Tire-construction plant and method for winding tire components

Abstract

The invention relates to a tire-construction plant for winding tire components in order to form an unvulcanized raw tire, comprising a tire construction drum (1) with a carcass sleeve (10) which is applied thereon, wherein the tire construction drum (1) can be rotated together with the carcass sleeve (10) about a rotational axis (D), and a supply device is provided for supplying the tire components onto the outer circumference of the carcass sleeve (10), wherein at least one region of the surface of the carcass sleeve (10) has a recess (100) into which a rubber component (20) can be inserted prior to supplying the tire components and, together with the carcass sleeve (10), can be wrapped with the supplied tire components. The invention additionally relates to a method for winding tire components.

Description

[0001] Tire manufacturing plant and method for winding tire components

[0002] Description:

[0003] The invention relates to a tire building system for winding tire components into an unvulcanized green tire, comprising a tire building drum with a carcass cuff applied thereto, wherein the tire building drum with the carcass cuff can be driven to rotate about a rotation axis and a feeding device is provided for feeding the tire components onto the outer circumference of the carcass cuff.

[0004] The invention further relates to a method for winding tire components into an unvulcanized green tire, in which the tire components are successively fed to a rotating tire building drum with a carcass cuff applied thereto, are placed circumferentially on the carcass cuff and are wound onto the latter.

[0005] Tire production lines and processes for winding tire components based thereon are known in the production of unvulcanized green tires, particularly pneumatic vehicle tires; for example, reference is made to DE 102019214 875 A1. After the green tire has been completed, it is vulcanized to form the finished pneumatic vehicle tire using pressure and heat.

[0006] As part of the advancing electronic condition monitoring of motor vehicles, sensors have recently been proposed that are integrated directly into the vehicle tire to monitor parameters. One example is a so-called CPC sensor (ContiPressureCheck), which directly transmits measured information about the tire's inflation pressure to a vehicle-mounted or external receiver. The corresponding sensor is typically housed in a container formed by a specially shaped rubber component, which is attached, in particular glued, to the inside of the tire, for example, to a suitably prepared area of ​​the inner tire layer, before the tire is mounted on the designated vehicle rim.This typically requires manually cleaning the inner layer and pre-treating it with a scraping tool to create the flattest and most even adhesive surface possible. This is very time-consuming.

[0007] EP 1 318 032 B1 therefore proposes accommodating the sensor or its container in a pocket applied to the inside of the tire. This is to be done after the green tire has been manufactured. Applying such a pocket inside the green tire is very challenging both manually and ergonomically, and can only be implemented automatically using robots, cobots, etc., with great effort. However, there is a growing demand to equip almost all tires in certain markets with such a pocket in order to prepare them for the installation of such sensors. This requires a huge increase in the cycle time for the production of a pneumatic vehicle tire and additional investments, for example, for the integration of robots for automatic application.

[0008] DE 102016202 068 A1 discloses a sleeve for a tire building drum, which is equipped with bores in the region of its cylindrical circumference for generating a negative pressure in order to fix tire components to be wound on the circumference.

[0009] The object of the present invention is to propose a tire manufacturing plant and a method of the type mentioned at the outset which enable a pneumatic vehicle tire to be equipped in a simple manner with a pocket or other suitable component for accommodating such sensors.

[0010] To achieve the stated object, the invention proposes a tire building plant according to the features of patent claim 1.

[0011] A method according to the invention for solving the problem is the subject of patent claim 6. Advantageous embodiments and further developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

[0012] To achieve the stated object, the invention proposes the design of a tire building plant in which the carcass cuff has a recess in at least one area of ​​its surface, into which a rubber component can be inserted before the tire components are fed in and can be wrapped around the carcass cuff by the supplied tire components together with the carcass cuff.

[0013] It is thus possible according to the invention to introduce a prepared rubber component, which may be, for example, a section with a particularly smooth surface as a suitable base for gluing on a container with a sensor or a section for forming a pocket, as described by way of example in EP 1 318 032 B1, into the recess made in the carcass cuff. The green tire is then formed according to the usual procedure by successively feeding and winding the tire components onto the outer circumference of the carcass cuff, wherein not only are the tire components pre-connected to one another to form the green tire, but the rubber component arranged in the recess is also pre-connected to the tire component wound adjacent to it, before the final solidification takes place during vulcanization.

[0014] The additional effort for operating the tire building system according to the invention is minimal, since it is only necessary to insert the prepared rubber component into the recess of the carcass cuff before starting to feed the tire components to the tire building drum.

[0015] The recess in the carcass cuff can, for example, be cut or milled and designed in the manner of a pocket.

