JP2015115301A - Flat cable and flat cable assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

A flat cable capable of improving productivity is provided. A flat cable (12) is a flat cable including a plurality of cables (23) arranged in parallel and a jacket member (3) covering the plurality of cables (23). Has a linear slit 31 extending from one end 123, 124 in the cross-sectional longitudinal direction to the other end 124, 123, and the slit 31 is at least one end 123 in the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the flat cable 12. 124 is formed. [Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a flat cable and a flat cable assembly used for wiring of electronic equipment.

  A flat cable is known which is manufactured by collectively covering a resin composition using an extrusion molding machine in which a plurality of insulated wire stranded wires formed by twisting a plurality of insulated wires are arranged in parallel ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-123548 A

  When manufacturing a cable assembly in which the above flat cable is covered and fixed with a thermoplastic resin or the like bent in the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the insulated wire twisted wire, the flat cable itself is difficult to bend. It must first be stripped from the sheath layer. In this case, since the insulated wire stranded wires are not fixed to each other before coating, the insulated wire stranded wires are difficult to fit in a mold or the like used for molding the thermoplastic resin, and the productivity of the cable assembly may be inferior. There is a problem.

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a flat cable and a flat cable assembly capable of improving productivity.

  [1] A flat cable according to the present invention is a flat cable including a plurality of cables arranged in parallel and a jacket member covering the plurality of cables, wherein the jacket member is the flat cable. It has a linear slit from one end in the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the cable to the other end, and the slit is formed in at least one end in the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the flat cable. And

  [2] In the above invention, the slit may be formed on the entire circumference of the jacket member.

  [3] In the above invention, the slit may be formed in a spiral shape with the extending direction of the flat cable as a center.

  [4] In the above invention, the flat cable may have a curved portion that is curved at the slit toward the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the flat cable.

  [5] A flat cable assembly according to the present invention includes the flat cable according to the invention described above and a cover member that covers the curved portion.

  According to the present invention, the jacket member that covers the plurality of cables has the slit formed linearly from one end portion in the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the flat cable toward the other end portion. And the said slit is formed in the at least one edge part of the cross-section longitudinal direction of a flat cable. For this reason, the flat cable can be bent in the longitudinal direction of the cross section in the slit, and it is not necessary to peel off the cable when covering the bent portion with the resin member. A solid can be provided.

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a flat cable assembly in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the cable unit in the embodiment of the present invention. 4 (A) and 4 (B) are plan views showing before and after forming the curved portion of the flat cable in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 (A) is a view showing before the formation, FIG. (B) is a figure which shows after formation. FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a modification of the slits of the jacket member of the flat cable in the embodiment of the present invention. 6 (A) and 6 (B) are plan views showing a modification of the flat cable in the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 (A) is a view showing a first modification, FIG. ) Is a diagram showing a second modification.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a flat cable assembly in the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II-II in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a cable core included in the cable unit of the present embodiment. FIG.

  The flat cable assembly 1 in the present embodiment is used for external wiring and internal wiring of an electronic device having a music playback function, a video playback function, a camera function, and the like, for example. As shown in FIG. 1, the flat cable assembly 1 includes a flat cable 12, a connector 13, and a cover member 14.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the flat cable 12 includes a straight portion 121 that extends substantially linearly and a curved portion 122 that curves toward the lower left in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the straight portion 121 of the flat cable 12 has a flat cross-sectional shape, and includes two cable units 2 and a jacket member 3. The flat cable 12 has, for example, a length in the transverse direction of the cross section (Z-axis direction in FIG. 1) of 1 [mm] to 2 [mm], and a length in the cross-sectional longitudinal direction (X-axis direction in FIG. 1). Is 2 [mm] to 5 [mm].

  As shown in FIG. 3, the cave unit 2 includes two cable cores 21 arranged in parallel along the XY plane in FIG. 3, and a covering member 22 provided around the two cable cores 21. Is included. The two cable cores 21 are arranged in parallel along the Y-axis direction in FIG. 3 and each have a plurality of (seven in this example) cables 23.

  The cable core 21 in the present embodiment is configured by seven cables 23 twisted together. In addition, the number of the cables 23 which comprise the cable core 21 is not specifically limited, For example, you may comprise a cable core by twisting together the two cables 23 mutually. Moreover, although the flat cable 1 in this embodiment is provided with the four cable cores 21 in total, the total number of the cable cores with which a flat cable is provided is not specifically limited, If it has the several cable core arrange | positioned in parallel, Good.

  The cable 23 in the present embodiment is a so-called coaxial cable, and is provided on the inner conductor 231, the insulating member 232 provided on the outer periphery of the inner conductor, the outer conductor 233 surrounding the outer periphery of the insulating member 232, and the outer periphery of the outer conductor 233. And a sheath member 234 provided.

