Abstract:
An arrangement structure for a door harness for a vehicle includes a wire harness which can be curved to form a loop segment; a harness protector in which the wire harness is held; a guide section in which the harness protector is slidably engaged; a harness accommodating section in which the loop segment of the wire harness is accommodated; and a door structure integrated to the guide section and the harness accommodating section. This configuration improves the productivity of a vehicle and reduces the cost of components.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an arrangement structure of a door harness for a vehicle in which a looping portion is expanded or contracted when a vehicle door is opened or closed. 
     2. Related Art 
     FIGS. 6-7 show an arrangement structure of a vehicle door which was proposed JP-A-10-217874 laid open Aug. 18, 1998. 
     This structure includes a harness accommodating structure of synthetic resin assembled with a door inner panel  51  of a motor vehicle, a harness protector  53  which is slidably fit in the harness accommodating case  52  and a cover  54  overlaid on the harness accommodating case  52 . 
     A wire harness (door harness)  55  is passed through the harness protector  53 . The one end of the wire harness  55  is communicated with a connector  56  at the tip of the harness protector  53  (FIG.  7 ). The other end of the wire harness  55  is connected to each of auxiliary machines such as a power window motor or door lock (not shown) within the door and a switch unit of the side of a door trim  68 . The connector  56  (FIG. 7) is connected to a connector  60  of a wire harness  59  at a rotatable bracket  58  on the side of vehicle body  57 . 
     As shown in FIG. 7, the harness accommodating case  52  includes a circle portion  61  in which the wire harness  55  is housed in a ring shape and a rectangular portion  62  in which the harness protector  53  is slidably fit. The wire harness  55  is expandable within the circular portion  61  when the door is opened or closed. When the door is opened as shown in FIG. 6, the wire harness  55  is pulled to expand, whereas when the door is closed, the wire harness  55  is expanded to make a loop within the circular portion  61  to absorb the slack thus generated. 
     The harness accommodating case  52  is provided with a harness supporting pin  63 , a harness drawing opening  64  and a pin  65  used to fix a cover  54 . The cover  54  is provided with engagement holes  66  and  67  which are to be engaged with the pins  63  and  65 , respectively. The wire harness  55  is arranged to surround the harness supporting pin  63  in a loop. 
     However, the above conventional structure has the following disadvantages. Specifically, this structure is accompanied with troublesome operations of assembling the harness accommodating case  52  with the door inner panel  51  and assembling the cover  54  with the harness accommodating case  52 . This structure requires much cost to fabricate components such as the harness accommodating case  52  and cover  54 . In addition, when the wire harness  55  expands or shrinks within the harness accommodating case  52  in door opening or closing, it may be rubbed against the bottom plate  70  of the harness accommodating case  52  to generate foreign sound and may be difficult to expand or contract smoothly. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide an arrangement structure of a vehicle door which houses a wire harness in an expanding or contracting manner within a vehicle door and can reduce the man-hours and cost required to assemble the components such as a harness accommodating case and can expand or shrink a wire harness with no foreign sound. 
     In order to attain the above object, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided an arrangement structure for a door harness for a vehicle comprising: a wire harness which can be curved to form a loop segment; a harness protector in which the wire harness is held; a guide section in which the harness protector is slidably engaged; a harness accommodating section in which the loop segment of the wire harness is accommodated; and a door structure integrated to said guide section and the harness accommodating section. In this configuration, since the guide section is integrally formed to the door structure, it is not necessary to assemble or form the guide section and the harness accommodating section individually, thereby improving the productivity of a vehicle and reducing the cost required to prepare the components. 
     Preferably, the guide section has a pair of guide components each having an L-shape in cross section, and the harness protector has a pair of plate-like sliding portions which is in slidable-contact with the guide components, respectively. In this configuration, the guide components having a simple L-shape in cross section can be easily formed integrally to the door structure. In addition, the plate-like sliding portion permits the harness protector to slide smoothly. 
     Preferably, the harness accommodating section has a harness accommodation wall which is successive to the guide section and is uprighted integrally from the door structure. 
     In this configuration, the harness accommodating wall can surely protect the loop segment of the wire harness. 
