Tension control device, wire harness manufacturing device, tension control method, and wire harness manufacturing method

Abstract

To suppress, by means of a simple construction, a tensile force that is applied to an electric wire.SOLUTION: A tensile force control device 2 comprises: a sliding portion 12 that retains an electric wire end portion of an electric wire W18 that can be pulled out, the sliding portion to move in a straight line; and a control unit 27 that controls the pull-out amount of the electric wire due to the movement of the sliding portion 12, acquires a driving force F11 of a servomotor 32 as an indicator of the tensile force of the electric wire W18, compares an indicator that constitutes a balancing force F12 when the sliding portion 12 is stopped with a predetermined reference value, and, if the indicator temporarily increases, moves the sliding portion 12 in accordance with the result of comparison between the indicator and the reference value.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 36

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a tension control device that controls the tension of an electric wire, a wire harness manufacturing device, a tension control method, and a wire harness manufacturing method. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, a manufacturing device for manufacturing a wire harness has been used in which a plurality of holding members for holding the wire harness are arranged in accordance with the branch shape on a flat wiring board (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In such a manufacturing device, a wire harness is manufactured through operations such as arranging a plurality of electric wires on the wiring board so as to form a branch shape.

[0003] In many cases, tasks such as routing electric wires on a wiring board are performed by skilled workers based on their experience. In response to this, development of machines that can automatically perform manufacturing tasks without manual intervention for wire harness manufacturing is underway. Such machines may incorporate techniques such as holding and pulling the ends of drawable electric wires to manufacture a wire harness while drawing out the electric wires. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-606043 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In the above-described method of manufacturing a wire harness while drawing out electric wires, after the required length of electric wire is drawn out, the holding portion for the electric wire end stops and the process proceeds to a subsequent process. In this subsequent process, a middle portion of the drawn electric wire may be pulled in a direction intersecting the electric wire. In such a case, tension is applied to the electric wire in a direction pulling the electric wire end away from the holding portion. If this tension is too large, the electric wire end may come off the holding portion. Therefore, the subsequent process after drawing out the electric wire must be performed while suppressing the tension applied to the electric wire. However, devices that automatically manufacture wire harnesses while suppressing the tension applied to the electric wires tend to have a complex configuration. Therefore, there is a need for a tension control device that can suppress the tension applied to the electric wires during harness manufacturing with a simple configuration.

[0006] Although the need to reduce the tension applied to the electric wires has been described above using a wire harness manufacturing machine as an example, the need is not limited to wire harness manufacturing machines, but may arise in any machine that handles drawn electric wires, including, for example, a machine that simply maintains the electric wires in a suspended state.

[0007] Therefore, the present invention focuses on the above-mentioned problems and aims to provide a tension control device, a wire harness manufacturing device, a tension control method, and a wire harness manufacturing method that can reduce the tension applied to an electric wire with a simple configuration. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to solve the above problem, the tension control device is characterized by comprising: a slide unit that holds the wire end of the retractable wire and moves linearly; and a control unit that controls the amount of wire pulled out by the movement of the slide unit, obtains an index that indicates the tension of the wire, compares the index with a predetermined reference value when the slide unit stops, and moves the slide unit according to the comparison result.

[0009] In addition, in order to solve the above problem, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus is characterized by including the above-mentioned tension control device and a work mechanism that performs wire harness manufacturing work on the electric wire in a state where the tension is controlled by the tension control device.

[0010] In order to solve the above problem, the tension control method is characterized by comprising: a pull-out amount control step of controlling the amount of pull-out of the electric wire by linearly moving a slide part that holds the end of the electric wire that can be pulled out; and a movement control step of obtaining an index that indicates the tension of the electric wire, comparing the index with a predetermined reference value when the slide part is stopped, and moving the slide part in accordance with the comparison result.

[0011] In addition, in order to solve the above problem, the wire harness manufacturing method is characterized by including a tension control process for controlling the tension of the electric wire by the above-mentioned tension control method, and a work process for performing a wire harness manufacturing operation on the electric wire in a state in which the tension is controlled by the tension control process. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] According to the above-described tension control device, wire harness manufacturing device, tension control method, and wire harness manufacturing method, the tension applied to the electric wires can be reduced with a simple configuration. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 is an external perspective view showing a wire harness production device according to an embodiment; [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic block diagram of the wire harness production apparatus shown in FIG. [Figure 3] 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. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the slide and rail shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. [Figure 5]FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the slide portions shown in FIG. 4. [Figure 6] 3 is a perspective view showing the tip-side connector supply unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a state in which a tip-side connector is supplied to a tip-side connector mounting unit by the tip-side connector supply unit. FIG. [Figure 7] 3 is a perspective view showing the tip-side connector mounting portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, together with a state in which the tip-side connector is mounted on a slide portion by the tip-side connector mounting portion. FIG. [Figure 8] 3 is a diagram showing a part where electric wires are connected to a tip-side connector in the connector connecting portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, together with the flow of electric wire connection. FIG. [Figure 9] 3 is a diagram showing the rear end connector supply unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the flow of connector supply. FIG. [Figure 10] 3 is a diagram showing a part where electric wires are connected to a rear-end connector in the connector connecting portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, together with an initial operation in the flow of electric wire connection. FIG. [Figure 11] 11A and 11B are diagrams showing the operation of connecting the electric wires in the connector connecting portion, which is performed following the initial operation shown in FIG. 10. [Figure 12] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the fixed tape winding mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. [Figure 13] 13 is a plan view of the tape winding section during drawing provided in the fixed tape winding mechanism shown in FIG. 12, as viewed from the direction of arrow V11 in FIG. 12. FIG. [Figure 14] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the wire gripping / slack providing portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. [Figure 15] 15 is a perspective view showing how an excess length of the electric wire is pulled out by an electric wire gripping mechanism corresponding to the excess length pulling out shown in FIG. 14. FIG. [Figure 16] 16 is a schematic plan view showing how an excess length of the electric wire is pulled out by the electric wire gripping mechanism shown in FIG. 15. FIG. [Figure 17] 17 is a schematic plan view similar to FIG. 16 showing a modified example of the electric wire gripping mechanism shown in FIG. 16. FIG. [Figure 18] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the large-scale gathering portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. [Figure 19] FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing how the large-scale gathering section shown in FIG. 18 gathers the wires. [Figure 20] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the moving tape winding mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm. [Figure 21] FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing the moving tape winding mechanism shown in FIG. 20 alone. [Figure 22] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the clip attachment portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm. [Figure 23] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the external material mounting portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm. [Figure 24] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the pre-assembled electric wire arrangement unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm. [Figure 25] FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing the pre-assembled electric wire placement section shown in FIG. 24 as a single item. [Figure 26] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the dispensing unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm. [Figure 27] FIG. 27 is a perspective view showing the dispensing unit shown in FIG. 26 alone. [Figure 28] 4 is a schematic diagram showing steps S11 to S14 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. FIG. [Figure 29] 4 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. FIG. [Figure 30] 4 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. FIG. [Figure 31]4 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. FIG. [Figure 32] 4 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. FIG. [Figure 33] 4 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. [Figure 34] 4 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. FIG. [Figure 35] 4 is a schematic diagram showing steps S38 to S40 of the 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. FIG. [Figure 36] 36 is a schematic diagram showing steps S51 and S52 of a wire tension control method performed under the control of a control unit during execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35. FIG. [Figure 37] 36 is a schematic diagram showing steps S53 to S55 of a wire tension control method performed under the control of a control unit during execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35. FIG. [Figure 38] 36 is a schematic diagram showing step S56 and step S57 of the wire tension control method performed under the control of the control unit during execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a wire harness manufacturing apparatus, a wire harness manufacturing method, a wire harness, a tension control device, and a tension control method will be described.

[0015] Fig. 1 is an external perspective view showing a wire harness manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment, and Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing, in a schematic block form, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in Fig. 1. 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.

[0016] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is an apparatus that automatically manufactures a branched wire harness W1 as shown as an example in FIG.

[0017] The wire harness W1 to be manufactured is a component that is installed in an automobile and connects multiple devices within the automobile. The wire harness W1 includes multiple front connectors W11, multiple rear 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 multiple fixing clips W17.

[0018] The front connector W11 is a connector located on the front side of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 in the drawing direction D11 of the electric wires W18. The front side here corresponds to the front side of the branch in the wire harness W1. The rear connector W12 is a connector located on the rear side of the drawing direction D11, and the rear side here corresponds to the base side of the branch in the wire harness W1. In this embodiment, there are fewer rear connectors W12 than front connectors W11, and some of the electric wires W18 connected to multiple front connectors W11 are gathered together at several front connectors W11 and connected to one rear connector W12. In this embodiment, both the front connector W11 and the rear connector W12 are insulation displacement connectors.

[0019] The branch wire tape-wound portion W13 is a portion where a tape W19 is directly wound around the electric wires W18 connected to the same end connector W11 among a plurality of prepared electric wires W18, forming a branch wire in a branched shape. The branch wire armor portion W14 is a portion where an armoring material W20 such as a corrugated tube is directly attached to the electric wires W18 connected to the same end connector W11, forming a branch wire similar to the branch wire tape-wound portion W13. Note that the branch wire portion where the tape W19 is wound around the electric wire W18 and then the armoring material W20 is attached will be referred to as the branch wire tape-wound portion W13 in the following description.

[0020] The branch tape-wound portion W15 is a portion where branch wire tape-wound portions W13 of electric wires W18 connected to different end connectors W11 are further wrapped with tape to form a branch. In this embodiment, the branch tape-wound portion W15 is exemplified by a portion where two branch wire tape-wound portions W13 are wrapped with tape together, and a portion where an additional branch wire tape-wound portion W13 is added and wrapped with tape to that portion. The branch exterior portion W16 is a portion where branch wire exterior portions W14 of electric wires W18 connected to different end connectors W11 are bundled together and further covered with an exterior material W20 to form a branch. Note that the portion where the branch wire exterior portion W14 and the branch exterior portion W16 are added to the branch wire tape-wound portion W13 and bundled together and then covered with tape will be referred to as the branch tape-wound portion W15 in the following description. In addition, in this embodiment, there is also a portion where the exterior material W20 is attached over the branch tape-wound portion W15. The branch tape-wound portion W15 is formed by overlapping the tape W19 on top of the tape W19 in the branch wire tape-wound portion W13.

[0021] The fixing clips W17 are fixing members for fixing the wire harness W1 to a predetermined fixing point, and are attached to various locations on the wire harness W1.

[0022] 1 and 2 is an apparatus that automatically produces the branched wire harness W1 described above. That is, the wire harness production apparatus 1 is an apparatus that automatically performs a series of operations including drawing out the electric wires W18, connecting the front-end connector W11 and the rear-end connector W12, forming the branched shape and fixing the shape by tape winding, and attaching the exterior member W20 and the fixing clip W17.

[0023] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a wire shelf 11, a slide unit 12, rails 13, a front-end connector supply unit 14, a front-end connector mounting unit 15, a rear-end connector supply unit 16, a connector connecting unit 17, a fixed tape winding mechanism 18, and a wire gripping / excess length providing unit 19. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 also includes a large-scale gathering unit 20, a robot arm 21, a moving tape winding mechanism 22, a clip attaching unit 23, an exterior material attaching unit 24, a pre-assembled wire arranging unit 25, a feeding unit 26, and a control unit 27.

[0024] The electric wire shelf 11 is a structure that houses a plurality of electric wire reels 111, and a plurality of electric wires W18 for manufacturing the wire harness W1 are drawn out from this electric wire shelf 11 in a drawing direction D11.

[0025] The slide portion 12 is capable of mounting the tip-side connector W11 and is a portion that moves linearly between a first end side that is on the electric wire shelf 11 side and a second end side that is on the front side in the drawing-out direction D11. The rail 13 is a rail member that holds the slide portion 12 movably in a movement direction D12 that is the front-to-rear direction of the drawing-out direction D11. The movement of the slide portion 12 along the rail 13 is performed by a servo motor. In this embodiment, the slide portions 12 that are attached to the rail 13 are arranged in nine rows in a direction D13 perpendicular to the movement direction D12.

[0026] The tip side connector supply unit 14 stocks a plurality of tip side connectors W11 and supplies the tip side connectors W11 to the tip side connector mounting unit 15. The tip side connector mounting unit 15 mounts the supplied tip side connectors W11 onto the sliding unit 12. The tip side connectors W11 are supplied and mounted onto the sliding unit 12 at the second end of the movement path of the sliding unit 12. The sliding unit 12 moves toward the first end, which is the electric wire shelf 11 side, and carries the mounted tip side connector W11 to the connector connecting unit 17. When the electric wire W18 is connected to the tip side connector W11 at this connector connecting unit 17, the sliding unit 12 then moves toward the second end in the drawing direction D11, thereby drawing out the electric wire W18.

[0027] The rear end connector supply unit 16 is a portion provided at a position shifted in the orthogonal direction D13 from the connector connection unit 17 on the first end side, which is on the electric wire shelf 11 side, i.e., on the pull-out origin side of the electric wires W18. The rear end connector supply unit 16 stocks a plurality of rear end connectors W12 at the above-mentioned shifted position, and picks up and supplies the rear end connectors W12 to the connector connection unit 17.

[0028] The connector connecting portion 17 is installed on the side from which the electric wire W18 is pulled out, and when the front connector W11 is carried by the sliding portion 12, the connector connecting portion 17 connects the electric wire W18 to the front connector W11 by crimping. After the electric wire W18 is pulled out, the rear connector W12 is supplied by the rear connector supply portion 16, and at an appropriate timing thereafter, the connector connecting portion 17 cuts the pulled-out electric wire W18 and connects it to the rear connector W12.

[0029] The fixed tape winding mechanism 18 is fixedly installed on the side of the wire W18 from which the wire W18 is pulled out, and is a part where the sliding portion 12 winds tape around the wire W18 while it is being pulled out.

