Crossmember and method for manufacturing a crossmember

Abstract

A crossmember for a bumper includes an extruded profile base frame with at least two connecting areas, for attaching the crossmember to a vehicle structure, and which are set at a distance from each other along a longitudinal direction. An extruded reinforcing element is fixedly secured to a rear side of the extruded profile base frame between the at least two connecting areas. The crossmember is weight-optimized and which can be produced in a cost-effective manner.

Claims

1. A crossmember for a bumper, comprising: an extrusion profile base frame including a front wall, a rear wall, and an upper wall and a lower wall extending between the front and rear walls to define at least one closed chamber; the extrusion profile base frame including at least two connecting areas, which are separated one from the other along a longitudinal direction of the crossmember, for attaching the crossmember to a vehicle structure; and an extruded reinforcing element fixedly secured along the rear wall of the extrusion profile base frame and disposed between the at least two connecting areas to define a length of the reinforcing element that is less than of a distance extending between the at least two connecting areas.

2. The crossmember according to claim 1, wherein the extrusion profile base frame is curved along the longitudinal direction of the crossmember, and wherein the rear wall of the extrusion profile base frame is concavely curved and the front wall of the extrusion profile base frame is convexly curved.

3. The crossmember according to claim 2, wherein the reinforcing element comprises a thickening in a depth direction thereof, as viewed in a cross-section taken in a plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the crossmember, the thickening extending from at least one of a front side and a rear side of the reinforcing element.

4. The crossmember according to claim 3, wherein the thickening extends from both the front side and the rear side of the reinforcing element.

5. The crossmember according to claim 3, wherein the reinforcing element is limited in a vertical direction thereof, on both sides, by means of bent sections of material.

6. The crossmember according to claim 5, wherein the bent sections of material have a material thickness that is less than a material thickness of the thickening.

7. The crossmember according to claim 6, wherein the extrusion profile base frame comprises a pair of spaced-apart parallel flanges extending perpendicularly away from the rear wall and running along the longitudinal direction of the crossmember, and wherein the reinforcing element is fixedly secured to the extrusion profile base claim by joining the bent sections of material to respective ones of the spaced-apart parallel flanges, such that the thickening is located between the flanges in a vertical direction of the crossmember.

8. The crossmember according to claim 5, wherein an edge of each of the bent sections of material is convexly curved and substantially conforms to the shape of the concavely curved rear wall of the extrusion profile base frame.

9. The crossmember according to claim 8, wherein the extrusion profile base frame comprises a pair of spaced-apart parallel flanges extending perpendicularly away from the rear wall and running along the longitudinal direction of the crossmember, and wherein the reinforcing element is fixedly secured to the extrusion profile base frame by joining the bent sections of material to respective ones of the spaced-apart parallel flanges, such that the thickening is located between the flanges in a vertical direction of the crossmember.

10. The crossmember according to claim 9, wherein the bent sections of material are fixedly secured to the respective ones of the spaced-apart parallel flanges via a weld joint or an adhesive bond.

11. The crossmember according to claim 8, wherein the reinforcing element is fixedly secured to the extrusion profile base frame by joining the bent sections of material to the rear wall of the extrusion profile base frame via a weld joint or an adhesive bond.

12. The crossmember according to claim 1, wherein the reinforcing element has first and second opposite ends each having a concave or convex geometry in the longitudinal direction of the cross member when viewed along the depth direction.

13. The crossmember according to claim 1, wherein the length of the reinforcing element is less than of the distance extending between the at least two connecting areas.

14. The crossmember according to claim 13, wherein the length of the reinforcing element is less than of the distance extending between the at least two connecting areas.

