Method and device for producing green tyres using a pre-structure

Abstract

A method and a device for producing green tyres using a pre-structure. The device has at least a first ply server (21) for providing the strip-like material of a first ply (42) and a second ply server (20) for providing the strip-like material of a second ply (41) and also a pre-structure server (22) for providing a pre-structure (40) comprising at least one material strip of a first ply (42) provided by the first ply server (21) and at least one material strip of a second ply (41) provided by the second ply server (20), wherein both the first ply server (21) and the second ply server (20) each have an assigned cutting unit (7, 14) for cutting the material strips of the respective plies (41, 42) to a specific length before the plies (41, 42) are joined together to form a pre-structure (40).

Description

[0001] Method and device for producing green tires using a pre-structure

[0002] The invention relates to a device for producing green tires using a pre-structure.

[0003] Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for producing green tires using a pre-structure.

[0004] During the production of green tires using tire building machines, strips of material from the various plies intended for the tire construction are provided by one or more ply servers and rolled onto a tire building drum. The positioning of the individual plies on the tire building drum is crucial for different green tire constructions. In addition to the relative positioning of the plies, precise execution of the lengths of the individual plies is also required to achieve overlaps and / or flush joints.

[0005] According to known manufacturing methods, the individual layers for building up the green tire are applied one after the other to a tire building drum after they have been cut to the respective intended length. This procedure makes it possible to create different end regions for the individual layers, for example an overlap of the inner layer and / or a butt-fitting of the sidewall material with respect to the same layer. However, feeding the material to the tire building drum in such methods is complex and cost-intensive. According to other known manufacturing methods, in order to reduce the effort required for feeding the material to the tire building drum, a pre-structure consisting of at least two different layers is created in the form of an endless strip before the respective layers are applied to the tire building drum. The strip is cut to size before being fed to the tire building drum.For example, the strips of sidewall material in the pre-assembly are joined to the inner layer. The cut edges of the pre-assembly are then spliced ​​together on the tire building drum. However, these manufacturing processes do not allow for the various layers of the pre-assembly to be arranged differently relative to one another and / or to be cut to different lengths, for example, with the inner layer and sidewalls overlapping after application to the tire building drum.

[0006] It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a device of the type mentioned in the introduction which combines at least some advantages of pre-building with the flexibility of separately applying the individual layers to the tyre building drum.

[0007] This object is achieved according to the invention by a device for producing a green tire using a pre-structure according to claim 1.

[0008] It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of the type mentioned in the introduction which combines at least some advantages of pre-building with the flexibility of applying the individual layers separately to the tyre building drum.

[0009] This object is achieved according to the invention by a method for producing a green tire using a pre-structure according to patent claim 11.

[0010] Advantageous embodiments of the invention are claimed in the dependent patent claims.

[0011] The features of a device for producing a green tire using a pre-structure and of a method for producing a green tire using a pre-structure disclosed below are part of the invention both individually and in all executable combinations.

[0012] A device according to the invention for producing a green tire using a pre-assembly has at least a first layer server for providing the strip-shaped material of a first layer and a second layer server for providing the strip-shaped material of a second layer as well as a pre-assembly server for providing a pre-assembly from at least one material strip of a first layer provided by the first layer server and at least one material strip of a second layer provided by the second layer server.

[0013] Both the first layer server and the second layer server each have an associated cutting unit for cutting the material strips of the respective layers to a specific length.

[0014] In embodiments of the invention, the device for producing a green tire using a pre-build comprises at least three layer servers different from the pre-build server, each having an associated cutting unit for cutting the material strips of the respective layers to a specific length.

[0015] The device according to the invention for producing a green tire using a pre-build has at least one control unit for controlling the functional elements of the individual layer servers and the build server.

[0016] The control unit is preferably designed in such a way that both the length of the individual material strips of the respective layers can be adjusted by means of the cutting units and the positioning of the material strips in the pre-assembly can be adjusted by means of a time-delayed control of the layer server and the pre-assembly server.

[0017] This makes it possible to create pre-assemblies in which the material strips of the different layers have the same or different lengths and / or in which the material strips of the different layers are arranged longitudinally with or without an offset to one another.

[0018] Offset in the sense of this document means that the leading edges (the edges at the front in the conveying direction) and / or the end edges (the edges at the rear in the conveying direction) of the material strips of the respective layers in the pre-assembly are spaced apart from one another in the longitudinal direction.

