Projected Wire Harness Routing for Accurate Manual Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wire harness systems are labor-intensive and prone to errors due to the lack of guidance for routing wires, requiring skilled workers and resulting in high labor costs and imprecision, as each MCC unit has unique wiring requirements.
Innovation Solution
A wire harness projection guidance system that uses a projector to display images of wire routes onto a harness board, allowing non-skilled workers to construct precise wire harnesses by projecting pre-cut and pre-stripped wires with adjustable angles and color-coded indicia, reducing manual labor and errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional wire harness construction methods are used, then skilled workers can complete the task, but labor costs increase and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a projector to display a visual copy of the wire routing diagram directly onto the harness board. This allows workers to follow the projected image as a guide, eliminating the need to interpret complex schematics and ensuring accurate wire placement without requiring highly skilled operators.
Solution Approach 2:
The projector acts as an intermediary between the wire routing diagram and the harness board, translating the schematic information into a visual guide that can be directly followed during assembly. This intermediary device bridges the gap between design specifications and physical construction, improving both accuracy and worker capability.
2Ease of operation
If a standard harness board is used to assist operators, then some guidance is provided, but one harness board cannot cover all different wire harnesses of all MCC units
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses a programmable projector that can dynamically change the projected images to match different wire routing diagrams. This allows the same physical harness board to be used for multiple MCC unit types, as the guidance information is software-based rather than physically fixed on the board itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The projector-based guidance system serves multiple functions: it can display different wire routing diagrams for various MCC unit types, provide real-time guidance during assembly, and accommodate different harness configurations. This single system replaces the need for multiple specialized harness boards.
3Reliability
If no guidance system is provided, then the system remains simple, but operators require extensive training and make more mistakes
Solution Approach 1:
The projector displays a visual copy of the wire routing diagram directly onto the work area, providing clear guidance without adding complex mechanical or electronic guidance mechanisms. This optical copying approach maintains system simplicity while dramatically improving wiring accuracy.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system enables efficient and precise wire harness construction with reduced labor costs and fewer errors, as it lays out wire routes accurately and consistently, even allowing non-skilled workers to assemble MCC units without understanding schematics.
Implementation Method 1
A projector is mounted to the support stand for projecting an image onto a wire harness board supported on the support stand
Implementation Method 2
a mirror may be mounted to the support stand and the projector projects the image to the mirror to be reflected onto a wire harness board supported on the support stand
Data Source
AI summary
A wire harness projection guidance system comprises a support stand for supporting a wire harness board used to construct a wire harness. A projector is mounted to the support stand for projecting an image onto a wire harness board supported on the support stand. A memory stores data representing wire route for each of a plurality of individual wires in a wire harness. A programmed processing system is operatively coupled to the memory and the projector for generating a series of images to be projected by the projector. Each image in the series represents one of the stored wire routes for an associated individual wire.