TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to a suspension or fastening system for a cable duct and/or liquid tight hose, in particular suitable for a vehicle such as passenger car, lorry or the like. The invention also relates to a method for the production of such a device.

BACKGROUND ART

The fastening of cable ducts and/or hoses in vehicles today is mainly made by manually attaching a clip to the hose or the cable(s) and thereafter attaching the clip to a structure of the vehicle. In case there are many cables located adjacent to each other they are commonly tied together in bundles by cable ties and the bundle is attached by clips to the vehicle structure. Alternatively, a plurality of cables may be put in a cable channel which is attached to the vehicle. These ways of attaching cables and/or hoses is usually time consuming and there is a thus a need for an improved product allowing cables and hoses to be more easily mounted in a vehicle.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The invention relates to a suspension system comprising one or several elongated shaped channels. Channels are in this context meant to include various elongated ducts, pipes, guiding rails or the like constructions which may be used as liquid guiding hoses or cable casings, cable ducts or the like constructional element which may be used for bundling/organizing one or several cables. As is evident from the intended use for the channels, they may be made different. For a liquid guiding structure it is understood that this structure must be watertight while the channels intended for the cables may have holes in the walls or being made of separate segments which intermittently support the cables. For the purpose of serving as a cable casing or cable channel, the channel is preferably not made as a continuous pipe since it may be hard to place the cables in the pipe in this case. A cable casing may thus be made as a pipe having an opening or partition line along the length of the channel, having access holes intermittently located in the pipe wall or a number of rings, pipe sections the like structures separated from each other and together making up the cable duct. The ducts or channels made up are thus usually formed having a hollow space defined by a wall or wall segments where cables and/or liquid may be located and guided. A wall structure forming the channel has a first, inner side facing towards the channel and a second, outer side facing away from the channel. Hence, there may be used ordinary and commonly known structures of water guiding means (hoses) and cable casings or cable organizing means in the present invention.

The present invention is particularly intended for structures related to a vehicle or a car. In these instances is there often a desire of a compact structure and also the easiness of mounting of the structures in the vehicle is of great importance. In order to provide a suspension arrangement which is easy to mount is the channel thus provided with a rail extending alongside the channel.

The rail is adapted to serve as an anchoring structure for a fastener. The rail is attached to the wall of the channel, directly or indirectly. The rail may be attached to the second, outer side of the wall or being an integrated part of the wall of the channel. The rail may for example be made such that the outer side of the channel forms part of the limiting surface of the rail, e.g. a part of the suspension system structure forms a wall for both the rail and the channel. One or several fasteners may be attached to the rail. The fasteners are separate units which are attached to the rail such that the rail and the channel or channels associated with the rail may be attached to a support structure. The rail may have different geometry and being shaped in different ways depending on the intended use and the shape of the fasteners to be attached to the rail. The rail is usually intended to have the same geometrical shape and size along its whole length. However, there may be some differences in the shape or geometrical configuration of the rail along its length, e.g. some irregularity defining the locations where the fasteners are intended to be located. Hence, the fasteners are attached to the rail by means of an attachment portion which is adapted to the profile of the rail. The fastener further comprises a fastening portion and a connecting portion and the attachment portion is connected to the fastening portion via the connecting portion such that the channel will be attached to a support structure when the fastening portions of the fasteners are fixed to the support structure.

The benefit of the disclosed suspension system is that it maintains a desired flexibility concerning the size (length) of the channel which is desired, the number and locations of the fasteners will also be easily adjusted according to the needs and the specific form of the fasteners fastening portion may easily be adapted to the support. At the same time, the system reduces the number of loose parts which usually is needed for these kinds of suspension arrangements, e.g. separate cables or hoses, cable ties needed to bundle the cables/hoses to one entity and thereafter attaching a fastener to the hoses/cables. When the fasteners are pre-attached to the rail, the present invention provides a pre-assembled, ready to mount assembly for hoses and cables.

The fastener will thus be attached such that at least free movement in the radial direction (relatively an axis along the longitudinal length of the rail) is prevented. There may of course be some minor movements due to elasticity of the material or tolerances and such a movement may also be desired to serve in damping of vibrations. The fastener is preferably slidably moveable along the rail. The easiness of movement may be adjusted either by dimensioning the fastener and the rail such that the fitting is more or less tight and/or by providing the arrangement with a feature making it possible to reversibly or irreversibly change the ability to move the fastener along the rail. It is generally thought that it is desired to allow the fastener to be relatively easy to move along the rail before the suspension system is mounted, e.g. to be able to make minor adjustments in the positions to fit into the mounting hole of the support structure, while there may be a desire to avoid sliding of the rail relatively the fasteners when the suspension system is mounted.

