Wire harness manufacturing apparatus and wire harness manufacturing method

Abstract

To automatically perform an operation from formation of a branching shape to shape determination by tape winding.SOLUTION: There is provided a wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 which has a tape winding part during withdrawal of a fixed tape winding mechanism 18 and a moving tape winding mechanism 22 (a preceding tape winding part) which wind a tape around wires W18 connected to the same connector of a plurality of connectors and wires W18 prepared for manufacturing wire harnesses and a moving tape winding mechanism 22 (a succeeding tape winding part) for forming a branch by winding a tape around parts wound with a tape by the preceding tape winding part of wires W18 connected to a different connector.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a wire harness manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a wire harness having a branched shape. and Wire harness manufacturing method in the law It is related to.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, as a manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a wire harness having a branched shape, an apparatus in which a plurality of holding members for holding a wire harness are installed on a flat wiring board in an arrangement according to the branched shape has been used (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In such a manufacturing apparatus, a wire harness is manufactured through a series of operations in which wires are arranged on the wiring board so as to form a branched shape, and then tape winding is performed at various locations to determine the branched shape.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] Here, many of the operations using the above-described manufacturing apparatus are performed manually by an operator. In particular, the operations from the formation of the branched shape to the shape determination by tape winding are often performed by a skilled operator based on experience. On the other hand, with regard to the manufacture of wire harnesses, the development of an apparatus that can automatically perform manufacturing operations without human intervention has also been underway. However, it is difficult to automate the operations from the formation to the determination of the branched shape by a skilled operator, and there is a need for an apparatus that can automatically perform these operations.

[0005] Accordingly, the present invention focuses on the above problems, and aims to provide a wire harness manufacturing apparatus and a wire harness manufacturing method capable of automatically performing operations from the formation of a branched shape to the shape determination by tape winding. 。

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, a wire harness manufacturing apparatus includes a preceding tape winding unit that tape-winds the electric wires connected to the same connector among a plurality of connectors and electric wires prepared for manufacturing a wire harness, and a subsequent tape winding unit that tape-winds portions of the electric wires connected to different connectors that have been tape-wound by the preceding tape winding unit to form a branch. A plurality of each of them are provided so as to be able to mount the connector, and by linearly moving, a slide portion capable of drawing out the electric wire connected to the mounted connector at least in one of during and after the tape winding by the preceding tape winding portion, It is characterized by comprising the above.

[0007] Also, in order to solve the above problems, a wire harness manufacturing method includes a preceding tape winding step of tape-winding the electric wires connected to the same connector among a plurality of connectors and electric wires prepared for manufacturing a wire harness, a subsequent tape winding step of tape-winding portions of the electric wires connected to different connectors that have been tape-wound in the preceding tape winding step to form a branch, and a slide step of pulling out the electric wires connected to each connector at least in one of during and after the tape winding by the preceding tape winding by linearly moving a plurality of the connectors. process It is characterized by comprising the above.

[0008] Also wa A wire harness includes a branch wire tape winding unit in which the electric wires connected to the same connector among a plurality of connectors and electric wires prepared for manufacturing a wire harness are tape-wound to form branch wires, and a branch tape winding unit in which the branch wire tape winding units in the electric wires connected to different connectors are further tape-wound to form a branch.

Advantages of the Invention

[0009] According to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus, wire harness manufacturing method, and wire harness, operations from the formation of a branched shape to the shape determination by tape winding can be automatically performed.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a wire harness manufacturing apparatus, a wire harness manufacturing method, a wire harness, a tension control apparatus, and a tension control method will be described.

[0012] FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 1. Further, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a wire harness manufactured by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0013] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is an apparatus that automatically manufactures a wire harness W1 having a branched shape as shown as an example in FIG. 3.

[0014] The wire harness W1 to be manufactured is a member that is mounted on an automobile and routed to connect a plurality of devices inside the vehicle. This wire harness W1 includes a plurality of front-end connectors W11, a plurality of rear-end connectors W12, a branch wire tape winding portion W13, a branch wire exterior portion W14, a branch tape winding portion W15, a branch exterior portion W16, and a plurality of fixing clips W17.

[0015] The front-end connector W11 is a connector located at the front-end side in the wire-drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18 in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. The front-end side mentioned here corresponds to the front-end side of the branch in the wire harness W1. The rear-end connector W12 is a connector located at the rear-end side in the wire-drawing direction D11, and the rear-end side mentioned here corresponds to the root side of the branch in the wire harness W1. In the present embodiment, there are fewer rear-end connectors W12 than front-end connectors W11, and a part of the electric wires W18 connected to the plurality of front-end connectors W11 is grouped for some of the front-end connectors W11 and connected to one rear-end connector W12. In the present embodiment, both the front-end connector W11 and the rear-end connector W12 are compression connectors.

[0016] The branch wire tape winding portion W13 is a portion where the tape W19 is directly wound around the electric wires W18 connected to the same front-end connector W11 among the plurality of prepared electric wires W18, forming a branch wire in the branch shape. The branch wire exterior portion W14 is a portion where an exterior material W20 such as a corrugated tube is directly attached to the electric wires W18 connected to the same front-end connector W11, forming a branch wire similar to the branch wire tape winding portion W13. Incidentally, the branch wire portion where the exterior material W20 is attached after the tape W19 is wound around the electric wire W18 will be described as the branch wire tape winding portion W13.

[0017] The branch tape winding portion W15 is a portion where the branch tape winding portions W13 in the electric wires W18 connected to different tip-side connectors W11 are further tape-wound to form a branch. In the present embodiment, as the branch tape winding portion W15, a portion where two branch tape winding portions W13 are tape-wound together, or a portion where a further branch tape winding portion W13 is added to that portion and tape-wound, is exemplified. The branch exterior portion W16 is a portion where the branch exterior portions W14 in the electric wires W18 connected to different tip-side connectors W11 are bundled together, and further an exterior material W20 is attached to form a branch. Incidentally, for a portion where a branch exterior portion W14 or a branch exterior portion W16 is added to the branch tape winding portion W13, bundled, and then tape-wound on top, it will be described by referring to it as the branch tape winding portion W15. Also, in the present embodiment, there is also a location where the exterior material W20 is attached from above the branch tape winding portion W15. Further, the branch tape winding portion W15 is a portion formed by the tape W19 being wound on top of the tape W19 in the branch tape winding portion W13.

[0018] The fixing clip W17 is a fixing member for fixing this wire harness W1 to a predetermined fixing destination, and is attached to various locations of the wire harness W1.

[0019] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is an apparatus for automatically manufacturing the wire harness W1 having the branch shape described above. That is, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 is an apparatus that automatically performs a series of operations including the drawing out of the electric wire W18, the connection of the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end side connector W12, the formation of the branch shape and the shape determination by tape winding, and the attachment of the exterior member W20 and the fixing clip W17.

[0020] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a wire rack 11, a slide part 12, a rail 13, a tip-side connector supply part 14, a tip-side connector mounting part 15, a rear-end side connector supply part 16, a connector connection part 17, a fixed tape winding mechanism 18, and a wire gripping / extra length imparting part 19. Further, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a large-scale gathering part 20, a robot arm 21, a moving tape winding mechanism 22, a clip attachment part 23, an exterior material attachment part 24, an existing wire arrangement part 25, a pay-out part 26, and a control part 27.

[0021] The wire rack 11 is a structure that houses a plurality of wire reels 111, and a plurality of wires W18 for manufacturing the wire harness W1 are drawn out from the wire rack 11 in the drawing direction D11.

[0022] The slide part 12 is a part that can mount the tip-side connector W11 and linearly moves between a first end side on the wire rack 11 side and a second end side on the front side in the drawing direction D11. The rail 13 is a rail member that movably holds the slide part 12 in the moving direction D12 that is the front-rear direction of the drawing direction D11. The movement of the slide part 12 along the rail 13 is performed by a servo motor. In the present embodiment, the slide parts 12 assembled to the rail 13 are arranged in nine rows in the direction orthogonal to the moving direction D12.

[0023] The tip-side connector supply part 14 stocks a plurality of tip-side connectors W11 and supplies the tip-side connectors W11 to the tip-side connector mounting part 15. And the tip-side connector mounting part 15 is a part that mounts the supplied tip-side connector W11 on the slide part 12. The supply of the tip-side connector W11 and the mounting on the slide part 12 are performed at the above-described second end side in the movement path of the slide part 12. The slide part 12 moves to the first end side on the wire rack 11 side to carry the mounted tip-side connector W11 to the connector connection part 17. When the wire W18 is connected to the tip-side connector W11 at this connector connection part 17, then, as the slide part 12 moves to the second end side in the drawing direction D11, the wire W18 is drawn out.

[0024] The rear-end side connector supply unit 16 is a part provided at a position shifted in the orthogonal direction D13 from the connector connection part 17 on the first end side which is the wire rack 11 side, that is, the lead-out source side of the electric wire W18. The rear-end side connector supply unit 16 stocks a plurality of rear-end side connectors W12 at the shifted position, and then takes out the rear-end side connectors W12 and supplies them to the connector connection part 17.

[0025] The connector connection part 17 is installed on the lead-out source side of the electric wire W18, and when the front-end side connector W11 is carried by the slide part 12, the electric wire W18 is connected to the front-end side connector W11 by pressure welding. Further, after the electric wire W18 is led out, when the rear-end side connector W12 is supplied by the rear-end side connector supply unit 16, at an appropriate timing thereafter, the connector connection part 17 cuts the led-out electric wire W18 and connects it to the rear-end side connector W12.

[0026] The fixed tape winding mechanism 18 is fixedly installed on the lead-out source side of the electric wire W18, and is a part that winds the tape of the electric wire W18 while the slide part 12 is pulling it out.

[0027] The wire gripping / extra length providing part 19 is a part that releasably grips a plurality of electric wires W18 pulled out by the slide part 12 on the lead-out source side, and further pulls out an extra length for some of the electric wires W18 as necessary.

[0028] The large-scale gathering part 20 is a part of a mechanism that selectively gathers the electric wires W18 led out by the movement of different slide parts 12 to form a branched shape. When the wire amount of the target electric wire W18 exceeds a predetermined amount, this large-scale gathering part 20 becomes a part that gathers the electric wires W18 of that wire amount.

[0029] In the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the parts described so far are assembled to the metal frame 28 and constructed as an integral structure. That is, the slide part 12, the rail 13, the tip-side connector supply part 14, the tip-side connector mounting part 15, the rear-end side connector supply part 16, the connector connection part 17, the fixed tape winding mechanism 18, and the wire gripping / surplus length imparting part 19 are assembled to the metal frame 28. And, a wire rack 11 is arranged on the first end side of this integral structure, and around the integral structure, a robot arm 21, a moving tape winding mechanism 22, a clip attaching part 23, an exterior material attaching part 24, an existing wire arranging part 25, a pay-out part 26, and a control part 27 are arranged.

[0030] The robot arm 21 selects and grips one of a plurality of types of mechanism devices such as the moving tape winding mechanism 22, the clip attaching part 23, the exterior material attaching part 24, and the pay-out part 26, and transports it to the working position by the one mechanism device. And, the robot arm 21 is a part that moves the transported mechanism device according to the working operation. In this embodiment, a total of four robot arms 21 are installed, two on each side of the metal frame 28 to which the rail 13 and the like are assembled, in the orthogonal direction D13.

[0031] The moving tape winding mechanism 22 is a mechanism that winds the tape W19 around a winding target. Further, the clip attaching part 23 is a mechanism that attaches the fixed clip W17 from above the tape W19 or the exterior material W20 to the wire W18 around which the tape is wound or the wire W18 to which the exterior material W20 is attached. The exterior material attaching part 24 is a mechanism that directly attaches an exterior material W20 such as a corrugated tube to the wire W18 or from above the tape W18 to the wire W18 around which the tape is wound.

[0032] The moving tape winding mechanism 22, the clip attaching part 23, and the exterior material attaching part 24 are placed on a mechanism standby table 29 arranged adjacent to the robot arms 21 installed two on each side of the metal frame 28. The robot arm 21 selects and grips a mechanism device according to the work content on each mechanism standby table 29 and transports it to the working position.

[0033] The existing wire arrangement unit 25 is a mechanism that arranges an existing wire with a tip-side connector W11 and a rear-end-side connector W12 connected to both ends at a work location separate from the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 in parallel with the wire W18 drawn out by the movement of the slide unit 12. This existing wire arrangement unit 25 is installed on the side of a certain mechanism standby table 29. When arranging the existing wire, the robot arm 21 selects and grips the existing wire arrangement unit 25 at the side of this mechanism standby table 29 and transports it to the working position.

[0034] The pay-out unit 26 is a mechanism that holds the completed wire harness W1, collectively removes the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end-side connector W12 from their respective holding parts, and moves the wire harness W1 onto a table provided as a predetermined pay-out destination 26a. The table at the pay-out destination 26a is arranged adjacent to the other mechanism standby table 29 on the opposite side of the mechanism standby table 29 where the existing wire arrangement unit 25 is installed. And the pay-out unit 26 is installed on the side of this pay-out destination 26a. When the wire harness W1 is completed, the robot arm 21 selects and grips the pay-out unit 26 at the side of this pay-out destination 26a and transports it to the working position.

[0035] The control unit 27 is a computer device that controls the operations of the respective components in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 described above, and is also installed adjacent to the mechanism standby table 29 where the existing wire arrangement unit 25 is installed. In this embodiment, the control unit 27 includes a tablet terminal as an interface part with the operator, and receives instructions for starting work, etc. from the operator via this tablet terminal.

