JPH10118767A - High quality molten welding - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To carry out welding in good quality and accuracy by laying a cylindrical metallic tube in a round pocket having a slender opening hole part in a supporting bracket and forming the welded joint of the tube and the bracket in the opening hole part. SOLUTION: A projecting-state offset wall 170 for forming the round pocket 160 in the bracket 140 is projected upward. In the round pocket, a tapered end part 120 of the cylindrical tube 120 is received so as to form a door beam assembly 110. The slender opening hole part 160A is formed at the outermost side of the round pocket 160. The axial direction of the opening hole part 160A and the axis of the cylindrical tube 120 are paralleled. The edge part of the opening part 160A is welded with the cylindrical tube 120 to form the slender welded joint. By this constitution, since a welding machine is unnecessary to follow to such complecate curving surface as the edge of the tapered end part 120', the welded quality is not damaged and the setting of a production apparatus is not confused.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a high degree of fusion welding of a cylindrical tube to a pocket in a support bracket for the manufacture of an automobile door impact beam and the resulting impact beam weld joint assembly.

[0002] Impact beams, otherwise known as door beams, are mounted on automobile doors for occupant protection, but are manufactured in various forms, preferably cylindrical. US Patents 5,370,037, 5,123.69
4,5.118.159,470,390 and 4.63
6.608 shows an impact beam that has been demonstrated to exhibit excellent properties. The disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference. These impact beams are preferably formed of cylindrical tubes that are tapered at the ends. The end of the tube is welded to a mounting support bracket having a pocket to receive it. In particular, if the tube does not have a tapered end, the outer wall of the tube is fillet welded to the bracket. If the end of the tube is tapered, the edge of the tapered tube end is fillet welded to the support.

Producing such a sloping fillet weld joint can be problematic. Care must be taken to ensure that the fillet weld extends along the correct location, which is the joining area of the tapered edge of the tube with the underlying support bracket. When performing these welding operations, it is preferable to use a controlled robotic welding machine. Due to the fact that the path of welding varies in three dimensions, the path of the robot is complex and requires sophisticated equipment using a high level of robot programming. Once the robot is programmed to suit a particular complex path, but as often happens, if the dimensions of the support or tube change by a fraction of a millimeter, the programmed path May not directly correspond to the desired best welding process for that particular tube and support. Furthermore,
The angle of the welding element to achieve this joint is such that the edges of the tube need to be welded at one time, thus passing two machine passes to weld the two edges at each end of the tube. I need. This requires considerable time and equipment, thereby limiting production output.

One object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a joint between a tubular element and a support bracket, in particular a shock beam, in which two weldings between the end of the tube and the support are simultaneously performed. Preferably it can be welded by a robot without a high level of programming, can form a tight joint to the tapered tube and / or spiral tapered tube support, and even if the support and tube By providing a method whereby a controlled robotic welder or other device can follow the same straight path, even if the size, orientation and / or position of the end of the robot changes by a fraction of a millimeter. is there. Another object is to provide the resulting joined tubular element and support.

The pocket of the support is formed by an elongated narrow opening therethrough which extends in the axial direction of the pocket and the tube. The edge wall of this opening immediately adjoins the backside of the tube, allowing a lap joint weld to be made into the opening of the support pocket. The walls of both edges of the opening can be welded to the tube and the opening can even be filled with a combination of weld metal, support metal and tube metal.

[0006] Preferably, two elongated narrow openings are formed through the pockets of the support, which are preferably parallel to each other and parallel to the axis of the pocket and the tube and spaced from each other by no more than 180 degrees, preferably 60 degrees. Open. These two openings are preferably located on opposite sides of the center of the pocket so that one edge wall in each slot is at a higher height than the other edge wall during welding. Is done. A weld joint is made at this elevated edge wall to weld the edge wall to the adjacent tube section. 2
The weld joint of the two weld joints in the two spaced openings can be formed simultaneously in a single pass. Optionally, both edge walls of each opening can be welded to the tube. In certain applications, the welding process can be performed vertically. That is, the tube and the support are oriented vertically.

[0007] These and other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from a review of the following specification in conjunction with the drawings. Referring now to FIGS. 1-3, a door beam assembly 10 is shown with one end defined. This is not repeated because the mirror image or similar end is at the other end of the beam. The door beam tube is made in accordance with the assignee's prior patent granted in the background of the present invention. The door beam or impact beam assembly includes an elongated hollow cylindrical tube 12 made of steel metal, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,210,467. The metal tube preferably has a profiled tapered end, as described in more detail in the preceding patents recognized in the above background and incorporated herein by reference. It provides an optimal balance between the required strength along the length of the beam and the light weight. The tapered ends of the beams 12 each fit into a partial cylindrical pocket 16 formed by an elongated offset wall 17 of a metal end mounting support bracket 14. (The support, bracket and support bracket are used interchangeably herein.) Bracket 14 has a plurality of orifices 18 for attaching the bracket to a vehicle door assembly. The pocket 16 is a partial cylindrical structure having an inner radius of curvature substantially the same as the outer radius of curvature of the cylindrical tube 12 to accommodate the tube therein.