  The internal conductor 231 is made of copper, silver, aluminum, iron, nickel, or an alloy thereof, and is composed of a stranded wire formed by twisting seven thin wires 231a as shown in FIG. Note that the number of fine wires constituting the internal conductor 231 is not particularly limited. For example, although not particularly illustrated, the internal conductor 231 may be configured by twisting three thin wires, or the internal conductor 231 may be configured by only one conductor wire.

  The insulating member 232 is formed of an insulating resin. Examples of such an insulating resin include polyolefin resins, polyamide resins, polyester resins, polystyrene resins, polynitrile resins, polymethacrylate resins, and polyvinyl resins. Resins, cellulose resins, fluorine resins, imide resins and the like can be exemplified.

  The outer conductor 233 is a part that functions as an electromagnetic shield layer, and a plurality of wires 233a made of copper, silver, aluminum, iron, nickel, or alloys thereof are parallel to the outer periphery of the insulating member 232 and spirally formed. It is formed by winding. In addition, the number of the wire 233a which comprises the external conductor 233 is not specifically limited. Further, the outer conductor 233 may be formed by arranging a braided material obtained by braiding the wire 233 a on the outer periphery of the insulating member 232.

  The sheath member 234 is formed by extruding a thermoplastic resin. Examples of such a thermoplastic resin include polyolefin resins, polyamide resins, polyester resins, polystyrene resins, polynitrile resins, polymethacrylates. Examples of the resin include a polyvinyl resin, a polyvinyl resin, a cellulose resin, a fluorine resin, and an imide resin.

  The covering member 22 is configured by winding an insulating resin tape around the two cable cores 21. Examples of the resin material for forming such an insulating resin tape include polyethylene terephthalate resin, polyethylene resin, polypropylene resin, fluororesin, and polyimide resin. Although the covering member 22 may be omitted, the cable core 21 is easily arranged in a planar shape when the jacket member 3 is formed by extrusion molding. Under the present circumstances, when the twist direction of the at least 1 cable core 21 contained in the cable unit 2 is a direction opposite to the winding direction of the coating | coated member 22, this effect improves more.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the two cable units 2 in this embodiment are arranged in parallel along the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the flat cable 1 (the X-axis direction in FIG. 3). The cores 21 are also arranged in parallel along the same direction (X-axis direction in FIG. 3). Therefore, the two cable units 2 are arranged along the XY plane in FIG. 3, and all the cable cores 21 are also arranged along the XY plane in FIG. Similarly, when the number of cable units included in the flat cable is three or more, each cable unit is arranged in parallel along the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the flat cable, so that all the cable cores are also in the same direction. Arranged in parallel.

  The jacket member 3 covers the periphery of the cable unit 2 so as to collectively surround a plurality (two in this example) of cable units 2 included in the flat cable 12. The jacket member 3 holds all the cable units 2 included in the flat cable 12 and all the cable cores 21 included in the cable unit 2 in a state of being arranged in parallel.

  The jacket member 3 can be formed, for example, by extruding a resin member. Examples of such a resin member include vinyl chloride resins, olefin resins, fluorine resins, urethane resins, modified polyphenylene ether resins, thermoplastic elastomers, and the like.

  The curved portion 122 of the flat cable 12 has the same configuration as the straight portion 121 of the flat cable 12 described above except that the jacket member 3 has the slit 31. The curved portion 122 of the flat cable 12 in the present embodiment is curved toward the cross-sectional longitudinal direction (the parallel direction of the cable core 21). In addition, it is good also as a structure which the flat cable 12 curves simultaneously in a cross-sectional short direction in a bending part.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the slits 31 are formed at predetermined intervals along the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the flat cable 12 (the parallel direction of the cable cores 21). The flat cable 12 of the present embodiment has a total of five slits 31, but the number of slits included in the flat cable is not particularly limited. Further, the width between the plurality of formed slits and the width of each slit are not particularly limited.

  The slit 31 in the present embodiment is formed so as to penetrate the jacket member 3. For this reason, in the state before providing the cover member 14, the two cable units 2 are exposed from the slit 31 (refer FIG. 4 (A) and FIG. 4 (B)). The slit formed in the curved portion 122 of the jacket member may be a bottomed slit (groove-shaped cut) that does not penetrate the jacket member. In this case, the cable unit 2 Not exposed to the outside from the slit. Moreover, the slit which penetrates a jacket member and the slit which does not penetrate the jacket member may be mixed.

  The flat cable 12 in this embodiment is connected to a connector 13 as shown in FIG. The connector 13 has a predetermined number of signal terminals and ground terminals (both not shown), and the internal conductor 231 of each cable 23 is connected to the signal terminal of the connector 13 and the outside of each cable 23. The conductor 233 is connected to the ground terminal of the connector 13. As a result, the cable 23 can be provided with an electromagnetic shielding effect.

