JP6400350B2 - Water stop processing equipment for cable terminals - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a water stop structure for a cable end using a heat shrinkable tube and a water stop processing apparatus for the cable end.

  With the widespread use of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs), a charging device (charging stand) that charges a vehicle battery by connecting a charging gun to a connector on the vehicle side Are installed in various places. The charging device is often installed outdoors, and is often used in a situation where the charging gun is exposed to wind and rain. Therefore, sufficient water stop measures are required so that the apparatus main body is not flooded through the charging gun. In particular, in order to prevent infiltration of the surface of the electric wire constituting the cabtyre cable connecting the charging gun with the apparatus main body and between the electric wires, the cable terminal in which each electric wire of the cabtyre cable is connected to the connector terminal of the charging gun, It is necessary to stop the water without fail.

  As an example of such a water-stopping measure, Patent Document 1 discloses that a heat-shrinkable tube surrounding a conductor terminal portion of a plurality of electric wires is heated, and the contracted tube is attached to the conductor terminal portion and melted and solidified. A method of sealing the inside of a tube with a hot-melt adhesive (hot melt adhesive) to stop water is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-178144

  Water stoppage using a heat-shrinkable tube as disclosed in Patent Document 1 is effective in the case of a relatively small-diameter cable, but a relatively large-diameter cable such as a cab tire cable of a charging gun is sufficient. May not be able to achieve proper waterproofing. That is, in a cable having a relatively large diameter such as a cabtyre cable, the heat generated by heating the heat-shrinkable tube is not sufficiently transmitted to the portion of the hot-melt adhesive in the tube, resulting in uneven melting, and the heat-shrinkable tube In some cases, it is not possible to spread the melted hot-melt adhesive between the electric wires of the cable terminals only with the contraction force of. In this case, a void (so-called void) communicating with the outside is formed in the adhesive layer solidified inside the contracted tube, and the inside of the tube may not be sealed. If the heat-shrinkable tube is heated at a higher temperature for a long time, the hot-melt adhesive in the tube is surely melted to prevent the formation of voids, but the workability is deteriorated by the time required for the heating work. End up.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and reliably water-stops a cable end using a heat-shrinkable tube not only for a cable having a relatively small diameter but also for a cable having a large cable diameter. This is the issue.

  In order to solve the above problems, the water stop structure of the cable end of the present invention is such that the adhesive layer formed around the wires of the cable end where a plurality of wires are exposed and the end of the protective covering of the cable are heat-shrinkable. The heat-shrinkable tube is surrounded by a tube, and the heat-shrinkable tube is attached to the outer peripheral surface corresponding to the adhesive layer with a clamping mark clamped.

  According to this, by attaching an adhesive to the electric wire of the cable end and clamping the heat shrinkable tube surrounding this electric wire portion, the adhesive melted in the tube can be sufficiently obtained only by the contraction force of the heat shrinkable tube. Even if it cannot be pressed completely, it can be distributed evenly between the electric wires of the cable end in the tube. As a result, the inside of the heat-shrinkable tube can be sealed with the adhesive layer without forming voids (voids communicating with the outside along the cable) in the layer of adhesive in the heat-shrinkable tube, and the cable terminal Can be reliably water-stopped. Moreover, it becomes possible to discriminate, for example, leakage or malfunction of a water-stopping process with respect to a cable terminal, based on a clamping mark formed on the outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube.

  Further, the water stop processing device for the cable terminal of the present invention surrounds the adhesive layer formed around the electric wire of the cable terminal from which the plurality of electric wires are exposed, and the end of the protective covering of the cable, and the heating device A cooling device that cools the heat-shrinkable tube that has been applied by heating with the mold, and the cooling device is provided with a clamping tool for clamping the outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube corresponding to the adhesive layer. It is characterized by being.

  By using the water stop processing device, the cable terminal can be processed quickly and reliably so as to have the water stop structure as described above. The mold clamping jig in such a water stop processing apparatus can be configured, for example, to have a pair of clamps that sandwich the outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube one side at a time from both sides. Thereby, the whole periphery of a heat contraction tube can be clamped uniformly. In this case, the water stop processing apparatus is configured to include a drive unit that moves the pair of clamps up and down and opens and closes them. Moreover, the water stop processing apparatus can also be set as the structure provided with the pallet which positions and hold | maintains each electric wire of the said cable terminal one by one, and moves between the said heating apparatus and the said cooling apparatus. Thereby, it is easy to improve the work efficiency of the water stop process with respect to a cable terminal.