[0036] Regarding each component in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 outlined above, a further description will be given below with reference to separate figures.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the slide portion and the rail shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing an enlarged view of one of the slide portions shown in FIG. 4. In FIGS. 4 and 5, the slide portion 12 and the rail 13 are shown in a posture in which the wire drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18 is opposite to that in FIGS. 1 and 2 so that the structure of the slide portion can be easily seen.

[0038] In the present embodiment, nine rails 13 are arranged in a direction D13 orthogonal to the drawing direction D11 so as to be parallel to each other, and the slide portions 12 are held on each rail 13 so as to be movable in the moving direction D12 which is the front-rear direction of the drawing direction D11.

[0039] The slide portion 12 is a portion for pulling out the electric wire W18 connected to the tip connector W11 by mounting the tip connector W11 and linearly moving along the rail 13. The slide portion 12 includes a holding portion 121 for holding the tip connector W11, a slide main body portion 122 on which the holding portion 121 is mounted, and a connecting portion 123 for mediating the mounting of the holding portion 121 to the slide main body portion 122. Further, the slide portion 12 is provided with a continuity inspection portion 124 for performing a continuity inspection on the tip connector W11 during the manufacture of the wire harness W1.

[0040] First, the slide main body portion 122 is connected to the rail 13 so as to be movable in the moving direction D12. The slide main body portion 122 includes a slide connecting portion 122a for the rail 13, and an arm portion 122b that extends in a strip shape from the slide connecting portion 122a in a direction opposite to the wire drawing direction D11 and to which the connecting portion 123 is connected at the tip portion.

[0041] The connecting portion 123 is a columnar portion attached to the tip of the arm portion 122b so as to be rotatable in the rotational direction D14 about the rotation axis X11 that is orthogonal to both the moving direction D12 of the slide portion 12 and the orthogonal direction D13 in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. When this connecting portion 123 rotates in the rotational direction D14, the holding portion 121 rotates in the rotational direction D14, and the electric wire D18 from the tip connector W11 held by the holding portion 121 can be directed in a desired direction around the rotation axis X11.

[0042] The holding portion 121 is a columnar portion extending from the middle portion of the connecting portion 123 in the direction opposite to the drawing direction D11, and holds the tip connector W11 at its tip. Further, the holding portion 121 is attached so as to be rotatable in the twist direction D15 about the twist axis X12 along the moving direction D12 of the slide portion 12. By rotating the holding portion 121 in the twist direction D15 while holding the tip connector W11 after wire connection, the electric wire D18 from the tip connector W11 can be twisted.

[0043] The continuity inspection portion 124 is a rectangular plate-shaped portion attached to the connecting portion 123 so as to be movable in the inspection moving direction D16 that advances in the direction opposite to the drawing direction D11 above the holding portion 121 and descends to the mounting position of the tip connector W11 in the holding portion 121. A plurality of inspection pins 124a are provided at the lower edge thereof. When the continuity inspection portion 124 moves in the inspection moving direction D16, the inspection pins 124a come into contact with the conductive portions of the tip connector W11 and a continuity inspection is performed. The continuity inspection at this time is executed under the control of the control unit 27.

[0044] FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the tip connector supply portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a state in which the tip connector is supplied from the tip connector supply portion to the tip connector mounting portion. In this FIG. 6 as well, similar to FIGS. 4 and 5 described above, the tip connector supply portion 14 and the tip connector mounting portion 15 are shown in a posture in which the drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18 is opposite to that in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0045] The tip-side connector supply unit 14 is a part in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 where nine rows of tip-side supply mechanisms 14a are arranged in the orthogonal direction D13 so as to correspond one-to-one with the nine rows of slide parts 12. Each tip-side supply mechanism 14a includes a tip-side stocker 141, a connector delivery part 142, and a rotation mechanism 143.

[0046] In the tip-side stocker 141, a plurality of tip-side connectors W11, which are rectangular plate-shaped pressure contact connectors, are stacked in the thickness direction along the moving direction D12 of the slide part 12. In the present embodiment, in each tip-side supply mechanism 14a, two rows of tip-side stockers 141 are arranged in the orthogonal direction D13.

[0047] The connector delivery part 142 is a rectangular plate-shaped part having a connector mounting surface 142a capable of mounting and holding two tip-side connectors W11. The connector delivery part 142 catches the tip-side connector W11 stocked in the tip-side stocker 141 in a catch posture P11 with the connector mounting surface 142a facing the tip-side stocker 141. Further, the connector delivery part 142 delivers the tip-side connector W11 to the tip-side connector mounting part 15 in a delivery posture P12 with the connector mounting surface 142a in the connector-mounted state facing upward.

[0048] The rotation mechanism 143 is a mechanism part that rotatably supports the above-described connector delivery part 142 between the catch posture P11 and the delivery posture P12 about a rotation axis X13 along the orthogonal direction D13 in a delivery rotation direction D17.

[0049] FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the tip-side connector mounting part shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a state in which the tip-side connector is mounted on the slide part by the tip-side connector mounting part. In this FIG. 7 as well, similar to FIGS. 4 and 5 described above, the tip-side connector supply unit 14 and the tip-side connector mounting part 15 are shown in a posture in which the wire drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18 is opposite to that in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0050] The tip-side connector mounting section 15 first includes nine rows of connector conveying sections 151 that correspond one-to-one to the nine rows of the tip-side supply mechanism 14a and the slide section 12. Further, the tip-side connector mounting section 15 includes a support bridge 152 that supports these nine rows of connector conveying sections 151 in a state where they are arranged in the orthogonal direction D13 and moves in the moving direction D12.

[0051] Each connector conveying section 151 includes a connector hand section 151a and a hand up-and-down mechanism 151b. The connector hand section 151a is a part that picks up the tip-side connector W11 from the connector mounting surface 142a of the connector delivery section 142 in the delivery posture P12 and mounts the tip-side connector W11 on the holding section 121 of the slide section 12. And the hand up-and-down mechanism 151b is a mechanism part that moves the connector hand section 151a in the receiving direction D18 of moving it up and down with respect to the connector mounting surface 142a and in the mounting direction D19 of moving it up and down with respect to the holding section 121 of the slide section 12.

[0052] In this embodiment, the tip-side connector W11 delivered by the connector delivery section 142 in each tip-side supply mechanism 14a of the tip-side connector supply section 14 is carried by each connector conveying section 151 of the tip-side connector mounting section 15 to the holding section 121 of the slide section 12. By the operations of these respective sections, the tip-side connector W11 stocked in the tip-side stocker 141 is mounted on the holding section 121 of the slide section 12. This series of operations regarding this mounting is performed on the second end side, which is the side opposite to the first end side on the wire shelf 11 side, in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. Also, the tip-side connector W11 mounted on the slide section 12 at this second end side is in a state where the wire W18 is not connected.

[0053] Thus, in this embodiment, at the tip-side connector mounting position P13 on the second end side, which is the side opposite to the lead-out source side (the first end side on the wire shelf 11 side) with respect to the lead-out direction D11 of the wire W18, the slide section 12 mounts the tip-side connector W11 to which the wire W18 is not connected. And after mounting, the slide section 12 moves to the connector connection section 17 on the lead-out source side.

[0054] The connector connection portion 17 includes a portion for connecting the electric wire W18 to the tip-side connector W11 held by the slide portion 12, and a portion for connecting the electric wire W18 drawn out when the slide portion 12 moves in the drawing direction D12 after the connection to the rear-end side connector W12. Hereinafter, first, the portion for connecting the electric wire W18 to the tip-side connector W11 in the connector connection portion 17 will be described.

[0055] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a portion for connecting an electric wire to a tip-side connector in the connector connection portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the flow of the electric wire connection. In this FIG. 8, the right side in the figure is the side of the electric wire rack 11, and the left side in the figure is the side facing the above-described tip-side connector mounting position P13.

[0056] As shown in FIG. 8, the connector connection portion 17 includes a tip-side connector connection portion 171 for connecting the electric wire W18 to the tip-side connector W11 at the tip-side connection position P14 on the lead-out source side. When connecting the tip-side connector W11, the slide portion 12 linearly moves to the lead-out source side so as to position the tip-side connector W11 of the holding portion 121 at the tip-side connection position P14. Further, this connector connection portion 17 includes a rear-end side connector connection portion 172 adjacent to the tip-side connector connection portion 171 on the lead-out source side. The rear-end side connector connection portion 172 is a portion for connecting the electric wire W18 to the rear-end side connector W12. Since the rear-end side connector connection portion 172 will be described later with reference to another figure, here, the tip-side connector connection portion 171 will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

[0057] On the lead-out side of the front-end connector connection part 171, a wire guide part 30 is arranged so as to pass under the rear-end connector connection part 172, guiding the tip of the wire W18 drawn from the wire shelf 11 to the front-end connector connection part 171 while feeding it in. The wire guide part 30 is provided with a comb-shaped wire guide 301 on the side of the wire shelf 11, and guides the tip of the wire W18 to the front-end connector connection part 171 with the wire W18 aligned by this wire guide 301. Before crimping, this wire guide part 30 feeds the tip of the wire W18 about 25 mm in the feeding direction D20 to the crimping part 171a in the front-end connector connection part 171. Further, the wire guide part 30 descends slightly in the alignment direction D21 to align the tip of the wire W18 with the front-end connector W11 at the front-end connection position P14. After this alignment, the crimping part 171a of the front-end connector connection part 171 descends in the crimping direction D22, and the tip of the wire W18 is connected to the front-end connector W11 by crimping.

[0058] In this embodiment, in the connector connection part 17, a plurality of front-end connector connection parts 171 and rear-end connector connection parts 172 are installed so as to be arranged in the orthogonal direction D13 of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. The connection of the wire W18 to the front-end connector W11 is sequentially performed in the orthogonal direction D13 with respect to the front-end connectors W11 of the 9 rows of slide parts 12 by a plurality of front-end connector connection parts 171. As a result, the pressure applied to the metal frame 28 of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 during crimping is dispersed.

[0059] When the wire W18 is connected to the front-end connector W11 in this way, the slide part 12 moves in the drawing direction D11 of the wire W18. By the movement of this slide part 12, the wire W18 is drawn from the wire shelf 11 by the length required for the formation of the wire harness W1, and shifts to subsequent processes such as branch formation and tape winding. At an appropriate timing in this subsequent process, the rear-end connector connection part 172 connects the rear end of the wire W18 to the rear-end connector W12. Here, in this embodiment, prior to the connection by the rear-end connector connection part 172, the rear-end connector supply part 16 supplies the rear-end connector W12.

[0060] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the rear-end side connector supply unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the flow of connector supply.

[0061] The rear-end side connector supply unit 16 includes a plurality of rear-end side supply mechanisms 16a and a connector rail 16b that supports a rear-end side connector moving unit 163, which will be described later, in each rear-end side supply mechanism 16a so as to be movable in the orthogonal direction D13. And each rear-end side supply mechanism 16a includes a rear-end side stocker 161, a rear-end side connector mounting portion 162, and a rear-end side connector moving unit 163 in a one-to-one correspondence with each other.

[0062] In the rear-end side stocker 161, a plurality of rear-end side connectors W12, which are rectangular plate-shaped pressure contact connectors, are stacked in the thickness direction along the moving direction D12 of the slide portion 12. In the present embodiment, some of the plurality of rear-end side stockers 161 accommodate a wide connector having a width for two standard-size connectors as the rear-end side connector W12, and some others accommodate a standard-size connector as the rear-end side connector W12.

[0063] The rear-end side connector mounting portion 162 takes out the rear-end side connector W12 from the rear-end side stocker 161 one by one and mounts it on the rear-end side connector moving unit 163. At the time of mounting, a support bridge 162a that supports the plurality of rear-end side connector mounting portions 162 moves to position each rear-end side connector mounting portion 162 at the take-out position of the rear-end side connector W12 in each rear-end side stocker 161. At this take-out position, each rear-end side connector mounting portion 162 descends in the downward direction D23 toward the rear-end side connector W12 of each rear-end side stocker 161 and catches the rear-end side connector W12.

[0064] Subsequently, each rear-end side connector mounting portion 162 rises in the upward direction D24 while catching the rear-end side connector W12, and the support bridge 162a moves in the slide direction D25 along the moving direction D12 and is positioned above the rear-end side connector mounting position P15. This rear-end side connector mounting position P15 is a position shifted in the orthogonal direction D13 with respect to the drawing-out direction D11 of the electric wire W18 from the rear-end side connection position P16 where the electric wire W18 is connected by the connector connection portion 17 on the drawing-out source side of the electric wire W18. When each rear-end side connector mounting portion 162 reaches above each rear-end side connector mounting position P15, it descends in the downward direction D26 and mounts the rear-end side connector W12 on the rear-end side connector moving portion 163 waiting at the rear-end side connector mounting position P15.

[0065] After the rear-end side connector W12 is mounted in this way, after the mounting, the plurality of rear-end side connector moving portions 163 move in the positioning direction D131 along the orthogonal direction D13 so as to position the rear-end side connector W12 at the rear-end side connection position P16. After this positioning, the connection of the electric wire W18 to the rear-end side connector W12 is performed by the rear-end side connector connection portion 172 in the connector connection portion 17.

[0066] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a portion for connecting an electric wire to a rear-end side connector in the connector connection portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the initial operation in the flow of the electric wire connection. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the electric wire connection operation performed subsequent to the initial operation shown in FIG. 10 in the connector connection portion. In these FIGS. 10 and 11, the right side in the figure is the side of the electric wire rack 11, and the left side in the figure is the side facing the above-described rear-end side connection position P16.