[0030] The wire gripping / excess length providing portion 19 is a portion that releasably grips the multiple wires W18 pulled out by the slide portion 12 at the pull-out source side, and, if necessary, pulls out further excess length of some of the wires W18.

[0031] The large-scale gathering section 20 is part of a mechanism that selectively gathers the electric wires W18 drawn out by the movement of different slide sections 12 to form a branched shape. This large-scale gathering section 20 is a section that gathers the electric wires W18 of a certain amount when the amount of the electric wires W18 exceeds a predetermined amount.

[0032] In the wire harness production apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the components described above are assembled to a metal frame 28 to form an integrated structure. That is, the slide section 12, the rail 13, the front-end connector supply section 14, the front-end connector mounting section 15, the rear-end connector supply section 16, the connector connecting section 17, the fixed tape winding mechanism 18, and the electric wire gripping / excess length providing section 19 are assembled to the metal frame 28. The electric wire shelf 11 is disposed on the first end side of this integrated structure, and the robot arm 21, the movable tape winding mechanism 22, the clip attaching section 23, the exterior material attaching section 24, the pre-assembled electric wire arranging section 25, the feeding section 26, and the control section 27 are disposed around the integrated structure.

[0033] The robot arm 21 selects and grasps one of a plurality of types of mechanical devices, namely, the moving tape winding mechanism 22, the clip attachment unit 23, the exterior material attachment unit 24, and the dispensing unit 26, and carries it to a work position for that mechanical device. The robot arm 21 then moves the carried mechanical device in accordance with the work 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 rails 13 and the like are attached, in the orthogonal direction D13.

[0034] The movable tape winding mechanism 22 is a mechanism for winding the tape W19 around a winding target. The clip attachment unit 23 is a mechanism for attaching a fixing clip W17 to the electric wire W18 wound with tape or the electric wire W18 to which the outer jacket material W20 is attached, over the tape W19 or the outer jacket material W20. The outer jacket material attachment unit 24 is a mechanism for attaching the outer jacket material W20, such as a corrugated tube, directly to the electric wire W18 or over the tape W18 to the electric wire W18 wound with tape.

[0035] The moving tape winding mechanism 22, clip attachment section 23, and exterior material attachment section 24 are placed on mechanism standby tables 29 arranged adjacent to two robot arms 21 installed on each side of a metal frame 28. The robot arms 21 select a mechanism device on each mechanism standby table 29 according to the work content, grasp it, and carry it to the work position.

[0036] The pre-assembled electric wire placement unit 25 is a mechanism that places a pre-assembled electric wire, which has a front end connector W11 and a rear end connector W12 connected to both ends, in parallel with the electric wire W18 drawn out by the movement of the slide unit 12, in a work location separate from the wire harness manufacturing device 1. This pre-assembled electric wire placement unit 25 is installed on the side of one mechanism standby table 29. When placing a pre-assembled electric wire, the robot arm 21 selects and grasps the pre-assembled electric wire placement unit 25 on the side of this mechanism standby table 29, and carries it to the work position.

[0037] The discharge unit 26 is a mechanism that holds the completed wire harness W1, removes the front-end connector W11 and the rear-end connector W12 from the respective holders, and moves the wire harness W1 onto a table provided as a predetermined discharge destination 26a. The table of the discharge destination 26a is disposed adjacent to the other mechanism standby table 29 on the opposite side from the mechanism standby table 29 on which the pre-assembled electric wire arrangement unit 25 is disposed. The discharge unit 26 is disposed on the side of the discharge destination 26a. When the wire harness W1 is completed, the robot arm 21 selects and grasps the discharge unit 26 on the side of the discharge destination 26a and carries it to a work position.

[0038] The control unit 27 is a computer device that controls the operation of each component in the wire harness production apparatus 1 described above, and is installed adjacent to the mechanism standby table 29 on which the pre-formed electric wire arrangement unit 25 is installed. In this embodiment, the control unit 27 is provided with a tablet terminal as an interface with the worker, and receives instructions to start work and the like from the worker via this tablet terminal.

[0039] Each of the components of the wire harness production apparatus 1 outlined above will be further described below with reference to other drawings.

[0040] Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing the slide portion and rail shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the slide portions shown in Fig. 4. In Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, in order to make the structure of the slide portion easier to see, the slide portion 12 and the rail 13 are shown in an orientation in which the drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18 is opposite to that in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.

[0041] In this embodiment, nine rails 13 are arranged parallel to each other in a direction D13 perpendicular to the pull-out direction D11, and one slide portion 12 is held on each rail 13 so that it can move in a movement direction D12, which is the forward and backward direction of the pull-out direction D11.

[0042] The slide portion 12 is a portion on which the tip side connector W11 is mounted and which moves linearly along the rail 13 to pull out the electric wires W18 connected to the tip side connector W11. The slide portion 12 includes a holding portion 121 that holds the tip side connector W11, a slide main body portion 122 on which the holding portion 121 is mounted, and a connecting portion 123 that mediates the mounting of the holding portion 121 on the slide main body portion 122. Furthermore, the slide portion 12 is provided with a continuity inspection portion 124 that performs a continuity inspection on the tip side connector W11 during the manufacture of the wire harness W1.

[0043] First, the slide main body 122 is connected to the rail 13 so as to be movable in the movement direction D12. The slide main body 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 the direction opposite to the electric wire drawing direction D11 and has a tip end to which the connecting portion 123 is connected.

[0044] The connecting portion 123 is a columnar portion attached to the tip of the arm portion 122b so as to be rotatable in a rotation direction D14 about a rotation axis X11 perpendicular to both the movement direction D12 of the slide portion 12 and the perpendicular direction D13 in the wire harness production apparatus 1. When the connecting portion 123 rotates in the rotation direction D14, the holding portion 121 rotates in the rotation direction D14, and the electric wire D18 from the tip-side connector W11 held by the holding portion 121 can be directed in a desired direction around the rotation axis X11.

[0045] The holding portion 121 is a columnar portion extending from an intermediate portion of the connecting portion 123 in the opposite direction to the drawing direction D11, and holds the tip end connector W11 at its tip end. The holding portion 121 is attached so as to be rotatable in a twist direction D15 about a twist axis X12 that is aligned with the movement direction D12 of the sliding portion 12. By rotating the holding portion 121 in the twist direction D15 while holding the tip end connector W11 after the electric wires are connected, the electric wires D18 from the tip end connector W11 can be twisted.

[0046] The continuity inspection unit 124 is a rectangular plate-shaped portion attached to the connecting portion 123 above the holding portion 121 so as to be movable in an inspection movement direction D16 in which the continuity inspection unit 124 advances in the opposite direction to the drawing-out direction D11 and descends to a mounting position of the tip side connector W11 in the holding portion 121. A plurality of inspection pins 124a are provided on the lower edge of the continuity inspection unit 124. When the continuity inspection unit 124 moves in the inspection movement direction D16, the inspection pins 124a come into contact with conductive portions in the tip side connector W11, thereby performing a continuity inspection. The continuity inspection at this time is performed under the control of the control unit 27.

[0047] Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the tip-side connector supply unit shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 together with a state in which tip-side connectors are supplied to the tip-side connector mounting unit by the tip-side connector supply unit. Note that Fig. 6 also shows the tip-side connector supply unit 14 and the tip-side connector mounting unit 15 in an orientation in which the drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18 is opposite to that in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, similar to Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 described above.

[0048] The tip-side connector supply unit 14 is a portion where nine rows of tip-side supply mechanisms 14a are arranged in the orthogonal direction D13 of the wire harness production apparatus 1 so as to correspond one-to-one to the nine rows of slide units 12. Each tip-side supply mechanism 14a includes a tip-side stocker 141, a connector transfer unit 142, and a rotation mechanism 143.

[0049] The tip side stocker 141 stores a plurality of tip side connectors W11, which are rectangular plate-shaped pressure-welded connectors, stacked in the thickness direction along the movement direction D12 of the slide portion 12. In this embodiment, each tip side supply mechanism 14a is provided with the tip side stockers 141 arranged in two rows in the orthogonal direction D13.

[0050] The connector transfer section 142 is a rectangular plate-shaped section having a connector mounting surface 142a capable of mounting and holding two tip side connectors W11. The connector transfer section 142 catches the tip side connector W11 stocked in the tip side stocker 141 in a catch posture P11 in which the connector mounting surface 142a faces the tip side stocker 141. Furthermore, the connector transfer section 142 delivers the tip side connector W11 to the tip side connector mounting section 15 in a delivery posture P12 in which the connector mounting surface 142a in the connector mounted state faces upward.

[0051] The rotation mechanism 143 is a mechanical part that supports the connector delivery portion 142 rotatably in a delivery rotation direction D17 between the catch posture P11 and the delivery posture P12 around a rotation axis X13 along the orthogonal direction D13.

[0052] Fig. 7 is a perspective view showing the tip-side connector mounting portion shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 together with the state in which the tip-side connector is mounted on the slide portion by the tip-side connector mounting portion. Note that Fig. 7 also shows the tip-side connector supply portion 14 and the tip-side connector mounting portion 15 in an orientation in which the drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18 is opposite to that in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, similar to Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 described above.

[0053] The tip-side connector mounting section 15 first has nine rows of tip-side supply mechanisms 14a and nine rows of connector carriers 151 that correspond one-to-one to the slide section 12. Furthermore, the tip-side connector mounting section 15 has a support bridge 152 that supports these nine rows of connector carriers 151 while they are arranged in the orthogonal direction D13 and moves in the movement direction D12.

[0054] Each connector carrier 151 includes a connector hand 151a and a hand up / down mechanism 151b. The connector hand 151a picks up the tip-side connector W11 from the connector mounting surface 142a of the connector transfer section 142 in the transfer posture P12 and loads the tip-side connector W11 onto the holding section 121 of the slide section 12. The hand up / down mechanism 151b moves the connector hand 151a in a receiving direction D18, which moves the connector hand 151a up and down relative to the connector mounting surface 142a, and in a loading direction D19, which moves the connector hand 151a up and down relative to the holding section 121 of the slide section 12.

[0055] In this embodiment, the tip side connector W11 delivered by the connector delivery unit 142 in each tip side supply mechanism 14a of the tip side connector supply unit 14 is carried to the holding unit 121 of the slide unit 12 by each connector transport unit 151 of the tip side connector loading unit 15. Through the operations of these units, the tip side connector W11 stocked in the tip side stocker 141 is loaded onto the holding unit 121 of the slide unit 12. This series of operations related to loading is performed at a second end side of the wire harness production apparatus 1, which is opposite to the first end side that is the electric wire shelf 11 side. Furthermore, the tip side connector W11 loaded onto the slide unit 12 at this second end side is in a state where the electric wire W18 is not connected.

[0056] In this manner, in this embodiment, the sliding portion 12 mounts the tip side connector W11 to which the electric wire W18 is not connected at the tip side connector mounting position P13 at the second end side opposite to the drawing origin side (the first end side that is the electric wire shelf 11 side) in the drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18. Then, after mounting, the sliding portion 12 moves to the connector connecting portion 17 on the drawing origin side.

[0057] The connector connecting portion 17 includes a portion that connects the electric wire W18 to the front connector W11 held by the sliding portion 12, and a portion that connects the electric wire W18, which is drawn out by moving the sliding portion 12 in the drawing direction D12 after the connection, to the rear connector W12. First, the portion of the connector connecting portion 17 that connects the electric wire W18 to the front connector W11 will be described below.

[0058] Fig. 8 is a diagram showing the part where electric wires are connected to the tip-side connector in the connector connection part shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, along with the flow of electric wire connection. In Fig. 8, the right side of the figure is the electric wire shelf 11 side, and the left side of the figure is the side facing the tip-side connector mounting position P13 described above.

[0059] As shown in FIG. 8 , the connector connection portion 17 includes a front connector connection portion 171 that connects the electric wire W18 to the front connector W11 at a front connection position P14 on the base side. When connecting the front connector W11, the slide portion 12 moves linearly toward the base side to position the front connector W11 of the holding portion 121 at the front connection position P14. The connector connection portion 17 also includes a rear connector connection portion 172 that is adjacent to the front connector connection portion 171 on the base side. The rear connector connection portion 172 connects the electric wire W18 to the rear connector W12. The rear connector connection portion 172 will be described later with reference to another drawing; here, the front connector connection portion 171 will be described with reference to FIG. 8.

[0060] On the pull-out origin side of the tip-side connector connection portion 171, a wire guide portion 30 that guides and feeds the tip of the electric wire W18 pulled out from the wire shelf 11 to the tip-side connector connection portion 171 is disposed so as to pass under the rear-side connector connection portion 172. The wire guide portion 30 has a comb-tooth-shaped wire guide 301 on the wire shelf 11 side, and this wire guide 301 guides the tip of the electric wire W18 to the tip-side connector connection portion 171 while aligning the electric wire W18. Before crimping, the wire guide portion 30 feeds the tip of the electric wire W18 about 25 mm in a feeding direction D20 into the crimping portion 171a of the tip-side connector connection portion 171. Furthermore, the wire guide portion 30 moves slightly downward in the positioning direction D21 to align the tip of the electric wire W18 with the tip-side connector W11 at the tip-side connection position P14. After this alignment, the pressure-contact portion 171a of the tip-side connector connecting portion 171 moves down in the pressure-contact direction D22, and connects the tip of the electric wire W18 to the tip-side connector W11 by pressure contact.

[0061] In this embodiment, the connector connecting portion 17 has a plurality of front-end connector connecting portions 171 and a plurality of rear-end connector connecting portions 172 arranged side by side in the orthogonal direction D13 of the wire harness production apparatus 1. The electric wires W18 are connected to the front-end connectors W11 by the plurality of front-end connector connecting portions 171 sequentially in the orthogonal direction D13 to the front-end connectors W11 of the nine rows of slide portions 12. This distributes the pressure applied to the metal frame 28 of the wire harness production apparatus 1 during pressure welding.