15. The crossmember according to claim 14, wherein the length of the reinforcing element is less than of the distance extending between the at least two connecting areas.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Further details and advantages of the invention can be derived from the embodiments that are illustrated in the following in conjunction with the drawings, it is shown:

(2) FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded view of a crossmember according to an embodiment,

(3) FIG. 2 shows the crossmember of FIG. 1 in its assembled form,

(4) FIG. 3 is a top view on a rear side of a punched part for the production of a reinforcing element,

(5) FIG. 4a is a cross-sectional view along the line B-B from FIG. 3,

(6) FIG. 4b is a cross-sectional view of the punched part depicted in FIG. 4a after the bending of its longitudinal side edge sections,

(7) FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the crossmember along the line C-C in FIG. 2,

(8) FIG. 6 is an alternative embodiment of a longitudinal end section of a connecting element,

(9) FIG. 7a is a cross-sectional view along the line A-A in FIG. 1, and

(10) FIG. 7b is a corresponding cross-sectional view as in FIG. 7a for a crossmember known from the prior art, in which the ends on the longitudinal sides are compressed in the direction of their depth.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(11) The following description is presented to enable a person skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

(12) FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a crossmember 1 according to an embodiment. The crossmember 1 comprises an extrusion profile base frame 2 and a reinforcing element 3. The extrusion profile base frame 2 is a two-chamber extrusion profile with an upper chamber 5 and a lower chamber 5. On a front side thereof, the extrusion profile base frame 2 is covered with a baffle plate 6, which is also referred to as a front wall and which protrudes in a vertical direction past an upper wall 7 that closes the upper chamber 5 and past a lower wall 8 that closes the lower chamber 5. The upper wall 7 and the lower wall 8 both protrude, at their respective rear ends, past a rear wall 10 of the extrusion profile base frame 2 and thus form respective upper and lower flanges 9. In particular, the flanges 9 are a pair of parallel flanges that extend perpendicularly from the rear wall 10 and run along the longitudinal direction of the extrusion profile base frame. Proximate each of the two longitudinal ends of the extrusion profile base frame 2 is a respective connecting area 4 and 4.

(13) Referring still to FIG. 1 the extrusion profile base frame 2 features a homogeneous thickness in the direction of its depth (i.e., as measured between the front wall or baffle plate 6 and the rear wall 10). Further, the wall thickness of the aforementioned walls is also substantially constant. The extrusion profile base frame 2 features a bent shape along its longitudinal direction, such that the rear wall 10 is concave and the front wall or baffle plate 6 has a convex shape. This curved shape can be produced directly during the extrusion process. Alternatively such a bending along the longitudinal direction can be produced after forming a straight, unbent profile by means of a separate bending operation.

(14) The extrusion profile base frame 2 has mirror-symmetry about a central plane that is perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. Pairs of mounting holes 11 are formed in the respective connecting areas 4, 4 at the opposite ends, the mounting holes 11 being aligned along a vertical direction through the two chambers 5, 5. The connecting arrangement, such as to a crash-box 12, is depicted in FIG. 7a in a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1. A screw 13 or a bolt or any other mounting device can be inserted through the corresponding mounting hole 11, and so crossmember 1 can be connected with the corresponding crash-box 12. Other ways of forming a connection, instead of the ones by means of the holes 11, are also possible.

(15) Referring still to FIG. 1, the entire reinforcing element 3 is made from an extrusion profile (not shown), in one piece and out of a homogeneous material. Now referring also to FIGS. 3 and 4a, the extrusion profile is punched in a punching step to form a punched part 19 and includes a central thickening 14, which is limited in the vertical direction on the upper and lower sides by thinner sections 17 and 17, respectively, having relatively smaller material thicknesses. In this specific example, the punched part 19 is oval-shaped.

(16) The punched part 19 is bent at its longitudinal sides 20, 20 by means of a bending step to form bent sections 21 and 21, which are shown in FIG. 4b in a cross-sectional view taken along line D-D in FIG. 1. The reinforcing element 3 thus has a generally U-shaped form in this central area. As is depicted in FIG. 4b the thickening 14 can be formed along the outside of the reinforcing element 3 with respect to the crossmember 1, or alternatively or additionally along the inside of the reinforcing element 3 facing toward the rear wall 10 of the extrusion profile base frame 2 (as is illustrated using a dashed line in FIG. 4b). In the latter case, the thickening 14 is enclosed by the reinforcing element 3.

