CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Japanese Patent Application No. JP2019-132791 filed Jul. 18, 2019, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a cable assembly.

JPA2011-81089 (Patent Document 1) discloses a cable assembly 900 of this type. As understood from FIGS. 12 and 13, the cable assembly 900 of Patent Document 1 comprises four optical fiber cables 910 and three connecting portions 920, or three coupling portions 920. Each of the optical fiber cables 910 has an optical fiber element wire 912 and a sheath 914. The coupling portion 920 couples the sheaths 914 of the optical fiber cables 910 with each other.

One possible modification of the cable assembly 900 of Patent Document 1 is to replace the optical fiber cables 910 with insulated conductors. Specifically, the modified cable assembly is configured so that the insulated conductors are coupled with each other by coupling portions such as the coupling portions 920 of Patent Document 1.

On a different note, there is a need for a cable assembly, which consists of insulated conductors, to maintain a distance between conductors of the insulated conductors at a predetermined distance in a manner similar to, for example, that of conductors used for differential signal transmission.

Referring to FIG. 13, in the modified cable assembly whose insulated conductors are coupled with each other by the coupling portions similar to the coupling portions 920 of Patent Document 1, a distance between conductors of the insulated conductors in a Y-direction depends on a thickness of a cover of the insulated conductors. In a case where the modified cable assembly is required to have an increased distance between the conductors, it is necessary for the cover to have an increased thickness. In other words, enlargement of the modified cable assembly itself cannot be avoided in this case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a cable assembly which can maintain a distance between conductors at a predetermined distance without increasing a size of the cable assembly.

One aspect of the present invention provides a cable assembly extending in a longitudinal direction. The cable assembly comprises a first cable, two second cables, two coupling portions, an interposing portion and an outer cover. The first cable has a first conductor and a first cover. The first cover covers the first conductor. The two second cables are positioned apart from each other in a first direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. Each of the second cables is positioned apart from the first cable in a second direction perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the first direction. Each of the second cables has a second conductor and a second cover. The second cover covers the second conductor. The coupling portions couple the second covers, respectively, with the first cover. The first cable, the two second cables and the two coupling portions are arranged in a V-shape in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. The interposing portion extends along the first cable and the two second cables and has a full length which is equal to that of each of the first cable and the two second cables. The interposing portion is brought into contact with all the first cable and the two second cables. The outer cover is brought into contact with all the first cable and the two second cables.

The cable assembly of the present invention comprises the first cable, the two second cables, the two coupling portions, the interposing portion and the cover, wherein the interposing portion is brought into contact with all the first cable and the two second cables. This enables the cable assembly of the present invention to maintain a distance between the first conductor of the first cable and the second conductor of the second cable at a predetermined distance without increasing a size of the cable assembly. In addition, this also enables the cable assembly of the present invention to maintain another distance between the second conductors of the two second conductors at another predetermined distance without increasing the size of the cable assembly.

An appreciation of the objectives of the present invention and a more complete understanding of its structure may be had by studying the following description of the preferred embodiment and by referring to the accompanying drawings.

