Cable processing equipment

Abstract

The present invention discloses a cable processing device (100), comprising at least one processing unit (101, 103, 105) for assembling cables, and a sorting unit (60) which can be driven by a selection signal (S) to output the cables received from the processing unit at least on a first side (A) or on a second side (B) according to the selection signal (S).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a cable processing device that outputs one or more cables for removal or transport after completing an assembly process. Background Art

[0002] Cable processing equipment is usually equipped with cable trays designed, for example, in the form of cable troughs or removal troughs. Cable processing equipment usually produces a plurality of cables, which together form a cable batch (cable assembly). For example, a certain number of cables produced in a similar manner or correspondingly similarly assembled cable groups form a cable batch.

[0003] Various process steps or assembly steps for assembling the cable, such as a stripping step, a crimping step, etc., may be performed in an incorrect manner and result in the assembly of the cable not meeting the prescribed or specified quality requirements.

[0004] Examples of such quality requirements include conductor ends that are not adequately stripped, single strands of wire that are missing expected end cap openings (e.g., plug contacts, wire end ferrules, etc.), plug connectors that are bent or not tightly crimped, etc.

[0005] Assembled cables that do not meet such quality requirements are usually referred to as bad cables and are usually treated as scrap. Therefore, assembled cables that meet the quality requirements are usually referred to as good cables. Processing equipment is increasingly equipped with quality monitoring systems that monitor the individual processing steps, such as stripping and crimping, and can detect such bad cables. To this end, for example, the quality monitoring system can observe that the stripping process and / or the crimping process of the product to be assembled is incorrect, thereby evaluating whether the currently output cable is a bad cable.

[0006] The traditional approach is as follows: If the quality monitoring system detects a bad cable, measures are taken to facilitate the operator to identify the bad cable. For example, if the contact is incorrectly crimped, measures should be taken to cut the contact again. For example, if the conductor end is not stripped correctly, measures can be taken to not crimp the contact.

[0007] Even if a flawless cable could be automatically produced to replace such a bad cable, the bad cable would still enter the cable tray and must be cleaned up by an operator. If the operator does not notice the bad cable, it would still be part of the batch of cables.

[0008] Therefore, there is a need for a cable processing device to improve the processing method that can provide a flawless cable batch. This object is achieved by a cable processing device as claimed in claim 1. Advantageous further improvements are indicated in the dependent claims. It goes without saying that the various embodiments, aspects and / or features described herein can be combined with each other or omitted accordingly where appropriate. Summary of the invention

[0009] In one aspect, the present invention provides a cable processing device. The cable processing device comprises at least one processing unit for assembling cables. The cable processing device also comprises a sorting unit, which can be actuated by a selection signal so as to output the cables received from the processing unit at least on a first side or a second side according to the selection signal.

[0010] For example, the processing unit or the assembly unit is provided in the form of a stripping unit, a crimping unit, etc., but is not limited thereto. The selection signal is generated, for example, outside or inside a suitable component of the cable processing device. The received cable is usually output on the first side or the second side according to the selection signal. It is particularly preferred that the sorting unit always receives exactly one cable, usually an assembled cable, from the processing unit and then selects the received cable according to the selection signal. After completing the selection, the sorting unit receives the next cable from the processing unit and then selects the received cable, and so on.

[0011] For example, the selection by actuating the sorting unit with a selection signal ensures that qualified cables are always output on one side (e.g., always on the first side), while bad cables are always output on the other side (e.g., always on the second side). This can simplify the provision of defect-free cable batches (cable batches containing only qualified cables).

[0012] In an embodiment, the sorting unit is a multi-slot structure that can rotate around a rotation axis. The rotation axis extends substantially parallel to the cable axis of the received cable. The rotation around the rotation axis is performed according to the selection signal.

[0013] The sorting process can be accelerated by using a multi-slot structure that can be selectively rotated. This allows the sorting process itself to be carried out easily and stably.

[0014] In an embodiment, the multi-slot structure comprises two or more slot chambers. According to an advantageous configuration, the multi-slot structure has three slot chambers of substantially the same size. The slot chambers of substantially the same size have substantially the same volume. The rotatable mounting of the slot chambers and the substantially identical size of the slot chambers, in particular the substantially identical size of the three slot chambers, can produce the following advantages: the center can be mounted at the center of gravity, thereby reducing imbalances, etc.

[0015] In an embodiment, the cable processing device further comprises a selection unit. The selection unit is configured to output a selection signal to the sorting unit, in particular based on the detected assembly quality of the cable. For example, the assembly quality used herein relates to the distinction between good cables and bad cables as described above. However, it is also possible to consider intermediate qualities and define one or several thresholds and generate the selection signal based on these thresholds.

[0016] In a further improvement of this embodiment, the cable processing device may include a detection unit for detection purposes. The detection unit is configured to detect the assembly quality of the cable.

