Wire routing device

Abstract: Wire (38) is routed onto a bus plate (74) by a wire routing device which comprises a wire feed mechanism (14) and a non-rotatable wire routing head (16). The wire routing head (16) has a horn (48) which includes an inverted funnel-shaped orifice (72). The wire feed mechanism (14) pushes wire (38) into the inverted funnel-shaped orifice (72) which routes the wire (38) in wire receiving channels and passages of the bus plate (74) in linear and non-linear patterns without any need for rotating the horn (48) with respect to the bus plate (74).

Description: This invention relates to a wire routing device and to a method of routing wire onto a support. US-A-4,684,765, an earlier patent of the applicant, discloses an electrical bus assembly of the routed wire type which comprises a precision moulded thermoplastics bus insulation plate having a base with islands forming terminal stations and guide stations separated from each other to provide a network of wire receiving channels which communicate with wire passages passing through the terminal and guide stations. Electrically conductive wires are laid into the wire receiving channels and wire passages in preselected patterns. Terminal cavities extend through the base and intersect the wire passages in the terminal stations. The electrical bus assembly is placed into an electrical connector assembly and electrical blade terminals are plugged into the electrical connector assembly with the electrically conductive wires serving to splice a number of electrical blade terminals together. The electrically conductive wires are routed by planting the end of a solid core copper wire into a hole in the plate, and then moving the plate under a rotary processor head containing a servo feed to plant the end of a solid core copper wire into a hole in the plate, a planting finger to press the wire into the wire receiving channels and wire passages of the plate and a cutter blade to cut the wire at the terminal end. This prior art routed wire assembly has been successfully used by the Packard Electric Division of General Motors Corporation for a number of years. However, there are certain problems with the assembly. The rotary processor head rotates every time copper wire turns a corner. More specifically, when it is necessary for the copper wire to turn a corner, the table moves the plate until it gets to the point of the desired corner and then it stops. The rotary processor head then rotates 45 degrees. The table makes a short 45 degree move in the same direction that the rotary processor head is now pointing. Then the table stops again. The rotary processor head then rotates another 45 degree to complete the desired 90 degree turn. The table then moves the plate onto the next corner or to the terminal end where the copper wire is cut. This cornering method requires a considerable amount of cycle time. Moreover, in practice, the copper wire is pulled out of the rotary processor head after the end is planted in the hole and the plate moves under the rotary processor head for the planting finger to press the wire into the channels and passages of the plate. This feature tends to stretch the copper wire and build up residual stress that resist firm planting of the wire as it turns corners. The present invention seeks to provide an improved wiring routing device and method of routing wire onto a support. According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wire routing device as specified in claim 1. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of routing wire onto a support as specified in claim 12. The feature of the non-rotatable head can reduce the complexity of the wire routing device and method of routing wire onto a support. Moreover, wire can be routed around corners without any need for a rotating routing head, which means that corners can be turned more easily and more quickly during the wire routing process. Preferably, wire is pushed into position during the wire routing process, which can make turning corners easier. It is possible to reduce manufacturing cycle times significantly, thereby reducing manufacturing cost significantly. Advantageously, wire can be routed and planted without inducing any significant residual stress in the wire which can improve durability and reliability of devices thus manufactured. An embodiment of the present invention is described below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side elevational view of an embodiment of non-rotating wire routing device; Figure 2 is a plan view of part of the non-rotating wire routing device of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a front elevational view of the non-rotating wire routing device of Figure 1; Figure 4 is an enlarged exploded perspective view of a portion of the non-rotating wire routing device of Figure 1; Figure 5 is a