Multi-strip Vehicle Beam Welding for Weight Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for manufacturing bumper reinforcement beams face challenges in achieving high dimensional consistency, design flexibility, and cost-effectiveness while meeting stringent performance requirements, as they often rely on expensive materials like aluminum and require significant investment in equipment and secondary processing steps.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves forming elongated tubular structures by welding multiple pre-formed metal sheets with non-radiused perpendicular corners, allowing for varied wall thicknesses and shapes, which reduces material costs and capital investment while enhancing impact resistance and manufacturing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Weight of moving object
If extruded aluminum beams are used, then light weight and high strength-to-weight ratio are achieved, but material cost and manufacturing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The beam is divided into multiple separate metal strips that are formed independently and then joined together. Each strip can be formed using standard roll forming processes, avoiding the need for complex extrusion tools while achieving the desired lightweight structure through optimized material distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The beam uses a composite structure made of multiple metal strips bonded together, combining the advantages of aluminum's low weight with the manufacturing simplicity of rolled steel. This composite approach allows using less expensive materials while maintaining the lightweight benefit.
2Ease of manufacture
If roll forming processes are used, then manufacturing cost is reduced, but design flexibility and dimensional consistency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the beam into multiple strips that are formed separately and then joined, the process combines the cost benefits of roll forming with the precision benefits of controlled bonding. Each strip can be roll-formed with consistent dimensions, and the bonding process ensures precise alignment and spacing.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the manufacturing parameters by using multiple separate forming operations followed by bonding, rather than a single complex forming operation. This allows standard roll forming parameters to be used for each strip while achieving complex overall geometries with high dimensional consistency through controlled bond line spacing.
3Strength
If aluminum material is used, then strength-to-weight ratio is improved, but material cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The beam structure uses different materials or thicknesses in different locations based on local strength requirements. High-strength materials are used only where needed for impact resistance, while lighter or thinner materials are used in less critical areas, optimizing the strength-to-weight ratio while controlling material costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite structure combines materials with different properties in a way that optimizes overall performance. By strategically placing higher-strength materials only where structurally necessary and using lighter materials elsewhere, the design achieves high strength-to-weight ratio while reducing total material cost compared to using expensive high-strength material throughout.
4Adaptability or versatility
If secondary processes are used to reshape roll formed beams, then design flexibility is improved, but manufacturing efficiency and consistency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The desired final geometry is built into each individual strip during the initial roll forming process, rather than requiring secondary reshaping operations. The strips are pre-formed with their final cross-sectional shapes and features, eliminating the need for post-forming operations and maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
By dividing the beam into multiple separately-formed strips, each strip can be optimized and formed independently with its specific geometry. This segmentation allows design flexibility for each component while maintaining manufacturing efficiency through parallel processing and elimination of secondary reshaping operations.
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
This approach results in beams with improved impact strength, reduced weight, and lower production costs, achieving mass savings of up to 34% compared to traditional extruded aluminum beams while maintaining equivalent performance in impact tests.
Implementation Method 1
a plurality of separate elongated metal sheets attached together to form generally planar walls of an elongated tubular structure
Data Source
AI summary
A beam article for a vehicle includes a plurality of separate elongated metal sheets attached together to form generally planar walls of an elongated tubular structure. At least one of the plurality of separate elongated metal sheets has a shear wall that is disposed along a hollow interior of the elongated tubular structure and is attached at opposing walls of the elongated tubular structure. At least one of the plurality of separate elongated metal sheets comprises an edge that abuts a side surface of an adjacent one of the plurality of separate elongated metal sheets to define a non-radiused perpendicular weld corner along the elongated tubular structure.