Barrel cutting device and cutting method

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus and method for dividing and cutting a bale of rubber into pieces of approximately equal weight. [Solution] This bale rubber cutting device is a device for dividing and cutting a bale rubber into pieces of approximately equal weight, and comprises: a starting position detection unit for detecting the starting position in the longitudinal direction of the bale rubber; a measuring unit for measuring the thickness of the bale rubber from the starting position along the longitudinal direction of the bale rubber; a control unit for determining the cutting position from the thickness measurement result; and a cutter for dividing and cutting the bale rubber pieces from the bale rubber at the cutting position.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a cutting device and method for cutting bale rubber, and more particularly to a cutting device and method for dividing bale rubber into approximately equal parts. [Background technology]

[0002] Tire raw materials are produced by cutting out bale rubber pieces from a roughly rectangular bale of raw rubber and mixing these pieces with reinforcing materials, functional materials, etc. By suppressing variations in the weight of the bale rubber pieces, homogeneous tire raw materials can be produced in a simple manner. Patent Document 1 describes a method for suppressing variations in the weight of bale rubber pieces by feeding back the difference between the weight of the bale rubber piece cut immediately before and the target weight, thereby bringing the weight of the next bale rubber piece cut closer to the target weight. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2022-61916 [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0004] However, recent studies by the inventors have revealed that since the bale rubber does not maintain a constant shape, even if the difference between the weight of the bale rubber piece cut immediately beforehand and the target weight is fed back as described in Patent Document 1, it may not be possible to suppress variations in the weight of the bale rubber pieces.

[0005] The present invention aims to provide an apparatus and method for dividing and cutting a bale of rubber into pieces of approximately equal weight. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present invention relates to a bale rubber cutting device, which divides and cuts a bale rubber into bale rubber pieces, and is characterized by comprising: a front end detection unit for detecting the front end of the bale rubber; a measuring unit for measuring the thickness of the bale rubber from the front end to the rear end along the direction of travel of the bale rubber; a control unit for determining the cutting position from the thickness measurement result; and a cutting device for dividing and cutting the bale rubber pieces from the bale rubber at the cutting position.

[0007] In the above-described bale rubber cutting device, the measuring unit may measure the thickness by detecting the upper and lower surfaces of the bale rubber. Furthermore, when dividing and cutting the bale rubber into D pieces, the measuring unit measures the thickness t of the bale rubber at N equally spaced positions from the front to the rear end of the bale rubber. n The control unit measures t n The sum of n=1 to N is Σt n Divide by D to calculate the target value T, and starting from n=1, find the first t that satisfies the following equation I. s You may set a cutting position for each location.

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[0008] The present invention relates to a method for cutting a bale of rubber, which is a method for cutting a bale of rubber into pieces of bale of rubber, and is characterized by comprising the steps of: detecting the front end of the bale of rubber; measuring the thickness of the bale of rubber from the front end to the rear end along the direction of travel of the bale of rubber; determining a cutting position from the thickness measurement result; and dividing and cutting the bale of rubber pieces from the bale of rubber at the cutting position.

[0009] In the above method for cutting the bale rubber, the thickness of the bale rubber may be measured by detecting the upper and lower surfaces of the bale rubber. Also, when dividing and cutting the bale rubber into D pieces, the thickness of the bale rubber t n The measurement is taken at N positions at equal intervals from the front end to the rear end of the bale rubber, and t n The sum of n=1 to N is Σt nDivide by D to calculate the target value T, starting from n = 1, and find t that first satisfies the following equation I s The bell rubber may be cut at each position of s . [Number] [Advantages of the Invention]

[0010] According to the bell rubber cutting device and cutting method of the present invention, the variation in the weight of the bell rubber pieces can be suppressed. [Brief Description of the Drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] It is a vertical cross-sectional view of the bell rubber according to an example of the embodiment. [Figure 2] It is a schematic diagram showing a cutting device which is an example of the embodiment, (a) is a top view, and (b) is a side view. [Figure 3] It is a block diagram showing the configuration of a cutting device which is an example of the embodiment. [Figure 4] It is a schematic diagram showing a holding device which is an example of the embodiment, (a) is a top view, and (b) is a side view. [Figure 5] It is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a needle according to an example of the embodiment, (a) is a top view, and (b) is a side view. [Figure 6] It is a flowchart showing a cutting method which is an example of the embodiment. [Modes for Carrying Out the Invention]

[0012] Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. In the following description, specific shapes, materials, directions, numerical values, etc. are examples for facilitating the understanding of the present invention and can be appropriately changed according to applications, purposes, specifications, etc. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and their modifications described below, and various changes and improvements can of course be made within the scope of the matters described in the claims of the present application.

