Apparatus for and method of manufacturing roll-formed component

An apparatus configured to manufacture a roll-formed component with curvature changing along a longitudinal direction of the roll-formed component by applying roll bending to a workpiece including an elongated sheet or an elongated extrusion material along a longitudinal direction of the workpiece, the apparatus comprising:

• a fulcrum roll that is positioned on an upstream side in a bending path and is configured to support the workpiece during bending, or to serve as a fulcrum of bending;
• a bending roll that is positioned on a downstream side in the bending path and is configured to apply bending to the workpiece;
• an actuator that is configured to move at least one of the fulcrum roll and the bending roll;
• at least one of a curvature radius database or an NC program;
• and
• a controller,
• wherein under the following conditions:
• a position allowing the fulcrum roll to be brought into contact with the workpiece is set as a fulcrum roll contact position;
• a position allowing the bending roll to be brought into contact with the workpiece is set as a bending roll contact position;
• the roll-formed component to be formed is composed of a plurality of unit intervals along the longitudinal direction, a portion corresponding to each of the unit intervals in the roll-formed component to be formed is set as a unit portion;
• a value of a curvature radius applied to the workpiece at the fulcrum roll contact position is set as an initial curvature radius;
• a value of a curvature radius allowed to remain in the workpiece when the workpiece is fed out from the bending roll contact position to achieve a design curvature radius in the roll-formed component is set as a final curvature radius,
• the unit portion positioned at the fulcrum roll contact position at a time when the workpiece is fed between the fulcrum roll and the bending roll is set as a fulcrum roll unit portion;
• the unit portion positioned at the bending roll contact position is set as a bending roll unit portion;
• and
• the unit portion positioned between the fulcrum roll unit portion and the bending roll unit portion is set as an intermediate unit portion,
• the curvature radius database is configured to store an integrated value of an amount of change in a bending position in each of the intermediate unit portion and the bending roll unit portion, the integrated value being calculated for each unit portion of the roll-formed component to be formed based on the initial curvature radius and the final curvature radius,
• the NC program is configured based on an integrated value of an amount of change in a bending position in each of the intermediate unit portion and the bending roll unit portion, the integrated value being calculated for each unit portion of the roll-formed component to be formed based on the initial curvature radius and the final curvature radius, and
• the controller is configured to cause the actuator to be driven to move at least one of the fulcrum roll and the bending roll with reference to at least one of the integrated value stored in the curvature radius database or the NC program.

A method of manufacturing a roll-formed component including a portion with curvature changing along a longitudinal direction thereof by applying roll bending to a workpiece including an elongated sheet or an elongated extrusion material along a longitudinal direction of the workpiece using a fulcrum roll positioned on an upstream side in a roll bending path and a bending roll positioned on a downstream side in the roll bending path, the method comprising:

• applying an initial curvature radius to the workpiece at a position where the fulcrum roll is in contact with the workpiece;
• applying a final curvature radius to the workpiece at a position where the bending roll is in contact with the workpiece;
• dividing a region of the workpiece into a plurality of unit intervals, the region being between the position where the fulcrum roll is in contact with the workpiece and the position where the bending roll is in contact with the workpiece, wherein a downstream end of each unit interval is set as a unit portion;
• integrating an amount of change in bending position in each unit portion based on the initial curvature radius and the final curvature radius at an arbitrary time point when the workpiece is fed between the fulcrum roll and the bending roll;
• and
• moving at least one of the fulcrum roll or the bending roll based on the integrated amount of change.