Electric wires with identification indicators

Abstract

Colors for electric wires are reduced. A plurality of electric wires to be connected to a single connector have a single color, rubber plugs are attached to boundary portions that are each located extending from a terminal for connection to a connector connected to an end of the electric wire to the insulating coating of the electric wire, and the rubber plugs have different colors for identification.

Claims

1. Electric wires with identification indicators, the electric wires being included in a wire harness to be laid out in an automobile, insulating coatings of the electric wires to be inserted into and locked to a plurality of terminal accommodating chambers of a single connector to be connected to the wire harness not having different colors for circuit identification but a single color, rubber plugs being attached to boundary portions that extend from crimp terminals for connection to a connector that is connected to an end of the electric wires to the insulating coatings of the electric wires by crimping the rubber plugs at insulating coating barrels of the crimp terminals, the rubber plugs having different colors for circuit identification, rear portions of the rubber plugs projecting outward from insertion openings of the terminal accommodating chambers of the connector in a condition in which the electric wires are connected to the connector, circuits of the electric wires being identifiable by the colors of the rubber plugs.

2. The electric wires with identification indicators according to claim 1, wherein the different colors are attained by molding the rubber plugs using rubber compositions obtained by blending different pigments with an elastomer or rubber serving as a material for molding the rubber plugs, or by applying paints of different colors to rubber plugs molded using the same material.

3. The electric wires with identification indicators according to claim 1, wherein the electric wires, which are to be used in an automobile, are configured such that they each have a single ground color and no stripes, the number of different ground colors being less than 13, and rubber plugs of different colors are attached to the electric wires.

4. The electric wires with identification indicators according to claim 1, wherein the rubber plugs are waterproofing rubber plugs that are attached to ends of the electric wires to be connected to a waterproof connector, and annular projecting portions provided on the rubber plug are brought into intimate contact with an inner circumferential surface of terminal accommodating chambers of the waterproof connector.

5. The electric wires with identification indicators according to claim 1, wherein the rubber plugs are attached to ends of the electric wires connected to a non-waterproof connector and used as circuit identification indicators, the rubber plugs are formed into a thin cylindrical tube shape, and the rubber plugs are arranged such that a gap is formed between the rubber plugs and an inner circumferential surface of terminal accommodating chambers of the non-waterproof connector.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B) show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1(A) is a perspective view showing a state in which electric wires are connected to a waterproof connector, and FIG. 1(B) is an enlarged perspective view of main portions.

(2) FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B) show a waterproofing rubber plug. FIG. 2(A) is a cross-sectional view, and FIG. 2(B) is a front view.

(3) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a procedure of connecting a terminal to an electric wire and attaching a waterproofing rubber plug.

(4) FIG. 4(A) is a schematic side view of a waterproof connector, and FIG. 4(B) is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the ends of electric wires are inserted into the waterproof connector.

(5) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a modified example of the first embodiment.

(6) FIGS. 6(A) and 6(B) show a second embodiment. FIG. 6(A) is perspective view of a rubber plug, and FIG. 6(B) is a schematic diagram showing a process of attaching the rubber plug to an electric wire and crimping a terminal to the electric wire.

(7) FIG. 7(A) is a perspective view showing a state in which electric wires to which rubber plugs are attached are connected to a non-waterproof connector, and FIG. 7(B) is a cross-sectional view of main portions in FIG. 7(A).

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(8) Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1(A) to FIG. 4(B).

(9) A plurality of electric wires 1 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1(A) are included in a wire harness 2 to be laid out in an automobile. A terminal 3 for connection to a connector is crimped to and connected to an end of each electric wire 1 as shown in FIG. 3, and the terminal 3 is inserted into and locked to a waterproof connector 4 shown in FIG. 4(A). Since the waterproof connector is arranged in a water infiltration region in an engine room or the like of an automobile, the infiltration of water into terminal accommodating chambers of the connector is reliably prevented.

(10) In the waterproof connector 4, the terminal accommodating chambers are arranged in two rows in a vertical direction, and five terminal accommodating chambers are included in each row. Thus, the waterproof connector 4 includes ten terminal accommodating chambers 6 (6a to 6j) in total. The terminals 3 crimped to and connected to the ends of ten electric wires 1 (1a, 1b to 1j) are inserted into and locked to the ten terminal accommodating chambers 6a to 6j.

(11) The ten electric wires, namely the electric wires 1a to 1j, are connected to different circuits. Each of the electric wires 1 is inserted into and locked to a specific terminal accommodating chamber of the terminal accommodating chambers 6a to 6j. In this embodiment, the electric wires 1a, 1b to 1j are inserted into and locked to the terminal accommodating chambers 6a, 6b to 6j, respectively.

