This invention relates to a flat harness winding device for winding up or extracting out a plurality of flat harnesses at the same time corresponding to a multi-circuit system.
This flat harness winding device 51 has a disc-shaped rotor 53 in a circular ring-shaped case 52. The rotor 53 is provided with a reverse roll 54 having a large diameter and a plurality of guide rolls 55 each having a small diameter both rotatably and pivotally supported. A flat harness (flat cable) 58 fixed to a circular wall 56 in the center of the case 52 with a clamp 57 is folded back along the reverse roll 54 via a circumference of the circular wall 56, curved along the guide rolls 55, and guided out freely from a guiding path 59 of the case 52. The rotor 53 is biased in a harness winding direction with a center coil spring 60.
One end of the coil spring 60 is fixed to a hollow shaft 61 in the center of the rotor 53, and the other end of the coil spring 60 is fixed to a slit 62 in the center of the case 52. The case 52 is composed of a lower case and an upper case. A fixed side 58a of the flat harness 58 is guided out from the other guiding path via the clamp 57. The fixed side 58a of the flat harness 58 is routed to a fixed body (not shown), and a movable side 58b of the flat harness 58 is routed to a movable body (not shown). Two flat harnesses 58 are laminated in a thickness direction. The number of the flat harnesses 58 is optional.
From a winding condition of the flat harness 58 shown in
Patent Document 1: JP, A, 2004-328985 (
However, in the conventional flat harness winding device 51, because a plurality of the flat harnesses 58 is bent along the reverse roll 54 while laminated, a gap is generated between an inside bent flat harness 581 and an outside bent flat harness 582. Due to this gap, the inside bent flat harness 581 is subject to slack, and to be buckled. When the inside bent flat harness 581 is buckled, the flat harness 58 gets stuck with a buckled portion, and the flat harness 58 cannot be smoothly wound or extracted. Further, there is a fear that the buckled portion may be damaged.
Accordingly, in view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a flat harness winding device able to prevent a buckling caused by a gap between an inside bent flat harness and an outside bent flat harness when a plurality of the flat harnesses is used corresponding to a multi-circuit system.
For attaining the object, according to the invention claimed in claim 1, there is provided a flat harness winding device comprising:
a case;
a rotor rotatably disposed in the case;
a shaft of the case inserted into a hole in the center of the rotor;
a plurality of harness split rollers rotatably disposed in the rotor; and
a plurality of flat harnesses each of which one end is fixed to the shaft, said flat harnesses being independently bent along respective harness split rollers and guided out from an opening of the case so as to be operatively wound.
According to the above configuration, each flat harness is guided to the opening of the case via each harness split roller from the center shaft. When the flat harnesses are extracted, the rotor is rotated in a harness extracting direction about the shaft, and each flat harness is released from the shaft and independently extracted along each harness split roller. When the flat harnesses are wound, the rotor is rotated in a harness winding direction due to restoring force of each flat harness, biasing force of a spring member, or a manual operation, and each flat harness is independently pulled back along each harness split roller and wound around the shaft. Thus, when the flat harnesses are extracted or wound, each flat harness independently abuts on an outer periphery of each harness split roller in a curve shape, thereby the gap between the inside bent flat harness and the outside bent flat harness is eliminated, and the buckling of the flat harness caused by the gap is prevented.
According to the invention claimed in claim 2, there is provided the flat harness winding device as claimed in claim 1,
wherein harness support rollers are rotatably disposed on the rotor in spaces between the harness split rollers.
According to the above configuration, the flat harness disposed along the harness split roller from the shaft is guided to the opening via the harness support roller. Thereby, in the space between the harness split rollers, the flat harness is stably supported without slack. Further, the flat harness abutting on one harness split roller is prevented from abutting on the adjacent harness split roller, and a gap between the inside bent flat harness and the outside bent flat harness in the adjacent harness split roller is prevented from being generated. In this case, the harness support roller is disposed outer side in a radial direction of the rotor than the harness split roller.
According to the invention claimed in claim 3, there is provided the flat harness winding device as claimed in claim 1 or 2,
wherein curve-shaped harness guide ribs are disposed on the rotor close to an out side in a radial direction of each harness split roller.
According to the above configuration, the flat harness routed along one harness split roller is guided out to the opening while slidingly abuts on the harness guide rib disposed outside of the adjacent harness split roller. Thereby, the flat harness abutting on one harness split roller is prevented from abutting on the adjacent harness split roller, and a gap between the inside bent flat harness and the outside bent flat harness in the adjacent harness split roller is prevented from being generated.
According to the invention claimed in claim 4, there is provided the flat harness winding device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3,
wherein the harness split rollers are arranged at regular intervals.
According to the above configuration, each flat harness guided to the opening along each harness split roller from the center shaft adds the force equally in the extracting direction to each harness split roller arranged at regular intervals (regular angles) when extracting, and each harness split roller adds the force in the winding direction equally when winding. Therefore, the rotor is rotated smoothly, and the extracting or the winding of the flat harness is done smoothly with a small force.
