Information
-
Patent Grant
-
6659140
-
Patent Number
6,659,140
-
Date Filed
Wednesday, February 27, 200222 years ago
-
Date Issued
Tuesday, December 9, 200320 years ago
-
Inventors
-
Original Assignees
-
Examiners
Agents
- Armstrong, Kratz, Quintos, Hanson & Brooks, LLP
-
CPC
-
US Classifications
Field of Search
US
- 140 107
- 140 71 R
- 030 901
- 029 461
- 029 828
- 072 327
-
International Classifications
-
Abstract
A braid cutting device 7 of a shielded wire includes a die 107 located outside an exposed braid 22 of a shielded wire 15, a braid opening means (110), a circular punch which advance inside the braid, a guide member 109 for guiding the braid 22 in a direction of opening the braid 22 and guiding the inner sheath of the shielded wire inside the braid inside the punch 108. The guide member 109 can be divided into two segments. When the punch 108 is moved forward, the guide member can open outwardly and move backward by a driving means 123 and moving means 122. The braid 22 is opened by the opening means and further opened along the outer slope of the guide member 109. The braid 22 is further opened by the guide member in such a way that the guide member is opened. The inner sheath of the braid is guided along the inner slope of the guide member into the inside of the circular punch 108. The braid is cut into a prescribed length between the punch approached into the inside of the braid and the die 107 located outside the braid. In this configuration, the braid of a shielded wire can be cut automatically and effectively.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for effectively automatically cutting a braid of a shielded wire having a relatively large diameter for use in an electric vehicle and others.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditionally, a shielded wire was processed manually in all the steps.
Specifically, the sheath of the tip of a shielded wire cut into segments of a prescribed length is stripped using a tabletop tool so that the braid of conductive metal is exposed. The braid is cut into segments each having a prescribed length. With a shield contact of conductive metal manually inserted into the shielded wire, the braid is folded back toward the contact using a center punching. With a shield pipe of conductive metal manually inserted in the shielded wire and braid sandwiched between and kept in contact with the shield contact and the shield pipe, the shield pipe is squeezed using a squeezing machine. Further, the inner face at the tip of the shielded wire is stripped using the tabletop tool so that a terminal is connected to a core wire by a crimping machine (The shape and other details of the shield contact and shield pipe can be seen from FIG.
3
).
The shielded wire is used in such a mode that a connecting flange is combined with the shield pipe and earth-connected to a vehicle body along the outer surface of the housing of resin. The terminal of the shielded wire is connected to a motor, inverter or battery of an electric vehicle.
However, in the above conventional means for cutting the braid of the shielded wire, the braid was manually cut using snips. Therefore, the length of each of the segments of the cut braid is uneven. The tip of cut braid is liable to be irregular. The quality is not stable, and a large number of man-hours is required. This presents a problem of increasing the production cost.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the above problem, a first object of this invention is to provide an apparatus which can cut the braid of a shielded wire into precise lengths cleanly with no irregularity and effectively with a small number of man-hours.
A second object of this invention is to provide a method for cutting the braid of a shielded wire into precise lengths cleanly with no irregularity and effectively with a small number of man-hours.
In order to attain the above first object, in accordance with this invention, there is provided a braid cutting apparatus for a shielded wire comprising: a die located outside an exposed braid of the shielded wire; means for opening the braid; a punch which is to advance inside the braid; and a guide member for guiding the braid in a direction to open further and an inner sheath of the shielded wire inside the braid to an inside of the punch.
In this configuration, the exposed braid of the shielded wire is inserted into the inside of die, the braid is opened outwardly in taper by a braid opening means, the inner sheath of the shielded wire is inserted in the inside of the punch and the braid is further opened in taper outwardly by a guide member. For this reason, the tip of the punch is inserted surely and smoothly inside the braid, i.e. between the braid and the inner sheath of the shielded wire so that the braid can be surely sheared between the punch and the die.
In the above apparatus, preferably, the opening means comprises: a pair of opening pallets which are freely reclosable, a pair of sliding members with the pair of opening pallets fixed; a link for moving the pair of sliding members in opposite directions; and driving means for swinging the link.
