3D-Printed Wire Trap Channels for Secure Harness Routing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional wiring harness manufacturing is labor-intensive, costly, and prone to manufacturing errors and failure modes such as insulation degradation and termination failure due to vibration, leading to potential fires and increased weight from unnecessary components.
Innovation Solution
A method using additive manufacturing techniques, particularly fused filament fabrication (FFF), to form wire traps on a product surface, creating channels with varying widths for holding wires by interference fit, eliminating the need for additional components and allowing automated wire positioning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional manual wiring harness manufacturing is used, then skilled workers can assemble harnesses on pin-boards, but the process becomes labor-intensive, costly, and prone to manufacturing errors
Solution Approach 1:
Wire traps are pre-formed on the product surface using additive manufacturing before wire installation. This preliminary structuring of the mounting surface enables automated wire placement and eliminates the need for manual pin-board assembly, directly resolving the contradiction between ease of manufacture and productivity
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical pin-board assembly system is replaced with an automated additive manufacturing process that deposits wire traps directly onto the product surface. This substitution of manufacturing methods eliminates labor-intensive operations while maintaining ease of manufacture through direct digital fabrication
2Strength
If robust wire gauge is used to survive manual manufacturing process, then wires can withstand handling, but weight increases for aerospace and automotive products
Solution Approach 1:
Wire traps are formed on the product surface beforehand to provide protective embedding for the wires. This pre-prepared cushioning structure allows the use of lighter wire gauges that would otherwise be vulnerable during manual handling, thereby reducing weight while maintaining sufficient strength through the protective trap structure
Solution Approach 2:
The wire trap structure provides localized protection and support at specific mounting points on the product surface. This local reinforcement allows lighter wire gauges to be used in non-critical areas while maintaining robustness where needed, optimizing the weight-strength trade-off
3Ease of operation
If wires are exposed in conventional harnesses, then wires can be connected to terminations, but wires abrade against other wires or structures causing insulation damage and failures
Solution Approach 1:
Wires are nested within channels formed by the wire trap structure on the product surface. This nesting arrangement protects wire insulation from abrasion against other wires or structural elements while maintaining accessibility at the channel openings for termination connections, resolving the contradiction between ease of operation and reliability
4Reliability
If additional components like stand-offs and mounts are used to hold wires, then wires can be securely mounted, but device complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The wire trap structure integrates multiple functions into a single component: it provides mounting attachment, wire positioning, and protective enclosure. This merging eliminates the need for separate stand-offs, mounts, and ties, thereby reducing device complexity and component count while maintaining secure wire mounting
Solution Approach 2:
The wire trap structure serves multiple purposes simultaneously: it acts as a mounting attachment point on the product surface, defines a protective channel for the wire, and provides structural support. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for multiple specialized components, reducing overall device complexity
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
This approach reduces manufacturing complexity and weight, enhances wire protection, and prevents failure modes by embedding wires in dedicated channels, enabling automated and efficient harness assembly.
Implementation Method 1
forming a wire trap by deposition onto the surface of the product such that the wire trap defines a channel for holding the wire
Implementation Method 2
the channel opening having an opening width that is smaller than a maximum channel width such that, when received in the wire trap, a wire having a diameter larger than the opening width can be held in the channel by an interference fit
Data Source
AI summary
A method of forming a wire trap on a surface of a product for holding a wire is provided. The method comprises forming a wire trap by deposition onto the surface of the product such that the wire trap defines a channel for holding the wire. The channel comprises a channel opening and channel walls defining a channel width that varies as a function of channel depth from the channel opening to a channel base of the channel, the channel opening having an opening width that is smaller than a maximum channel width such that, when received in the wire trap, a wire having a diameter larger than the opening width can be held in the channel by an interference fit. A product comprising a wire trap is also provided.