A wiring harness assembly cell includes an automation zone housing a robot for performing automated assembly operations on a series of wiring harness assembly boards. A plurality of wiring harness assembly stations is located about the automation zone, each including one or more wiring harness assembly boards holding the wiring harnesses. Manual operator zones are located outside the automation zone that are associated with the wiring harness assembly stations. The wiring harness assembly stations are reconfigurable between a first configuration in which a first wiring harness assembly board faces the manual operator zone such that it is accessible to a manual operator, and a second configuration in which it faces the automation zone such that it is accessible to the robot. The robot is moved within the automation zone between a plurality of assembly locations where it accesses and operates on the respectively the plurality of wiring harness assembly stations.

A wiring component includes a plurality of electric wires aligned in a predetermined alignment direction, and a holder to hold the plurality of electric wires. The holder includes a pair of resin members that sandwich longitudinal portions of the plurality of electric wires in a perpendicular direction perpendicular to the alignment direction, and the pair of resin members are recess-projection fitted between the plurality of electric wires.

A system for the automated manufacture of a wiring harness, which demonstrates a branched structure made up of multiple individual conductor elements. To form wiring harnesses having an individually branched structure, the conductor elements are automatically brought into a predefined distribution structure, multiple second rails oriented in parallel to each other and multiple second transporters, distributed on the second rails, being used for this purpose. The second transporters are each fitted with one wire end of the conductor elements. To form the distribution structure, the second rails are subsequently moved in a vertical direction, and the second transporters are moved along the second rail. In this spread-apart structure, additional processing steps are carried out, for example a fixing of the conductor elements to each other.

A cable-laying device for producing wiring or cable harnesses of different types includes a laying plane for positioning lines of a wiring or cable harness, a plurality of transport units which can be moved relative to the laying plane in an at least partially automated manner, and a control device which is configured to control the transport units. A method for producing cable harnesses of different types by using a cable laying device is also provided.

A wiring harness comprises a first covered electric wire, and a second covered electric wire. The first covered electric wire comprises a first electric wire conductor made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy and an insulator covering the first electric wire conductor. The first electric wire conductor comprises a wire strand of a plurality of elemental wires twisted together, and has a flat portion where a cross-section of the wire strand intersecting an axial direction of the wire strand has a flat shape. The second covered electric wire comprises a second electric wire conductor made of copper or a copper alloy and an insulator covering the second electric wire conductor. The second electric wire conductor has a lower flatness and a smaller conductor cross-sectional area than the first electric wire conductor of the first covered electric wire.

Disclosed is an apparatus for separating and sorting USB wires. The apparatus comprises a separating apparatus for separating USB wires and a sorting apparatus provided downstream the separating apparatus. The separating apparatus comprises a first slider slidable in a horizontal plane in a reciprocating way; a second slider connected to the first slider via a sliding guide; and a teeth assembly comprising a group of first teeth and a group of second teeth. The sorting apparatus comprises a base plate; a wire holder fixed on the base plate and having a number of grooves for holding the wires therein; a sorting module arranged above the wire holder having a number of sorting slots corresponding to the number of the grooves; a gripping module mounted below the base plate and comprising a gripping head positioned at the interval between the wire holder and the sorting module; a vision module arranged above the interval for obtaining an image showing a location and a color of the wires in the grooves; and a control module for controlling the gripping head to grasp and move the wires to the corresponding slot.

A retaining fixture for attachment to a wire-harness board comprises a base, a first arm, a second arm, a first gripping member, and a second gripping member. The first arm extends from the base. The second arm extends from the base. The first gripping member is coupled to the first arm and comprises a first-gripping-member surface that is convex toward the second arm. The second gripping member is coupled to the second arm and comprises a second-gripping-member surface that is convex toward the first arm. The first gripping member and the second gripping member are resiliently deformable.

A retaining fixture for attachment to a wire-harness board comprises a base, a first arm, a second arm, a first gripping member, and a second gripping member. The first arm extends from the base. The second arm extends from the base. The first gripping member is coupled to the first arm and comprises a first-gripping-member surface that is convex toward the second arm. The second gripping member is coupled to the second arm and comprises a second-gripping-member surface that is convex toward the first arm. The first gripping member and the second gripping member are resiliently deformable.

A wire harness manufacturing method includes: an insertion step of inserting a binding member into an insertion hole of a protective member including a base member forming a routing space, the insertion hole provided in the base member and into which the binding member is insertable, and a temporary holding part provided on an outer surface of the base member and capable of temporarily holding an end of the binding member in a state in which the binding member is inserted into the insertion hole; a temporary holding step of temporarily holding the end of the binding member; a routing step of routing an electric wire in the routing space; and a binding step of removing the end of the binding member from the temporary holding part, and binding the electric wire to the base member by the binding member.

A wire harness manufacturing method includes: an insertion step of inserting a binding member into an insertion hole of a protective member including a base member forming a routing space, the insertion hole provided in the base member and into which the binding member is insertable, and a temporary holding part provided on an outer surface of the base member and capable of temporarily holding an end of the binding member in a state in which the binding member is inserted into the insertion hole; a temporary holding step of temporarily holding the end of the binding member; a routing step of routing an electric wire in the routing space; and a binding step of removing the end of the binding member from the temporary holding part, and binding the electric wire to the base member by the binding member.