One-Piece Rear Side Part with Tailored Strength Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current manufacturing methods for motor vehicle body components are inefficient and costly, while also compromising crash performance and occupant safety due to the need for multiple, separately produced and assembled parts.
Innovation Solution
A one-piece sheet metal forming process for the rear side part of a motor vehicle body, utilizing tailored welded blanks and hot-formed, press-hardened steel components with varying tensile strengths and wall thicknesses, allowing for increased precision and reduced production resources, and incorporating a reinforcement patch and specific geometries for enhanced rigidity and crash performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If multiple separate components are produced and assembled, then ease of manufacture is improved, but manufacturing precision and crash performance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple separate body components (C pillar, D pillar, wheel housing segment, wheel arch) into a single integrated press-formed component. This one-piece construction eliminates assembly joints and seams, achieving superior manufacturing precision and crash performance while maintaining ease of manufacture through a single press stroke process.
2Device complexity
If multiple separate components are produced and assembled, then production resources are increased, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple components into one integrated part that can be produced in a single press stroke, eliminating the need for separate production and assembly processes. This reduces device complexity and production resources while significantly improving productivity by producing the entire assembly in one operation.
3Ease of manufacture
If uniform material properties are used throughout, then ease of manufacture is improved, but crash performance and rigidity deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality variations within the integrated component by using tailored welded blanks with different material properties in different regions. High-strength steel is applied in critical areas requiring crash performance and rigidity (such as pillar regions), while lower-strength materials are used in non-critical areas, optimizing both strength and ease of manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material construction by combining different steel grades and material properties within a single integrated component. The tailored welded blank technology allows joining of different material types with varying tensile strengths, enabling optimized crash performance and rigidity in specific regions while maintaining manufacturing efficiency.
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 reduces production costs, increases precision, and significantly enhances the crash performance and rigidity of the vehicle body by integrating multiple components into a single press stroke, resulting in improved occupant safety and reduced production resources.
Implementation Method 1
the rear side part is a steel component that is manufactured as a hot-formed and press-hardened component. This means that different strength values are able to be set in relation to the strength, e.g., the tensile strength Rm
Implementation Method 2
manufactured as a hot-formed and press-hardened component
Data Source
AI summary
A rear side part of a motor vehicle body, has a C pillar, a D pillar and a wheel housing segment, and is produced as a one piece sheet metal forming part in a press stroke. The C pillar and the D pillar being C-shaped, U-shaped or hat-shaped in cross-section, characterized in that the side part includes adjacent areas with different tensile strengths and/or different wall thicknesses.