     Preferably, said harness accommodating section has a plurality of harness sliding protrusive strips radially formed to correspond to the loop segment of the wire harness. 
     In this configuration, when the door is opened or closed, the loop segment of the wire harness expands or contracts while it is in sliding-contact with the harness sliding protrusive strips with low friction, thereby preventing sliding sound from occurring and permitting the smooth expansion/contraction operation of the loop segment. 
     Preferably, the harness accommodating portion has a harness securing piece formed integrally to the door structure. This configuration reduces the man-hours of mounting the harness securing piece and component cost, and surely secure the wire harness to the door structure to prevent foreign sound from occurring. 
     Preferably, the harness securing piece has a harness securing arm to form a gap into which the harness is to be inserted. In this configuration, since the wire harness can be easily inserted into the harness securing piece from the gap, thereby simplifying the harness securing operation. 
     The wire harness includes a straight segment on which a tape is wound and said loop segment, the loop segment is composed of a fixed portion on which the tape is wound and secured to the harness securing piece and an expandable/contractable portion successive to the harness protector. In this confguration, since the portion of the wire harness on which the tape is wound can be smoothly and easily inserted into the harness securing arm of the harness securing piece. In addition, since the expandable/contractable portion of the loop segment on which the tape is not wound is curved flexibly, the expansion/contraction operation can be carried out smoothly and surely. 
     Preferably, the harness accommodating portion has a harness supporting pin is formed integrally to the door structure so that it is located inside the loop segment. In this configuration, since the shape of the loop segment when the loop segment is contracted is assured by the harness supporting pin integrated to the door structure, the subsequent expansion operation of the loop segment can be smoothly carried out. 
     Preferably, the harness accommodating section has a cover securing piece formed integrally to the door structure and to be engaged with a cover. In this configuration, the harness accommodating section can be surely closed by the cover. 
     The above and other objects and features of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an embodiment of an arrangement structure of a door harness for a vehicle; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken in line A—A showing the arrangement state between a harness protector and a guide; 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken in line B—B showing the state where a cover is to be secured to a cover-securing portion; 
     FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken in line C—C showing an example of the harness securing portion; 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken in line D—D showing the sliding state between a protrusion strip for harness sliding and a wiring harness; 
     FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view showing a conventional arrangement structure of a door harness for a vehicle; and 
     FIG. 7 an exploded perspective view showing a main part of the conventional arrangement structure. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Now referring to the drawings, an explanation will be given of embodiments of the present invention. 
     FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an arrangement structure of a door harness for a vehicle. 
     This structure is characterized in that a guide  2  used to slide a harness protector  1  and a harness accommodating section  5  for a loop segment  4  of a wire harness (door harness) are integrated to a door trim (door structure)  6  of synthetic resin. 
     The door trim  6  is composed of a trim core  6   a  and a trim cover  6   b . The guide section  2  and harness accommodating section  5  are located on the outer surface of the trim core  6   a , i.e. near a door inner panel (not shown). The trim cover  6   b  faces the indoor side. The guide section  2  is located near a door hinge (not shown). The door trim in FIG. 1 is shown as a front left handle for inconvenience of illustration. 
     The guide section  2  is a pair of upper and lower guide components (simply referred to as “guides”) which are symmetrical. Each guide  2 , as shown in FIG. 2 (taken in line A—A in FIG.  1 ), is composed of a horizontal wall  7  extending from the trim core  6   a  and a vertical wall  8  inwardly protruding from the horizontal wall  7 , these walls  7  and  8  being formed in a L-shape in a longitudinal cross section. The trim core  6   a  has a through-hole  10  which is opposite to each vertical wall  8 . The through-hole  10  serves to draw a shape and also reduce the sliding sound (i.e. sliding area) between the harness protector  1  and sliding portion  9 . 
