AutoForm Hydroforming Package

Software for Rapid Analysis and Simulation of Entire Hydroforming Design Chain

The AutoForm Hydroforming Package integrates both the AutoForm-HydroDesigner and AutoForm-Hydro software modules. With this specialized solution, feasibility engineers, process planners and tool makers can efficiently analyze the entire design cycle, from part design to tool design to process design.

The AutoForm Hydroforming Package provides the following benefits:

• Rapid die design and rapid process design for hydroformed parts
• Handling of multiple parts
• Design of several different tooling concepts in a single day
• Tooling concepts are automatically used to run tryout simulations
• Reduced tooling costs and shorter development time
• Increased part quality
• Improved process reliability

The AutoForm Hydroforming Package is highly intuitive and provides many automatic functions and easy-to-use features for tube hydroforming. Based on AutoForm’s clear and logical methodology, the user is guided step-by-step from the import of CAD geometry until the complete die face design.

After creating the part geometry in a CAD system, the part’s feasibility throughout the remainder of the design chain must be checked. In other words, part feasibility must be analyzed already during the part design phase, for example, to determine the minimum part radius and to evaluate the required internal pressure to form out the part. A section analysis is also required and the bending line must be defined. It has to be defined whether the part should be manufactured as a single part or as a multiple part, if applicable several different parts could be combined. Following the part design phase, a concept tool must be designed. The addendum and die split lines must also be defined, as well as all tools for the bending operation, if required. Traditionally, all these steps are carried out in a CAD system, which is very time consuming and inefficient to do. The AutoForm-HydroDesigner module is ideally suited for carrying out all these steps, thereby saving users considerable time and money during the entire hydroforming design process. Furthermore, all resulting data from AutoForm-HydroDesigner are automatically transferred to AutoForm-Hydro for tryout simulations and process design optimization.

The main features of the AutoForm Hydroforming Package include:

• Handling of multiple parts
• Automatic filleting of sharp edges
• Automatic calculation of the centerline
• Cross-sectional part analysis
• Tube generator to create profiles, and conical and tailored tubes
• Automatic creation of the addendum and inner fills
• Functions for addendum modifications
• Automatic and manual part tipping
• Tipping of individual geometries for multiple parts
• Improved generation of the separation surface
• Generation of lead-in surfaces
• Export of complete surface data
• Generation of the bending line
• Automatic design and positioning of all required bending tools and bending steps
• Improved design of bending tools and bending steps
• Hydroforming Info-Page
• Improved tools and process steps for better process reliability
• Pressure/displacement in graphical control dialogues
• Simulation of contact between two deformable bodies
• Springback calculation

This product may practice one or more of the following patents owned by or available to AutoForm Engineering GmbH, Switzerland: European patents 1290515, 1623287, 1665103, 1741012, US patents 7542889, 7623939, 7870792, 7885722, 7894929, 8155777, 8271118, 8280708 and JP patents 4633625, 4852420, 5102332, 5188803. Other European, other US and other JP patents pending.