[0019] The resulting flexibility in the production of the pre-structure from at least two different plies for a green tire allows for the decoupling of the joints between the different plies in the green tire by providing an offset between the individual plies. The shape of the material joint on a tire building drum can be determined by the cut length of the material strips of the individual plies. This allows for greater tire uniformity.

[0020] The use of a pre-build reduces the time required in the manufacturing process of the green tire on the tire building drum, thus enabling shorter process times overall and thus a higher throughput in the production of green tires.

[0021] The layer servers each have a feed device for the strip-shaped material of the respective layer, at least one conveyor device for the strip-shaped material of the respective layer, at least one cutting device for cutting the required length of the strip-shaped material of the respective layer and a detection device for detecting the leading edge of the cut strip-shaped material of the respective layer.

[0022] The detection device is arranged in the end area of ​​the respective layer server in the conveying direction and is connected to the control device in such a way that the information can be retrieved via a cut material strip located in an end area of ​​the conveyor. This allows the drives of the conveyor systems of the various layer servers and the pre-assembly server to be synchronized with each other in such a way that the various layers can be arranged in the pre-assembly with or without an adjustable offset in the longitudinal direction.

[0023] In preferred embodiments, at least one of the layer servers has at least one centering device for centering and aligning the material strips in the layer server. This ensures that the material strips are aligned parallel to the conveying direction. Precise positioning and alignment of the material strips is of utmost importance, particularly with regard to connecting the material strips of the various layers to form the pre-assembly.

[0024] In embodiments of the invention, at least one cutting unit of at least one layer server is adjustable, so that the material strips of the individual layers can be cut at an angle of 90° to the long edge of the material strip or at another angle. This also allows for an angled design of the short side of the material strips.

[0025] In embodiments of the invention, this comprises a measuring device for measuring the length of the material strips of the respective layer in the corresponding layer server. In embodiments of the invention, this measuring device is designed as an indirect measuring device that does not directly measure the length of the material strips, but rather allows the length of the material strips to be derived from the measurement of the number of revolutions of the drive of the respective conveyor device of the layer server.

[0026] In advantageous embodiments of the invention, the pre-assembly server has a rolling device for pressing the material strips of the individual layers of the pre-assembly together.

[0027] In embodiments of the invention, the first layer server is designed as a sidewall server and the second layer server as an inner layer server.

[0028] In embodiments of the invention, the sidewall server has two parallel processing paths for parallel processing of both sidewall strips. In embodiments, the sidewall server is implemented by two separate parallel servers.

[0029] In embodiments of the invention, at least one tire building drum is arranged in the region of the pre-building server in such a way that the pre-building comprising at least two different layers can be transferred directly or via a further feed device to the tire building drum of a tire building machine.

[0030] A tire building machine comprises at least one first tire building drum, which is rotatable about a preferably cantilevered axis by means of a drive for receiving material strips. The tire building drum can be designed according to various known embodiments. Typically, the tire building machine further comprises a core setting device for setting carcass cores on the tire building drum, at least one wrapping device for wrapping the material of the individual plies around the cores, and at least one rolling device for rolling the material plies onto the tire building drum.

[0031] Furthermore, a tire building machine often includes a belt drum on which the belt material is built up. The thus formed belt package can usually be transferred via a transfer ring into the area of ​​the carcass formed on the first tire building drum and joined to it to form the finished green tire.

[0032] In embodiments of the invention, the tire building drum is designed as a carcass drum. In embodiments of the invention, the tire building drum is designed as a carcass drum for the single-stage construction of the green tire.

[0033] According to the invention, both the tire building machine as a whole and the device for producing a pre-structure comprising at least two layer servers and the pre-structure server are included.

[0034] A method according to the invention for producing a green tire using a pre-structure comprises at least the following method steps:

[0035] Providing at least a first material strip of a first layer of a green tire with a first layer server,

[0036] Providing at least one second material strip of a second ply of a green tire with a second ply server,

[0037] Connecting the at least one first material strip of the first layer to the at least one material strip of the second layer to form a pre-structure before the material strips are applied to a tire building drum,

[0038] - whereby the material strips of the different layers are cut to the required length before they are joined together for the pre-assembly.

