Optimizing wire diameter, using alloy thin wires, use aluminum conductors, optimization of electronic and electrical architecture.
Lightweighting of wiring harnesses is one of the means to reduce the weight of the car. This article introduces four ideas for lightweighting of wiring harnesses:
Optimizing wire diameter
When designing a wiring harness, the choice of wire diameter is a very important issue. When the length is certain, its weight depends on the wire diameter. A set of vehicle wiring harnesses can be composed of thousands of wires, so controlling the wire diameter can control the weight of the wiring harness to a certain extent. Reducing the weight of the wiring harness also reduces the cost, but the potential that can be explored is relatively limited.
The vehicle electrical system of a modern car is a very complex system. In addition to the power supply circuit, its wiring harness also has many signal circuits. These signal circuits usually have relatively small currents, and many signal circuits use 0.35 mm² wires to meet the needs. There is a new type of alloy thin wire that can be used to replace traditional copper wires. It has a good effect on signal lines and can also reduce the weight of the wiring harness. Alloy thin wires are light in weight and small in diameter. Some new models have successful examples and will become one of the future trends.
Use aluminum conductorsBy comparing the physical properties of copper and aluminum (as shown in Table 3), it is confirmed that aluminum conductors meet the basic requirements for automotive conductors. At the same time, the density comparison shows that the weight of aluminum of the same volume is only 30% of that of copper. Therefore, if applied, it will be a great contribution to the lightweight of the vehicle body and enhance the value of the product. Aluminum conductors are light, cheap, flexible and especially suitable for battery cables. They can greatly reduce the weight of the wiring harness and save costs. New technologies have solved the problem of connecting aluminum conductors with other electrical parts. Now a new type of aluminum busbar has appeared. It can be said that aluminum conductors have broad application prospects in automobiles.
Optimization of electronic and electrical architecture
There are currently many different forms of wiring harness segmentation. The main direction of the wiring harness varies due to different wiring harness segmentation. The location of the firewall, the location and number of the wire-to-wire interface are also different. While fully considering the impact of related modules, avoid repeated movement of the loop in the vehicle body, minimize the length of the related loop, and try to use the network to transmit related signals to reduce hard wire connections. Proper design and optimization of the vehicle's electrical and electronic systems, central electrical boxes, connectors and wiring harnesses can effectively reduce the weight of wiring harnesses and related parts by nearly 20%, reduce the cost of related parts by 30%, and improve the various performance characteristics of the vehicle and the convenience of the equipment process to a certain extent, shorten the entire cycle of vehicle development, and reduce the cost spent in the development process.