The fastening portion is intended for attachment to a support structure such that the channel may be securely attached. The specific shape of the fastener may be any suitable shape adapted to fit in with the anchoring site of the support structure such that the channel will be attached to a support structure when the fastening portions of the fasteners are fixed to the support structure

The rail may have a number of different shapes which are suitable for providing an engaging connection to the attachment portion of the fastener.

The rail may comprise a rail wall stretching along the longitudinal axis of the channel which is provided with an opening along the length of the rail. The rail wall will define a space having a desired cross sectional profile which forms the anchoring structure for an attachment portion of the fastener e.g. an enlarged head having essentially the same geometrical cross sectional shape as the space defined by the rail wall. The attachment portion of the fastener is connected to a fastening portion via a connecting portion passing through the opening of the wall. By fixing the fastening portion of the fastener to a support structure, the channel will be attached to the support structure.

The rail may also for example have a mushroom- or T-shaped profile to which a fastener having a hollow or claw shaped attachment portion is attached. Hence, it is obvious to the skilled person that essentially any kind of rail and fasteners adapted to be attached to the rail may be used.

The channel described above may for example be a liquid guiding hose or pipe. The channel may also be or form a cable casing which may be a continuous structure along the length of the suspension system or a channel made up of numerous of ring shaped elements along the length of the rail. The suspension system may also comprise several channels, e.g. one channel for liquid and one for cables or an arrangement having more than two channels of the same or different kinds.

The fastener and the rail are made to cooperate with each other and the attachment portion of the fastener may be configured to adapt a first locating position when the fastener is moved to its desired location in the rail. In this first position is it intended that the fastener shall be able to move along the rail. When the fastener is located in the desired position, the fastener may be manipulated to adapt a second, fastening position. When the fastener is manipulated, the movement of the fastener along the rail shall be prevented or the fastener shall at least be less easy to move than when it is in its first position. This may for example be achieved by using an attachment portion which cross sectional area profile perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the channel has an area which is smaller than the cross sectional area of the rail and geometrically adapted to the geometric shape of the rail ( when the fastener is in its first position). The shape and size of the fastener and its attachment portion will thus allow the fastener to move easily along the rail while being inserted in the rail. When the fastener is manipulated to adapt the second fastening position, it will have a cross sectional profile such that the cross sectional area of the attachment portion is of the same size or larger, or at least wider in one direction, than the cross sectional area of the rail for at least some point of the cross sectional profile of the rail at the point of attachment of the fastener to the rail. The fastener will thus be kept in place in its desired position by friction forces between the wall elements of the rail and the attachment portion. The basic idea is thus to change the friction forces between the rail and the attachment portion by manipulating the geometric configuration of the fastener. The manipulating action may for example be rotation or turning of the fastener. Another way of doing this may be to press or push on the fastener to trigger a change of the geometrical configuration of the attachment portion. Other ways of locating the fastener in the desired position may for example be to have a specific structure of the rail at the location for the fastener. Depending on the use of the channel and the suspension system, the fixation at the desired location may be more or less fixed. In certain applications it may be desired to be able to move the fasteners along the rail quite freely, e.g. for purposes of easier mounting and detachment of the channel, while it is desired in other applications to have the fasteners readily fixed in the rail.

The suspension system could be used for a wide variety of different uses but is mainly thought of being suitable for the automotive industry and to be used in vehicles for a liquid distribution system, e.g. cleaning liquids, cooling liquids or oil, or as a cable bundling system in order to organize, attach and protect electronic wires. The suspension system described above is for example suitable for a wiper system for a vehicle. Mounting of the hose for guiding liquid is often time consuming and it is also desired to avoid the hose from hanging spaced apart from the support structure to which it is attached. The present invention provides a reliable attachment of the hose to the support structure.

The invention is in particular suitable for a wiper system comprising a wiper blade and a nozzle for delivery of a cleaning liquid to the wind shield. Optionally, the nozzle may be connected to an electrical power consuming unit. The power consuming unit is most likely a heating element for thawing of frozen liquid in and on the nozzle in order to prevent undesired clogging of the nozzle in cold weather. The power consuming unit may also be an electronic motor for adjustment of the direction of the nozzle or for electronically change the spray pattern of the nozzle. It is desired in this case to include also the cables in the suspension system. Such a suspension system may thus comprise a first channel which is a liquid guiding hose for guiding of washing liquid from a liquid supply tank to the nozzle and a second channel for suspension of the cables, e.g. a cable casing or a cable channel made of a plurality of separate rings, connecting the power consuming unit to a power supply. The invention further relates to a method for producing a suspension system. The system may comprise one or several elongated shaped channels. The channels may be ordinary pipes or hoses having a hollow space defined by a wall to be used as a liquid guiding hose or cable casings or units forming a channel suitable for suspension of cables. The channel or channels is/are provided with a rail and fasteners attached to the rail. The method comprises the steps of: a) producing said channel(s) and rail as one unity attached to each other and shaped having the desired cross sectional wall profile b) attaching at least one fastener to the channel by introducing the attachment portion into the rail and placing the fastener at a desired position along the longitudinal extension of the channel c) cutting the channel and rail at a desired position in order to get a desired length of the suspension system comprising the at least one fastener. The order of the different steps may be altered. However, step a) must be performed first but either step b) or step c) may be performed thereafter. The other one of these steps (b and c) may be performed as the last step of these three mentioned steps.

