Electrical wiring member support structure

Abstract

An electrical wiring member (1) arranged outside a vehicle is engaged with a vehicle body or a component by a first engagement part (5) and a second engagement part (6). If the state of engagement at the first engagement part (5) is to be protected more than the state of engagement at the second engagement part (6), a deformation amount in the arrangement direction of the electrical wiring member (1) at the first engagement part (5) with respect to an external force (F) acting on the electrical wiring member (1) between the first engagement part (5) and the second engagement part (6) is set to be smaller than a deformation amount in the arrangement direction of the electrical wiring member (1) at the second engagement part (6).

Description

Electrical wiring member support structure

[0001] The present invention relates to a support structure for electrical wiring members, and more particularly to a support structure for electrical wiring members routed outside a vehicle.

[0002] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-144222 discloses a structure in which a harness (electrical wiring member) is engaged with an actuator of a variable damping force damper, which is a suspension component of a vehicle.

[0003] Patent No. 5952629

[0004] When a harness (electrical wiring component) is connected to a damper or the like disposed outside a vehicle via a connector, snow or mud may adhere to the harness, and the weight of the snow or mud may pull the harness when the vehicle accelerates or decelerates, placing a load on the connector's engagement portion of the harness. As a result, the harness's engagement portion may break or the electrical connection may be severed, resulting in failure. The connector's engagement portion of the harness must be protected, and it is desirable to prevent failure of this protected engagement portion. The present invention aims to provide an electrical wiring component support structure that can prevent failure of the protected engagement portion of the electrical wiring component.

[0005] One aspect of the present invention is that when an electrical wiring member routed outside a vehicle is engaged with a vehicle body or a part at a first engagement portion and a second engagement portion, and the engagement structure is one in which the engagement state with the electrical wiring member at the first engagement portion should be more protected than the engagement state with the electrical wiring member at the second engagement portion, the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring member at the first engagement portion in the routing direction due to an external force acting on the electrical wiring member between the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion is smaller than the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring member at the second engagement portion in the routing direction.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to prevent defects in the first engaging portion of the electrical wiring member. The objects and advantages of the present invention are realized and attained by using the elements and combinations thereof set forth in the appended claims. It should be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not intended to limit the invention as defined by the claims.

[0007] 1 is a side view showing one embodiment of the electrical wiring member support structure;

[0023] FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of the operation of the electrical wiring member support structure of FIG.

[0008] The electrical wiring member support structure of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is applied to an adjustable damping force damper (shock absorber) 2 for the rear left wheel of a vehicle, as an example. As with Patent Document 1, the support structure supports a harness 1 that supplies power (drive signals) to an actuator (not shown) of a damping force generation (adjustment) mechanism 2a for generating (adjusting) the damping force of the damper 2. The suspension mechanism for the rear left wheel in this embodiment is a double-wishbone suspension having an upper arm 21 and a lower arm 22. The adjustable damping force damper 2 is a suspension component. For example, the lower end of the adjustable damping force damper 2 is connected to the lower arm 22, and the upper end is connected to a side frame 24 via a mounting bracket 23. The damping force generation mechanism 2a of the adjustable damping force damper 2 is located below a strut portion 2b of the damper 2, which extends in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and protrudes from the strut portion 2b diagonally rearward and to the left of the vehicle. The harness 1 is connected to the upper part of the damping force generation mechanism 2a via a connector 3. The connector 3 is fitted into and engaged with a receiving portion (not shown) of the damping force generating mechanism 2a. Note that, although only the harness 1 will be described below as an electrical wiring member, the electrical wiring member of the present invention broadly includes electrical wiring materials such as wires, cables, and harnesses. Similarly, "engage" includes joining, connecting, locking, fixing, coupling, etc.

[0009] In this embodiment, to protect the engagement portion of the harness 1 that is engaged with the damping force generating mechanism 2a via the connector 3, a midpoint of the harness 1 is engaged with the strut portion 2b of the damper 2 at a vehicle front side portion of the strut portion 2b, slightly above the center in the height direction of the strut portion 2b. At this front side engagement portion, a mounting device (grommet) 4 is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the strut portion 2b, and the harness 1 is engaged with the strut portion 2b by inserting a midpoint of the harness 1 through an insertion portion of the mounting device 4 and securing it. If the engagement portion of the harness 1 with the mounting device 4 is referred to as a second engagement portion 6 and the engagement portion of the harness 1 with the connector 3 is referred to as a first engagement portion 5, it is the first engagement portion 5 that should be more protected. Note that the wiring direction of the harness 1 at the first engagement portion 5 (the direction in which the wires extend) is upward in the vehicle vertical direction, and the wiring direction of the harness 1 at the second engagement portion 6 is from the front right of the vehicle toward the rear left of the vehicle. In the case of the harness 1 between the first engagement portion 5 and the second engagement portion 6, the wiring direction of the harness 1 at the second engagement portion 6 faces toward the left rear of the vehicle.

