JP2589448B2 - Chain cable holder - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a chain-like cable holding means for linking a plurality of link members formed in the same shape so as to be able to bend, and for holding a cable inside the plurality of link members so as to be able to bend. It is about tools.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an apparatus such as an industrial robot having a movable part which moves relatively to a machine main body, it is often necessary to perform electric wiring between the machine main body and the movable part. Occur. In such a case, if the electric cable connecting the main body of the machine and the movable part is left naked, the electric cable is likely to be damaged due to contact with an external member, which may cause disconnection or the like. . For this reason, conventionally, when an electric cable is wired in such a relatively moving portion, the electric cable is housed in, for example, a flexible cable holder formed in a chain shape to protect the electric cable. . Since such a chain-like cable holder is configured to be deformable as the machine body and the movable part move relative to each other, it is possible to protect the electric cable from the outside without adversely affecting the movement of the movable part. It is.

[0003] As such a cable holder, for example, one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-1716 is known. In this conventional technique, each link member constituting a chain-shaped cable holder is made to have a sealed structure, so that the protection of an electric cable or the like is further improved.

[0004]

However, in the above conventional example, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of link members 52 having the same shape are connected to each other to form a series of chain-shaped cable holders 50. For example, in a case where one end of the cable holder is fixed to the machine body and the other end is fixed to the movable part, the body of the cable holder 50 is attached to the end of the cable holder 50. It is necessary to attach fixing metal fittings 54 and 56 having a special shape different from the shape of the link member 52 constituting the above. Since the cable holder is formed by connecting link members 52 having the same shape, the connection shape is different between the one end and the other end (A side and B side in FIG. 5) of the cable holder. It was necessary to prepare two kinds of fixing metal fittings 54 and 56 corresponding to each end of the holding tool 50, respectively. That is, in the conventional cable holder, one type of link member 52 constituting the cable holder main body and two types of fixing brackets 54 and 56 for fixing both ends of the cable holder 50 are required. A total of three types of parts had to be prepared. As described above, in order to manufacture a plurality of types of parts, it is necessary to prepare a plurality of molding dies and the like corresponding to the respective part shapes, which increases the production cost of the cable holder. was there.

On the other hand, there is another problem different from the above problem.

Generally, in a chain-shaped cable holder, link members 52 of the same shape are connected to each other as shown in FIG. 5, but at this time, a pair of side plates 60 connected to each other by a bottom plate 58 are provided. (Existing on the near side and the other side of the bottom plate 58 in the drawing) are opened, and a columnar projection 6 formed on the rear portion of the link member 52 is opened.
2, the fitting hole 64 formed in the front portion of the side plate 60 and the projection 62 are engaged with each other. Thus, the link members 52 are connected to each other.

However, as described above, the link member 52
If the side plates 60 and the bottom plate 58 are formed thicker in order to increase the rigidity of the link members when connecting them, a large force is required to open the side plates 60 when the link members 52 are combined or separated from each other. There is a problem that the link members 52 cannot be connected or separated from each other unless necessary and a special tool is prepared.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and a first object of the present invention is to provide a chain-shaped cable holder capable of reducing the cost by reducing the types of required components. To provide.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a chain-like cable holder which can improve the disassembly of the link members while preventing the rigidity of the link members from decreasing.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems and achieve the object, a chain-like cable holder of the present invention comprises a plurality of link members formed of an elastic material and formed in the same shape. In a chain-like cable holder for flexibly connecting and holding a cable inside the plurality of link members in a bendable manner, the link member constitutes a front portion of the link member, and an inner wall surface thereof is formed. A pair of outer plate portions arranged in a state separated from each other by a predetermined distance, and a rear portion of the link member, the outer gap between the outer wall surfaces is larger than the space between the inner wall surfaces of the pair of outer plate portions. A pair of inner plate portions set slightly smaller, the pair of outer plate portions and the pair of inner plate portions are formed integrally with each other, and lower ends of the pair of outer plate portions are formed integrally with the pair of inner plate portions. A bottom plate portion connecting the lower ends of the rate portions to each other, and a substantially columnar shape formed on one of the pair of outer plate portions and the pair of inner plate portions so as to protrude in a direction perpendicular to the plate surface. Protrusions,
A fitting hole formed on the other of the pair of outer plate portions and the pair of inner plate portions, the fitting hole having a size capable of fitting with the protrusion, the bottom plate portion, and the pair of outer plate portions; And / or near the connecting portion between the bottom plate portion and the pair of inner plate portions, the upper end portions of the pair of outer plate portions and the upper end portions of the pair of inner plate portions. A low-rigidity portion for easily deforming in a direction in which they open or close each other; and a mounting hole formed in the pair of outer plate portions and / or the bottom plate portion for fixing the link member to an external member. Wherein both ends of the chain-shaped cable holder can be fixed to the external member without requiring any members other than the link member.

