Green Tyre Building Plant Segmented Lines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing tyre production methods lack technological flexibility and productivity, often requiring large plants and resulting in bottlenecks during production, especially when dealing with different tyre models or malfunctions, which can lead to standstills and management challenges.
Innovation Solution
A process and plant design that separates carcass and crown structure building lines, allowing for direct transfers between specific work stations without passing through unnecessary stations, using robotized arms for efficient movement of forming drums with non-null vector components, enabling the use of different elementary components and improving synchronisation and productivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional tyre production methods are used with sequential work stations, then production process is simple to manage, but productivity is low and bottlenecks occur during malfunctions or model changes
Solution Approach 1:
The production line is segmented into separate carcass building lines and crown structure building lines, with each line having independent work stations. This segmentation allows parallel processing of different tyre components, eliminating bottlenecks and improving overall productivity without requiring complete reconfiguration of the entire plant.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically transfers forming drums between work stations based on real-time production needs, tyre model requirements, and station availability. Robotized arms enable flexible movement of drums to any station in the sequence, allowing the production line to adapt to malfunctions, model changes, or maintenance needs without stopping entire production lines.
2Adaptability or versatility
If direct transfer between non-adjacent work stations is implemented, then productivity and flexibility are improved, but device complexity increases due to robotized arms and transfer mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The robotized transfer arms are designed as universal devices capable of transferring forming drums between any work stations in the sequence, not just adjacent ones. This multi-functionality allows the same transfer mechanism to handle various tyre models, component types, and production scenarios, improving versatility without proportionally increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Buffer zones are introduced between work stations as intermediary holding areas for forming drums. These buffers decouple the transfer mechanisms from direct station-to-station transfers, allowing drums to wait or be redirected without requiring complex synchronized transfers, thus reducing overall system complexity while maintaining flexibility.
3Productivity
If forming drums are transferred by movement of centre of gravity in space, then transfer efficiency is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The work stations are arranged at the same vertical level, creating an equipotential environment for forming drum transfers. Robotized arms transfer drums horizontally without vertical lifting, eliminating the need for energy-intensive lifting operations and reducing overall energy consumption while maintaining high transfer speeds.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces traditional mechanical conveyor systems with robotized arms that use controlled movement of the centre of gravity in three-dimensional space. This substitution allows more efficient transfer paths that minimize energy consumption by exploiting spatial freedom and avoiding unnecessary mechanical friction and resistance associated with conventional conveyors.
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
There are described a plant and a process for building green tyres for vehicle wheels, said process comprising the steps of: a) building a carcass structure on a first forming drum (6) in at least one carcass structure building line (2) comprising a plurality of work stations arranged according to a sequential series, said carcass structure comprising at least one carcass ply and a pair of annular anchoring structures; b) building a crown structure on at least one second forming drum (7) in at least one crown structure building line (3) comprising a plurality of work stations arranged according to a sequential series, said crown structure comprising at least one belt structure; c) toroidally shaping said carcass structure assembling it to said crown structure in at least one shaping and assembling work station (4) for the tyre being processed; wherein the transfers of each of said first forming drum (6) and said second forming drum (J), with the respective carcass structure and crown structure being processed, from one work station to the other of the respective building lines (2, 3) comprise at least one step d) of transfer from a first work station to a second work station not adjacent to the first one in said sequential series, and wherein each step d) of transfer takes place in such a way that the first forming drum and the second forming drum (7) only pass in said first and second work station.