Beyond Conventional: Exploring the Advantages of 3D Printed Wiring Harnesses
Feb 10,2024
The main function of the connector is to ensure good docking with electrical devices, ensure the reliability of signal transmission, achieve insulation and prevent short circuits, and secondly, you can use the limit clips of the connector itself to position the connector to prevent movement after docking. In principle, the connectors in the engine room should be waterproof. For example, the sheath that connects with the electrical components in the engine compartment should be equipped with waterproof rubber sealing plugs. The color of the same sheath must be different. In addition, the pair of sheaths that connect the wiring harness to the wiring harness must be of the same color, all to avoid docking errors during assembly and maintenance. For terminal connectors for airbags, ECUs, ABS, etc. with high performance requirements, gold-plated parts should be preferred to ensure safety and reliability. In order to reduce the type and quantity of connectors for wiring harness butt, hybrid connectors are preferred.
In order to ensure the reliability of assembly and maintenance, the same type of insulating sheath in the wiring harness at the same branch cannot be reused, but nowadays there are more and more circuits in the wiring harness assembly, and the group wiring harnesses that start to branch at the same place on the trunk line of the wiring harness. More and more, the reliability of the model alone cannot meet the demand. Therefore, when designing and selecting connectors, error-proofing technology should be widely used, not only the model, but also the color, the location of the positioning groove, the male or female ends, and the color of the wires. Through the selection of these connectors, the possibility of wrong insertion during assembly can be effectively reduced. In the design process, if more error-proofing techniques are applied and some reliability are considered, it will not only improve the reliability of the design, but also significantly improve the reliability of the vehicle electrical appliances.
The outer wrapping of automotive wiring harness should play the role of wear resistance, flame retardant, anti-corrosion, anti-interference, reduce noise and beautify the appearance. Generally, the wire harness is bundled according to the working environment and space size. For the wiring harness with harsh working environment, wrap it with corrugated pipe with high flame retardant, waterproof and high mechanical strength. For the relatively poor environment, most of the branches of the wire harness can also be wrapped with corrugated pipes with good flame retardancy, and some branches are wrapped with PVC pipes. For the instrument panel, the environment is relatively good, and the tape can be fully wrapped or flower wrapped. Door lines and ceiling lines have a small working space and can be fully wrapped with tape. Some branches can be wrapped with industrial plastic cloth. Thin ceiling lines can be glued to the body with sponge tape.
Since there are many parts of the chassis wire in contact with the car body, it is wrapped with corrugated tubes to prevent the wire harness from being worn. During the operation of the vehicle, it is inevitable that the wiring harness and surrounding objects will be worn, so it is necessary for the car to take protective measures for the wiring harness. The door wiring harness should reserve enough length at the connection with the body, and also prevent excessive accumulation of the wiring harness after closing the door; some additional wiring harnesses are arranged inside the body, and it should be fully considered whether the wiring harness will rub against other components in the car ( Such as strengthening sheet metal in the car and welding bolts, etc.); some wiring harnesses move relative to the body, and the parts that emit sound should be added with sponge or fixed to avoid noise.
When the wire harness needs to pass through the body sheet metal hole, a rubber protective cover needs to be added to protect the wire harness, waterproof and seal. The rubber sleeve on the door wiring harness is the most common. Since it is within the visible range, in addition to considering the above functions, it must be as beautiful as possible. The commonly used materials of rubber parts are generally natural rubber, neoprene, silicone rubber and EPDM, etc. Considering the characteristics of materials, EPDM has the best performance, so EPDM is generally used for rubber parts used in automotive wiring harnesses.