plan view of an electrical bus assembly formed with the device of Figure 1; Figures 6A to 6D are side elevational views in cross-section of the non-rotating wire routing device of Figure 1 during various stages of routing conductor wire onto a bus insulation plate to form the electrical bus assembly of Figure 5; and Figures 7A to 7C are enlarged side elevational views in partial cross-section of the non-rotating wire routing device of Figure 1 during various stages of routing conductor wire onto a bus insulation plate to form the electrical bus assembly of Figure 5. Referring to Figures 1 to 4, the wire routing device 10 comprises a frame 11 which includes a base plate 12. The frame 11 is attached to a vertical slide of a machine (not shown) having a bidirectional slide table located below the wire routing device 10. This table moves horizontally in two directions, that is longitudinally along an X-axis and transversely along a Y-axis, with respect to the wire routing device 10 so that it can route wire onto a flat insulation plate or the like to produce a routed wire electrical bus assembly of the type shown in Figure 5. The frame 11 carries a locating device of any suitable form to align at a zero point the table with respect to the wire routing device 10. The base plate 12 supports a wire feed mechanism 14 above the plate and a wire routing head 16 below the plate. The wire feed mechanism 14 includes an electric motor 18 and a resolver 20 which are supported on an upright mounting plate 22 attached to the frame 11. A bearing block 24 and side plates 26 are also attached to the frame 11 forming a housing in front of the electric motor 18 and resolver 20. A wire drive roller 28 is journalled in a bearing slide 30 carried by the bearing block 24. The wire drive roller 28 is driven by a pulley 32 belt-driven by the electric motor 18. The wire drive roller 28 is proximate a wire guide 34 attached to the face of the bearing block 24. A cooperating pressure roller 36 is journalled on the bearing block 24 and located on the opposite side of the wire guide 34. The rollers 28 and 36 engage opposite sides of wire 38 which is inserted into the wire guide 34 from a reel (not shown) and feed wire 38 from the reel (not shown) into the wire routing head 16. The wire drive roller 28 and the cooperating pressure roller 36 carry meshing spur gears 40 so that the drive roller 28 drives the pressure roller 36 at the same speed during the wire feeding process. The pressure roller 36 is coupled to the resolver 20 by a spring coupling 42. The resolver 20 functions to measure the length of wire fed by the wire feed mechanism 14. The electric motor also has a gear 41 for manually actuating the wire feed mechanism 14. The wire routing head 16 comprises a feed tube 42, a horn plate 44, a cutter blade 46 and a horn 48. The feed tube 42 extends through the base plate 12 and fits into the bottom of the wire guide 34 so that it receives wire 38 being fed by the wire feeder 14 above the base plate 12. The tip of the feed tube 42 projects beneath the base plate 12 and fits into a chamfer at the upper end of a bore extending through the horn plate 44. The horn plate 44 has a depending rib 50 having two steps which provide an anvil riser 52 beneath an intermediate guide step 54. As indicated above, the horn plate 44 has a through bore 56 chamfered at its upper end to receive the tip of the feed tube 42. The through bore 56 opens onto the tread of the guide step 56 next to the anvil riser 52. The cutter blade 46 has a hollow end 58 guided on the guide step 54. The hollow end 58 has a lower cutting edge 60 which cooperates with the anvil riser 52 to cut off wire fed through the through bore 56. The cutter blade 46 has a pin 62 at its opposite end for operating the cutter blade 46 through a linkage described below. The horn 48 is a disc shaped body fastened to the underside of the horn plate 44 over the depending rib 50 by machine screws or other suitable fasteners. The horn 48 has a longitudinal slot 64 which receives the depending rib 50 and the cutting end of the cutter blade 46 when it is fastened in place. The cutter blade 46 reciprocates in the slot 64 guided by the guide step 54, which fits into the hollow end 58 of the cutter blade 46. The cutter blade 46 is reciprocated by a link 66 pivotally mounted beneath the base plate 12 between its ends, both of which are slotted. One slotted end of the link 66 receives the pin 62 on the end of the cutter blade 46 as shown in Figure 4. The other slotted end receives a pin of a clevis 68 which projects through a slot in the base plate 12. The clevis 68 is attached to the end of a piston rod of a pneumatic motor 70 mounted on top of the base plate 12. Reciprocation of the piston rod rocks the link 66 back and forth to reciprocate the cutter blade 46. The horn 48 has a flat round bottom face 71 