PROFILE AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME

Abstract

A cold-rolling method of forming a profile formed of a strip-shaped rolling stock and having thickness-reduced section (16) and at least one thickened region (21, 22) provided in a region of at least one bend (17, 18) of the profile, includes deforming a strip-shaped rolled metal stock in at least one region for forming the thickness-reduced section, with simultaneous accumulation of the initial material in a region adjacent to the thickness-reduced section so that a thickened region is formed adjacent to the thickness-reduced section, and bending the deformed rolled metal stock section into the profile.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 12/313,893 filed Nov. 24, 2008.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a profile formed of a strip-shaped rolling stock having an initial material thickness and including at least one thickness-reduced section having a thickness that is smaller than the initial material thickness of the rolling stock, and at least one bend. The present invention also relates to a method of forming such a profile.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Profiles, such as used, e.g., in the mounting or installation technology are produced, e.g., from a strip-shaped rolling stock by deformation in a rolling plant. The profiles can have a round, polygonal, or C-shaped cross-section.

In order to reduce the costs of a material, U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,833 suggests, e.g., to reduce thickness of at least one section of the rolling stock so that the material thickness in the thickness-reduced region is smaller than the initial material thickness of the strip-shaped rolling stock. With the thickness reduction, which is carried out by a cold rolling process, the strip-shaped rolling stock widens in the width direction so that the width of the thickness-reduced section is greater than the initial width of the strip-shaped rolling stock.

When a desired profile is formed of a sectionwise-deformed rolling stock, the at least one thickness-reduced section of the rolling stock is so arranged that it is located in a statistically little loaded region, e.g., adjacent to the neutral line in the primarily loaded directions of the profile. The thickness-reduced section of the rolling stock extends along the longitudinal axis of the produced profile.

The drawback of the proposed solution consists in that in order to optimally use the material-saving effect, as large as possible thickness reduction is desired. The local thinning of the rolling stock, however, can lead to the loss of stiffness, which limits the maximal possible reduction of the thickness.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a profile which is formed of a strip-shaped rolling stock and which is optimized both with regard to saving of material and with regard to stiffness.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of forming a profile which is formed of a strip-shaped stock and which is optimized both with regard to saving of material and with regard to stiffness.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects of the present invention, which will become apparent hereinafter, are achieved by providing at least one thickened region in a region of the at least one bend and which has a material thickness greater than the initial material thickness of the rolling stock the profile is formed of.

By the arrangement of the at least one thickened region in the region of the bend, i.e., in or at the bend of the profile, the stiffness of the profile in a high-loaded region of the material-optimized profile is improved. The inventive profile characterized, at a contour comparable with the contour of a profile formed of a strip-shaped rolling stock having a constant thickness, by a small increase of the used material, with the loss of stiffness, which is caused by thickness reduction, being compensated at least partially by the at least one thickened region or by resulted increase of local stiffness of the profile. If necessary, the stiffness of the produced profile can even be increased in comparison with a profile formed of a strip-shaped material with a constant thickness. The at least one thickened region is formed by material accumulation and is formed, during formation of the thickness-reduced section, with correspondingly formed rolls during the cold rolling process in the same rolling step. Providing a thickened region formed of material accumulation on a side of thickness-reduced region ensures the structural integrity of the profile and substantially increases the stiffness of the profile in the thickness-reduced area.

Advantageously, thickened regions are provided on both sides of at least one thickness-reduced section. If the profile has more than one thickness-reduced region, advantageously, thickened regions or material accumulations are provided on both sides of each thickness-reduced section. The material accumulations, e.g., are provided on one or both sides of the strip-shaped rolling stock and, thus, on both sides of the deformed profile formed therefrom.

Advantageously, the at least one thickened region is provided adjacent to the at least one bend. This enables a simple deformation of the strip-shaped rolling stock and, at the same time, improves the stiffness of the profile despite the presence of a thickness-reduced section.

The inventive profile has side walls enclosing, at least partially, a hollow space, with the at least one thickened region being advantageously located adjacent to the hollow space. Thus, the at least one thickness region does not project outwardly of the profile, so that the function or the arrangement of the profile is not limited by the thickened region-forming material accumulation.

Advantageously, the material thickness of the at least one thickened region corresponds to 1.1-2 times of the initial material thickness of the rolling stock the profile is formed of. This insures an advantageous improvement of the stiffness of the material-optimized profile.

Advantageously, the at least one thickened region has a material width in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis of the profile and corresponding to 1.0-5.0 times of the initial material width of the rolling stock the profile is formed of. This likewise insures an advantageous improvement of the stiffness of the material-optimized profile.

The method according to the present invention includes deforming a section of the strip-shaped rolled metal stock in at least one region thereof for forming the thickness-reduced section therein, with simultaneous accumulation of the initial material in a region adjacent to the thickness-reduced section and forming a thickened region which is provide in a region of the at least one bend; and bending the strip-shaped rolled stock section provided with the thickness reduced section and the thickened region to form the at least one bend.

With the profile having two side walls spaced from each other and extending parallel to each other, a connection section that connects the two side walls, and with each wall having a thickness-reduced section and thickened regions provided on both sides of the thickness-reduced section, the inventive method includes simultaneously forming, in the strip-shaped rolled stock section, the spaced from each other by a predetermined distance, two thickness-reduced sections, and two thickened regions adjacent to respective inner and outer sides of the thickness reduced sections.