[0017] A common example of a detection unit comprises a monitoring unit for integration into the above-mentioned crimping unit for monitoring the crimping force. The monitoring unit is arranged to record force variations during the crimping process (the process of connecting the stripped cable end with the contact) performed by the crimping unit using a force sensor and compare it with the desired progress. The comparison can show errors in the process, for example, missing strands in the contact.

[0018] In another example, an image acquisition unit (e.g., a digital camera) and an image evaluation unit are provided as the detection unit, wherein the image acquisition unit sends images of a representative range of the assembled cable, which are acquired continuously or in defined or definable time intervals, to the image evaluation unit. For example, the image evaluation unit runs image evaluation software, which evaluates or detects the assembly quality of the underlying cable based on the transmitted images.

[0019] In a further improvement of this embodiment, the production quality of the cables associated with the cable processing equipment involves cables of good quality, which are classified as qualified cables, and cables of poor quality, which are classified as bad cables. It can be provided that a qualified cable receiving unit is provided on the first side, and a bad cable receiving unit is provided on the second side.

[0020] The receiving unit used herein should be understood as a component or element or multiple components that are configured to receive qualified cables or bad cables and store them for a specific period of time. For example, the qualified cable receiving unit has a qualified cable removal slot. The qualified cable removal slot is configured so that an operator (or an automatic removal unit, such as a removal robot) removes the qualified cables contained in the qualified cable removal slot.

[0021] The qualified cable receiving unit may include a qualified cable storage trough and the qualified cable removal trough. The qualified cable storage trough is configured to receive qualified cables from a plurality of cables contained in a batch of cables. In this case, the qualified cable storage trough may be configured to transfer the plurality of cables to the qualified cable removal trough when the number of the plurality of cables corresponds to the size of the cable batch. In this way, the qualified cable removal trough may accurately present two states: either it is empty or the number of qualified cables available in the qualified cable removal trough corresponds exactly to the cable batch.

[0022] The qualified cable storage trough can be designed so that it is tilted and / or pivoted relative to the removal trough so that a plurality of cables can slide into the qualified cable removal trough during the transfer process. This provides a particularly simple option for transferring cables from the qualified cable storage trough to the qualified cable removal trough. The tilting or pivoting is preferably performed automatically. The tilting or pivoting is particularly preferably performed by automatic actuation of a pneumatic transmission device.

[0023] Similar to the qualified cable side, in an implementation, the bad cable receiving unit includes a bad cable removing slot. The bad cable removing slot is configured so that an operator (or an automatic removing unit, such as a removing robot) can remove the bad cable in the bad cable removing slot.

[0024] In an embodiment, the qualified cable removal slot is designed to include a movable part and an immovable part. The movable part can be moved longitudinally. In particular, the movable part can be moved longitudinally automatically. The movable part is preferably pneumatically movable longitudinally.

[0025] In an embodiment, alternatively, the bad cable removal slot may also be designed to include a movable portion and an immovable portion. The movable portion may be longitudinally movable. In particular, the movable portion may be longitudinally movable automatically. The movable portion may preferably be longitudinally movable pneumatically.

[0026] In an embodiment, the cable processing apparatus further comprises a conveyor belt for transferring the cable from the at least one processing unit into the sorting unit. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0027] The embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0028] Figure 1 A schematic side cross-sectional view of a conventional cable processing device for illustrating the technical principle is shown;

[0029] Figure 2 A schematic side cross-sectional view of a cable processing apparatus is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] Figure 3 A top view of a cable processing apparatus is shown according to an embodiment;

[0031] Figure 4 A schematic perspective view showing a cable tray of a cable processing device according to an embodiment; and

[0032] Figure 5 Shown from another angle Figure 4 Schematic perspective view of a cable tray. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] In the following description of the embodiments, the same reference numerals denote the same or similar elements, and description thereof will not be repeated.

[0034] Figure 1 A schematic side cross-sectional view of a conventional cable processing device 100 is shown. The cable processing device 100 has a conveyor belt 20 driven by a drive motor 10, and assembled cables from one or more processing stations of the cable processing device are conveyed thereon in the direction of a storage tank 30. The storage tank 30 can be pivoted about a pivot axis 40 by an actuable pivot cylinder 41, as indicated by the arrow. The qualified cables stored in the storage tank at a particular time, as well as the defective cables (not shown) fall or slide into the removal (transfer) tank 50 during the pivoting movement and are removed there.

[0035] exist Figure 1 In a cable processing machine such as the "pivoting" conventional cable processing device 100 shown, the transition storage area formed by the storage trough 30 makes it possible to collect a predetermined or determinable number of completely processed cables. Once the number is reached, the cable batch or production batch is completed. The pivoting movement of the storage trough 30 transfers the produced cable batch automatically or after confirmation by the operator, for example, after it can be removed manually, to the removal trough 50, while the cable processing device 10 produces the next production batch and the cables belonging to this next production batch are transitionally stored in the storage trough 30 that has been pivoted upwards again.