In the chain-shaped cable holder according to the present invention, the low-rigidity portion is formed on the outer plate portion and / or the inner plate portion, and includes a groove extending in the front-rear direction of the link member. It is characterized by being.

[0012]

As described above, since the chain-shaped cable holder according to the present invention is constituted, mounting holes for fixing to an external member are formed in the outer plate portion and / or the bottom plate portion of the link member. As a result, it is possible to cope with only one type of link member constituting the cable holder body without specially preparing a fixing bracket, thereby reducing the number of parts and reducing the cost of the cable holder. it can.

Further, by providing a groove-like low-rigidity portion near the connecting portion between the bottom plate portion and the outer plate portion and / or near the connecting portion between the bottom plate portion and the inner plate portion of the link member, this portion is formed. It plays a role like a hinge and facilitates opening and closing of the outer plate or the inner plate, so that assembling and disassembling of the link members is facilitated.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the structure of a link member constituting a chain-shaped cable holder of one embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of the link member of FIG. 1 as viewed from above.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the link member 12 is
A pair of side plate portions 14 arranged at a predetermined distance in the horizontal direction, and a pair of side plate portions 14
Bottom plate 16 for connecting the lower ends of the
A beam member 18 for partially closing an upper portion of the side plate portion 14 so that the cable does not protrude from the link member 12 in a state where a cable such as an electric wire is stored between the pair of side plate portions 14. Have been. The link member 12 configured as described above is formed by molding a synthetic resin or the like.

The side plate portion 14 is a pair of outer plate portions 2 constituting a front portion (a front side in FIG. 1) of the link member 12.
0 and a pair of inner plate portions 22 integrally connected to the rear portion of the outer plate portion 20. The interval between the inner walls of the outer plate portion 20 is set to a distance D as shown in FIG. 2, and the outer interval of the outer wall of the inner plate portion 22 is
The distance D 'is set to be slightly smaller than the distance D. As described above, since the outer gap D 'of the inner plate portion 22 is set slightly smaller than the inner gap D of the outer plate portion 20, as shown in FIGS. Is inserted between the pair of outer plate portions 20,
The link member 12 can be combined with another link member 12 of the same shape. In this combined state, a columnar projection 22a is formed on the outer wall of the inner plate portion 22 so that the link members 12 are connected to each other so as to be bendable. Is formed with a fitting hole 20a that fits with the projection 22a. By linking a plurality of link members 12 in this manner, a series of chain-shaped cable holders 10 as shown in FIG. 3 is configured.

When the link members 12 are connected to each other as described above, the connecting operation can be performed smoothly.
A slope 20 b is formed at the front end of the inner wall of the outer plate 20, while a slope 22 b is formed at the rear end of the protrusion 22 a formed on the inner plate 22. Since the slopes 20b and 22b are formed as described above, when the two link members 12 are slid and connected in the direction indicated by the arrow A in the drawing, the front end of the outer plate portion 20 becomes a protrusion. The two link members 12 can be smoothly connected to easily ride on the rear end portion 22a.

When the front end of the outer plate 20 rides on the protrusion 22a, the outer plate 20 needs to open outward as shown by the arrow B in FIG. Outer plate part 2 for easy opening to the outside
0, that is, the outer plate portion 20 and the bottom plate portion 1
A long groove 24 as a low-rigidity portion is formed in the vicinity of the connecting portion 6. Since the long groove 24 is formed at the root portion of the outer plate portion 20 in this manner, the portion of the long groove 24 functions as a hinge, so that the outer plate portion 2
0 becomes easier to open in the direction of arrow B, and the link member 12 can be connected more easily. The long groove 24 plays a more effective role when the already connected link members 12 are separated from each other. That is, when the link members 12 are connected to each other, the slope 20b and the slope 22b assist the connection operation, but when the link members 12 are separated, there is no such help. That is, it is necessary to open the outer plate portion 20 in the direction of the arrow B only by hand and to pull out the protrusion 22a from the fitting hole 20a. For this reason, conventionally, a tool or the like was required to open the outer plate portion 20 in particular, but in the present embodiment, a special tool is not required by the action of the long groove 24, and the external force is applied by human power. The plate portion 20 can be opened, and the connected link members 12 can be separated. In addition, long groove 2
By providing 4, only the rigidity of a part of the outer plate portion 20 is reduced, so that the outer plate portion 20 can be easily opened without reducing the rigidity of the entire link member 12. it can.