[0010] In this embodiment, to protect the first engagement portion 5, when an external force acts on the harness 1 between the first engagement portion 5 and the second engagement portion 6, the amount of deformation of the first engagement portion 5 relative to the routing direction of the harness 1 relative to the second engagement portion 6 is set to be smaller than the amount of deformation of the second engagement portion 6 relative to the routing direction of the harness 1. The smaller the amount of deformation of the harness 1 due to an external force relative to the original routing direction of the harness 1, the smaller the load on the engagement portion, thereby preventing failure of the engagement portion. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the variable damping-force damper 2 and harness 1 of FIG. 1 as viewed from the protruding direction of the damping-force generating mechanism 2a, showing a state in which an external force F is acting on the harness 1 in the direction of arrow F in the figure, i.e., toward the left diagonal front of the vehicle. This external force F is intended to represent, for example, a state in which snow or mud adheres to the harness 1 and, due to the weight of the snow or mud, an inertial force (centrifugal force) acts toward the left diagonal front of the vehicle when the vehicle is decelerating while turning right. Assuming that snow and mud adhere approximately evenly along the entire length of the harness 1 between the first engagement portion 5 and the second engagement portion 6, the external force F acts on the center of the entire length of the harness 1 between the first engagement portion 5 and the second engagement portion 6. Furthermore, as described above, the routing direction of the harness 1 at the first engagement portion 5 is upward in the vertical direction of the vehicle, and the routing direction of the harness 1 at the second engagement portion 6 is toward the left rear of the vehicle. Therefore, the acting direction of the external force F is different from the routing direction of the harness 1 at the first engagement portion 5 and the routing direction of the harness 1 at the second engagement portion 6.

[0011] When the harness 1 is routed in a form other than a straight line, it is generally not routed in a manner that causes the harness 1 to bend, but rather routed so that the extension (stretch) direction of the harness 1 is curved, as shown in Figure 1. When an external force acts on the harness 1 routed in this manner, it deforms so that it remains curved in the extension direction while the external force is small, but as the external force increases, the extension direction is bent. In Figure 2, the extension direction of the harness 1 is bent by the external force F, and the extension direction of the harness 1 is bent relative to the original route direction at both the first engagement portion 5 of the connector 3 and the second engagement portion 6 of the attachment 4. The purpose is to protect the first engagement portion 5 even if the second engagement portion 6 fails, so the harness 1 is bent to a limit state by the external force F. The angle between the acting direction of the external force F and the bending direction of the harness 1, as viewed from a direction perpendicular to the acting direction of the external force F, is defined as θ １ , the angle between the position where the external force F acts and the second engagement portion 6 is θ ２ When this is done, θ １ <θ ２ This makes it possible to protect the first engagement portion 5.

[0012] The tension of the harness 1 between the position where the external force F acts and the first engagement portion 5 is T １ , the tension of the harness 1 between the position where the external force F acts and the second engagement portion 6 is T ２ When the external force F acts on the object, the tension T １ Component T １ｘ is T １ｘ =T １ sinθ １ , tension T in the direction of action of external force F １ Component T １y is T １y =T １ cosθ １ , tension T in a direction perpendicular to the acting direction of the external force F ２ Component T ２ｘ is T ２ｘ =T ２ sinθ ２ , tension T in the direction of action of external force F ２ Component T ２y is T ２y =T ２ cosθ２ Therefore, from FIG. 2, the following equations 1 and 2 are established.

[0013]

[0014] Angle θ １ , θ ２ is 0<θ １ <90°, 0<θ ２ <90°, and the strength at which the engagement state of the first engagement portion 5 by the connector 3 is not lost is defined as the “allowable force.” １ cosθ １ About T １ cosθ １ <The allowable force is given as a conditional expression. From these conditional expressions and the above expressions 1 and 2, the following three expressions are derived, and from these three expressions, θ １ >θ ２ As a result, the amount of deformation of the first engaging portion 5 in the routing direction of the harness 1 due to the external force F is smaller than the amount of deformation of the second engaging portion 6 in the routing direction of the harness 1.