It is evident that there may be further production steps or more measures made in each of these steps, e.g. may the surface of the channels and/or the rail be treated in step a, the rail may be further manipulated during step b and the end of the channels and/or the rail may be further processed during step c if desired. Hence, there are many possibilities to make further steps or add working cycles to the measures described in step a) - c) and the above described measures are only a few examples of possible extra measures that may be made.

The channel and rail produced in step a) may be made by extrusion. It is obvious that there may be more than 1 or 2 channels if desired as well as more than one rail if it is desired. The use of more than one rail could for example be useful if there is a desire to attach the suspension arrangement to different support structures, e.g. a horizontal base and a vertical wall such that there is desired to use rails being angled 90 degrees relatively each other. The attachment of the fastener to the rail in step b) may be made by introducing the attachment portion into the rail at one of the ends of the rail. The fastener may thereafter be moved while the attachment portion is placed in the rail along the channel to the desired location. This movement may be facilitated by having a fastener which has a profile which allows it to be easily moved with its attachment portion in the rail. It could also be possible to use a tool which widens the rail during insertion such that the fastener more easily may be moved along the rail. The widening is preferably made temporarily such that the rail is elastically deformed and will resume to its original shape when the tool is removed. By using this method it will be possible to fix the fastener at the desired position by simply allowing the rail to be reshaped to its original shape which tightens the rail which will press on the fasteners fastening portion such that the fastener will be fixed. By influencing size, shape, material and/or surface properties of the rail and the fastening portion it may be possible to vary the strength of the fixation. Another method for attaching the fastener to the rail in step b) which may be used is to engage the attachment portion with the rail at the desired location by pressing or moving the attachment portion to engage with the rail directly at the desired location. This may for example be made by elastically separating the walls of the rails thus allowing the fastener to be introduced and/or having a attachment portion allowing it to be inserted easily but having an attachment portion preventing the attachment portion from being withdrawn out of the rail, e.g. a base being flexibly compressed when inserting but expanding when tried to move in the opposite direction. In the case of a T- or mushroom- shaped rail, the attachment portion may be attached by pressing it onto the rail while the enclosing part is flexibly widened to allow engagement with the rail

Either the fastener is inserted at the end of the rail or directly attached at the intended position, the fastener may be provided with an attachment portion which is configured to adapt a first locating position such that the fastener may be easily moved in the rail and a second, fastening position in which the fastener may be fixed in its desired position by manipulating the fastener. The change between the locating position and the fastening position may be made by turning or rotating the fastener. Hence, in the first position is the attachment portion configured to be easier to move along the rail than when it is in its second position, e.g. by having a change of the cross sectional geometrical configuration perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the rail when the fastener is turned.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Figs. 1 a - c show perspective views of a first embodiment of the invention showing an isometric view from below (fig. 1 a), an isometric view from above (fig. 1 b) and a side view (fig. 1 c)

Figs. 2 a - b show cross sectional views of the suspension system of figure 1 along the lines A— A (fig. 2 a) and B— - B (fig. 2 b) Fig. 3 shows the same view as fig. 2 b when the suspension system is attached to a support structure.

Figs. 4 a - b show cross sectional views corresponding to the views of figures 2 a - b for a second embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 5 a - b show cross sectional views corresponding to the views of figures 2 a - b for a third embodiment of the invention.

Figs. 6 a - b show cross sectional views corresponding to the views of figures 2 a - b for a fourth embodiment of the invention. Figure 7 shows an isometric view of the invention according to the first embodiment when used in a wiper system for a vehicle.

EMBODIMENT(S) OF THE INVENTION

In figure 1 a-c is shown a suspension system 1 comprising two channels 2, a first channel which is a liquid guiding hose 3a and a second channel which is a cable casing 3b having hollow spaces for liquid respectively cables. The suspension system 1 further comprises a rail 7 which is provided with three fasteners 12. It is obvious to the skilled person that there may be more or less fasteners 12 attached to the suspension system 1 .