[0013] [Veil Rubber] The veil rubber 10 is a raw material rubber. By mixing the veil rubber pieces 12 obtained by cutting the veil rubber 10 with a reinforcing material, a functional material, etc., a tire raw material is produced. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the veil rubber 10. X indicates the longitudinal direction of the veil rubber 10, Y indicates the width direction of the veil rubber 10, and Z indicates the thickness direction of the veil rubber 10. Also, the + direction of Y may be referred to as "left" and the - direction of Y may be referred to as "right". The veil rubber 10 has a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and has a substantially rectangular shape in cross-sections parallel to the XY plane and the YZ plane in FIG. 1. On the other hand, as a result of the study by the present inventors, it has been found that the thickness of the veil rubber 10 is not constant as shown in FIG. 1. The veil rubber piece 12 is obtained by cutting the veil rubber 10 at the cutting position C in FIG. 1. The veil rubber 10 is homogeneous, and as will be described later, by dividing and cutting it into veil rubber pieces 12 of substantially the same volume, veil rubber pieces 12 of substantially the same weight can be obtained.

[0014] [Cutting Device] The cutting device 20 for the veil rubber 10 will be described while referring to FIGS. 2 and 3. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the cutting device 20 which is an example of an embodiment, (a) is a top view, and (b) is a side view. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the cutting device 20 which is an example of an embodiment.

[0015] As shown in FIG. 2, the cutting device 20 includes a conveying device 21 for conveying the veil rubber 10 and a cutting unit 22 for dividing and cutting the veil rubber 10 into the veil rubber pieces 12.

[0016] The conveying device 21 includes a holding device 23 for holding the veil rubber 10 and a driving device 24 for moving the holding device 23 in the front-rear direction. As will be described later, the holding device 23 has a mechanism for pressing the rear end portion 11 of the veil rubber 10 from above, whereby the veil rubber 10 can be held more reliably and the veil rubber pieces 12 can be cut out with accurate dimensions.

[0017] The drive device 24 is, for example, a cylinder that operates with a liquid or a gas. The drive device 24 may also be a servo motor. By moving the holding device 23 forward and backward, the drive device 24 can similarly move the bale rubber 10 placed on the transport table 25. The transport table 25 is, for example, a conveyor, and may also be a conveyor composed of a plurality of free rollers. In this specification, "forward" means the side of the cutting portion 22 in the traveling direction when cutting the bale rubber 10, and "backward" means the opposite direction to "forward". Also, the "front end 10F" of the bale rubber 10 means the front end, and the "rear end 10B" means the rear end. Further, the "rear end portion 11" means the rear portion of the bale rubber 10 including the rear end 10B.

[0018] The cutting device 20 has, for example, a measuring unit 30 for measuring the thickness of the bale rubber 10. The measuring unit 30 measures the thickness t of the bale rubber 10 from the front end 10F to the rear end 10B along the traveling direction of the bale rubber 10.

[0019] The measuring unit 30 measures the thickness t by detecting, for example, each of the upper and lower surfaces of the bale rubber 10. That is, distance measuring devices are installed at two locations above and below the bale rubber 10, and the position of the upper surface of the bale rubber 10 is measured by the upper distance measuring device, and the position of the lower surface of the bale rubber 10 is measured by the lower distance measuring device, thereby calculating the thickness t. The distance measuring device used in the measuring unit 30 is, for example, a laser distance measuring device. Note that the distance measuring device may be a contact type measuring device. The measuring unit 30 measures the thickness t at substantially the center in the width direction (Y direction) of the bale rubber 10.

[0020] The cutting device 20 has, for example, a control unit 31 that determines the cutting position based on the measurement result of the thickness t. When dividing and cutting the bale rubber 10 into D bale rubber pieces 12, the measuring unit 30 measures the thickness t of the bale rubber 10 at N positions at equal intervals from the front end 10F to the rear end 10B of the bale rubber 10 n and the control unit 31 calculates the sum Σt of t n for n = 1 to N nDivide by D to calculate the target value T, and starting from n=1, find the first t that satisfies the following equation I. s A cutting position is set for each location. This makes it possible to obtain bale rubber pieces 12 of approximately the same weight.

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[0021] The control unit 31 is composed of an information processing device including a processor 32, memory 33, etc., as shown in Figure 3, for example. The processor 32 performs calculation processing to control the cutting device 20. The memory 33 stores control programs for controlling the processor 32, etc., and is composed of, for example, RAM, ROM, hard disk, etc. The control unit 31 may consist of one information processing device or multiple information processing devices.

[0022] The cutting section 22 divides and cuts the bale rubber pieces 12 from the bale rubber 10 at the cutting position. The cutting section 22 has, for example, as shown in Figure 2, a cutter 22a that descends from above toward the bale rubber 10 and a pressing plate 22b that presses down on the bale rubber 10 from above. By cutting the bale rubber 10 with the cutter 22a while pressing it down with the pressing plate 22b, the bale rubber pieces 12 can be cut to more precise dimensions.

