Multi-Compound Rubber Strip for Tire Winding
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for fabricating tires face challenges in reducing the number of winding steps for ribbon-shaped unvulcanized rubber strip materials, leading to increased fabrication cycle times and potential uneven thickness issues, which can compromise the performance of tire components like the inner liner, tread, and side wall.
Innovation Solution
A rubber strip material with a cross-sectional shape divided into regions of different rubber compounds is wound spirally in a partially overlapping fashion, allowing multiple compounds to be integrated in a single winding step, reducing the number of winding times and improving productivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple rubber compounds are applied by separate winding steps, then each compound can be precisely controlled, but the fabrication cycle time increases and productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple rubber compound applications into a single winding step by integrating different rubber compounds (e.g., inner liner compound and cap compound) within one continuous rubber strip. This allows multiple compounds to be wound simultaneously on the building drum, reducing the number of separate winding steps while maintaining precise thickness control through the integrated strip structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite rubber strip structure where different rubber compounds are integrated along the width or length of a single strip. This composite structure enables multiple functional layers (such as low-permeability inner liner and protective cap layers) to be applied in one winding operation, improving productivity while preserving the manufacturing precision of each compound layer.
2Weight of moving object
If the inner liner rubber portion is made thinner to reduce tire weight, then fuel consumption improves, but thickness uniformity becomes difficult to maintain during vulcanization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different rubber compounds with different properties to different regions of the inner liner rubber portion. A thin base layer provides weight reduction, while localized cap layers or reinforced zones maintain thickness uniformity and prevent rubber displacement during vulcanization. This local quality differentiation allows thin overall thickness while ensuring critical areas maintain proper thickness control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite rubber structures where a thin base rubber compound is combined with additional functional compounds (such as cap compounds or reinforcement layers) in specific regions. This composite approach reduces overall tire weight while maintaining thickness uniformity in critical areas through the integrated multi-layer structure that prevents rubber displacement during vulcanization.
3Manufacturing precision
If a hard rubber member is added to prevent rubber displacement during vulcanization, then thickness uniformity improves, but the complexity of the rubber member structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the protective cap function with the inner liner rubber structure by integrating the cap compound directly into the rubber strip as a unified component. Instead of adding a separate hard rubber member, the cap layer is combined with the base rubber layer in a single integrated strip structure, maintaining thickness uniformity while reducing structural complexity and the number of separate components.
Data Source
AI summary
When forming a rubber member which is made up of a combination of a plurality of rubber compounds by winding spirally a ribbon-shaped unvulcanized rubber strip material in an overlapping fashion, the number of times of winding is reduced so as to shorten a fabrication cycle time of the rubber member to thereby increase the productivity thereof. As a means therefore, a rubber strip material whose cross section is divided into two or more regions which are made up of different rubber compounds is wound spirally on to a drum in an overlapping fashion so as to build a green tire or a tire rubber member.