In figure 2a is shown a cross sectional view along the line A— A in fig. 1 c, i.e. a view of a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the suspension system 1 . The wall 4 defines two channels, a circular shaped channel intended to be used as a liquid guiding hose 3a and another channel intended to be used as a cable casing 3b. Attached to the outside 5 of the wall 4 is a rail 7 defined by two wall elements 8, 9. These wall elements 8, 9 together with the wall 4 of the channels 3a, 3b define the space 10 of the rail. Between the wall elements 8, 9 is an opening 1 1 making it possible for a fastener 12 (see fig. 2 b) to be moved along the rail 7. The channel intended to be used as a cable duct 2 b is provided with a partition 16 running along the channel such that the cable duct 2 b may be opened and closed along its length.

In figure 3b is shown a cross sectional view along the line B— B in fig. 1 c, i.e. a view of a cross section perpendicular to the longitudinal extension of the suspension system 1 at the location of a fastener 12. The fastener 12 is attached in the rail 7 by means of its attachment portion 1 3. The fastener is provided with a fastening portion 14, in the form of an anchor shaped portion, which is attached to the attachment portion 1 3 by a connecting portion 15. Figure 3 shows the same view of the suspension system 1 as in figure 2b but in this case is the suspension system 1 attached to a support structure 17 by the fastener 12.

Figures 4 a-b shows the profile of another embodiment of the suspension system 1 . In this embodiment is there only one channel present which is in the form of a liquid guiding hose 3a defined by a wall 4 and provided with the same kind of fastener 12 as disclosed in the first embodiment. The rail 7 is located on the outside 5 of the liquid guiding hose 3a.

In figures 5 a-b is shown still another embodiment of the suspension system 1 . Similar to the second embodiment shown in figure 4, also this embodiment discloses only one channel but this channel is intended to be used as a cable casing 3b. The casing comprises a partition 16 such that the wall 4 may be opened along its length and realisably closed by a snap in fitting comprising a snap projection 18 and snap reception 19. In this embodiment, the location of the rail 7 has been somewhat modified as compared to the previous embodiments. The rail is located partly in the cable casing 3b and is protruding into the cable casing 3b from the inside 6 of the wall 4 of the cable channel 3b. By such an arrangement it will be possible to have a more compact construction of the suspension system 1 and the fastener is located closer to the cable channel 3b in fig. 5b than what it is to the hose 3a of fig. 4b. This construction is usually more adequate for a channel to be used for cables than for a channel for liquids since hoses and the like structures intended for liquids usually shall be connected to a connector or pipe which normally are of circular cross section and it may therefore be more difficult to provide a watertight connection. However, if the connecting part is adapted to make a tight seal also for a device deviating from a circular cross sectional area, it should be possible to use this construction also for channels intended for liquids.

Figures 6 a - b discloses essentially the same device as disclosed in fig. 5a - b but the cable casing 3b is provided with mounting flanges 20 a, b. The mounting flanges on the outside 20a are intended to be resiliently bent during mounting and serve to keep the suspension system 1 in its desired location when mounted in a narrow space, e.g. to avoid noise from vibrations of the suspension system. The flanges on the inside 20b serves the purpose of keeping the cables in the desired position within the casing.

In figure 7 is shown a liquid supply system 21 for distribution of liquid 25 to a surface, e.g. for distribution of washing liquid to a wind shield. The supply system comprises a suspension system 1 as disclosed in figures 1 and 2 including a liquid guiding hose 3a and a cable casing 3b connected to a rail 7 provided with fasteners 12. The hose 3a is used for supply of a washing liquid 25 to a nozzle 23 and the cable casing 3b comprises cables 22 connecting a heater 24 in the nozzle 23 with a power supply (not shown).

It is of course also possible to use a suspension system for the purpose of supplying liquid without the additional channel functioning as a cable duct, i.e. to replace the suspension system presently described in figure 7 for a suspension system as disclosed in figure 3 for example.

The size of the channels is not essential for the invention but is generally intended to be in the size range of having a diameter of 3 to 30 mm (e.g. a cross sectional area of about 30 to 300 square millimetres). Likewise, the material of which the channels are made may be plastic, rubber, other polymers or any kind of material which is suitable for functioning as a cable casing or hose for the intended liquid under the circumstances they will be used. Hence, the choice of material as such is not essential in the aspect of the basic function of the invention and a lot of material may be suitable and function to make the hose/cable duct. However, for specific, desired properties (friction, heat resistance, flexibility etc), the material choice may be important to achieve the desired properties of the suspension system. It is further obvious for the skilled person in the art that the specific shape of the channels or the rails not is important for the inventive idea but may be made in a wide variety of shapes designed for the desired kind of fastener to be used.