[0067] In the present embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 8, in the connector connection portion 17, the front-end connector connection portion 171 and the rear-end connector connection portion 172 are provided adjacent to each other. Regarding the moving direction D12 of the slide portion 12, the front-end connector connection portion 171 is disposed on the wire drawing destination side (second end side) of the electric wire W18, and the rear-end connector connection portion 172 is disposed on the drawing source side (first end side) which is the side of the wire rack 11. At this time, the connector connection portion 17 includes a driving source 173 for the crimping operation, and a transmission mechanism 174 that can transmit the output of the driving source 173 to the front-end connector connection portion 171 and the rear-end connector connection portion 172 in a switchable manner. The connection operation by the front-end connector connection portion 171 described with reference to FIG. 8 is performed in a state where the driving source 173 and the front-end connector connection portion 171 are connected by the transmission mechanism 174. And in the stage before the connection operation by the rear-end connector connection portion 172, the connector connection portion 17 remains in the state at the time of the connection operation by the front-end connector connection portion 171 performed previously. That is, as shown in the upper part of FIG. 10, the transmission mechanism 174 is in a state of connecting the driving source 173 to the front-end connector connection portion 171. Therefore, in the initial operation in the flow of wire connection, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 10, the transmission mechanism 174 switches the transmission destination of the output of the driving source 173 to the rear-end connector connection portion 172. At the same time, the connector connection portion 17 moves along the moving direction D12, and the rear-end connector connection portion 172 is positioned above the rear-end connection position P16. At the rear-end connection position P16, the rear-end connector W12 is positioned by the rear-end connector moving portion 163.

[0068] In this way, when the initial operation shown in FIG. 10 is completed, as shown in FIG. 11, the connection operation of the electric wire W18 by the rear-end side connector connection portion 172 is performed. The rear-end side connector connection portion 172 is provided with an electric wire cutting blade 172a and a pressure contact portion 172b at the tip portion in the vertical direction. Further, an electric wire cutting lower die 31 that the electric wire cutting blade 172a rubs against during pressure contact is installed in a portion that holds the electric wire W18 before pressure contact between the tip portion of the rear-end side connector connection portion 172 and the rear-end side connector W12 at the rear-end side connection position P16. Then, after the completion of the initial operation, the rear-end side connector connection portion 172 moves in the pressure contact direction D27 that descends toward the rear-end side connector W12. By this movement, first, the electric wire W18 is cut from the electric wire shelf 11 side by sandwiching the electric wire W18 between the electric wire cutting blade 172a and the electric wire cutting lower die 31, and the drawn-out side electric wire W18 after cutting is connected to the rear-end side connector W12 by pressure contact by the pressure contact portion 172b.

[0069] As described above, in the connector connection portion 17, a plurality of front-end side connector connection portions 171 and rear-end side connector connection portions 172 are installed so as to be arranged in the orthogonal direction D13 of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. The connection of the electric wire W18 to the rear-end side connector W12 is sequentially performed in the orthogonal direction D13 with respect to the plurality of rear-end side connectors W12 by the plurality of rear-end side connector connection portions 172. As a result, also with respect to this rear-end side, the pressure applied to the metal frame 28 of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 during pressure contact is dispersed.

[0070] During the drawing of the electric wire W18 by the slide portion 12 after the connection of the front-end side connector W11, at each timing before and after the connection of the electric wire W18 to the subsequent rear-end side connector W12, the branching formation of the wire harness W1 including tape winding is performed.

[0071] FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the fixed tape winding mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. 13 is a plan view of the drawn-out tape winding portion provided in the fixed tape winding mechanism shown in FIG. 12 as viewed from the direction of arrow V11 in FIG. 12.

[0072] As described above, the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 is fixedly installed on the wire drawing source side of the electric wire W18, and is a mechanism for winding a tape around the electric wire W18 being drawn out by the slide portion 12, and includes six tape winding portions 181 during drawing and a support rail 182.

[0073] The six tape winding portions 181 during drawing are provided so as to be arranged in the orthogonal direction D13 in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. In the present embodiment, the tape winding portions 181 during drawing are arranged so as to correspond one-to-one with six of the nine rows of the slide portion 12 arrangement excluding three predetermined rows, and it is possible to wind a tape around the electric wire W18 drawn out by each row of the slide portion 12. Each tape winding portion 181 during drawing winds and bundles the tape W19 drawn from the tape reel 181a around the corresponding row of the electric wire W18 while rotating the tape reel 181a in the reel rotation direction D28 around the electric wire W18 of each row.

[0074] Furthermore, each tape winding portion 181 during drawing includes a pair of holding arms 181b for holding the electric wire W18 to be tape-wound. The pair of holding arms 181b is a mechanism portion installed so as to close in the clamping direction D29 for clamping the electric wire W18 to be tape-wound during tape winding. The electric wire W18 being drawn out by the slide portion 12 is tape-wound by the tape W19 from the tape reel 181a in a stable state by being held by these pair of holding arms 181b. Also, in the present embodiment, the six tape winding portions 181 during drawing are configured to rotate the tape reel 181a in the same reel rotation direction D28 as each other.

[0075] Such tape winding during extraction is performed on the electric wire W18 that is extracted by a predetermined part of the nine-column slide parts 12. While a part of the electric wire W18 undergoes tape winding, the electric wire W18 is extracted by a length necessary for forming the wire harness 1. The extraction amount of the electric wire W18 is grasped by the control unit 27 as the movement amount of each slide part 12, and the control unit 27 sequentially stops the movement of the slide part 12 starting from when the extraction amount corresponding to the necessary length has been extracted. At the time of this stop, under the control of the control unit 27, the wire gripping / extra-length imparting unit 19 releasably grips the plurality of electric wires W18 pulled out by the slide part 12 on the extraction source side. Further, the wire gripping / extra-length imparting unit 19 performs a process of further pulling out an extra length for some of the electric wires W18 after the extraction by the slide part 12.

[0076] FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the wire gripping / extra-length imparting unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0077] The wire gripping / extra-length imparting unit 19 includes eight rows of gripping units 191 that respectively grip the electric wire W18 with comb-tooth-shaped wire gripping mechanisms 191a (wire gripping parts), corresponding one-to-one to the arrangement of eight rows out of the nine-column arrangement of the slide parts 12 excluding a predetermined one row. These eight rows of gripping units 191 are supported by the support rail 192 in a state of being arranged in the orthogonal direction D13. The wire gripping mechanism 191a in each gripping unit 191 is a mechanism that switches between the gripping state and the non-gripping state of the electric wire W18 by opening and closing the interval between the comb teeth in the opening direction D301 and the closing direction D302. And among the eight rows of gripping units 191, the wire gripping mechanisms 191a in the predetermined three rows of gripping units 191 have a shape corresponding to the extra-length extraction of the electric wire W18.

[0078] FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing a state in which the extra length of the electric wire is pulled out by the wire gripping mechanism corresponding to the extra-length extraction shown in FIG. 14, and FIG. 16 is a schematic plan view showing a state in which the extra length of the electric wire is pulled out by the wire gripping mechanism shown in FIG. 15.

[0079] In this embodiment, the wire gripping mechanism 191a of the gripping unit 191 corresponding to the surplus length extraction has a shape in which the lengths of a plurality of comb teeth 191a-1 increase gradually toward the right side in the figure. During the surplus length extraction, this wire gripping mechanism 191a is switched to the non-gripping state of the wire W18 and rotated through 90° in the surplus length rotation direction D31 toward the right side in the figure, that is, toward the longest comb tooth. As a result, the wire W18 is pulled out in the pulling direction D11 by the comb teeth sandwiching each wire W18. As shown in FIG. 16, the amount of extraction at this time increases as the comb teeth pulling out the wire W18 are longer. In the wire harness W1, the portion where the surplus length is pulled out in this way corresponds to a portion corresponding to the bending arrangement in which the shorter surplus length side is on the inner side and the longer side is on the outer side. By providing such a stepwise surplus length for each wire W18, the harness portion can be bent naturally when the above-described bending arrangement is performed, and the load due to bending on the wire W18 in the portion can be suppressed.

[0080] FIG. 17 is a view showing a modified example of the wire gripping mechanism shown in FIG. 16 in a schematic plan view similar to FIG. 16.

[0081] The wire gripping mechanism 591a of the modified example shown in FIG. 17 includes a fixed end portion 591a-1 whose position is fixed in the longitudinal direction of the wire W18, a movable end portion 591a-2, and a support rod 591a-3 that movably supports the movable end portion 591a-2. First, similar to the above-described embodiment, the plurality of fixed end portions 591a-1 serve as a mechanism for switching between a gripping state and a non-gripping state of the wire W18 by opening and closing the comb teeth. On the other hand, different from the above-described embodiment, the plurality of movable end portions 591a-2 are formed to have the same length as each other. Further, the plurality of movable end portions 591a-2 are supported by a support rod 591a-3 arranged to intersect the movable end portion 591a-2 so that the intersection angle with respect to the support rod 591a-3 can be changed. When the support rod 591a-3 rotates about one end side in the support rod rotation direction D33, each movable end portion 591a-2 moves in a direction away from the fixed end portion 591a-1 according to the rotation angle. The amount of movement at this time gradually increases as the distance from the rotation center of the support rod 591a-3 increases. That is, in this modified example, by rotating the support rod 591a-3, the same shape as the wire gripping mechanism 191a of the embodiment shown in FIG. 16 can be obtained. Further, by appropriately setting the rotation amount of the support rod 591a-3, it is possible to adjust the amount of drawing of the extra length through the movement amount of the movable end portion 591a-2.

[0082] In the wire gripping mechanism 591a of this modification example, the following operation is possible. First, connector position information indicating how the connectors of the wire harness W1 are arranged in the actual vehicle state is acquired. Subsequently, the rotation angle of the support rod 591a-3 is calculated based on the connector position information at the time of harness routing. Further, the moving distance of the end portion on the side opposite to the rotation center of the support rod 591a-3 is calculated based on the calculation result. Then, a drive source such as a motor is driven based on the calculated moving distance, and the end portion of the support rod 591a-3 is moved to rotate the support rod 591a-3 by a necessary amount. By this rotation, the plurality of moving end portions 591a-2 move, and the overall shape of the wire gripping mechanism 591a is determined. When the determined wire gripping mechanism 591a is rotated by 90° in the extra-length rotation direction D31 in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment, the wire W18 is pulled out in the pulling direction D11 by an amount corresponding to the extra length according to the shape determined by the rotation of the support rod 591a-3. Thus, according to the configuration of this modification example, it is possible to pull out an extra length corresponding to the connector arrangement in the actual vehicle state.

[0083] The pulling out of the wire including the extra length and the taping on the pulling-out source side by the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 are basically performed on the wire W18 connected to the same tip-side connector W11 held by each of the nine slide portions 12. Here, in the present embodiment, the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end side connector W12 do not correspond one-to-one, and the number of the rear-end side connectors W12 is smaller. Therefore, in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, a process of selectively bringing together the wires W18 connected to different tip-side connectors W11 to form a branched shape is performed separately from the taping on the wire W18 connected to the same tip-side connector W11. The gathered wires W18 are bundled by taping and connected to one rear-end side connector W12, so that the wires W18 of the wire harness W1 are aggregated to a smaller number of rear-end side connectors W12 than the tip-side connectors W11. In the present embodiment, the above-described gathering of the wires W18 is performed by the large-scale gathering portion 20 and a small-scale gathering portion (described later) provided in the moving tape winding mechanism 22.

[0084] FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the large-scale gathering portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing how the large-scale gathering portion shown in FIG. 18 gathers electric wires.

[0085] The large-scale gathering portion 20 in the present embodiment is a mechanism capable of gathering all of the electric wires W18 drawn out by up to nine rows of slide portions 12 in the orthogonal direction D13 in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. This large-scale gathering portion 20 straddles the metal frames 28 on both sides in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and is supported by the metal frames 28 so as to be movable in the moving direction D12 of the slide portions 12. The large-scale gathering portion 20 includes a support bridge 201 supported across the metal frames 28, and a pair of gathering arms 202 supported by the support bridge 201 so as to be movable in the orthogonal direction D13. When the support bridge 201 moves to a predetermined gathering position and the pair of gathering arms 202 are closed, a plurality of electric wires W18 are gathered and bundled. At this time, the holding portions 121 in each slide portion 12 rotate, so that the tip connectors W11 held by the holding portions 121 are oriented such that the electric wires D18 obliquely run toward the portion bundled by the gathering of the electric wires.

[0086] Also, in the present embodiment, an arm mechanism similar to that of the large-scale gathering portion 20 is also provided on the support bridge 152 of the tip connector mounting portion 15 described above, and similarly large-scale electric wire gathering is also possible in this tip connector mounting portion 15.

[0087] On the other hand, a small-scale gathering portion for gathering electric wires with an electric wire amount equal to or less than a predetermined amount, which is less than the electric wire amount that can be gathered by the large-scale gathering portion 20, is provided in the moving tape winding mechanism 22 carried by the robot arm 21.

[0088] FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing the moving tape winding mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the robot arm, and FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing the moving tape winding mechanism shown in FIG. 20 alone.

[0089] The robot arm 21 is an articulated arm mechanism provided in two on each side of the metal frame 28. At its tip, it selects and grips one of a plurality of types of mechanism devices including the moving tape winding mechanism 22, and transports it to the working position by the one mechanism device.

