Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Northwestern University

Ut-battelle, Inc.

Shanghai Jiaotong University

Blair E Carlson

David R Sigler

Michael J Karagoulis

David S Yang

Hui-ping Wang

James Gregory Schroth

Anil Kumar Sachdev

Amberlee S Haselhuhn

Tyson W Brown

Pei-Chung Wang

Joshua L Solomon

Robert T Szymanski

Michael G Poss

Surender Maddela

Yelena Myasnikova

Pei-chung Wang

Paul Edward Krajewski

Thomas Arthur Perry

Yongqiang Li

Jon T Carter

Guangling Song

HyungMin Chae

Ryan Gergely

David A Okonski

Xin Yang

John Patrick Spicer

Robert N Saje

Wayne Cai

William R Rodgers

Jorge F Arinez

Wu Tao

Matthew Simonin

Raja K Mishra

Mark Allen Smith

Jason J Nolte

Saul S Lee

Guangze Li

Mahmoud H Abd Elhamid

John Stilianos Agapiou

Tao Xie

James W Wells

Richard J Skurkis

John C Ulicny

Jianfeng Wang

Kuo-Huey Chen

Dale A Gerard

John E Carsley

Bradley J Blaski

Spyros Pete Mellas

Qi Lu

Charles E Jensen

Yu Pan

Zhili Feng

Hua-tzu Fan

Zhenke Teng

Jian Chen

Whitney A Poling

Jeff Wang

Jennifer Bracey

Mark T Hall

Pui-Kei Yuen

Jason M Brown

Yuri Hovanski

Md Ashabul Anam

Kenneth A Ross

David P Kelly

Ping-Ho Tsai

William P Payne

Yongbing Li

Mark A Cunningham

David A Gatny

David L Moore

Nannan Chen

Baixuan Yang

Lu Huang

Ping Guo

Paulina G Torres Guzman

Zixuan Wan

Fenggui Lu

Hui Huang

Haichao Cui

Ian McLoughlin

Matthew Bondy

Mark E Baylis

Hui-Ping Wang

Zerun Ma

Ahmed Alkhafaji

Hassan Ghassemi-armaki

Yan Cai

Kenneth W Mclean

Perry G Leggett

Aaron D Cox

Johnnie M Williams

A heating system includes a conveying system configured to transport a plurality of vehicle body-in-whites (BIWs) sequentially through an oven room to cure paint applied in a paint room. A preheating system includes one or more robot arms. A heat source is connected to the one or more robot arms. A controller is configured to control the one or more robot arms based on a position of one of the vehicle BIWs on the conveying system and to position the heat source near or in direct contact with one or more inner components of the one of the vehicle BIWs to heat the one or more inner components prior to the one of the vehicle BIWs entering the oven room.

Supplemental and targeted heating of vehicle body-in-white interior components/areas for paint ovens

A laser brazing and welding system is disclosed and includes: a laser; a first cutting tool including a first cutting tip; and a control module. The control module is configured to control the laser to laser braze or laser weld two parts; and control ultrasonic vibration of the first cutting tip to remove one or more layers from at least one of the two parts prior to or subsequent to the laser brazing or laser welding of the two parts.

Ultrasonic pre-surface and post-surface processing for laser brazing and laser welding

A method for inspecting a component made of press-hardening steel prior to resistance spot welding of the component includes performing non-destructive testing of the component made of press-hardening steel after hot stamping to determine a plurality of characteristics for the component. The non-destructive testing comprises at least one of image processing, electromagnetic analysis, and elemental analysis of the component. The method includes using a model correlating values of the characteristics to acceptable weld quality or rejected weld quality and predicting acceptable weld quality or rejected weld quality of the component prior to resistance spot welding of the component; resistance spot welding the component if the model predicts acceptable weld quality; and not resistance spot welding the component if the model predicts rejected weld quality.

