| SHAPE CORP. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
|---|
| 20150102613 | BEAM WITH VARIED BENDING MOMENT, APPARATUS, AND METHOD - A structural beam includes a reinforcement beam having a length and mounts at ends of the beam and cross sectional shapes at various locations along the length, including a first cross sectional shape near ends of the beam providing a first bending moment and a second cross sectional shape at a center of the beam providing a second bending moment different than the first bending moment, and further including intermediate cross sectional shapes between the ends and center having intermediate bending moments between the first and second bending moments. The cross sections may define open C-shapes or may include a tubular shape. | 04-16-2015 |
| 20150015007 | TUBULAR BEAM WITH CENTER LEG AND METHOD FOR FORMING THE SAME - A reinforcement beam is roll formed from a metal sheet for use in a vehicle bumper system. The reinforcement beam includes adjacent tubes having a common center wall and lateral portions extending from opposing sides of the common center wall that are roll formed simultaneously in the same rotational direction to enclose interior volumes of the adjacent tubes and to define top and bottom walls and front and rear wall of the reinforcement beam. The front walls of the adjacent tubes each include a channel rib depressed into the interior volume of the respective adjacent tube longitudinally along the reinforcement beam for stiffening the respective front wall. A weld is formed separately in each of the seams between the front walls and between the rear walls, thereby defining a crevice rib between the channel ribs to improve the bending strength and torsional strength of the reinforcement beam. | 01-15-2015 |
| 20140377484 | ROLL FORM APPARATUS, METHOD TO MANUFACTURE CRUSH TUBES - An apparatus comprises an uncoiling device for unrolling sheet material, an embossing device for embossing a series of crush initiating embossments into the sheet, a slitter to remove deformed edges of the sheet to facilitate welding, and a roll former with rolls configured to deform the sheet into a continuous tubular beam with walls each including some of the embossments, with the rolls being configured to clear the embossments but accurately form corners joining the walls. The apparatus further includes a welder welding abutting edges of the sheet together to fix the tubular beam, with the abutting edges being located inboard of an adjacent one of the corners but outboard of an outboard edge of adjacent ones of the embossments, and a cutoff device for cutting the continuous tubular beam into beam segments. A related method is also disclosed. | 12-25-2014 |
| 20140361558 | VARIABLE THICKNESS ROLL FORMED BEAM - A bumper reinforcement beam provides improved bending stiffness and strength, while reducing weight and maintaining functional bending impact strength. The illustrated beam is roll formed and includes a B-shaped cross section with upper and lower tubular sections sharing a common horizontal wall. A first material of the lower tubular section, including the common horizontal wall, is thinner than a second material forming a remainder of the upper tubular section. By using this arrangement for bumper beams that are likely to be impacted above a centerline, beam weight can be reduced by 2.5% to 6.7% or greater; while the stroke (intrusion into the vehicle) of impactors is generally maintained and maximum load capability (beam bending strength) is maintained. | 12-11-2014 |
| 20140312636 | BUMPER ENERGY ABSORBER WITH SENSOR AND CONFIGURED LOBES - A vehicle bumper system comprises a bumper reinforcement beam and an energy absorber with top and bottom rows of similarly-shaped spaced-apart crush lobes in alternating relation for uniform impact resistance across the bumper system. The illustrated top row of crush lobes provides a high first force-deflection curve for high impact forces, and the bottom row of crush lobes provides a lower second force-deflection curve, for pedestrian reduced injury. An elongated sensor is positioned under shear walls of the top and bottom crush lobes, and is retained by tabs on the energy absorber. This positively retains the sensor in position on the bumper system, with few (or zero) separate fasteners, while facilitating quick assembly and reliable operation of the sensor tube. | 10-23-2014 |
| 20140306482 | BUMPER SYSTEM WITH PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY LOWER APRON - An apron for a vehicle front end comprises a unitary plastic component having a front structure and a rear structure joined by an offset portion. The front and rear structures extend at rearward downward angles and in generally parallel directions, and the offset portion extends at a rearward upward angle. The apron has a relatively constant vertical dimension, such that the angled structures define a wave-shaped envelope. Preferably, a horizontal plane extending from the tip of the front structure stays within the wave-shaped envelope, so that impact forces stay within the boundary in a manner providing improved impact strength and greater energy absorption during an impact. At the same time, the front structure provides a homogeneous structure that distributes local impact stresses uniformly and more widely into the rear structure, thus providing a more uniform impact resistance less sensitive to impact location. | 10-16-2014 |
| 20140033791 | METHOD FOR FORMING TUBULAR BEAM WITH CENTER LEG - A roll former for forming a sheet into a continuous multi-tubular reinforcement beam. The roll former includes a first set of rollers that are configured to bend the sheet to form a common center wall in generally perpendicular orientation relative to first and second lateral portions of the sheet that extend in opposing directions from respective first and second radiused ends of the common center wall. The first set of rollers also form radiused edges on the first and second lateral portions. A second set of rollers is configured to form a channel rib longitudinally along each of the first and second lateral portions. A third set of rollers is configured to bend the first and second lateral portions simultaneously and equally to abut the first and second radiused edges with the respective first and second radiused ends of the common center wall to define adjacent tubes of the beam. | 02-06-2014 |