[0090] The moving tape winding mechanism 22 transported by this robot arm 21 is a mechanism for winding the tape W19 around the electric wire W18 at the transported destination. The moving tape winding mechanism 22 includes a mechanism frame 221, a robot arm connection part 222, a tape reel 223, a reel rotation mechanism 224, a small-scale gathering part 225, and a drive source 226.

[0091] The mechanism frame 221 is a plate-shaped frame that supports each mechanism part in the moving tape winding mechanism 22. The robot arm connection part 222 is provided at one edge of the mechanism frame 221 and is a part where the robot arm 21 is mechanically and electrically connected and gripped. The tape reel 223 is a reel for the tape W19 to be wound, and the reel rotation mechanism 224 is a mechanism part that holds the tape reel 223 and rotates it in the reel rotation direction D34 around the electric wire W18 to be wound.

[0092] The small-scale gathering part 225 is a mechanism part that performs wire gathering for the wire W18 with an electric wire amount equal to or less than a predetermined amount, which is less than the electric wire amount in the large-scale gathering part 20 and is the object of winding the tape W19. This small-scale gathering part 225 includes a roller 225a and a gathering blade 225b. Both the roller 225a and the gathering blade 225b are installed so as to extend in a direction intersecting the wire W18 when the tape is wound. On the edge of the gathering blade 225b on the side of the roller 225a, a receiving recess 225b-1 for receiving the wire W18 is formed, and the roller 225a is arranged such that its peripheral surface faces the receiving recess 225b-1. When the tape is wound, the gathering blade 225b moves in the wire clamping direction D35 that clamps the wire W18 toward the peripheral surface of the roller 225a while receiving the wire W18 into the receiving recess 225b-1. By this movement, the tape W19 is wound around the wire W18 that is gathered and clamped. Also, when the tape is wound, while the tape W19 is being wound, the robot arm 21 linearly moves the moving tape winding mechanism 22 in the tape winding direction D36 along the wire W18. Thereby, tape winding over a predetermined tape winding range is performed.

[0093] In the present embodiment, as described above, as a mechanism device to be gripped by the robot arm 21, in addition to the above-described moving tape winding mechanism 22, a clip attachment part 23, an exterior material attachment part 24, an existing wire arrangement part 25, and a pay-out part 26 are provided.

[0094] FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing the clip attachment part shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the robot arm.

[0095] The clip attachment part 23 is a mechanism part that is carried by the robot arm 21 and attaches a fixing clip W17 for fixing the wire harness W1 to a predetermined fixing destination to the electric wire W18. This clip attachment part 23 includes a robot arm connection part 231, a holding hook 232 that holds the electric wire W18, and a clip feeding mechanism 233 that feeds the fixing clip W17 along the inner peripheral edge of this holding hook 232 and wraps it around the electric wire W18. In addition, FIG. 22 illustrates a clip attachment part 23 in which two holding hooks 232 and clip feeding mechanisms 233 are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the electric wire W18. In this clip attachment part 23, two fixing clips W17 can be attached simultaneously. However, in the present embodiment, as this clip attachment part 23, those in which three or more holding hooks 232 and clip feeding mechanisms 233 are provided and three or more fixing clips W17 can be attached simultaneously are also prepared. During the manufacture of the wire harness W1, the robot arm 21 selects a clip attachment part 23 corresponding to the number of attached fixing clips W17 and transports it to the attachment location.

[0096] FIG. 23 is a perspective view showing the exterior material attachment part shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the robot arm.

[0097] The exterior material attachment part 24 is a mechanism part that is carried by the robot arm 21 and attaches an exterior material W20 such as a corrugated tube to the electric wire W18. This exterior material attachment part 24 includes a robot arm connection part 241 and an attachment mechanism 242 that feeds and attaches the exterior material W20 along the electric wire W18. In the cylindrical exterior material W20 in the present embodiment, a longitudinal slit is formed in the peripheral wall. The attachment mechanism 242 presses the electric wire W18 so as to be pushed into the inside of the exterior material W20 through this slit, and feeds out and cuts the exterior material W20 by a necessary length. In addition, in the wire harness W1 of the present embodiment, there are also locations where taping by the above-described tape winding mechanism 22 and attachment of the fixing clip W20 by the clip attachment part 23 are performed from above the exterior material W20 attached in this way.

[0098] FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing the existing wire arrangement portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm, and FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing the existing wire arrangement portion shown in FIG. 24 alone.

[0099] The existing wire arrangement portion 25 holds an existing wire W21 having a tip-side connector W11 and a rear-end side connector W12 connected to both ends thereof, and is a mechanism that is carried by the robot arm 21 and arranged in parallel with the wire W18 drawn out by the movement of the slide portion 12 at the tip. This existing wire arrangement portion 25 includes a robot arm connection portion 251, a main body portion 252, and a connector holding portion 253. The main body portion 252 is a strip-shaped portion that extends along the existing wire W21 and has a robot arm connection portion 251 provided at the center. Further, the connector holding portion 253 is provided at each of both ends of the main body portion 252 and is a portion that removably holds the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end side connector W12. Then, by holding the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end side connector W12 with these pair of connector holding portions 253, the existing wire arrangement portion 25 holds the existing wire W21. The robot arm 21 transports the existing wire arrangement portion 25 holding the existing wire W21 in this way to under one slide portion 12 and the rear-end side connector moving portion 163 that are waiting at the arrangement location of the existing wire W21. Then, at the destination where it is carried, the existing wire arrangement portion 25 sets the tip-side connector W11 of the existing wire W21 to the holding portion 121 of the slide portion 12 and sets the rear-end side connector W12 to the rear-end side connector moving portion 163. As a result, the existing wire W21 is arranged in parallel with the wire W18 drawn out by the movement of the other slide portion 12.

[0100] FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing the payout portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm, and FIG. 27 is a perspective view showing the payout portion shown in FIG. 26 alone.

[0101] The payout unit 26 is a mechanism that holds the completed wire harness W1, transports it to the robot arm 21, and pays out the wire harness W1 onto a table provided as a payout destination 26a. This payout unit 26 includes a robot arm connection part 261, a main body frame 262, a tip-side connector holding part 263, and a rear-end-side connector holding part 264.

[0102] The main body frame 262 includes a tip-side frame 262a, a rear-end-side frame 262b, and an intermediate frame 262c. The tip-side frame 262a is arranged along the orthogonal direction D13 in which the nine rows of slide parts 12 are arranged during payout, and is a strip-shaped frame part to which nine tip-side connector holding parts 263 are attached so as to be linearly aligned. The rear-end-side frame 262b is arranged along the orthogonal direction D13 in which the six rear-end-side connector moving parts 163 are arranged, and is a strip-shaped frame part to which six rear-end-side connector holding parts 264 are attached so as to be linearly aligned. The intermediate frame 262c is a frame-shaped frame part that connects between the tip-side frame 262a and the rear-end-side frame 262b, and a robot arm connection part 261 is provided at the center thereof.

[0103] Nine tip-side connector holding parts 263 are attached to the tip-side frame 262a so as to be linearly aligned, and each can releasably grip the tip-side connector W11 in the completed wire harness W1. Further, the tip-side connector holding parts 263 are rotatably attached around respective support shafts 263a in order to grip the tip-side connector W11 in a posture corresponding to the orientation of the tip-side connector W11 in the completed wire harness W1.

[0104] The rear-end-side connector holding parts 264 are attached to the rear-end-side frame 262b so as to be linearly aligned, and each can releasably grip the rear-end-side connector W12 in the completed wire harness W1. Since the rear-end-side connector holding parts 264 grip the rear-end-side connector W12 held in the orientation determined by the rear-end-side connector moving parts 163, they are attached in a posture fixed to the rear-end-side frame 262b.

[0105] When the dispensing unit 26 makes a payment, first, the slide unit 12 is linearly arranged in the orthogonal direction D13, so that the tip-side connectors W11 in the completed wire harness W1 are aligned. Then, the robot arm 21 moves the dispensing unit 26 so that the tip-side connector holding portion 263 and the rear-end side connector holding portion 264 are positioned above the aligned tip-side connector W11 and the originally aligned rear-end side connector W12. After this positioning, the dispensing unit 26 descends, and the tip-side connector holding portion 263 and the rear-end side connector holding portion 264 grip the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end side connector W12. Then, the robot arm 21 raises the dispensing unit 26 to remove the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end side connector W12 from the slide unit 12 and the rear-end side connector moving portion 163. Then, the robot arm 21 moves the dispensing unit 26, which holds the wire harness W1 by gripping the connectors, onto the table at the dispensing destination 26a. When reaching the dispensing destination 26a, the tip-side connector holding portion 263 and the rear-end side connector holding portion 264 release the tip-side connector W11 and the rear-end side connector W12 and place the wire harness W1 on the dispensing destination 26a. With this dispensing by the dispensing unit 26, the production of the wire harness W1 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 is completed.

[0106] Regarding the series of processes of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness W1 with the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, including the details of each part described above, it will be described below with reference to FIGS. 28 to 34, which schematically show each process.

[0107] FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram showing steps S11 to S14 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 with the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0108] Step S11 in FIG. 28 is a step in which wires W11 are connected to nine tip-side connectors W11 carried to the tip-side connection position P14 on the leading-out source side by the nine-column slide part 12. Incidentally, at the stage of this step S11, the rear-end side connector W12 is not set, and in FIG. 28, nine gripping units 191 are shown so as to face the nine tip-side connectors W11. Incidentally, the tip-side connection position P14 and the gripping unit 191 of "No. 4" correspond to the positions where the existing wire W21 described above is set in a subsequent process, and are shown by dotted lines in step S11.

[0109] In step S12, the nine-column slide part 12 moves in the wire leading-out direction D11. This movement is performed under the control of the wire leading-out amount by the control unit 27. As a result, the wires W18 connected to the eight tip-side connectors W11 except for "No. 4" are each pulled out by the required amount. Incidentally, for "No. 4", the empty slide part 12 moves to the setting position of the tip-side connector W11 in the existing wire W21. During the wire leading-out in this step S12, the wire gripping mechanism 191a in the nine gripping units 191 is in a non-gripping state and switches to the gripping state after the leading-out is completed. Further, after the leading-out is completed, each slide part 12 stops while applying tension by pulling the wire W18 in the wire leading-out direction D11 with a force that balances the gripping force of each wire gripping mechanism 191a in the gripping state. By applying such tension, the plurality of wires W18 are regulated to be parallel to each other. Such a parallel state is basically maintained in the following steps in the wire harness manufacturing method.

[0110] Also, in this step S12, the wire W18 of "No. 5" is pulled out while being subjected to the winding of the tape W19 by the tape winding part 181 of the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 during a certain period from the start of the winding. As a result, at the end of the pulling, the tape W19 is wound over a predetermined length from the side of the tip connector W11. Further, for the wire W18 of "No. 5", after the tape winding is completed and it is pulled out by a predetermined length, the winding of the tape W19 is performed again for a short distance. This short-distance tape winding serves as a temporary fixing to prevent the wire W18 from becoming loose during the operation in the subsequent process. After this temporary fixing, the wire W18 of "No. 5" is pulled out until it reaches the required length.

[0111] Also, in step S12, for the wires W18 of "No. 6" and "No. 8", after the required length is pulled out, the holding part 121 of the slide part 12 rotates to twist them. Incidentally, the pulling out of the wire W18 accompanied by the tape winding and twisting in this step S12 is appropriately performed in multiple times to avoid interference between columns.

[0112] In step S13, for the wire W18 after the twisting of "No. 6", the winding of the tape W19 by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 is performed over a predetermined length. At this time, the tape winding is performed while the moving tape winding mechanism 22 is moved to the drawing source side by the robot arm 21 from the side of the tip connector W11. Also, the tape winding by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 is performed together with the wire alignment for the wire W18 to be tape-wound. The wire alignment here is performed by the small-scale alignment part 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 when it is determined in the control unit 27 that the amount of wire to be aligned is below a predetermined amount. Hereinafter, in basically any case, the tape winding by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 for the wires W18 connected to the same tip connector W11 is performed together with the wire alignment by the small-scale alignment part 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 when it is determined that the amount of wire is below a predetermined amount.

[0113] In step S14, the tape W19 is wound around the wire W18 of "No. 1" over a predetermined length from the side of the tip connector W11 by the moving tape winding mechanism 22, and the attachment of the exterior material W20 to the wire W18 of "No. 9" is performed by the exterior material attachment portion 24. The attachment of the exterior material W20 here is performed twice at a certain interval from the side of the tip connector W11. As a result, the exterior material W20 is attached to two locations on the wire W18 of "No. 9", namely, a location on the side of the tip connector W11 and a location at a certain distance from there.

[0114] FIG. 29 is a schematic diagram showing steps S15 to S18 of a wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0115] In step S15, the tape W19 is wound around the wire W18 of "No. 3" over a predetermined length from the side of the tip connector W11 by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. Also, the attachment of the exterior material W20 to the twisted wire W18 of "No. 8" is performed by the exterior material attachment portion 24. The attachment of the exterior material W20 here is performed once from the side of the tip connector W11. Also, in step S15, for the exterior material W20 of "No. 9", fixation by tape winding is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. The tape winding for this exterior material W20 continues until step S17.

[0116] In step S16, the tape W19 is wound around the wire W18 of "No. 2" over a predetermined length from the side of the tip connector W11 by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. Also, in step S16, for the exterior material W20 of "No. 8", fixation by tape winding is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22, and the tape winding for the exterior material W20 of "No. 9" by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 continues. The tape winding for the exterior material W20 of "No. 8" also continues until step S17 together with the tape winding for the exterior material W20 of "No. 9".