Methods for inspection of press-hardening steel surfaces prior to spot-welding for improved welding quality

Systems and methods for bending a material to a target resultant bending parameter using a bend forming tool are disclosed. The systems and methods receive values for parameters of properties of the material and of a bending process to be performed by the bend forming tool, creating or retrieving a calibration curve relating input bending parameter and resultant bending parameter based on the values from a database of calibration curves, determining a first springback compensated input bending parameter based on the target resultant bending parameter using the calibration curve, inputting the first springback compensated input bending parameter to the bend forming tool, and in a first step of bending the material, bending the material to the first springback compensated input bending parameter by applying the bending process using the bend forming tool.

Systems and methods for spingback compensation in bend forming processes

A system for inspecting a reflective surface includes a first imaging assembly configured to take a first image of the reflective surface. The first image includes depth information. The system also includes a second imaging assembly configured to take a second image of the reflective surface. The second image includes contrast information. The system further includes a processor configured to acquire the first image and the second image, estimate a depth profile of the surface based on the depth information, correlate the depth profile with the second image, and identify a feature of the reflective surface based on the correlation.

Inspection of reflective surfaces based on image correlation

Air management systems are provided for optimizing airflow in laser welding with deflectors. A system for a welder includes a blower to generate an airflow stream. A plenum receives the airflow stream, directs it toward the workpiece, and defines an outlet facing the workpiece to expel the airflow stream toward the workpiece. A deflector adjacent the outlet is formed as a conical section converging from the plenum toward the workpiece, and is defined by an angled wall with an open center. The deflector concentrates the airflow stream to impart a velocity increase to the airflow stream after leaving the outlet and to impart a favorable directional component to the airflow stream toward a weld zone, as well as protecting the laser lens by increasing the downward momentum force of the air stream to eliminate the potential of spatter impinging the lens.

Air management system for laser welding with airflow optimizing deflector

A laser welded assembly and method of making. The laser welded assembly includes a first work piece having a thickness (T) defined between an external surface and a faying surface; a second work piece having a thickness (T) defined between an external surface and a faying surface of the second work piece; a weld seam having a core fusion zone extending from the external surface of the first work piece through the faying interface and at least partially into the thickness (T) of the second work piece; and a protruding fusion zone extending laterally from the core fusion zone adjacent to the external surface of the first work piece. The protruding fusion zone may be formed by post-heating or concurrently with the core fusion zone.

Laser welded assembly having a heat affected zone reinforcement and method of making the same

A post-build powder removal system includes a work bed, a platform wall having at least one powder evacuation port, and an evacuation port sealing system operable for selectively closing and opening the powder evacuation port. The platform wall cooperates with the work bed to define a powder chamber. The evacuation port sealing system includes an external sleeve slidingly fitted onto the exterior surface of the platform wall such that the external sleeve is slideable in a first direction closing the at least one powder evacuation port and slideable in an opposite second direction opening the at least one powder evacuation port.

Post-build quick powder removal system for powder bed fusion additive manufacturing

A method of resistance spot welding a workpiece stack-up that includes a steel workpiece and an aluminum workpiece includes adhering an aluminum patch to faying surface of a steel workpiece, positioning an aluminum workpiece over the aluminum patch and the steel workpiece to assemble a workpiece stack-up, passing an electric current through the workpiece stack-up to create a molten aluminum weld pool, and terminating passage of the electric current to solidify the molten aluminum weld pool into a weld joint that bonds the steel and aluminum workpieces together through the aluminum patch. A workpiece stack-up having a weld joint that bonds an aluminum workpiece and a steel workpiece together through an aluminum patch is also disclosed. The weld joint establishes a bonding interface with the faying surface of the steel workpiece, and the aluminum patch is adhered to the faying surface of the steel workpiece around the weld joint.

Mechanical performance of al-steel weld joints

A method of forming additive energy directors according to various exemplary embodiments can include dispensing a molten material onto a substrate at a predetermined location. The method also includes solidifying the molten material to form at least one additive energy director onto the substrate.