  The configuration of the flat cable is not particularly limited to the above. For example, the cable 23 may be replaced with a single-core cable configured by coating a single wire or a stranded wire with a coating material. Further, for example, one cable core 21 may be replaced with one coaxial cable or one single-core cable.

  The cover member 14 is made of a thermoplastic resin or the like and covers the curved portion 122 of the flat cable 12 and the end portion 131 of the connector 13 on the flat cable 12 side as shown in FIG. Is provided. Examples of such thermoplastic resins include polyolefin resins, polyamide resins, polyester resins, polystyrene resins, polynitrile resins, polymethacrylate resins, polyvinyl resins, cellulose resins, fluorine resins, imide resins, and the like. Can be illustrated. The cover member 14 in the present embodiment corresponds to an example of the resin member of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the cover member 14 in the present embodiment has a substantially pentagonal shape in plan view, but the shape of the cover member is not particularly limited thereto. For example, the shape of the cover member may have a curved shape along the curved portion 122 of the flat cable 12.

  With this cover member 14, a desired angle θ toward the longitudinal direction of the cross-section of the flat cable 12 (X-axis direction in the drawing) with respect to the extending direction of the linear portion 121 (Y-axis direction in the drawing) of the flat cable 12. It is possible to hold the connector 13 in a curved state. The desired angle θ is preferably 15 ° ≦ θ ≦ 90 ° from the viewpoint of productivity of the flat cable assembly 1.

  A method for manufacturing the flat cable assembly 1 described above will be described. 4 (A) and 4 (B) are plan views showing before and after forming the curved portion 122 of the flat cable 12 in this embodiment, and FIG. 5 shows a modification of the slit of the jacket member of the flat cable. It is a top view.

  First, 28 (= 7 (the number of cables included in one cable core) × 4 (the number of cable cores)) cables 23 are prepared. Next, a total of four cable cores 21 are manufactured by twisting the cables 23 every seven (step 1).

  Then, the two cable cores 21 are arranged in parallel with each other, and the two cable cores 21 are collectively wound using the covering member 22 to produce the two cable units 2 (step 2). ). At this time, the flexibility of the flat cable 12 can be improved by winding the two cable cores 21 around the covering member 22 with a minimum tension capable of maintaining the parallel arrangement of the two cable cores 21. .

  Next, the two cable units 2 are arranged in parallel so that the longitudinal directions of the cross sections (the X-axis direction in FIG. 2) of the two produced cable units 2 overlap each other. And the jacket member 3 is formed in the circumference | surroundings of those cable units 2 by extrusion molding. Then, the inner conductor 231 of each cable 23 is connected to the signal terminal of the connector 13 with solder or the like, and the outer conductor 233 of each cable 23 is connected to the ground terminal of the connector 13 with solder or the like (step 3).

  Subsequently, the slit 31 is formed in the jacket member 3 using a laser, a cutter, etc. (step 4). As a laser for forming the slit 31, a carbon dioxide gas laser, a YAG laser, an excimer laser, or the like can be used, and the width and depth of the slit to be formed can be adjusted by adjusting the laser intensity and scanning speed. It can be set to a desired value. In the case where the covering member 22 is configured using an insulating resin tape having a metal layer, the laser light is reflected by the metal layer when the slit 31 is formed using a carbon dioxide laser. It is easy to adjust the depth.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, the slits 31 in this embodiment are formed with a total of five slits 31 having a width D2 every predetermined width D1 from the left end of the jacket member 3 in the drawing. All these slits 31 are formed in an annular shape along the direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the flat cable 12 (Y-axis direction in the figure) (X-axis direction in the figure). Unit 2 is exposed.

  Next, at the portion where the slit 31 is formed, the curved portion 122 is formed by curving the flat cable 12 by a desired angle θ toward the cross-sectional longitudinal direction (X-axis direction in the drawing) of the flat cable 12. Then, the flat cable assembly 1 can be manufactured by setting it in a mold (not shown) in that state, injecting a thermoplastic resin into the mold and injection molding the cover member 14 (step 5). it can.

  In the conventional flat cable assembly, no slit is formed in the jacket member, and therefore it is difficult to curve the flat cable along the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the flat cable. For this reason, when the flat cable is bent in the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the flat cable, it is necessary to peel the cable from the jacket member at one end and set it in the mold. At this time, since the cables are not fixed to each other, the cables are difficult to fit in the mold, and the productivity of the flat cable assembly may be inferior. Further, at this time, it becomes difficult to form the cover member uniformly with respect to the cable, so that the appearance defect of the flat cable assembly and the mechanical strength may be reduced.

