Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Manabu Maruyama

Yuji Kanai

Kenji Miyanaga

Kouki Mizutani

Izuru Hori

Kazuo Isogai

Yoshihiro Kageyama

Kenzo Takeda

Hideo Meguri

A process for forming a tubular member is provided which includes a pre-forming process for tube-expanding (bulge) forming and bending forming a tubular material using first and second molds and a final forming process for crush forming a preformed tube using a third mold so as to give its cross section a desired shape, the pre-forming step being carried out using the first and second molds heated at temperatures equal to or higher than the recrystallization temperature of the tubular material and the final forming step being carried out using the third mold heated at temperatures equal to or lower than the recrystallization temperature of the tubular material. The process enables a tubular material of aluminum alloy to be formed into a tubular member of high precision and high quality which has expanded portions as well as bent portions and whose cross section varies across its length.

Process for forming tubular member

A process is provided for producing a hollow member having a wall thickness, in a cross section orthogonal to the longitudinal direction, that varies in the longitudinal direction, the process including a heating step of heating a tubular material (Pa) so that the tubular material (Pa) is given a temperature variation in the longitudinal direction, and a stretching step of axially stretching the tubular material (Pa) that has been heated in the preceding step. In this way, a hollow member having a cross-sectional wall thickness that is variable in the longitudinal direction can be easily produced.

Process for producing hollow member

A shape data specifies the shape of an elongated product within an overall coordinate system. Local coordinate systems are defined on respective cross-sections of the elongated product in the overall coordinate system. The local coordinate system is designed to represent a stable die of a bending apparatus. The images of the elongated product protruding forward from the stable die within the respective local coordinate systems serve to specify the position of a movable die of the bending apparatus. The specified position reflects the deformation induced in the elongated product between the stable and movable dies. An ideal movement amount of the movable die can be determined based on the determined positions within the local coordinate systems. The determined movement amount can be utilized to prepare the control data for the bending apparatus. When the prepared control data is supplied to the bending apparatus, an ideal movement of the movable die can be achieved so as to effect bending on the elongated workpiece at a higher accuracy in accordance with the shape data.

Method of generating control data for bending and torsion apparatuses

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Sayama, Japan

Manabu Maruyama