Abstract:
Sheet metal is provided as a template to create a finished product. After various metal transformation techniques are performed on the sheet metal, the sheet metal may be converted to the finished product. The sheet metal manipulation may encompass different techniques, such as thinning, bending, cutting, and the like. The manipulated sheet metal may be sourced for various products, such as a body of a vehicle. The aspects disclosed herein combine various tests employed to detect the integrity of the sheet metal transformation into a singular output.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This PCT patent application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/010,818 filed Jun. 11, 2014 entitled “Performing And Communicating Sheet Metal Simulations Employing A Combination Of Factors”, the entire disclosure of the application is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Sheet metal is provided as a template to create a finished product. After various metal transformation techniques are performed on the sheet metal, the sheet metal may be converted to the finished product. The sheet metal manipulation may encompass different techniques, such as thinning, bending, cutting, and the like. The manipulated sheet metal may be sourced for various products, such as a body of a vehicle. 
         [0003]    Producers of the various products that employ sheet metal often use computer aided design (CAD) programs to aid in the design and simulation of the products. A designer may enter parameters associated with the end product in the CAD program. Accordingly, the CAD program may run various simulations based on the intended design. The simulations may be employed to test performance, compatibility, and failure associated with different modifications. 
         [0004]    As sheet metal is manipulated, various cracks may form. Thus, different tests may be performed to identify whether a specific variation or process leads to cracks. In performing these simulations, several issues may arise. In some cases, the simulations may not be accurate enough. Thus, the simulations may not adequately detect whether a crack or some other deleterious issue may arise. 
         [0005]    In other cases, the simulations may over-predict an error. Accordingly, the simulation may indicate falsely that a certain manipulation, or combination of manipulations may lead to a crack. In these cases, manipulations that may be beneficial to the transformation of the part may not be pursued due to false information indicated via the simulation. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    The detailed description refers to the following drawings, in which like numerals refer to like items, and in which: 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an example computer. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  illustrates an example of an implementation of a system for performing and communicating sheet metal simulations employing a combination of factors. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example of an implementation of a method for performing and communicating sheet metal simulations employing a combination of factors. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example of a display employing the system described in  FIG. 2 . 
           [0011]      FIGS. 5( a ) and 5( b )  illustrate an example of a display employing the system described in  FIG. 2 . 
       
    
    
     SUMMARY 
       [0012]    The following description relates to system and methods for performing and communicating sheet metal simulations employing a combination of factors. Exemplary embodiments may also be directed to any of the system, the method, an application various computing devices described herein. 
         [0013]    Additional features of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
         [0014]    A system for simulating a sheet metal transformation is provided herein. The system includes a materials interface module to receive a plurality of data associated with materials employed with a sheet metal simulated via the sheet metal transformation to produce a transformed sheet metal; a formula interfacer to interface with an application associated with the sheet metal transformation to receive a plurality of formulas associated with the sheet metal transformation, the formula interfacer being configured to combine more than one sheet metal transformation test; and a formability interfacer to receive a parameter associated with a threshold of thinning and cracking associated with the transformed sheet metal. The system is configured to generate per predefined demarcated zones of the sheet metal data corresponding to transformed sheet metal response for each of the demarcated zones. 
         [0015]    It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. Other features and aspects will be apparent from the following detailed description, the drawings, and the claims. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0016]    CAD simulations associated with the manipulation of sheet metal may be performed via various CAD tools. Each simulation may indicate whether the manipulation of sheet metal may fail. By performing this analysis, a designer associated with the end product may be able to predictively forecast whether a certain manipulation associated with a specific sheet metal part may lead to cracks or other problems. 
         [0017]    Currently, empirical guidelines exist as to whether certain manipulations cause problems. For example, empirical guidelines for thinning may be established. However, these empirical guidelines, when employed for practical applications in some cases over predict or under predict problems. In these cases, a manufacturer may have to redesign a part, thereby losing money and time associated with the delay. 
         [0018]    Additionally, a finite element analysis (FEA) model exists and is currently employed in several simulation and CAD design tools. The FEA model is limited for the same reasons as mentioned above. 
