Reinforcement element for a vehicle, method for producing the same and door assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11027600-B2
Application number	US-201516305503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 22, 2015
Priority date	Sep 22, 2014
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

The reinforcement element for reinforcing the structure of a door of a vehicle extends along a main direction and comprises at least a main portion having a reinforcing cross-section (40) extending in a plane substantially perpendicular to the main direction. The reinforcing cross-section (40) includes at least four adjacent branches (42a, 42b, 42c, 42d, 42e, 42f, 42g), each extending in different directions, two successive branches forming a non-zero angle, at least two of the non-zero angles being of opposite signs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A reinforcement element for reinforcing a structure of a door of a vehicle, said reinforcement element extending along a main direction and comprising:
at least a main portion having a reinforcing cross-section extending in a plane perpendicular to the main direction,
wherein the reinforcing cross-section comprises seven adjacent branches, each extending in different directions, two successive branches forming a non-zero angle, at least two of said non-zero angles being of opposite signs,
said adjacent branches comprising a first branch, a second branch, a third branch, a fourth branch, a fifth branch, a sixth branch and a seventh branch, said first branch forming with said second branch a first non-zero angle, said second branch forming with said third branch a second non-zero angle, the third branch forming with the fourth branch a third non-zero angle, the fourth branch forming with the fifth branch a fourth non-zero angle, the fifth branch forming with the sixth branch a fifth non-zero angle and the sixth branch forming with the seventh branch a sixth non-zero angle,

the first non-zero angle and the second non-zero angle being of a same first sign, said third and fourth non-zero angles being of a second sign opposite to the first sign, and the fifth and sixth non-zero angles being of the first sign,
the first branch and the second branch being joined together by a first arcuate junction, the second branch and the third branch being joined together by a second arcuate junction, the radiuses of curvature of said first arcuate junction and said second arcuate junction being comprised between 5 mm and d/2, wherein d is a distance between said first branch and said third branch,

the third branch and the fourth branch being joined together by a third arcuate junction, the fourth branch and the fifth branch being joined together by a fourth arcuate junction, the fifth branch and the sixth branch being joined together by a fifth arcuate junction, and the sixth branch and the seventh branch being joined together by a sixth arcuate junction,
the first, second and third branches together forming a concave curve oriented towards a first direction, the third, fourth and fifth branches together forming a concave curve oriented towards a second direction opposite the first direction, the fifth, sixth and seventh branches together forming a concave curve oriented towards the first direction,
the reinforcing cross-section further comprising two legs joined respectively to the first branch and to the seventh branch and forming with the first branch and the seventh branch respectively non-zero angles,
the legs having a structure comprising martensite, bainite and optionally ferrite, the rest of the main portion having a structure consisting of martensite.

2. The reinforcement element as recited in claim 1 wherein said first branch extends in a first plane, the second branch extends in a second plane, and the third branch extends in a third plane, the first plane and the second plane intersecting along a first intersection line, and the second plane and the third plane intersecting along a second intersection line, the first and second intersection lines being parallel, and wherein d is the distance between the first intersection line and the second intersection line.

3. The reinforcement element as recited in claim 1 wherein at least part of the main portion is made of a press hardening steel having a tensile strength higher than or equal to 1300 MPa.

4. The reinforcement element as recited in claim 3 wherein the press hardening steel is Usibor®.

5. The reinforcement element as recited in claim 1 wherein the non-zero angles are comprised, in absolute value, between 80° and 90°.

6. The reinforcement element as recited in claim 1 wherein the radiuses of curvature of said first arcuate junction and said second arcuate junction are comprised between 5 mm and 15 mm.

7. The reinforcement element as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one of the branches has a varying length along the main direction and/or at least one of the angles of the reinforcing cross-section has a varying absolute value along the main direction.

8. A door assembly of a vehicle, comprising a door structure including a window frame and a door panel, wherein the door assembly further comprises a reinforcement element as recited in claim 1 extending across the door panel.

9. The door assembly as recited in claim 8 wherein the door structure is made of a metallic material different from the material of the reinforcement element.

10. The door assembly as recited in claim 8 wherein the door panel is delimited by a front edge, a rear edge parallel to the front edge, a lower edge and an upper edge, the lower edge and the upper edge extending between ends of the front edge and the rear edge, said upper edge defining an edge of the window frame, the reinforcement element extending from the front edge to the rear edge between the upper edge and the lower edge and being parallel to the upper edge.

11. A vehicle comprising a door assembly as recited in claim 8 .

12. A method for producing the reinforcement element as recited in claim 1 comprising the following steps:
hot stamping the reinforcement element blank to shape the reinforcement cross section of the main portion,
cooling down the reinforcement element at a cooling rate superior to or equal to 27° C./s in order to obtain the structure consisting of martensite.

Assignees

• Arcelormittal

Inventors

• Schneider Nicolas
• Drouadaine Yves

Classifications

• C21D8/00

  Modifying the physical properties of ferrous metals or ferrous alloys by deformation combined with, or followed by, heat treatment (hardening articles or materials formed by forging or rolling with no further heating beyond that required for the formation C21D1/02) · CPC title

• B60J5/048

  characterised by the material · CPC title

• B60J5/0461 Primary

  characterised by a pre-defined mode of deformation or displacement in order to absorb impact · CPC title

• B60J5/0448

  with branched structures · CPC title

• B21D47/00

  Making rigid structural elements or units, e.g. honeycomb structures · CPC title