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WELDING IN BIW
FABRICATION OF 709 AND II09
LPT
Project by
Vishwarath Taduru,
GET-CVBU(PUNE).
Under the guidance of
Mr. Ishwar Babar (Senior Manager-Production),
E-BLOCK.
PROLOGUE
INTRODUCTION
ROADMAP TO IMPLEMENTATION
Familiarization with processes
Advanced
Developments
study
Alternatives
Feasibility study
Implementation
Implementation
Prototype
yes
change
no
LEGEND
F-Feasible
NF-Not
feasible
R-Reduce
In-house improvements
1) MANUFACTURE STAGE
2) DESIGN IMPROVEMENTS
Figure 1- Trends for welding processes in BIW assembly across the world
WELD BONDING
Advantages:
1)The adhesive enables an evenly stressed, fully sealed joint to be formed
2) The number of spots are reduced and the potential for localized high
stresses is minimized through the action of the adhesive, which is the
primary load carrier.
3) Adhesive bonding is a well-known complement to help resolve problems with
cracks around spot welds occurring as a result of fatigue loads.
BUT
Weld bonding requires special preparation of surfaces before the process is
applied. The joint characteristics also depend on the room conditions which
affect the curing properties of the joint by as much as 50%.
CLINCH WELDING
a) Special equipment(dimensions)
b) Initial capital expenditure is high (about 20% more than spot welding
equipment)
c) High pressing force
Failure
limit (N)
The strength of clinch joint is comparable with spot welded joints. Active
research is going on in this area.
Small equipment can be hand held or suspended. Pedestal stand alone
machines may be used, or complex robotic cells can be assembled,
sometimes with multiple working heads.
DETAILS OF EACH
PROCESS
WELD DATA
DESIGN REQUIREMENT
SUGGESTION
FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS
ACTION TAKEN
IMPLEMENTATION
The current front gusset weld is done at the bottom as well as on the front
flange of sub-structure.
(a)
(b)
Spotting may be done between the front edge and substructure as shown in (a)
The welding done at the bottom face of (b) is not feasible to replace with spotting as
the face of substructure is curved.
It may not be feasible to replace weld run of (a) with spot welding at present as it
requires the design of top down rotating fixture and spot weld machine of
appropriate reach.
2
1
(a)
(b)
(c)
The weld run between C-channel(1) and gusset bracket(2) is done on the gusset
assembly.
An alternate C-channel post which has a rear face with tug (dimple) is as shown in
(b).
This face may be used to spot this bracket with gusset. The tug provides additional
strength to the member.
This will lead to elimination of CO2 welding at this juncture which is further reinforced
in cab full welding.
The alternate arrangement is as shown in Fig .
It is not feasible to eliminate this process or replace it with spotting at this stage
as there is no approach for the spot welding gun.
IDEA
It is not feasible to replace this with spot welding but the extent of welding as per
drawing is 15mm+60mm on both inner and outer side. This may be reduced.
Clearly defined process flow is to be mentioned in place of availability based
process plans.
In the modified cab design only 2 tacks of 20 mm each are done for the outer
flange and one tack on the inside.
It is feasible to replace this with spot welding and it requires fixtures like
aperture gauge fixture at the initial stations to hold these components in place
and do only spotting.
We may also opt to go for keyways and slots between the roof panel and the
side wall. Thus we may fix the component in place and go for only spotting.
As the welding is done only for tacking and is negligible modification is not
done at this stage for the sample cab.
IDEA
After insertion into the slot of roof panel the operator turns the key to lock it in
position.
One consideration is whether the key will have sufficient strength to withstand
the weight of the entire structure when lifted by hoist-tackle.
To ensure the success it is advisable to have a conveyor belt type of system
which may not be a feasible idea.
To avoid tack welding at this stage it is necessary to use grip clamps that
hold the front panel and only spotting is done at the subsequent station.
It is feasible to replace the roof bow tack with spot welding if we use hand grip
fixture to hold the components together.
Then there is approach for the spot gun from inside the rear wall window and top.
It requires use of specially designed spotting machine.
It is not possible to replace this with spot or other processes as the metal CS
area is high.
It may be feasible to have a bolted dash board as for HCV in tilt body format.
UNDERBODY WELD
The under body weld length is of 360 mm. The current practice is to tack
weld at 6 places with 30-35 mm length on both sides.
20
a)
b)
Figures showing the front panels of the cabs with and without the unnecessary
CO2 tack weld.
20
The correct weld positions and dimensions were marked on the cab before performing
welding operation resulting in reduction of weld length.
The substructure to the fire wall full CO2 weld is currently 420 mm comprising
14 tacks of 30 mm length.
It is feasible to reduce this much CO2 welding by increasing number of spots between
sub-structure and fire wall in Stn-1 by allowing access to the spot welding machine.