[0062] When the electric wire W18 is connected to the front-end connector W11 in this manner, the slide portion 12 moves in the drawing direction D11 of the electric wire W18. This movement of the slide portion 12 causes the electric wire W18 to be drawn out from the electric wire rack 11 by the length necessary for forming the wire harness W1, and the electric wire W18 is transferred to a subsequent process such as branch formation and tape winding. At an appropriate timing in this subsequent process, the rear-end connector connecting portion 172 connects the electric wire W18 to the rear-end connector W12. Here, in this embodiment, the rear-end connector supply portion 16 supplies the rear-end connector W12 prior to the connection by the rear-end connector connecting portion 172.

[0063] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the rear end connector supply unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with the flow of connector supply.

[0064] The rear end side connector supply unit 16 includes a plurality of rear end side supply mechanisms 16a and connector rails 16b that support a rear end side connector moving unit 163 (described later) of each rear end side supply mechanism 16a so that the rear end side connector moving unit 163 can move in the orthogonal direction D13. Each rear end side supply mechanism 16a includes a rear end side stocker 161, a rear end side connector mounting unit 162, and a rear end side connector moving unit 163 in one-to-one correspondence with each other.

[0065] The rear end stocker 161 stocks a plurality of rear end connectors W12, which are rectangular plate-shaped pressure-welded connectors, stacked in the thickness direction along the movement direction D12 of the slide portion 12. In this embodiment, some of the rear end stockers 161 house wide connectors W12 that are twice the width of standard-sized connectors as the rear end connectors W12, and some others house standard-sized connectors as the rear end connectors W12.

[0066] The rear end connector mounting units 162 take out the rear end connectors W12 one by one from the rear end stockers 161 and mount them on the rear end connector moving units 163. When mounting, the support bridges 162a supporting the multiple rear end connector mounting units 162 move to position each rear end connector mounting unit 162 at a removal position for the rear end connector W12 in each rear end stocker 161. At this removal position, each rear end connector mounting unit 162 descends in the downward direction D23 toward the rear end connector W12 in each rear end stocker 161 and catches the rear end connector W12.

[0067] Next, each rear-end connector mounting portion 162 rises in the upward direction D24 while holding the rear-end connector W12, and the support bridge 162a moves in a sliding direction D25 along the moving direction D12 to position it above a rear-end connector mounting position P15. This rear-end connector mounting position P15 is a position on the pull-out origin side of the electric wire W18 that is shifted in a direction D13 perpendicular to the pull-out direction D11 of the electric wire W18 from the rear-end connection position P16 where the electric wire W18 is connected by the connector connecting portion 17. When each rear-end connector mounting portion 162 reaches above its corresponding rear-end connector mounting position P15, it descends in the downward direction D26 to mount the rear-end connector W12 on a rear-end connector moving portion 163 waiting at the rear-end connector mounting position P15.

[0068] After the rear connector W12 is mounted in this manner, the rear connector moving parts 163 move in a positioning direction D131 along the orthogonal direction D13 to position the rear connector W12 at the rear connection position P16. After this positioning, the rear connector W12 is connected to the electric wire W18 by the rear connector connecting part 172 of the connector connecting part 17.

[0069] Fig. 10 is a diagram showing the portion where electric wires are connected to the rear-end connector in the connector connection portion shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, together with an initial operation in the flow of electric wire connection. Also, Fig. 11 is a diagram showing the operation of connecting electric wires in the connector connection portion, which is performed following the initial operation shown in Fig. 10. In Fig. 10 and Fig. 11, the right side of the figures is the electric wire shelf 11 side, and the left side of the figures is the side facing the above-mentioned rear-end connection position P16.

[0070] In this embodiment, as described with reference to Fig. 8, the front-end connector connection portion 171 and the rear-end connector connection portion 172 are provided adjacent to each other in the connector connection portion 17. With respect to the movement direction D12 of the slide portion 12, the front-end connector connection portion 171 is arranged on the pull-out destination side (second end side) of the electric wires W18, and the rear-end connector connection portion 172 is arranged on the pull-out origin side (first end side) which is the electric wire shelf 11 side. In this case, the connector connection portion 17 includes a drive source 173 for the pressure-connecting operation and a transmission mechanism 174 that switchably transmits the output of the drive source 173 to the front-end connector connection portion 171 and the rear-end connector connection portion 172. The connection operation by the front-end connector connection portion 171 described with reference to Fig. 8 is performed in a state in which the drive source 173 and the front-end connector connection portion 171 are coupled by the transmission mechanism 174. Prior to the connection operation by the rear-end connector connection portion 172, the connector connection portion 17 remains in the same state as during the previous connection operation by the front-end connector connection portion 171. That is, as shown in the upper part of FIG. 10 , the transmission mechanism 174 couples the drive source 173 to the front-end connector connection portion 171. Therefore, in the initial operation of the wire connection flow, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 10 , the transmission mechanism 174 switches the destination of the output of the drive source 173 to the rear-end connector connection portion 172. At the same time, the connector connection portion 17 moves along the movement direction D12, and the rear-end connector connection portion 172 is positioned above the rear-end connection position P16. The rear-end connector W12 is positioned at the rear-end connection position P16 by the rear-end connector movement portion 163.

[0071] 10 is completed in this manner, the rear end connector connecting portion 172 connects the electric wire W18 as shown in FIG. 11. The rear end connector connecting portion 172 has an electric wire cutting blade 172a and a crimping portion 172b at its top / bottom tip. A lower wire cutting die 31, against which the electric wire cutting blade 172a slides during crimping, is provided in a portion that holds the electric wire W18 before crimping between the top of the rear end connector connecting portion 172 and the rear end connector W12 at the rear end connecting position P16. After the initial operation is completed, the rear end connector connecting portion 172 moves downward in a crimping direction D27 toward the rear end connector W12. As a result of this movement, first, the wire cutting blade 172a clamps the wire W18 between itself and the wire cutting lower mold 31, cutting the wire W18 from the wire shelf 11 side, and then the pressure-connecting portion 172b connects the cut wire W18 on the drawer side to the rear-end connector W12 by pressure-connecting.

[0072] As described above, in the connector connection portion 17, a plurality of front-end connector connection portions 171 and rear-end connector connection portions 172 are arranged side by side in the orthogonal direction D13 of the wire harness production apparatus 1. The electric wires W18 are connected to the rear-end connectors W12 sequentially in the orthogonal direction D13 by the plurality of rear-end connector connection portions 172. As a result, the pressure applied to the metal frame 28 of the wire harness production apparatus 1 during pressure welding is also distributed on the rear end side.

[0073] Branch formation of the wire harness W1, including tape wrapping, is performed at each timing from when the electric wire W18 is being pulled out by the slide portion 12 after the front end connector W11 is connected to before and after the electric wire W18 is subsequently connected to the rear end connector W12.

[0074] 12 is a perspective view showing the fixed tape winding mechanism shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and FIG. 13 is a plan view of the pull-out tape winding section provided in the fixed tape winding mechanism shown in FIG. 12, as seen from the direction of arrow V11 in FIG.

[0075] As described above, the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 is fixedly installed on the pull-out side of the electric wire W18, and is a mechanism that winds tape around the electric wire W18 while it is being pulled out by the slide section 12, and is equipped with six tape winding sections 181 during pulling out and a support rail 182.

[0076] The six in-drawing tape winding sections 181 are arranged to be aligned in the orthogonal direction D13 of the wire harness production apparatus 1. In this embodiment, the in-drawing tape winding sections 181 are arranged to correspond one-to-one to six of the nine rows of the slide sections 12, excluding three predetermined rows, and are capable of winding tape around the electric wires W18 drawn by each row of the slide sections 12. Each in-drawing tape winding section 181 rotates the tape reel 181a in the reel rotation direction D28 around the electric wires W18 of each row, and winds the tape W19 drawn from the tape reel 181a around the electric wires W18 of the corresponding row to bundle them.

[0077] Furthermore, each of the in-drawing tape winding sections 181 has a pair of holding arms 181b that hold the electric wire W18 to be wound with tape. The pair of holding arms 181b are mechanical parts that are installed so as to close in a clamping direction D29 to sandwich the electric wire W18 to be wound with tape during tape winding. The electric wire W18 being drawn out by the slide section 12 is held by the pair of holding arms 181b, and is wound with the tape W19 from the tape reel 181a in a stable state. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the six in-drawing tape winding sections 181 are configured to rotate the tape reels 181a in the same reel rotation direction D28.

[0078] Such tape wrapping during pulling out is performed on the electric wires W18 pulled out by a predetermined portion of the nine rows of slide portions 12. Then, while some of the electric wires W18 are being tape wrapped, the electric wires W18 are pulled out by the length required to form the wire harness 1. The amount of electric wire W18 pulled out is grasped by the control unit 27 as the movement amount of each slide portion 12, and the control unit 27 stops the movement of the slide portions 12 in order, starting from the slide portions 12 that have been pulled out by the amount corresponding to the required length. At this time, under the control of the control unit 27, the electric wire gripping / slack providing unit 19 releasably grips the plurality of electric wires W18 pulled out by the slide portions 12 at the pulling origin side. Furthermore, the electric wire gripping / slack providing unit 19 performs a process of further pulling out the slack of some of the electric wires W18 after the electric wires W18 have been pulled out by the slide portions 12.

[0079] FIG. 14 is a perspective view showing the wire gripping / slack providing portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG.

[0080] The electric wire gripping / slack providing section 19 includes eight rows of gripping units 191, each of which grips the electric wire W18 with a comb-like electric wire gripping mechanism 191a (electric wire gripping section) so as to correspond one-to-one with the eight rows of the nine rows of the slide section 12, excluding one predetermined row. These eight rows of gripping units 191 are supported by a support rail 192 while being arranged in the orthogonal direction D13. The electric wire gripping mechanism 191a in each gripping unit 191 has a mechanism for switching between a gripping state and a non-gripping state of the electric wire W18 by opening and closing the spacing of the comb teeth in an open direction D301 and a closed direction D302. Of the eight rows of gripping units 191, the electric wire gripping mechanisms 191a in three predetermined rows of the gripping units 191 have a shape corresponding to drawing out the slack of the electric wire W18.

[0081] FIG. 15 is a perspective view showing how an excess length of an electric wire is pulled out by an electric wire gripping mechanism corresponding to the excess length pulling shown in FIG. 14, and FIG. 16 is a schematic plan view showing how the excess length of an electric wire is pulled out by the electric wire gripping mechanism shown in FIG. 15.

[0082] In this embodiment, the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a of the gripping unit 191 corresponding to pulling out the slack length has a shape in which the length of the multiple comb teeth 191a-1 gradually increases toward the right side in the figure. When pulling out the slack length, the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is switched to a state in which it does not grip the electric wire W18 and is rotated by 90° in the slack length rotation direction D31 toward the right side in the figure, i.e., toward the longest comb tooth. As a result, the electric wire W18 is pulled out in the pulling direction D11 by the comb teeth that hold each electric wire W18. At this time, the pulling amount increases as the comb tooth that pulls out the electric wire W18 becomes longer, as shown in FIG. 16 . In the wire harness W1, the portion from which the slack length is pulled out in this way corresponds to a portion corresponding to a bent arrangement with the shorter slack length on the inside and the longer slack length on the outside. By providing each electric wire W18 with the above-described stepped excess length, the harness portion can be naturally bent when the above-described bending arrangement is performed, and the load caused by bending the electric wire W18 in that portion can be reduced.

[0083] FIG. 17 is a schematic plan view similar to FIG. 16 showing a modified example of the electric wire gripping mechanism shown in FIG.

[0084] The electric wire gripping mechanism 591a of this modified example shown in FIG. 17 includes a fixed end portion 591a-1 whose position is fixed in the longitudinal direction of the electric wire W18, a movable moving end portion 591a-2, and a support rod 591a-3 that movably supports the moving end portion 591a-2. First, as in the above-described embodiment, the multiple fixed end portions 591a-1 have a mechanism that switches between a gripping state and a non-gripping state of the electric wire W18 by opening and closing the comb teeth. On the other hand, unlike the above-described embodiment, the multiple moving end portions 591a-2 are formed to be the same length. Furthermore, the multiple moving end portions 591a-2 are supported by a support rod 591a-3 that is arranged to intersect with the moving end portions 591a-2 so that the crossing angle with respect to the support rod 591a-3 is changeable. When the support rod 591a-3 rotates around one end in the support rod rotation direction D33, each moving end 591a-2 moves away from the fixed end 591a-1 according to the rotation angle. The amount of movement gradually increases as the moving end 591a-2 moves away from the rotation center of the support rod 591a-3. In other words, in this modification, the rotation of the support rod 591a-3 can achieve a shape similar to that of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a of the embodiment shown in FIG. 16. Furthermore, by appropriately setting the amount of rotation of the support rod 591a-3, it is possible to adjust the amount of excess length to be pulled out via the amount of movement of the moving end 591a-2.

[0085] The electric wire gripping mechanism 591a of this modified example can be operated as follows. First, connector position information is acquired, which indicates how the connector of the wire harness W1 will be positioned in an actual vehicle. Next, the rotation angle of the support rod 591a-3 is calculated based on the connector position information when the harness is routed. Furthermore, based on the calculation result, the movement distance of the end of the support rod 591a-3 opposite the rotation center is calculated. Then, based on the calculated movement distance, a drive source such as a motor is driven to move the end of the support rod 591a-3, thereby rotating the support rod 591a-3 by the required amount. This rotation moves the multiple moving end portions 591a-2, and the overall shape of the electric wire gripping mechanism 591a is determined. When the determined electric wire gripping mechanism 591a is rotated by 90° in the excess length rotation direction D31 as in the above-described embodiment, the electric wire W18 is pulled out in the pulling-out direction D11 by the excess length corresponding to the shape determined by the rotation of the support rod 591a-3. In this way, according to the configuration of this modified example, it is possible to pull out the excess length corresponding to the connector arrangement in the actual vehicle state.