         [0019]    Disclosed herein are systems and methods for performing and communicating sheet metal simulations employing a combination of factors. The factors may be other tests and equations, such as FEA tests and other techniques for detecting cracks. By employing a simulation with additional factors and parameters, a greater accuracy of crack detection may occur and be achieved. Further, a thinner finished product may be realized. 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating an example computer  100 . The computer  100  includes at least one processor  102  coupled to a chipset  104 . The chipset  104  includes a memory controller hub  120  and an input/output (I/O) controller hub  122 . A memory  106  and a graphics adapter  112  are coupled to the memory controller hub  120 , and a display  118  is coupled to the graphics adapter  112 . A storage device  108 , keyboard  110 , pointing device  114 , and network adapter  116  are coupled to the I/O controller hub  122 . Other embodiments of the computer  100  may have different architectures. 
         [0021]    The storage device  108  is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium such as a hard drive, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), DVD, or a solid-state memory device. The memory  106  holds instructions and data used by the processor  102 . The pointing device  114  is a mouse, track ball, or other type of pointing device, and is used in combination with the keyboard  110  to input data into the computer system  100 . The graphics adapter  112  displays images and other information on the display  118 . The network adapter  116  couples the computer system  100  to one or more computer networks. 
         [0022]    The computer  100  is adapted to execute computer program modules for providing functionality described herein. As used herein, the term “module” refers to computer program logic used to provide the specified functionality. Thus, a module can be implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or software. In one embodiment, program modules are stored on the storage device  108 , loaded into the memory  106 , and executed by the processor  102 . 
         [0023]    The types of computers used by the entities and processes disclosed herein can vary depending upon the embodiment and the processing power required by the entity. The computer  100  may be a mobile device, tablet, smartphone or any sort of computing element with the above-listed elements. For example, a video corpus, such as a hard disk, solid state memory or storage device, might be stored in a distributed database system comprising multiple blade servers working together to provide the functionality described herein. The computers can lack some of the components described above, such as keyboards  110 , graphics adapters  112 , and displays  118 . 
         [0024]      FIG. 2  illustrates a system  200  for performing and communicating sheet metal simulations employing a combination of factors. The system  200  includes an interface module  210 , a formula interfacer  220 , a formability interfacer  230 , and a formability display driver  240 . The system  200  may be performed via a device, such as computer  100 . The system  200  may communicate via the other elements shown in  FIG. 2  via a system bus  250 . The system bus  250  may allow integration with the system  200  and the other elements, or may be a network that allows wired or wireless communication between the system  200  and the other elements. 
         [0025]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , a data record  260  is provided to an application  270 , via device  280 . The application  270  may be any sort of computer application engineering program employed to allowed CAD design of sheet metal transformation. The application  270  may be executed and stored on any of the devices enumerated above with regards to computer  100 , on device  280 . 
         [0026]    The data record  260  corresponds to data associated with a sheet metal transformation. The data record  260  may employ various numerical and symbolic representations associated with an intended transformation. For example, if a sheet metal  261  is intended to be transformed into transformed sheet metal  262 . 
         [0027]    Device  280  may include a user interface  281  and a display  282 . In certain cases, the user interface  281  and the display  282  may be integrally provided, for example, if the device  280  is a touch screen. The device  280  may include, or communicate with a persistent store  283 . The persistent store  283  may store information about various properties and parameters associated with sheet metal transformation. Accordingly, as the sheet metal is stretched, thinned, cut, stamped, bent, or undergoes any other manipulations—the persistent store  283  may incorporate a lookup table  284  with the various transformations cross-referenced with corresponding parameters and variables to execute a simulation. The parameters and variables may be incorporated into equations associated with the application  270 . Some of the parameters and variables employed may be, for example, a beta ratio, a minor/major strain associated with the sheet metal  261  or the transformed sheet metal  262 . 
         [0028]    The materials interface module  210  interfaces with the sheet metal  261  to extract various properties associated with the sheet metal. For example, the materials interface module  210  may extract the Von Mises Stress, the Planar Effective Stress and Discrepancy Limits associated with sheet metal  261 . Additionally, the materials interface module  210  may retrieve various other properties associated with the sheet metal  261 , such as the Thinning Limit Curves, Bending Under Tension Limits, and Failure Stress Curve. 
         [0029]    All, some, or at least one of the above-enumerated properties associated with sheet metal  261  may be retrieved by the materials interface module  210 . In one example, the system  200  may retrieve the parameters based on information stored in a persistent store  205 . In another example, the application  270  may transmit the information to system  200 . In another example, system  200  may be provided as a module or build-on to the application  2700 , and communicate integrally with procedures associated with application  270 . 