  According to the present invention, not only a cable having a relatively small diameter but also a cable having a large cable diameter can reliably stop the cable terminal using the heat-shrinkable tube.

It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the cable of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the water stop structure of the cable terminal of one Embodiment of this invention, Comprising: (a) is a figure which shows the state of the heat-shrinkable tube clamped, (b) is the layer of the adhesive agent inside a heat-shrinkable tube It is a figure which shows the aspect of this. It is a figure which shows the aspect of the layer of the adhesive agent formed in the cable terminal. (a) is a figure which shows the state which mounted | worn solid heat-melt-type adhesive agent at the base of the electric wire of a cable terminal, (b) is a figure which shows the state which inserted the heat contraction tube in the cable terminal of (a). . It is a figure which shows the aspect which the layer of the adhesive agent exposed from the edge part of the heat contraction tube, and was fixed. It is a figure which shows typically the structure of the water stop processing apparatus of the cable terminal of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the structure (before accommodation of a cable and an electric wire) of the pallet of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the pallet after accommodating a cable and an electric wire. It is a perspective view which shows the structure of the cooling device of a water stop processing apparatus, (a) is a figure which shows the state which the ventilation part and the mold clamping jig rose, (b) is the state which the ventilation part and the mold clamping jig fell. FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of a pair of clamp of a mold clamping jig, Comprising: (a) is a figure which shows the state which a pair of clamp opened, (b) is a figure which shows the state where a pair of clamp was closed.

  Hereinafter, a water stop structure for a cable terminal and a water stop processing apparatus for a cable terminal according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a cable 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention in which a cable terminal 1a is water-stopped.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cable 1 is formed by covering a plurality of electric wires 10 with a protective coating (sheath) 11 made of an insulator such as resin. Each electric wire 10 is formed by coating the outer periphery of an internal conductor with an external insulator, and a connector terminal 12 for connection with a counterpart device is attached to the tip. In addition, the number of the electric wires 10 which one cable 1 has is not specifically limited, Arbitrary numbers may be sufficient.

  In the cable 1, a portion (cable terminal) 1 a where the protective coating 11 at the tip end is peeled and the electric wire 10 is exposed is surrounded by the heat shrinkable tube 2. The heat-shrinkable tube 2 is formed of a resin material having heat-shrinkability such as polyolefin, fluorine-based polymer, thermoplastic elastomer, and the like.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the cable terminal 1 a has an adhesive layer 3 formed by heating and fixing a hot-melt adhesive (hot melt adhesive) around the exposed electric wire. The heat-shrinkable tube 2 is heat-shrinked and attached so as to surround the adhesive layer 3 and the end 11a of the protective coating 11.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the wire 10 of the cable terminal 1a before the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is attached is preliminarily fitted with a solid hot-melt adhesive 3a at the root, and the attached adhesive The heat-shrinkable tube 2 is inserted into the cable terminal 1a so as to surround the agent 3a. The heat shrinkable tube 2 has a larger inner diameter before heat shrinkage than the cable diameter and can be easily inserted into the cable terminal 1a. The heat-shrinkable tube 2 has a length (with respect to the extending direction of the cable 1) that can surround each of the root and the vicinity of the end 11a with the exposed base of the electric wire 10 and the end 11a of the protective coating 11 as a boundary. Dimension). FIG. 4 shows the hot-melt adhesive 3a that has a plurality of claws and is mounted by sandwiching the electric wire 10 between adjacent claws. However, it remains at the base of the electric wire 10 until it melts. If possible, the form is not particularly limited.

  When the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is heated to adhere to the cable end 1a, the heat-shrinkable tube 2 contracts and the solid heat-melt adhesive 3a surrounded by the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is also heated and melted. Then, an adhesive layer 3 is formed around the electric wires. In this case, around the electric wire on which the adhesive layer 3 is formed, the outer periphery of each electric wire 10, between the electric wires, the central portion of the electric wire bundle, and each portion between the electric wire bundle and the inner surface of the heat shrinkable tube are included.