[0008] The tube has heretofore been tapered end 1 along the length of the tapered wall of the tube.
2 'using fillet welding on each of the two opposite edges of 2'
The two were secured together to the support bracket 14 by welding together to form a filleted elongated weld joint. These weld joints were formed using complex robotic welding tools as shown in FIGS. The rim of one side of the tube is the first as shown in FIG.
24, the second side edge is then welded to the bracket in the second pass as shown in FIG. Since the welder W extends on the other side as drawn, only one edge is welded at 1:00. Robotic welders are particularly followed in a highly programmed manner, wherein the welder extends at an angle between two elements to form an elongated fillet weld.

There are potential problems with this manufacturing process. The bracket is extremely thin. If the brackets have slightly different dimensions or orientations than expected or the tubes are not very uniform, the assembly may, under certain conditions, be welded, notched away from the correct location,
Or tempering, bracket burn-through, inconsistent weld joint positions and indications, and the difficulty of programming the robot to achieve the correct angle continuously over the length of the weld. easy. The careful production by the assignee of these door beams, while carefully observing and adjusting the equipment, greatly addresses these issues, while this slows production, increases scrap rates and increases production efficiency. Affects consistency.

[0010] The less preferred door beam constructions made by this conventional process do not have tapered ends. Thus, with reference to FIGS. 4, 5 and 6, the cylindrical tube 12A shown here has an improved door beam set on the bracket 14 by fitting its cylindrical end into the pocket 16 of the bracket. The solid 10A is formed. In this case, the fillet welds are more easily formed straight along the side edges where the tubes meet the brackets, and these fillet welds 20A are parallel to the axis of the bracket and also to the axis of the pocket 16. However, while this welded assembly is easier to manufacture,
If the brackets have different dimensions or orientations than expected, similar problems as described above may exist.

Referring to the first embodiment of the present invention, illustrated in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, there is shown a cylindrical tube 120 having a tapered end 120 '. 7 and 8, the convex offset wall 170 that forms the pocket 160 in the bracket 140 projects upward.
The pocket 160 receives the tapered end 120 'of the cylindrical door beam tube so that the assembly of these elements forms the door beam assembly 110. An elongated axial opening 160A is formed through the outermost portion of the recess 160, and the shaft of the recess and the tube 12 are formed.
It extends parallel to the 0 axis. The opening has a set of parallel edge walls on opposite sides. These edge walls are welded to adjacent portions of the tube 120 to form an elongated weld joint 165.

Optionally, the welding process is continued until the entire opening is filled with a combination of the metal of the bracket, the weld metal, and the metal of the tube, securing the tube to the bracket. Preferably, this welding is performed by the well-known MIG process. By utilizing this operation, the welder does not need to follow complex curved surfaces, such as the tapered edge of the tapered end 120 '. Thus, if the dimensions of the tubing 120 change by a fraction of a millimeter and / or the brackets change by a small amount in dimension or direction, this may degrade the quality of the weld, reduce the quality of the robot welder or other production equipment. Don't get confused when set in advance. Control of the robotic welder does not need to be a multi-directional tracking unit, and it also requires a high level of robot programming as previously required.

In FIGS. 10-12, the process of the first embodiment is used for a door beam having a cylindrical tube 120A with no tapered end. This tube is the offset wall 170 of the bracket 140
Of the door beam assembly 110A. Straight welding 160A
Forms a weld joint in the same manner as in FIGS. 7-9, requiring changes to the process as previously required.

Referring to FIGS. 13-15, a second embodiment of the present invention is shown.
Are disclosed. This is the preferred embodiment. In this embodiment, the tapered end of tube 220 is fixed to mounting support bracket 240. Each tapered end 220 'of the tube is
Pocket 2 in offset wall 270 of bracket
Fitted within 60, this pocket has an inner radius of curvature substantially the same as the outer radius of the tube 220, as before. The welding operation is performed while the structure is in an inverted configuration as shown in FIG. In this embodiment, a set of openings that are parallel and spaced from each other are formed through the bracket wall 270 that defines the recess 260. The two openings are no more than 180 ° apart from each other and are preferably about 60 ° from each other around the arcuate perimeter of wall 270. These openings are, for example, about 25 ml longer and about 4
The width in ml is given the actual shape and dimensions required for the local profile. With the elements in the correct position and inverted as depicted in FIGS. 13-15, one of the side edge walls of each slot has another wall, as shown in more detail in FIGS. 21 and 28. Higher than the lower edge.