[0016] The rubber component can be inserted into the recess manually or automatically using a suitable insertion device. According to one proposal of the invention, the recess has at least one bore leading into the interior of the tire building drum, which can be controllably subjected to a vacuum in order to fix and hold the rubber component arranged in the recess in the recess and to secure it against slipping or other displacement. The application of the vacuum can be maintained during the winding of the tire components or can be switched off again after a certain time, for example as soon as the first tire component has been fed in and wound onto the carcass cuff, since from this point on the rubber component is held in position by the tire components wound onto the carcass cuff.

[0017] According to a further proposal of the invention, the recess is dimensioned such that it has a volume corresponding to the rubber component, in particular, the depth of the recess approximately corresponds to the thickness of the rubber component, so that the recess is filled by the inserted rubber component flush with the remaining surface of the carcass sleeve. Furthermore, it is advantageous if the recess also has a contour design essentially corresponding to the outline of the rubber component, in order to ideally accommodate the rubber component in a form-fitting manner in the recess.

[0018] According to a further proposal of the invention, the recess is formed in the surface of the carcass cuff approximately in a central region, where "central region" refers to the average axial length of the carcass cuff along the rotational axis. If the recess for receiving the rubber component is formed in this central region on a sector of the surface of the carcass cuff, the rubber component is arranged below the tread in the subsequent pneumatic vehicle tire. However, it is understood that, depending on requirements, the recess can also be provided in a different surface area of ​​the carcass cuff.

[0019] According to a further proposal of the invention, the tire building system also comprises, in a manner known per se, a disk roller for connecting the tire components wound on the carcass cuff, including the rubber component arranged in the recess. For this purpose, the disk roller comprises at least one disk roller which, after the tire components have been wound onto the tire building drum, can be placed with the tire components and the rubber component interposed, and can be moved axially along the circumference of the drum to generate a radially inwardly directed contact force. The high pressure exerted in this process bonds the tire components and the rubber component to one another, so that post-processing by the tire winder or the use of an adhesive is not necessary to fix the rubber component.

[0020] The method according to the invention for winding tire components into an unvulcanized green tire is characterized in that, before the tire components are fed in, a rubber component is inserted into a recess made in the carcass cuff in the area of ​​the surface thereof and is then wrapped around by the supplied tire components.

[0021] According to a possible embodiment of the invention, it can be provided that the rubber component is fixed in the recess by means of an applied negative pressure.

[0022] According to a further embodiment, it can also be provided that the rubber component and the tire components are rolled together with a disc roller while exerting a radially inwardly directed contact pressure.

[0023] Further embodiments and details of the tire manufacturing system and method according to the invention are explained below with reference to the drawings illustrating an exemplary embodiment. They show:

[0024] Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a tire building drum of a tire building system according to the invention;

[0025] Figure 2 shows an axial partial section through the tyre building drum according to Figure 1;

[0026] Figure 3 shows the tire building drum according to Figure 2 with an inserted rubber component; Figure 4 shows the tire building drum according to Figure 3 with a wound inner layer;

[0027] Figure 5 shows the tyre building drum according to Figure 4 with wound carcass ply;

[0028] Figure 6 shows the tyre building drum according to Figure 5 with attached

[0029] Disc roller in a starting position;

[0030] Figure 7 shows the disc roller according to Figure 6 during its axial movement.

[0031] Figures 1 and 2 show a schematic representation of a tire building drum 1 of a tire building plant (not shown in detail), which is used in the manner described below for winding tire components into an unvulcanized green tire in the course of manufacturing pneumatic vehicle tires.

[0032] The tire building drum 1 is rotatably driven about an axially extending axis of rotation D by means of a rotary drive (not shown here) and has a carcass sleeve, designated by reference numeral 10, made of, for example, a rubber-elastic material, along its outer circumference. The tire components, which are fed by a feed device (not shown in detail) and conditioned essentially in strip form, are fed onto this carcass sleeve 10 and successively wound by rotation about the axis of rotation D along the outer circumference of the carcass sleeve 10.

[0033] In a central region along the axial extent of the carcass cuff 10, a recess 100 is provided in a sector of the circumference of the carcass cuff 10, for example, cut or milled, which recess has a rectangular outline in the illustrated embodiment. In the bottom region of the recess 100, two spaced-apart bores 101 are provided, which lead into the interior of the tire building drum 1 and from there can be subjected to a vacuum, for example via a corresponding connecting line. It is therefore possible, as shown in Figure 3, to insert a suitably prepared rubber component into the recess 100 of the carcass cuff 10. This rubber component is fixed in this position by the vacuum applied to the bores 101 and secured against falling and slipping.