[0036] The conveyor belt 20 ensures that the cable remains stretched during the conveyance of the cable to the cable processing equipment 100 and during the processing of the tail end (lower end) of the cable. If the tail end of the cable is allowed to fall beside the conveyor belt, its own weight combined with the conveying movement of the conveyor belt causes it to slide off the side of the conveyor belt 20 and fall into the storage tank 30.

[0037] Figure 2 According to an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 1 A similar side cross-sectional view of a cable processing device 100. According to this embodiment, the cable processing device 100 also has a conveyor belt 20, which is moved by a drive motor (not shown). The storage tank 30 can be pivoted about the pivot 40 by a pneumatic pivot cylinder 41 approximately in the direction of the arrow on the storage tank 30, so that the cable located in the storage tank slides into the removal tank 50.

[0038] Apart from Figure 1 In addition to the cable processing equipment 100 shown, Figure 2The cable processing device 100 in the embodiment of the present invention further has a sorting unit 60, which can be rotated or partially rotated in a pulsed manner around a rotation axis D substantially parallel to the cable axis according to a selection signal. In an exemplary embodiment, the sorting unit 60 has a first slot chamber 1, a second slot chamber 2, and a third slot chamber 3, which are substantially the same in size (i.e., designed to have substantially the same volume) and are separated from each other by a partition. The partition is divided at intervals of approximately 120°.

[0039] The produced (assembled) cables enter the slot of the sorting unit 60 from the conveyor belt 20. The sorting unit 60 receives instructions from the machine controller (e.g., the selection unit 80) to turn 120° clockwise or 120° counterclockwise around the rotation axis D. For example, if the cable falls into Figure 2 The slot chamber 1 shown in FIG. 1 can be placed in the slot chamber 1 by rotating it counterclockwise about 120°. Figure 2 Accordingly, by rotating it clockwise by about 120°, it can be placed as shown in the figure. Figure 2 The position of chamber 3 is shown.

[0040] During the counterclockwise rotation, the cable accordingly falls or slides into a depositing trough 30 located on one side A relative to the sorting unit 60. During the clockwise rotation, the cable then falls or slides into another storage trough 70 located on the opposite side B.

[0041] exist Figure 2 In the structure of the illustrated embodiment, the storage slot 30 located on the A side is used as a storage slot for qualified cables, and the storage slot 70 located on the B side is used as a storage slot for defective cables.

[0042] Once the cables in the qualified cable storage trough 30 reach the batch size, the qualified cable storage trough 30 is pivoted about the pivot axis by actuating the air cylinder 41 accordingly, thereby transferring the cable batch to the qualified cable removal trough 50. After the subsequent upward pivoting, the cable processing device 100 can produce the next batch. The bad cables fall into the bad cable storage trough 70 accordingly. If there is still a batch of cables in the qualified cable removal trough 50 after the batch is reached, the machine stops running so that the operator can remove the cables.

[0043] because Figure 2 The configuration of the sorting unit 60 with three slots 1, 2, 3 shown, after the cable is transferred on the A side or the B side, the sorting unit 60 does not need to return, but can directly receive the next cable in the slot facing the conveyor. Therefore, the sorting process does not reduce the productivity of the machine over time.

[0044] exist Figure 2In the exemplary embodiment shown, the selection unit 80 is directly connected to the sorting unit 60. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and there may also be an indirect connection between these elements, for example via an intermediate machine controller (not shown). In addition, the selection unit 80 may also be part of such a machine controller.

[0045] When selecting, the selection unit 80 outputs a selection signal S to the sorting unit 60, which corresponds to an instruction to turn the sorting unit 60 to the A side direction or the B side direction. For example, the selection time is a timed cycle time point in the processing cycle of the cable processing device 100. The timing can be fixed or variable. For example, a variable timing can be established in a situation-dependent manner by detecting the receiving process in which the received cable is completely located in the corresponding slot chamber facing the conveyor belt 20.

[0046] exist Figure 2 In the embodiment, the selection unit 80 is also connected to the detection unit 90. For example, the detection unit 90 has a digital camera for collecting images of the received cable, and an option for processing the images taken by the digital camera. The detection unit 90 generally includes a force sensor (not shown) for monitoring the crimping force, wherein the detection unit 90 is configured to compare the force change during crimping at a desired progress using the force sensor, and transmit the comparison or the comparison result to the selection unit 80.

[0047] The detection unit 90 or the selection unit 80 connected thereto detects whether the cable to be received next in the slot chamber facing the conveyor belt 20 is a qualified cable or a defective cable. Alternatively, the detection unit 90 or the selection unit 80 connected thereto detects whether the cable received in the slot chamber facing the conveyor belt 20 is a qualified cable or a defective cable. The selection signal S is generated based on the detection result.