[0039] In embodiments of the invention, material strips of at least three different layers are joined together to form a pre-structure.

[0040] In preferred embodiments of the method according to the invention, the material strips of at least two different layers are connected to one another with an offset in the longitudinal direction to form the pre-structure.

[0041] In embodiments of the invention, the material strips of at least two different layers are cut to different lengths so that the individual layers can be individually positioned either end-to-end or overlapping after the pre-structure has been applied to a tire building drum.

[0042] For example, the first layer is cut such that, after the pre-structure has been applied to a tire building drum, it overlaps in the beginning and end areas, and the second layer is cut such that it abuts the short edges of the beginning and end areas. In embodiments of the method according to the invention, the material strips of at least two different layers are joined to form the pre-structure with a longitudinal offset from one another, and the material strips of at least two different layers are cut to different lengths.

[0043] In embodiments of the method according to the invention, the finished pre-build is transferred from a pre-build server directly or via a conveyor system to a tire building drum. The tire building drum is rotated by means of a drive to accommodate the material.

[0044] In embodiments of the method according to the invention, at least one further layer is applied to the tire building drum after the pre-build.

[0045] In embodiments of the invention, this at least one further layer is at least one carcass ply (body ply).

[0046] In embodiments of the invention, the material strips of the individual layers are cut at an angle of 90° to the long edge of the material strip or at another angle, so that an oblique design of the short side of the material strips is also possible.

[0047] In embodiments of the invention, the at least one material strip of the respective layer is centered in the area of ​​the layer server by means of at least one centering device.

[0048] In embodiments of the invention, the leading edge of a material strip in the end region of at least one layer server is detected by means of a detection device.

[0049] In embodiments of the invention, the conveyor devices of the layer server and the pre-assembly server are controlled by a control unit in such a way that the material strips of the individual layers are arranged with an offset in the longitudinal direction to one another.

[0050] In embodiments of the invention, the conveyor devices of the layer server and the pre-build server are controlled by a control unit such that the material strips of the individual layers are arranged without any longitudinal offset from one another. In embodiments of the invention, the individual layers of the pre-build are pressed together using a rolling device before being applied to the tire building drum, thus connecting them.

[0051] In embodiments of the invention, the first layer is formed as side walls (Side Wall - SW) and the second layer as the inner layer (Inner Layer - IL), wherein the side walls are two separate strips of material that are provided and cut in parallel by a layer server designed as a side wall server.

[0052] In a preferred embodiment of the method according to the invention, a device according to the invention is used for producing a green tire using a pre-structure.

[0053] A method according to the invention for producing green tires using a pre-structure realizes the following possibilities:

[0054] The leading edge of the pre-structure can be linear (the leading edges of the individual layers in line) or with any offset.

[0055] The lengths of the materials in the pre-assembly layers can be different or the same. The length of the material is determined before the pre-assembly.

[0056] The shape of the material impact on a tire building drum can be determined or influenced by the cut length of the material strips of the layers.

[0057] A butt decoupling of the different layers with a selectable offset is also possible via the pre-assembly.

[0058] One advantage of the process is that the material used in the pre-structure allows for adjustable joint overlaps. Winding time is also saved by combining the materials of the layers in the pre-structure. A benefit for the tire is improved tire uniformity when the joint overlaps of the pre-structure material are not aligned, i.e., offset.

[0059] In embodiments of the invention, the length cutting is not performed by direct length measurement, but by indirectly recording the conveying distance of the conveyors of the individual layer servers by evaluating measured values ​​of the motor revolutions of the drive of the respective conveyor, for example, encoder signals from servo motors. The following figures illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the invention. They show:

[0060] Figure 1: A schematic representation of the layer server and the pre-structure server of an apparatus according to the invention for producing a green tire using a pre-structure,

[0061] Figure 2: A plan view of the sidewall server and the pre-assembly server of an apparatus according to the invention for producing a green tire using a pre-assembly,

[0062] Figure 3: A plan view of the inner layer server and the pre-structure server of an apparatus according to the invention for producing a green tire using a pre-structure and

[0063] Figure 4: A plan view of a pre-assembly of a

[0064] Tire blank.

[0065] Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of the layer servers (20, 21, 23) and the pre-build server (22) of an apparatus according to the invention for producing a green tire (30) using a pre-build (40).