[0086] The drawing of the electric wires including the excess length and the tape winding at the drawing origin by the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 are basically performed on the electric wires W18 connected to the same front end connector W11 held by each of the nine rows of slide portions 12. Here, in the present embodiment, the front end connectors W11 and the rear end connectors W12 do not correspond one-to-one, and the number of the rear end connectors W12 is also fewer. Therefore, in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, in addition to the tape winding for the electric wires W18 connected to the same front end connector W11, a process is performed in which the electric wires W18 connected to different front end connectors W11 are selectively gathered to form a branched shape. The gathered electric wires W18 are bundled by tape winding and connected to one rear end connector W12, so that the electric wires W18 of the wire harness W1 are gathered into a smaller number of rear end connectors W12 than the front end connectors W11. In this embodiment, the above-mentioned gathering of the electric wire W18 is performed by the large-scale gathering unit 20 and a small-scale gathering unit, which is provided in the moving tape winding mechanism 22 and will be described later.

[0087] FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing the large-scale gathering section shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing how the large-scale gathering section shown in FIG. 18 gathers the wires.

[0088] The large-scale gathering unit 20 in this embodiment is a mechanism that can gather all of the electric wires W18 drawn out by a maximum of nine rows of slide units 12 in the orthogonal direction D13 of the wire harness production apparatus 1. The large-scale gathering unit 20 straddles the metal frames 28 on both sides of the wire harness production apparatus 1 and is supported by the metal frames 28 so as to be movable in the movement direction D12 of the slide units 12. The large-scale gathering unit 20 includes a support bridge 201 supported by straddling 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. The support bridge 201 moves to a predetermined gathering position and the pair of gathering arms 202 close, whereby the plurality of electric wires W18 are gathered and bundled. At this time, the holding portion 121 of each slide portion 12 rotates, and the tip-side connector W11 held by the holding portion 121 is oriented so that the electric wire D18 is obliquely directed toward the portion bundled by the electric wire gathering.

[0089] In addition, in this embodiment, an arm mechanism similar to that of the large-scale gathering section 20 is also provided in the support bridge 152 of the tip-side connector mounting section 15 described above, making it possible to similarly perform large-scale wire gathering in this tip-side connector mounting section 15 as well.

[0090] On the other hand, a small-scale gathering unit that gathers the wire at a predetermined amount or less, which is smaller than the amount of wire that can be gathered by the large-scale gathering unit 20, is provided on a moving tape winding mechanism 22 carried by a robot arm 21.

[0091] FIG. 20 is a perspective view showing the moving tape winding mechanism shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm, and FIG. 21 is a perspective view showing the moving tape winding mechanism shown in FIG. 20 by itself.

[0092] The robot arm 21 is a multi-joint arm mechanism with two provided on each side of the metal frame 28, and at its tip, it selects and grasps one of multiple types of mechanical devices, including the moving tape winding mechanism 22, and carries it to a working position using that mechanical device.

[0093] The movable tape winding mechanism 22 carried by the robot arm 21 is a mechanism that winds the tape W19 around the electric wire W18 at the destination. The movable tape winding mechanism 22 includes a mechanism frame 221, a robot arm connection unit 222, a tape reel 223, a reel rotation mechanism 224, a small-scale gathering unit 225, and a drive source 226.

[0094] The mechanism frame 221 is a plate-shaped frame that supports each mechanism part of the moving tape winding mechanism 22. The robot arm connection part 222 is provided on one edge of the mechanism frame 221 and is a part that is mechanically and electrically connected to and gripped by the robot arm 21. 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.

[0095] The small-scale gathering unit 225 is a mechanical part that gathers the wire W18, which is the target for winding the tape W19 and has a wire quantity equal to or less than a predetermined quantity that is smaller than the wire quantity in the large-scale gathering unit 20. The small-scale gathering unit 225 includes a roller 225a and a gathering blade 225b. The roller 225a and the gathering blade 225b are both installed so as to extend in a direction that intersects with the wire W18 during tape winding. A receiving recess 225b-1 that receives the wire W18 is formed on the edge of the gathering blade 225b on the roller 225a side, and the roller 225a is positioned so that its circumferential surface faces the receiving recess 225b-1. During tape winding, the gathering blade 225b receives the wire W18 in the receiving recess 225b-1 and moves in a wire clamping direction D35 toward the circumferential surface of the roller 225a to clamp the wire W18. The tape W19 is then wound around the wire W18 that has been gathered and clamped by this movement. During this tape winding, the robot arm 21 linearly moves the moving tape winding mechanism 22 in the tape winding direction D36 along the wire W18 while the tape W19 is being wound. This allows tape winding to be performed over a predetermined tape winding range.

[0096] In this embodiment, as described above, in addition to the moving tape winding mechanism 22, the mechanical devices to be grasped by the robot arm 21 include a clip mounting section 23, an exterior material mounting section 24, a pre-assembled electric wire placement section 25, and a pay-out section 26.

[0097] FIG. 22 is a perspective view showing the clip attachment unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm.

[0098] The clip attachment unit 23 is a mechanical part that is carried by the robot arm 21 and attaches the fastening clips W17 to the electric wires W18 to fasten the wire harness W1 to a predetermined fixing location. The clip attachment unit 23 includes a robot arm connection unit 231, a holding hook 232 that holds the electric wires W18, and a clip feeding mechanism 233 that feeds the fastening clips W17 along the inner peripheral edge of the holding hook 232 and wraps them around the electric wires W18. FIG. 22 illustrates a clip attachment unit 23 in which two holding hooks 232 and two clip feeding mechanisms 233 are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the electric wires W18. This clip attachment unit 23 is capable of simultaneously attaching two fastening clips W17. However, in this embodiment, a clip attachment unit 23 that is provided with three or more holding hooks 232 and clip feeding mechanisms 233 and is capable of simultaneously attaching three or more fastening clips W17 is also provided. When manufacturing the wire harness W1, the robot arm 21 selects clip attachment portions 23 according to the number of fixing clips W17 to be attached and carries them to the attachment locations.

[0099] FIG. 23 is a perspective view showing the external material mounting portion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm.

[0100] The outer jacket material attachment unit 24 is a mechanical part that is carried by the robot arm 21 and attaches an outer jacket material W20 such as a corrugated tube to the electric wire W18. The outer jacket material attachment unit 24 includes a robot arm connection unit 241 and an attachment mechanism 242 that feeds and attaches the outer jacket material W20 along the electric wire W18. The cylindrical outer jacket material W20 in this embodiment has a longitudinal slit formed in its peripheral wall. The attachment mechanism 242 presses the electric wire W18 through the slit into the inside of the outer jacket material W20, while unwinding and cutting the outer jacket material W20 by a required length. Note that the wire harness W1 of this embodiment also includes locations where the above-described tape winding mechanism 22 wraps the outer jacket material W20 around the attached outer jacket material W20, and where the clip attachment unit 23 attaches a fixing clip W20.

[0101] FIG. 24 is a perspective view showing the pre-assembled electric wire placement unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm, and FIG. 25 is a perspective view showing the pre-assembled electric wire placement unit shown in FIG. 24 alone.

[0102] The pre-assembled electric wire arrangement unit 25 is a mechanism that holds a pre-assembled electric wire W21, which has a front-end connector W11 and a rear-end connector W12 connected to both ends, and arranges the pre-assembled electric wire W21 parallel to the electric wire W18 that has been drawn out by the movement of the slide unit 12 after being carried by the robot arm 21. The pre-assembled electric wire arrangement unit 25 includes a robot arm connection unit 251, a main body 252, and a connector holding unit 253. The main body 252 is a strip-shaped portion that extends along the pre-assembled electric wire W21 and has the robot arm connection unit 251 provided in the center. The connector holding units 253 are provided one at each end of the main body 252 and are portions that detachably hold the front-end connector W11 and the rear-end connector W12. The pre-assembled electric wire arrangement unit 25 holds the pre-assembled electric wire W21 by holding the front-end connector W11 and the rear-end connector W12 with this pair of connector holding units 253. The robot arm 21 carries the preformed electric wire arrangement unit 25, which is holding the preformed electric wire W21 in this manner, to one of the slide units 12 and the rear end connector moving unit 163, which are waiting at the arrangement location of the preformed electric wire W21. Then, at the destination, the preformed electric wire arrangement unit 25 sets the front end connector W11 of the preformed electric wire W21 in the holding unit 121 of the slide unit 12, and sets the rear end connector W12 in the rear end connector moving unit 163. As a result, the preformed electric wire W21 is arranged parallel to the electric wire W18 that has been drawn out by the movement of the other slide unit 12.

[0103] FIG. 26 is a perspective view showing the dispensing unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 together with a robot arm, and FIG. 27 is a perspective view showing the dispensing unit shown in FIG. 26 alone.

[0104] The dispensing unit 26 is a mechanism that holds the completed wire harness W1, transports it to the robot arm 21, and dispenses the wire harness W1 onto a table provided as a dispensing destination 26a. The dispensing unit 26 includes a robot arm connecting unit 261, a main body frame 262, a front-end connector holding unit 263, and a rear-end connector holding unit 264.

[0105] The main body frame 262 includes a front end frame 262a, a rear end frame 262b, and an intermediate frame 262c. The front end frame 262a is a band-shaped frame portion that is arranged along the orthogonal direction D13 in which the nine rows of slide units 12 are arranged during dispensing, and has nine front end connector holding units 263 attached so as to be aligned in a straight line. The rear end frame 262b is a band-shaped frame portion that is arranged along the orthogonal direction D13 in which the six rear end connector moving units 163 are arranged, and has six rear end connector holding units 264 attached so as to be aligned in a straight line. The intermediate frame 262c is a frame-shaped frame portion that connects the front end frame 262a and the rear end frame 262b, and has a robot arm connection unit 261 provided in its center.

[0106] The nine tip-side connector holding portions 263 are attached to the tip-side frame 262a so as to be aligned in a line, and each of them releasably holds the tip-side connector W11 of the completed wire harness W1. The tip-side connector holding portions 263 are attached rotatably around their respective support shafts 263a so as to hold the tip-side connector W11 in a position corresponding to the orientation of the tip-side connector W11 in the completed wire harness W1.

[0107] The rear-end connector holding portions 264 are attached to the rear-end frame 262b so as to be aligned in a straight line, and each releasably holds a rear-end connector W12 in the completed wire harness W1. The rear-end connector holding portions 264 hold the rear-end connector W12 held in an orientation determined by the rear-end connector moving portion 163, and are therefore attached to the rear-end frame 262b in a fixed position.

[0108] When the dispensing unit 26 dispenses the wire harness W1, the slide units 12 are first aligned in a straight line in the orthogonal direction D13, thereby aligning the front-end connectors W11 of the completed wire harness W1. The robot arm 21 then moves the dispensing unit 26 so that the front-end connector holding unit 263 and the rear-end connector holding unit 264 are positioned above the aligned front-end connectors W11 and the originally aligned rear-end connectors W12. After this positioning, the dispensing unit 26 descends, and the front-end connector holding unit 263 and the rear-end connector holding unit 264 grip the front-end connectors W11 and the rear-end connectors W12. The robot arm 21 then raises the dispensing unit 26, thereby removing the front-end connectors W11 and the rear-end connector moving unit 163. Then, the robot arm 21 carries the discharge unit 26, which holds the wire harness W1 by gripping the connectors, onto a table at the discharge destination 26a. When the wire harness W1 reaches the discharge destination 26a, the front-end connector holding unit 263 and the rear-end connector holding unit 264 release the front-end connector W11 and the rear-end connector W12, and place the wire harness W1 on the discharge destination 26a. With this discharge by the discharge unit 26, the production of the wire harness W1 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 is completed.

[0109] A series of steps in the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness W1 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 described above, including details of each part, will be described below with reference to FIGS. 28 to 34 which schematically show each step.

[0110] 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 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0111] Step S11 in Fig. 28 is a step in which electric wires W11 are connected to nine tip-side connectors W11 that have been carried to tip-side connection positions P14 on the pull-out origin side by nine rows of slide portions 12. At the stage of step S11, the rear-end connector W12 has not yet been set, and nine gripping units 191 are shown in Fig. 28 to face the nine tip-side connectors W11. The "No. 4" tip-side connection position P14 and gripping unit 191 correspond to the position where the above-mentioned pre-assembled electric wire W21 will be set in a subsequent process, and are shown by dotted lines in step S11.

[0112] In step S12, the nine rows of slide portions 12 move in the unwinding direction D11. This movement is performed under the control of the control unit 27 to control the amount of unwinding of the electric wires. As a result, the electric wires W18 connected to the eight end-side connectors W11, excluding "No. 4," are unwound by the required amount. For "No. 4," the empty slide portion 12 moves to the set position of the end-side connector W11 for the pre-assembled electric wire W21. During unwinding in step S12, the electric wire gripping mechanisms 191a of the nine gripping units 191 are in a non-gripping state, and switch to a gripping state after unwinding is completed. After unwinding is completed, each slide portion 12 stops while applying tension by pulling the electric wire W18 in the unwinding direction D11 with a force that balances the gripping force of each electric wire gripping mechanism 191a in the gripping state. This tensioning restricts the electric wires W18 to be parallel to each other. Such a parallel state is basically maintained in the following steps of the wire harness manufacturing method.

[0113] In step S12, the "No. 5" electric wire W18 is pulled out while being wound with tape W19 by the in-pulling tape winding unit 181 of the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 for a certain period of time from the start of pulling out. As a result, when pulling out is completed, a predetermined length of tape W19 is wound around the "No. 5" electric wire W18 from the side of the tip-side connector W11. Furthermore, after tape winding is completed and the "No. 5" electric wire W18 is pulled out by a predetermined length, tape W19 is once again wound around the "No. 5" electric wire W18 by a short distance. This short distance of tape winding serves as a temporary fastening to prevent the electric wire W18 from unraveling during subsequent work. After this temporary fastening, the "No. 5" electric wire W18 is pulled out until it reaches the required length.