     In FIG. 1, between the pair of guides  2  and  2 , the trim core  6   a  is swelled toward the trim cover  6   b  to form a concave portion  11  for receiving the harness protector  1 . Between the concave portion  11  and through-hole  10 , a sliding-contact portion  12  having a small width is formed to communicate with the harness protector  1 . As seen from FIG. 2, the sliding-contact portion  12  has a width equal to that of each of the upper and lower side walls  13  of the concave portion  11 . As seen from FIG. 1, the concave portion  11  has through-holes  14  which serve to recognize the harness protector  1 , reduce the weight and to reduce the sound (i.e. area) due to the sliding between itself and the harness protector  1 . The front ends  15  of the guides  2  are opened and the rear ends thereof are closed by cover fixing pieces  16   1  and  16   2 , respectively. 
     The cover fixing piece  161 ,  162  as seen from FIG. 3 (taken in line B—B in FIG.  1 ), has an engagement hole  21  formed in a tip wall  18  of a hollow square column  17  and corresponding to a locking pin  20  of a cover  19 . The column  17  is extends from the panel core  6   a . The trim core  6   a  has a through-hole  21  which is opposite to the engagement hole  21  and serves to draw a shape and unlock the cover  19 . In FIG. 1, the concave portion  11  is slightly extended rearward from the cover fixing pieces  16 , and  162 (rearward in a vehicle running direction). The cover  19  can be replaced by a door inner panel of synthetic resin (not shown) (denoted by reference numeral  51  in FIG. 6 in the prior art). 
     Behind the concave portion  11 , the harness accommodating wall  23 , starting from the cover fixing pieces  16   1  and  16   2 , is uprighted from the trim core  6   a  in a square frame shape. The harness accommodating wall  23  has a cover fixing piece  163  formed integrally to the center of its rear wall  23   a . The uprighting height of the harness accommodating wall  23  is equal to that of the cover fixing pieces  16   1 - 16   3 . 
     The harness accommodating wall  23  has a harness fixing piece  24  formed on the lower side of the real wall  23   a . The harness fixing piece  24  has an engagement hole  26  for a clamp  25  for clamping the wire harness  3  and has the same structure as the cover fixing pieces  16   1 - 16   3 . The harness accommodating wall  23  has harness fixing pieces  28   1 - 28   2  each having an arc harness securing arm  27 , which are formed integrally to the wall  23  near the rear end of the lower  23   b  and near the upper cover fixing piece  16   1  on the front wall  23   c.    
     The harness fixing piece  28   1  ( 28   2 ), as seen form FIG. 4 (taken in line C—C in FIG.  1 ), has the flexible harness securing arm  27  at the tip of the one side wall  29   a  of a square cylindrical column  29   a . The harness securing arm Z 7  is curved toward the other side wall  29   b  (harness accommodating wall  23 ) so as to form a harness insertion gap  30  between its tip  27   a  and the other side wall  29   b . At the tip portion of the harness securing arm  27 , a protrusion  31  dangles toward the trim core  6   a  inside the tip  27   a  to prevent the harness from coming off, i.e. to hold the harness. 
     In FIG. 1, two harness securing arms  27  are located to protrude from the harness accommodating wall  23  so that the arm tip  27   a  (FIG.  4 ), i.e. harness insertion gap  30  (FIG. 4) is located outside the harness accommodating wall  23 . The wire harness  3  is inserted in each harness securing arm  27  from the outside of the harness accommodating wall  23 . Since the harness insertion gap  30  is located outward, the loop  4  of the wire harness  3  is strongly pulled when its diameter is reduced, the wire harness  3  does not come off the harness securing arm  27 . Incidentally, the harness fixing piece  28   1 ,  28   2  may be implemented in a clamping manner like the harness fixing piece  24 . 
     On the surface of the trim core  6   a  surrounded by the harness accommodating wall  23 , three protrusive strips  32   1 - 32   3  for harness sliding are formed radially in a upward, downward and rearward direction around a center low boss  47 . These strips are formed integrally to the trim core  6   a . They are arranged at intervals of about 90°, and extended from the boss  47  to the vicinity of the harness accommodating wall  23 . The protrusive strip  32   1 - 32   3  are extended in a diameter direction of the loop segment  4  of the wire harness  3  so that they are orthogonally brought into contact with the loop  4 . 