In this configuration, the link is swung by the driving means so that the pair of sliders are opened or closed simultaneously with the opening pallets. Therefore, the braid of the shielded wire is pressed repeatedly by the opening pallets under appropriate force. Accordingly, the braid can be surely opened in a trumpet without being injured.
In the apparatus described above, preferably, the guide member is made dividable, and when the punch advances, the guide member is opened outwardly by the driving means and a moving means to retreat.
In this configuration, since the guide member opens and retreats, when it is opens, the braid is opened further outwardly. For this reason, the punch is inserted more surely inside the braid.
In order to attain the second object, there is provided a method of cutting a braid of a shielded wire comprising the steps of: opening an exposed braid of the shielded wire, further opening the braid along an outer slope of a guide member while guiding an inner sheath of the shielded wire inside the braid to an inside of a circular punch, and shearing the braid into a required length between the punch and a die located outside the braid while advancing the punch inside the braid.
In this configuration, the braid opened primarily opened by the opening means is guided along the outer slope of the guide member so that it is further (secondarily) opened greatly outwardly. The inner sheath of the shielded wire is smoothly inserted into the guide member, i.e. inside the punch along the inner slope of the guide member.
In the method described above, preferably, after the braid is opened along an outer slope of the guide member, the guide member is opened outwardly.
In this configuration, since the braid is opened further outwardly when the guide member is opened, the punch is inserted more surely inside the braid. Thus, the tip of the punch and that of the braid do not interfere with each other so that the braid does not bend inwardly. This prevents poor cutting of the braid.
The above and other objects and features of this invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
is a schematic perspective view of an embodiment of a shielded wire machining device inclusive of a braid cutting device of a shielded wire according to this invention;
FIGS. 2A
to
2
J are plan views showing the machining method of the shielded wire;
FIG. 3
is an exploded perspective view showing the state on the way of machining the shielded wire;
FIG. 4
is a side view of an embodiment of the braid cutting device for a shielded wire according to this invention;
FIG. 5
is a front view showing the braid turn-over means of the braid cutting device;
FIG. 6
is a sectional view of the main part of the braid cutting means in
FIG. 8
;
FIG. 7
is a view for explaining the state of cutting the braid; and
FIG. 8
is a view showing the function of a guide member.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Now referring to the drawings, an explanation will be given of an embodiment of this invention.
FIG. 1
schematically shows an embodiment of a shielded wire processing device including a device for cutting the braid of a shielded wire according to this invention.
A shielded wire processing apparatus, generally
1
includes individual devices arranged successively from the right side, i.e., an operation console
2
for performing a change in a product number, switching between a manual operation and an automatic operation, etc., a wire setting device
3
, a shield contact fitting device
4
, a sheath incision device
5
, a sheath extracting device
6
, a braid cutting device
7
, a braid fold-back device
8
, shield pipe inserting device
9
(
8
and
9
are illustrated as a single device for brevity of illustration), sheath pipe squeezing device
10
, a peeling device
11
, a terminal squeezing device
12
, a product drawing device
13
, and a conveying device
14
for moving a shielded wire
15
along the respective devices
3
to
13
. These devices
3
to
13
are arranged in parallel at substantially regular intervals.
In
FIG. 1
, reference numeral
16
denotes a hopper for supplying a shield contact, and reference numeral
17
denotes a hopper for supplying a shield pipe. The shielded wires
15
each may a thick wire having a sectional area of about 15 mm
2
. The shielded wires
15
folded back in a U-shape or not folded back are set one by one in parallel in the wire setting device
3
at the right end of the conveying device
14
.
Now referring to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, an explanation will be given of a shielded wire processing method using the shielded wire processing device
1
, and its operation.
First, as seen from
FIG. 2A
, the shielded wire
15
cut into a segment having a prescribed length is set in the shield setting device
3
by an operator. The only operation performed by the operator is to set the wire. When the shielded wire
15
is set, the wire conveying device
14
is shifted by one pitch leftward to convey the shielded wire
15
to the adjacent shield contact inserting device
4
.
As seen from
FIG. 2B
, a ring-shaped shield contact
19
of conductive metal is fit over the shielded wire
15
by the shield contact fitting device
4
. As also seen from
FIG. 3
, the shield contact
19
is composed of a large-diameter segment
19
a
and a small-diameter segment
19
b
which are stepped. The shielded wire
15
inserted into the shield contact
19
is conveyed to the sheath incision device
5
by the conveyer device
14
. As seen from
FIG. 2C
, a circular incision
21
is made on the insulating sheath (outer sheath)
20
of the shielded wire
15
at a prescribed position located nearer to the tip of the wire than the shield contact
19
.