and also includes an inverted funnel shaped orifice 72 opening onto the bottom face 71 for routing wire 38 onto a bus plate in order to manufacture bus plate assemblies of the type that are disclosed in US-A-4,684,765 referred to above. The wire routing device 10 is used to manufacture electrical bus assemblies such as the electrical bus assembly 74 shown in Figure 5. The electrical bus assembly comprises a bus insulation plate 76 of thermoplastics material and lengths of electrically conductive wire 38a, 38b, 38c, etc. The bus insulation plate 76 has a flat base 78 and a plurality of integral islands on the flat base 78 which provide terminal stations 80 and guide stations 81. The terminal stations 80 and guide stations 81 are separated from each other so as to provide a network of wire receiving channels 82 which communicate with wire passages 83 extending through the terminal and guide stations. The terminal stations 80 also have terminal slots 84 extending through the insulation plate 76 and intersecting the wire receiving passages 83. These slots receive insulation displacement terminals which establish electrical connections with the electrically conductive wires in the wire passages 83. The insulation displacement terminals have been omitted for the sake of clarity, however, a detailed description of suitable terminals is given in US-A-4,684,765 referred to above. The insulation plate 76 also has a plurality of small round holes 85 extending through the base 78 for starting the electrically conductive wires 38a, 38b, 38c, etc. The electrically conductive wires 38a, 38b, 38c, etc are routed onto the bus insulation plate 78 by the non-rotating wire routing device 10. Figures 6A to 6D illustrate the non-rotating wire routing device 10 during various stages of routing conductor wire onto the bus insulation plate 76 to manufacture the electrical bus assembly 74 shown in Figure 5. More particularly, these Figures show the sequence for routing wire 38 onto the bus insulation plate 76 to form a short, straight conductor wire 38a . The bus insulation plate 76 is secured to the table (not shown) beneath the wire routing device 10. The wire routing device 10 is then lowered until the wire routing head 16 is spaced very close to the top of the bus insulation plate 76 over a starting hole 85a. The end of the wire 38a is then planted into the starting hole 85a of the insulation plate 76 by the wire routing device 10 as shown in Figure 6A. The table then moves horizontally to the right (in the view of Figure 6A) from the position shown in Figure 6A to the position shown in Figure 6B. The wire feeding mechanism 14 feeds out and preferably pushes wire 38 through the wire routing head 16 as the table moves. The inverted funnel shaped orifice 72 guides the wire 38 being fed out into the horizontal wire receiving passages 83 of a series of terminal and guide stations which communicate via transverse wire receiving channels 82, while the flat bottom face 71 of the horn 48 surrounding the exit of the orifice 72 guides the wire down into the passages 83 and interconnecting channels 82 as shown in Figure 6B. As the table continues to move to the right and nears the desired termination of the wire conductor 38a, the cutter blade 46 is actuated to cut the wire 38 being fed through the wire routing head 16, as shown in Figure 6C. After the wire is cut, the table continues to move to the right while the feeding mechanism is stopped so that the wire routing head 16 guides the cut end of the wire 38 into the wire receiving passage 83, as shown in Figure 6D. After the wire conductor 38a is completed, the table can be moved to a position suitable for starting a new wire conductor or if the wire conductor is the last one to be routed onto the insulation plate 76, the slide can be raised to remove the routed wire bussing assembly which has just been completed. While the planting of this simple short straight conductor wire 38a has been described in distinct steps, it should be understood that the table and wire routing device 10 are in this embodiment operated in a continuous matter. As shown in Figure 5, the conductor wires are routed in more complicated patterns than the short straight conductor wire 38a described above. For instance the conductor wire 38d-38e-38f turns back and forth between a horizontal direction on an X-axis and a transverse direction on a Y-axis. The turning or cornering operations as the conductor wire changes from a horizontal direction to a transverse direction and back is described in connection with Figures 7A, 7B and 7C. These Figures are enlarged side views of the non-rotating wire routing device 10 as it routes conductor wire 38 onto the bus insulation plate 76 around a corner of an island of guide station 81b and then around a corner of another island of guide station 81c to lay the conductor wire 