[0023] The pressing plate 22b may be provided with a detection unit 34 for detecting the front end 10F of the bale rubber 10. After the detection unit 34 detects the front end 10F of the bale rubber 10, the drive unit 24 controls the movement distance, allowing for more precise control of the position of the bale rubber 10 from the front end 10F to the rear end 10B. The detection unit 34 is, for example, a contact detection sensor, and the front end 10F can be detected by lowering the pressing plate 22b and bringing the bale rubber 10 into contact with the contact detection sensor.

[0024] The transport platform 25 behind the cutting section 22 may be inclined downward with respect to the horizontal plane, as shown in Figure 2. This allows the bale rubber pieces 12 cut at the cutting section 22 to be collected in the collection box 35.

[0025] [Holding device] Next, the holding device 23 for the bale rubber 10 will be described with reference to Figures 4 and 5. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing a holding device as an example of an embodiment, where (a) is a top view and (b) is a side view. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a needle according to an example of an embodiment, where (a) is a top view and (b) is a side view.

[0026] As described above, the holding device 23 is a device provided on the bale rubber 10 cutting device 20. As shown in Figure 4, the holding device 23 comprises a rear plate 40 that presses against the rear end 11 of the bale rubber 10 from behind, and a clamp plate 42 that has a plurality of downward-facing needles 43 and presses against the rear end 11 of the bale rubber 10 from above while inserting the plurality of needles 43. The rear plate 40 is in contact with the rear end 10B of the bale rubber 10. By pressing the rear plate 40 against the rear end 11 and pressing against it from above with the clamp plate 42, the bale rubber 10 can be held more securely.

[0027] The rear plate 40 has a cylinder 41 connected to its rear, as shown in Figure 4, for example. This allows the rear plate 40 to move back and forth. The rearmost bale rubber piece 12, which is cut from the bale rubber 10, may remain on the conveyor table 25 even after cutting. By moving the rear plate 40 forward, the remaining bale rubber piece 12 can be sent to the collection box 35.

[0028] It is preferable that the clamping force applied by the clamp plate 42 to the rear end 11 of the bale rubber 10 is adjustable. Furthermore, it is preferable that the clamping force after inserting the multiple needles 43 into the bale rubber 10 is smaller than the clamping force when inserting the multiple needles 43 into the bale rubber 10. If the bale rubber 10 is soft, applying a large clamping force continuously may cause deformation of the bale rubber 10. By making the clamping force adjustable, deformation of the bale rubber 10 can be suppressed. For example, the clamping force is 500N to 1500N.

[0029] The clamp plate 42 presses down on the bale rubber 10 from above at least two points on the left and right sides, as shown in Figure 4. This ensures that a clamping force can be reliably applied to the bale rubber 10 from the clamp plate 42, even if the height of the upper surface of the bale rubber 10 is not constant in the width direction (Y direction) of the bale rubber 10. Note that the shape of the clamp plate 42 is not limited to the example shown in Figure 4. For example, the clamp plate 42 may press down on the bale rubber 10 from above at three or more points.

[0030] The clamp plate 42 has, for example, as shown in Figure 4, a plurality of needles 43 and a main body 44 having a plurality of through holes 45 for connecting to the plurality of needles 43. In the example shown in Figure 4, the main body 44 has 6 through holes 45, and a needle 43 is connected to each of the through holes 45, so the clamp plate 42 has 6 needles at its tip, but the position and number of needles 43 are not limited to this example. The number of needles may be 2 to 20.

[0031] The needle 43 has, for example, a cylindrical insertion portion 47 that is inserted into the through hole 45, as shown in Figure 5. The insertion portion 47 has internal threading, and the needle 43 is fixed to the main body 44 with an external screw.

[0032] The holding device 23 may have an auxiliary plate 48, as shown in Figure 4. When the clamp plate 42 is moved upward from a state in which multiple needles 43 are inserted into the bale rubber 10, the multiple needles 43 may not come out and the bale rubber 10 may be lifted upward. The auxiliary plate 48 contacts the rear end 11 of the bale rubber 10 when the bale rubber 10 is lifted upward, thereby suppressing upward movement and allowing the multiple needles 43 to be removed from the bale rubber 10.

[0033] [Cutting method] Next, a cutting method for dividing the bale rubber 10 into bale rubber pieces 12 will be described with reference to Figure 6. Figure 6 is a flowchart of a cutting method, which is an example of an embodiment. This flowchart starts with the bale rubber 10 being held by a holding device 23 on a transport table 25. A drive device 24 is used to move the bale rubber 10 in the forward and backward directions.