  In the present embodiment, in such a state that the adhesive 3a is melted, the outer peripheral surface of the tube corresponding to the adhesive layer 3 is clamped so as to further reduce the diameter of the contracted heat-shrinkable tube 2. The agent layer 3 is closely attached around the electric wire inside the tube. Then, in this state, the adhesive layer 3 is cooled and solidified, and as shown in FIG. 3, the periphery of the electric wire is sealed with the adhesive layer 3 in the heat shrinkable tube 2, and the cable terminal 1 a is stopped. Has been processed.

  That is, by clamping the heat-shrinkable tube 2, even if the adhesive layer 3 near the center of the wire bundle cannot be fully pressed by only the shrinkage force of the heat-shrinkable tube 2, Can be spread evenly around the electric wire, so that the formation of voids (voids communicating with the outside along the cable 1) in the adhesive layer 3 can be prevented. Therefore, even when the cable diameter of the cable 1 is relatively large, the cable terminal 1a can be surely water-stopped without heating the heat-shrinkable tube 2 at a high temperature for a long time.

  In the heat-shrinkable tube 2 that has been clamped, a clamping mark (a concave / convex (waved portion) where valleys and ridges are continuous over the entire circumference) 20 is formed on the outer peripheral surface as shown in FIG. Therefore, it can be easily recognized that such a water stop process is performed on the cable terminal 1a. That is, it is possible to easily determine whether or not the cable 1 has been subjected to the water stop processing of the present embodiment based on the presence or absence of the tightening marks 20 on the cable terminal 1a. In addition, it is also possible to use the position and mode of the mark 20 for discrimination of a malfunction or the like of the water stop processing.

  In this case, it is preferable that the tight marks 20 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube 2 corresponding to the vicinity of the root of the electric wire 10 exposed at the cable terminal 1a. If the clamp 20 is formed in such a position, the adhesive layer 3 is efficiently pushed from the vicinity of the base of the electric wire 10 to the tip side without being damaged even if the cable terminal 1a is clamped. The cable terminal 1a is in a state of being tightly contacted with the cable terminal 1a (the state in which the length of the contact part is ensured with respect to the extending direction of the wire 10). It becomes a standard. The extruded adhesive layer 3 may be contained in the heat shrinkable tube 2 as shown in FIG. 2 (b), or may be partially exposed from the tube end as shown in FIG. It may be fixed.

  In the present embodiment, a hot-melt adhesive is applied to the inner surface of the heat-shrinkable tube 2, and this adhesive melts when the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is heated, and the inner surface of the tube is the protective coating 11 of the cable 1. It adheres to the end 11a. In addition, the adhesive melts together with the adhesive 3a at the base of the electric wire 10, and is fixed between the electric wire bundle and the inner surface of the tube to form the adhesive layer 3, so that the water stop processing of the cable terminal 1a is performed. It is made more surely.

  Next, a water stop processing apparatus for water stopping the cable terminal 1a using the heat shrinkable tube 2 will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of the water stop processing device 4 of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, the water stop processing device 4 includes a cable setting unit 5 in which the cable 1 to be water stop processed is set at a predetermined position, and a heating device that heats the heat shrinkable tube 2 and adheres it to the cable terminal 1 a. 6 and a cooling device 7 for cooling the heat-shrinkable tube 2 attached thereto.

  In the cable setting unit 5, the cable 1 is positioned and held on the pallet 8 as shown in FIGS. In this way, the pallet 8 holding the cable 1 circulates and moves in this order through the cable setting unit 5, the heating device 6, and the cooling device 7. In the heating device 6 and the cooling device 7, the cable 1 is held on the pallet 8. Each of them performs a predetermined work. Thereby, the working efficiency in these apparatuses 6 and 7 is improved. The pallet 8 can be moved by rotating a caster 88 provided on the bottom surface of the pallet.

  As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the pallet 8 is provided with recesses corresponding to the number of the electric wires 10, the pallet surface being recessed according to the shape of the electric wires 10 of the cable terminal 1 a. In the recess, the connector terminals 12 of the electric wires 10, the flanges 12a of the connector terminals 12, the connecting portions 14 of the connector terminals 12 and the electric wires 10, and the respective accommodating chambers 80a for accommodating the electric wires 10 exposed to the cable terminals 1a are connected. Is formed. Then, a tube housing chamber 80b which is continuous from the housing chamber 80a to the base end side of the cable 1 and is recessed in a substantially semi-cylindrical shape for housing the heat-shrinkable tube 2 inserted into the cable terminal 1a, and further accommodates the cable 1. A cable housing chamber 80c is formed. The cable housing chamber 80 c communicates with the outside at the end of the pallet 8 so that the cable 1 is drawn out.