38d-38e-38f during the manufacture of the electrical bus assembly shown in Figure 5. The conductor wire portion 38d is started and laid into the horizontal wire receiving passages 83 of a series of terminal and guide stations 80 and 81 which communicate via transverse or vertical wire receiving channels 82 in the same manner as described in connection with the conductor wire 38a until wire 38 passes guide station 81b and the centreline 88 of the inverted funnel aperture 72 intersects the centreline 90 of the channel 82b, as shown in Figure 7A. When the wire routing device 10 reaches this position, the horizontal movement of the table along the X-axis, that is horizontal movement to the right in the plane of the paper as viewed in Figure 7A, stops, whereupon transverse movement along the Y-axis is initiated, that is horizontal movement into the paper in a plane perpendicular to the plane of paper. As the table holding the insulation plate 76 changes direction and proceeds transversely, the wire portion 38e in the inverted funnel orifice 72, slides around the inverted funnel orifice so that it wraps around the corner of the island of the guide station 81b and enters the channel 82b. As the table and insulation plate 76 continue moving in the transverse direction along the Y-axis, the wire portion 38e is pushed into the channel 82b by the flat bottom face 71 of the horn 48 surrounding the exit of the orifice 72, as shown in Figure 7B. As shown in Figure 7A, the inverted funnel orifice 72 has a straight portion 72s of uniform diameter and an inverted funnel portion 72f having a funnel radius R sufficient to provide a smooth surface with the straight portion 72s and the flat bottom 71. The funnel radius R must be large enough so that the wire portion 38e can slide out of the inverted funnel orifice 72 easily. On the other hand the funnel radius R cannot be so large that interference between the wire portion 38e and the island of the guide station 81b is not sufficient to prevent the wire portion 38e entering the adjacent channel 82a instead of channel 82b when the table and insulation plate 76 change direction. It has been found that, as a practical matter, the inverted funnel radius is preferably about 1 mm and should not exceed about 2 mm based on trials conducted with 20 gauge copper wire (approximately 0.80 mm diameter) fed through a feed tube of about 1.00 mm and pushed into wire receiving channels and passages which were about 0.70 mm wide and had a minimum centreline-to-centreline spacing of about 2.25 mm. With reference to Figure 7B, the table and insulation plate 76 continue moving in the transverse plane until the conductor wire portion 38e is laid into the transverse wire receiving channel 82b, until wire 38 passes guide station 81c and until the centreline 88 of the inverted funnel aperture 72 intersects the centreline of the channel 82c. When the wire routing device 10 reaches this position, the transverse movement of the table along the Y-axis stops, whereupon horizontal movement along the X-axis resumes. As the table holding the insulation plate 76 changes direction and proceeds horizontally to the right, the wire portion 38 in the inverted funnel orifice 72 slides around the inverted funnel orifice so that it wraps around a corner of the guide station 81c and enters the channel 82c. As the table and insulation plate 76 continue moving, this wire portion is pushed into the channel 82c by the flat bottom face 71 of the horn 48 to provide the conductor wire portion 38f shown in Figures 5 and 7C. The above cornering operations have been described as separate moving steps, for instance, horizontal movement and then a transverse movement. However, a more continuous operation where movement in the new direction begins slowly as movement in the old direction slows down to a halt is also possible and preferred. From the foregoing descriptions and Figure 5, it can be seen that virtually any shape of wire conductor 38 can be routed onto the insulation board 76 by combinations of the straight and cornering operations described above. Moreover, the cornering operations are not limited to orthogonal paths because the wire can be routed onto any curved, angular or other non-linear path as necessary. The lowering and raising of the slide, the movement (direction and speed) of the table and the operation of the wire feeding mechanism and the cutter blade can be controlled and coordinated by any suitable programmable control device so that a very large variety of bussing assemblies are possible. It should be noted that the wire routing head 16 continues to press previously laid conductor wires into the wire receiving channels and passages as new conductor wires are being laid because the relatively large flat bottom face 71 overlies several channels and passages near the one into which the conductor wire is being laid.