Additive energy director and method of formation

A composite fusion filament is disclosed that includes a polymer encasement and one or more mesogenic reinforcement bodies contained within the polymer encasement. The polymer encasement is comprised of a thermoplastic polymer, which has a melting temperature, and each of the one or more mesogenic reinforcement bodies is comprised of a thermotropic liquid crystal polymer, which has a clearing temperature. The melting temperature of the thermoplastic polymer included in the polymer encasement is less than the clearing temperature of the thermotropic liquid crystal polymer included in the one or more mesogenic reinforcement bodies. Additionally, the thermotropic liquid crystal polymer of each mesogenic reinforcement body has a plurality of organized crystalline fibrils that are aligned lengthwise along a longitudinal axis of the polymer encasement. A method of using the composite fusion filament to form a bond with a substrate that includes a thermoplastic polymer is also disclosed.

Composite fusion filament

A fused filament deposition head is employed for depositing filament materials on workpieces to join the workpieces together. The workpieces can be of an automotive application, aerospace application, or something else. The fused filament deposition head, in an example, has a feed end, a dispensing end, and a heater. The feed end introduces more than one filament in the fused filament deposition head, as demanded in the larger application. The dispensing end delivers materials of the filaments to the underlying workpieces. The materials are delivered together. The heater serves to heat the filaments as they travel through the fused filament deposition head. The filaments can include a filament having a core portion of liquid-crystal polymer material.

Filament deposition head and method of depositing filament material for joining workpieces

A method for accelerating an explicit finite element analysis (FEA) simulation of a modeled system or process includes performing an initial iteration of the FEA simulation according to a baseline time interval via an FEA computing network, and calculating a criteria ratio of a predetermined set of scaling criteria for the modeled system or process. The method includes determining a time-scaling factor using the criteria ratio via the FEA computing network as a function of the criteria ratio, and then applying the time-scaling factor to the baseline time interval to generate a scaled time interval. The scaled time interval accelerates simulation time of the FEA simulation. The method includes performing a subsequent iteration of the explicit FEA simulation at the scaled time interval using the FEA computing network. The process continues for subsequent iterations, with the time-scaling factor adapting with each iteration.

Adaptive time scaling for accelerating explicit finite element analysis

A panel assembly is formed by a plurality of bonds between two sheet materials in a face to face relationship to form a preform. The plurality of bonds define a closed perimeter region between the two sheet materials and an open perimeter region between the two sheet materials. The preform may be formed into a predefined shape. Pressurized fluid is applied through an inlet into the open perimeter region to expand the preform. The pressurized fluid expands the open perimeter region such that the two sheet materials expand in an opposing direction, thereby defining an expanded open perimeter region. The closed perimeter region between the two sheet materials remains vacant of the pressurized fluid such that the closed perimeter region is not expanded. The expanded open perimeter region is filled with a filler material for improving a performance characteristic of the panel assembly, e.g., strength, sound absorption, or stiffness.

Tailored panel assembly and method of manufacturing the same

A resistance spot welding method may involve spot welding a workpiece stack-up that includes a steel workpiece and an aluminum alloy workpiece. A pair of opposed welding electrodes are pressed against opposite sides of the workpiece stack-up with one welding electrode contacting the aluminum alloy workpiece and the other welding electrode contacting the steel workpiece. The welding electrodes are constructed so that, when an electrical current is passed between the electrodes and through the workpiece stack-up, the electrical current has a greater current density in the steel workpiece than in the aluminum alloy workpiece to thereby concentrate heat within a smaller zone in the steel workpiece. Concentrating heat within a smaller zone in the steel workpiece is believed to modify the solidification behavior of the resultant molten aluminum alloy weld pool in a desirable way.

Aluminum alloy to steel welding process

Growing community of inventors

Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America

Blair E Carlson