[0034] First, the front end 10F of the bale rubber 10 is detected (S11). Specifically, the bale rubber 10 is moved forward and brought into contact with the detection unit 34 to detect the front end 10F. After that, the bale rubber 10 is moved backward.

[0035] Next, the thickness t of the bale rubber 10 is measured along the direction of travel of the bale rubber 10, from the front end 10F to the rear end 10B (S12). Since the position of the front end 10F is detected in S11, the bale rubber 10 can be measured accurately from the front end 10F. The rear end 10B is in contact with the rear plate 40, so it can be detected. Measuring units 30 provided above and below the bale rubber 10 are used to measure the thickness t. The measuring unit 30 is, for example, a laser distance meter, and measures the thickness t by detecting the upper and lower surfaces of the bale rubber, respectively.

[0036] Next, the cutting position is determined from the measurement result of the thickness t (S13). Specifically, the control unit 31 determines an appropriate cutting location corresponding to a predetermined number of cuts. For example, when dividing the bale rubber 10 into D pieces, the thickness t of the bale rubber is determined.n The measurement is taken at N equally spaced positions from the front end 10F to the rear end 10B of the bale rubber 10. Then, t n The sum of n=1 to N is Σt n Divide by D to calculate the target value T, and starting from n=1, find the first t that satisfies the following equation I. s The cutting positions for cutting the bale rubber 10 are determined at each of these locations.

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[0037] Finally, the bale rubber is divided and cut into pieces 12 at the cutting position (S14), and this flow ends. Specifically, the bale rubber 10 is divided and cut so that the cutting position of the bale rubber 10 is located below the cutter 22a. The bale rubber pieces 12 in front of the cutting position are automatically collected into the collection box 35 by the downward-sloping conveyor 25. After the division and cutting is performed at the last cutting position, the bale rubber pieces 12 behind the cutting position are pushed by the rear plate 40 to the downward-sloping conveyor 25 and collected into the collection box 35.

[0038] As described above, by using the cutting device or method according to the present invention, a bale of rubber can be divided and cut into pieces of bale rubber of approximately equal weight. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 10 Bale rubber, 10F Front end, 10B Rear end, 12 Bale rubber piece, 20 Cutting device, 21 Conveying device, 22 Cutting section, 22a Cutter, 22b Pressing plate, 23 Holding device, 24 Drive device, 25 Conveying table, 30 Measuring section, 31 Control unit, 32 Processor, 33 Memory, 34 Detection section, 35 Collection box, 40 Rear plate, 41 Cylinder, 42 Clamp plate, 43 Needle, 44 Main body, 45 Through hole, 47 Insertion section, 48 Auxiliary plate

Claims

1. A device for cutting rubber bales into rubber bales, A front end detection unit for detecting the front end of the bale rubber, A measuring unit for measuring the thickness of the bale rubber from the front end to the rear end along the direction of travel of the bale rubber, A control unit that determines the cutting position based on the measurement results of the thickness, A device for cutting bale rubber, comprising: a cutting device for dividing and cutting the bale rubber pieces from the bale rubber at the aforementioned cutting position.

2. The cutting device for bale rubber according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit measures the thickness by detecting the upper and lower surfaces of the bale rubber, respectively.

3. When dividing and cutting the aforementioned rubber bale into D pieces of rubber bale, The measuring unit measures the thickness t of the bale rubber at N positions at equal intervals from the front end to the rear end of the bale rubber. ｎ Measure, The control unit is the t ｎ The sum of n=1 to N Σt ｎ Divide by D to calculate the target value T, and starting from n=1, find the first t that satisfies the following equation I. ｓ The bale rubber cutting device according to claim 1, wherein the cutting position is set for each position. [Math 1]

4. A method for cutting a bale rubber into pieces, The step of detecting the front end of the bale rubber, A step of measuring the thickness of the bale rubber from the front end to the rear end along the direction of travel of the bale rubber, The steps include determining the cutting position based on the measurement results of the thickness, A method for cutting a bale of rubber, comprising the step of dividing and cutting the bale rubber pieces from the bale rubber at the cutting position.

5. The method for cutting a bale rubber according to claim 4, wherein the thickness is measured by detecting the upper and lower surfaces of the bale rubber, respectively.

6. When dividing and cutting the aforementioned rubber bale into D pieces of rubber bale, The thickness t of the aforementioned bale rubber ｎ The measurement is taken at N positions at equal intervals from the front end to the rear end of the bale rubber, Said t ｎ The sum of n=1 to N Σt ｎ Divide by D to calculate the target value T, Starting from n=1, the first t that satisfies equation I below ｓ The method for cutting bale rubber according to claim 4, wherein the bale rubber is cut at each of the positions. [Math 2]

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