The shielded wire
15
is conveyed to the sheath drawing device
6
. As seen from
FIG. 2D
, the sheath
20
is drawn out so that an internal metallic braid
22
is exposed over a prescribed length. It is needless to say that the braid
22
is composed of slender metallic wires which are knitted in a crossing manner as seen from FIG.
3
. The shielded wire is conveyed to the braid cutting device
7
. As seen from
FIG. 2E
, the exposed braid
22
is cut into a prescribed length so that an insulating inner sheath
24
is exposed.
The shielded wire
15
is conveyed to the braid fold-back device
8
. As seen from
FIG. 2F
, the braid
22
is folded back toward the small-diameter portion
19
b
of the shield contact
19
. Further, a ring-shaped shield pipe
23
of conductive metal is inserted the from the tip side of the shielded wire
15
so that the braid
22
(not shown) is sandwiched between and brought in contact with the outer surface of the small diameter portion
19
b
of the shield contact
19
and the inner surface of the shield pipe
23
. The angle of fold-back of the braid
22
ranges from 90° to 180°.
The shielded wire
15
is conveyed to the shield pipe squeezing device
10
. As seen from
FIG. 2H
, the shield pipe
23
is squeezed in a hexagon so that it is fixed to the shield contact
19
. Since the braid
23
is sandwiched between the shield contact
19
and the shield pipe
23
, the shield contact
19
and the shield pipe
23
are firmly fixed to the shielded wire
15
.
The shielded wire
15
is conveyed to the peeling device
11
. As seen from
FIG. 2I
, the tip side of the inner sheath
24
is peeled over a prescribed length so that a core (conductor) is exposed. Further, the shielded wire
15
is conveyed to the terminal squeezing device
12
. As seen from
FIG. 2J
, a terminal
26
is crimped on the exposed core
25
. Finally, the product
27
of the shielded wire is taken from the shielded wire processing device
1
into an external pallet (not shown) with the aid of the product drawing device
13
.
Incidentally, the terminal squeezing device
12
may be provided separately from the shielded wire processing device
1
.
Now referring to
FIGS. 4
to
8
, an explanation will be given of an embodiment of a device for cutting the braid of a shielded wire and the braid cutting method according to this invention.
In
FIG. 4
, reference numeral
107
denotes a ring-shaped die for cutting a braid;
109
a ring-shaped guide member;
110
a ring-shaped braid opening pallet;
111
an air-actuated or hydraulic horizontal cylinder for primarily advancing a punch
108
; and
112
a large-sized and strong air-actuated or hydraulic cylinder for secondarily advancing the punch
108
and cutting the braid
22
of the shielded wire
15
between the die
107
and the punch
108
. Reference numerals
113
and
114
(
FIG. 5
) denote air cylinders (driving means) for laterally opening/closing the ring-shaped braid opening pallet
110
, respectively.
The shielded wire
15
is caught by a chuck
115
in its intermediate portion in the longitudinal direction. The shielded wire
15
is also supported by a supporting chuck (supporting member)
116
in its tip side so that it is movable in the longitudinal direction. The chuck
115
includes a pair of left and right catching pallets. The chuck
115
is opened/closed by the air chuck cylinder
105
. The wire chuck in the conveyer device
14
(
FIG. 1
) has the same structure.
The supporting chuck
116
includes a pair of left and right symmetrical closable pallets which do not catch the shielded wire
15
, but horizontally supports it in light contact therewith. The die
107
is located ahead of the supporting chuck
116
. A frame
117
to which the die
107
is fixed and the supporting chuck
116
are integrally fixed to a horizontal base plate
118
. The base plate
118
is adapted to be slidable in the longitudinal direction of the wire along a guide rail
119
.