Accordingly, a preferred welding operation is to connect the welding wire -WW of the welding machine W to the tube 22 adjacent the upper edge wall.
This is done by inserting the welding wire into the joint with the zero and moving the welding wire longitudinally substantially along the entire length of the respective slot. This forms a high melting lap-type weld joint 265 and achieves excellent adhesive properties. The term high melting is used here because each welded joint meets the criteria of fusion and penetration for a single lap joint, but also along the opposite edge of the same welded joint. This is because fusion is achieved. Optionally, the welding unit then also welds the welding wire along its length, protruding into the adjacent lower edge wall of the slot, thus reducing the length of the lap weld joint thus achieved by two. The doubling or each weld gives two lap joints. If desired, the welding operation can be continued until the entire opening is filled with weld metal, tube metal and bracket metal, and these elements form a firm attachment to one another.

Referring to FIGS. 19-22, FIGS.
The fillet weld assembly depicted in FIG. 2 is mainly composed of the fusion between the bracket metal and the weld metal on one side of the fillet represented by O in FIG. 20 and the fillet represented by Xs in FIG. And a fusion of the weld metal to one side of the tube. Conversely, referring now to FIGS. 21 and 22, the new weld joint formed in each opening forms a blend of all three metals, ie, a mixture of metals of the welding wire, bracket and tube, and provides the best strength. Present.

As further depicted in FIGS. 25 and 28,
One of the defined welding units with a set of welding machines controlled by a simple robot R or other device
Weld joint 265 in both openings simultaneously in one pass
(FIGS. 13-18) can be achieved. This results in increased production by performing both welds at one time, reduced partial strain and movement, a straight line with linear welding capability, complete quality from the beginning and essentially The effort of setting up the jig is reduced due to the unprogrammed or simple programming approach. FIG. 2
The tube and bracket orientation for this new method as depicted in FIG. 7 has other advantages over the tube and bracket configuration depicted in FIG. 26 in a conventional manner.

In particular, when welding the end of a tapered door beam to a bracket with a bracket having an upwardly directed dent and a welder moving into the dent, the tools, ie, the jig, may be located at the location of the workpiece When it is inside the tube, splattered metal accumulates inside the tube, which tends to interfere with the welding machine and the clamping element and creates the need for complex clamping. In contrast, using the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 27, the tools are removed from the location of the weldment, the accumulation of splattered metal inside the tube is reduced, and the interference of the clamping element with the welder is large. Reduced in width and the unit can be simply located with the usual extremely simplified location bar.

FIGS. 16-18 illustrate a second embodiment fabricated into a tube 220A.
20A is not tapered at the end, but rather is cylindrical throughout its length and is fitted into bracket 240. The bracket 240 has a recess 260 that has a set of substantially parallel openings for forming a lap joint weld. There is no need to change the settings of the welding program, even if a different style of tube is replaced.

Those skilled in the art will consider obvious changes after studying this disclosure, perhaps to adapt them to particular types of production conditions, equipment or products. For example, the weld joint could be sideways with openings transverse to the axis of the tube and pocket, or both axial and sideways, such as a T-shape. Although the present invention has been described in detail in preferred embodiments as examples of concepts, the present invention is not limited to these preferred embodiments, and is limited only by the appended claims including the interpretation of equivalents. It is intended to be

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one end of a tapered cylindrical door beam tube with a tapered end made according to the prior art and one end of a bracket of a mounting support.
The opposite end and the bracket are mirror images of this.

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the structure of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the plane of line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of one end of a cylindrical non-tapered door beam tube and one end of a mounting support bracket made according to the prior art.

5 is an elevation view of the structure of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the plane VI-VI of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of one end of a cylindrical door beam tube having a tapered end and one end of a bracket of a mounting support according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The opposite end and bracket are mirror images of this.

8 is an elevation view of the structure of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on the IX-IX plane of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of one end of a cylindrical non-tapered door beam tube and one mounting support bracket therefor in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is an elevation view of the structure of FIG.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken on a plane XII-XII of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a cylindrical door beam tube having a tapered end and one end of a mounting support bracket according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an elevation view of the structure of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a sectional view taken on the XV-XV plane of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a plan view of one end of a non-tapered cylindrical door beam tube and one end of a mounting support according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is an elevation view of the structure of FIG.

18 is a sectional view of the structure of FIG. 17 taken on a plane XVIII-XVIII.

FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view of a prior art door beam and support assembly showing the nature of fillet welding.

FIG. 20 is a plan view of the fillet weld joint of FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a cross-sectional view of an element of a structure according to a second embodiment of the present invention showing high melting welding.

FIG. 22 is a plan view of a fragment of the weld joint of FIG. 21.