  The electric wire 10 exposed to the cable 1 and the cable terminal 1a is accommodated in these accommodating chambers 80a to 80c, and is sandwiched between the wall portion 82a of the accommodating chamber 80a corresponding to the flange portion 12a of the connector terminal 12 and the leaf spring 84a. Thus, the positioning is maintained in the front-rear direction (the extending direction of the cable 1 and the electric wire 10) and in the direction intersecting with this. The cable housing chamber 80c is provided with an openable and closable upper lid 82c, and the cable 1 can be prevented from dropping out of the cable housing chamber 80c by closing the upper lid 82c after the cable is housed.

  The electric wire 10 accommodated in the accommodating chambers 80 a to 80 c of the pallet 8 is attached with a solid hot-melt adhesive 3 a at the root of the exposed portion of the cable terminal 10, and the end of the adhesive 3 a and the protective coating 11. The heat shrinkable tube 2 is inserted so as to surround 11a (see FIG. 4). In the tube housing chamber 80b, the curvature of the concave curved surface 82b is set so as to be opposed to the outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube 2 inserted in this manner with a predetermined gap.

  The operation as described above in the cable setting unit 5 may be performed by the operator 9 or may be performed automatically without human intervention.

  The heating device 6 is provided with a liftable heater unit (not shown). When the pallet 8 is moved to the heating device 6, the heater unit descends onto the tube storage chamber 80 b of the pallet 8, and the cable Hot air is blown out toward the heat shrinkable tube 2 inserted in the terminal 1a. Since the hot air blown out from the heater portion goes around the concave curved surface 82b of the tube housing chamber 80b, it is blown not only on the upper surface side of the heat shrinkable tube 2 facing the heater portion but also on the lower surface side. Thereby, the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is efficiently heated and contracted (reduced diameter) over the entire circumference, and the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is attached to the cable terminal 1a. Further, by heating the heat shrinkable tube 2, the solid hot-melt adhesive 3 a attached to the base of the electric wire 10 is also heated and melted to form an adhesive layer 3 around the electric wire ( 3 and 4).

  As shown in FIG. 9, the cooling device 7 is provided with a liftable air blowing unit 71, and when the pallet 8 is moved to the cooling device 7, the air blowing unit 71 is located above the tube storage chamber 80 b of the pallet 8. Then, air at room temperature or a temperature lower than room temperature is blown out toward the heat-shrinkable tube 2 attached to the cable terminal 1a. The air blowing unit 71 includes an air cooling fan or the like, and the wind circulates into the concave curved surface 82b of the tube housing chamber 80b in the same manner as the hot air from the heater unit, and the heat contraction facing the air blowing unit 71. Since it is sprayed not only on the upper surface side of the tube 2 but also on the lower surface side, the heat shrinkable tube 2 is efficiently cooled over the entire circumference.

  The cooling device 7 is provided with a clamping tool 72 for clamping the outer peripheral surface of the heat shrinkable tube 2 corresponding to the adhesive layer 3 (see FIG. 3) formed around the electric wire. As shown in FIG. 10, the mold clamping jig 72 has a pair of clamps 72a, and the clamps 72a sandwich the outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube 2 one side at a time from both sides over the entire circumference. It has become. Thereby, the whole periphery of the heat contraction tube 2 can be clamped uniformly. The pair of clamps 72a are arranged so that the positions in the front-rear direction (wire extension direction) are shifted from each other so that they do not collide with each other at the time of clamping, and a substantially semicircular recess 73 sandwiching the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is provided. The openings 73a are formed to face each other. The recess 73 is set to have a curvature so as to be circular with a diameter smaller than the cable diameter of the cable 1 when the pair of clamps 72a are closed so as to be close to each other. The opening 73a of the recess 73 is widened toward the clamping direction (the proximity direction of the pair of clamps 72a) so that the heat-shrinkable tube 2 can be easily clamped.