The novel features of the present invention, which are considered as characteristic for the invention, are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its mode of operation, together with additional advantages and objects thereof, will be best understood from the following detailed description of preferred embodiment, when read with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings show:

FIG. 1 a cross-sectional view of a profile according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 a cross-sectional view of a section of the profile shown in FIG. 1 in the region of material accumulation at an increased, in comparison with FIG. 1, scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A profile 11 according to the present invention, which is shown in FIGS. 1-2, has a C-shaped cross-section with two, extending parallel to each other, side walls 12 and a connection section 13 that connects the two side walls 12 with each other. A bend 17 is provided between each of the side walls 12 and the connection section 13. The free ends 14 of the side walls 12 are bent inward and, thus, have each a bend 18. The side walls 12 partially enclose a hollow space 19. The profile 11 extends along a longitudinal axis 15.

The profile 11 is formed of a strip-shaped rolling stock with an initial material thickness W and has two thickness-reduced sections 16 in the two side walls 12, respectively. The thickness-reduced sections 16 have a material thickness D that is smaller than the initial material thickness W. On opposite sides of each of the thickness-reduced sections 16, there are provided thickened regions 21, 22, respectively, which are formed by material accumulation and have a material thickness H and a material width B. The thickened regions 21, 22 extend transverse to the longitudinal axis 15 of the profile 11. The material thickness H of the thickened regions 21 and 22 is greater than the initial material thickness W of the strip-shaped rolling stock. The thickened regions 21, 22 are located adjacent to the hollow space 19 and extend along the longitudinal axis 15 of the profile 11. The thickened region 21 in the region of the bend 17 of the profile 11 is located directly in the bend 17. The thickened region 22 is located, in the region of the bend 18 of the profile 11, directly adjacent to the bend 18.

The material thickness H of the thickened regions 21, 22 corresponds to 1.1-2.0 times of the initial thickness W of the strip-shaped rolling stock. The material width B of the thickened regions 21, 22 corresponds to 1.0-5.0 times of the initial material thickness W of the rolling stock. The thickened regions 21, 22 are arranged between the thickness-reduced section 16 and the bends 17 and 18, respectively, with the thickened regions 22 being arranged adjacent to the bends 18, respectively.

In FIG. 1, the thickened regions 21, 22 are arranged symmetrically on the profile 11. However, this is not absolutely necessary for improvement of stiffness of a material-optimized profile 11. The thickened regions 21, 22, which are arranged on the side wall 12 and/or are located opposite each other, can have different dimensions or be arranged unsymmetrically. Further, it is not necessary that all of the thickened regions extend in the same direction. As shown schematically with dash lines, thickened regions 23 can extend outwardly, i.e., remotely from the hollow space 19.

According to the inventive method, a strip-shaped rolling stock is deformed in a lateral direction for reduction of its thickness, in two, spaced from each other regions with a correspondingly formed roll or rolls that provide(s) for accumulation of material on opposite sides of each thickness-reduced region, whereby thickened regions are formed.

After the thickness-reduced sections with thickened regions on their opposite sides are formed, the strip-shaped stock is bent to form the profile.

Though the present invention was shown and described with references to the preferred embodiment, such is merely illustrative of the present invention and is not to be construed as a limitation thereof and various modifications of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. It is therefore not intended that the present invention be limited to the disclosed embodiment or details thereof, and the present invention includes all variations and/or alternative embodiments within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A cold-rolling method of forming a profile of a strip-shaped cold rolled metal stock having an initial material thickness (W), the profile having at least one thickness-reduced section (16) having a thickness (D) that is smaller than the initial material thickness (W) of the rolling stock; at least one bend (17; 18); and at least one thickened region (21, 22) provided in region of the at least one bend (17, 18) adjacent to the thickness-reduced section (16) and having a material thickness (H) greater than the initial material thickness (W) of the rolling stock the profile (11) is formed of, the method comprising the steps of:

in a single step, deforming a strip-shaped rolled metal stock in at least one region thereof for forming the thickness-reduced section therein and for simultaneous accumulation of the initial material in a region adjacent to the thickness-reduced section, whereby a thickened region is provided adjacent to the thickness-reduced section; and bending the strip-shaped rolled stock provided with the thickness-reduced section and the thickened region adjacent thereto into the profile.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the profile has two side walls (12) spaced from each other and extending parallel to each other, and a connection section (13) that connects the two side walls with each other, wherein the at least one thickness-reduced section is provided in one of the two side walls, and that at least one bend (17) is provided between the one of the two side walls and the connection section, wherein the profile includes another thickness-reduced section provided in another of the two side walls, and another bend (17) provided between the another of the two walls and the connection section, and wherein the single deforming step comprises simultaneously forming in the strip-shaped rolled stock, spaced from each other by a predetermined distance, the at least one and another thickness-reduced sections (16), and two thickened regions adjacent to respective inner sides of the at least one and another thickness-reduced sections

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the side walls each has, at an end thereof remote from the connection section, an inwardly bendable free end defining a further bend (8), and wherein the single deforming step further includes simultaneously providing thickness regions adjacent to respective outer sides of the respective thickness-reduced section and defining thickened regions (22) at outer sides of the thickness-reduced sections.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the material thickness of the at least one thickness (H) of the at least one thickened region corresponds to 1.1-2 times of the initial material thickness (W) of the rolling stock the profile (11) is formed of.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one thickened region (21, 22) has a material width (B) in a direction transverse to a longitudinal axis (15) of the profile (11) and corresponding to 1.0-5.0 times of the initial material width (W) of the rolling stock the profile (11) is formed of.