Masked Radiation Heating Station for Tailored Sheet Blank Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for producing press hardened parts, such as tailored rolled blanks, tailored welded blanks, tailored tempering, and tailored heating, face challenges like high tool costs, part distortion, and limited ability to create precise soft/hard zones, especially for safety-critical components like B-pillars, which require controlled energy absorption during crashes.
Innovation Solution
A heating station with lower and upper masks and radiation heating elements that allow for precise control of heating patterns on metal sheet blanks, enabling the creation of soft and hard zones either locally or over large areas, and a method involving the use of support projections and adjustable masks to block or allow radiation heating, facilitating the production of structural car body components with enhanced crash performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If tailored rolled blanks or tailored welded blanks are used to create soft/hard zones, then material properties can be differentiated in big areas, but tooling costs increase and process control becomes difficult due to tight process window
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical tailoring methods (rolled blanks, welded blanks, tempering) with a thermal field-based approach using radiation heating elements and masks. This substitution eliminates the need for complex tooling and mechanical processing, reducing both tooling costs and process control difficulties while achieving precise material property differentiation through controlled heating patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces masks as intermediary elements that selectively block or allow radiation heating to reach specific portions of the metal sheet blank. These masks enable precise control over heating patterns, creating soft and hard zones without requiring complex tooling or mechanical interventions, thus resolving the contradiction between manufacturing precision and ease of manufacture.
2Manufacturing precision
If tailored tempering in the tool is used to create soft/hard zones, then material properties can be differentiated, but part distortion increases after rejecting the parts and tool wear and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs heating and material property differentiation before the forming operation, rather than in-tool tempering. By pre-heating specific zones to create soft and hard zones in the metal sheet blank before forming, the process eliminates in-tool tempering that causes part distortion, tool wear, and high costs, while still achieving the desired material property differentiation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical in-tool tempering with a thermal field-based pre-heating approach using radiation heating elements and masks. This substitution eliminates contact between the tool and the heating process, preventing tool wear and the harmful effects of in-tool tempering such as part distortion, while maintaining the ability to create differentiated material properties.
3Area of stationary object
If tailored heating with existing technologies is used to create soft/hard zones, then material properties can be differentiated in big areas, but transition zones become large and only big areas of parts can be treated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the heating process by using masks with specific patterns that allow radiation heating to reach only certain portions of the metal sheet blank. This segmentation enables precise control over heating areas, creating well-defined soft and hard zones with minimal transition zones, and allows treatment of both small local areas and large areas depending on the mask configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses masks as intermediary elements to precisely control the heating pattern. These masks can be designed with various patterns to allow or block radiation heating to specific portions of the blank, enabling precise control over transition zone sizes and allowing treatment of both small and large areas with high manufacturing precision, overcoming the limitations of existing tailored heating technologies.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the production of press hardened components with improved crash performance by allowing for precise control of material properties, reducing tool costs and distortion, and enabling the creation of complex heating patterns, thus enhancing energy absorption capabilities.
Implementation Method 1
lower heating elements arranged in the heating chamber below the metal sheet blank when in a heating position. The lower heating elements may be configured to provide radiation heating towards the metal sheet blank
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a~2b
Figure 3a~3c
AI summary
A heating station (1) for heating a metal sheet blank (50) and a system comprising such a heating station (1), is herein disclosed. In particular, the heating station comprises lower heating elements (11) arranged in a heating chamber (10) below a metal sheet blank (50) when in a heating position, and configured to provide radiation heating towards the metal sheet blank (50), and upper heating elements (12) arranged in the heating chamber (10) above the metal sheet blank (50) when in the heating position, and configured to provide radiation heating towards the metal sheet blank (50), and an upper mask (13) and a lower mask (14) arranged to block radiation heating from reaching at least a first portion of the metal sheet blank (50), wherein the lower mask (14) comprises a plurality of support projections (14d) projecting from a main surface (14a) of the lower mask (14) towards the metal sheet blank (50) when in a heating position, which support projections (14d) are configured to support a metal sheet blank (50) during heating thereof.