Tire Shaping Drum Mechanical Locking for Radial Symmetry
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing second-stage drums for building vehicle tires lack the capability to achieve perfectly symmetric and synchronized movements of tire components during the shaping process, leading to potential asymmetry and reduced quality of the tires produced.
Innovation Solution
A mechanical locking and unlocking device is introduced between the lead screw nut and the half-drum, using stiff mechanical elements to ensure synchronous and symmetric movements, eliminating the reliance on pneumatic or hydraulic forces, allowing for precise control and symmetry in tire shaping.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If pneumatic or hydraulic forces are used to connect the lead screw nut and half-drum, then the system can move between locked and unlocked configurations, but the movements lack precision and symmetry due to the compressibility of gases or liquids
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces pneumatic or hydraulic connection systems with a direct mechanical connection system. The lead screw nut is mechanically coupled to the half-drum through rigid mechanical elements, eliminating the compressibility issue of gases or liquids. This substitution ensures precise and synchronized movements of tire components during the shaping process, achieving optimal radial symmetry.
2Manufacturing precision
If a mechanical locking device is introduced to ensure symmetric movements, then manufacturing precision improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the locking function and the connection function into a single integrated mechanical structure. The mechanical locking device is combined with the lead screw nut and half-drum connection system, so that the locking mechanism serves both to secure and to transmit motion precisely. This merging reduces the number of separate components and simplifies the overall device structure while maintaining manufacturing precision.
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
This solution ensures the production of tires with optimal radial symmetry, enhancing their structural uniformity, durability, comfort, and roadholding performance by maintaining precise control over the shaping process.
Implementation Method 1
a threaded shaft disposed on the central shaft and two half-drums. On both sides of the assembly defined by the two half-drums, a lead screw nut is coupled to the threaded shaft
Data Source
AI summary
In a process for building tyres for vehicle wheels, a carcass sleeve is arranged on a shaping drum including two half-drums and two supports. Each support is operatively associated with one of the half-drums and carries a plurality of turning-up levers having free ends positioned close to the respective half-drum. Two annular anchoring structures are disposed around the carcass sleeve and each of the two supports is locked to the respective half-drum by interposing only stiff mechanical elements in mutual contact between the support and the half-drum. The carcass sleeve is shaped in a toroidal conformation, by setting a threaded shaft in rotation and moving the half-drums close to each other. Subsequently, each of the two supports is unlocked from the respective half-drum and the threaded shaft is set in rotation to move each support close to the respective half-drum and lift up the free ends of the turning-up levers until the end flaps of the carcass sleeve are turned up around the annular anchoring structures.