The substructure full weld may be decreased if reinforcement plate is used.
It is found that the same design criteria for 709 vehicle is extended to the
higher load bearing vehicles like 1109 and 1112.
Thus it is sought to reduce the amount of substructure weld.
40
50
150
35
b)
a)
Figure showing the welding done for the substructure with fire wall for a)
side flap and b) central floor.
In the proto cab the weld run was marked as 4*35*150 for the side flaps
and 2*40*180 for the central floor assy. of substructure. This resulted in
saving of approximately 120 mm( 420-300) of CO2 weld run.
SUBSTRUCTURE REINFORCEMENT
At present 220 mm of CO2 weld is done for welding one reinforcement plate
between substructure and fire wall.
Fig-Reinforcement may be
placed here.
It may be feasible to reduce this welding if the substructure and fire wall
assembly is properly sealed with reinforcement plates of lesser dimensions.
This is not feasible because the corners are sharp and the plate will be of
complex surface.
a)
b)
Figure showing a) reinforcement plate preparation for weld at given places and
b) the plate welded and arrow marks showing zigzag design for more strength.
For the cab under prototype stage the weld run was given as under 5*25*100 for
bottom side and 6*25*100(80) for the top portion. This sums up to 250mm of welding
for entire plate.
It is feasible to eliminate the weld run pointed with red color and end tacks for
reduction of weld length.
a)
b)
SUPPORT WELDING
Front gusset welding full welding is done to ensure longer period durability.
The weld runs are done in as many as 5 places leading to overall length of 184mm
on both LH/RH sides.
The welding shown at the front portion of the C-channel and front grill may be
avoided if we provide for flange and then spot welding can be done between it and
the top portion of front grill.
(a)
(b)
It may be feasible to have a bolted butt joint plate in between the two components
which adds to the overall strength and also decrease in weld length (b).
Snap head Blind rivets may also be used for joining along with a reinforcement tack of
CO2 welding at corners.
It is not feasible to implement idea at present because there is no approach for the spot
gun to reach this.
As per drawing the weld between front grill member and mtgbracket is to be done on the top and bottom edges. The current
practice is to do so on the inclined edge. This may lead to decrease
in strength of the joint.
20
40
a)
b)
c)
Figures showing a) design criteria b) present practice and c) smaller weld for proto cab
As per drawing the outer wall reinforcement is 20 mm weld at four places which is
80 mm compared to 160 mm done presently.
The front grill to the side wall weld run is currently 70 mm on each side.
b) Without welding
The weld run on inside of the side panel to outer step board may be
reduced.
If the number of spots are increased then the structure would sustain the
load.
Outer front grill
Step panel
For the cab under preposition this weld run is completely eliminated
resulting in saving of 60*2=120mm of CO2 weld per cab.
a) before
b) after
VENDOR IMPROVEMENTS
At Autoline Industries Ltd.Chakan
FOR-SUBSTRUCTURE
ASSEMBLY BRACKET
The assembly bracket top(2 no.s) are presently welded by using CO2 weld
runs of 40*2=80mm for each component summing up to total 160 mm on
LH/RH side.
To weld the front insert 3+3 CO2 weld runs of 40 mm along with 8
no. of plug hole welding is done on the component.
There is approach for the spot welded gun on both sides where the CO2 weld is
done
Thus with the use of proper fixture to hold the bracket it is possible to eliminate this
weld.
MUDFLAP MTG.
60mm of CO2 welding is done to weld the mudflap mtg onto the long
member and reinforcement side.
As per the present design it is difficult for the spot gun to reach the box-type
structure on one end.
Spotting may be possible if the under part of the bkt end is properly fixed in
position using appropriate fixture.
CROSSMEMBER
The present weld length between cross member and Bkt cannot be avoided.
But the weld between the cover plate and mounting bracket may be avoided as
shown in the figure
The present practice is of doing welding of 4 CO2 weld runs of 20mm each
summing up to 160 mm on both sides. This exceeds the design requirement
of 2 tacks of 20 mm each.
This revision in drawing was carried out recently owing to the mismatch between the
floor and the long member assy. Thus if the components are checked at source it may
be feasible to eliminate this welding completely.
The present welding of Bkt is done in the assembly line of floor panel with
sub-structure.
If this component can be spot welded with floor in the initial stages CO2
The assy. Substructure is CO2 welded with rear corner panel with four tacks
of 25 mm each.
Another problem was the spill over while spotting especially at the
edges. This is caused due to the big length of arms of spot gun. This
may be overcome by increasing length of flange which is in-fact
sufficient now.
Improvements in Autoline.
The CO2 welding may be replaced by
spotting in a number of ways. The gun has
to be re-oriented to do spotting.
At Anasuya
Instead of doing CO2 welding through holes
on door inner panel it may be possible to
provide outer flange and do spotting.