[0066] The conveying direction of the materials in each part of the device is indicated by arrows.

[0067] The device for producing a green tire (30) using a pre-assembly (40) has a first ply server (21) designed as a sidewall server, and a second ply server (20) designed as an inner ply server. In addition, the device for producing a green tire (30) using a pre-assembly (40) has a third ply server (23) designed as a carcass ply server. The third ply server (23) is merely optional in embodiments of the invention. Furthermore, the device for producing a green tire (30) using a pre-assembly (40) has a pre-assembly server (22) on which the cut material strips provided by the first ply server (21) and the second ply server (20) are joined to form a pre-assembly (40).In order to press the material strips of the various layers of the pre-assembly (40) together, the pre-assembly server (22) has a rolling device (4) which can be designed, for example, as a doubling roller.

[0068] Furthermore, the pre-assembly server (22) has a conveyor device (3) which, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention, is designed as a conveyor belt.

[0069] The pre-build server (22) can apply the pre-build (40) or other layers required for building the green tire (e.g., at least one carcass ply) to a tire building drum (1). For pressing the layers onto the tire building drum (1), the illustrated device has a second rolling device (2), which is designed, for example, as a multi-zone pressure roller.

[0070] The second layer server (20) has a second material feed (19), a feed device (11), a pre-centering device (10), and a feed conveyor device (8). The feed conveyor device (8) is designed, for example, as a conveyor belt. Using these devices, a strip-shaped material intended for the second layer can be transported to the processing conveyor device (6) of the second layer server (20) for further processing.

[0071] The cutting device (7) allows the strip-shaped material to be cut to a specific length. The cutting device (7) may, for example, have a heated cutting blade.

[0072] The first layer server (21) has a first material feed (18), a feed device (17), a pre-centering device (16), and a feed conveyor device (15). The feed conveyor device (15) is designed, for example, as a conveyor belt. Using these devices, a strip-shaped material intended for the first layer can be transported to the processing conveyor device (12) of the first layer server (21) for further processing.

[0073] With the aid of the cutting device (14), the strip-shaped material can be cut to a specific length and with the aid of the centering device (13), the strip-shaped material can be finally aligned in the first layer server (21).

[0074] In embodiments of the invention, the cutting device (14) of the first layer server (21) is designed as an ultrasonic cutting device. Detection devices (5) for detecting the leading edge of the respective material strips are arranged in the end region of the processing conveyor devices (6, 12) of the layer servers (20, 21), so that the position of the respective material strip on the respective processing conveyor device (6, 12) can be determined.

[0075] In embodiments of the invention, at least one of the conveyor devices designed as conveyor belts is designed as a toothed belt conveyor.

[0076] Figure 2 shows a top view of a schematic representation of the structure of a first layer server (21), designed as a sidewall server, of an apparatus according to the invention for producing a green tire (30) using a pre-assembly (40) with the pre-assembly server (22) and the tire building drum (1). The arrow below the drawing indicates the direction of material flow.

[0077] The two parallel processing paths SW1 and SW2 are visible, each with individual conveyor devices (12, 15) for each side wall. Each processing path has an associated detection device (5) for detecting the leading edge of the respective material strip, as well as a centering device (13).

[0078] The rolling devices (4) are designed to be axially movable.

[0079] Figure 3 shows a plan view of a second layer server (20) designed as an inner layer server with pre-building server (22) and tire building drum (1).

[0080] Figure 4 shows a plan view of a pre-structure (40) of a green tire that can be produced according to the invention, comprising a first layer (42) and a second layer (41). In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the second layer (41) is designed as an inner layer (IL), and the first layer (42) is designed as sidewalls (SW1 and SW2).

[0081] An offset (X) is realized between the first layer (42) and the second layer (41), so that the edges of the layers (41, 42) of the pre-structure (40) on the tire building drum (1) are located at different points in the circumferential direction of the green tire and not on a line.

[0082] In the illustrated embodiment, the side walls (SW1 and SW2) are located beneath the inner layer (IL). However, pre-assemblies (40) with side walls (SW1 and SW2) on the inner layer (IL) are also possible according to the invention.