[0114] In step S12, the "6th" and "8th" electric wires W18 are twisted by rotating the holding portion 121 of the sliding portion 12 after the required length has been drawn out. Note that the drawing out of the electric wires W18 accompanied by tape wrapping and twisting in step S12 is carried out in multiple batches as appropriate to avoid interference between rows.

[0115] In step S13, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 winds the tape W19 over a predetermined length around the wire W18 after the "No. 6" twist. The tape winding at this time is performed while the moving tape winding mechanism 22 is moved by the robot arm 21 from the side of the front-end connector W11 toward the pull-out origin side. The tape winding by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 is performed simultaneously with the wire W18 to be wound with the tape. The wire winding here is performed by the small-scale winding unit 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 when the control unit 27 determines that the amount of wire to be wound is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. Thereafter, when the moving tape winding mechanism 22 winds the tape around the wire W18 connected to the same front-end connector W11, the amount of wire is basically determined to be equal to or less than the predetermined amount in any case, and the tape is wound simultaneously with the wire winding by the small-scale winding unit 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22.

[0116] In step S14, the tape W19 is wound over a predetermined length around the No. 1 electric wire W18 from the side of the front connector W11 by the movable tape winding mechanism 22, and the exterior material W20 is attached to the No. 9 electric wire W18 by the exterior material attaching unit 24. The attachment of the exterior material W20 here is performed twice, with a fixed interval between them, from the side of the front connector W11. As a result, the exterior material W20 is attached to the No. 9 electric wire W18 at two locations: one on the side of the front connector W11 and one a fixed distance away from there.

[0117] FIG. 29 is a schematic diagram showing steps S15 to S18 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0118] In step S15, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 winds a predetermined length of tape W19 around the "No. 3" electric wire W18 from the side of the front connector W11. Also, the outer casing material W20 is attached to the "No. 8" twisted electric wire W18 by the outer casing material attaching unit 24. Here, the attachment of the outer casing material W20 is performed once from the side of the front connector W11. Also, in step S15, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 fixes the "No. 9" outer casing material W20 by winding tape. Winding tape around this outer casing material W20 continues until step S17.

[0119] In step S16, a predetermined length of tape W19 is wound around the No. 2 electric wire W18 from the front connector W11 side by the movable tape winding mechanism 22. Also in step S16, the No. 8 outer jacket W20 is fixed by tape winding by the movable tape winding mechanism 22, and tape winding by the movable tape winding mechanism 22 is continued for the No. 9 outer jacket W20. Tape winding for the No. 8 outer jacket W20 continues up to step S17 together with tape winding for the No. 9 outer jacket W20.

[0120] In step S17, for the electric wires W18 No. 3 and No. 5, fixing clips W17 are attached from above the tape W19 by the clip attachment portion 23. Here, one fixing clip W17 is attached to each electric wire W18. In addition, the tape wrapping for the outer jacket materials W20 No. 8 and No. 9 is completed in step S17.

[0121] In step S18, for the "No. 6" electric wire W18, the fixing clips W17 are attached from above the tape W19 by the clip attachment portion 23. Here, two fixing clips W17 are attached to the "No. 6" electric wire W18.

[0122] FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram showing steps S19 to S22 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0123] In step S19, the portions of the electric wires W18 connected to the different front end connectors W11, "No. 2" and "No. 3," around which the tape W19 is wound, are bundled together by further wrapping the tape W19. The tape wrapping here is performed together with the wire gathering of the electric wires W18 of the different front end connectors W11, but here, it is determined that the amount of electric wire is equal to or less than a predetermined amount, so the tape wrapping is performed together with the wire gathering by the small-scale gathering unit 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22. Then, one branch is formed by the tape wrapping here.

[0124] During this wire gathering, at least one of the slide parts 12, "No. 2" and "No. 3," moves toward the pull-out origin, and its holding part 121 rotates to orient the tip-side connector W11 toward the branch point. These movements of the slide part 12 relieve the tension applied to each electric wire W18 by the wire gathering.

[0125] In step S19, for the No. 9 electric wire W18, fixing clips W17 are attached from above each of the two outer jacket materials W20 by the clip attachment portions 23. Here, two fixing clips W17 are attached to each outer jacket material W20.

[0126] In step S20, on the drawing source side, the six rear end side connectors W12 are carried to the rear end side connection position P16 by the rear end side connector moving portion 163. At this time, for "No. 4", the empty rear end side connector moving portion 163 moves to a position facing the slide portion 12.

[0127] In step S21, the preformed electric wire W21 is carried to the "No. 4" set position by the preformed electric wire placing unit 25. Then, at this set position, the front end connector W11 of the preformed electric wire W21 is set in the holding unit 121 of the sliding unit 12, and the rear end connector W12 is set in the rear end connector moving unit 163. Also, in step S21, the "No. 6" and "No. 8" electric wires W18, which were twisted when the electric wires were drawn out in step S12, are twisted again by rotating the holding unit 121.

[0128] In step S22, the external cladding material W20 is attached to each of the "No. 4" pre-assembled electric wire W21 and the "No. 7" electric wire W18 by the external cladding material attaching unit 24. The attachment of the external cladding material W20 here is performed once from the side of each of the tip-side connectors W11.

[0129] FIG. 31 is a schematic diagram showing steps S23 to S25 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0130] In step S23, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 fixes the "No. 4" and "No. 7" exterior materials W20 by winding tape.

[0131] In step S24, the excess length of the "No. 5" electric wire W18 is pulled out by rotating the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a in the gripping unit 191. The temporary fastening formed by wrapping the tape W19 in step S12 prevents the electric wire W18 from unraveling when the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a rotates to pull out the excess length.

[0132] In step S25, the rear connector connecting portion 172 of the connector connecting unit 17 connects and disconnects the electric wires W18 to each of the six rear connectors W12 that were brought to the rear connector connecting position P16 in step S20. In this embodiment, the electric wires W18 connected to the different front connectors W11, numbered "1" and "2," are connected to one rear connector W12. Similarly, the electric wires W18, numbered "5" and "6," and the electric wires W18, numbered "7" and "8," are also connected to one rear connector W12. The connection and disconnection of the electric wires W18 from the different front connectors W11 to one rear connector W12 is performed in two stages as follows.

[0133] First, after the rear-end connector connecting unit 172 has completed connecting and disconnecting the electric wire W18 of one front-end connector W11 to one rear-end connector W12, the rear-end connector moving unit 163 moves the rear-end connector W12. That is, the rear-end connector moving unit 163 moves the rear-end connector W12, to which the electric wire W18 of one front-end connector W11 is connected, toward the adjacent rear-end connecting position P16 where the rear-end connector W12 can be connected to the adjacent electric wire W18 extending to the other adjacent front-end connector W11. After this moving, the adjacent electric wire W18 is connected to and disconnected from the rear-end connector W12. Such two connection and disconnection operations are performed for each of the electric wires W18, No. 1 and No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6, and No. 7 and No. 8.

[0134] FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram showing steps S26 to S29 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0135] In step S26, the "No. 5" and "No. 6" electric wires W18 connected to one rear end connector W12 are bundled by wire gathering, and a predetermined length of tape W19 is wound around the wires toward the draw-out origin side by the movable tape winding mechanism 22. The tape winding here is performed by the movable tape winding mechanism 22 winding an overlapping portion of the tape W19 over a portion of the end side of the tape W19 already wound around each electric wire W18, while moving further toward the draw-out origin side. This tape winding is also performed together with wire gathering by the small gathering portion 225 of the movable tape winding mechanism 22, when it is determined that the amount of electric wire is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. Then, one branch is formed by the tape winding here. During this wire gathering here, the tension on each electric wire W18 is also relieved by the movement of the sliding portion 12 and the rotation of the holding portion 121.

[0136] In step S26, the "7th" and "8th" electric wires W18 connected to one rear end connector W12 are bundled by wire gathering, and tape W19 is locally wrapped around the joining points near the ends of each outer jacket material 20. This local tape wrapping is also performed by the moving tape wrapping mechanism 22 together with wire gathering by the small-scale gathering unit 225, as it is determined that the amount of electric wire is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. This tape wrapping also forms one branch. As in the cases of "5th" and "6th," the wire gathering here is performed in a state in which the tension applied to each electric wire W18 is relaxed by the movement of the sliding unit 12 and the rotation of the holding unit 121.

[0137] In step S27, the electric wires W18 No. 1 to No. 6 are subjected to electric wire gathering, and the outer casing W20 is attached to the electric wires W18 No. 7 and No. 8 connected to one rear end connector W12 at a position away from the branch point.

[0138] The control unit 27 determines that the amount of wire gathered exceeds a predetermined amount, and thus the large-scale gathering unit 20, rather than the small-scale gathering unit 225, of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 gathers the wires W18 of "No. 1" to "No. 6." The gathered portion becomes one branch point. During this large-scale wire gathering, almost all of the slide units 12 of "No. 1" to "No. 6" move toward the pull-out origin, and the respective holding units 121 rotate to direct the respective tip-side connectors W11 toward the branch point. These operations of the slide units 12 relieve the tension applied to each wire W18 by the large-scale wire gathering.

[0139] Furthermore, the attachment of the outer jacket material W20 to the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8" is performed once by the outer jacket material attachment portion 24.

[0140] In step S28, the "No. 1" to "No. 6" electric wires W18 gathered in step S27 are wound with tape from the branch point side to the pull-out origin side by the movable tape winding mechanism 22. The tape winding here is performed by winding the tape W19 over a part of the tape W19 already wound around each electric wire W18 on the branch point side, while the movable tape winding mechanism 22 moves further toward the pull-out origin side.

[0141] In step S28, the No. 7 and No. 8 electric wires W18 connected to one rear end connector W12 are fixed by wrapping tape W19 around the outer casing W20 attached in step S27 by the movable tape winding mechanism 22. This tape wrapping around the outer casing W20 continues until the next step S29.

[0142] In step S29, for the electric wires W18 No. 1 to No. 6 that were wrapped with tape in step S28, the external packaging material W20 is attached from above the tape W19 by the external packaging material attaching section 24. This attachment of the external packaging material W20 is performed once, starting from the vicinity of the branch point of the electric wires W18. Also, in step S29, the wrapping of tape around the external packaging material W20 for the electric wires W18 No. 7 and No. 8 that continues from step S28 is completed.

[0143] FIG. 33 is a schematic diagram showing steps S30 to S33 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0144] In step S30, the electric wires W18 No. 1 to No. 6 are fixed to the outer jacket material W20 by wrapping the tape W19 around them by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. This tape winding around the outer jacket material W20 continues until step S32.

[0145] In step S30, the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" to "No. 9" are gathered near the ends of the tape wound around the electric wires W18 of "No. 7" and "No. 8." The wire gathering here is performed by the small-scale gathering unit 225 of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 when the control unit 27 determines that the amount of wire to be gathered is equal to or less than a predetermined amount. Also, during this wire gathering, the tension applied to each electric wire W18 is relaxed by the movement of the sliding unit 12 and the rotation of the holding unit 121.

[0146] In step S31, for the wires W18 Nos. 7 to 9, the tape W19 is wound over a portion of the tape W19 already wound around each wire W18 on the branch point side, and the tape is further wound toward the draw origin side. The tape winding here is also performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22.

[0147] In step S32, for the electric wires W18 No. 7 to No. 9, the external packaging material W20 is attached by the external packaging material attaching section 24 from above the tape W19 wrapped by the tape wrapping in step S31. This attachment of the external packaging material W20 is performed once, starting from the vicinity of the branch point of the electric wires W18. Also, in step S32, the winding of the tape W19 around the external packaging materials W20 of the electric wires W18 No. 1 to No. 6, which continues from step S30, is completed.

[0148] In step S33, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 fixes the outer jacket materials W20 of the "No. 7" to "No. 9" electric wires W18 attached in step S32 by winding the tape W19 around them.

[0149] FIG. 34 is a schematic diagram showing steps S34 to S37 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0150] In step S34, the portions of the electric wires W18 numbered "1" to "6" and the electric wires W18 numbered "7" to "9" around which the tape W19 is wound are gathered together to form a branch. The gathering of the electric wires here is performed by the large-scale gathering unit 20 after it is determined that the amount of electric wire exceeds a predetermined amount. The gathered portion becomes one branch point. During this large-scale wire gathering, almost all of the slide units 12 numbered "1" to "9" move toward the drawing origin, and each holding unit 121 rotates to direct each tip-side connector W11 toward the branch point. These operations of the slide unit 12 relieve the tension applied to each electric wire W18 by the large-scale wire gathering.

[0151] In step S35, tape W19 is wound over the tape W19 already wound around each of the first to ninth electric wires W18 from their branch points toward their pull-out origins. This tape winding is also performed by the moving tape winding mechanism 22. The tape winding in step S35 determines the branch shape of the wire harness W1 shown in FIG. 3.

[0152] In step S36, for the electric wires W18 No. 1 to No. 9, the outer casing W20 is attached from above the tape W19 wrapped around them in step S35 by the outer casing attachment section 24. This attachment of the outer casing W20 is performed only once, from the branch point of the electric wires W18.

[0153] In step S36, a further external jacket W20 is attached to the No. 7 and No. 8 electric wires W18 between the branch point on the front connector W11 side and the external jacket W20 on the branch point side with the No. 9 electric wire W18. This external jacket W20 is also attached only once by the external jacket attaching unit 24, starting from the branch point on the front connector W11 side.

[0154] In step S37, the electric wires W18 Nos. 1 to 9 attached in step S36 are fixed to the exterior coverings W20 by winding the tape W19 around them by the movable tape winding mechanism 22. The electric wires W18 Nos. 7 and 8 attached in step S36 are also fixed to the exterior coverings W20 by winding the tape W19 around them by the movable tape winding mechanism 22.

[0155] FIG. 35 is a schematic diagram showing steps S38 to S40 of the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness shown in FIG. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus shown in FIGS.

[0156] In step S38, one fixing clip W17 is attached to each of the two locations of the outer jacket material W20 for the "No. 7" and "No. 8" electric wires W18. These two fixing clips W17 are attached by the clip attachment portion 23.