The base plate
118
is driven back and forth by a ball screw shaft (not shown). A primary cylinder
111
with a small diameter for moving a punch is attached to the frame
120
extended upright at the rear of the base plate
118
. A secondary cylinder
112
with a large diameter is adapted to be movable back and forth relative to a frame
120
by a guiding means
121
such as a guide rail. A horizontal air cylinder (moving means)
122
with a small diameter for moving the guide member back and forth is attached to the secondary cylinder
112
. The guide member
109
in a chuck-system is coupled with an opening/closing cylinder
123
which is in turn coupled with a rod
124
of the moving cylinder
122
.
As seen from
FIG. 5
, a braid opening means
125
has a pair of left and right braid opening pallets
110
which are attached to sliding plates (sliding member)
126
and
127
which are movable in opposite directions. Each of the sliding plates
126
,
127
are engaged with a single substantially vertical link
128
at upper and lower shaft positions. The upper end and lower end of the link
128
are coupled with the rods
129
and
130
of the cylinders
113
and
114
, respectively. The stem of each of the cylinders
113
and
114
is rotatably supported. Each of the sliding plates
126
and
127
is adapted to be movable in a horizontal direction (radial direction of the wire) within a gap between a hole portion and a shaft portion.
FIG. 6
is an enlarged view of the cutting means such as the die
107
and punch
108
in FIG.
4
. The die
107
is formed in a circular shape. The punch
108
is movable into an inner diameter portion
107
a
of the die
107
. The inner diameter portion
107
a
is constituted by a horizontal narrow segment with a uniform inner diameter. This portion is successive to a front vertical plane
107
b
and a rear tapered plane
107
c
. The edge at the front end of the inner diameter portion
107
a
serves as a shearing blade. The outer periphery of the die is stepped and the stepped portion is engaged with an outer front half frame
117
a
so that it is not movable forward.
The braid opening pallets
110
are kept in intimate contact with the front end of the die
107
so as to be slidable in the radial direction. A rear half frame
117
b
is kept in contact with the rear end of the die
107
. The tapered plane
107
c
is smoothly successive to the tapered plane
117
c.
Each of the tapered planes
117
c
and
107
c
serves as a guide plane for guiding the tip of the braid
22
of the shielded wire (FIG.
4
).
The punch
108
is cylindrically shaped, and composed of a thin segment
108
a
with a small diameter on the tip side and a thick segment
108
b
with a large diameter backward successive thereto. The inner diameter of the thin segment
108
a
is equal to that of the thick segment
108
b.
The outer diameter of the thin segment
108
a
is smaller than that of the thick segment
108
b.
The outer edge
108
c
at the tip of the thin segment
108
a
serves as a shearing blade.
The thin segment
108
a
advances into the inner diameter portion
109
c
of the guide member
109
with a slight gap therefrom. The guide member
109
is formed in a circular shape divided into two left and right segments. The guide member
109
has an inner slope
109
a
for wire guiding, which covers the tip of the thin segment
108
a
of the punch
108
, and an outer slope
109
b
for braid guiding.
The inner slope
109
a
is formed is a short length whereas the outer slope
109
b
is formed in a relatively long length extended backward. The inner slope
109
a
is successive to a circular vertical plane
109
d
with which the tip of the thin segment
108
a
of the punch
108
is in contact. The minimum inner diameter of the guide member
109
is equal to the inner diameter of the thin segment
108
a
of the punch
108
. Both slopes
109
a
and
109
b
cross to form an acute angle. The tip of the guide member
109
is formed in a wedge shape in section. The guide member
109
is provided integrally to or separately from a pair of left and right arms
104
which can be opened/closed freely. Specifically, the one semi-circular guide member
109
and the other semi-circular guide member
109
are attached to the one arm
104
and the other arm
104
, respectively.
The pair of left and right guide members
109
are opened/closed by an opening/closing cylinder
123
(FIG.
4
). In opening the guide members, the punch
108
advances toward the die
107
. The braid opening pallet
110
has a slightly acute circular tip, whose degree is less than a cutter. In the description of the specification, the “front” of the shielded wire
15
is coincident to the “front” of the die
107
. In contrast, the “front” of the punch
108
is opposite to the “front” of the guide member
109
.