Claims

Patent claims 1. Device for producing green tires (30) using a pre-assembly (40) having at least one first layer server (21) for providing the strip-shaped material of a first layer (42) and a second layer server (20) for providing the strip-shaped material of a second layer (41), as well as a pre-assembly server (22) for providing a pre-assembly (40) from at least one material strip of a first layer (42) provided by the first layer server (21) and at least one material strip of a second layer (41) provided by the second layer server (20), characterized in that both the first layer server (21) and the second layer server (20) each have an associated cutting unit (7, 14) for cutting the material strips of the respective layers (41, 42) to a specific length before the layers (41, 42) are joined together to form a pre-assembly (40).

2. Device (30) according to claim 1, characterized in that it has at least three layer servers (20, 21) different from the pre-assembly server (22), each having an associated cutting unit (7, 14) for cutting the material strips of the respective layers (41, 42) to a specific length.

3. Device (30) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has at least one control unit for controlling the functional elements of the individual layer servers (20, 21) and the assembly server (22).

4. Device (30) according to claim 3, characterized in that the control unit is designed such that both the length of the individual material strips of the respective layers (41, 42) can be adjusted with the aid of the cutting units (7, 14) and the positioning of the material strips in the pre-assembly (40) can be adjusted by means of a time-delayed control of the layer servers (20, 21) and the pre-assembly server (22).

5. Device (30) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the layer servers (20, 21) each have a feed device for the strip-shaped material of the respective layer (41, 42), at least one conveyor device for the strip-shaped material of the respective layer (41, 42), at least one cutting device (7, 14) for cutting the required length of the strip-shaped material of the respective layer (41, 42) for the pre-structure (40) and a detection device (5) for detecting the edge of the cut strip-shaped material of the respective layer (41, 42) which is at the front in the conveying direction.

6. Device (30) according to claim 5, characterized in that the detection devices (5) are arranged in the conveying direction in the end region of the respective layer server (20, 21) and are connected to the control device in such a way that the information can be retrieved via a cut material strip located in an end region of the conveying device.

7. Device (30) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that at least one of the layer servers (20, 21) has at least one centering device (9, 13) for centering and aligning the material strips in the respective layer server (20, 21).

8. Device (30) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it has a measuring device for measuring the length of the material strips of the respective layer (41, 42) in the corresponding layer server (20, 21), wherein the measuring device is designed as an indirect measuring device with which the length of the material strips can be derived from the measurement of the number of revolutions of the drive of the respective conveyor device of the layer server (20, 21).

9. Device (30) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the pre-assembly server (22) has a rolling device (4) for pressing the material strips of the individual layers of the pre-assembly (40) against one another.

10. Device (30) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first layer server (21) is designed as a side wall server and the second layer server (20) is designed as an inner layer server.

11. A method for producing green tires using a pre-structure (40), characterized in that it comprises at least the following method steps: Providing at least a first material strip of a first layer (42) of a green tire with a first layer server (21), Providing at least one second material strip of a second layer (41) of a green tire with a second layer server (20), Connecting the at least one first material strip of the first layer (42) to the at least one material strip of the second layer (41) to form a pre-structure (40) before the material strips are applied to a tire building drum (1), wherein the material strips of the various layers (40, 41) are cut to the required length before they are connected to one another to form the pre-structure (40).

12. Method according to claim 11, characterized in that material strips of at least three different layers (41, 42) are joined together to form a pre-structure (40).

13. Method according to one of claims 11 and 12, characterized in that the material strips of at least two different layers (40, 41) are connected to one another with an offset (X) in the longitudinal direction to form the pre-structure (40).

14. Method according to one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that at least two different layers (40, 41) provided for a pre-structure (40) are cut to different lengths.

15. Method according to one of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that in the region of the layer servers (20, 21) a centering of the at least one material strip of the respective layer (41, 42) takes place with the aid of at least one centering device (9, 13).

16. Method according to one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that the leading edge of a material strip in the end region of at least one layer server (20, 21) is detected by means of a detection device (5).

17. Method according to one of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that the individual layers (42, 42) of the pre-structure (40) are pressed against one another and thus connected to one another by means of a rolling device (4) before being applied to a tire building drum (1).

18. Method according to one of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that the first layer (42) is formed as the side walls and the second layer (41) is formed as the inner layer.

19. Method according to one of claims 11 to 18, characterized in that a device (30) according to one of claims 1 to 10 is used.

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