(17) Since the punched part 19 has an oval shape, and its longitudinal sides 20, 20 are bent as is shown in FIG. 4b, the bent sections 21, 21 fit onto the curved rear side of the extrusion profile base frame 2, so that the front edge geometry of the bent sections 21, 21 largely corresponds to the geometry of the extrusion profile base frame 2 due to the curvature of the punched part. Since the longitudinal ends of the oval punched part 19, i.e. the thickening 14 is preferably also slightly bent during the bending step, a slightly curved reinforcing element arises when seen from the top view in order to correspond to the rear wall geometry of the extrusion profile base frame 2.

(18) As is shown in FIG. 2 the reinforcing element 3 is attached along the rear side of the extrusion profile base frame 2, between the connecting areas 4 and 4 in the longitudinal direction. The reinforcing element 3 is also centered vertically between the flanges that are formed by the portions of the upper wall 7 and the lower wall 8 extending past the rear wall 10 of the extrusion profile base frame 2. In the specific example that is shown in FIG. 2 the reinforcing element 3 has an elongated panel-like shape, but other geometries are also possible. In this way an increased area moment of inertia against deforming, or an increased effective thickness in the direction of its depth is achieved in the central portion of the crossmember 1, whilst allowing the crossmember 1 to be formed with a relatively slim profile in its connecting areas 4 and 4.

(19) FIG. 5 depicts a cross-sectional view of the crossmember 1 taken along the line C-C in FIG. 2. The reinforcing element 3 is attached to the rear side 10 of the extrusion profile base frame 2 such that it is approximately centered in the longitudinal direction as well as in the vertical direction. The bent sections 21, 21 are thus accommodated between the flanges 9 that are formed by the upper wall 7 and the lower wall 8. The bent sections 21 and 21 and are then welded to the flanges 9. By means of this accommodating between the flanges 9, a pre-positioning is possible and a better fastening is achieved. Alternative connecting methods include e.g. adhesive bonding (gluing) or mechanical fastening.

(20) The embodiment depicted in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5 comprises a reinforcing element 3, whose longitudinal ends are formed in a convex shape. In contrast, the section of a longitudinal end of an alternative reinforcing element 31 that is depicted in FIG. 6 features a concave-shaped end portion. Both embodiments allow for a relief by means of a welding seam. If a convex embodiment is chosen, there is usually some cutting scrap in the end sections during the punching. In the alternative depicted in FIG. 6 with a concave shaping of the end sections, the correspondingly cut extrusion profile is punched in such a way, that the respective end-sides can be preserved without any or with as little cutting scrap as possible.

(21) The corresponding extrusion profiles, for the extrusion profile base frame as well as for the reinforcing element, can be made out of well-known materials such as e.g. aluminum, aluminum-containing alloys, magnesium, magnesium-containing alloys, titanium, titanium-containing alloys, plastic or plastic composites. The different materials may also vary for the reinforcing element and for the extrusion profile base frame, respectively. The two extrusion profiles preferably feature a basically homogeneous wall thicknesses in longitudinal direction. In accordance with the embodiment, the reinforcing element is preferably only intended for the section in between the connecting areas. In particular, the reinforcing element should not protrude beyond the connection areas. The crossmembers is preferably slightly curved towards the inside of the vehicle, as it is depicted in the embodiment. Alternatively, such a crossmember can also be straight or feature another shape. The reinforcing element is preferably intended to be arranged centrally and/or symmetrically on the extrusion profile base frame. Alternatively, the reinforcing element can also be displaced in the vertical direction in relation to the center of the extrusion profile base frame and/or in the longitudinal direction in relation to its center.

(22) The length of the reinforcing element in the longitudinal direction is to be adapted depending on the specific requirements of a particular application. Preferably, the length is no more than of the distance between the connecting areas, particularly or even only of the distance between the connecting areas. The cross member is preferably to be attached to the vehicle structure via crash-boxes. Thus, the entire vehicle with such a crossmember structure can be in accordance with the invention as well.

(23) While the above description constitutes a plurality of embodiments of the invention, it will be appreciated that the present invention is susceptible to further modification and change without departing from the fair meaning of the accompanying claims.