Metal joint body and apparatus for manufacturing the metal joint body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10343207-B2
Application number	US-201715609681-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2017
Priority date	Sep 25, 2009
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

A miniaturized metal joint body and an apparatus for manufacturing the metal joint body to be improved about strength are provided. By cutting three overlapped metal sheets along a first cutting line and a pair of second cutting lines extending so as to intersect the first cutting line at each end of the first cutting line and pressing areas surrounded with the first cutting line and the pair of second cutting lines and each of a pair of bending lines connecting both ends of the pair of second cutting lines, each of the pairs of projecting members is formed so as to project in a pressing direction of arrow Z.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of making a metal joint body formed by joining two or more metal sheets to each other, the metal joint body including; a pair of projecting members formed by cutting the two or more overlapped metal sheets along a first cutting line and a pair of second cutting lines extending so as to intersect the first cutting line at each end of the first cutting line, and pressing areas each surrounded by the first cutting line, the pair of second cutting lines, and each of a pair of bending lines connecting both ends of the pair of second cutting lines, so as to bend each of the areas about each of the bending lines and project the areas in a pressing direction; a hole formed by arranging the projecting members; and a metal contact area arranged between an outer surrounding cutting surface of the projecting member and an inner surrounding cutting surface of the hole arranged opposite to the outer surrounding cutting surface, wherein said first and second cutting lines forms a trapezoidal shape together, with the first cutting line being a long side, the method comprising the steps of:
arranging the two or more overlapped metal sheets on a first die;
moving a second die in the pressing direction so as to clamp the overlapped metal sheets between the first die and the second die;
further moving the second die so as to shear the overlapped metal sheets along the first cutting line and the second cutting lines whereby physical contact between at least some of the respective metal sheets is maintained both at the first cutting line and at the second cutting lines; and
pressing each of areas surrounded by the first and second cutting lines of the two or more overlapped metal sheets in the pressing direction to bend along the bending line, pushing the projecting members into the hole formed in the metal sheets, so that the outer surrounding cutting surface and the inner surrounding cutting surface are adhered to each other so as to form the metal contact area.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising steps of:
arranging the first die with a top surface provided with a press hole formed in a hexagonal shape corresponding to two opposing trapezoidal shapes; and
arranging the second die with a tip provided with a pressing projection formed in the hexagonal shape corresponding to the press hole of the first die.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein during a single moving step of the second die in the pressing direction, the overlapped metal sheets between the first and second dies are clamped; the overlapped metal sheets along the first cutting line and the second cutting lines are sheared; each of areas surrounded by the first and second cutting lines of the two or more overlapped metal sheets is pressed in the pressing direction and bent along the bending line; the projecting members are pushed into the hole formed in the metal sheets; and the metal contact area is formed at the outer surrounding cutting surface and the inner surrounding cutting surface.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing metal sheets made of different metals selected from the group consisting of: Sn, Zn, Au and Ag.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing metal sheets plated with different metals selected from the group consisting of: Sn, Zn, Au and Ag.

6. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing metal sheets having the same thickness.

7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of providing metal sheets having different thicknesses.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the first cutting line is larger than the length of the bending lines.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the length of the first cutting line is constant with the length of the bending lines.

10. A method of making a metal joint body of two or more metal sheets, comprising the steps of:
arranging a first die with a top surface provided with a press hole formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape corresponding to two opposing rectangular parallelepiped shapes; and
arranging a second die with a tip provided with a pressing projection formed in the rectangular parallelepiped shape corresponding to the press hole of the first die;
arranging the two or more metal sheets on the first die; and
while moving the second die in a pressing direction towards the first die,
clamping the metal sheets between the first and second dies;
shearing the metal sheets along cutting lines formed along a part of the rectangular parallelepiped shapes, whereby physical contact between at least some of the respective metal sheets is maintained both at the first cutting line and at the second cutting lines;
pressing areas of the metal sheets surrounded by the cutting lines in the pressing direction;
bending the metal sheets along bending lines formed along another part of the rectangular parallelepiped shapes;
pushing a pair of projecting members each of which is in each rectangular parallelepiped shape, into a hole of the metal sheets; and
forming a metal contact area between an outer surrounding cutting surface of each projecting member and an inner surrounding cutting surface of the hole of the metal sheets formed opposite to the outer surrounding cutting surface.

11. A method of making a metal joint body of two or more metal sheets, comprising the steps of:
arranging a first die with a top surface provided with a press hole formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape corresponding to two opposing rectangular parallelepiped shapes; and
arranging a second die with a tip provided with a pressing projection formed in the rectangular parallelepiped shape corresponding to the press hole of the first die;
arranging the two or more metal sheets on the first die; and
while moving the second die in a pressing direction towards the first die,
clamping the metal sheets between the first and second dies;
shearing the metal sheets along cutting lines formed along a part of the rectangular parallelepiped shapes;
bending the metal sheets along bending lines formed along another part of the rectangular parallelepiped shapes;
pushing a pair of projecting members each of which is in each rectangular parallelepiped shape as far as a lowermost metal sheet of the two or more overlapped metal sheets is maintained within a hole formed in the metal sheets; and
forming a metal contact area between an outer surrounding cutting surface of each projecting member and an inner surrounding cutting surface of the hole of the metal sheets formed opposite to the outer surrounding cutting surface.

Assignees

• Yazaki Corp

Inventors

• Murakami Kazuhiro
• Watanabe Yoshihiko

Classifications

• Y10T428/12368

  Struck-out portion type · CPC title

• F16B2001/0064

  Mechanical Engineering · mapped topic

• F16B5/045

  without the use of separate rivets · CPC title

• B21D39/03 Primary

  of sheet metal otherwise than by folding · CPC title

• F16B2200/93

  Fastener comprising feature for establishing a good electrical connection, e.g. electrostatic discharge or insulation feature · CPC title