Nippon Steel Sumitomo Metal Corporation

Sumitomo Pipe & Tube Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Metal Industries, Inc.

Kabushiki Kaisha Yaskawa Denki

H-one Co., Ltd.

Nippon Steel & Sumikin Pipe Co., Ltd.

Nippon Steel Corporation

Railway Technical Research Institute

Saburo Inoue

Atsushi Tomizawa

Shinjiro Kuwayama

Naoaki Shimada

Masayasu Kojima

Manabu Okahisa

Takashi Suyama

Yusuke Kinoshita

Mitsutoshi Uchida

Fumihiko Kikuchi

Yoshitaka Hattori

Kenji Moroi

Hiroaki Kubota

Hajime Wakui

Hiromi Inoue

Yoshikatsu Iino

Yoshitaka Soga

A bending apparatus has (a) a first manipulator which feeds a hollow metal blank of closed cross section in its lengthwise direction, (b) a second manipulator which supports a first support means disposed at a first position and a metal blank while feeding it, a heating means disposed at a second position downstream of the first position in the blank feed direction for heating all or part of the circumference of the blank, and a cooling means disposed at a third position downstream of the second position for cooling a portion of the heated blank, and (c) a third manipulator which constitutes a second support means disposed at a fourth position downstream of the third position in the feed direction of the blank and which moves two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally while supporting at least one location of the metal blank to bend the metal blank into a desired shape.

Method for manufacturing a bent member

A bent product having a three-dimensionally bent portion intermittently or continuously in the lengthwise direction is manufactured by supporting a steel pipe at a first position A while feeding it in the lengthwise direction, locally heating the steel pipe being fed at a second position B, cooling the heated portion of the steel pipe at a third position C, and varying the position of a gripping means, which grips the steel pipe in a region ID downstream of the third position C, in a three-dimensional direction including the feed direction of the steel pipe in a workspace including a space on the upstream side of the third position C in the feed direction of the steel pipe to impart a bending moment to the heated portion of the steel pipe.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing a bent product

A bent product having a three-dimensionally bent portion intermittently or continuously in the lengthwise direction is manufactured by supporting a steel pipe at a first position A while feeding it in the lengthwise direction, locally heating the steel pipe being fed at a second position B, cooling the heated portion of the steel pipe at a third position C, and varying the position of a gripping means, which grips the steel pipe in a region D downstream of the third position C, in a three-dimensional direction including the feed direction of the steel pipe in a workspace including a space on the upstream side of the third position C in the feed direction of the steel pipe to impart a bending moment to the heated portion of the steel pipe.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing a bent member

A bent member having a bent portion with an extremely small bend radius is manufactured by supporting a rectangular tube by a first support means disposed at a first position A while performing relative feeding of the rectangular tube in its lengthwise direction, locally heating the rectangular tube by a heating means disposed at a second position B, cooling the rectangular tube by a cooling means disposed at a third position C, and at the time of working, applying a shear force to the heated portion of the rectangular tube with a shear force applying meansdisposed in a downstream region D by moving the devicetwo-dimensionally or three-dimensionally simultaneously in the feed direction of the rectangular tube and in a direction generally parallel to a transverse cross section in the lengthwise direction of the rectangular tube which was heated by the heating means.

Bent member and an apparatus and method for its manufacture

A bending apparatus which manufactures a bent metal member with high productivity and excellent dimensional has a first support mechanism, which supports a steel tube while feeding it, a heating mechanism, which heats all or a portion of the steel tube, a cooling mechanism, which forms a high temperature portion in part of the steel tube by cooling a portion of the heater steel tube, a second support mechanism, which imparts a bending moment to the high temperature portion and bends the steel tube to a desired shape by moving two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally while supporting at least a portion of the steel tube, and a deformation preventing mechanism, which prevents deformation of the steel tube. At least one of the second support mechanism and the deformation preventing mechanism has a chuck which has a tubular member with a circular, polygonal, or special transverse cross section for gripping the steel tube.

Bending apparatus

A bending apparatus for manufacturing a bent member from a steel pipe with high dimensional accuracy and high productivity can be installed in a small space with good maintainability. The apparatus has a feed mechanism for feeding a steel pipe in its lengthwise direction, a first support mechanism for supporting the steel pipe while feeding it, a heating mechanism for heating a part or all of the steel pipe being fed, a cooling mechanism for cooling the portion of the heated steel pipe being fed, a second support mechanism for imparting a bending moment to the heated portion of the steel pipe to bend the steel pipe into a desired shape by moving two-dimensionally or three-dimensionally while supporting the fed steel pipe in at least one location, and a deformation preventing mechanism for preventing deformation of the steel pipe. The feed mechanism is a vertically articulated robot having seven axes.

