US-20260128196-A1 - CLAMP ATTACHMENT DEVICE AND CLAMP ATTACHMENT METHOD

US20260128196A1US 20260128196 A1US20260128196 A1US 20260128196A1US-20260128196-A1

Abstract

A clamp attachment device includes: a first chuck for clamping and holding a cable clamp; a chuck movement section for moving the first chuck and thereby overlapping the cable clamp with one or more component electric wires; a second chuck for clamping and holding the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires together while they are overlapped with each other; and a taping section for winding a tape around the cable clamp held by the first chuck, wherein the taping section further winds the tape around the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires starting from a taped portion while the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires are held by the second chuck, wherein the tape has been wound around the cable clamp in the taped portion.

Inventors

Hiromasa Nakajima
Takahiro Ishizawa

Assignees

YAZAKI CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20260105
Priority Date: 20230809

Claims (5)

1 . A clamp attachment device comprising: a first chuck configured to hold a cable clamp by clamping it on a first end side of a belt portion of the cable clamp in a width direction of the belt portion, the cable clamp including a clamp portion at an intermediate location of the belt portion along a longitudinal direction of the belt portion, wherein the clamp portion is configured to be attached to a predetermined attachment position and the belt portion is configured to fixed to one or more component electric wires of a wire harness to extend along a wire length direction of the one or more component electric wires so that the wire harness is fixed to the attachment position; a chuck movement section configured to move the first chuck holding the cable clamp to position the cable clamp so that the belt portion extends along the wire length direction and the cable clamp overlaps with the one or more component electric wires; a second chuck configured to be placed adjacent to the first chuck on the first end side and clamp and hold the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires together in an overlapping direction which have been transitioned into an overlapped state with each other by the chuck movement section, wherein the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires are overlapped with each other in the overlapping direction; and a taping section configured as a mechanism which winds a tape around the belt portion of the cable clamp on a second end side of the belt portion while it is held by the first chuck, wherein during moving the first chuck by the chuck movement section, the taping section is configured to be moved together with the first chuck while the tape remains wound around the cable clamp, wherein after the movement, the taping section is configured to wind the tape around the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires starting from a taped portion while the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires are held by the second chuck, with the tape having been wound around the belt portion in the taped portion.
2 . The clamp attachment device according to claim 1 , wherein the taping section includes a tape reel, and wherein the taping section is configured to perform taping operation by pulling the tape from the tape reel.
3 . The clamp attachment device according to claim 1 , wherein the first chuck is configured to release the cable clamp upon the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires being held by the second chuck, wherein once taping operation starting from the taped portion by the taping section is finished, the second chuck is configured to release the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires and to be conveyed to a separated position located away from the cable clamp to clamp and hold the one or more component electric wires in its thickness direction in the separated position, wherein the chuck movement section is configured to retract the first chuck which has released the cable clamp, to a predetermined retracted position and to convey the second chuck which has released the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires, to the separated position, wherein once the taping operation starting from the taped portion is finished, the taping section is configured to perform tape-cutting operation, wherein upon the one or more component electric wires being held by the second chuck in the separated position, the taping section is configured to then wind the tape around the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires on the first end side of the belt portion, and wherein once the taping operation is finished, the taping section is configured to perform tape-cutting operation again.
4 . The clamp attachment device according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more component electric wires are at least partially covered with a predetermined outer cover, and wherein the second chuck is configured to be opened/closed to be able to perform holding operation via the outer cover.
5 . A clamp attachment method carried out by using the clamp attachment device according to claim 1 , comprising: a first chucking step of clamping and holding the belt portion of the cable clamp on the first end side by the first chuck; a first taping step of winding the tape around the belt portion of the cable clamp on the second end side by the taping section while the belt portion is held by the first chuck; a chuck movement step of moving the first chuck by the chuck movement section while holding the cable clamp by the first chuck so that the cable clamp overlaps with the one or more component electric wires, wherein during moving the first chuck, the taping section is moved together with the first chuck while the tape remains wound around the cable clamp; after movement by the chuck movement section, a second chucking step of clamping and holding the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires by the second chuck; and a second taping step of winding the tape around the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires starting from the taped portion while the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires are held by the second chuck.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to a clamp attachment device and a clamp attachment method for attaching a cable clamp to one or more component electric wires of a wire harness. Background Art Conventionally, wire harnesses for use e.g. in an automobile are often equipped with a cable clamp for fixing the wire harness to an attachment position, such as a vehicle body panel. Some of such cable clamps are of a type which includes a clamp portion in an intermediate location of a belt portion of the cable clamp in a longitudinal direction of the belt portion (see e.g. Patent Document 1). Many cable clamps of this type are overlapped with the one or more component electric wires of the wire harness so that the belt portion extends along a wire length direction of the one or more component electric wires, wherein the cable clamp is then fixed to the one or more component electric wires by means of taping. Citation List Patent Literature Patent Document 1: JP 2010-073328 A SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In many cases, such fixation of the cable clamp to the one or more component electric wires of the wire harness by means of taping is performed manually by an operator. Such manual fixation of the cable clamp by means of taping tends to impose burden on the operator. Although automated fixation is thus desired, the fixing operation itself is complicated, and therefore, no specific approach is currently proposed for the automation. Therefore, the present invention is focused on the above-mentioned problem, and an objective of the present invention is to provide a clamp attachment device and a clamp attachment method which enable a cable clamp to be automatically attached to one or more component electric wires of a wire harness. In order to achieve the above objective, a clamp attachment device includes: a first chuck configured to hold a cable clamp by clamping it on a first end side of a belt portion of the cable clamp in a width direction of the belt portion, the cable clamp including a clamp portion at an intermediate location of the belt portion along a longitudinal direction of the belt portion, wherein the clamp portion is configured to be attached to a predetermined attachment position and the belt portion is configured to fixed to one or more component electric wires of a wire harness to extend along a wire length direction of the one or more component electric wires so that the wire harness is fixed to the attachment position; a chuck movement section configured to move the first chuck holding the cable clamp to position the cable clamp so that the belt portion extends along the wire length direction and the cable clamp overlaps with the one or more component electric wires; a second chuck configured to be placed adjacent to the first chuck on the first end side and clamp and hold the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires together in an overlapping direction which have been transitioned into an overlapped state with each other by the chuck movement section, wherein the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires are overlapped with each other in the overlapping direction; and a taping section configured as a mechanism which winds a tape around the belt portion of the cable clamp on a second end side of the belt portion while it is held by the first chuck, wherein during moving the first chuck by the chuck movement section, the taping section is configured to be moved together with the first chuck while the tape remains wound around the cable clamp, wherein after the movement, the taping section is configured to wind the tape around the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires starting from a taped portion while the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires are held by the second chuck, with the tape having been wound around the belt portion in the taped portion. In order to achieve the above objective, a clamp attachment method is carried out by using the above-described clamp attachment device and includes: a first chucking step of clamping and holding the belt portion of the cable clamp on the first end side by the first chuck; a first taping step of winding the tape around the belt portion of the cable clamp on the second end side by the taping section while the belt portion is held by the first chuck; a chuck movement step of moving the first chuck by the chuck movement section while holding the cable clamp by the first chuck so that the cable clamp overlaps with the one or more component electric wires, wherein during moving the first chuck, the taping section is moved together with the first chuck while the tape remains wound around the cable clamp; after movement by the chuck movement section, a second chucking step of clamping and holding the cable clamp and the one or more component electric wires by the second chuck; and a second taping step of winding the tape around the cable clamp and the one or