Production line and tool arrangement for producing a hot formed component from a blank

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10280478-B2
Application number	US-201615383823-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2016
Priority date	Dec 18, 2015
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

A tool arrangement is disclosed for integration in a production line for producing a hot formed component from a blank which is produced from a hot forming steel strip. The tool arrangement includes a housing, which delimits an interior of the tool arrangement relative to a surroundings of the tool arrangement, a tempering station for tempering the blank and a hot forming station for hot forming the blank. The tempering station and the hot forming station are jointly arranged in the interior.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A progressive tool arrangement for integration in a production line to produce a hot formed component from a blank, which is produced from a hot forming steel strip, the progressive tool arrangement comprising:
a housing that surrounds an interior of the progressive tool arrangement, the housing including a first lock at a first end and a second lock at a second end, the first lock and the second lock configured to lock to seal the housing relative to a surroundings of the progressive tool arrangement, the first lock configured to unlock to open the housing to receive the hot forming steel strip and the second lock configured to unlock to open the housing to remove the hot formed component;
a tempering station positioned within the housing for tempering the blank; and
a hot forming station positioned within the housing for hot forming the blank;
wherein the tempering station and the hot forming station are jointly arranged in the interior of the housing.

2. The tool arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the housing shields the progressive tool arrangement relative to the surroundings in an air-tight manner.

3. The tool arrangement according to claim 2 , further comprising a protective gas device for generating a protective gas atmosphere in the housing.

4. The tool arrangement according to claim 1 , further comprising a transport device connecting the tempering station and the hot forming station for transporting the blank, wherein a transport path between the tempering station and the hot forming station covered by the transport device is exclusively arranged in the housing.

5. The tool arrangement according to claim 4 , further comprising a transport belt for transporting the hot forming steel strip, wherein the blank produced from the hot forming steel strip is arranged spaced from a further blank by a gap and is transported on the transport belt.

6. The progressive tool arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the hot forming station comprises a hardening device for hardening the blank formed into the hot formed component.

7. The progressive tool arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the tempering station comprises a heat source which is configured as one of an inductive heat source, a resistive heat source or a conductive heat source.

8. The progressive tool arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the tempering station includes a plurality of regions and each region is configured to temper the blank by sections.

9. The progressive tool arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the tempering station has a single region that is configured to temper the blank completely.

10. The progressive tool arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the progressive tool arrangement further comprises a cutting station for cutting the blank out of the hot forming steel strip, wherein the cutting station is arranged in the interior of the progressive tool arrangement.

11. The progressive tool arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the progressive tool arrangement further comprises a cold forming station for cold forming and/or trimming the blank, wherein the cold forming station is arranged in the housing of the progressive tool arrangement.

12. A production line comprising:
a progressive tool arrangement to produce a hot formed component from a blank, which is produced from a hot forming steel strip, the progressive tool arrangement including:
a housing that surrounds an interior of the progressive tool arrangement, the housing including a first lock at a first end and a second lock at a second end, the first lock and the second lock configured to lock to seal the housing relative to a surroundings of the progressive tool arrangement, the first lock configured to unlock to open the housing to receive the hot forming steel strip and the second lock configured to unlock to open the housing to remove the hot formed component
a tempering station positioned within the housing for tempering the blank; and
a hot forming station positioned within the housing for hot forming the blank;

the blank, the blank having a width,
wherein the tempering station and the hot forming station are jointly arranged in the interior of the housing and a transport path between the tempering station and the hot forming station has a length is less than or equal to the width of the blank and a width of the gap.

13. The production line according to claim 12 , wherein the production line further comprises the hot formed component, wherein the hot formed component is produced from the blank, wherein the blank has a charging state when the tempering station is charged with the blank and wherein the blank has an output state when the blank is output as the hot formed component from the hot forming station, wherein the blank in the charging state has a first component temperature which corresponds to an ambient temperature of the progressive tool arrangement and wherein the blank as the hot formed component in the output state has a second component temperature, wherein the second component temperature is elevated relative to the first component temperature by no more than 50%.

14. The production line according to claim 12 , wherein the production line comprises the hot forming steel strip.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Stillger Martin

Classifications

• B21D22/022

  by heating the blank or stamping associated with heat treatment (C21D takes precedence) · CPC title

• B21D37/08

  Dies with different parts for several steps in a process · CPC title

• C21D8/0247

  characterised by the heat treatment · CPC title

• C21D1/18

  Hardening (C21D1/02 takes precedence); Quenching with or without subsequent tempering (quenching devices C21D1/62) · CPC title

• C21D9/562 Primary

  Details · CPC title