Bale rubber holding device, conveying device, and cutting device

Abstract

To provide a holding device that can more securely hold the bale rubber. [Solution] The bale rubber 10 holding device 23 comprises a rear plate that presses against the rear end 11 of the bale rubber 10 from behind, and a clamp plate having multiple downward-facing needles that press against the rear end 11 of the bale rubber 10 from above while inserting the multiple needles. The rear plate is in contact with the rear end 10B of the bale rubber 10. By pressing the rear plate against the rear end 11 and pressing against it from above with the clamp plate, the bale rubber 10 can be held more securely.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a holding device, a conveying device, and a cutting device for bale rubber, and particularly to a holding device, a conveying device, and a cutting device that can more reliably hold, convey, and cut bale rubber.

Background Art

[0002] Bale rubber pieces are cut out from bale rubber, which is a raw material rubber in the shape of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and the bale rubber pieces are mixed with reinforcing materials, functional materials, etc. to produce tire raw materials. Patent Document 1 describes a technique for suppressing the displacement of bale rubber by bending the rear portion (rear end portion) of the bale rubber from the left-right direction and gripping it with claws having pointed tips, and cutting out bale rubber pieces with accurate dimensions.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, according to the recent studies by the inventors of the present invention, it has been found that the rear end portion of the bale rubber is often deformed and rounded, and there are cases where the holding device described in Patent Document 1 cannot sufficiently hold the bale rubber.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a holding device that can more reliably hold bale rubber.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The bale rubber holding device according to the present invention is a bale rubber holding device provided on a bale rubber cutting device, and is characterized by comprising: a rear plate that presses against the rear end of the bale rubber from behind; and a clamp plate having a plurality of downward-facing needles that presses against the rear end of the bale rubber from above while inserting the plurality of needles.

[0007] In the above-described bale rubber holding device, the clamping force applied by the clamp plate to the rear end of the bale rubber may be adjustable. The clamp plate may also press down on the bale rubber from above at least two points on the left and right sides. The clamp plate may also have a main body with multiple needles and multiple through holes for connecting to the multiple needles, and the multiple needles may have cylindrical insertion parts that are inserted into the through holes, with the insertion parts having internal threads, and the multiple needles may be fixed to the main body with external threads.

[0008] The bale rubber conveying device according to the present invention is characterized by comprising a bale rubber holding device and a drive device for moving the bale rubber holding device in the front-rear direction.

[0009] The present invention provides a bale rubber cutting device, characterized by comprising a bale rubber conveying device and a cutting unit for dividing and cutting bale rubber pieces from the bale rubber. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] The bale rubber holding device of the present invention can hold the bale rubber more securely. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This is a vertical cross-sectional view of a bale rubber according to one embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram showing a cutting device as an example of an embodiment, where (a) is a top view and (b) is a side view. [Figure 3] This block diagram shows the configuration of a cutting device, which is an example of an embodiment. [Figure 4] This 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] This is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a needle according to one embodiment, where (a) is a top view and (b) is a side view. [Figure 6] This flowchart shows a cutting method, which is an example of an embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] An example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below. In the following description, specific shapes, materials, directions, numerical values, etc., are examples to facilitate understanding of the present invention and can be appropriately modified according to the application, purpose, specifications, etc. It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments and modifications thereof described below, and various changes and improvements are possible within the scope of the matters described in the claims of this application.

[0013] [Bail rubber] The bale rubber 10 is raw rubber. Tire raw materials are produced by mixing bale rubber pieces 12 obtained by cutting the bale rubber 10 with reinforcing materials, functional materials, etc. Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the bale rubber 10. X indicates the longitudinal direction of the bale rubber 10, Y indicates the width direction of the bale rubber 10, and Z indicates the thickness direction of the bale rubber 10. The + direction of Y is sometimes referred to as "left," and the - direction of Y as "right." The bale rubber 10 has a roughly rectangular shape, and in cross-sections parallel to the XY plane and YZ plane in Figure 1, it has a roughly rectangular shape. On the other hand, the inventors' studies have revealed that the thickness of the bale rubber 10 is not constant, as shown in Figure 1. Bale rubber pieces 12 are obtained by cutting the bale rubber 10 at cutting position C in Figure 1. The bale rubber 10 is homogeneous, and as will be described later, by dividing and cutting it into bale rubber pieces 12 of roughly the same volume, bale rubber pieces 12 of roughly 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 diagram 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 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 driving device 24 is, for example, a cylinder that operates with a liquid or a gas. Also, the driving device 24 may be a servo motor. By the driving device 24 moving the holding device 23 forward and backward, the veil rubber 10 placed on the conveying table 25 can be moved in the same manner. The conveying table 25 is, for example, a conveyor, or may be a conveyor composed of a plurality of free rollers. In this specification, "front" means the side of the cutting unit 22 which is the traveling direction when cutting the veil rubber 10, and "rear" means the opposite direction to "front". Also, the "front end 10F" of the veil rubber 10 means the front end, and the "rear end 10B" means the rear end. Also, the "rear end portion 11" means the rear portion of the veil 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 veil rubber 10. The measuring unit 30 measures the thickness t of the veil rubber 10 from the front end 10F to the rear end 10B along the traveling direction of the veil rubber 10.

[0019] The measuring unit 30 measures the thickness t by detecting, for example, 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. The distance measuring device may also be a contact-type measuring device. The measuring unit 30 measures the thickness t approximately in the center of the bale rubber 10 in the width direction (Y direction).

[0020] The cutting device 20 has a control unit 31 that determines the cutting position from the measurement result of the thickness t, for example. 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 The control unit 31 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 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 holding device according to the present invention, the bale rubber can be held more securely. [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 holding rubber bales, provided in a rubber bale cutting device, A rear plate is pressed against the rear end of the aforementioned bale rubber from behind, A device for holding a bale rubber, comprising: a clamp plate having multiple downward-facing needles, which presses down on the rear end of the bale rubber from above while inserting the multiple needles; and a clamp plate.

2. The bale rubber holding device according to claim 1, wherein the clamping force applied by the clamp plate to the rear end of the bale rubber is adjustable.

3. The bale rubber holding device according to claim 1, wherein the clamp plate presses down on at least two locations on the left and right sides of the bale rubber from above.

4. The clamp plate comprises the plurality of needles and a main body having a plurality of through holes for connecting to the plurality of needles, The bale rubber holding device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of needles each have a cylindrical insertion portion that is inserted into the through hole, the insertion portion has an internal thread, and the plurality of needles are fixed to the main body with an external thread.

5. A bale rubber holding device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, A conveying device for bale rubber, comprising a drive device for moving the bale rubber holding device in the front-rear direction.

6. The bale rubber conveying device according to claim 5, A device for cutting rubber bales, comprising: a cutting section for dividing and cutting rubber bales from the rubber bales.

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