Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

Ford Motor Company Limited

Mark Stephen Salmonowicz

S George Luckey, Jr

Andrey M Ilinich

Stephen Kernosky

Suresh Deepchand Shah

Carl Henry Visconti

David C Camp

Harry Duane Miller

Christopher Dean Kirkum

An apparatus for forming a part is provided, which includes a die. The die includes a round orifice, a central mandrel disposed within the round orifice, and a plurality of bridges and a corresponding plurality of portholes between the bridges. The bridges and the portholes extending around the central mandrel. A spacing of the bridges around the mandrel is non-equiangular. The die allows a material to be extruded through the die to form a round, closed geometry tube from the material such that the round, closed geometry tube has non-equiangular welds after emerging from the die.

Hydroforming of porthole extrusion with non-equiangular seams

A method of forming a part includes extruding a billet through a die, forming a round, closed geometry tube from the billet, and hydroforming the round, closed geometry tube. The extrusion die contains an orifice with a central mandrel, a plurality of bridges, and a corresponding plurality of portholes between the bridges. A spacing of the bridges around the mandrel is non-equiangular. As a result, the round, closed geometry tube has non-equiangular welds after emerging from the die.

A door inner panel has a wall defining an opening for receiving a door hardware module. The wall has at least one cutout with upper and lower integrally bent flanges defining the upper and lower margins of the cutout of the door inner panel. The door hardware module includes a molded plastic frame having a network of molded plastic structural elements which support hardware mounting surfaces upon which various door hardware components is mounted. The structural elements include integrally molded receptacles having upper and lower slots which are adapted to interfit respectively onto the upper and lower integrally bent flanges of the wall cutout of the door inner panel so that the molded plastic frame becomes supported on the door inner panel in readiness for the installation of fasteners between the molded plastic frame and the wall of the door inner panel.

Integral support for mounting of door module

A rod guide including an elongated strip base for connection with a vehicle door panel and to encircle an elongated control rod mounted adjacent the door panel, the strip base being spaced away from the rod; at least one mesh wing with a base end connected with the strip base, the mesh wing angularly extending from the strip base and the wing having a contact end for encircling contact with the control rod and dampening any transverse movement of the control rod while freely allowing generally linear movement of the control rod.

Rod guide

A vehicle door assembly according to the invention includes a structural framework, including a rear end for mounting a latch, a front end for mounting a hinge and a beam portion extending between the front and rear ends. An outer door panel is provided for mounting on the structural framework to provide the outer surface of the door assembly. A structural inner panel is provided for mounting on the structural framework and is of molded plastic and has a generally planar trim wall facing toward the occupant compartment and edge wall portions which extend transverse to the planar trim wall to thereby envelope the structural framework within the structural inner panel. The structural inner panel has integrally molded hollow tubular stiffening structures molded therein by a gas injection molding process and which extend substantially all around the periphery of the door so that the molded plastic inner panel is substantially structurally self-supporting and contributing to the structural integrity of the door assembly. The integrally molded hollow tubular stiffening structure is preferably located substantially at the juncture between the planar trim wall and the edge wall portions. Additional stiffening structure is obtained by also integrally molding the hollow tubular stiffening structure at least partially around the periphery substantially at the terminal edge of the edge wall portion.

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Royal Oak, MI, United States of America

Mark Stephen Salmonowicz