[0034] Preferably, the recess 100, as shown, is dimensioned such that it occupies only a partial area of ​​the total thickness of the carcass cuff 10 and, moreover, has such a volume, in particular depth and contour design, that the rubber component 20 is preferably arranged in a form-fitting manner in the recess 100 and fills it flush with the surrounding areas of the carcass cuff 10.

[0035] Following the introduction of the rubber component 20 into the recess 100 according to Figure 3, the actual tire building process can be carried out in a manner known per se according to the further Figures 4 to 7, by firstly supplying and winding an inner layer 21 onto the circumference of the carcass cuff 1 according to Figure 4, which inner layer 21 thus comes into surface contact with the rubber component 20 located in the recess 100 and envelops it.

[0036] Subsequently, according to Figure 5, a carcass ply 22 can be wound or applied as an additional tire component onto the inner layer 21. It is understood that further tire components can also be subsequently applied layer by layer.

[0037] Finally, according to Figure 6, a disc roller 2, which in the illustrated embodiment comprises two independently axially movable disc rollers 23, 24, is placed on the circumference of the tire components formed on the carcass sleeve 10 of the tire building drum 1 and exerts a contact pressure directed radially inward in the direction of the tire building drum 1. By the axial movement of the disc roller 23 to the left in the direction of arrow L and of the disc roller 24 to the right in the direction of arrow R, as shown in Figure 7, the entire composite of the tire components as well as the rubber component 20 with the inner layer 21 resting thereon are connected to one another over the entire axial width, without the need for any post-processing or the use of adhesive.

[0038] This pre-bonded composite can then be completed together with other tire components to form a green tire and then vulcanized in a manner known per se to obtain a pneumatic vehicle tire which is equipped with a rubber component 20 in the region of its inner layer, which, depending on the nature of the rubber component 20, serves either as a smooth-surface mounting base for a sensor container or as a pocket for receiving a sensor.

[0039] The process and tire manufacturing system described above reduce the workload for the operator, since—if the rubber component is inserted manually into the recess—the operator only needs to perform this insertion of the rubber component into the recess as an additional operation, without the need for a roller or similar device on the inner layer. If the insertion of the rubber component into the recess is automatic, this additional operation is also eliminated. It is obvious that this also has only a very minimal impact on the overall tire production cycle time.

[0040] The tire manufacturing plant and method according to the invention can be used for a variety of pneumatic vehicle tires, in particular passenger car and CST tires.

[0041] List of reference symbols:

[0042] 1 : Tire building drum

[0043] 2: Disc roller

[0044] 10: Carcass cuff

[0045] 20. Rubber component

[0046] 21 : Inner layer

[0047] 22: Carcass ply

[0048] 23: Disc roller

[0049] 24: Disc roller

[0050] 100: Recess

[0051] 101 : Borehole

[0052] D: axis of rotation

[0053] R: Direction of movement to the right

[0054] L: Movement direction left

Claims

Patent claims:

1. Tire building system for winding tire components into an unvulcanized green tire, comprising a tire building drum (1) with a carcass cuff (10) applied thereto, wherein the tire building drum (1) with the carcass cuff (10) can be driven in rotation about an axis of rotation (D) and a feed device for feeding the tire components onto the outer circumference of the carcass cuff (10) is provided, characterized in that the carcass cuff (10) has a recess (100) in at least one area of its surface, into which recess a rubber component (20) can be inserted before the tire components are fed in and can be wrapped around the carcass cuff (10) by the supplied tire components.

2. Tire building system according to claim 1, characterized in that the recess (100) at least one bore leading into the interior of the tyre building drum (1) (101 ) which can be subjected to a negative pressure.

3. Tire building system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the recess (100) has a volume corresponding to the rubber component (20).

4. Tire building plant according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the recess (100) is made in a central region of the carcass cuff (10) in the surface thereof.

5. Tire building plant according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a disc roller (2) with at least one disc roller (23, 24) is provided associated with the tire building drum (1), which can be placed on the tire components after they have been wound up and can be moved axially along the circumference of the same while generating a radially inwardly directed contact pressure.

6. A method for winding tire components to an unvulcanized green tire, in which the tire components are successively fed to a tire building drum (1) driven to rotate about an axis of rotation (D) with Carcass cuff (10), are placed circumferentially on the carcass cuff (10) and wound up thereon, characterized in that before the tire components are fed in, a rubber component (20) is placed in a recess (100) made in the carcass cuff (10) in the area of the surface thereof and is then wrapped around the supplied tire components.

7. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the rubber component (20) is fixed in the recess (100) by means of an applied negative pressure.

8. Method according to one of claims 6 or 7, characterized in that the rubber component (20) and the tire components are rolled together with a disc roller (2) while exerting a radially inwardly directed contact pressure.

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