Wire Harness Protector With Guide Chips For Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wire harness protectors face challenges in reliable assembly, with existing designs often requiring complex locking mechanisms that can be difficult to align correctly, leading to potential misalignment and reduced security.
Innovation Solution
A protector design featuring a base with protruding wall portions, a routing space, and a lid member with a locking mechanism and guide mechanisms, where guide chips are inserted into guide holes before the locking lug is locked, ensuring proper alignment and secure closure of the protector.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a locking mechanism with locking lugs and locking holes is used to secure the lid member, then the security and reliability of assembly is improved, but the complexity of alignment and assembly process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide chips are positioned on the lid member in advance, and the guide holes are formed on the opposed wall portions, enabling the lid member to be preliminarily positioned and aligned with the protector main body before the locking lugs engage with the locking holes. This preliminary alignment action simplifies the subsequent locking process and ensures proper alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide chips and guide holes act as intermediary elements between the lid member and the protector main body. These guide features facilitate the alignment process by providing a guiding path that leads the locking lugs into correct alignment with the locking holes, thereby reducing assembly complexity while maintaining reliability.
2Ease of manufacture
If the locking lug is positioned at the end portion of the opposed wall portion to simplify the locking structure, then the ease of manufacture is improved, but the risk of misalignment during assembly increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide chips and guide holes serve as intermediary alignment features that compensate for the simplified positioning of locking lugs at the end portions of wall portions. These guide features ensure precise alignment during assembly, offsetting the potential misalignment risk while maintaining manufacturing simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The guide chips are pre-positioned on the lid member and the guide holes are pre-formed on the wall portions, creating a preliminary alignment system that guides the locking lugs into correct positions before engagement, thereby ensuring alignment precision without complicating the locking structure.
3Ease of operation
If the guide chips are positioned to extend along the protruding direction with specific protruding amounts, then the ease of operation during assembly is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The guide chips are pre-positioned on the lid member with predetermined protruding amounts that correspond to the depth and position of the guide holes. This preliminary configuration enables intuitive and easy insertion during assembly, as the guide chips naturally align with the guide holes without requiring complex adjustment or positioning actions.
Data Source
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AI summary
A protector (1) includes a protector main body (10), a lid member (20), a locking mechanism (30), and a pair of guide mechanisms (40A, 40B). The locking mechanism (30) has a locking hole (31) formed in the lid member (20) and opens on opposite sides in a height direction and a locking lug portion (33) positioned at an end portion of an opposed wall portion on a side of an opening (15) and that is locked to the locking hole. The locking mechanism (30) locks the protector main body (10) and the lid member (20) to each other in a correct position. The guide mechanisms have guide chips (41A, 41B) positioned at opposite end portions (12e, 12f) in a width direction of the lid member (20) and extending along the height direction and guide holes (42A, 42B) positioned at the end portions (12e, 12f) of the opposed wall portions (12a, 12b) on the side of the opening (15) and into which the guide chips are respectively inserted along the height direction.