A long groove 26 is also formed below the inner plate portion 22 similarly to the outer plate portion 20. This is also similar to the long groove 24 in order to facilitate the connecting operation and the disassembling operation of the link member 12. belongs to. The long groove 24 is for making the outer plate portion 20 easily open, while the long groove 26 is for making the inner plate portion 22 easily deform in the closing direction. That is, the outer plate 20 is easily opened by the action of the long groove 24, and the inner plate 22 is easily closed by the action of the long groove 26, so that the outer plate 20 and the inner plate 22 are easily deformed in opposite directions, The attachment / detachment operation is performed more easily.

Next, a rectangular opening hole 28 is formed in the upper portion of the outer plate portion 20. The locking projections 18a formed at both ends of the beam member 18 are inserted into the opening hole 28. Thereby, the beam member 18 is mounted on the link member 12. The beam member 18 is for preventing a cable such as an electric wire stored in the link member 12 from jumping out of the link member 12. When attaching the beam member 18 to the link member 12, the outer plate portion 20 must also be opened in the direction of arrow B and the locking projection 18a must be inserted into the opening hole 28. The slopes 30a and 30b are formed in the upper part of the plate part 20. On the other hand, a slope 18 b is also formed on the lower surface of the locking projection 18 a of the beam member 18. Therefore, when the beam member 18 is mounted on the link member 12, simply press the beam member 18 into the outer plate portion 20 from above, and the slope 18 b becomes the slope 30 b.
As a result, the beam member 18 slides along the a and 30b, so that the beam member 18 can be easily attached to the link member 12.

The rear end portion 32 of the outer plate portion 20 is formed linearly along the vertical direction, while a slope 34 is formed in the upper front part of the outer plate portion 20. The rear end portion 32 and the slope 34 are connected to the linked link member 1.
For restricting the rotation angle between the two, as shown in FIG. 4, when the chain-shaped cable holder 10 is bent, the link members 12 are not bent at a predetermined angle or more. It is. If there is no such restriction of the bending angle, the radius of curvature at which the cable can be bent may be smaller than necessary. Therefore, it is necessary to regulate the bending angle. In this embodiment, the outer plate 20
Since the inner gap D is substantially equal to the outer gap D 'of the inner plate 22, a step is always generated between the rear end 32 of the outer plate 20 and the outer wall of the inner plate 22. For this reason, the angle between the link members 12 is regulated by utilizing the step that always occurs. This allows
It is not necessary to provide a specially shaped portion for regulating the angle on the link member 12, so that the structure of the mold for forming the link member 12 is simplified, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the chain-shaped cable holding portion 10 is straightened, the front end portion 16a of the bottom plate portion 16 of one link member and the bottom plate portion of the adjacent link member are connected. Since the rear end portion 16b of the chain cable 16 is in contact with the rear end portion 16, the chain-shaped cable holder 10 is prevented from bending to the opposite side. Accordingly, the chain-shaped cable holder 10 is flexibly bent between the state shown in FIG. 3 and the state shown in FIG.

Next, returning to FIG. 1 again, the outer plate portion 20 of the link member 12
A mounting hole 36 for fixing the second member W1 to an external member W1 (for example, a machine main body such as an industrial robot or a movable part relatively moving with respect to the machine main body) is formed. By inserting a screw B1 or the like into this mounting hole 36 and screwing it, the end of the chain-shaped cable holder 10 can be fixed to an external member W1. By forming the mounting holes 36 in the outer plate portion 20 in this manner, the end of the chain-shaped cable holder can be fixed to an external member without preparing a special fixing bracket. Therefore, the cable holder can be composed of only one type of component (link member 12), and the cost of the cable holder can be reduced.

A tool hole 38 for inserting a tool such as a screwdriver for turning a screw B1 inserted in the mounting hole 36 is formed in the outer plate portion 20 facing the outer plate portion 20 in which the mounting hole 36 is formed. It is formed so as not to hinder the fixing operation of the link member 12.