According to the invention claimed in claim 5, there is provided the flat harness winding device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4,
wherein the rotor includes: a substrate having the hole; and an outer peripheral wall, and
wherein a spring member for biasing the rotor in a flat harness winding direction is disposed in an inside space of the outer peripheral wall.
According to the above configuration, the spring member is received compactly and in a space-saving manner by using the inner space of the rotor effectively, and the case, namely, the flat harness winding device is compactified in a height direction.
According to the invention claimed in claim 1, when using a plurality of flat harnesses corresponding to a multi-circuit system, by arranging respective flat harnesses independently to respective harness split rollers, a gap between the inner bent flat harness and the outer bent flat harness at the harness split roller is prevented. Therefore, the buckling caused by the gap is prevented, an operability of extracting and winding the flat harness is increased, and a durability of the flat harness is increased. Further, because of no buckling, a clearance between the shaft and the harness split roller can be reduced, thereby the case, namely, the flat harness winding device is compactified in a radial direction.
According to the invention claimed in claim 2, the flat harness can be stably supported and guided by the harness support roller in between the harness split rollers.
According to the invention claimed in claim 3, the flat harness routed along the one harness split roller can be stably guided along the harness guide rib without slack and without abutting on the adjacent harness split roller. Further, a gap between the inner bent flat harness and the outer bent flat harness caused by abutting on the adjacent harness split roller is prevented. Thereby, an effect of claim 1 can be further advanced.
According to the invention claimed in claim 4, the flat harness can be smoothly and surely extracted or wound with a regular force by the harness split rollers arranged at regular intervals (regular angles).
According to the invention claimed in claim 5, by receiving the spring member in an inside space of the rotor, the case, namely, the flat harness winding device is compactified in a height direction.
[
[
[
[
As shown in
As shown in
The case 2 is formed in substantially a rectangular shape, and has a curved portion 15a as a part of a peripheral wall 15. A circular concave 10 is disposed on an inside of the peripheral wall 15. The concave 10 is surrounded by a bottom wall 16, a lower circular inner peripheral wall 10a, and an upper substantially circular inner peripheral wall 10b. The upper inner peripheral wall 10b is continued to the lower inner peripheral wall 10a via a step wall 10c. The opening 9 for guiding out the harness is formed on a part of the peripheral wall 15 in a tangential direction of the upper inner peripheral wall 10b. The cylindrical shaft 7 is integrally fixed to the center of the bottom wall 16, and extended vertically substantially the same height as an upper opening 10d of the concave 10. The shaft 7 has a larger diameter than the harness split rollers 4 and the harness support rollers 5 of the rotor 3.
One side wall 9a disposed at an inside of the opening 9 for guiding out the harness is continued to the inner peripheral wall 10b via a curved wall 17. A slit 18 for inserting and fixing an inner end 11a folded in a right angle of the spiral spring 11 is provided on the center of the shaft 7 vertically from an upper end to the bottom end.
For fixing the inner ends of the three flat harnesses 8 (
In any case, the ends of the fixed side of the flat harnesses 8 are guided out along the shaft 7, and connected to circuits of the power source or the like. The ends of the movable side of the flat harnesses 8 are guided out from the opening 9 of the case 2 and connected to the circuits at the load side.
The spiral spring 11 is received in a shallow concave 10 surrounded by the lower inner peripheral wall 10a of the case 2. The spiral spring 11 is covered by a hollow rotor main body 3′ composed of the horizontal substrate 12 of the rotor 3, and a ring shaped outer peripheral wall 20 extended downward from an outer periphery of the substrate 12. Thereby, the spiral spring 11 is received compactly in a space-saving manner in an inner space 29 of the outer peripheral wall 20 of the rotor main body 3′, and the outer peripheral wall 20 of the rotor main body 3′ is disposed rotatably along the lower inner peripheral wall 10a of the case 2.
A folded outer end 11b of the spiral spring 11 is fixed to an inner end of the outer peripheral wall 20 of the rotor main body 3′ by hooking or the like. The harness split rollers 4, the harness support rollers 5, and the guide ribs 6 of the rotor 3 are received in a deep concave 10 surrounded by the upper inner peripheral wall 10b in the case 2. For example, a harness guide member (not shown) or the like is attached to an outer groove 21 adjacent to the opening 9 of the case 2.
The spiral spring 11 is made by winding a band-shaped metal (spring steel) in a spiral shape, and has a property to be restored to a circular shape even if it is extended straight. In this embodiment, under a free condition, an outer spring portion 11c is wound tightly, and an inner spring portion 11d is wound loosely. A width of the spiral spring 11 is so small as to correspond to the flat concave 10 in the case 2. In
The rotor 3 is provided with a circular hole 22 at the center of the horizontal substrate 12 for inserting the shaft 7 of the case 2, and as shown in
Preferably, the shafts 13 are molded integrally with the substrate 12 by synthetic resin material. The size and the shape of each shaft 13 are the same. Preferably, the rollers 4, 5 are formed in a cylinder shape, and made of synthetic resin having good sliding property. Each of the rollers 4, 5 includes: a hole 4a, 5a for inserting the shaft 13; an inner peripheral wall of the hole 4a, 5a; and an outer peripheral wall 4b, 5b coaxial to the inner peripheral wall. The size and the shape of each roller 4, 5 are the same.