  On the other hand, in the flat cable assembly 1 in the present embodiment, the slit 31 is formed in the jacket member 3. For this reason, it becomes easy to bend the flat cable 12 along the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the flat cable 12, and it is not necessary to peel the cable 23 from the jacket member 3 when the flat cable 12 is bent. Thereby, when the cover member 14 is provided, the flat cable 12 can be easily set in the mold, and the productivity of the flat cable assembly 1 can be improved.

  In the above step 4 at the time of manufacturing the flat cable assembly 1, the width D2 of the slit 31 is 2% to 20% with respect to the width D3 of the flat cable 12 in the longitudinal direction of the cross section. Preferred (0.02 ≦ D2 / D3 ≦ 0.2). Specifically, for example, the width of the slit 31 is preferably 0.1 [mm] ≦ D2 ≦ 0.5 [mm]. In this case, the above effect can be further improved.

  Although not particularly illustrated, by using a housing-like member that accommodates the curved portion 122 of the flat cable 12 and the end portion 131 of the connector 13 and holds the curved state of the curved portion 122 as a cover member. A flat cable assembly may be configured. Also in this case, since the flat cable 12 is easily accommodated in the cover member during the production of the flat cable assembly, the productivity of the flat cable assembly can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the two cable units 2 are covered with the jacket member 3 between the slits 31. For this reason, in the curved part 122 of the flat cable 12, the cable cores 21 included in the two cable units 2 are held in a state of being arranged in parallel with each other. Thereby, it becomes easy to form the cover member 14 uniformly with respect to the cable core 21, and generation | occurrence | production of the external appearance defect of the flat cable assembly 1 and the fall of mechanical strength can be suppressed.

  The slit formed in the jacket member is a linear slit from one end 123 (or 124) in the longitudinal direction of the flat cable to the other end 124 (or 123). It may be formed at at least one end in the longitudinal direction. For example, like the jacket member 3B of the flat cable 12B shown in FIG. 5, the slit 31B may be formed only at one end 123 in the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the flat cable 12B. In the case where the slit is formed on the entire circumference of the jacket member, the above effect can be further improved.

  In the flat cable assembly 1 according to the present embodiment, the cable unit 2 is formed by covering the two cable cores 21 with the covering member 22. As a result, when the flat cable 12 is bent in the stage before the cover member 14 is provided, the cable cores 21 are held in a state of being arranged in parallel with each other. Furthermore, it becomes easy to form uniformly, and generation | occurrence | production of the external appearance defect of the flat cable assembly 1 and the fall of mechanical strength can be suppressed more.

  The embodiment described above is described for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and is not described for limiting the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.

For example, like the flat cable 12C shown in FIG. 6 (A), in the above step 4 at the time of manufacturing the flat cable assembly, the direction perpendicular to the extending direction (Y-axis direction in the drawing) of the flat cable 12C (see FIG. 6). the X-axis direction) from the predetermined angle theta ₂ beveled annular slit 31C was in may be formed in the jacket member 3C. In this case, the inclination angles of the slits may be different from each other. For example, the slits may be inclined so as to be radial with respect to the center of curvature of the curved portion of the flat cable.

  Further, for example, as in the flat cable 12D shown in FIG. 6B, in the above step 4 at the time of manufacturing the flat cable assembly, the extending direction of the flat cable 12D (Y-axis direction in the drawing) is the center. A spiral slit 31D may be formed in the jacket member 3D.

  In these cases, the same effects as those in the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

  In addition, for example, the above invention may be applied to a flat cable having a curved portion sandwiched between two straight portions and a flat cable assembly including the flat cable.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Flat cable assembly 12, 12B, 12C, 12D ... Flat cable 2 ... Cable unit 23 ... Cable 3, 3B, 3C, 3D ... Jacket member 31, 31B, 31C, 31D ... Slit 13 ... Connector 14 ... Cover member

Claims (5)

A flat cable comprising a plurality of cables arranged in parallel and a jacket member covering the plurality of cables,
The jacket member has a linear slit from one end in the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the flat cable toward the other end,
The said slit is formed in the at least one edge part of the cross-sectional longitudinal direction of the said flat cable, The flat cable characterized by the above-mentioned. The flat cable according to claim 1,
The slit is formed on the entire circumference of the jacket member. The flat cable according to claim 1,
The flat cable is characterized in that the slit is formed in a spiral shape with the extending direction of the flat cable as a center. The flat cable according to claim 1,
The flat cable has a curved portion that is curved at the slit toward the longitudinal direction of the cross section of the flat cable. A flat cable according to claim 4;
A flat cable assembly comprising: a cover member that covers the curved portion.

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