Method of manufacturing vehicle body structure component to include reinforced regions
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsAnil K. Sachdev, Louis G. Hector, Jr., Arianna T. Morales, Andrew Clay Bobel
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Abstract
The present disclosure describes a method of manufacturing a vehicle body structure component. The method includes extruding a tube to include at least one reinforced region extending along a length of the tube. The tube has a first thickness in the at least one reinforced region and a second thickness in other regions of the tube. The first thickness is greater than the second thickness. The method further includes cutting a blank from the tube such that the blank includes at least a portion of the at least one reinforced region and forming the blank into a desired shape of the component.
Claims20
A method of manufacturing a vehicle body structure component, the method comprising:
- extruding a tube to include at least one reinforced region extending along a length of the tube, the tube having a first thickness in the at least one reinforced region and a second thickness in other regions of the tube, wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness;
- cutting a blank from a side of the tube such that the blank includes at least a portion of the at least one reinforced region;
- and
- forming the blank into a desired shape of the component, wherein one of:
- the tube is a cylindrical tube, the method further comprising twisting the tube before cutting the blank from the tube such that the at least one reinforced region is misaligned with a length of the blank;
- and
- the tube is a rectangular tube, the method further comprising bending the tube before cutting the blank from the tube such that the at least one reinforced region is nonlinear.
A method of manufacturing a vehicle body structure component, the method comprising:
- extruding a tube to include at least one reinforced region extending along a length of the tube, the tube having a first thickness in the at least one reinforced region and a second thickness in other regions of the tube, wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness;
- cutting a blank from the tube such that the blank includes at least a portion of the at least one reinforced region;
- and
- forming the blank into a desired shape of the component, wherein:
- the tube is a rectangular tube having four sides, the method further comprising extruding the tube to include the at least one reinforced region on each side of the tube;
- and
- the at least one reinforced region includes a pair of first reinforced regions protruding from an outer surface of the tube and a pair of second reinforced regions protruding from an inner surface of the tube.
A method of manufacturing a vehicle body structure component, the method comprising:
- extruding a rectangular tube to include at least one pair of reinforced regions on each side of the tube, the at least one pair of reinforced regions extending along a length of the tube, the tube having a first thickness in the reinforced regions and a second thickness in other regions of the tube, wherein the first thickness is greater than the second thickness;
- cutting a blank from each side of the tube such that the blank includes at least a portion of the at least one pair of reinforced regions;
- and
- forming the blank into a desired shape of the component having a u-shaped cross section with flanges projecting from ends of the u-shaped cross section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.