[0117] In step S17, for the wires W18 of "No. 3" and "No. 5", the fixing clip W17 is attached by the clip attachment portion 23 from above the tape W19. Here, one fixing clip W17 is attached to each wire W18. Also, the taping of the outer materials W20 of "No. 8" and "No. 9" ends at step S17.

[0118] In step S18, for the wire W18 of "No. 6", the fixing clip W17 is attached by the clip attachment portion 23 from above the tape W19. Here, two fixing clips W17 are attached to the wire W18 of "No. 6".

[0119] FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram showing steps S19 to S22 of a wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0120] In step S19, the portions of the tape W19 wound around the wires W18 connected to the different tip-side connectors W11 of "No. 2" and "No. 3" are bundled by further winding of the tape W19. The taping here is performed together with the bundling of the wires W18 for the different tip-side connectors W11. Here, it is determined that the wire amount is below a predetermined amount, and it is performed together with the wire bundling by the small bundling portion 225 of the moving taping mechanism 22. And one branch is formed by the taping here.

[0121] Also, during this wire bundling, at least one of the slide portions 12 of "No. 2" and "No. 3" moves toward the drawing source side, and its holding portion 121 rotates to direct the tip-side connector W11 toward the branch point. By these operations in the slide portion 12, the tension applied to each wire W18 by the wire bundling is relaxed.

[0122] In step S19, for the wire W18 of "No. 9", the fixing clips W17 are attached by the clip attachment parts 23 from above each of the two exterior materials W20. Here, two fixing clips W17 are attached to each exterior material W20.

[0123] In step S20, on the lead-out source side, six rear-end connectors W12 are carried to the rear-end connection position P16 by the rear-end connector moving part 163. At this time, for "No. 4", the rear-end connector moving part 163 in an empty state moves to a position facing the slide part 12.

[0124] In step S21, the existing wire W21 is carried to the set position of "No. 4" by the existing wire arranging part 25. And at this set position, the front-end connector W11 of the existing wire W21 is set in the holding part 121 of the slide part 12, and the rear-end connector W12 is set in the rear-end connector moving part 163. Also, in step S21, for the wires W18 of "No. 6" and "No. 8" that were twisted during wire lead-out in step S12, the twisting by the rotation of the holding part 121 is performed again.

[0125] In step S22, the attachment of the exterior materials W20 to the existing wire W21 of "No. 4" and the wire W18 of "No. 7" is performed by the exterior material attachment part 24. The attachment of the exterior material W20 here is performed once from the side of each front-end connector W11.

[0126] FIG. 31 is a schematic diagram showing steps S23 to S25 of a wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0127] In step S23, for the exterior materials W20 of "No. 4" and "No. 7", the fixing by tape winding is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22.

[0128] In step S24, for the wire W18 of "No. 5", the excess length is drawn out by the rotation of the wire gripping mechanism 191a in the gripping unit 191. The temporary fixing formed by winding the tape W19 in step S12 described above holds the wire W18 so that it does not come apart during the rotation of the wire gripping mechanism 191a when the excess length is drawn out.

[0129] In step S25, the connection and disconnection of the wire W18 to each of the six rear-end side connectors W12 that were conveyed to the rear-end side connection position P16 in step S20 described above are performed by the rear-end side connector connection part 172 in the connector connection part 17. Here, in this embodiment, the wires W18 connected to different front-end side connectors W11 of "No. 1" and "No. 2" are connected to one rear-end side connector W12. Similarly, the wires W18 of "No. 5" and "No. 6" and the wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8" are also connected to one rear-end side connector W12 respectively. The connection and disconnection of the wires W18 from these different front-end side connectors W11 to one rear-end side connector W12 are performed in two steps as follows.

[0130] First, after the connection and disconnection of the wire W18 of one front-end side connector W11 to one rear-end side connector W12 are completed in the rear-end side connector connection part 172, the rear-end side connector moving part 163 moves the rear-end side connector W12. That is, the rear-end side connector moving part 163 moves the rear-end side connector W12 to which the wire W18 of one front-end side connector W11 is connected so as to move it sideways to the adjacent rear-end side connection position P16 where connection with the adjacent wire W18 extending to the adjacent other front-end side connector W11 is possible. After this sideways movement, the adjacent wire W18 is connected to and disconnected from the rear-end side connector W12. Such connection and disconnection in two steps are performed for the wires W18 of "No. 1" and "No. 2", the wires W18 of "No. 5" and "No. 6", and the wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8" respectively.

[0131] FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram showing steps S26 to S29 of a wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0132] In step S26, the "No. 5" and "No. 6" electric wires W18 connected to one rear-end side connector W12 are bundled by wire gathering, and the tape W19 is wound over a predetermined length by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 toward the lead-out source side. The tape winding here is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 while performing overlapping winding of the tape W19 from a part of the end side of the tape W19 already wound around each electric wire W18 and further moving toward the lead-out source side. Also, this tape winding is also performed together with wire gathering by the small-scale gathering part 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 when it is determined that the amount of electric wires is below a predetermined amount. And, one branch is formed by the tape winding here. Also, even during the wire gathering here, the tension applied to each electric wire W18 is relaxed by the movement of the slide part 12 and the rotation of the holding part 121.

[0133] Also, in step S26, for the "No. 7" and "No. 8" electric wires W18 connected to one rear-end side connector W12, they are bundled by wire gathering, and local winding of the tape W19 is performed at the confluence point near the end of each exterior material 20. This local tape winding is also performed together with wire gathering by the small-scale gathering part 225 by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 when it is determined that the amount of electric wires is below a predetermined amount. And, one branch is also formed by this tape winding. The wire gathering here is also performed in a state where the tension applied to each electric wire W18 is relaxed by the movement of the slide part 12 and the rotation of the holding part 121, similar to the case of the "No. 5" and "No. 6".

[0134] In step S27, the electric wires W18 of "No. 1" to "No. 6" receive wire gathering, and for the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8" connected to one rear-end side connector W12, the exterior material W20 is attached at a position away from the branch point.

[0135] For the bundling of the wires W18 numbered from "No. 1" to "No. 6", when it is determined in the control unit 27 that the amount of bundled wires exceeds a predetermined amount, it is performed not by the small bundling unit 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 but by the large bundling unit 20. The bundled portion becomes a branch point. Also, during this large-scale wire bundling, substantially all the slide portions 12 of the wires numbered from "No. 1" to "No. 6" move toward the pulling-out source side, and each holding portion 121 rotates to direct each tip-side connector W11 toward the branch point. By these operations of the slide portion 12, the tension applied to each wire W18 by the large-scale wire bundling is relaxed.

[0136] Also, the attachment of the outer covering material W20 to the wires W18 numbered "No. 7" and "No. 8" is performed once by the outer covering material attachment portion 24.

[0137] In step S28, for the wires W18 numbered from "No. 1" to "No. 6" bundled in step S27, tape winding from the branch point side toward the pulling-out source side is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. The tape winding here is performed while performing overlapping winding of the tape W19 on a part of the tape W19 on the branch point side already wound around each wire W18, and the moving tape winding mechanism 22 further moves toward the pulling-out source side.

[0138] Also, in step S28, for the wires W18 numbered "No. 7" and "No. 8" connected to one rear-end side connector W12, fixing by winding the tape W19 around the outer covering material W20 attached in step S27 is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. The tape winding around this outer covering material W20 continues until the next step S29.

[0139] In step S29, for the wires W18 numbered from "No. 1" to "No. 6" wound with tape in step S28, the outer covering material W20 is attached from above the tape W19 by the outer covering material attachment portion 24. The attachment of this outer covering material W20 is performed once in the vicinity of the branch point of the wire W18. Also, in this step S29, the tape winding around the outer covering material W20 of the wires W18 numbered "No. 7" and "No. 8" continuing from step S28 is completed.

[0140] Figure 33 is a schematic diagram showing steps S30 to S33 of a wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0141] In step S30, the fixing by winding the tape W19 around the outer covering material W20 of the wires W18 numbered "1" to "6" is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. The winding of the tape around the outer covering material W20 continues until step S32.

[0142] Also, in step S30, the wires W18 numbered "7" to "9" are brought closer to the vicinity of the end of the tape winding around the wires W18 numbered "7" and "8". The bringing closer of the wires here is performed by the small-scale bringing closer portion 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 when it is determined in the control unit 27 that the amount of wires to be brought closer is below a predetermined amount. Also, during this bringing closer of the wires, the tension applied to each wire W18 is relaxed by the movement of the slide portion 12 and the rotation of the holding portion 121.

[0143] In step S31, for the wires W18 numbered "7" to "9", while performing the overlapping winding of the tape W19 from a part on the branch point side of the tape W19 already wound around each wire W18, further tape winding is performed toward the drawing source side. The tape winding here is also performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22.

[0144] In step S32, for the wires W18 numbered "7" to "9", the outer covering material W20 is attached by the outer covering material attachment portion 24 from above the tape W19 wound in the tape winding in step S31. The attachment of this outer covering material W20 is performed once from the vicinity of the branch point of the wire W18. Also, in this step S32, the winding of the tape W19 around the outer covering material W20 of the wires W18 numbered "1" to "6" continuing from step S30 ends.

[0145] In step S33, the fixing by winding the tape W19 around the outer covering material W20 of the electric wires W18 numbered "7" to "9" attached in step S32 is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22.

[0146] FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram showing steps S34 to S37 of a wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0147] In step S34, the portions of the electric wires W18 numbered "1" to "6" and the portions of the electric wires W18 numbered "7" to "9" around which the tape W19 is wound are brought close to each other to form a branch. The bringing close of the electric wires here is performed by the large-scale wire gathering unit 20 when it is determined that the amount of electric wires exceeds a predetermined amount. The brought-together portion becomes a branch point. Also, during this large-scale wire gathering, substantially all of the slide portions 12 of the electric wires numbered "1" to "9" move toward the drawing source side, and each holding portion 121 rotates to direct each tip-side connector W11 toward the branch point. By these operations of the slide portion 12, the tension applied to each electric wire W18 by the large-scale wire gathering is relaxed.

[0148] In step S35, starting from the branch point of the electric wires W18 numbered "1" to "9" and moving toward the drawing source side, the tape W19 is wound on top of the tape W19 already wound around each electric wire W18. The tape winding here is also performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. By the tape winding in this step S35, the branch shape in the wire harness W1 shown in FIG. 3 is determined.

[0149] In step S36, for the electric wires W18 numbered "1" to "9", the outer covering material W20 is attached by the outer covering material attaching portion 24 on top of the tape W19 wound in step S35. The attachment of this outer covering material W20 is performed only once starting from the branch point of the electric wire W18.

[0150] Also, in this step S36, for the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8", additional outer covering material W20 is attached to the portion between the branch point on the tip side connector W11 side and the outer covering material W20 on the branch point side with the electric wire W18 of "No. 9". This attachment of the outer covering material W20 is also performed only once from the branch point on the tip side connector W11 side by the outer covering material attachment portion 24.

[0151] In step S37, the fixing by winding the tape W19 around the outer covering material W20 of the electric wires W18 of "No. 1" to "No. 9" attached in step S36 is performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. Also, the fixing by winding the tape W19 around the outer covering material W20 of the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8" attached in step S36 is also performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22.

[0152] FIG. 35 is a schematic diagram showing steps S38 to S40 of a wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0153] In step S38, for the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8", one fixing clip W17 is attached one by one from above each of the two outer covering materials W20. These two fixing clips W17 are attached by the clip attachment portion 23.

[0154] In step S39, for the electric wires W18 of "No. 1" to "No. 6", two fixing clips W17 are attached by the clip attachment portion 23. One fixing clip W17 is attached from above the outer covering material W20 near the branch point of the electric wires W18 of "No. 1" to "No. 6". The other fixing clip W17 is attached from above the tape W19 wound between this outer covering material W20 and the branch point between the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" to "No. 9".

[0155] In step S40, for the electric wires W18 numbered "7" to "9", four fixing clips W17 are attached by the clip attachment portion 23. Three of the fixing clips W17 are attached from above the outer material W20 near the branch point of the electric wires W18 numbered "7" to "9". The other one fixing clip W17 is attached from above the tape W19 wound between this outer material W20 and the branch point between the electric wires W18 numbered "1" to "6". With the attachment of the fixing clip W17 in this step S40, the wire harness W1 shown in FIG. 3 is completed. The completed wire harness W1 is held by the pay-out portion 26, and the nine tip-side connectors W11 and the six rear-end side connectors W12 are removed all at once from the holding portion 121 of the slide portion 12 and the rear-end side connector moving portion 163. Then, the wire harness W1 is carried to and paid out onto the table at the pay-out destination 26a by the movement of the pay-out portion 26 by the robot arm 21. Thus, the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness W1 shown in FIG. 3 with the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is completed.

[0156] Here, in the present embodiment, as described above, after the electric wire W18 is pulled out in step S12, each slide portion 12 pulls the electric wire W18 in the pulling-out direction D11 to apply tension. And in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, regarding the tension applied in this way, during the execution of the wire harness manufacturing method, it is to be controlled as follows by the control unit 27.

[0157] FIG. 36 is a schematic diagram showing step S51 and step S52 of the electric wire tension control method performed under the control of the control unit during the execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35.

