In this guide to wire harness design, development, and manufacturing, we&#;ll start with the basics and move through the process of manufacturing. First, understand what a wire harness is, then we&#;ll discuss the steps involved in designing a wire harness. We&#;ll review components and materials, followed by a discussion of the options for purchasing wire harnesses. Lastly, we&#;ll how automation is influencing wire harness manufacturing.
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A wire harness is a set of cables, wires, and connectors connecting electrical components in an electronic device. It is a crucial component of any electronic system and can be custom designed for specific applications. A wire harness helps simplify the wiring process by reducing the number of cables needed and providing an easy way to connect components.
Wire harnesses offer many benefits, including improved reliability, reduced installation time, safety, and cost savings. Typically, due to being application-specific, wiring harnesses are custom designed, tailoring them for maximum efficiency and performance. Different types of wire harnesses are available depending on the application, such as automotive, aerospace, and industrial. With the help of advanced design tools, designers can quickly create custom wire harnesses with high accuracy and precision.
The process of designing and developing a wiring harness involves several steps, starting with gathering information about the requirements and specifications of the wire harness. The next step is creating a schematic or wiring diagram of the wire harness, followed by selecting the appropriate components and materials. The actual design of the harness involves laying out the wires, connectors, and other elements in a specific configuration. Next, testing the wiring harness ensures that it meets the required performance criteria. Finally, the completed harness is inspected and tested before installation in the final product. This step-by-step process ensures the design and development of the wire harness meet the requirements and specifications of the final product.
Wire harnesses consist of various components and materials in the manufacturing process. The most common elements include wires, connectors, terminals, and protective sleeves. Wires are typically made from copper or aluminum and are coated with insulation to prevent electrical interference. Connectors join wires and come in various shapes and sizes depending on the application. Terminals are attached to the wire ends to connect them to other components. Protective sleeves to cover the cables provide additional protection from heat, moisture, and other environmental factors.
The materials used to manufacture wire harnesses can vary depending on the application and harness assembly requirements. Common materials include PVC, polyethylene, and polypropylene for insulation and nylon or polyester for protective sleeves. With specific applications where high temperatures or extreme environmental conditions are a concern, using more advanced materials such as Teflon or silicone is common.
Overall, selecting wire harness components and materials is critical to ensuring the harness performs reliably and meets the required specifications. Manufacturers must carefully consider the application and environment of the wiring harness to determine the appropriate components and materials.
The two main options for wire harnesses are pre-made and custom solutions. While custom solutions offer more flexibility and customization options, pre-made harnesses have several advantages that make them popular for many applications.
One significant advantage of pre-made wire harnesses is cost-effectiveness. Manufacturers typically mass-produce pre-made harnesses, enabling them to manufacture them at a lower cost than custom solutions. As a result, this can significantly benefit smaller production runs or applications with tight budget constraints.
Pre-made wire harnesses offer faster lead times and shorter production times. Since pre-made harnesses are already manufactured and available for purchase, they can be shipped out quickly and installed in the final product with minimal delay. With shorter lead times, this can be particularly beneficial for applications with tight production schedules or where downtime is not an option.
Designers and manufacturers typically create pre-made wire harnesses to meet industry standards and regulations, providing an additional advantage. Therefore, it ensures that the harness meets the necessary safety and performance requirements for the application. On the other hand, custom solutions may require additional testing and certification to ensure compliance with industry standards.
In summary, pre-made wire harnesses offer several advantages over custom solutions, including cost-effectiveness, faster lead times, and compliance with industry standards. While custom solutions may be necessary for some applications, pre-made harnesses are a reliable and efficient option for many applications.
Manufacturing wiring harnesses has traditionally been labor-intensive and time-consuming, but automation is revolutionizing the industry and improving efficiency and productivity. Automation involves using robotic systems and computer-controlled machines to perform traditionally manual tasks.
One use of automation in manufacturing wiring harnesses is through automated wire-cutting and stripping machines. These machines can cut and strip wires with high accuracy and speed, reducing the time and labor required for these tasks.
The use of automated assembly systems is streamlining the production of wiring harnesses. These systems use robots and other machines to assemble wires, connectors, and other components into the final harness. By automating the assembly process, manufacturers can reduce the risk of errors and improve overall production efficiency.
Another way that automation is revolutionizing the manufacturing of wiring harnesses is through the use of data analysis and monitoring. Manufacturers can identify areas to improve and optimize production to reduce waste and increase efficiency by collecting and analyzing production processes and performance data.
Overall, the use of automation in manufacturing wiring harnesses is improving efficiency, reducing labor costs, and improving the overall quality of the final product. As automation technology advances, it will continue to play an increasingly important role in the industry&#;s future.
A wire harness is a critical component in electronic systems that offers many benefits. Custom wiring harnesses are designed using advanced tools, and the process involves several steps, including selecting appropriate parts and materials. Pre-made wire harnesses offer advantages such as cost-effectiveness, faster lead times, and compliance with industry standards. Automation is revolutionizing the manufacturing of wiring harnesses, improving efficiency and productivity. As automation technology advances, the industry can expect to see even more significant improvements in the future.