  When the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is clamped, the pair of clamps 72a together with the air blower 71 are lowered onto the heat-shrinkable tube 2 so as to be spaced apart from each other, and are concavely curved into the tube housing chamber 80b of the pallet 8. The outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is clamped by the recess 73 by entering along 82b and closing so as to be close to each other. Accordingly, the adhesive layer 3 in the vicinity of the center portion of the wire bundle can be surely pressed and spread uniformly around the electric wire, and the adhesive layer 3 can be adhered around the electric wire inside the tube. (See FIG. 3). As a result, the formation of voids (voids communicating with the outside of the cable) in the adhesive layer 3 can be prevented, and the cable terminal 1a can be reliably water-stopped. In this embodiment, since the heat shrinkable tube 2 is clamped in this way, not only a relatively small diameter cable, but also a large cable diameter, the center of the wire bundle can be obtained only by the shrinkage force (diameter shrinkage force) of the heat shrinkable tube 2. Even if the cable does not completely press the adhesive layer 3 in the vicinity of the portion, the cable terminal 1a can be surely water-stopped.

  In this case, the clamping position of the pair of clamps 72a is adjusted to be the position where the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is attached corresponding to the vicinity of the root of the electric wire 10 exposed at the cable terminal 1a (FIG. 2A). reference). Thus, the adhesive layer 3 can be efficiently pushed out from the vicinity of the base of the electric wire 10 to the tip side without being damaged by the clamp 72a when the electric wire 10 is clamped, so that the electric wire 10 can be brought into close contact with the periphery of the electric wire.

  After the heat-shrinkable tube 2 is thus clamped, the pair of clamps 72a are reopened and moved up to the initial position together with the blower 71 (state shown in FIG. 9 (a)). In this state, the cable 1 is removed from the pallet 8, and the pallet 8 that has become empty is circulated and moved to the cable setting unit 5. Then, after the new cable 1 to be water-stopped is set on the pallet 8 in the cable setting unit 5, the heating device 6 and the cooling device 7 are sequentially moved, and the predetermined work as described above is repeated in each device.

  In addition, raising / lowering of the heater part in the heating apparatus 6, raising / lowering of the ventilation part 71 and the mold clamping jig 72 (clamp 72a) in the cooling apparatus 7, and opening / closing of the clamp 72a, for example, rotation and winding of a belt or a chain, It can be performed by any driving means such as expansion and contraction.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on one embodiment as shown in FIGS. 1-10, embodiment mentioned above is only an example of this invention and this invention is not limited to this. Absent.

  As the cable 1 of the present embodiment, for example, a relatively large-diameter cable such as a cabtire cable that connects a charging gun of a charging device (charging stand) for charging a battery mounted on an EV, a PHV, or the like to the device main body. A cable can be assumed as an example. However, even if the cable has a relatively small diameter, the cable end can be reliably water-stopped, and the application range is not limited to only a cable having a large cable diameter.

  In the present embodiment, a pair of clamps 72 a which are mold clamping jigs 72 are provided in the cooling device 7, and the heat shrinkable tube 2 heated by the heating device 6 is clamped. A mode in which a jig is provided and the mold is clamped when the heat shrinkable tube 2 is heated can be assumed. However, when the mold is clamped when the heat shrinkable tube 2 is heated, it is assumed that the hot air blown from the heater portion is blocked by the clamp and cannot be efficiently blown to the heat shrinkable tube 2. A configuration in which a clamping tool is provided in the device 6 is not adopted. Immediately after the end of heating (about several tens of seconds), the heat shrinkable tube 2 and the adhesive layer 3 formed in the tube are both flexible enough to be clamped. Even at times, these can be clamped and no particular problem arises.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cable 1a Cable terminal 2 Heat-shrinkable tube 3 Adhesive layer 6 Heating device 7 Cooling device 8 Pallet 10 Electric wire 11 Protective coating 11a Protective coating end 20 Catch mark 72 Clamping jig 72a Clamp

Claims (2)

The adhesive layer formed around the wire of the cable end where a plurality of wires are exposed and the end of the protective coating of the cable are surrounded, and heated with a heating device to cool the deposited heat-shrinkable tube. With cooling device,
Wherein the cooling device, mold clamping jig for clamping the outer peripheral surface of the heat shrinkable tube corresponding to said layer of adhesive is provided et al is,
Further, the water stop processing device for a cable terminal is provided with a pallet that positions and holds each electric wire of the cable terminal one by one and moves between the heating device and the cooling device. The mold clamping jig has a pair of clamps that sandwich the outer peripheral surface of the heat-shrinkable tube from one side to the other from both sides,
The water stopping device for a cable terminal according to claim 1 , further comprising a driving unit that raises and lowers the pair of clamps and opens and closes the pair of clamps.

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