Tailor-Welded Vehicle Side Structure for Crash Safety and Weight
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing side structure of motor vehicles is heavy, costly to manufacture, and does not effectively balance safety, weight reduction, and productivity, particularly in the context of increasing safety regulations and the integration of battery packs.
Innovation Solution
A side structure comprising an inner and outer frame, each formed from a single tailor welded blank of steel with varying thickness and tensile strength, optimized through hot stamping and assembly to create a hollow volume, enhancing crash resistance and weight reduction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the side structure uses numerous individual parts to ensure safety and structural integrity, then the safety performance is improved, but the vehicle weight increases and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual parts (A-pillar, B-pillar, C-pillar, roof rail, rocker panel) into a single integrated side structure component. This consolidation maintains the structural integrity and safety functions of each original part while eliminating the weight of fasteners, joints, and redundant materials, directly resolving the contradiction between safety performance and vehicle weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The side structure is segmented into functional zones with varying material properties through tailor-welded blanks, allowing different sections to have optimized thickness and material composition. This enables weight reduction in non-critical areas while maintaining high strength in impact zones, balancing safety performance with weight reduction.
2Strength
If the side structure uses numerous individual parts with multiple forming operations and assembly steps, then the structural integrity is improved, but the manufacturing cost increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple forming operations and assembly steps into a single integrated manufacturing process. The side structure is produced as one piece using advanced forming techniques, eliminating the need for separate manufacturing of individual components and their subsequent assembly, thereby significantly improving productivity while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The tailor-welded blanks are pre-assembled with optimized material distribution before the final forming operation. This preliminary arrangement of materials with different properties in the correct positions allows the single forming operation to produce the final integrated structure with proper structural integrity, reducing the need for post-forming adjustments and rework.
3Ease of manufacture
If the side structure uses uniform thickness and material properties throughout, then the manufacturing process is simplified, but the weight optimization and safety performance are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating regions with different material properties (thickness, material composition, strength) at specific locations within the side structure. The tailor-welded blanks enable different sections to have optimized properties matched to their functional requirements, achieving weight optimization and enhanced safety performance while remaining manufacturable through advanced forming processes.
4Strength
If the side structure uses higher strength materials throughout to improve safety, then the safety performance is improved, but the vehicle weight increases and manufacturing cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses local quality to apply high-strength materials only in specific regions where they are most needed for safety (such as impact zones and connection points), while using lighter materials in non-critical areas. This localized material optimization improves safety performance without the penalty of uniformly high-weight materials throughout the entire side structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The side structure employs composite construction using tailor-welded blanks that combine different materials and thicknesses in a single integrated component. This composite approach allows optimization of the material mix to achieve the required safety performance with minimized weight, avoiding the need for uniformly heavy high-strength materials.
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 provides improved safety performance, reduced weight, and increased productivity by minimizing parts and optimizing weight distribution, while ensuring excellent energy absorption and resistance to impacts.
Implementation Method 1
said inner and outer frames are each formed by hot stamping respectively an inner and an outer frame blank
Data Source
AI summary
Side structure (1) for a motor vehicle (3) including an inner and outer frame (11, 13) each forming a closed ring and having two openings corresponding to the front and rear doors (8, 10), wherein the inner and outer frames (11, 13) are each formed by hot stamping respectively an inner and an outer frame blank (111, 113), each being a single tailor welded blank made of steel and wherein the inner and outer frames (11,13) are assembled to form a hollow volume (7) between them.