(12) As shown in FIG. 3, each of the ten electric wires 1 is a round electric wire obtained by covering core wires 10 with an insulating coating 11, and the insulating coatings 11 of the ten electric wires 1 all have the same color, namely black. That is, the ground color of all the electric wires 1a to 1j is black. It should be noted that the ten electric wires 1 all have the same size in this embodiment, but even if they differ in size, the ten electric wires 1 all have the same color, namely black.

(13) In order to insert the electric wires 1 into the waterproof connector 4, a waterproofing rubber plug 5 as shown in FIG. 2(A) is attached to a boundary portion between the terminal 3 and the electric wire in each of the ten electric wires 1. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the waterproofing rubber plug 5 is fitted over a range extending from a crimped portion to which a core wire barrel 3b and an insulating coating barrel 3a of the terminal 3 are crimped to the outer circumferential surface of the insulating coating 11 of the electric wire that is continuous with the insulating coating barrel 3a. The waterproofing rubber plug 5 is made of a rubber composition obtained by blending a pigment with a rubber or elastomer. The waterproofing rubber plug 5 is colored in a desired color depending on the blended pigment, and the ten waterproofing rubber plugs 5a to 5j that are to be attached to the ten electric wires of the same color all have different colors.

(14) As shown in FIG. 3, the core wire barrel 3b of the terminal 3 is crimped to the core wires 10 exposed at an end of the electric wire 1, and the insulating coating barrel 3a is crimped to the insulating coating 11. The waterproofing rubber plug 5 has a substantially cylindrical tube shape, comes into intimate contact with a range extending from the electric wire connection side of a portion to which the insulating coating barrel 3a of the terminal 3 is crimped to a position of the insulating coating 11 near a stripped end 1c of the electric wire 1, and is fitted thereon and fixed thereto. An electrical contact portion 3c of the terminal 3 projects toward the front side with respect to the waterproofing rubber plug 5. As shown in FIG. 4(B), the waterproofing rubber plug 5 is configured to have a size with which, in a state in which the terminal 3 is inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 6 of the waterproof connector, a sealing rib 5r, which is an annular projecting portion provided on the outer circumferential surface of the rubber plug 5 at the center in the longitudinal direction, can be brought into intimate contact with the inner surface at the circumferential edge of an electric wire insertion opening 60 of the terminal accommodating chamber 6, preventing the infiltration of water. In addition, the waterproofing rubber plug 5 is configured such that an end portion 5x of the waterproofing rubber plug 5, which is fitted on the insulating coating 11 of the electric wire 1, on the electric wire side in the longitudinal direction projects outward from the electric wire insertion opening 60 in a state in which the terminal 3 is inserted into and locked to the waterproof connector 4.

(15) As mentioned above, the waterproofing rubber plugs 5 are attached to the ten electric wires 1a to 1j, and include the ten waterproofing rubber plugs 5a to 5j of different colors. The waterproofing rubber plugs 5a to 5j are made of rubber compositions in which pigments of different colors are blended, and they all have different ground colors.

(16) Next, a method for forming an electric wire and a method for attaching an electric wire to a connector will be described.

(17) First, as shown in FIG. 3, the core wires 10 are exposed by stripping the insulating coating 11 at an end of the electric wire 1, and the core wire barrel 3b and the insulating coating barrel 3a of the terminal 3 are crimped to and connected to the electric wire 1.

(18) For the purposes of waterproofing and identification indication, waterproofing rubber plugs 5a to 5j of different colors are fitted on and fixed to the boundary portions between the electric wires and the terminals 3, and thus attached to those of the ten electric wires 1a to 1j of the electric wires 1 that are to be connected to the waterproof connector 4. In FIG. 1(B), the variety of the colors of the waterproofing rubber plugs 5a to 5j is shown by various patterns, such as oblique lines, dots, etc.

(19) Next, the ten electric wires 1 to which the waterproofing rubber plugs 5 have been attached are connected to the waterproof connector 4. An operator manually performs this connection operation in accordance with an instruction manual (not shown) that indicates the correspondence between the colors of the waterproofing rubber plugs 5 and the positions of the terminal accommodating chambers 6 of the waterproof connector 4.

(20) For example, the red rubber plug 5a is attached to the electric wire 1a for circuit A, and the blue rubber plug 5b is attached to the electric wire 1b for circuit B. Based on the color of the rubber plug 5a, the red rubber plug 5a and the blue rubber plug 5b are respectively inserted into and locked to the terminal accommodating chamber 6a and the terminal accommodating chamber 6b of the ten terminal accommodating chambers 6a to 6j of the waterproof connector 4 in accordance with the instruction manual.

(21) As described above, the electric wires 1a to 1j are inserted into and connected to the corresponding terminal accommodating chambers 6a to 6j depending on the colors of the rubber plugs 5a to 5j, which are attached to the electric wires 1a to 1j, in accordance with the instruction manual, thus making it possible to reliably prevent a misconnection of the electric wires 1a to 1j to the waterproof connector 4.