[0158] FIG. 36 schematically shows a component that functions as a tension control device 2 for controlling the tension applied to the electric wire W18 drawn from the electric wire reel 111 during the execution of the wire harness manufacturing method in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1. The tension control device 2 in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a slide portion 12 that linearly moves by driving a servo motor 32, and a control unit 27. The slide portion 12 is a part that holds the end of the electric wire W18 that can be drawn from the electric wire reel 111 via the tip-side connector W11 and draws out the electric wire W18 by linearly moving. The control unit 27 controls the amount of electric wire drawn out by the movement of the slide portion 12 and performs the following control regarding the tension of the electric wire W18. That is, the control unit 27 acquires the driving force of the servo motor 32 as an index indicating the tension of the electric wire W18, compares the driving force as an index with a predetermined reference value when the slide portion 12 stops, and controls the tension of the electric wire W18 by moving the slide portion 12 according to the comparison result.

[0159] Step S51 shown in FIG. 36 corresponds to the drawing out of the electric wire W18 in step S12 of FIG. 28. In this step S51, the electric wire W18 is drawn out by the slide portion 12 moving in the drawing direction D11 by driving the servo motor 32. At this time, under the control of the control unit 27, the servo motor 32 drives the slide portion 12 with the following driving force F11. This driving force F11 is the force required for the slide portion 12 to draw out the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 via the non-gripping state electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. Also, when drawing out this electric wire W18, the control unit 27 controls the amount of electric wire drawn out by the linear movement of the slide portion 12. This drawn out amount is acquired in the control unit 27 based on the rotation speed of the servo motor 32 and the like. The control unit 27 stops the plurality of slide portions 12 at the timing when they have moved by the movement amounts corresponding to their respective electric wire drawn out amounts.

[0160] In step S52, the drawing out of the electric wire W18 is completed, and the slide part 12 has stopped. In this stopped state, the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is in a gripping state, and the slide part 12 is pulling the electric wire W18 in the drawing direction D11 with a balancing force F12 that balances the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. Due to the pulling by this balancing force F12 of the slide part 12, a predetermined tension is applied to the electric wire W18. In the present embodiment, a value corresponding to the gripping force of this electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is used as a reference value.

[0161] FIG. 37 is a schematic diagram showing steps S53 to S55 of a method for controlling the tension of an electric wire, which are performed under the control of a control unit during the execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35.

[0162] In this FIG. 37, in the tension control device 2 of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, as an example of a situation where the tension of the electric wire W18 increases when the slide part 12 stops, a situation where the electric wire W18 is pulled by being gathered by the large-scale gathering part 20 is illustrated.

[0163] In step S53, the large-scale gathering of the electric wire by the large-scale gathering part 20 is started at the position where the slide part 12 is pulling the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 with a balancing force F12 with respect to the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. In the present embodiment, the large-scale gathering part 20 and the small-scale gathering part 225 in the moving tape winding mechanism 22 that performs similar electric wire gathering serve as gathering parts for gathering a plurality of electric wires W18. Hereinafter, the large-scale gathering part 20 will be taken as an example of this gathering part and the description will continue.

[0164] When the large-scale gathering unit 20 performs focusing, the electric wire W18 is pulled and the tension temporarily increases. Correspondingly, the output of the servo motor 32 that drives the slide unit 12 temporarily increases from the above-mentioned balance force F12 to the upward driving force F13. In the present embodiment, in the control unit 27, the reference value used for tension control is set to a value smaller than the driving force of the servo motor 32 that temporarily increases due to the focusing by the large-scale gathering unit 20 and the small-scale gathering unit 225. Eventually, when the upward driving force F13 in the drawing direction D11 exceeds the reference value, the process in the control unit 27 shifts to the next step S54.

[0165] In step S54, the control unit 27 moves the slide unit 12 by a relaxation distance L11 that is longer than the distance required for the driving force of the servo motor 32 to fall below the above-mentioned reference value in the tension relaxation direction D32 that is opposite to the drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18. Further, in the present embodiment, the control unit 27 rotates the holding unit 121 in the slide unit 12 in the tension relaxation rotation direction in which the index decreases with respect to the rotation direction D14 shown in FIG. 5. This tension relaxation rotation direction is the direction in which the holding unit 121 is directed toward the focusing point of the electric wire W18. As a result, the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 becomes slack while passing through the large-scale gathering unit 20 between the slide unit 12 and the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. After this movement, the process shifts to the next step S55.

[0166] Step S55 is the process after the above movement. The control unit 27 moves the slide unit 12 in the drawing direction D11 to the position where it stops while pulling the electric wire W18 with a balance force F12 that balances the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. As a result, the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 is stretched with a predetermined tension while passing through the large-scale gathering unit 20 between the slide unit 12 and the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. The processes such as tape winding during the focusing of the large-scale gathering unit 20 are performed in a state where the electric wire W18 is stretched in this way.

[0167] Here, in the present embodiment, after the wire W18 is drawn out by the movement of the slide portion 12, the control unit 27 may retract the slide portion 12 to a predetermined retracted position in the above-mentioned tension relaxation direction D32. This retraction is executed to avoid interference with the mechanism device carried by the robot arm 21 in order to perform processes such as taping on the wire W18 drawn out by the other slide portions 12.

[0168] FIG. 38 is a schematic diagram showing steps S56 and S57 of the wire tension control method performed under the control of the control unit during the execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35.

[0169] In this FIG. 37, the retraction process of the slide portion 12 performed by the control unit 27 constituting the tension control device 2 in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is schematically shown as part of the tension control method.

[0170] In step S56 of this retraction process, when the retraction period during which the approach of other device mechanisms is expected arrives, the control unit 27 controls the servo motor 32 to retract the slide portion 12 to a predetermined retracted position P17 in the above-mentioned tension relaxation direction D32. Due to this retraction, the wire W18 from the wire reel 111 becomes significantly slack between the slide portion 12 and the wire gripping mechanism 191a. Then, when the above-mentioned retraction period ends, the process proceeds to the next step S57.

[0171] In step S57, the control unit 27 moves the slide portion 12 in the drawing direction D11 to return the slide portion 12 to the balance position P18 before retraction. Due to the return of this slide portion 12, the wire W18 from the wire reel 111 is tensioned at a predetermined tension between the slide portion 12 and the wire gripping mechanism 191a.

[0172] In the present embodiment, the tension control method including this retraction process is performed simultaneously and in parallel under the control of the control unit during the execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35.

[0173] According to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, wire harness manufacturing method, wire harness W1, tension control apparatus 2, and tension control method of the embodiment described above, the following effects can be achieved from various viewpoints.

[0174] First, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, wire harness manufacturing method, and wire harness W1 of the present embodiment have the following configurations from the viewpoint of forming branches by taping the electric wire W18, and the effects of the configurations can be achieved.

[0175] In the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, the tape winding portion 181 during drawing in the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 and the moving tape winding mechanism 22 function as the following leading tape winding portions. This leading tape winding portion is a portion where the electric wire W18 connected to the same tip-side connector W11 among the plurality of tip-side connectors W11 and electric wires W18 prepared for manufacturing the wire harness W1 is tape-wound. Then, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 that tape-winds the electric wire W18 targeted for wire gathering functions as the following trailing tape winding portion. The trailing tape winding portion is a portion where the portions individually tape-wound by the leading tape winding portions of the electric wires W18 connected to different tip-side connectors W11 are tape-wound to form a branch.

[0176] Also, in the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35, the processes of steps S12 to S16 in which the tape winding portion 181 during drawing and the moving tape winding mechanism 22 function as the leading tape winding portions are the leading tape winding process. The leading tape winding process is a process of tape-winding the electric wires W18 connected to the same tip-side connector W11. Further, steps S19, S26, S28, S31, and S35 in which the moving tape winding mechanism 22 functions as the trailing tape winding portion are the trailing tape winding process. The trailing tape winding process is a process of tape-winding the already tape-wound portions of the electric wires W18 connected to different tip-side connectors W11 to form a branch.

[0177] According to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and the wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment having such a configuration, first, taping is performed in advance on the electric wires W18 connected to the same tip-side connector W11. Then, taping is performed on the pre-taped electric wires W18 connected to different tip-side connectors W11. By these two-stage tapings, namely the prior and subsequent tapings, the formation of the branched shape and the shape determination by taping are performed simultaneously and in parallel. Since these operations can be performed without particular skill as long as the prior and subsequent procedures are followed, they can be effectively automated, and the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is an automatic manufacturing apparatus based on this point. Thus, according to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method, the operations from the formation of the branched shape to the shape determination by taping can be automatically performed.

[0178] Here, in the present embodiment, the moving taping mechanism 22 as the subsequent taping section performs overlapping winding of the tape W19 from above the tape W19 wound by the drawing-in process taping section 181 as the prior taping section or the moving taping mechanism 22. According to this configuration, for example, compared with a case where taping is performed on the subsequent taping section while avoiding the tape W19 wound by the prior taping section, taping by the subsequent taping section can be easily performed. In view of the ease of taping in this subsequent taping section, the above-described series of operations can be more effectively automated.

[0179] In addition, in the present embodiment, a slide portion 12 for pulling out the electric wire W18 is provided. The leading tape winding portion includes a tape winding portion 181 during pulling out that winds the tape of the electric wire W18 being pulled out, and a moving tape winding mechanism 22 that functions as a tape winding portion after pulling out that winds the tape of the electric wire W18 after it has been pulled out. Further, the trailing tape winding portion winds the tape between the portions of the electric wire W18 that have already been taped after pulling out. According to this configuration, since the tape winding is performed at each timing during and after pulling out by the slide portion 12, the work from forming the branched shape to fixing the shape by tape winding can be performed more effectively and automatically. Furthermore, by performing the tape winding at each timing during and after pulling out, the working time can also be shortened.

[0180] In addition, in the present embodiment, the tape winding portion 181 during pulling out performs tape winding without moving, and the tape winding portion after pulling out and the trailing tape winding portion by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 move along the electric wire W18 to perform tape winding. According to this configuration, since a part of the tape winding is an operation that does not involve movement, the mechanism related to the tape winding can be simplified accordingly.

[0181] In addition, in the present embodiment, the tape winding portion after pulling out and the trailing tape winding portion by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 perform tape winding while moving from the front side to the rear side in the pulling direction D11 of the electric wire W18. According to this configuration, the tip connector W11 etc. located on the front side in the pulling direction D11 can be used as a reference for the start of winding in the tape winding.

[0182] In addition, in the present embodiment, an exterior material attachment portion 24 for attaching the exterior material W20 is provided, and the tape winding portion after pulling out and the trailing tape winding portion by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 also perform tape winding for fixing the exterior material W20 to the electric wire W18. According to this configuration, the work from attaching to fixing the exterior material W20 can also be performed automatically without manual intervention.

[0183] In this embodiment, the robot arm 21 grips the moving tape winding mechanism 22, transports it to the winding position of the tape W19, and moves it according to the tape winding operation, so that the tape winding mechanism 22 operates as a trailing tape winding section and a subsequent tape winding section after being pulled out. According to this configuration, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 is transported to the winding position of the tape W19 by the robot arm 21 and moved appropriately, thereby constructing a trailing tape winding section and a subsequent tape winding section. Therefore, compared with mounting each of the trailing tape winding section and the subsequent tape winding section as an individual mechanism, the device configuration of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 can be simplified.

[0184] Also, in this embodiment, at least one (all in this embodiment) of the plurality of slide portions 12 can twist the wire W18 by rotating the tip-side connector W11 about the twist axis X12 after the wire W18 is pulled out. And, among the leading tape winding sections, the trailing tape winding section by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 performs tape winding with the twisted wire W18 as one of the winding targets. According to this configuration, for the wire harness W1 including the twisted wire W18, the operations from the formation of the branched shape to the shape determination by tape winding can be automatically performed.

[0185] Also, in this embodiment, a plurality of in-drawing tape winding sections 181 are provided so as to be arranged in the direction D13 orthogonal to the drawing direction D11 of the wire W18. And each in-drawing tape winding section 181 winds the tape W19 pulled out from the tape reel 181a around each wire W18 while rotating the tape reel 181a around each wire W18. According to this configuration, the plurality of in-drawing tape winding sections 181 can perform tape winding on the wires W18 being drawn out by the plurality of slide portions 12 simultaneously and in parallel.

[0186] In addition, in the present embodiment, the plurality of tape winding portions 181 during drawing rotate the tape reel 181a in the same reel rotation direction D28 with respect to each other. According to this configuration, since the reel rotation direction D28 of the tape reel 181a is the same among the plurality of tape winding portions 181 during drawing, the mutual interval between the plurality of tape winding portions 181 during drawing can be reduced while avoiding interference between them. And, to the extent that the mutual interval can be reduced, it is possible to arrange the plurality of tape winding portions 181 during drawing side by side while suppressing an increase in the size of the apparatus.

[0187] In addition, in the present embodiment, a clip attachment portion 23 is provided. According to this configuration, the operation of attaching the fixed clip W17 can also be automatically performed.

[0188] Further, in the wire harness W1 manufactured by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and the wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment, the side of each tip-side connector W11 is a branch wire tape winding portion that forms a branch wire. This branch wire tape winding portion is a portion where the electric wires W18 connected to the same tip-side connector W11 are tape-wound. And, the portion where these branch wire tape winding portions are further tape-wound to form a branch is a branch tape winding portion.

[0189] The above-described wire harness W1 can perform the formation of the branch shape and the shape determination by tape winding simultaneously and in parallel by two-stage tape winding in which the tape winding regarding the branch wire is performed first, and then the tape winding for bundling them to form a branch is performed. Since these operations can be performed without particular skill as long as they follow the procedure of the two-stage tape winding, automation can be effectively achieved. Therefore, according to the above-described wire harness W1, it is possible to automatically perform the operations from the formation of the branch shape to the shape determination by tape winding and manufacture it.