FIG. 23 is a partial schematic diagram showing the passage of a welding process to form a prior art structure.

FIG. 24 is a partial schematic diagram showing the passage of a welding process to form a prior art structure.

FIG. 25 is a partial schematic diagram illustrating a welding process for a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 26 is a schematic elevation view showing a welding process for the prior art.

FIG. 27 is a schematic elevation view showing a welding process according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is an enlarged cross-sectional end view illustrating a welding process according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Door beam assembly 10A Door beam assembly (modification type) 12 Cylindrical tube 12A Cylindrical tube 12 'Tapered end 14 Mounting support bracket 16 Pocket 18 Orifice 20 Fillet weld 20A Fillet weld 110A Door beam assembly 120 Cylindrical tube 120 'tapered end 140 bracket 160 pocket / dent 160A opening / straight weld 165 weld joint 170 offset wall 220 tube 220A taperless tube 220' tapered end 240 support bracket 260 pocket / dent 260A opening 265 Weld joint 270 Offset wall

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Robert J. Depierre-the-Second Michigan, USA 49009 Caramaz-Old Log Trail 6167 (72) Inventor Thomas M. Hamen, Michigan 49508 Southwood, Southwest Eves 246 72) Inventor Stephen Di Wick 49080 Plainwell Blumfield, Michigan, USA 1052 (72) Inventor Dennis Jay French United States Michigan 49306 Belmont Cannon Highlands 6250

Claims (18)

[Claims] 1. A method of attaching a cylindrical metal tube to a metal pocket of a partially cylindrical bracket, the method comprising: supporting a cylindrical metal tube having a set of ends and a metal having a partially cylindrical pocket. Providing a bracket; forming at least one elongated opening through the support bracket, the opening having a set of opposed edge walls; and connecting one of the ends of the tube to the pocket. Placing the welding wire at an angle into the slot at one of the edge walls and applying welding energy to the welding wire to remove the welding wire, the wall of the opening and the portion of the tube. Heating, thereby forming a weld joint of the tube portion into the opening to the support bracket. Wherein the. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said opening extends axially along said pocket. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of applying welding energy is continued until the opening is filled between the edge walls with a mixture of a weld metal tube metal and a support metal. Method. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tube has a tapered end to form a set of tapered side edges, and the opening is intermediate between the side edges. A method characterized in that: 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the outer diameter of the tube and the inner diameter of the pocket in the area of the opening are substantially similar. 6. A method of attaching a cylindrical metal tube to a metal support bracket having a partially cylindrical pocket, the method comprising defining a metal cylindrical tube having a set of ends and a partial cylindrical pocket. Providing a metal support bracket having a wall, through the wall and into the pocket, extending axially along the pocket, spaced apart from each other by an angle of less than or equal to 180 °. Forming a set of elongate openings, inserting one of the ends of the tube into the pocket, and directing the tube and the support bracket outward with the openings spaced apart from each other; A method comprising laying each with a set of parallel sidewall edges and welding to the wall edges of the opening and the tube. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the openings are oriented so that the edges of the parallel side walls are one higher wall edge and one lower wall edge. Welding the edges of both the higher and lower walls to the tube. 8. The method of claim 6, wherein said step of welding comprises MIG welding. 9. The method of claim 6, wherein the outer diameter of the tube and the inner diameter of the pocket are substantially similar. 10. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one end of the tube is tapered. 11. The method of claim 6, wherein said angle is about 60 degrees. 12. The method of claim 7, wherein said welding is continued until said opening is filled with a mixture of weld metal, tube metal and support metal. 13. A combination of a tube and a support having a cylindrical metal tube having a set of ends and a wall forming a partially cylindrical pocket.
A set of metal support brackets, wherein one end of the tube is in the pocket and the outer diameter of the end of the tube and the inner diameter of the pocket are substantially similar and fit together. The wall has at least one elongate opening therethrough, and has a set of parallel side walls, and further includes the opening of the opening between at least one edge of the side wall and the tube. A combination comprising an elongated weld joint therein. 14. The combination of claim 13, wherein both the side wall edges have a weld joint to the tube. 15. The combination of a tube and a support, comprising: a cylindrical metal tube having a set of ends; and a metal support bracket having walls forming a partially cylindrical pocket. One end is in the pocket, the end of the one tube and the pocket fit together with substantially similar diameters, and the wall is a set of It has parallel elongated openings, each opening having a set of side edge walls, at least one of the side edge walls of each opening having an elongated weld joint to the tube. A combination of a tube and a support, characterized in that: 16. The combination of claim 15, wherein said openings are spaced apart by no more than 180 °. 17. The combination of claim 15, wherein said openings are spaced about 60 ° apart. 18. The combination of claim 15, wherein the edge walls on both sides of both openings have welded joints to the tube.