[0048] For explanatory purposes, Figure 3 The top view of FIG. 1 is a top view of the cable processing device 100. In order to assemble the cable that is pulled in along the cable feeding axis R and fed through the processing station by the cable feeder 106, the cable processing device 100 includes a first crimping machine 101, a second crimping machine 102, a knife head 105 for stripping, a first pivot unit 103, and a second pivot unit 104. For example, the qualified cable receiving device 31 including the qualified cable storage groove 30 is Figure 3 Details on the basic functioning of the cable processing device 10 are disclosed, for example, in EP 2 442 413 A1, which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0049] Figure 4A perspective view of a cable tray of a cable processing device in an embodiment is shown, and Figure 5 Shown from another angle Figure 4 Schematic perspective view of a cable tray.

[0050] from Figure 4 It can be seen that the good cable receiving device 31 includes a good cable removal slot 50, which includes a movable part 50a and an immovable part 50b. For example, the movable part 50a of the two-part good cable removal slot 50 can be moved in the longitudinal direction by a cylinder (not shown), so that the short cable can be transferred out from the hard-to-access part of the machine under the protective cover and removed even when the machine is running. Although not shown, this principle can basically also be applied to the bad cable removal slot 70.

[0051] from Figure 5 As can be seen in the figure, the sorting unit 60 in the embodiment is an elongated body, which as a whole can rotate around the rotation axis D. The head of the pivot cylinder 41 is fixed on the qualified cable storage groove 30, so that during the pivoting by the pivot cylinder 41, the qualified cable storage groove 30 transfers the qualified cables in the pivot cylinder 41 to the qualified cable removal groove 50.

[0052] Even though the embodiments of the present invention are described above, the present invention is not limited to the described feature combinations. The skilled person will recognize that, depending on the intended purpose, other feature combinations may also be meaningful, and some features may be modified or omitted where appropriate.

Claims

1. A cable processing device (100), comprising: at least one processing unit (101, 103, 105) for assembling cables; and a sorting unit (60) driven by a selection signal (S) and outputting the cable received from the processing unit at least on a first side (A) or on a second side (B) according to the selection signal (S); a selection unit (80) which transmits the selection signal (S) to the sorting unit (60) according to the detected assembly quality of the cable; A detection unit (90) for detecting the assembly quality of the cable, wherein the assembly quality of the cable involves cables with good quality being classified as qualified cables, and cables with poor quality being classified as defective cables; A qualified cable receiving unit (31) disposed on the first side, the qualified cable receiving unit (31) comprising a qualified cable storage slot (30) for receiving a plurality of qualified cables in a cable batch and a qualified cable removal slot (50); a bad cable receiving unit (70) disposed on the second side; a conveyor belt (20) for transferring cables from the at least one processing unit to the sorting unit (60); The sorting unit (60) is a multi-slot structure, which rotates around a rotation axis (D) in the direction of the first side (A) or in the direction of the second side (B), wherein the direction is determined according to the selection signal (S), so that the received cable is output on the first side (A) or the second side (B) according to the selection signal, and the rotation axis (D) is roughly parallel to the cable axis of the received cable, so that the qualified cable receiving unit (31) receives qualified cables, and the defective cable receiving unit (70) receives defective cables.

2. The cable processing device (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The multi-tank structure comprises two or more tank chambers (1, 2, 3).

3. The cable processing equipment (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The multi-tank structure includes three tank chambers of substantially the same size.

4. The cable processing device (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The qualified cable storage trough (30) is configured to transfer the plurality of cables to the qualified cable removal trough (50) when the number of the plurality of cables corresponds to the size of the cable batch; The qualified cable storage slot (30) is designed to be tilted and / or pivoted relative to the removal slot.

5. The cable processing device (100) according to claim 4, characterized in that: The qualified cable storage trough (30) is designed so that it can be automatically tilted and / or pivoted.

6. The cable processing device (100) according to claim 4, characterized in that: The qualified cable storage slot (30) is designed to be pneumatically tilted and / or pivoted so that a plurality of cables can slide into the qualified cable removal slot (50) during the transfer process.

7. The cable processing equipment (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bad cable receiving unit (70) includes a bad cable removing slot (70).

8. The cable processing equipment (100) according to claim 1, characterized in that: The qualified cable removal trough (50) and / or the defective cable removal trough (70) each comprises a movable portion (50a) and an immovable portion (50b), wherein the movable portion (50a) is longitudinally movable.

9. The cable processing device (100) according to claim 8, characterized in that: The movable portion (50a) is automatically movable.

10. The cable processing device (100) according to claim 8, characterized in that: The movable portion (50a) is pneumatically movable longitudinally.

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