In
FIG. 4
, the horizontal base plate
118
is advanced slidably by a ball screwing shaft and servo motor so that the tip of the shielded wire
15
(exposed portion of the braid
22
) is inserted into the die
107
. In this state, a pair of upper and lower cylinders
113
and
114
are operated several times in opposite directions, respectively. Thus, a link
128
swings so that the braid opening pallets
110
repeatedly open/close integrally to the pair of left and right slide plates
126
and
127
. As shown in
FIG. 7
, the pallets
110
press the braid
22
of the shielded wire
15
against the inner sheath
24
several times (four to five times) so that the braid
22
is gradually expanded in diameter outwardly. Accordingly, the circular punch
108
can be inserted comparatively easily between the braid
22
of the wire
15
and inner sheath
24
.
In the state where the braid
22
has been expanded, the secondary cylinder
112
, punch
108
and guide member
109
are advanced by the operation of extending the primary cylinder
111
as shown in FIG.
4
. Then, as shown in
FIG. 8
, the inner sheath
24
of the shielded wire
15
is initially (slightly) inserted into the inner diameter portion (inner space) of the punch
108
. Simultaneously, the opened portion of the braid
22
slides along the outer slope
109
b
of the guide member
109
so that it is further opened. Since the guide member
109
is opened left and right, the braid
22
is extended more outwardly. In this state, the guide member
109
is moved backward.
The operation of the guide member
109
of opening the braid further facilitates the insertion of the punch
108
. When the shielded wire
15
is inserted, the tip of the punch
108
is completely housed in the inner diameter portion
109
c
of the guide member
109
so that interference between the tip of the inner sheath of the shielded wire
15
and that of the tip of the punch
108
is prevented. Thus, the wire can be smoothly inserted.
The guide member
109
is opened outwardly, and moved backward by the compressing operation of the horizontal air cylinder
122
as shown in
FIG. 4
so that the secondary cylinder
112
is extended. Then, the punch
108
is inserted into the opened portion of the braid
22
as shown in FIG.
7
. At this time, the braid
22
is sandwiched between the outer periphery of the punch
108
and the inner periphery of the die
7
and sheared or cut instantaneously. This is performed to exclude the redundant segment at the tip of the braid
22
and define the protruding length of the braid
22
of the outer sheath
20
.
The main part of the cutting device inclusive of the punch
108
and die
107
moves backward along a guide rail
119
by the function of the servo motor and ball screw shaft (not shown) so that the shielded wire
105
is extracted from the die
107
. In this state, when the braid opening pallets
110
are operated several times in its empty state, owing to its vibration, the refuse of the braid is thrown into a waste box.
By moving forward or backward the main part of the cutting device using the servo motor and ball screw shaft, the cutting length of the braid
22
can be adjusted freely so as to correspond to the shielded wires
15
of the several product numbers. In this case, the braid
22
is turned over so that the inner sheath
24
is located on the inner wall of the punch
108
. In this state, the braid
22
is cut by the outside of the punch
108
so that only the braid
22
can be surely cut without injuring the inner sheath
24
and the core
25
.
The shielded wire
15
with the braid
22
thus partially cut is sent to the adjacent braid fold-back device
8
by the conveying device
14
(FIG.
1
).
Claims
- 1. A braid cutting apparatus for a shielded wire comprising:a cutting die located outside an exposed braid of the shielded wire; means for opening said braid; a cutting punch which is to advance inside said braid; and a guide member for guiding the braid in a direction to open further an inner sheath of said shielded wire inside said braid to an inside of said cutting punch.
- 2. A braid cutting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said opening means comprises:a pair of opening pallets which are freely reclosable, a pair of sliding members with the pair of opening pallets fixed; a link for moving said pair of sliding members in opposite directions; and driving means for swinging said link.
- 3. A braid cutting apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said guide member is made dividable, and when said punch advances, said guide member is opened outwardly by said driving means and a moving means to retreat.
- 4. A method of cutting a braid of a shielded wire comprising the steps of:opening an exposed braid of the shielded wire, further opening said braid along an outer slope of a guide member while guiding an inner sheath of said shielded wire inside said braid to an inside of a circular punch, and shearing said braid into a required length between said punch and a die located outside said braid while advancing said punch inside said braid.
- 5. A method of cutting a braid of a shielded wire according to claim 4, wherein after said braid is opened along an outer slope of said guide member, said guide member is opened outwardly.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
2001-058476 |
Mar 2001 |
JP |
|
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4719697 |
Schwartzman et al. |
Jan 1988 |
A |
4763410 |
Schwartzman |
Aug 1988 |
A |