         [0030]    The formula interfacer  220  interfaces with the application  270  to ascertain which formulas are employed to perform a simulation. The formulas obtained by the application  270  may be contingent on the intended transformations and manipulations employed to modify sheet metal  261  to transformed sheet metal  262 . 
         [0031]    The formability interfacer  230  establishes limits and thresholds  231  associated with the transformed sheet metal  262 . For example, various standards associated with a finished product may be established. In one example, the cracking threshold may be established (i.e. a parameter indicating how durable the part should be in order to withstand pressure before cracking). Another such parameter may be the thinness of the part at a given region of the transformed sheet metal  262 . The limits  231  may be predetermined via an operator of application  270  and system  200 , or retrieved from a database or standards source. 
         [0032]    The formability interfacer  230  may also include an analyzer  232 . The analyzer  232  receives as input the information ascertained by both elements  210  and  220 , and performs various analysis associated with detecting cracking via transformed sheet metal  262 . Thus, based on known parameters of the sheet metal  261 , the processes employed to create transformed sheet metal  262 —the analyzer  232  may determine per region how stable each region is (i.e. whether a crack is liable to be formed, how thin the region, how susceptible to failure the region is). A region may be a demarcated section of the transformed sheet metal  262 . 
         [0033]    The formability display driver  240  includes a visualizer unit  241  and a zone unit  242 . The various aspects of the visualizer unit  241  and the zone unit  242  described below may be selectively provided. 
         [0034]    The visualizer unit  241  retrieves the information ascertained by the formula interfacer  220 , and provides information that may be graphical rendered on a display  285 . The information that is graphically rendered may indicate whether the user provided limits and thinning ranges indicate that a crack is generated. 
         [0035]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example of the display  285  showing the visualizer unit  241 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , a simulated display of a transformed sheet metal  262  is provided. The various edges of the transformed sheet metal  262  indicate different colors and patterns, with each color or patter indicating whether a crack is formed. 
         [0036]    In  FIG. 4 , the display includes various graphical user interface (GUI) elements. A legend  410  is shown that shows a correspondence to a pattern with a specific amount of edge crack  430 . Thus, as shown in the display, a digital representation of the sheet metal  420  indicates at least one of the patterns  410  in various portions. The pattern on  420  indicates whether an edge crack  430  is likely to occur. 
         [0037]    The zone unit  242  displays the failure locations of the transformed sheet metal  262 . The various failure modes may be any of those enumerated in  FIGS. 5( a ) and ( b ) . Additionally, the areas of the transformed sheet metal  262  that are deemed as passing (i.e., passing the thinning requirements established by the application  270  or predetermined by an implementer of system  200 ) may be indicated by a color as well. 
         [0038]      FIGS. 5( a ) and ( b )  illustrate an example the display  285  showing a sample output of the zone unit  242 . As shown in  FIGS. 5( a ) and ( b ) , various regions are filled with various patterns. The patterns indicate whether the region is liable to be too thin to be stable or within a predetermined threshold, or is passable (i.e., thin enough). 
         [0039]    Referring to  FIG. 5( a ) , the legend  510  corresponds to a specific error ( 511 - 517 ) with a specific pattern. As shown in the display in  FIG. 5( a ) , the various patterns are shown on the digital rendition of the transformed sheet metal at a portion on the sheet metal where the simulation predicts an error is to occur. 
         [0040]    In  FIG. 5( b ) , a legend  520  is shown that corresponds the likelihood of failure associated with a max formability failure test. The max formability failure test is known, and thus, a detailed description will be omitted. Similar to the displays shown in  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5( a ) , the patterns  521 - 523  correspond to a likelihood of formability failure, and are shown on the digitally rendered transformed sheet metal  505 . 
         [0041]      FIG. 3  illustrates an example of a method  300  for performing and communicating sheet metal simulations employing a combination of factors. The method  300  may be implemented on a system or a device, such as computer  100  described above. 
         [0042]    In operation  310 , a property associated with sheet metal is retrieved and stored. Various properties may be obtained about the sheet metal, for example, stresses  311 , thinning limit curves  312 , pressure and tension  313 , and a failure stress curve  314 . 
