Air cushion furnace technology for heat treatment of high quality aluminum alloy auto body sheet

The process characteristics of heat treatment of aluminum alloy auto body sheet and the working principle of air cushion furnace were introduced.The process position and irreplaceable role of air cushion furnace in the aluminum alloy auto body sheet production was pointed out after the difficulty and key points in the whole production process of auto body sheet were studied.Then the development process of air cushion furnace line of aluminum alloy sheet was reviewed,summarized and divided to two stages.Based on the research of air cushion furnace,the key technology of it was analyzed,then the key points on process,equipment and control models of air cushion furnace for aluminum alloy auto body sheet in future were put forward.With the rapid development of automotive industry,there will be certainly a new upsurge of research and application of air cushion furnace for heat treatment of aluminum alloy auto body sheet.

Conceptual Modular Design of Auto Body Frame Based on Hybrid Optimization Method

This article presents a systematic research methodology of modular design for conceptual auto body frame by hybrid optimization method.A modified graph-based decomposition optimization algorithm is utilized to generate an optimal BIW assembly topo model composed of“potential modules”.The consistency constraint function in collaborative optimization is extended to maximize the commonality of modules and minimize the performance loss of all car types in the same product family simultaneously.A novel screening method is employed to select both“basic structures”and“reinforcement”modules based on the dimension optimization of the manufacturing elements and the optimal assembly mode;this allows for a more exhaustive modular platform design in contrast with existing methods.The proposed methodology is applied to a case study for the modular design of three conceptual auto body types in the same platform to validate its feasibility and effectiveness.

Active Error Compensating Welding Fixture System for Auto Body

The welding fixtures are the most important devices for an auto body welding assembly line. The current special fixtures used by many automotive manufactures are only fit for one or several specific welding processes, and the dimensional problem in the circle due to several variation sources accumulation has no adjustment. The active error compensating welding fixture system for auto body is designed and manufactured. The detecting model, coordinate transformation model, and adjusting model based on auto body coordinate system are presented. The dowel pin modular design is adopted in the structure of the fixture to suit different workpieces with some similar characteristics. The online detection and adaptive control system using eddy current sensors and adaptive adjusting devices is analyzed. Three kinds of the left rear wheel covers SGM60 are selected to test workpieces of the developed system, and the active error compensating experiments are performed in the lab for many times. Test results show the validity of mechanism reconfigurations, on-line detections and error compensations of the developed welding fixture.

PHYSICAL VALUE MAPPING ALGORITHM OF MESH IN FINE CAE ANALYSIS OF AUTOMOBILE BODY STRUCTURE

A physical value mapping （PVM） algorithm based on finite element mesh from the stamped part in stamping process to the product is presented, In order to improve the efficiency of the PVM algorithm, a search way from the mesh of the product to the mesh of the stamped part will be adopted. At the same time, the search process is divided into two steps： entire search （ES） and local search （LS）, which improve the searching efficiency. The searching area is enlarged to avoid missing projection elements in ES process. An arc-length method is introduced in LS process. The validity is confirmed by the results of the complex industry-forming product.