| 20130320652 | INTERNAL DEPLOYABLE VEHICLE PANEL ASSEMBLY - An internal deployable vehicle panel assembly includes an inner panel, an outer panel and a deployable energy absorber. The inner panel includes a first mounting structure that movably couples the inner panel to a vehicle component to move between a closed position to cover an access opening to a vehicle storage compartment and an open position to reveal the access opening. The outer panel includes a second mounting structure that is removably coupled to a third mounting structure of the inner panel. The deployable energy absorber is disposed between the inner and outer panels in an undeployed state. The deployable energy absorber is free from fixed attachment to the outer panel and energizable to a deployed state in which the deployable energy absorber separates the outer panel from the inner panel and displaces the outer panel away from the inner panel. | 12-05-2013 |
| 20130223980 | ACTIVE GRILL SHUTTER VANE DESIGN AND VEHICLE SYSTEM - An integrated assembly includes a vehicle bumper system, and upper and lower air shutter sections with subassembled shutter vanes movable between closed and open positions, an actuator mechanism for moving the shutter members between positions. When in the fully open position, the shutter vanes are aerodynamically designed to minimize air drag, both as air flows past the vanes and also during after-vane airflow (and during after-bumper-beam airflow). When in the fully closed vane position, the vanes seal against each other to provide a highly efficient and leak-resistant air-blocking assembly. | 08-29-2013 |
| 20130168360 | APPARATUS FOR MAKING TUBULAR BEAM WITH CENTER LEG - An apparatus forms a sheet into a beam having four exterior walls and a common center leg extending between an opposing two of the walls. The apparatus includes a roll former forming the sheet into the beam cross section, a welding station with top and bottom laser welders, and a weld box fixture having inwardly-biased external mandrels (biased by actuators) and outwardly-biased internal split mandrels (biased by springs) that interact to hold a desired shape of the beam in the weld fixture, and also includes a sweeping unit and cutoff device. By this arrangement, the internal and external mandrels, in combination with a bias of the actuators and springs, control a shape of the beam by flexure and movement of material of the sheet when in the weld box fixture during a welding process of the welder. | 07-04-2013 |
| 20130154153 | MULTI-SHOT MOLDING METHOD WITH PRESSURE ACTIVATED EXPANSION LOCKS - A co-molding process includes molding a body between a “common cavity” and “first shot core” die halves, co-molding a soft plastic onto the first component to form a final part using the “common cavity” die half and a “second shot core” die half. The “second shot core” die half includes shallow formations forming expansion locks along an elongated edge of the final part on a non-show concave surface, the locks having a shallow depth and extending in a direction non-parallel a die pull direction such that the locks affirmatively prevent shifting of first component during the co-molding process. Also, the locks can be made to cause the final part to remain with the “second shot core” die half when dies are opened during a final step of the co-molding process. | 06-20-2013 |
| 20130113236 | VEHICLE COWL COMPONENTS ADAPTED FOR HOOD/FENDER SEALING - A vehicle cowl component configured to extend between a hood's rear edge and a vehicle front windshield comprises a cowl and a seal, the seal including a U-shaped cross section attached to the under-hood edge and having upwardly extending front and rear curved walls, each of the curved walls having an unconnected free end. In one embodiment, the seal is two-shot molded onto the cowl, which eliminates secondary attachment operations. A method includes steps of first-shot molding a cowl, and then second-shot molding a U-shaped seal onto the cowl along an under-hood front edge. A modified cowl includes a seal with a downwardly extending wiper for sealing engagement with a body support structure under the cowl and seal. | 05-09-2013 |
| 20130076072 | VEHICLE COWL COVER - A vehicle cowl cover includes a windshield support portion and a channel portion. The windshield support portion includes a first windshield supporting wall and a second windshield supporting wall coupled to the first windshield supporting wall to define a windshield receiving cavity that is configured to receive a bottom edge of a windshield. The windshield receiving cavity extends in a lateral direction along the bottom edge of the windshield. The channel portion extends from the second windshield supporting wall and defines a water receiving channel that is configured to receive water that flows over a top edge of the second windshield supporting wall from the windshield receiving cavity. The channel portion is angled relative to an inner surface of the windshield to direct water laterally along the channel portion to at least one side edge of the vehicle cowl cover. | 03-28-2013 |
| 20130076071 | VEHICLE COWL COVER - A vehicle cowl cover includes a main body and a first yielding portion. The main body includes a first lateral end portion defining a first end edge and a second lateral end portion defining a second end edge. The first yielding portion is attached along a majority of the first end edge such that the first yielding portion at least partially forms a first end surface of the first lateral end portion. The first yielding portion has a first elasticity greater than a second elasticity of the main body. | 03-28-2013 |