[0015]

[0016] Although the above describes the support structure for electrical wiring components according to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the configuration described in the above embodiment and various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, the above embodiment describes in detail only the support structure for the harness 1 that is engaged by the connector 3 to supply power to the variable damper 2, which is a suspension component for the left rear wheel of a vehicle. However, the component to which the harness 1 is engaged may be other than the damper 2, and the present invention is similarly applicable to a harness 1 that is not a component but is engaged with the vehicle body. Furthermore, as mentioned above, the electrical wiring component to be supported by the present invention may be a wire, cable, or the like, in addition to the harness 1. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the first engaging portion 5, which requires more protection, is located on the rear side of the vehicle, and the second engaging portion 6 is located on the front side of the vehicle. However, this layout is not limited to the above.

[0017] Thus, in this embodiment, when an electrical wiring member (harness) 1 routed outside a vehicle is engaged with a vehicle body or a component at the first engaging portion 5 and the second engaging portion 6, and the engagement state with the electrical wiring member 1 at the first engaging portion 5 is an engagement structure that should be protected more than the engagement state with the electrical wiring member 1 at the second engaging portion 6, the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring member 1 in the routing direction at the first engaging portion 5 with respect to an external force F acting on the electrical wiring member 1 between the first engaging portion 5 and the second engaging portion 6 is set to be smaller than the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring member 1 in the routing direction at the second engaging portion 6. This makes it possible to protect the engagement state of the electrical wiring member 1 at the first engaging portion 5, and as a result, to suppress failure of the electrical wiring member 1 at the first engaging portion 5.

[0018] In addition, when an external force F acts in a direction different from both the routing direction of the electrical wiring member 1 at the first engaging portion 5 and the routing direction of the electrical wiring member 1 at the second engaging portion 6, and the electrical wiring member 1 is bent at the position where the external force acts, the angle formed by the direction opposite to the direction of action of the external force and the bending direction of the electrical wiring member 1 as viewed from a direction perpendicular to the direction of action of the external force is the angle θ between the position where the external force acts and the first engaging portion 5. １ The angle θ between the position where the external force acts and the second engagement portion 6 ２ This allows the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring member 1 in the routing direction at the first engagement portion 5 to be smaller than the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring member 1 in the routing direction at the second engagement portion 6, in response to an external force F, and as a result, the engagement state of the electrical wiring member 1 in the first engagement portion 5 can be protected.

[0019] Furthermore, by arranging the first engagement portion 5 on the vehicle rear side of the damping force variable damper (suspension component) 2 and the second engagement portion 6 on the vehicle front side and / or lateral side of the damping force variable damper 2, the amount of snow and mud adhering to the electrical wiring member 1 near the first engagement portion 5 can be reduced, thereby further protecting the engagement state of the electrical wiring member 1 at the first engagement portion 5.

[0020] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1... Harness (electrical wiring member), 2... Variable damping force damper (suspension part), 3... Connector, 4... Mounting fixture, 5... First engaging portion, 6... Second engaging portion

Claims

1. An electrical wiring component support structure in which an electrical wiring component routed outside a vehicle engages with the vehicle body or a part at a first engagement portion and a second engagement portion, and the engagement state with the electrical wiring component at the first engagement portion is an engagement structure that should be protected more than the engagement state with the electrical wiring component at the second engagement portion, characterized in that the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring component at the first engagement portion in the routing direction in response to an external force acting on the electrical wiring component between the first engagement portion and the second engagement portion is smaller than the amount of deformation of the electrical wiring component at the second engagement portion in the routing direction.

2. The electrical wiring member support structure described in claim 1, characterized in that when the external force acts in a direction different from both the routing direction of the electrical wiring member at the first engagement portion and the routing direction of the electrical wiring member at the second engagement portion and the electrical wiring member is bent at the position where the external force acts, the angle between the direction opposite to the direction of action of the external force and the bending direction of the electrical wiring member as viewed from a direction perpendicular to the direction of action of the external force is smaller than the angle between the position where the external force acts and the first engagement portion.

3. A support structure for electrical wiring components as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first engagement portion is located on the rear side of the vehicle of the suspension component, and the second engagement portion is located on the front side and / or side of the vehicle of the suspension component.