The mounting holes 4 are also provided in the bottom plate 16.
0 is formed so that the mounting posture of the link member 12 can be changed as needed. That is, a state in which the side surface of the link member 12 is fixed to the external member W1 and a state in which the bottom surface of the link member 12 is fixed to the external member W2 can be arbitrarily selected. Thereby, it can respond widely to various mounting postures.

As described above, in the chain-shaped cable holder of one embodiment, since the mounting hole is formed in the link member itself, the end portion of the cable holder can be prepared without specially preparing a fixing bracket. Can be fixed to an external member, so that the cable holder can be composed of one kind of component, and cost reduction can be achieved.

Further, since the low rigidity portion is formed at the base of the outer plate portion and the inner plate portion, the connecting operation and the removing operation of the link members can be performed smoothly.

Further, since the bending angle between the link members is regulated by utilizing the stepped portion between the outer plate portion and the inner plate portion, which always occurs, a function for regulating the bending angle specially is provided. The structure of the mold for forming the link member is simplified as compared with the case of forming the portion, and the cost of the cable holder can be reduced.

The present invention can be applied to a modification or a modification of the above embodiment without departing from the gist of the invention.

[0031]

As described above, according to the chain-shaped cable holder of the present invention, the outer plate portion and / or the bottom plate portion of the link member is formed with the mounting hole for fixing to the external member. Thus, it is possible to cope with only one type of link member constituting the cable holder main body without specially preparing a fixing bracket, and it is possible to reduce the number of parts and reduce the cost of the cable holder. .

Further, by providing a groove-like low-rigidity portion near the connecting portion between the bottom plate portion and the outer plate portion and / or near the connecting portion between the bottom plate portion and the inner plate portion of the link member, this portion is formed. It plays a role like a hinge and facilitates opening and closing of the outer plate or the inner plate, so that assembling and disassembling of the link members is facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a structure of a link member constituting a chain-shaped cable holder of one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the link member of FIG. 1 as viewed from above.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state in which a plurality of link members are connected to form a chain-shaped cable holder.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state where a chain-shaped cable holder is bent.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a conventional chain-shaped cable holder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Chain-shaped cable holder 12 Link member 14 Side plate part 16 Bottom plate part 18 Beam member 20 Outer plate part 22 Inner plate part 24, 26 Long groove 28 Opening hole 32 Rear end part 34 Slope 36 Mounting hole 38 Tool hole 40 Mounting hole

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-201951 (JP, A) JP-A-1-58843 (JP, U) JP-A-1-58842 (JP, U) JP-A-60- 186193 (JP, U) Fully open Showa 141-14091 (JP, U) Really open Showa 53-121495 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A plurality of link members, which are made of an elastic material and are formed in the same shape, are connected in a bendable manner.
A chain-like cable holder for holding a cable in a bendable manner inside the plurality of link members, wherein the link member forms a front portion of the link member, and has inner wall surfaces separated by a predetermined distance from each other. A pair of outer plate portions arranged in a state, and a rear portion of the link member, and an outer clearance between outer wall surfaces thereof is set to be slightly smaller than an interval between inner wall surfaces of the pair of outer plate portions. A pair of inner plate portions, integrally formed with the pair of outer plate portions and the pair of inner plate portions, and connecting lower ends of the pair of outer plate portions and lower ends of the pair of inner plate portions to each other. A bottom plate portion; a substantially columnar projection formed on one of the pair of outer plate portions and the pair of inner plate portions so as to protrude in a direction perpendicular to the plate surface; A fitting hole formed on the other of the pair of outer plate portions and the other of the pair of inner plate portions, the fitting hole formed to have a size capable of fitting with the protrusion, the bottom plate portion and the pair of outer plate portions; And / or near the connecting portion between the bottom plate portion and the pair of inner plate portions, the upper end portions of the pair of outer plate portions and the upper end portions of the pair of inner plate portions are mutually connected. A low-rigidity portion that easily deforms in the opening direction or the closing direction; and a mounting hole formed in the pair of outer plate portions and / or the bottom plate portion for fixing the link member to an external member. A chain-shaped cable holder, wherein both ends of the chain-shaped cable holder can be fixed to the external member without requiring any member other than the link member. . 2. The chain-shaped cable according to claim 1, wherein the low-rigidity portion is formed on the outer plate portion and / or the inner plate portion, and includes a groove extending in a front-rear direction of the link member. Holder.