Rubber Strip Butt-Joining Roller System for Extruder Feeding
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Solution Overview
Problem
In tire manufacturing, existing feeding systems for extruders face challenges in maintaining continuity and homogeneity when feeding multiple rubber compounds, often requiring manual intervention and resulting in the formation of rubber loops, which can cause prolonged conveyor stoppages and degrade the quality of the rubber bands.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a conveyor and a roller assembly with an upper toothed roller and a lower smoothed roller, allowing for continuous butting of rubber strips without perforation, ensuring uniform contact and maintaining the integrity of the rubber bands while allowing for adjustable gap settings to accommodate different rubber properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual feeding of multiple rubber compounds is used, then flexibility in compound selection is improved, but feeding continuity and operational automation deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the feeding process into separate zones: a feeding zone where multiple rubber compound strips are prepared and positioned, and a butting zone where they are joined. This segmentation allows automated handling of multiple compounds while maintaining continuous operation, resolving the contradiction between versatility and automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary butting mechanism with heated rollers that joins rubber strips end-to-end. This intermediary device enables automatic transition between different rubber compounds without stopping the extruder, maintaining feeding continuity while allowing flexible compound selection.
2Productivity
If feed holes are used for butting rubber strips, then joining speed is improved, but rubber loop formation and conveyor stoppages worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and eliminates the feed hole mechanism from the butting process. Instead of creating holes to pass strips through, the system uses external heated rollers to press and join strip ends together. This removal of the harmful feed hole element prevents rubber loop formation while maintaining high joining speed and continuous conveyor operation.
3Stability of the object's composition
If multiple rubber strips are fed simultaneously, then extruder composition continuity is improved, but homogeneity of resulting rubber bands deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary butting of rubber strips before they enter the extruder. By pre-joining the strips in a controlled manner with proper alignment and heating, the homogeneity of the combined rubber band is ensured before it enters the extrusion process, maintaining both composition continuity and manufacturing precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The butting mechanism controls parameters such as heating temperature, pressure, and contact time to ensure proper bonding of multiple rubber strips. By optimizing these parameters, the system achieves homogeneous rubber bands while maintaining continuous composition supply to the extruder.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables continuous and uniform feeding of extruders with complexed rubber bands, maintaining the homogeneity of the rubber compounds and preventing the formation of unwanted holes, thus optimizing the tire production process by allowing uninterrupted conveyor operation and ensuring the desired performance characteristics of the tires.
Implementation Method 1
The upper roller with a toothed surface along which a length of contact is established between a first fed rubber band and the toothed surface... the lower roller comprises a smoothed surface along which a length of contact is established between a second fed rubber strip and the smoothed surface
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 3A~4
AI summary
The invention relates to a system (10) for butt-joining two or more rubber strips (B1, B2) selected according to a predetermined rubber mixing recipe to supply at least one extruder with a strip complexed with rubbery material (B 12) from the butt-joined rubber strips. The system includes at least one conveyor which transports the rubber strips from an inlet (12) of the system to an outlet (14) of the butt-joining system; a frame (18) which operationally supports the conveyor to allow the continuous transport of the rubber strips as well as the simultaneous butt-joining of the rubber strips supplied to the system; and a roller system (20) which performs the butt-joining of the rubber strips without a drill. The invention also relates to a method for butt-joining the rubber strips produced by the system of the invention.