This application is the US National Stage under 35 USC ยง 371 of International Application No. PCT/FR2020/050460, filed 5 Mar. 2020 which claims priority to French Application No. 1903513 filed 2 Apr. 2019, both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to the field of wiring harnesses for motor-driven land vehicles. The invention relates in particular to a method for adapting a wiring harness for a motor-driven land vehicle and to a wiring harness for a motor-driven land vehicle adapted by implementing the method. The invention applies in particular to motor vehicles.
It is known that current motor-driven land vehicles, in particular motor vehicles, are provided with electronic control units between which wiring harnesses, i.e. bundles of electrical cables, are arranged, which make it possible to transmit electrical signals and/or digital data between the electronic control units in order to manage the operation of certain components of the vehicles. These wiring harnesses are positioned in the vehicles during installation phases that generally occur very early in the vehicle manufacturing process so that, after manufacture, dismantling such wiring harnesses generally proves to be very difficult. However, when one wishes to integrate vehicles into carsharing systems or fleet management systems after manufacture, it is necessary to integrate computer systems into the concerned vehicles that allow the functionalities necessary for the operation of carsharing or fleet management systems to be implemented. To do this, it then becomes necessary to connect these computer systems to the various systems that manage the operation of the vehicles, in particular to the electronic control units. Generally, these connection methods are carried out via methods for adapting the wiring harnesses originally installed in the vehicles, most of the time by making cuts and/or splices on them. However, such methods of adapting wiring harnesses using cuts and/or splices can then be a source of serious problems, ranging from imperfect connections, hampering the proper transmission of signals and/or data between the on-board electronic control units, to the risk of vehicle fire.
In addition, generally, the fleet of vehicles used in carsharing or fleet management systems will be periodically renewed. This means that vehicles that have previously undergone modifications to integrate these systems must then be modified again in order to remove the elements that were previously installed. Concretely, this means that the computer systems which have enabled the implementation of the functionalities necessary for the operation of the carsharing or fleet management systems must be removed from the vehicles; consequently, it then becomes necessary to once again adapt the wiring harnesses so that they regain a shape as close as possible to their original shape. However, when the methods of adapting the wiring harnesses that have been previously implemented are based on making cuts or splices, it then becomes nearly impossible to adapt the wiring harnesses again without running the risk of again seeing the appearance of imperfect connections or causing a risk of vehicle fire. Indeed, any electrician knows that an electrical wire that has been cut, the ends of which at the location of the cut are subsequently connected together, for example by means of a sleeve connector, will never be as reliable as an electrical wire that has never been cut (e.g. risk of connection breakage during impacts, risk of creating an electric arc, risk of oxidation of the ends in the location of the cut, etc.).
The invention therefore aims to provide a method for overcoming these drawbacks. The object is in particular to provide a method for adapting a wiring harness for a motor-driven land vehicle in order to enable, without cut or splice, the connection of said wiring harness to a computer system that is configured to be temporarily and removably mounted on board a motor-driven land vehicle. Furthermore, the object is also to provide an adaptation method that, when the computer system is removed from the vehicle, allows the wiring harness to be adapted again so that it regains a shape that is identical at all points to its original shape, i.e. the shape it had when the vehicle left the production line.
These objects are achieved by a method for adapting a wiring harness for a motor-driven land vehicle in order to allow, without cut or splice, connecting said wiring harness to a computer system that is configured to be temporarily and removably mounted on board a motor-driven land vehicle, said wiring harness comprising a first connector, which is provided with at least one socket, in which a plug is removably housed, said plug being arranged at one end of an electrical wire, and a second connector that is provided with at least one pin, said second connector being configured to be connected to an electronic control unit of the vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:
A further object is to provide a wiring harness for a motor-driven land vehicle comprising a first connector provided with at least one socket in which a plug is removably housed, arranged at one end of an electrical wire, and a second connector provided with at least one pin, said second connector being configured to be connected to an electronic control unit of a motor-driven land vehicle, said wiring harness being adapted by implementing a method as described above.
A further object is the provision of a motor-driven land vehicle that comprises a wiring harness as described above.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent on examination of the detailed description that follows and from the drawings, in which:
For the sake of clarity of the description, the method for adapting the wiring harness 1 for a motor-driven land vehicle will now be described by considering only the steps relating to a single electrical wire 2 of the wiring harness 1. However, those skilled in the art will understand that the same steps can be reproduced for several electrical wires of the wiring harness 1, and even for all the electrical wires of the wiring harness 1.
According to a first step of the adaptation method, illustrated in
Then, the method for adapting the wiring harness 1 continues by implementing a second and a third step, which are jointly illustrated in
Finally, a final step of the method of adapting the wiring harness 1, illustrated schematically in
Consequently, under the terms of the method, it becomes possible to connect a removable computer system to the wiring harness without any irreversible modification of the wiring harness having been made. Indeed, those skilled in the art will understand that, when it becomes necessary to remove the removable computer system from the vehicle, the steps described above can be implemented in reverse so that the wiring harness can regain a shape that is identical in all points to its original shape, i.e. the one it had when the vehicle left the vehicle production line. In addition, it is also understood that the method according to the invention allows a wiring harness to be adapted without there being any need to make any cut or splice on the electrical wires, or cables, that form the wiring harness, which contributes to ensuring the complete integrity of the transmission of signals and/or data between each of the connectors of a wiring harness adapted by implementing the method according to the invention, and without any step of the method being able to cause any risk of fire for the vehicle.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1903513 | Apr 2019 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/FR2020/050460 | 3/5/2020 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2020/201647 | 10/8/2020 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3302065 | Karol | Jan 1967 | A |
3581268 | Akst | May 1971 | A |
3660728 | Carter | May 1972 | A |
3917371 | Hirokawa | Nov 1975 | A |
3950058 | Cronin | Apr 1976 | A |
4384755 | Perretta | May 1983 | A |
4726790 | Hadjis | Feb 1988 | A |
4842524 | Hopkins | Jun 1989 | A |
5026293 | Wilson | Jun 1991 | A |
5072185 | Rockwell | Dec 1991 | A |
5639246 | Holmes | Jun 1997 | A |
5971799 | Swade | Oct 1999 | A |
6469404 | Pohjola | Oct 2002 | B1 |
7112969 | Thomas | Sep 2006 | B1 |
7173345 | Brandt | Feb 2007 | B2 |
7225065 | Hunt | May 2007 | B1 |
7447574 | Washicko | Nov 2008 | B1 |
7862355 | Chiou | Jan 2011 | B2 |
8767379 | Whitaker | Jul 2014 | B2 |
8939789 | Lisbona | Jan 2015 | B2 |
10062978 | Henke | Aug 2018 | B2 |
10553993 | Allen | Feb 2020 | B2 |
20180286531 | El Haddad | Oct 2018 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
1401059 | Mar 2004 | EP |
2008008823 | Jan 2008 | WO |
Entry |
---|
International Search Report for PCT/FR2020/050460 dated Aug. 27, 2020. |
Written Opinion for PCT/FR2020/050460 dated Aug. 27, 2020. |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20220089106 A1 | Mar 2022 | US |