Interlocking Tire Mold Blades for Complex Tread Demolding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional tire molds face challenges in maintaining blade integrity during demolding due to strong forces exerted by rubber, particularly at the transverse edges, leading to breakage and gaps in the tread pattern, especially with complex tread designs requiring thinner blades.
Innovation Solution
A tire mold design with interlocking and inclined blades at transverse edges, allowing blades to mesh when mold segments close, reducing force on blades during demolding and minimizing gaps in the tread pattern, while using 3D printing for finer structures and varying blade thickness and orientation to enhance stability and performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If blades are positioned at transverse edges of mold segments to create complex tread patterns, then tread pattern complexity is improved, but blade breakage risk increases due to strong forces during demolding
Solution Approach 1:
The mold is divided into multiple segments with blades positioned at transverse edges, allowing complex tread patterns to be created while distributing mechanical stresses across separate segments rather than concentrating them on a single monolithic structure
Solution Approach 2:
Blades are strategically positioned at specific locations (transverse edges) where they are needed for creating complex tread patterns, with each blade designed to handle local stress conditions at its specific position in the molding process
2Manufacturing precision
If thinner blades are used to increase blade density for complex tread patterns, then tread pattern detail is improved, but blade strength decreases leading to higher breakage probability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent varies blade parameters (thickness, orientation, positioning) based on location within the mold segment, using thinner blades where detailed tread work is needed and thicker blades at critical stress points, optimizing both precision and strength
3Ease of operation
If mold segments are moved in radial direction during closing, then molding operation is simplified, but forces on blades increase causing breakage at transverse edges
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces angular/orientational dimensions to blade positioning and mold segment arrangement, orienting blades at specific angles to the radial movement direction to reduce the component of force acting on them during the closing operation
4Reliability
If gaps are left between blades and mold segment edges to prevent collision, then blade damage during closing is reduced, but tread pattern continuity is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The mold segments and blades are pre-positioned and pre-oriented before the closing operation begins, ensuring that blades are correctly aligned and spaced to prevent collision while maintaining continuous tread pattern formation throughout the molding process
Data Source
AI summary
A tire mold comprising a tread mold portion divided into mold segments having transverse edges which are movable between (i) an opened position, wherein the mold segments are spaced apart, and (ii) a closed position, wherein neighboring mold segments are in contact with each other, each of the mold segments comprising blades; wherein at least a first one of the mold segments has laterally extending blades located at a first transverse edge, wherein at least a second neighboring one of the mold segments has laterally extending blades located at a second transverse edge adjacent to the first transverse edge of the first one of said the mold segments, and when in the closed position said the laterally extending blades of the first one of the mold segments interlock between the laterally extending blades of the second one of said the mold segments.