[0157] In step S39, two fixing clips W17 are attached to the electric wires W18 No. 1 to No. 6 by the clip attachment portion 23. One fixing clip W17 is attached from above the exterior covering material W20 near the branch point of the electric wires W18 No. 1 to No. 6. The other fixing clip W17 is attached from above the tape W19 wound between this exterior covering material W20 and the branch point of the electric wires W18 No. 7 to No. 9.

[0158] In step S40, four fixing clips W17 are attached to the electric wires W18 numbered "7" to "9" by the clip attachment portion 23. Three of the fixing clips W17 are attached from above the exterior covering W20 near the branching point of the electric wires W18 numbered "7" to "9". The other fixing clip W17 is attached from above the tape W19 wound between the exterior covering W20 and the branching point of the electric wires W18 numbered "1" to "6". With the attachment of the fixing clips W17 in step S40, the wire harness W1 shown in FIG. 3 is completed. The completed wire harness W1 is held by the feeding portion 26, and the nine front-end connectors W11 and the six rear-end connectors W12 are collectively removed from the holding portion 121 and the rear-end connector moving portion 163 of the sliding portion 12. Then, the wire harness W1 is carried onto a table at the destination 26a and dispensed by the movement of the dispenser 26 by the robot arm 21. This completes the wire harness manufacturing method for manufacturing the wire harness W1 shown in Fig. 3 by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

[0159] In this embodiment, as described above, after the electric wire W18 is pulled out in step S12, each slide portion 12 applies tension to the electric wire W18 by pulling it in the pulling-out direction D11. In the wire harness production apparatus 1, the control unit 27 controls the applied tension in the following manner during execution of the wire harness production method.

[0160] FIG. 36 is a schematic diagram showing steps S51 and S52 of the wire tension control method performed under the control of the control unit during execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS.

[0161] 36 schematically shows components of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 that function as a tension control device 2 that controls the tension applied to the electric wire W18 pulled out from the electric wire reel 111 during execution of the wire harness manufacturing method. The tension control device 2 in the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes a slide unit 12 that moves linearly by driving a servo motor 32, and a control unit 27. The slide unit 12 holds the wire end of the electric wire W18 that can be pulled out from the electric wire reel 111 via the tip-side connector W11 and pulls out the electric wire W18 by moving linearly. The control unit 27 controls the amount of electric wire pulled out by the movement of the slide unit 12 and also controls the tension of the electric wire W18 as follows. That is, the control unit 27 obtains 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 unit 12 is stopped, and controls the tension of the electric wire W18 by moving the slide unit 12 according to the comparison result.

[0162] Step S51 shown in FIG. 36 corresponds to the drawing-out of the electric wire W18 in step S12 in FIG. 28. In this step S51, the servo motor 32 drives the sliding portion 12 to move in the drawing-out direction D11, thereby drawing out the electric wire W18. At this time, under the control of the control unit 27, the servo motor 32 drives the sliding portion 12 with the following driving force F11. This driving force F11 is a force required for the sliding portion 12 to draw out the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 via the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a in the non-gripping state. Furthermore, when drawing out the electric wire W18, the control unit 27 controls the amount of electric wire drawn out by the linear movement of the sliding portion 12. This amount of drawing out is acquired by the control unit 27 based on the number of rotations of the servo motor 32, etc. The control unit 27 stops each of the sliding portions 12 at the timing when it has moved an amount corresponding to the amount of electric wire drawn out.

[0163] In step S52, the drawing of the electric wire W18 is completed, and the sliding part 12 is stopped. In this stopped state, the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is in a gripping state, and the sliding part 12 pulls the electric wire W18 in the drawing-out direction D11 with a balancing force F12 that balances the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. This pulling by the sliding part 12 with the balancing force F12 applies a predetermined tension to the electric wire W18. In this embodiment, a value corresponding to the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is used as a reference value.

[0164] FIG. 37 is a schematic diagram showing steps S53 to S55 of the wire tension control method performed under the control of the control unit during execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS.

[0165] Figure 37 illustrates an example of a situation in which the tension of the electric wire W18 increases when the slide section 12 stops in the tension control device 2 of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, in which the electric wire W18 is pulled by being gathered by the large-scale gathering section 20.

[0166] In step S53, the large-scale gathering unit 20 starts to gather the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 while the sliding unit 12 is pulling the electric wire W18 from the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a with a balancing force F12 against the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. In this embodiment, the large-scale gathering unit 20 and the small-scale gathering unit 225 in the moving tape winding mechanism 22 that performs similar wire gathering serve as bundling units that gather the plurality of electric wires W18. In the following, the large-scale gathering unit 20 will be taken as an example of this bundling unit to continue the explanation.

[0167] When bundling is performed by the large-scale gathering section 20, the wire W18 is pulled and the tension temporarily increases, and in response to this, the output of the servo motor 32 that drives the sliding section 12 temporarily increases from the balancing force F12 to an upward driving force F13. In this embodiment, the control section 27 sets a reference value used for tension control to a value smaller than the driving force of the servo motor 32 that temporarily increases due to bundling by the large-scale gathering section 20 or the small-scale gathering section 225. When the upward driving force F13 in the unwinding direction D11 eventually exceeds the reference value, the control section 27 proceeds to the next step S54.

[0168] In step S54, the control unit 27 moves the slider 12 in a tension relaxation direction D32, which is the opposite direction to the unwinding direction D11 of the electric wire W18, 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 reference value. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the control unit 27 rotates the holder 121 of the slider 12 in a 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 a direction in which the holder 121 is directed toward the convergence point of the electric wire W18. As a result, the electric wire W18 from the wire reel 111 becomes slack while passing through the large-scale gathering section 20 between the slider 12 and the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. After this movement, the process proceeds to the next step S55.

[0169] In step S55, which is processing after the above-mentioned movement, the control unit 27 moves the sliding unit 12 in the unwinding direction D11 to a position where the sliding unit 12 stops while pulling the electric wire W18 with a balancing 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 passes through the large-scale gathering unit 20 between the sliding unit 12 and the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a and is stretched with a predetermined tension. Processing such as tape winding during bundling by the large-scale gathering unit 20 is performed in this state where the electric wire W18 is stretched.

[0170] In this embodiment, after the electric wire W18 is pulled out by the movement of the sliding part 12, the control part 27 may retract the sliding part 12 to a predetermined retracted position in the tension relaxation direction D32. This retraction is performed to avoid interference with a mechanical device carried by the robot arm 21 to perform processing such as tape wrapping on the electric wire W18 pulled out by another sliding part 12.

[0171] 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 execution of the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS.

[0172] FIG. 37 schematically shows the retraction process of the slide portion 12 performed by the control portion 27 constituting the tension control device 2 in the wire harness production apparatus 1 of this embodiment as part of the tension control method.

[0173] In step S56 of this retraction process, when a retraction period during which another device mechanism is expected to approach arrives, the control unit 27 controls the servo motor 32 to retract the sliding part 12 to a predetermined retraction position P17 in the tension relaxation direction D32. Due to this retraction, the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 becomes significantly slack between the sliding part 12 and the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. Then, when the retraction period ends, the process proceeds to the next step S57.

[0174] In step S57, the control unit 27 moves the sliding part 12 in the unwinding direction D11 and returns the sliding part 12 to the equilibrium position P18 before the retraction. By this return of the sliding part 12, the electric wire W18 from the electric wire reel 111 is stretched with a predetermined tension between the sliding part 12 and the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a.

[0175] In this embodiment, the tension control method including the retraction process is performed simultaneously under the control of the control unit while the wire harness manufacturing method shown in FIGS. 28 to 35 is being executed.

[0176] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, the wire harness manufacturing method, the wire harness W1, the tension control device 2, and the tension control method according to the above-described embodiments can provide the following effects from various viewpoints.

[0177] First, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1, the wire harness manufacturing method, and the wire harness W1 of the present embodiment have the following configurations from the viewpoint of branch formation by winding tape around the electric wires W18, and can achieve the effects of these configurations.

[0178] In the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the drawing-out tape winding section 181 of the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 and the movable tape winding mechanism 22 function as the following leading tape winding section. This leading tape winding section is a section that winds tape around the electric wires W18 connected to the same front connector W11 among the plurality of front connectors W11 and electric wires W18 prepared for manufacturing the wire harness W1. The movable tape winding mechanism 22 that winds tape around the electric wire W18 that is the target of wire gathering functions as the following trailing tape winding section. The trailing tape winding section is a section that forms a branch by winding tape around portions of the electric wires W18 connected to different front connectors W11 that have been individually tape-wound by the leading tape winding section.

[0179] 28 to 35, the processes of steps S12 to S16 in which the drawing-out tape winding unit 181 and the moving tape winding mechanism 22 function as a leading tape winding unit are a leading tape winding process. The leading tape winding process is a process of winding tape around the electric wires W18 connected to the same front-end connector W11. The following tape winding processes are steps S19, S26, S28, S31, and S35 in which the moving tape winding mechanism 22 functions as a trailing tape winding unit. The following tape winding process is a process of winding tape around already tape-wound portions of the electric wires W18 connected to different front-end connectors W11 to form a branch.

[0180] According to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method of this embodiment having such a configuration, first, tape wrapping is performed on the electric wires W18 connected to the same front-end connector W11. Then, tape wrapping is performed on the electric wires W18 connected to a different front-end connector W11 that have already been previously tape-wound. Through these two tape winding stages, from forming the branch shape to finalizing the shape by tape winding, the process is performed simultaneously in parallel. These operations can be performed without requiring special skill as long as the preceding and subsequent procedures are followed, and therefore can be effectively automated. Based on this, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is an automatic manufacturing apparatus. Thus, according to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method described above, operations from forming the branch shape to finalizing the shape by tape winding can be performed automatically.

[0181] In this embodiment, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 serving as the trailing tape winding unit winds tape W19 over tape W19 wound by the drawing-out tape winding unit 181 serving as the leading tape winding unit or the moving tape winding mechanism 22. This configuration makes it easier for the trailing tape winding unit to wind tape compared to, for example, a case in which the trailing tape winding unit winds tape while avoiding tape W19 wound by the leading tape winding unit. In view of the ease with which the trailing tape winding unit can wind tape, the above series of operations can be automated more effectively.

[0182] In this embodiment, a slide unit 12 is provided for pulling out the electric wire W18. The leading tape winding unit includes a during-pulling tape winding unit 181 that winds tape around the electric wire W18 while it is being pulled out, and a moving tape winding mechanism 22 that functions as a post-pulling tape winding unit that winds tape around the electric wire W18 after it has been pulled out. The trailing tape winding unit winds tape around the already-wound portions of the electric wire W18 after it has been pulled out. With this configuration, tape winding is performed both during and after the electric wire W18 is pulled out by the slide unit 12, so that the process from forming the branch shape to finalizing the shape by tape winding can be performed automatically and more effectively. Furthermore, tape winding performed both during and after the electric wire is pulled out can shorten the work time.

[0183] In this embodiment, the during-pulling tape winding unit 181 winds the tape without moving, and the after-pulling tape winding unit and the trailing tape winding unit operated by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 wind the tape by moving along the wire W18. With this configuration, part of the tape winding is an operation that does not involve movement, and therefore the mechanism related to the tape winding can be simplified accordingly.

[0184] In this embodiment, the post-pulling tape winding section and the trailing tape winding section of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 wind the tape while moving from the front side to the rear side in the pulling-out direction D11 of the electric wire W18. With this configuration, the leading-end connector W11, etc., located on the front side in the pulling-out direction D11, can be used as a reference for starting winding the tape.

[0185] In this embodiment, an external material attachment section 24 is provided to attach the external material W20, and the post-pulling tape winding section and the trailing tape winding section of the moving tape winding mechanism 22 also wind tape to fix the external material W20 to the electric wire W18. According to this configuration, the work from attaching to fixing the external material W20 can be performed automatically without human intervention.

[0186] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the robot arm 21 grasps the moving tape winding mechanism 22, carries it to the winding position of the tape W19, and moves it according to the tape winding operation, thereby causing the tape winding mechanism 22 to operate as a post-pulling tape winding unit and a trailing tape winding unit. According to this configuration, the moving tape winding mechanism 22 is carried by the robot arm 21 to the winding position of the tape W19 and moved appropriately, thereby forming a post-pulling tape winding unit and a trailing tape winding unit. Therefore, the device configuration of the wire harness production apparatus 1 can be simplified compared to when the post-pulling tape winding unit and the trailing tape winding unit are each mounted as separate units.

[0187] In this embodiment, at least one of the plurality of slide portions 12 (all of the slide portions 12 in this embodiment) rotates the tip-side connector W11 about the twist axis X12 after the electric wires W18 are pulled out, thereby twisting the electric wires W18. Then, among the preceding tape winding portions, the post-pulling tape winding portion by the moving tape winding mechanism 22 winds tape around the twisted electric wires W18 as one of the winding targets. With this configuration, even for the wire harness W1 including the twisted electric wires W18, the operations from forming the branch shape to determining the shape by tape winding can be automatically performed.

[0188] In this embodiment, a plurality of in-drawing tape winding portions 181 are provided so as to be aligned in a direction D13 perpendicular to the direction D11 of drawing out the electric wire W18. Each in-drawing tape winding portion 181 rotates the tape reel 181a around each electric wire W18, and winds the tape W19 drawn out from the tape reel 181a around each electric wire W18. With this configuration, the plurality of in-drawing tape winding portions 181 can simultaneously and in parallel wind tape around the electric wires W18 being drawn out by the plurality of sliding portions 12.

[0189] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the multiple in-drawer tape winding sections 181 rotate the tape reels 181a in the same reel rotation direction D28. With this configuration, the reel rotation direction D28 of the tape reels 181a is the same between the multiple in-drawer tape winding sections 181, so it is possible to reduce the spacing between the multiple in-drawer tape winding sections 181 while avoiding interference between them. Furthermore, since the spacing can be reduced, it is possible to arrange the multiple in-drawer tape winding sections 181 side by side while preventing the device from becoming larger.