(22) Each terminal 3 inserted into the terminal accommodating chamber 6 of the waterproof connector 4 is positioned and held by a locking piece (not shown) that projects from the inner surface of the terminal accommodating chamber 6 being locked to a locking step portion (not shown) of the terminal 3. In this state, the sealing rib 5r of the waterproofing rubber plug 5 comes into intimate contact with the inner surface at the circumferential edge of the electric wire insertion opening 60, and the end portion 5x of the waterproofing rubber plug 5 projects outward from the electric wire insertion opening 60.

(23) As described above, in a state in which the electric wire 1 is connected to the waterproof connector 4, the color of the end portion 5b of the waterproofing rubber plug 5 projecting outward from the electric wire insertion opening 60 can be checked, and thus the circuits of the electric wires 1 inserted into the terminal accommodating chambers 6a to 6j can be identified by checking the colors of the end portions 5x of the waterproofing rubber plugs 5. As a result, in cases of maintenance and malfunctions, the circuits of the electric wires 1 can be identified (differentiated) by the colors of the waterproofing rubber plugs 5 by checking the electric wire insertion openings 60 of the waterproof connector 4 in detail.

(24) On the other hand, since the end portions 5x of the waterproofing rubber plugs 5 project only slightly outward from the electric wire insertion openings 60 of the waterproof connector 4 and are inconspicuous, an external appearance is given in which black electric wires 1 are connected to the waterproof connector 4. Therefore, there is no need to cover the electric wires with black sheets or the like, unlike in the case where conventional multicolored electric wires are used.

(25) FIG. 5 shows a modified example of a first embodiment.

(26) In the modified example, an insulating coating barrel 30a of a crimp terminal 30 is crimped to and fixed to a small-diameter portion 5s that is obtained by making a portion to the front of the waterproofing rubber plug 5 thin. It should be noted that in the drawings, 30b denotes a core wire barrel, and 30c denotes an electrical contact portion.

(27) The other structures and effects are the same as those of the first embodiment, and thus their description will be omitted.

(28) FIGS. 6(A)-7(B) show a second embodiment.

(29) In the second embodiment, a plurality of (fourteen) electric wires 1 have a single color, namely black, and these electric wires 1 are inserted into and locked to a multi-contact non-waterproof connector 40 (having terminal accommodating chambers arranged in two rows in the vertical direction and in seven columns in each row). As in the first embodiment, rubber plugs 50 that differ in ground color are fitted on the electric wires 1.

(30) The rubber plugs 50 are not waterproofing rubber plugs, and are used as circuit identification indicators. In the same manner as the rubber plugs 5 of the first embodiment, the ground colors of the rubber plugs 50 have different colors and have no stripes, no dots, or the like.

(31) The rubber plugs 50 differ in shape from the waterproofing rubber plugs of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6(A), each rubber plug 50 has a thin-walled cylindrical tube shape that has the same cross-sectional shape along the entire front-rear direction, and is not provided with sealing ribs projecting from the outer circumferential surface.

(32) As in the modified example shown in FIG. 5, the insulating coating barrel 30a of the crimp terminal 30 is crimped to the outer circumferential surface of the rubber plug 50, and the rubber plug 50 is fitted on and fixed to a range extending from a portion to which the insulating coating barrel 30b is crimped to the outer circumferential surface of the insulating coating 11 of the electric wire.

(33) In a state in which the electric wire 1 to which the rubber plug 50 is attached is inserted into and locked to a terminal accommodating chamber 40i of the non-waterproof connector 40, a gap C is formed between an inner circumferential surface 40s of the terminal accommodating chamber and the outer circumferential surface of the rubber plug 50, and the rubber plug 50 does not seal the terminal accommodating chamber. Moreover, the rear portion of the rubber plug 50 is fitted on the electric wire 1 guided through an electric wire insertion opening 40x, thus making it possible to identify a circuit by the color of the rubber plug 50 during maintenance.

(34) If rubber plugs of different colors serving as circuit identification indicators are attached to not only electric wires to be connected to a waterproof connector but also electric wires to be connected to a non-waterproof connector, the number of colors for all the electric wires to be laid out in an automobile can be significantly reduced. As a result, it is possible to alleviate the task of differentiating electric wires by color and to simplify component management.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

(35) 1 (1a to 1j) Electric wire 3 Terminal 4 Waterproof connector 5 (5a to 5j) Waterproofing rubber plug 6 (6a to 6j) Terminal accommodating chamber 60 Electric wire insertion opening 10 Core wire 11 Insulating coating 30 Crimp terminal 40 Non-waterproof connector 50 Rubber plug