     As seen from FIG. 5, the protrusive strip  32   1 ,( 32   2 , 32   3 ) in formed in a semicircular shape in longitudinal cross section. The protrusive strip  32   1 ,( 32   2 ,  32   3 ) has a curved sliding face  32   a  at its tip which can be smoothly brought into contact with the loop segment  4  of the wire harness  3  (FIG. 1) with low friction through not face-contact but line-contact. When a vehicle door is opened or closed, the loop  4  of the wire harness  3  smoothly expands or contracts and does not generate foreign sound. In FIG. 1, the trim core  6   a  has fan-like through-holes  33  between the protrusive strips  32   1 - 32   3  to avoid wasteful sliding contact and to reduce the weight. 
     On the surface of trim core  6   a  surrounded by the harness accommodating wall  23 , a hollow harness supporting pin  46  is integrally protruded from the trim core  6   a  between the upper protrusive strip  321  and the front harness securing piece  28   1 . The height of the harness supporting pin  46  is approximately equal to that of the harness accommodating wall  23 . The harness supporting pin  46  serves as a harness stopper and positioning member when the diameter of the loop  4  of the wire harness  3  is reduced. The harness supporting pin  46  assures the shape of the loop  4 , when the diameter is reduced, in a small shape so that the operation of enlarging the loop diameter when the door is opened again can be smoothly and surely carried out. 
     The wire harness  3  is composed of a straight segment  34 , which extends rearward to an auxiliary machine (not shown) in the door and has a circular section, the above loop segment  4 , which has a circular section and bends upward to form a ring, and a flat segment  35  which has a flat section to extend forward from the loop segment  4 . The flat segment  35  is composed of a plurality of electric wires  35   a  arranged in parallel vertically. The respective electric wires  35   a  are expanded from the end of the loop segment  4  to form a fan-like expanded portion  35   b . The end of the loop segment  4  is preferably bundled by e.g. a band. The flat segment  35  serving as a flat wire harness is connector-communicated with a wire harness of a vehicle body. 
     A harness protector  1  is placed to surround the outside of the flat segment  35 . The harness protector  1  is made of a soft material such as synthetic resin and rubber so that it can bend when the door  1  is opened or closed. The harness protector  1  is extended to a connector coupling portion on the side of the vehicle body. The harness protector  1  may be made of hard synthetic resin so as to correspond to the conventional rotatable-type connector  60  (FIG.  6 ). 
     The harness protector  1  is right and left side walls and two pairs of upper and left slanted walls  38 , which constitute a longitudinal through-hole through which the flat segment  35  of the wire harness  3  is passed, and a pair of upper and lower plate 4 ike sliding portions  9  which vertically protrude from the tips of the slanted walls  38 . The entire harness protector  1  is formed in a flat shape. The sliding portion  9 , which has a larger thickness than that of the side wall  37 , is slidably engaged in the groove  39  of the guide portion  39  of the trim core  6   a  as shown in FIG.  2 . 
     As seen from FIG. 1, a tape  40  is wound over the straight segment  34  of the wire harness  3  to the halfway of the loop segment  4  (position corresponding to the front harness securing piece  28   1 ) so that the shape of the straight segment  34  and the bending starting side  4   a  of the loop segment  4  are settled to a certain degree. The tape-wound wire harness portion, i.e. the bending starting side  4   a  of the loop segment  4  and straight segment  34  are inserted smoothly and easily into each of the harness securing arms  27  of the front and rear harness securing pieces  28   1  and  28   2  and secured there. The portion  4   b  of the loop segment  4  curves greatly from the harness securing piece  28   1  along the harness supporting pin  46  while it is orthogonally in contact with the three harness sliding protrusive strips  32   1 - 32   3  and communicates to the fan-like expanded portion  35   b , is not tape-wound. This position  4   b , which is not tape-wound, can expand or contract easily. 
     A clamp  25  is mounted at the straight portion  34  of the wire harness  3 . The clamp  25  is fit in the harness securing piece  24  on the rear side. The clamp  25  may a known clamp provided with a flexible securing hear  25   a  corresponding to the engagement hole  26 . 
