, and the second connection portion,
A flexible flat harness, wherein the housing space is filled with a sealing material so as to cover the connection terminal, the first connection portion, and the second connection portion.   A power supply device for a sliding door, comprising the flexible flat harness according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

Images