The guide ribs 6 each having an arc-shaped cross section are close to the alternate three shafts 13 among the six vertical shafts 13 at an outside in a radial direction, and extended vertically from the substrate 12. As shown in
As shown in
The thin cover 14 shown in
Each flat harness 8 shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
The guide rib 6 separates a harness portion along the outer peripheral wall of the harness split roller 4 (for example, 8c) and a harness portion along the outer peripheral wall of the guide rib 6 (for example, 8f) to prevent both harness portions (for example, 8c and 8f) from contacting each other and from friction caused by contacting, and makes both harness portions being wound or pulled out smoothly with a small sliding resistance. An end 6c (
When the flat harnesses 8 are further pulled out from the opening 9 against the biasing force of the spiral spring 11 from a condition shown in
According to the flat harness winding device 1 described above, because the rotor 3 is provided with the plurality of harness split rollers 4, and the flat harnesses 8 are independently routed in the harness split rollers 4, a gap between the inside bent flat harness 8 and the outside bent flat harness 8 (a tip of the outside bent flat harness 8 is behind a tip of the inside bent flat harness 8) is not generated, and the buckling of the flat harness caused by the gap is prevented. Thereby, the extracting or the winding of the flat harness is done smoothly without any catch, and a damage of the flat harness 8 caused by the buckling is also prevented.
By increasing the number of harness split rollers 4 such as two or three (In
Incidentally, other flat routing material such as a flat-shaped optical fiber can be used instead of the flat harness 8. In this case, the flat routing material cannot be folded at the shaft 7 side. The flat harness 8 can be referred to as the flat routing material. This invention can be used in a flat routing material winding mechanism or a flat routing material winding structure other than the flat harness winding device 1.
Further, in the embodiment described above, when the number of the flat harnesses 8 is four, four harness split rollers 4 are arranged at regular intervals on the rotor 3, and four harness support rollers 5 are arranged between the harness split rollers 4. Preferably, the harness support rollers 5 are arranged at regular intervals, however, an interval between the harness split roller 4 and the harness support roller 5 adjacent to each other can be set properly.
When the number of the flat harnesses 8 is two, two harness split rollers 4 are arranged at regular intervals, and two or more harness support rollers 5 are arranged between the harness split rollers 4. Alternatively, two of the tree harness split rollers 4 shown in
When the number of the flat harnesses 8 is large, for example, six, two flat harnesses 8 each can be laminated on the tree harness split rollers 4. In this case, a gap is generated between an inside bent flat harness and an outside bent flat harness, however, it is effective to correspond to the more multi-circuit system (the gap is smaller than a case that six flat harnesses 8 are laminated). The harness split roller 4 serves to split the plurality of flat harnesses 8 into one flat harness 8 each to be arranged.
Further, in
Further, in
Further, as the spring member, a flat-shaped coil spring or the like can be used instead of the spiral spring 11. Further, it is also possible to omit the spring member, and to rewind the flat harness 8 by restoring force caused by the stiffness of the flat harness 8 (only a case that a pulled out length of the flat harness 8 is short).
A flat harness winding device according to the present invention corresponds to a multi-circuit system of an auxiliary device or the like of a vehicle or the like by laminating a plurality of flat harnesses. Further, the flat harness winding device prevents the flat harness from backing when winding or pulling out the flat harness and can be used to increase winding operability and pulling out operability, and to increase reliability of constant power supply to the auxiliary device or the like.
1 flat harness winding device
2 case
3 rotor
4 harness split roller
5 harness support roller
6 harness guide rib
7 shaft
8 flat harness
9 opening
11 spiral spring (spring member)
12 substrate
20 outer peripheral wall
22 hole
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2010-260890 | Nov 2010 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2011/077288 | 11/21/2011 | WO | 00 | 5/22/2013 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2012/070673 | 5/31/2012 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
6213797 | Best et al. | Apr 2001 | B1 |
6937725 | Liao | Aug 2005 | B2 |
20070184693 | Mitsui | Aug 2007 | A1 |
20090176393 | Asakura et al. | Jul 2009 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
2563136 | Jul 2003 | CN |
10 2005 002 676 | Jun 2006 | DE |
0820125 | Jan 1998 | EP |
1878619 | Jan 2008 | EP |
11-116145 | Apr 1999 | JP |
2004-104899 | Apr 2004 | JP |
2004-328985 | Nov 2004 | JP |
2009-164005 | Jul 2009 | JP |
2010-074872 | Apr 2010 | JP |
Entry |
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International Search Report dated Dec. 27, 2011 and Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority, issued for PCT/JP2011/077288. |
Supplementary European Search Report dated May 6, 2014, issued for the European patent application No. 11843753.2. |
First Office Action dated Jun. 1, 2015 issued for corresponding Chinese patent application No. 201180056590.4. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20130248632 A1 | Sep 2013 | US |