[0190] Next, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and the wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment have the following configuration from the viewpoint of regulating the electric wires W18 in a parallel state and performing the manufacturing operation, and can exhibit the effects of the configuration.

[0191] In the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, a comb-tooth-shaped wire gripping mechanism 191a and a plurality of slide portions 12 that pull out the wire W18 and apply appropriate tension while pulling it function as a parallel regulation unit. The parallel regulation unit is a portion that regulates a plurality of wires to be in a parallel state. Further, the tape winding portion 181 during drawing and the moving tape winding mechanism 22 in the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 function as a pre-binding unit that selects and binds a part of the plurality of wires W18 before the branch formation. Further, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 functions as a post-binding unit that further binds the portions bound by the pre-binding unit to form a branch.

[0192] Further, in the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35, from the step S12 in which the wire W18 is pulled out in a parallel state to immediately before the step S30 in which the parallel state of all the wires W18 is lost, that is, up to the step 29, the processing is a parallel regulation process. The parallel regulation process is a process of regulating a plurality of wires W18 to be in a parallel state. Further, each step in the steps S12 to S16 in which the tape winding portion 181 during drawing and the moving tape winding mechanism 22 function as a pre-binding unit is a pre-binding process of selecting and binding a part of the plurality of wires W18. Further, each of the steps S19, S26, S28, S31, and S35 in which the moving tape winding mechanism 22 functions as a post-tape winding portion is a post-binding process. The post-binding process is a process of further binding the portions bound by the pre-binding process to form a branch.

[0193] According to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method, skilled work such as the routing of the electric wire W18 in a branched shape is unnecessary, and the manufacturing of the wire harness W1 can be started by mechanically restricting a plurality of electric wires W18 in a parallel state. Thereafter, through two-stage bundling of the preceding and succeeding stages, the formation of the branched shape and the shape determination by bundling proceed simultaneously and in parallel. Even for these two-stage bundling processes, as long as the procedures are followed, they can be carried out without particular skill, so they can be mechanically implemented. Thus, the formation of the branched shape and the shape determination carried out through two-stage bundling from the regulation of the parallel state can all be mechanically implemented, so automation can be effectively achieved. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is an automatic manufacturing apparatus based on this point. Thus, according to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus and wire harness manufacturing method, the operations from the formation of the branched shape to the shape determination by bundling can be automatically performed.

[0194] Here, in the present embodiment, the parallel regulation unit including the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a and the slide unit 12 regulates a plurality of electric wires W18 so as to be in a parallel state in the air. According to this configuration, for example, compared with a configuration in which a wiring board or the like on which a plurality of electric wires W18 are placed and fixed in a parallel state is provided, the degree of freedom of access to the electric wires W18 in subsequent bundling is increased, and optimization of the access direction to the electric wires W18 thereafter can be achieved.

[0195] Also, in the present embodiment, the parallel regulation unit including the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a and the slide unit 12 regulates a plurality of electric wires W18 from both sides sandwiching the space in the air in the longitudinal direction of the electric wire W18. According to this configuration, for example, compared with a configuration in which a plurality of electric wires W18 are supported at a plurality of locations in the longitudinal direction and regulated in a parallel state, the degree of freedom of access to the electric wires W18 in bundling can be further increased.

[0196] In addition, in the present embodiment, in the wire harness manufacturing method, the parallel control steps of steps S12 to S29 are performed as follows. That is, in the present embodiment, this parallel control step is performed in parallel during the execution of the preceding end step of steps S12 to S16 and the subsequent end steps of steps S19, S26, and S28. According to this configuration, since the parallel control step is performed in parallel during the execution of the preceding end step and the subsequent end step, it is possible to effectively avoid a situation in which the electric wire is inadvertently loosened and entangled during the formation of the branched shape.

[0197] Next, the present embodiment has the following configuration from the viewpoint that the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the tension control apparatus 2 and the wire harness manufacturing method includes the tension control method, and can exhibit the effects by the configuration.

[0198] First, the tension control apparatus 2 of the present embodiment includes a slide portion 12 that holds the end portion of the electric wire and linearly moves, and a control portion 27. The control portion 27 controls the amount of electric wire drawn out, and acquires the driving force of the servo motor 32 that drives the slide portion 12 as an index indicating the tension of the electric wire W18. Then, the control portion 27 compares the driving force as an index with a predetermined reference value when the slide portion 12 stops, and moves the slide portion 12 according to the comparison result.

[0199] Then, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes the above-described tension control apparatus 2 and a working mechanism that performs the manufacturing operation of the wire harness W1 on the electric wire W18 in a state where the tension is controlled by the tension control apparatus 2. In the present embodiment, among the wire harness manufacturing apparatuses 1 shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of components excluding the tension control apparatus 2 shown in FIG. 36 function as the above-described working mechanism.

[0200] Also, in the tension control method of this embodiment, among the tension control methods shown in FIGS. 36 to 38, step S51 is a drawing amount control step of controlling the wire drawing amount by linearly moving the slide portion 12. Then, subsequent steps S52 to S57 are movement control steps of comparing the driving force of the servo motor 32 as an index of tension with a reference value when the slide portion stops, and moving the slide portion 12 according to the comparison result.

[0201] And the wire harness manufacturing method of this embodiment includes a tension control step (steps S51 to S57) of controlling the tension of the electric wire by the above-described tension control method, and a work step (steps S11 to S40) of performing the manufacturing work of the wire harness.

[0202] According to the tension control device 2, wire harness manufacturing device 1, tension control method, and wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment described above, the following effects can be achieved. That is, according to the present embodiment, when the slide portion 12 stops after the electric wire W18 is drawn out with a desired wire drawing amount, the control unit 27 controls the movement of the slide portion 12 according to the comparison result between the index indicating the tension of the electric wire W18 and a predetermined reference value. By this movement control of the slide portion 12, operations such as moving the slide portion 12 in a direction to relieve the tension when an excessive tension that may exceed the reference value is likely to be applied to the electric wire W18 when the slide portion 12 stops become possible, and the tension applied to the electric wire W18 can be suppressed. In addition, the configuration required for such tension control is sufficient with the wire drawing configuration and its control configuration. Thus, according to the present embodiment, the tension applied to the electric wire can be suppressed with a simple configuration.

[0203] Here, in this embodiment, the slide portion 12 is configured to carry the tip-side connector W11 to which the end of the electric wire is connected and linearly move. According to this configuration, when handling the electric wire W18 in which the tip-side connector W11 is connected to the end of the electric wire, the end of the electric wire can be effectively held via the tip-side connector W11 having better holding properties than the electric wire itself, and tension control can be performed.

[0204] Further, in the present embodiment, a wire gripping mechanism 191a is provided on the lead-out source side of the wire W18, and the slide portion 12 pulls out the wire W18 when the wire gripping mechanism 191a is in a non-gripping state. Further, when the wire gripping mechanism 191a is in a gripping state, the slide portion 12 stops while pulling the wire W18 in the drawing direction D11 with a force that balances the gripping force thereof to apply tension. Then, the control unit 27 uses a value corresponding to the gripping force of the wire gripping mechanism 191a as a reference value. According to this configuration, the wire W18 is pulled with a force that balances the gripping force on the lead-out source side, so that an appropriate tension is applied to the wire W18 and the work on the wire W18 when the slide portion 12 stops can be performed with good workability.

[0205] Further, in the present embodiment, a plurality of slide portions 12 are provided so as to move parallel to each other. Between the slide portion 12 and the wire gripping mechanism 191a, a large-scale gathering portion 20 and a small-scale gathering portion 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 are provided as a gathering portion for gathering a plurality of wires W18. In the control unit 27, the reference value for tension control is smaller than an index that temporarily increases due to the gathering by the gathering portion. According to this configuration, for example, even when the tension temporarily increases when gathering a plurality of wires W18 for bundling or the like, since the tension is reflected in advance in the reference value in the tension control, the increase in the tension can be effectively suppressed.

[0206] Also, in this embodiment, when the tension index exceeds the reference value, the control unit 27 moves the slide unit 12 in the tension relaxation direction D32 by a relaxation distance L11 that is longer than the distance required for the index to fall below the reference value. Further, after the movement, the control unit 27 moves the slide unit 12 in the drawing direction D11 to the position where it stops while pulling the electric wire W18 with the balancing force F12 against the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. According to this configuration, when the index exceeds the reference value, first, the slide unit 12 is moved by the long relaxation distance L11 described above, and the tension of the electric wire W18 is significantly suppressed. Then, by moving the slide unit 12 to the position where it stops while pulling the electric wire W18 with the balancing force F12, the electric wire W18 is stretched with an appropriate tension. Thus, according to the above configuration, it is possible to effectively achieve both prompt relaxation when the tension increases and subsequent ensuring of good workability with respect to the electric wire W18.

[0207] Also, in this embodiment, when a predetermined retraction period arrives, the control unit 27 retracts the slide unit 12 to a predetermined retraction position in the tension relaxation direction D32, and when the retraction period ends, the control unit 27 returns the slide unit 12 to the position before retraction in the drawing direction D12. According to this configuration, for example, when the slide unit 12 or the electric wire W18 stretched by the slide unit 12 hinders the surrounding work, by retracting the slide unit 12 together with the electric wire W18, the surrounding work can be carried out with good workability.

[0208] Also, in this embodiment, the slide unit 12 includes a holding unit 121 and a slide main body unit 122. And when the index exceeds the reference value, the control unit 27 moves the slide main body unit 122 in the tension relaxation direction D32 and rotates the holding unit 121 in the tension relaxation rotation direction among the rotation directions D14 shown in FIG. 5. According to this configuration, when the index exceeds the reference value, by moving the slide main body unit 122 in the tension relaxation direction D32 and rotating the holding unit 121 in the tension relaxation rotation direction, the tension of the electric wire W18 can be suppressed more effectively.

[0209] Next, from the viewpoint of performing wire drawing at the slide portion 12 to form a branch, the present embodiment has the following configuration and can achieve the effects of the configuration.

[0210] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of slide portions 12 each mounted with a tip-side connector W11 to which a wire W18 is connected and linearly moving. Further, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 functions as a branch forming portion that selectively binds a plurality of wires W18 drawn out by the plurality of slide portions 12 to form a branch. And the control unit 27 controls the wire drawing amount and the branching operation.

[0211] Also, in the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35, step S12 is a wire drawing step of drawing out the wire W18 while controlling the drawing amount of each of the wires W18 by linearly moving a plurality of provided slide portions 12. Further, from step S19 where the branching starts to step S35 where the branching shape is finally determined, it is a branch forming step of selectively binding a plurality of wires W18 to form a branch.

[0212] According to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and the wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment, skilled work such as arranging the wire W18 in a branched shape is unnecessary. And by the linear movement of the plurality of slide portions 12 each holding the tip-side connector W11 and the subsequent branch formation, the formation of the branched shape and the shape determination by binding are performed. These series of operations can be mechanically performed without particularly requiring skill as long as the procedure is followed, and the work based on this point is performed under predetermined control. That is, according to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method, the work from the formation of the branched shape to the shape determination by binding can be automatically performed.

[0213] Here, in this embodiment, the rear-end connector connection portion 172 that cuts the electric wire W18 on the extraction source side and connects it to the rear-end connector W12 is provided, and the control unit 27 also controls the connection operation thereof. According to this configuration, the cutting of the electric wire W18 on the extraction source side and the connection of the rear-end connector W12 can also be automatically performed under the control of the control unit 27.

[0214] Also, in this embodiment, the following rear-end connector moving portion 163 is provided. The rear-end connector moving portion 163 mounts the rear-end connector W12 at the rear-end connector mounting position P15 shifted in the orthogonal direction D13 from the rear-end side connection position P16. Then, after mounting the rear-end connector W12, the rear-end connector moving portion 163 is a portion that moves in the orthogonal direction D13 so as to position the rear-end connector W12 at the rear-end side connection position P16. The control unit 27 also controls the positioning of the rear-end connector W12 at the rear-end side connection position P16 by the movement of the rear-end connector moving portion 163. According to this configuration, the positioning of the rear-end connector W12 at the rear-end side connection position P16 on the extraction source side of the electric wire W18 can also be automatically performed under the control of the control unit 27.

[0215] Also, in this embodiment, the front-end connector connection portion 171 that connects the electric wire W18 to the front-end connector W11 at the front-end side connection position P14 on the extraction source side is provided. The slide portion 12 mounts the front-end connector W11 at the front-end connector mounting position P13 on the side opposite to the extraction source side, and after mounting, linearly moves toward the extraction source side so as to position the front-end connector W11 at the front-end side connection position P14. The control unit 27 also controls the connection operation by such a front-end connector connection portion 171 and the positioning of the front-end connector W11 at the front-end side connection position P14 by the movement of the slide portion 12. According to this configuration, a series of operations from the positioning of the front-end connector W11 at the front-end side connection position P14 by the movement of the slide portion 12 to the connection of the front-end connector W11 can also be automatically performed under the control of the control unit 27.

[0216] In addition, in the present embodiment, a front-end connector mounting portion 15 is provided at the front-end connector mounting position P13 for mounting the front-end connector W11 on the slide portion 12. The control unit 27 also controls the mounting operation of the front-end connector W11 on the slide portion 12 by the front-end connector mounting portion 15. According to this configuration, the mounting of the front-end connector W11 on the slide portion 12 at the front-end connector mounting position P13 can also be automatically performed under the control of the control unit 27.

[0217] Next, the present embodiment has the following configuration from the perspective of the overall configuration of the apparatus and method for connecting the rear-end connector W12 after passing through branch formation from the drawing out of the electric wire W18 by the movement of the slide portion 12, and can achieve the effects by the said configuration.

