Grommet

Abstract

The present invention relates to a grommet capable of easy installation by reducing an insertion resistance when conducting an insertion of the grommet into an opening of a vehicle panel. The configuration of the grommet allows molds for forming the grommet to have reduced processing costs, and molding and installation time can also be decreased. The grommet includes wire harness holding areas for tightly engaging around the periphery of the wire harness and an engagement area which fixedly engages an opening provided on a vehicle panel. A tapered area connects a wire harness holding area and an engagement area with a near-conical tapered surface extending over the outer surface of a tapered area, and a plurality of linear convex areas are provided to extend from a wire harness holding area to the engagement area, in an insertion direction of the grommet over the entire periphery on the tapered area.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a grommet which holds a wire harness having a route that penetrates an opening in a panel, particularly an opening in a vehicle panel, etc.[0003]2. Description of Background Information[0004]Wire harness arrangement routes for vehicles have recently become more complicated and versatile as mounting of various electrical components on vehicles advances. This requires a wide use of parts for wire harness protection or maintenance, such as harness protectors for avoiding interference with peripheral parts and grommets used for penetrating through the openings provided in a vehicle panel.[0005]In particular, via an opening which is formed in a vehicle panel, a grommet formed of integrally molded rubber, etc. is generally used on a wire harness having a route, for instance, from an engine compartment to a passenger compartment or from a vehicle body to door areas, for the purpose of holding a...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective according to one aspect of the present invention, a grommet is provided that includes a linear holder portion adapted to tightly engage around the periphery of a member inserted therein, an engagement area for engagement with an installation opening into which the linear holder portion is arranged to penetrate, and a tapered portion which connects the linear holder portion and the engagement area. A plurality of linear convex areas are provided to extend around the periphery of outer surface of the tapered portion to extend from the linear holder portion to the engagement area, and are configured to slidably contact an edge of the installation opening, thus reducing insertion resistance of the grommet during installation.

[0014]In another aspect of the present invention, the grommet of the present invention includes a linear holder portion adapted to tightly engage around the periphery of a member inserted therethrough, an engagement area for engagement with an installation opening through which the linear portion is arranged to penetrate. The grommet is further formed with a tapered portion that connects the linear holder portion and the engagement area. A plurality of linear concave areas are provided on the tapered portion and are arranged to extend from adjacent the engagement area side toward the linear holder portion side around the entire periphery of the tapered portion. Thus, convex tapered areas are formed between adjacent linear concave areas, and the convex tapered areas are configured to slidably contact the edge of the installation opening in the panel, thus reducing insertion resistance of the grommet during installation. Additionally, the linear concave areas allow the tapered area to fold inwardly in the manner of an umbrella or a bellows to thereby further reduce insertion resistance of the grommet during installation.

[0015]According to the grommet of the present invention, by providing a linear convex area or linear concave area in an insertion direction over the full periphery of the tapered area, only an upper surface of the linear convex areas or convex tapered areas formed between adjacent linear concave areas make sliding contact with the edge of the installation opening during insertion into or engagement with the predetermined opening area of the grommet. Therefore, the grommet structure of the present invention allows the insertion resistance to be reduced by reducing the contact area between the installation opening area and the grommet during insertion, also improving a mounting workability of a wire harness by reducing the drawing force required during insertion of the grommet.

[0016]Other aspects of the present invention include forming the linear convex areas of the grommet from a material that is harder than that forming the tapered portion, thereby further reducing the insertion resistance of the grommet, forming the linear convex areas to terminate adjacent the holder portion, forming the linear convex areas and linear concave areas to terminate adjacent the holder portion, and forming the linear convex areas to project a distance above the tapered portion so that the distance of projection tapers from a greater distance at an end thereof adjacent the engagement area to a lesser distance at the opposite end thereof.

[0019]Furthermore, since a linear convex area or a linear concave area is formed on the tapered area by utilizing a cutting process on the tapered area of the molding die using machining processing or a processing on the ridge area in advance. Accordingly, a grommet is extremely easily formed which has a predetermined linear convex area or linear concave area within a short period of time. Thus, it is possible to control the molding die processing to be less complicated while making the processing time shorter.

Problems solved by technology

Thus, convex tapered areas are formed between adjacent linear concave areas, and the convex tapered areas are configured to slidably contact the edge of the installation opening in the panel, thus reducing insertion resistance of the grommet during installation.

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