Rotatable Cable Fastener with Torsion Element
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cable routing fasteners face challenges in securing wiring harnesses to vehicle frames with stringent engineering requirements, such as securing thin sheet metal while avoiding tooling complexities and ensuring robust assembly, especially when conventional fir-tree clips are too close to other features.
Innovation Solution
A cable routing fastener with an integral torsion element and a rotatable fir-tree clip that can be manually rotated from a horizontal to a vertical position, featuring locking clips to prevent over-rotation and counter-rotation, and molded from thermoplastic resin for reduced tool complexity and cost, ensuring secure attachment to vehicle panels.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional fir-tree clips are used to secure wiring harnesses, then the fastening function is achieved, but the tooling complexity increases and assembly becomes difficult when features are too close together
Solution Approach 1:
The clip is designed with a rotatable feature that transitions from a horizontal molded position to a vertical installed position. This dynamic repositioning allows the clip to be easily manufactured in a tool-friendly horizontal orientation while enabling straightforward vertical installation into the vehicle frame, resolving the contradiction between tooling complexity and assembly ease
Solution Approach 2:
The clip is pre-formed in the horizontal position during the molding process, eliminating the need for complex tooling to create vertical features directly. The preliminary horizontal formation simplifies manufacturing, and the subsequent rotation to vertical position is a simple manual or automated operation that avoids assembly difficulty
2Ease of operation
If the clip is molded in the vertical position for direct installation, then assembly is simplified, but tooling complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The design exploits the dynamic rotation capability of the clip to decouple the molded position from the installed position. The molding tool only needs to create the horizontal position, which is simpler and less costly. The vertical position is achieved through rotation after molding, maintaining assembly simplicity without requiring complex vertical tooling
Solution Approach 2:
The solution transitions the problem from a two-dimensional tooling constraint to a three-dimensional spatial transformation. Instead of forcing the clip to be molded directly in the vertical orientation, the design allows the clip to rotate into the vertical orientation after molding, using the third dimension (rotation) to resolve the contradiction between tooling simplicity and assembly readiness
3Adaptability or versatility
If the rotatable clip is allowed to rotate freely, then installation flexibility is improved, but the torsion element experiences excessive stress and potential failure
Solution Approach 1:
The torsion element is pre-loaded during the rotation process to a controlled degree, and the locking mechanism is designed to engage at a specific rotation point. This preliminary control prevents excessive rotation and associated stresses, protecting the torsion element from failure while still allowing sufficient rotation for installation
Solution Approach 2:
The locking mechanism provides mechanical feedback that limits further rotation once the clip reaches its intended vertical position. This feedback system ensures the torsion element is not subjected to excessive stress beyond the designed rotation range, maintaining durability while preserving the necessary rotation flexibility for installation
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 solution reduces tool complexity and cost, maintains torsion element stability, and ensures secure attachment to vehicle panels with reduced stress on the torsion element, effectively addressing the challenges of securing wiring harnesses to vehicle frames with improved ease and robustness.
Implementation Method 1
The torsion element includes first and second torsion bars on opposing sides of the clip, such that the clip is rotatable relative to the base portion in response to an applied torque
Data Source
AI summary
An improved cable routing fastener is provided. The cable routing fastener includes a base portion having an integral torsion element and includes a clip, for example a fir-tree clip, integrally joined to the torsion element. The torsion element includes first and second torsion bars on opposing sides of the rotatable clip, such that clip is rotatable relative to the base portion from a first position to a second position in response to an applied torque. The clip extends laterally outward from the base portion in the first position and extends downward from the base portion in the second position. The base portion and the clip are co-molded in the first position as a unitary article, with the clip being manually rotatable into the second position for attachment to an object, for example a vehicle panel or a vehicle pillar.