Wire harness

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9627102-B2
Application number	US-201514729480-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 3, 2015
Priority date	Dec 25, 2012
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

An outer cover includes a flexible tube portion having flexibility and an inflexible tube portion. The flexible tube portion has a corrugated tubular shape in which concave portions and convex portions both extending in a circumferential direction are alternately formed side by side in an axial direction and in which intervals of the adjacent concave portions or intervals between the adjacent convex portions are partially changed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wire harness comprising at least one electrically-conducting path and a tubular outer cover made of resin covering the electrically-conducting path,
wherein the outer cover comprises a flexible tube portion having flexibility and an inflexible tube portion having smaller flexibility than the flexible tube portion,
wherein the flexible tube portion has a corrugated tubular shape in which concave portions and convex portions both extending in a circumferential direction are alternately formed side by side in an axial direction of the flexible tube portion and in which intervals between the adjacent concave portions or intervals between the adjacent convex portions are different in the axial direction in one section of the flexible tube portion as compared to another section of the flexible tube portion,
wherein the flexible tube portion comprises a low-flexibility section and a high-flexibility section, the intervals between the adjacent concave portions or the intervals between the adjacent convex portions being narrower in the high-flexibility section than in the low-flexibility section,
wherein a ridge height of the convex portion is greater in the high-flexibility section than in the low-flexibility section, and
wherein a width of a top portion of the convex portion of the high-flexibility section is smaller than a width of a top portion of the convex portion of the low-flexibility section.

2. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible tube portion has the high-flexibility section at a portion adjoining the inflexible tube portion.

3. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein the outer cover is configured such that there is no slit extending along the axial direction.

4. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein
the electrically-conducting path and the outer cover are configured in an elongated manner to be arranged from a front to a rear of a vehicle floor through an underside of the vehicle floor.

5. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein the outer cover includes a second flexible tube portion, the inflexible tube portion having smaller flexibility than the second flexible tube portion, and the inflexible tube portion extending from the flexible tube portion to the second flexible tube portion.

6. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein the flexible tube portion and the inflexible tube portion are integrated as a single unit.

7. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein the inflexible tube portion includes a plurality of ribs extending along an outer surface of the inflexible tube portion.

8. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein the inflexible tube portion has a rectangular cross section, the inflexible tube portion comprising a pair of long side wall portions configured to extend in a horizontal direction and a pair of short side wall portions configured to extend in a vertical direction, the pair of short side wall portions extending in a curved manner in the rectangular cross section.

9. The wire harness according to claim 1 , wherein the high-flexibility portion abuts each of the low-flexibility portion and the inflexible portion.

Assignees

• Yazaki Corp

Inventors

• Adachi Hideomi
• Masunari Shoji

Classifications

• B60R16/0215 Primary

  Protecting, fastening and routing means therefor · CPC title

• H02G3/0487

  with a non-circular cross-section (H02G3/0468, H02G3/0475 take precedence) · CPC title

• H02G3/0468

  Corrugated · CPC title

• H01B7/0045

  Cable-harnesses · CPC title

• H01B7/184 Primary

  Sheaths comprising grooves, ribs or other projections · CPC title