Variable thickness roll-formed blank and roll-forming system and method

A variable thickness roll forming system for forming a variable thickness blank, comprising:

• multiple sets of cylindrical shaped rollers, each of the multiple sets of rollers including:
• a first roller having a face which is linear where the first roller contacts a metal sheet;
• and
• a second roller having multiple shaping faces positioned about a perimeter and directed toward the face of the first roller;
• each of the sets of rollers incrementally altering a thickness of the metal sheet in a direction transverse to a feed direction of the metal sheet when the metal sheet is passed between the first roller and the second roller;
• wherein the metal sheet when passed between the first roller and the second roller forms a roll formed blank having a central portion, a first outer portion and a second outer portion located opposite about the central portion with respect to the first outer portion, the central portion having a thickness greater than a thickness of each of the first outer portion and the second outer portion.

A method for forming a variable thickness blank, comprising:

• aligning multiple sets of cylindrical shaped rollers, each of the multiple sets of rollers including:
• a first roller having a face which is linear where the first roller contacts the metal sheet;
• and
• a second roller having multiple shaping faces positioned about a perimeter and directed toward the face of the first roller;
• and
• passing a metal sheet through each of the sets of rollers to incrementally induce multiple thickness changes of the metal sheet in a direction transverse to a feed direction of the metal sheet when the metal sheet is passed between the first roller and the second roller of each of the sets of rollers.