Designing and producing lightweight automobile bodies

US5729463A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• ULSAB Trust · US

Inventors

• Gerhard Koenig · Birmingham, US
• Robert Koehr · Neustadt, DE
• Felix Kybart · Birmingham, US
• Sigfried Walter · Leonberg, DE
• John Catterall · Troy, US
• John Krumbach · Plymouth, US
• Rolf Heyll · Renningen, DE
• Andrew James Wolf · Coral Springs, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Sep 1, 1995
• Grant date: Mar 17, 1998
• Expiry date: Sep 1, 2015

Classification

• Technology area (CPC B): Performing Operations; Transporting
• CPC primary: B23K2101/185
• WIPO field: Machine tools
• WIPO sector: Mechanical engineering

Abstract

Method and system for designing and producing a lightweight automobile or vehicle body. Structural performance targets are selected, a beam model analysis is conducted, and a body-in-white design is developed. A shell model is created and analyzed and material gauges and manufacturing processes for the body components are selected. A structural analysis is conducted to determine whether the shell model meets the selected structural performance targets. A crash model is created, analyzed, and modified until satisfactory crash requirements are met. A final structural analysis is conducted to determine whether the shell model meets the selected structural performance targets.