WIRE HARNESS MANUFACTURING TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

l   American Wire Gage (AWG): A standard system for designating wire diameter. Primarily used in the U.S.

l  Bellmouth: The raised portion at the front and/or back of the wire barrel crimp that provides a gradual entrance and exit for the wire strands without causing damage.

l  Birdcaging: Wire Strands that have separated from the normal lay of the wire.

l  Braid: Woven bare metallic or tinned copper wire used as shielding for wires and cables and as ground wire for batteries or heavy industrial equipment. Also, a woven fibrous protective outer covering over a conductor or cable.

l  Cable: A group of individually insulated conductors in the twisted or parallel configuration under a common sheath.

l  Cable Assembly: A cable with plugs or connectors attached.

l  Conductor: An uninsulated wire or the conductor of an insulated wire suitable for carrying electrical current.

l  Conduit: A tube in which insulated wires and cables are passed.

l  Connector: A device used to physically and electrically join two or more conductors.

l  Contact – The conducting part of a connector that acts with another such part to complete or break a circuit.

l  Continuity: A continuous path for the flow of current in an electrical circuit.

l  Crimp: Final configuration of a terminal barrel formed by the compression of terminal barrel and wire.

l  Crimp Height: The measurement of the overall wire barrel height after crimping the terminal.

l  Current: Total current is the combination of resistive and capacitive currents. Resistive current is present in both AC and DC DWV tests. Additionally, the capacitive current is present only with fluctuations in applied voltage (Ex: AC testing).

l  Dielectric: Any insulating medium that intervenes between two conductors.

l  Double Crimp: The process of two or more mechanical crimping operations on the same location in a single terminal.

l  Ferrule: A short tube. Used to make solderless connections to shielded or coaxial cable. Also, a terminal crimped onto the stranded wire to allow insertion into terminal