Arrangement for connecting two vehicle body components and method for producing a sheet metal component having a doubled joining flange

Abstract

An arrangement for connecting different parts includes two vehicle components. The vehicle body components include a first vehicle body component taking the form of a sheet metal component with a joining flange and being connected at this joining flange to the second vehicle body component via a welded connection. The joining flange on the first vehicle body component has a turned-over rim and is thereby formed with a doubled sheet metal thickness.

Claims

1. An arrangement for connecting different parts, the arrangement comprising: two vehicle body components, the first vehicle body component taking the form of a sheet metal component with a joining flange and being connected at this joining flange to the second vehicle body component via a welded connection, wherein the joining flange on the first vehicle body component has a turned-over rim and is thereby formed with a doubled sheet metal thickness, the welded connection is a spot-welded connection having a plurality of spot welds that penetrate through the thickness of: i) the turned-over rim, and ii) the second vehicle body component, the first vehicle body component has a substantially uniform sheet metal thickness that ranges from not more than 1.2 mm to not more than 0.8 mm, the first vehicle body component is produced in one piece, the joining flange formed by the turned-over rim on the first vehicle body component has a width that ranges from 20 mm to 50 mm, the welded connection is formed at a distance of not more than 10 mm from a bending edge of the turned-over rim on the first vehicle body component, and the rim is turned over inwardly on the first vehicle body component.

2. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sheet metal layers lying on one another in the joining flange of the first vehicle body component are additionally adhesively bonded to one another.

3. The arrangement as claimed in claim 2, wherein the first vehicle body component is a floor panel and the second vehicle body component is a sill.

4. An arrangement for connecting different parts, the arrangement comprising: a vehicle floor panel; and a reinforcing sill, the vehicle floor panel taking the form of a sheet metal component with a joining flange and being connected at this joining flange to the reinforcing sill via a welded connection, wherein the joining flange on the vehicle floor panel has a turned-over rim and is thereby formed with a doubled sheet metal thickness, the welded connection is a spot-welded connection having a plurality of spot welds that penetrate through the thickness of: i) the turned-over rim, and ii) the reinforcing sill, the vehicle floor panel has a substantially uniform sheet metal thickness that ranges from not more than 1.2 mm to not more than 0.8 mm, the vehicle floor panel is produced in one piece, the joining flange formed by the turned-over rim on the vehicle floor panel has a width that ranges from 20 mm to 50 mm, the welded connection is formed at a distance of not more than 10 mm from a bending edge of the turned-over rim on the vehicle floor panel, and the rim is turned over inwardly on the vehicle floor panel.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows, in a sectional view, a component assembly consisting of a plurality of vehicle body components having an inventive connection arrangement; and

(2) FIGS. 2A-C show, in a plurality of sectional illustrations, the production of a joining flange on a vehicle body component belonging to the component assembly of FIG. 1.

(3) FIG. 3 shows, in another sectional view, a component assembly consisting of a plurality of vehicle body components having an inventive connection arrangement.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(4) FIG. 1 shows a component assembly 100 between a floor panel 110 and a sill 120. The sill 120 is formed from an outer part 130 and an inner reinforcing part 140. All the vehicle body components 110, 130 and 140 are sheet metal components and in particular sheet metal formed parts. The inner reinforcing part 140 (second vehicle body component) and the floor panel 110 (first vehicle body component) attached thereto form an inventive connection arrangement. The floor panel 110 has a joining flange 111 at which it is connected to the inner reinforcing part 140 by means of spot-welded connections 150.

(5) The joining flange 111 on the floor panel 110 may have a turned-over rim 112, or a rim 112 folded over through 180, and thus the joining flange 111 is formed with a doubled sheet metal thickness. The floor panel 110 is formed for example from a sheet metal material (steel sheet) with a sheet metal thickness of 0.8 mm or 1.2 mm, with the result that the joining flange 111 has a thickness of 1.6 mm or 2.4 mm. By virtue of the doubled sheet metal thickness created on the joining flange 111, the welding points 150, in spite of the originally thin sheet metal material, can transfer high forces without this being associated with significant excess weight. Under certain circumstances, a weight saving can even be achieved by comparison with other solutions (such as, for example, when using a welded tailored blank in which a low-strength but readily formable steel sheet is used for the floor region and a high-strength steel sheet, possibly with an additionally higher sheet metal thickness, is used for the joining flange).

(6) The joining flange 111 formed by the inwardly turned-over rim 112 has a width or depth B of for example 30 mm to 40 mm. The rim 112 which is turned over inwardly or in the direction of the inner reinforcing part 140 is situated as it were in a joining zone between the joined components 110 and 140 and is thus maintained in shape and position. In particular, the joining flange 111 is thus also prevented from unfolding. The welding points 150 have a spacing A of not more than 10 mm from the bending or folding edge 113. Moreover, the floor panel 110 can have a plurality of joining flanges formed in this way.

(7) The floor panel 110, which has a three-dimensional shaping, is produced completely in a press line or the like starting from a planar steel sheet blank. Here, the rim 112 to be turned over is first setup or straightened up and then folded over. The folding-over operation takes place in a press tool 200 which is formed for this purpose with at least one rotary slide 210 arranged in the tool upper part (or, where appropriate, also in the tool lower part). The sequence is illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C. The turnover is produced within a press stroke with the smallest possible edge radius or bending radius on the bending edge 113. A workpiece support belonging to the tool lower part is designated by 220. Forming and/or cutting operations can be carried out simultaneously in the press tool 200.

(8) As shown in FIG. 3, the sheet metal layers (140 and 110) lying on one another in the joining flange 111 of the first vehicle body component are additionally adhesively bonded to one another.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

(9) 100 Component assembly 110 Floor panel 111 Joining flange 112 Rim 113 Bending edge 120 Sill 130 Outer part 140 Inner reinforcing part 150 Welding point(s) 200 Press tool 210 Rotary slide 220 Workpiece support A Spacing Width

(10) The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate the embodiments of the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of the invention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.