         [0043]    In operation  320 , a formula is retrieved based on a transformation of the sheet metal. For example, an example formula retrieved may be the following:
       IF (AND (MINOR_STRESS/MAJOR_STRESS&gt;0.8; MINOR_STRESS&lt;0.9); sqrt((sqr(MAJOR_STRESS−MINOR_STRESS)+sqr(MINOR_STRESS+CONTACT_PRESSURE)+sqr(=CONTACT_PRESSURE−MAJOR_STRESS))/2); 0)       
 
         [0045]    Thus, based on the above example of a formula employed by operation  320 , the method  300  may proceed to operation  330 . 
         [0046]    In operation  330 , the commercial formability simulation is performed. Essentially, the analysis performed by operation  320  is cross-referenced with predetermined limits entered by an implementer of method  300 . 
         [0047]    In operation  340 , the errors or passed regions of the transformed sheet metal are shown. For example, the visualized failure cracks may be shown ( 341 ), or the failure locations  342  may be shown. 
         [0048]    Thus, employing system  200  and method  300 , the ability to ascertain and visualize cracks and locations may be performed in an integrated process. Accordingly, a process of simulating transformed sheet metal may be speeded up, as the two goals enumerated above (e.g., ascertain cracks and failure locations) may be performed in an integrated test. 
         [0049]    Certain of the devices shown in  FIG. 1  include a computing system. The computing system includes a processor (CPU) and a system bus that couples various system components including a system memory such as read only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM), to the processor. Other system memory may be available for use as well. The computing system may include more than one processor or a group or cluster of computing system networked together to provide greater processing capability. The system bus may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. A basic input/output (BIOS) stored in the ROM or the like, may provide basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computing system, such as during start-up. The computing system further includes data stores, which maintain a database according to known database management systems. The data stores may be embodied in many forms, such as a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drive, tape drive, or another type of computer readable media which can store data that are accessible by the processor, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, cartridges, random access memories (RAMs) and, read only memory (ROM). The data stores may be connected to the system bus by a drive interface. The data stores provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computing system. 
         [0050]    To enable human (and in some instances, machine) user interaction, the computing system may include an input device, such as a microphone for speech and audio, a touch sensitive screen for gesture or graphical input, keyboard, mouse, motion input, and so forth. An output device can include one or more of a number of output mechanisms. In some instances, multimodal systems enable a user to provide multiple types of input to communicate with the computing system. A communications interface generally enables the computing device system to communicate with one or more other computing devices using various communication and network protocols. 
         [0051]    The preceding disclosure refers to a number of flow charts and accompanying descriptions to illustrate the embodiments represented in  FIG. 3 . The disclosed devices, components, and systems contemplate using or implementing any suitable technique for performing the steps illustrated in these figures. Thus,  FIG. 3  is for illustration purposes only and the described or similar steps may be performed at any appropriate time, including concurrently, individually, or in combination. In addition, many of the steps in these flow charts may take place simultaneously and/or in different orders than as shown and described. Moreover, the disclosed systems may use processes and methods with additional, fewer, and/or different steps. 
         [0052]    Embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the herein disclosed structures and their equivalents. Some embodiments can be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions, encoded on a tangible computer storage medium for execution by one or more processors. A computer storage medium can be, or can be included in, a computer-readable storage device, a computer-readable storage substrate, or a random or serial access memory. The computer storage medium can also be, or can be included in, one or more separate tangible components or media such as multiple CDs, disks, or other storage devices. The computer storage medium does not include a transitory signal. 
         [0053]    As used herein, the term processor encompasses all kinds of apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, or multiple ones, or combinations, of the foregoing. The processor can include special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., a FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). The processor also can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, a cross-platform runtime environment, a virtual machine, or a combination of one or more of them. 
         [0054]    A computer program (also known as a program, module, engine, software, software application, script, or code) can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, declarative or procedural languages, and the program can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, object, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program may, but need not, correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub-programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. 
         [0055]    To provide for interaction with an individual, the herein disclosed embodiments can be implemented using an interactive display, such as a graphical user interface (GUI). Such GUI&#39;s may include interactive features such as pop-up or pull-down menus or lists, selection tabs, scannable features, and other features that can receive human inputs. 
         [0056]    The computing system disclosed herein can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communications network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In some embodiments, a server transmits data (e.g., an HTML page) to a client device (e.g., for purposes of displaying data to and receiving user input from a user interacting with the client device). Data generated at the client device (e.g., a result of the user interaction) can be received from the client device at the server.