[0190] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a clip mounting portion 23 is provided. With this configuration, the mounting work of the fixing clip W17 can also be performed automatically.

[0191] Furthermore, the wire harness W1 manufactured by the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and the wire harness manufacturing method of this embodiment has a branch wire tape-wound portion forming a branch wire on the side of each tip connector W11. This branch wire tape-wound portion is a portion where the electric wires W18 connected to the same tip connector W11 are wrapped with tape. The branch wire tape-wound portions are further wrapped with tape to form a branch, which is a branch tape-wound portion.

[0192] The above-mentioned wire harness W1 can be manufactured by a two-stage tape winding process, in which the branch wires are first wrapped in tape, and then the branch wires are bundled together and wrapped in tape to form the branch. These operations can be performed without any particular skill as long as the two-stage tape winding procedure is followed, and therefore can be effectively automated. Therefore, the above-mentioned wire harness W1 can be manufactured by automatically performing the operations from the formation of the branch shape to the shape determination by tape winding.

[0193] 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 carrying out manufacturing work while restricting the electric wires W18 to a parallel state, and can achieve the effects of this configuration.

[0194] In the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment, the comb-tooth-shaped electric wire gripping mechanism 191a and the plurality of slide portions 12 that pull out the electric wires W18 and pull them while applying appropriate tension function as a parallel regulating portion. The parallel regulating portion is a portion that regulates the plurality of prepared electric wires so that they are parallel. In addition, the pulling-out tape winding portion 181 of the fixed tape winding mechanism 18 and the movable tape winding mechanism 22 function as a leading bundling portion that selects and bundles some of the plurality of electric wires W18 before forming a branch. In addition, the movable tape winding mechanism 22 functions as a trailing bundling portion that further bundles the portions bundled by the leading bundling portion to form a branch.

[0195] 28 to 35, the processes from step S12, in which the electric wires W18 are drawn out in a parallel state, to step S30, immediately before step S30, in which the parallel state of all the electric wires W18 is broken, i.e., up to step S29, constitute a parallel constraining process. The parallel constraining process is a process of constraining the plurality of electric wires W18 to be parallel. Furthermore, each of steps S12 to S16, in which the drawing-out tape winding unit 181 and the moving tape winding mechanism 22 function as a preceding bundling unit, constitutes a preceding bundling process in which some of the electric wires W18 of the plurality of electric wires W18 are selected and bundled. Furthermore, each of steps S19, S26, S28, S31, and S35, in which the moving tape winding mechanism 22 functions as a following tape winding unit, constitutes a following bundling process. The following bundling process is a process in which the portions bundled in the preceding bundling process are further bundled together to form a branch.

[0196] According to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method, manufacturing of the wire harness W1 begins with restricting the plurality of electric wires W18 to a parallel state, which can be performed mechanically and does not require skilled work, such as routing the electric wires W18 in a branched shape. Subsequently, through two bundling stages (preceding and succeeding), the process from forming the branched shape to determining the shape by bundling proceeds simultaneously and in parallel. These two bundling stages can also be performed mechanically without requiring special skill, as long as the proper procedures are followed. Thus, since both the branched shape formation and shape determination, which are performed through restricting the parallel state and the two bundling stages, can be performed mechanically, effective automation is possible. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is an automated manufacturing apparatus based on this point. Thus, according to the above-described wire harness manufacturing apparatus and wire harness manufacturing method, the process from forming the branched shape to determining the shape by bundling can be performed automatically.

[0197] In this embodiment, the parallelism restricting portion, which is made up of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a and the slide portion 12, restricts the plurality of electric wires W18 to be parallel in the air. This configuration increases the degree of freedom in accessing the electric wires W18 in subsequent bundling, compared to a configuration in which, for example, a wiring board or the like is provided on which the plurality of electric wires W18 are placed and fixed in a parallel state, and makes it possible to optimize the direction of access to the electric wires W18 thereafter.

[0198] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the parallelism restricting portion formed by the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a and the sliding portion 12 restricts the plurality of electric wires W18 from both sides of the air space in the longitudinal direction of the electric wires W18. This configuration can further increase the degree of freedom of access to the electric wires W18 when bundling, compared to, for example, a configuration in which the plurality of electric wires W18 are supported at multiple points in the longitudinal direction and restricted to a parallel state.

[0199] In the present embodiment, the parallel regulating step of steps S12 to S29 in the wire harness manufacturing method is performed as follows: That is, in the present embodiment, the parallel regulating step is performed in parallel with the preceding bundling step of steps S12 to S16 and the following bundling step of steps S19, S26, and S28. According to this configuration, the parallel regulating step is performed in parallel with the preceding bundling step and the following bundling step, so that it is possible to effectively prevent the electric wires from accidentally becoming loose and tangled while forming a branch shape.

[0200] Next, in this embodiment, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 includes the tension control device 2, and the wire harness manufacturing method includes a tension control method, so that the present embodiment has the following configuration and can achieve the effects of the configuration.

[0201] First, the tension control device 2 of this embodiment includes a slide unit 12 that moves linearly while holding an end of the electric wire, and a control unit 27. The control unit 27 controls the amount of electric wire pulled out, and obtains the driving force of the servo motor 32 that drives the slide unit 12 as an index showing the tension of the electric wire W18. Then, when the slide unit 12 is stopped, the control unit 27 compares the driving force as an index with a predetermined reference value, and moves the slide unit 12 according to the comparison result.

[0202] The wire harness production apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes the above-mentioned tension control device 2 and a working mechanism that performs the work of manufacturing the wire harness W1 on the electric wire W18 in a state where the tension is controlled by the tension control device 2. In this embodiment, a plurality of components of the wire harness production apparatus 1 shown in Fig. 2 , excluding the tension control device 2 shown in Fig. 36 , function as the working mechanism.

[0203] 36 to 38, step S51 of the tension control method of this embodiment is a pull-out amount control step for controlling the amount of wire pull-out by linearly moving the sliding portion 12. The subsequent steps S52 to S57 are movement control steps for comparing the driving force of the servo motor 32, which serves as an index of tension, with a reference value when the sliding portion is stopped, and moving the sliding portion 12 in accordance with the comparison result.

[0204] The wire harness manufacturing method of this embodiment includes a tension control process (steps S51 to S57) for controlling the tension of the electric wires by the above-described tension control method, and a work process (steps S11 to S40) for performing the work of manufacturing the wire harness.

[0205] The tension control device 2, wire harness manufacturing device 1, tension control method, and wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment described above can achieve the following effects. That is, according to the present embodiment, when the slide portion 12 stops after the electric wire W18 has been pulled out by the desired amount, the control unit 27 controls the movement of the slide portion 12 based on the comparison result between an index indicating the tension of the electric wire W18 and a predetermined reference value. This control of the movement of the slide portion 12 makes it possible to, for example, move the slide portion 12 in a direction to relieve tension when excessive tension exceeding the reference value is likely to be applied to the electric wire W18 when the slide portion 12 stops, thereby reducing the tension applied to the electric wire W18. Furthermore, the configuration required for such tension control is only the electric wire pulling-out configuration and the control configuration therefor. As such, according to the present embodiment, the tension applied to the electric wire can be reduced with a simple configuration.

[0206] In this embodiment, the slide portion 12 is configured to move linearly and to carry a tip connector W11 to which an electric wire end is connected. With this configuration, when handling an electric wire W18 having a tip connector W11 connected to its end, the tip connector W11 can effectively hold the electric wire end and control the tension, as compared to the electric wire itself.

[0207] In this embodiment, an electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is provided on the side where the electric wire W18 is pulled out, and the sliding unit 12 pulls out the electric wire W18 when the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is in a non-gripping state. When the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is in a gripping state, the sliding unit 12 pulls the electric wire W18 in the pulling-out direction D11 with a force that balances the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a, and stops while applying tension. The control unit 27 uses a value corresponding to the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a as a reference value. With this configuration, the electric wire W18 is pulled with a force that balances the gripping force on the side where the electric wire W18 is pulled out, so that work on the electric wire W18 can be performed when the sliding unit 12 is stopped, with good workability because an appropriate tension is applied to the electric wire W18.

[0208] In this embodiment, a plurality of slide units 12 are provided so as to move parallel to each other. Between the slide unit 12 and the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a, the large-scale gathering unit 20 and the small-scale gathering unit 225 of the movable tape winding mechanism 22 are provided as bundling units for bundling the plurality of electric wires W18. In the control unit 27, the reference value for tension control is set to be smaller than the index that temporarily increases due to bundling by the bundling unit. With this configuration, even if the tension temporarily increases when bundling the plurality of electric wires W18 for bundling or the like, the tension is already reflected in the reference value for tension control, so that increase in tension can be effectively suppressed.

[0209] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the tension indicator exceeds a reference value, the control unit 27 moves the sliding unit 12 in the tension relaxation direction D32 by a relaxation distance L11, which is longer than the distance required for the indicator to fall below the reference value. After the movement, the control unit 27 then moves the sliding unit 12 in the unwinding direction D11 to a position where the sliding unit 12 stops while pulling the electric wire W18 with a balancing force F12 against the gripping force of the electric wire gripping mechanism 191a. According to this configuration, when the indicator exceeds the reference value, the sliding unit 12 is first moved by the long relaxation distance L11, thereby significantly reducing the tension on the electric wire W18. Then, the sliding unit 12 moves to a position where the sliding unit 12 stops while pulling the electric wire W18 with the balancing force F12, thereby tensioning the electric wire W18 with an appropriate tension. Thus, according to the above configuration, it is possible to effectively achieve both rapid relaxation of tension when tension increases and good workability for the electric wire W18 thereafter.

[0210] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when a predetermined retraction period has arrived, the control unit 27 retracts the sliding portion 12 to a predetermined retraction position in the tension relaxation direction D32, and when the retraction period has ended, the control unit 27 returns the sliding portion 12 in the pull-out direction D12 to the position before retraction. According to this configuration, for example, when the sliding portion 12 or the electric wire W18 tensioned by the sliding portion 12 interferes with peripheral work, the sliding portion 12 can be retracted together with the electric wire W18, allowing the peripheral work to be performed with good workability.

[0211] Moreover, in this embodiment, the sliding portion 12 includes a holding portion 121 and a sliding main body portion 122. When the indicator exceeds a reference value, the control portion 27 moves the sliding main body portion 122 in the tension release direction D32 and rotates the holding portion 121 in the tension release rotation direction among the rotation directions D14 shown in Fig. 5. According to this configuration, when the indicator exceeds the reference value, the movement of the sliding main body portion 122 in the tension release direction D32 and the rotation of the holding portion 121 in the tension release rotation direction can more effectively reduce the tension in the electric wire W18.

[0212] Next, this embodiment has the following configuration from the viewpoint of branch formation by drawing out the electric wires using the sliding portion 12, and can achieve the effects of this configuration.

[0213] The wire harness production apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a plurality of slide sections 12 that are provided so as to linearly move, each carrying a tip-side connector W11 to which an electric wire W18 is connected. A moving tape winding mechanism 22 functions as a branch forming section that selectively bundles the electric wires W18 drawn out by the plurality of slide sections 12 to form a branch. A control section 27 controls the amount of electric wire drawn out and the branching operation.

[0214] 28 to 35, step S12 is an electric wire drawing process in which the electric wires W18 are drawn out while controlling the drawing amount of each of the electric wires W18 by linearly moving a plurality of slide portions 12. Furthermore, from step S19 in which branching begins to step S35 in which the branch shape is finally determined, a branch forming process is performed in which the plurality of electric wires W18 are selectively bound together to form the branch.

[0215] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method of the present embodiment do not require skilled work, such as routing the electric wires W18 in a branched shape. The linear movement of the multiple slide sections 12, each holding a tip-side connector W11, and the branch formation after the movement, allows the formation of the branched shape to be determined by bundling. This series of operations can be performed mechanically without requiring any particular skill as long as the procedures are followed, and the operations are performed under predetermined control in consideration of this. In other words, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method described above allow the operations from the formation of the branched shape to the determination of the shape by bundling to be performed automatically.

[0216] In this embodiment, a rear-end connector connecting unit 172 is provided that cuts the electric wire W18 at the drawing origin side and connects it to the rear-end connector W12, and the control unit 27 also controls the connecting operation. According to this configuration, cutting of the electric wire W18 at the drawing origin side and connecting of the rear-end connector W12 can also be performed automatically under the control of the control unit 27.

[0217] In this embodiment, the rear end connector moving unit 163 is also provided as follows. The rear end connector W12 is mounted at a rear end connector mounting position P15, which is shifted in the orthogonal direction D13 from the rear end connection position P16. After the rear end connector W12 is mounted, the rear end connector moving unit 163 moves in the orthogonal direction D13 to position the rear end connector W12 at the rear end connection position P16. The control unit 27 also controls the positioning of the rear end connector W12 at the rear end connection position P16 by the movement of the rear end connector moving unit 163. With this configuration, the rear end connector W12 at the source side of the electric wire W18 can also be automatically positioned at the rear end connection position P16 under the control of the control unit 27.

[0218] In this embodiment, a tip connector connecting portion 171 is provided that connects the electric wire W18 to the tip connector W11 at a tip connection position P14 on the base side. The slide portion 12 is configured to mount the tip connector W12 at a tip connector mounting position P13 on the opposite side from the base side, and then move linearly toward the base side after mounting to position the tip connector W11 at the tip connection position P14. The control unit 27 controls the connection operation by the tip connector connecting portion 171 and the positioning of the tip connector W11 at the tip connection position P14 by the movement of the slide portion 12. With this configuration, the series of operations from positioning the tip connector W11 at the tip connection position P14 by the movement of the slide portion 12 to connecting the tip connector W11 can be performed automatically under the control of the control unit 27.