[0218] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes a plurality of slide portions 12 capable of mounting the front-end connector W11, and a front-end connector connecting portion 171 for connecting the electric wire W18 to the front-end connector W11 at the front-end side of each slide portion 12. Further, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a small-scale gathering portion 225 and a large-scale gathering portion 20 that function as an electric wire gathering portion, and a moving tape winding mechanism 22 that functions as a tape winding portion. The electric wire gathering portion is a portion that selectively gathers the electric wires W11 drawn out by different slide portions 12 to form a branched shape, and the tape winding portion is a portion that winds the tape around the gathered electric wire W18 to determine the branched shape formed by the electric wire gathering portion. Further, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a rear-end connector moving portion 163 and a rear-end connector connecting portion 172. The rear-end connector moving portion 163 is provided in a plurality such that each mounts the rear-end connector W12, and is a portion that distributes the electric wire W18 drawn out by the movement of the slide portion 12 to each rear-end connector W12 by moving in the orthogonal direction D13. The rear-end connector connecting portion 172 is a portion that cuts the electric wire W18 distributed to each rear-end connector W12 and connects it to the rear-end connector W12.

[0219] Also, in the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35, step S11 is a pre-connection step of distributing and connecting a plurality of drawable electric wires W18 to a plurality of tip-side connectors W11 provided. Further, step S12 is a wire drawing step of linearly moving the tip-side connectors W11 parallel to each other to draw out the electric wire W11. Further, steps S19 to S35 of performing tape winding with wire gathering are a tape winding step of selectively gathering the drawn electric wires W18 together to form a branch shape and determining the branch shape by tape winding. And step S25 is a post-connection step of distributing the drawn electric wires W18 to each of a plurality of rear-end-side connectors W12, cutting the electric wires W18 distributed to each rear-end-side connector W12, and connecting them to the rear-end-side connectors W12.

[0220] According to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and the wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment, the wire harness W1 is manufactured through wire connection to the tip-side connector W11, drawing, wire gathering, branch formation and determination by tape winding, and wire connection to the rear-end-side connector W12. All of these series of operations do not require skilled operations such as arranging the electric wire W18 in a branch shape, and can be mechanically implemented. Therefore, any operation can be effectively automated. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is an automatic manufacturing apparatus based on this point. Thus, according to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method, a series of operations related to the manufacture of the wire harness W1 can be automatically performed.

[0221] Here, in the present embodiment, the slide portion 12 includes a holding portion 121 that holds the tip-side connector W12 and a slide main body portion 122. And the holding portion 121 twists the electric wire W18 by rotating around the twist axis X12. According to this configuration, the wire harness W1 including the twisted electric wire W18 can also be automatically manufactured without manual intervention.

[0222] In addition, in the present embodiment, the holding portion 121 of the slide portion 12 is attached so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis X11 orthogonal to the moving direction D12 of the slide portion 12. When the electric wire W18 connected to the tip-side connector W11 is pulled, the holding portion 121 rotates so as to face the tip-side connector W11 in the direction in which the pulled electric wire W18 is directed. According to this configuration, when the electric wire W18 is pulled, the tension applied to the electric wire W18 can be suppressed by rotating the holding portion 121 so as to face the tip-side connector W12 in the direction in which the electric wire W18 is directed.

[0223] In addition, in the present embodiment, after the connection and disconnection of the electric wire W18 from one tip-side connector W11 to the rear-end side connector W12 are completed, it may be necessary to further connect the adjacent electric wire W18 extending to the other adjacent tip-side connector W11 to the rear-end side connector W12. In such a case, the rear-end side connector moving portion 163 moves the rear-end side connector W12 to an adjacent rear-end side connection position P16 where connection with the adjacent electric wire W11 is possible. Then, the rear-end side connector connection portion 172 connects and disconnects the adjacent electric wire W18 to the rear-end side connector W12 at the adjacent rear-end side connection position P16. According to this configuration, when distributing the electric wires W18 connected to the plurality of tip-side connectors W11 to one rear-end side connector W12, it is possible to effectively distribute by moving the rear-end side connector W12 instead of the electric wire W18 whose posture tends to become unstable. In addition, since the connection of the electric wire W18 to the rear-end side connector W12 is performed in multiple steps for each tip-side connector W11, the load at the time of connection to the rear-end side connector W12 and its peripheral structure can also be suppressed.

[0224] In addition, in the present embodiment, the wire gathering portion includes a large-scale gathering portion 20 and a small-scale gathering portion 225. According to this configuration, it is possible to effectively perform wire gathering by properly using the large-scale gathering portion 20 and the small-scale gathering portion 225 according to the amount of wire.

[0225] In addition, in the present embodiment, a pre-existing wire arrangement portion 25 for arranging the pre-existing wire W21 in parallel with the wire W18 is provided. According to this configuration, since the separately prepared pre-existing wire W21 can be additionally installed after the wire W18 is pulled out by the slide portion 12, the degree of freedom in manufacturing the wire harness W1 can be increased.

[0226] In addition, in the present embodiment, for at least a part of the wires W18, a wire gripping mechanism 191a is provided that functions as an extra-length drawing portion for further drawing out the extra length by gripping and twisting the middle portion. According to this configuration, for example, depending on the routing shape of the completed wire harness 1, it is possible to appropriately provide an extra length for some of the wires W18, so that the degree of freedom in manufacturing the wire harness W1 can be increased.

[0227] In addition, in the present embodiment, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 as a tape winding portion temporarily fixes the connector W12 side on the tip side rather than the middle portion to be gripped during the drawing of the extra length to the wire W18 to be drawn out of the extra length by tape winding, prior to the drawing of the extra length. According to this configuration, by temporarily fixing the wire W18 to be drawn out of the extra length, it is possible to effectively suppress the dispersion of the wire W18 during the drawing of the extra length.

[0228] In addition, in the present embodiment, a payout portion 26 for moving the completed wire harness W1 to a predetermined payout destination 26a is provided. According to this configuration, the manufacturing of the wire harness W1 can be automatically performed including the payout of the completed wire harness W1.

[0229] Note that the embodiments described above merely show typical forms of a wire harness manufacturing apparatus, a wire harness manufacturing method, a wire harness, a tension control apparatus, and a tension control method. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus, the wire harness manufacturing method, the wire harness, the tension control apparatus, and the tension control method are not limited to these and can be implemented in various modifications.

[0230] For example, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the wire harness to be manufactured, a wire harness W1 mounted on and routed in an automobile is illustrated. However, the wire harness is not limited to this, and it may be a wire harness other than for automotive use.

[0231] Also, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the wire harness to be manufactured, a wire harness W1 is illustrated which has nine front-end connectors W11 provided, six rear-end connectors W12 provided, and a branched shape branched at seven locations. However, the wire harness is not limited to this, and as long as connectors are provided at both ends and it has a branched shape, the specific number of connectors and the number of branches are not questioned.

[0232] Also, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus, a wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 is illustrated which includes nine rows of slide portions 12, and the shapes and arrangements of other mechanism parts are specifically shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. However, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus is not limited to this, and regarding the number of slide portions and the shapes, arrangements, etc. of each mechanism part, they can be arbitrarily set.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0233] 1 Wire harness manufacturing apparatus 2 Tension control apparatus 11 Wire rack 12 Slide portion 13 Rail 14 Front-end connector supply unit 14a Front-end supply mechanism 15 Front-end connector mounting portion 16 Rear-end connector supply unit 16a Rear-end supply mechanism 16b Connector rail 17 Connector connection portion 18 Fixed tape winding mechanism 19 Wire gripping / excess length imparting portion 20 Large-scale gathering portion 21 Robot arm 22 Moving tape winding mechanism 23 Clip attachment part 24 Exterior material attachment part 25 Existing wire arrangement part 26 Pay - out part 26a Pay - out destination 27 Control part 28 Metal frame 29 Mechanism standby table 30 Wire guide part 31 Wire cutting lower die 32 Servo motor 111 Wire reel 121 Holding part 122 Slide main body part 122a Slide connection part 122b Arm part 123 Connection part 124 Conductivity inspection part 124a Inspection pin 141 Tip - side stocker 142 Connector delivery part 142a Connector mounting surface 143 Rotation mechanism 151 Connector conveyance part 151a Connector hand part 151b Hand up - down mechanism 152, 162a, 201 Support bridge 161 Rear - end - side stocker 162 Rear - end - side connector mounting part 163 Rear - end - side connector moving part 171 Tip - side connector connection part 171a, 172a Crimping part 172 Rear - end - side connector connection part 172a Wire cutting blade 173, 226 Drive source 174 Transmission mechanism 181 Pay - out - in - progress tape winding part 181a, 223 Tape reel 181b Holding arm 182, 192 Support rail 191 Gripping unit 191a, 591a Wire Gripping Mechanism 202 Pushing Arm 221 Mechanism Frame 222, 231, 241, 251, 261 Robot Arm Connection Parts 224 Reel Rotation Mechanism 225 Small-Scale Pushing Part 225a Roller 225b Pushing Blade 225b-1 Receiving Recess 232 Holding Hook 233 Clip Feeding Mechanism 242 Mounting Mechanism 252 Main Body Part 253 Connector Holding Part 262 Main Body Frame 262a Tip-Side Frame 262b Rear-End-Side Frame 262c Intermediate Frame 263 Tip-Side Connector Holding Part 263a Support Shaft 264 Rear-End-Side Connector Holding Part 301 Wire Guide 591a-1 Fixed End 591a-2 Movable End 591a-3 Support Rod D11 Drawing Direction D12 Moving Direction D13 Orthogonal Direction D14 Rotation Direction D15 Twist Direction D16 Inspection Moving Direction D17 Delivery Rotation Direction D18 Receiving Direction D19 Mounting Direction D20 Feeding Direction D21 Alignment Direction D22, D27 Crimping Direction D23, D26 Lowering Direction D24 Rising Direction D25 Slide Direction D28, D34 Reel Rotation Direction D29 Clamping Direction D31 Surplus length rotation direction D32 Tension relaxation direction D33 Support rod rotation direction D35 Wire clamping direction D36 Tape winding direction D131 Positioning direction D301 Opening direction D302 Closing direction F11 Driving force F12 Balancing force F13 Upward driving force L11 Relaxation distance P11 Catch posture P12 Delivery posture P13 Tip-side connector mounting position P14 Tip-side connection position P15 Rear-end side connector mounting position P16 Rear-end side connection position P17 Retracted position P18 Balancing position W1 Wire harness W11 Tip-side connector W12 Rear-end side connector W13 Branch wire tape winding part W14 Branch wire exterior part W15 Branch tape winding part W16 Branch exterior part W17 Fixed clip W18 Electric wire W19 Tape W20 Exterior material W21 Existing electric wire X11,X13 Rotation axis X12 Twist axis

Claims

1. Among a plurality of connectors and electric wires prepared for manufacturing a wire harness, a preceding tape winding unit that tape-winds the electric wires connected to the same connector, A subsequent tape winding unit that tape-winds the portions tape-wound by the preceding tape winding units of the electric wires connected to different connectors to form a branch, A plurality of slide portions provided so that each can mount the connector, and by linearly moving, the electric wires connected to the mounted connector can be drawn out at least in one of during and after the tape winding by the preceding tape winding unit, A wire harness manufacturing apparatus characterized by comprising.

2. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subsequent tape winding unit performs overlapping winding of the tape from above the tape wound by the preceding tape winding unit.

3. The preceding tape winding unit includes a tape winding unit during drawing that tape-winds the electric wire while the slide portion is drawing it out, and a tape winding unit after drawing that tape-winds the electric wire after the slide portion has drawn it out, The wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subsequent tape winding unit performs tape winding of the portions of the electric wire after the slide portion has drawn it out.

4. The tape winding unit during drawing does not move along the electric wire being drawn out, The wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the tape winding unit after drawing and the subsequent tape winding unit move along the drawn electric wire and perform tape winding respectively.

5. A tape winding mechanism for winding a tape around an object to be wound, A robot arm that selects and grips one of a plurality of types of mechanism devices including the tape winding mechanism, transports it to the working position by the one mechanism device, and moves it according to the working operation, The wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the robot arm grips the tape winding mechanism, transports it to the tape winding position, and moves it along the electric wire according to the tape winding operation, thereby operating the tape winding mechanism as the tape winding unit after drawing and the subsequent tape winding unit.

6. At least one of the plurality of the slide parts twists the electric wire by rotating the connector about a twist axis along the moving direction of the slide part after the electric wire is drawn out. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the tape-winding part after drawing out among the leading tape-winding parts performs tape winding with the twisted electric wire as one of the winding targets.

7. A plurality of the tape-winding parts during drawing out are provided so as to be arranged in a direction orthogonal to the drawing-out direction of the electric wire, and each of the tape-winding parts during drawing out winds the tape drawn out from the tape reel around each of the electric wires while rotating the tape reel around each of the electric wires. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3.

8. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of the tape-winding parts during drawing out rotate the tape reel in the same rotation direction as each other.

9. Among a plurality of connectors and electric wires prepared for manufacturing a wire harness, a leading tape-winding step of tape-winding the electric wires connected to the same connector, A subsequent tape-winding step of tape-winding the portions tape-wound in the leading tape-winding step of the electric wires connected to different connectors to form a branch, A slide step of drawing out the electric wires connected to the respective connectors by linearly moving the plurality of the connectors, at least one of during and after the tape winding by the leading tape-winding step. A wire harness manufacturing method characterized by comprising the above steps.

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