Using as a vehicle body reinforcing member a bent tube with mixed bends of inward and outward projection according to the present invention makes it possible, during a vehicle body collision, to absorb more energy than and exhibit better impact resistance than a vehicle body reinforcing member that uses one of a known straight tube and a curved tube of radius R entirely. Thus the dimensions (outside diameter, wall thickness) of the steel tube that is used as the vehicle body reinforcing member can be reduced, and the tube shape can be modified, while impact resistance is maintained. Modifying the shape in this manner makes it possible to provide the ever higher required level of vehicle body impact resistance at the same time that it reduces the weight of the vehicle body and lowers the cost. The present invention can therefore be widely used as an occupant protection technology.

Vehicle body reinforcing member

A metal tube for reinforcing car body, and a car body reinforcement according to the invention have a curved portion extending over the entire longitudinal length or a local longitudinal length, wherein, when the reinforcement is assembled such that the outer periphery of the curved portion is aligned substantially in the direction of impact applied to the car body, the load ramp gradient, the maximum load and the absorbed energy are all enhanced in case of a car body collision. Particularly, an increase in the load ramp gradient as for the load property at the start of deformation provides an excellent crash capacity in reinforcing the car body. Moreover, the metal tube and the reinforcement according to the invention are capable of satisfying the current requirements for much more crash capacity of the car body, along with both a weight reduction of the car body and a reduced manufacturing cost, and therefore they are applicable in a wide field for protecting occupants in an automobile.

Metal tube for reinforcing car body and car body reinforcement therewith

A method for hydroforming a metallic tube comprising primary hydroforming and secondary hydroforming, wherein in the primary hydroforming step, the metallic tube is formed such that a circumferential length of an expanded portion of the primary-hydroformed tube as measured at a wall center region of the expanded portion becomes substantially equal to or slightly shorter than a circumferential length of an expanded portion of a product as measured at a wall center region of the expanded portion, and in the secondary hydroforming step, movable forming plates incorporated in the dies press the expanded portion formed through primary hydroforming so as to finish the cross-sectional profile of the expanded portion into that of the expanded portion of the product, and said primary hydroforming and secondary hydroforming are continuously performed within the dies. Also disclosed is an apparatus for performing the hydroformation method. According to the method of the present invention, high liquid pressure is not required, and reduction in wall thickness and shape defects can be prevented.

Method and apparatus for hydroforming metallic tube

A method for hydroforming a metallic tube comprising primary hydroforming and secondary hydroforming, wherein in the primary hydroforming step, the metallic tube is formed such that a circumferential length of an expanded portion of the primary-hydroformed tube as measured at a wall center region of the expanded portion becomes substantially equal to or slightly shorter than a circumferential length of an expanded portion of a product as measured at a wall center region of the expanded portion, and in the secondary hydroforming step, movable pads incorporated in the dies press the expanded portion formed through primary hydroforming so as to finish the cross-sectional profile of the expanded portion into that of the expanded portion of the product, and said primary hydroforming and secondary hydroforming are continuously performed within the dies. Also disclosed is an apparatus for performing the hydroformation method. According to the method of the present invention, high liquid pressure is not required, and reduction in wall thickness and shape defects can be revented.

A method and apparatus for hydroforming a metallic tube including the steps of: preliminarily expanding the metallic tube over an axial section longer than the length of the expanded portion of a final product as measured in the axial direction of the metallic tube; and compressing the preliminarily expanded portion in the axial direction of the metallic tube so as to form the shape of the expanded portion of the final product. According to the method and apparatus of the invention, frictional resistance between the metallic tube and processing tools can be reduced, and moreover, the internal pressure within the metallic tube can be reduced during expansion processing. Furthermore, the cost for the manufacture of metallic die is reduced, and in addition, yield is improved

To provide inexpensively a connector constructed of a steel pipe and bearing a tie function of a ladder-type sleeper for railway tracks, in a connector constructed of a steel pipe 1 used in the ladder-type sleeper for railway tracks integrated with longitudinal beams made of concrete and the connectors constructed of steel pipes 1 by feeding concrete, both end portions of the connector constructed of the steel pipe 1 are flattened in the horizontal direction and a corrosion resistant coating 4 is coated at portions of the connector constructed of the steel pipe 1 exposed to the atmosphere.

Growing community of inventors

Tama, Japan

Saburo Inoue