[0219] Furthermore, in this embodiment, a tip side connector mounting portion 15 is provided that mounts the tip side connector W11 on the sliding portion 12 at the tip side connector mounting position P13. The control portion 27 also controls the mounting operation of the tip side connector W11 on the sliding portion 12 by this tip side connector mounting portion 15. According to this configuration, the mounting of the tip side connector W11 on the sliding portion 12 at the tip side connector mounting position P13 can also be performed automatically under the control of the control portion 27.

[0220] Next, this embodiment has the following configuration from the viewpoint of the overall configuration of the device and method, which involves pulling out the electric wire W18 by moving the slide portion 12, and then connecting the rear end connector W12 after branch formation, and can achieve the effects of this configuration.

[0221] The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment includes a plurality of slide portions 12 each capable of mounting a tip side connector W11, and a tip side connector connecting portion 171 that connects the electric wires W18 to the tip side connectors W11 of each slide portion 12. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 also includes a small-scale gathering portion 225 and a large-scale gathering portion 20 that function as electric wire gathering portions, 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 branch shape, and the tape winding portion is a portion that winds tape around the gathered electric wires W18 to determine the branch shape formed by the electric wire gathering portion. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 also includes a rear end side connector moving portion 163 and a rear end side connector connecting portion 172. The rear-end connector moving portions 163 are provided in plurality so as to each carry a rear-end connector W12, and each moves in the orthogonal direction D13 to distribute the electric wires W18 drawn out by the movement of the sliding portion 12 to each rear-end connector W12. The rear-end connector connecting portion 172 is a portion that cuts the electric wires W18 distributed to each rear-end connector W12 and connects them to the rear-end connectors W12.

[0222] 28 to 35, step S11 is a preceding connection step in which drawable electric wires W18 are distributed to and connected to a plurality of front-end connectors W11. Step S12 is a wire drawing step in which the front-end connectors W11 are linearly moved parallel to one another to draw out the electric wires W11. Steps S19 to S35, which perform tape winding with wire gathering, are a taping step in which the drawn-out electric wires W18 are selectively gathered together to form a branched shape and the branched shape is determined by tape winding. Step S25 is a following connection step in which the drawn-out electric wires W18 are distributed to a plurality of rear-end connectors W12, and the electric wires W18 distributed to each rear-end connector W12 are cut and connected to the rear-end connector W12.

[0223] According to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method of this embodiment, the wire harness W1 is manufactured through the steps of connecting the electric wires to the front connector W11, drawing them out, forming and fixing the branch by gathering and winding the electric wires with tape, and connecting the electric wires to the rear connector W12. Since each of these steps can be performed mechanically without requiring skilled work such as routing the electric wires W18 in a branched shape, each of these steps can be effectively automated. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 of this embodiment is an automated manufacturing apparatus based on this point. In this way, according to the wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 and wire harness manufacturing method described above, the series of steps related to the manufacturing of the wire harness W1 can be performed automatically.

[0224] In this embodiment, the slide portion 12 includes a holding portion 121 that holds the tip-side connector W12, and a slide main body portion 122. The holding portion 121 rotates around the twist axis X12 to twist the electric wires W18. With this configuration, the wire harness W1 including the twisted electric wires W18 can also be manufactured automatically without manual intervention.

[0225] In this embodiment, the holding portion 121 of the sliding portion 12 is attached so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis X11 perpendicular to the movement direction D12 of the sliding portion 12. When the electric wires W18 connected to the tip side connector W11 are gathered, the holding portion 121 rotates to orient the tip side connector W11 in the direction in which the gathered electric wires W18 are moving. According to this configuration, when the electric wires W18 are gathered, the rotation of the holding portion 121 causes the tip side connector W11 to orient in the direction in which the electric wires W18 are moving, thereby reducing the tension applied to the electric wires W18.

[0226] Furthermore, in this embodiment, after the electric wire W18 from one front-end connector W11 has been connected and disconnected to the rear-end connector W12, it may be necessary to further connect an adjacent electric wire W18 extending to another adjacent front-end connector W11 to the rear-end connector W12. In such a case, the rear-end connector moving unit 163 moves the rear-end connector W12 to the adjacent rear-end connection position P16 where the rear-end connector W12 can be connected to the adjacent electric wire W11. Then, the rear-end connector connecting unit 172 connects and disconnects the adjacent electric wire W18 to the rear-end connector W12 at the adjacent rear-end connection position P16. With this configuration, when allocating the electric wires W18 connected to multiple front-end connectors W11 to one rear-end connector W12, the allocating can be performed effectively by moving the rear-end connector W12 rather than the electric wires W18, which tend to be unstable in posture. Furthermore, since the electric wires W18 are connected to the rear end connector W12 in multiple steps for each front end connector W11, the load on the rear end connector W12 and its surrounding structure during connection can be reduced.

[0227] In this embodiment, the wire gathering section includes the large-scale gathering section 20 and the small-scale gathering section 225. With this configuration, the large-scale gathering section 20 and the small-scale gathering section 225 can be selectively used depending on the amount of wire, thereby enabling effective wire gathering.

[0228] In addition, in this embodiment, a preformed electric wire arrangement portion 25 is provided in which the preformed electric wire W21 is arranged parallel to the electric wire W18. According to this configuration, the preformed electric wire W21, which is separately prepared, can be additionally installed after the electric wire W18 is drawn out by the slide portion 12, thereby increasing the degree of freedom in manufacturing the wire harness W1.

[0229] In addition, in this embodiment, an electric wire gripping mechanism 191a is provided that functions as an excess length drawing section that grips and twists the intermediate portions of at least some of the electric wires W18 to further draw out the excess length. According to this configuration, it is possible to provide an excess length to some of the electric wires W18 as appropriate depending on, for example, the routing shape of the completed wire harness 1, thereby increasing the degree of freedom in manufacturing the wire harness W1.

[0230] In this embodiment, the movable tape winding mechanism 22 serving as the tape winding section temporarily fastens the electric wire W18 to be drawn out by winding tape on the front connector W12 side of the intermediate portion that is gripped during drawing out the slack. According to this configuration, by temporarily fastening the electric wire W18 to be drawn out by the slack, it is possible to effectively prevent the electric wire W18 from becoming unraveled when the slack is drawn out.

[0231] In addition, in this embodiment, a delivery unit 26 is provided that moves the completed wire harness W1 to a predetermined delivery destination 26 a. According to this configuration, the manufacturing of the wire harness W1, including the delivery of the completed wire harness W1, can be performed automatically.

[0232] The above-described embodiments merely show typical embodiments of the wire harness manufacturing apparatus, wire harness manufacturing method, wire harness, tension control device, and tension control method. The wire harness manufacturing apparatus, wire harness manufacturing method, wire harness, tension control device, and tension control method are not limited to these, and can be implemented in various modifications.

[0233] For example, in the above-described embodiment, the wire harness W1 to be mounted and routed in an automobile is exemplified as an example of the wire harness to be manufactured. However, the wire harness is not limited to this, and may be a wire harness other than that to be mounted in an automobile.

[0234] In the above-described embodiment, the wire harness W1 is exemplified as an example of the wire harness to be manufactured, in which nine front-end connectors W11 and six rear-end connectors W12 are provided and the wire harness W1 has a branched shape branching at seven locations. However, the wire harness is not limited to this, and the specific number of connectors and the number of branches are not important as long as the wire harness has connectors on both ends and has a branched shape.

[0235] Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, as an example of a wire harness manufacturing apparatus, a wire harness manufacturing apparatus 1 including nine rows of slide units 12 and the shapes and arrangements of other mechanical parts are specifically shown in Figures 1 and 2. However, the wire harness manufacturing apparatus is not limited to this, and the number of slide units as well as the shapes and arrangements of each mechanical part can be set arbitrarily. [Explanation of symbols]

[0236] 1. Wire harness manufacturing equipment 2 Tension control device 11 Electrical Wire Shelf 12 Slide section 13 Rail 14 Tip-side connector supply section 14a Tip side supply mechanism 15 Tip connector mounting section 16 Rear end connector supply section 16a Rear end supply mechanism 16b Connector Rail 17 Connector connection part 18 Fixed tape winding mechanism 19 Wire gripping / excess length providing section 20 Large-scale approach area 21 Robotic Arm 22 Moving tape winding mechanism 23 Clip attachment part 24 Exterior material attachment part 25 Existing wire arrangement section 26 Payout Section 26a Payout destination 27 Control Unit 28 Metal Frame 29 Mechanism standby table 30 Wire guide section 31 Wire cutting lower die 32 Servo motor 111 Electric wire reel 121 Holding part 122 Slide body 122a Slide connection part 122b Arm part 123 Connecting part 124 Continuity Inspection Department 124a Inspection pin 141 Tip side stocker 142 Connector delivery section 142a Connector mounting surface 143 Rotation Mechanism 151 Connector carrier 151a Connector hand part 151b Hand up / down mechanism 152,162a,201 Support bridge 161 Rear end stocker 162 Rear end connector mounting section 163 Rear end connector moving part 171 Tip connector connection part 171a, 172a Pressure welding part 172 Rear end connector connection part 172a Electric wire cutting blade 173,226 Drive source 174 Transmission Mechanism 181 Tape winding section in drawer 181a,223 Tape reel 181b Holding arm 182,192 Support rails 191 Grasping Unit 191a,591a Wire gripping mechanism 202 Pull-up arm 221 Mechanism Frame 222,231,241,251,261 Robot arm connection part 224 Reel rotation mechanism 225 Small-scale approach section 225a Laura 225b Yose Blade 225b-1 Receiving recess 232 Retaining hook 233 Clip feeding mechanism 242 Mounting mechanism 252 Main body 253 Connector holder 262 Main frame 262a Tip side frame 262b Rear end frame 262c intermediate frame 263 Tip connector holder 263a Support shaft 264 Rear end connector holding part 301 Electrical Wire Guide 591a-1 Fixed end 591a-2 Moving end 591a-3 Support rod D11 Pull-out direction D12 Movement direction D13 Orthogonal direction D14 Rotation direction D15 Twist Direction D16 Inspection movement direction D17 Transfer rotation direction D18 Receiving direction D19 Mounting direction D20 Feed direction D21 Alignment direction D22, D27 Press-fit direction D23,D26 Downward direction D24 Upward direction D25 Slide direction D28,D34 Reel rotation direction D29 Clamping direction D31 Extra 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 Close direction F11 driving force F12 Balancing force F13 Ascending driving force L11 relaxation distance P11 Catching posture P12 Delivery posture P13 Tip connector mounting position P14 Tip connection position P15 Rear end connector mounting position P16 Rear end connection position P17 Evacuation position P18 Balance position W1 Wire harness W11 Tip side connector W12 rear end connector W13 Branch wire tape wrapping section W14 Branch line exterior W15 Branch tape winding section W16 Branch exterior W17 fixing clip W18 electric wire W19 Tape W20 exterior material W21 Prefabricated Wire X11, X13 rotation axis X12 Twist Axis

Claims

1. a slide portion that holds an end portion of a drawable electric wire and moves linearly; a control unit that controls the amount of electric wire drawn out by the movement of the sliding unit, obtains an index indicating the tension of the electric wire, compares the index with a predetermined reference value when the sliding unit is stopped, and moves the sliding unit in accordance with the comparison result; A tension control device comprising:

2. 2. The tension control device according to claim 1, wherein the slide portion is configured to move linearly and to carry a connector connected to the end of the electric wire.

3. Further provided is a wire gripping portion on the wire lead-out side that switches between a gripping state and a non-gripping state of the wire, the sliding portion pulls out the electric wire when the electric wire gripping portion is in the non-gripping state, and stops the electric wire while applying tension to the electric wire by pulling the electric wire in the pulling-out direction with a force that is balanced with the gripping force of the electric wire gripping portion when the electric wire gripping portion is in the gripping state, The tension control device according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit uses a value corresponding to the gripping force as the reference value.

4. A plurality of the slide units are provided so as to move parallel to each other, a bundling portion that bundles the plurality of electric wires between the sliding portion and the electric wire gripping portion, 4. The tension control device according to claim 3, wherein the reference value is smaller than the index that temporarily rises due to focusing by the focusing section.

5. 4. The tension control device according to claim 3, wherein, when the indicator exceeds the reference value, the control unit moves the sliding unit in a tension relaxation direction, which is opposite to the wire pull-out direction, by a relaxation distance that is longer than a distance required for the indicator to fall below the reference value, and after the movement, moves the sliding unit in the pull-out direction to a position where the sliding unit stops while pulling the wire with a force that balances the gripping force.

6. 2. The tension control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit, when a predetermined retraction period arrives, retracts the sliding unit to a predetermined retraction position in a tension relaxation direction that is opposite to the wire pull-out direction, and when the retraction period ends, returns the sliding unit in the pull-out direction to its position before retraction.

7. The slide portion includes a holding portion that holds the end portion of the electric wire, and a slide main body portion to which the holding portion is attached and which moves linearly, the holding portion is attached to the slide main body portion so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis perpendicular to a moving direction of the slide main body portion, 2. The tension control device according to claim 1, wherein, when the indicator exceeds the reference value, the control unit moves the slide main body in a tension relaxation direction that is opposite to the wire pull-out direction, and rotates the holding unit in a tension relaxation rotation direction in which the indicator decreases.

8. A tension control device according to any one of claims 1 to 7; a working mechanism that performs a wire harness manufacturing operation on the electric wires in a state where the tension is controlled by the tension control device; A wire harness manufacturing apparatus comprising:

9. a pull-out amount control step of controlling the amount of pull-out of the electric wire by linearly moving a slide part that holds an end of the electric wire that can be pulled out; a movement control step of acquiring an index indicating the tension of the electric wire, comparing the index with a predetermined reference value when the sliding part is stopped, and moving the sliding part in accordance with the comparison result; A tension control method comprising:

10. a tension control step of controlling the tension of the electric wire by the tension control method according to claim 9; a work step of manufacturing a wire harness using the electric wire in a state in which the tension is controlled by the tension control step; A wire harness manufacturing method comprising:

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