Wire Harness Branch Angle Design Support Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
The transition from design to manufacturing of wire harnesses is delayed due to inaccuracies in two-dimensional manufacturing drawings, leading to frequent design changes and increased production time, as manufacturers struggle to reproduce the intended three-dimensional structure accurately.
Innovation Solution
A branch angle design support device that includes a path plan information acquisition unit, manufacturing requirement information acquisition unit, layout configuration production unit, simulation unit, evaluation unit, and evaluation result output unit, which produces a planar manufacturing drawing by simulating the transformation of a three-dimensional wire harness structure into a planar layout, allowing for accurate evaluation and reduction of design changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual conversion from three-dimensional wire harness data to two-dimensional manufacturing drawing is performed, then design flexibility is maintained, but manufacturing accuracy deteriorates causing frequent design changes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a two-dimensional manufacturing drawing that accurately copies the three-dimensional wire harness structure by calculating and representing spatial relationships, branch angles, and wire paths in planar form. This copying process preserves the geometric integrity of the 3D structure while enabling 2D manufacturing, thereby improving manufacturing accuracy without requiring repeated design changes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms three-dimensional wire harness data into a two-dimensional manufacturing drawing by projecting spatial coordinates onto a planar surface while maintaining accurate geometric relationships. This dimensionality change enables manufacturing in 2D space while preserving the precision of the original 3D design, eliminating the need for manual conversion and reducing errors.
2Ease of manufacture
If multiple design changes are made to accommodate manufacturing difficulties, then manufacturability improves, but production lifecycle lengthens
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary calculation and verification of branch angles and wire paths during the design phase, identifying and resolving potential manufacturing difficulties before production begins. By pre-calculating the optimal two-dimensional layout that maintains three-dimensional geometric accuracy, the system eliminates the need for subsequent design changes, thereby improving ease of manufacture without extending the production lifecycle.
3Reliability
If branch angles are not optimized in planar layout, then design simplicity is maintained, but wire harness durability deteriorates due to excessive stress
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual or empirical branch angle determination with automated mathematical calculations that compute optimal angles based on three-dimensional wire harness geometry. This substitution of mechanical/judgment-based methods with computational methods enables precise optimization of branch angles to minimize stress on wires, thereby improving durability without requiring complex manual analysis or iterative design processes.
Data Source
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AI summary
A branch angle designing support device which supports designing of a branch angle at a branch point of a wire harness when laying out in a planar manner the wire harness constituted of a plurality of electric wires bundled together constituting a three-dimensional structure, the branch angle designing support device comprising: a path information acquisition unit acquiring path information indicative of a path of the wire harness; a circuit information acquisition unit acquiring circuit information indicative of a circuit of the wire harness; an electric wire path calculation unit associating, according to an end of the each of the plurality of electric wires, the path information acquired by the path information acquisition unit with the circuit information acquired by the circuit information acquisition unit, and calculating, from the associated information, an electric wire path of the each of the plurality of electric wires in the planar layout; a branch point information production unit producing, according to the plurality of electric wire paths calculated by the electric wire path calculation unit, branch point information for displaying a flow of the each of the electric wires at the branch point on the wire harness; and a branch point information output unit outputting the branch point information produced by the branch point information production unit to support designing of the branch angle.