     The harness protector  1  is inserted into the guide section  2  in such a manner that its sliding portions  9  are slid from the from opening  15  of the guide section  2 . Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, its half inclusive of the one side wall  37  is accommodated in the concave portion  11  of the trim core  6   a . The wire harness  3  is secured by the respective harness securing pieces  24 ,  28   1  and  28   2  in a state curved in a loop. The loop segment  4  of the wire harness is accommodated expandably and contractably in the harness accommodating wall  23 . In this case, the loop segment  4  is located in contact with the three sliding protrusive strips  32   1 - 32   3 . A cover  19  or door inner panel (not shown) of synthetic resin serving a cover is overlaid on the harness accommodating portion  5 . 
     The cover  19  is made of synthetic resin and formed in a square. The cover  19  has locking pins  20  formed integrally to its end portion and correspond to the cover securing pieces  16   1 - 16   3  at the three points of the trim core  6   a . Each locking pin  20  is composed of a shaft  42  and a pair of resilient securing pieces  43  attached thereto. The locking pin  20  is inserted into the engagement hole  21  of each of the cover securing pieces  16   1 - 16   3  of the trim core  6   a  so that resilient securing pieces  43  can be secured to the edge of the engagement hole  21 . 
     As seen from FIG. 1, the cover  18  has an engagement hole corresponding to the harness supporting pin  46  of the harness accommodating portion  5 . The cover  18  has a harness accommodating concave portion  45  which is swelled externally and curved upwards so as to correspond to the tape wound portion of the wire harness  3 , i.e. straight portion  34  and the bending starting side  4   a  of the loop segment  4 . 
     The door inner panel (other door structure) of synthetic resin, which is to be used in place of the cover  19 , has also the harness accommodating concave portion  45  and the engagement hole  44 . If the harness accommodating portion  5  of the trim core  6   a  is insufficiently secured to the door inner panel (not shown), the door inner panel is provided with the locking pin (not shown)  20  to compensate for the insufficiency. 
     The harness protector  1  is engaged with the guide section  2 , the clamp  25  of the wire harness  3  is secured to the harness securing portion  24 , the straight segment  34  of the wire harness  3  and the bending starting side  4   a  of the loop segment  4  thereof are held by the harness securing pieces  28   1  and  28   2 , the loop segment  4  is accommodated in the harness accommodating section  5 , and the cover  19  is mounted over the harness accommodating portion  5  or the door trim  6  is assembled with the door inner panel (not shown). Thus, the arrangement of the wire harness  3  in a motor vehicle is completed. 
     When the door is closed, the harness protector  1  slides backwards in the guide section  2 , the loop segment  4  of the wire harness  3  expands greatly within the harness accommodating section S so that it is located near the tips  32   b  of the harness sliding protrusive strips  32   1 - 32   3 . The loop segment  4 , when its diameter is increased, slides orthogonally to the harness slide protrusive strips  32   1 - 32   3  while it is in contact with them with linear contact and low friction. This prevents sliding sound from occurring and permits the diameter to be smoothly increased. 
     When the door is opened, the harness protector  1  (FIG. 1) is pulled out forward along the guide section  2 . Correspondingly, the loop segment  4  of the wire harness  3  is pulled to decrease its diameter. The loop segment  4 , when its diameter is decreased, is in contact with the harness sliding protrusive strips  32   1 - 32   3  with linear contact and low friction. This prevents sliding sound from occurring and permits the diameter to be smoothly decreased. The loop segment  4  with the diameter reduced is located around the harness supporting pin  46 . The tape-wound portion of the wire harness  3  keeps the shape of the straight segment  34  and the curve starting side  4   a  of the loop segment  4  to prevent the warp or displacement at the other portion than the expandable/contractable portion  4   b  when the door is opened or closed. When the door is opened or closed, the portion  4   b  of the loop segment  4 , unwound by the tape, expands/contracts smoothly so that it does not affect the operation of opening/closing the door. 
     In the embodiment described above, the guide section  2  and harness accommodation portion  5  are formed integrally to the door trim  6 . However, these portions may be formed integrally to the door inner panel of synthetic resin (reference numeral  51  in FIG. 6 showing the prior art) in place of the door trim  6 . In this case, the door trim  6  (trim core  6   a ) can be used in place of the cover  19 .