ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,499,291, issued on Dec. 16, was assigned to AutoForm Engineering GmbH (Pfaffikon SZ, Switzerland).
"Sheet metal forming and assembly simulation method" was invented by Peter Konig (Pfaffikon SZ, Switzerland) and Florian Mahle (Pfaffikon SZ, Switzerland).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A design method, for processes forming and assembling parts, begins by simulating a forming process (2) to generate a sprung back part simulation model (30) that corresponds to a reference geometry (10) of the formed part (3). Next, an assembly simulation (40) uses this sprung back model (30) to create an assembled sprung back part simulated model (50). If th...