Claims: A wire routing device for routing wire onto a support, comprising a base plate (12) supporting a wire feed mechanism (14) and a wire routing head (16), the wire routing head (16) including a horn (48) non-rotatably secured to the base plate (12) and which comprises a funnel-shaped orifice (72) tapering into the horn from a dispensing face for routing wire (38) onto a support in a predetermined pattern. A wire routing device according to claim 1, wherein the wire feed mechanism includes a wire guide (34) and urging means for urging wire through a feed tube (42) attached to the wire guide (34) into the wire routing head. A wire routing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the horn (48) includes a substantially flat surface (71) surrounding the funnel-shaped orifice (72) at the dispensing face of the horn. A wire routing device according to claim 3, wherein the funnel-shaped orifice comprises a substantially straight portion (72s) of substantially uniform diameter and a funnel-shaped portion (72f) substantially flush with the straight portion (72s) and the flat surface (71) of the horn (48). A wire routing device according to claim 4, wherein the funnel-shaped portion (72f) has a radius (R) or a size to provide sufficient interference between a portion of wire being dispensed and an island of the base plate to ensure accurate placement in a wire receiving channel in the base plate. A wire routing device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the funnel-shaped portion (72f) has a radius (R) not exceeding around 2 millimetres. A wire routing device according to claim 4, 5 or 6, wherein the funnel-shaped portion (72f) has a radius (R) of substantially 1 millimetre. A wire routing device according to any preceding claim, wherein the wire routing head comprises a horn plate (44) non-rotatably secured to the base plate, the horn plate including a depending rib (50) comprising two steps providing an anvil riser (52) beneath an intermediate guide step (54) and a through bore chamfered at an end thereof to receive a tip of a feed tube (42) and opening onto a tread of the guide step (56) next to the anvil riser (52); the wire routing head comprising a cutter blade (46) including a hollow end (58) guided on the guide step and which comprises a lower cutting edge (60) cooperating with the anvil riser to cut wire fed through the through bore, the horn (48) including a disc shaped body fastened to the underside of the horn plate over the depending rib and comprising a longitudinal slot (64) receiving the depending rib and the cutting end of the cutter blade when fastened in place. A wire routing device according to claim 8, wherein the cutter blade can reciprocate in the slot guided by the guide step by means of a link (66) pivotally mounted on the base plate between slotted ends thereof, one slotted end of the link receiving a pin (62) on the end of the cutter blade and another slotted end receiving a pin of a clevis (68) attached to the end of a reciprocating rod adapted to rock the link to reciprocate the cutter blade. A wire routing device according to any preceding claim, wherein the base plate supports the wire feed mechanism at one surface thereof and the wire routing head at an opposite surface thereof. A wire routing device according to any preceding claim for routing conductor wire onto a bus plate to manufacture routed wire bussing assemblies. A method of routing wire onto a support comprising the steps of placing the support beneath a wire feed mechanism (14) and a wire routing head (16), the wire routing head (16) including a horn (48) comprising a funnel-shaped orifice (72) for routing wire (38) onto the support in a non-linear pattern; and moving the support with respect to the wire feed mechanism and the wire routing head to route wire (38) onto the support in a predetermined pattern when wire is fed through the inverted funnel shaped orifice by the wire feed mechanism. A method according to claim 12, wherein the horn includes a flat bottom surface (71) surrounding an exit of the funnel-shaped orifice, the method comprising the steps of pressing wire into wire receiving channels and passages of the support. A method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the wire feeding mechanism pushes the wire through the funnel-shaped orifice.

Inventors: LIGUORE LOUIS JOSEPH, VAN ZEELAND ALAN CYRIL, LIGUORE, LOUIS JOSEPH, VAN ZEELAND, ALAN CYRIL
Applicants: GEN MOTORS CORP, GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION
Application year: 1993
Main classification: H05K13
IPC codes: H05K7, H05K13