A workpiece transport unit including a pair of arms, an opening/closing mechanism configured to open and close the pair of arms in a horizontal direction, a pair of first placement surfaces provided at the pair of arms and configured for a first workpiece to be placed thereon, and a pair of second placement surfaces provided at the pair of arms and configured for a second workpiece to be placed thereon.

A method of adjusting a position of a blank entering a furnace includes measuring a position of a heated blank exiting the furnace, recording one or more offset values from a nominal value of the heated blank exiting the furnace, calculating a revised position of a subsequent blank entering the furnace as a function of the one or more offset values, and adjusting a position of the subsequent blank entering the furnace as a function of the one or more offset values. The position of the heated blank exiting the furnace can be measured with an electronic vision system, a robot can adjust the position of the subsequent blank, and offset value(s) can be an elapsed furnace operation time, a number of heated blanks that have exited the furnace, and a physical dimension between an actual position of the heated blank and the nominal value of the heated blank.

An apparatus for loading/unloading workpieces, including a furnace heating a workpiece, and a robot loading and/or unloading a workpiece into/from the furnace. The robot may include a manipulator linkage and a fork at an end of the manipulator linkage. The fork may have an upper side on which a workpiece is placed while being loaded into and/or unloaded from the furnace. The fork may include a parallel arrangement of fork elements, each fork element in the fork having a length and rectangular cross section perpendicular to the length. Each fork element may have a workpiece carrying surface on which a workpiece is placed and an opposite surface to the workpiece carrying surface. The fork element may include a heat insulator disposed on the workpiece carrying surface at least over an area where a workpiece is placed to equalize longitudinal thermal expansions in the workpiece carrying surface and the opposite surface.

A heat-treatment apparatus includes a casing, a loader which loads a workpiece to an inner part of the casing in order to apply a heat-treatment to the workpiece, and a canopy surface provided in the casing to cover the workpiece. The canopy surface includes a slope way with a sectional configuration where the canopy surface is cut on a plane vertical to a conveying direction of the workpiece inside the casing. The slope way includes a highest point and a downward inclined surface extending from the highest point to an outside of a zone between a perpendicular line extending from a left end of the workpiece and a perpendicular line extending from a right end of the workpiece.

A hot metal gas forming and quenching system and process thereof are provided. The system includes a hydraulic press, a die assembly, a rapid heating module, and a rapid cooling module. The die assembly includes a progressive die realizing the hot gas bulging and rapid cooling of the workpiece. Through the above system and the process, making pipes with uncoated plates has a lower cost than with coated and plated steel plates, with fewer structural defects and process risks. By using a progressive die, a resistance heating process and hot gas bulging and quenching processes are performed in parallel, and the material is loaded progressively, thereby having a fast pace and a greatly improved efficiency. A heating state of parts is fully protected, oxidation is avoided, and no coating is required. After the workpiece is formed, it can be directly welded to a car body without shot blasting.

A method of manufacturing a press-formed product includes: a heating step; a transportation step; and a pressing step. The transportation step includes: using claws of a pair of first arms to support the lower surface, at both ends, of a first heated workpiece and lift the workpiece; using claws of a pair of second arms to support the lower surface, at both ends, of a second heated workpiece and lift the workpiece; transporting the first heated workpiece with the lower surface supported, at both ends, by the claws of the pair of first arms and the second heated workpiece with the lower surface supported, at both ends, by the claws of the pair of second arms, where the first and second heated workpieces overlap each other in the direction normal to the sheet surfaces; driving the pair of first arms to lower the first heated workpiece to a pressing location on a press machine; and driving the pair of second arms to lower the second heated workpiece to a pressing location on the press machine.

A cold rolled steel wire having the following chemical composition expressed in percent by weight, 0.2≤C %≤0.6, 0.5≤Mn %≤1.0, 0.1≤Si≤0.5%, 0.2≤Cr≤1.0%, P≤0.020%, S≤0.015%, N≤0.010%, and optionally not more than 0.07% Al, not more than 0.2% Ni, not more than 0.1% Mo and not more than 0.1% Cu, the balance being iron and the unavoidable impurities due to processing. This wire has a microstructure including bainite and, optionally, up to 35% acicular ferrite and up to 15% pearlite. A fabrication method and flexible conduits for hydrocarbon extraction are also provided.

A method of generating a loaded layout in a vacuum furnace corresponding to an actual layout in the vacuum furnace during operation of the vacuum furnace may comprise receiving, via a processor, a visual data of a loading process of the vacuum furnace from a camera; comparing, via the processor, the visual data to a predetermined maximum capacity layout for the vacuum furnace; and arranging, via the processor, the visual data into the loaded layout in response to comparing the visual data.

A method of adjusting a position of a blank entering a furnace includes measuring a position of a heated blank exiting the furnace, recording one or more offset values from a nominal value of the heated blank exiting the furnace, calculating a revised position of a subsequent blank entering the furnace as a function of the one or more offset values, and adjusting a position of the subsequent blank entering the furnace as a function of the one or more offset values. The position of the heated blank exiting the furnace can be measured with an electronic vision system, a robot can adjust the position of the subsequent blank, and offset value(s) can be an elapsed furnace operation time, a number of heated blanks that have exited the furnace, and a physical dimension between an actual position of the heated blank and the nominal value of the heated blank.

The invention relates to an apparatus (1) for cooling an automobile component (20) by means of a gas, the apparatus comprising a cooling box (11) with a re-closeable opening (12) for receiving an automobile component (20) to be cooled, wherein at least one heat sink (13) is provided inside the cooling box (11) for cooling of the gas, and wherein the apparatus (10) includes at least one infra sound pulsator (2, 3) arranged to provide an infra sound into said cooling box (11) to improve heat exchange of the gas both with a cooling surface of the at least one heat sink (13), and with the automobile component (20). The invention also relates to a process for cooling an automobile component in such an apparatus.