Concepts

Initial situation and motivation

If a current main line set is to be produced automatically, this would be highly uneconomical. The main reasons for this are as follows:

• Excessive variety of parts
• Excessive meshing / interweaving in large wire harnesses
• Missing pinning convention
• Cable lengths too long

The long cable lengths could be prevented by adapting the production machines. The large variety of parts, extensive meshing and lack of a pinning convention, on the other hand, are barriers to automation that need to be reduced or eliminated.

The fact that the number of different components is constantly increasing is leading to an increase in the variety of parts. One reason for this is the significant increase in functions without a convention for the use of standardized, modular connectors being adopted by the function providers.

An additional or new function (e.g. ADAS) triggers a chain reaction of further process steps. At least one additional control unit, several sensors with new digital interfaces and various actuators are required to control and network the component. All components must be connected to each other in a fail-safe manner and guarantee a constant power supply. The motto,

"Connect as it comes"

is the credo that all manufacturers must follow today. The result is an extremely interwoven Wire Harness with an unmanageable variety of parts and processes that nips any attempt at automation in the bud.

Approaches are to be found and concepts developed that lead to a reduction in the variety of parts and processes (focus of phase 1), enable / promote automated production by breaking up the meshing (focus of phase 2) and thus provide an innovative solution for the vehicle electrical system of tomorrow.

Current focus of work

Outlook

In future, interface concepts for a sensible division of the wire harness into production modules are to be developed. This division into sub-scopes will reduce the complexity of the individual, much smaller Wire Harness. However, the ability to map the current variance should not be reduced. The complexity is shifted from the one-piece Wire Harness to a) the smaller sub-scopes and b) their combinatorics with each other. The solution approaches developed for a division into sub-scopes are to be evaluated on the basis of their feasibility with all parties involved and combined into a uniform concept.

The next step is to compare the underlying connection paradigm of the automotive wiring harness with that of IT and consumer electronics. The aim is to assess the extent to which paradigms and technologies can be borrowed from the IT and consumer product environment that may differ from the current automotive state of the art.