Many multi-board PCBs will not use board-to-board connectors or simple wired cables to make connections between PCBs. With just a pair of PCBs that need to connect to each other, a single cable or board-to-board connector will be enough. However, many products will use multiple PCBs that all connect with each other, and the number of cables involved can quickly become unmanageable inside an enclosure. The solution to keep all those wires and cables organized can be very simple: build a wiring harness.
Wiring harnesses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can become quite complex both mechanically and electrically. While there is a bit of design and assembly effort to create a wire harness that will work in an enclosure, wiring harnesses are worth the effort. This is especially true when a product goes into assembly and you need to idiot-proof your cabling. So if you're wondering what kind of wiring harness you might use in your product, take a look at these options.
The simplest type of wiring harness uses point-to-point cable bundles and packages them together into a single harness assembly. Cable bundles can be packed together using adhesives, tapes, sheathing, or mesh jackets. The cables used in these bundles could be off-the-shelf cables, custom cables, or a combination of these. Interconnect topology that usually arises from this is point-to-point because of the direct connections via these cables.
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Cabling coming off of a connector can be bifurcated, where a single connector has wiring splitting off to two different destinations. This would be used to have a single receptacle on one PCB connecting to at least two other PCBs. This is a more sophisticated type of wiring harness that involves mixing and matching connectors and receptacles across different boards.
Simple bifurcated cable
Flex ribbons can also be used as wiring harnesses, which would allow a mix of edge connectors, surface mount connectors, and even through-hole connectors to interface with a group of PCBs. Flex connectors have an advantage and that they are very flat and so they may be useful in very low profile products. In some products, a wire bundle in a standard wiring harness simply won&#;t fit in the design, so a flex cable becomes a very attractive option.
Custom flex cables used as harnesses can have multiple branches going to receptacles on different PCBs.
When used as a wiring harness, the flex cable follows the same design rules as a flex PCB. The main difference here is the selection of connectors on the flex cable. Connectors on flex cables that plug into PCB receptacles should generally not be surface mounted if the flex ribbon will plug and unplug repeatedly. The reason is that the flexible polyamide could easily separate from the SMD pads. Instead, opt for SMD connectors that have a through-hole mounting assist or a through-hole welding tab as this will prevent solder fracture near the connector plug, and it will allow the cable to be connected and disconnected repeatedly.
If you want to build a wiring harness, such as using bifurcated cables, you will need to select receptacles and mating connectors in order to make the required connections. Connector vendors do not normally specify their plug connectors as being used for wiring harnesses. Typically, these are crimp connectors that allow an assembler to attach a wire and then build out a cable assembly or wiring harness. For example, take a look at the Molex connector below.
This connector (Molex part number ) uses crimps for wire attachment which could be integrated into a custom wiring harness.
A wiring harness can be easily built from this connector by using crimp contacts, which slide into the connector. The crimp contact will crimp onto a wire, and this allows the wire to slide in and secure itself inside the connector body. Once the connector is mated to its receptacle on a PCB, the required electrical connection is completed.
For a wiring harness assembler, the PCB and product documentation will need to include these parts for the wiring and harness components in the BOM. You will need to include:
This can be included in the product&#;s full BOM. I also like to include this information directly in the schematic for the connecting PCB, so that there is no question as to what is the mating connector, crimp, or wiring. Some crimps require special crimp tools with their own part number, and this part number should also be included in the documentation.
These materials will need to be supplied to a wiring harness assembler so that a full wiring harness can be procured. The wiring harness should probably also have its own bill of materials, and it will need a detailed drawing showing pin connections on each connector plug, as well as part numbers for compatible crimps. Documentation of wiring harnesses can be difficult and may require some manual drawing due to the lack of standardization. Contact your cable assembly or wiring harness manufacturer to make sure you provide them the documentation they need to correctly assemble your wiring harness.
When building a custom wiring harness or cable assembly, designers historically resorted to running cabling through a prototype enclosure using spooled wire, or even using string. A harness would then have to be hand-assembled in order to check to see that it would fit in the enclosure. If a flex cable was being used as a harness, then a flex prototype would need to be built, something which can be quite expensive with thin polyimide flex ribbons.
Obviously, this is expensive and time consuming, especially when you are simply trying to estimate the wiring length inside the enclosure. Today's design teams should instead leverage MCAD applications and 3D models of the enclosure in order to estimate and size cabling. These tools can easily draw in cabling of various shapes and sizes, as well as insert bends to visualize cable paths within a wiring harness.
Wiring harness designed in SolidWorks
The side benefit of this is it also allows experimentation with connector placement in a 3D mechanical model of the PCB within the enclosure. 3D models of connectors, such as STEP models, are widely available from most connector manufacturers and can be quickly used in ECAD and MCAD applications.
The weld tabs on this locking clip connector (Samtec part number PES-04-01-S-VT-LC) provide extra reinforcement for any flex cable-mounted interface connectors.
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