Undulating Reinforcing Strip for Tire Shaping
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Solution Overview
Problem
The tire industry faces challenges in assembling tires with 0° crown reinforcers due to the complexity and inefficiency of existing methods, which often result in the introduction of unnecessary and harmful threads, and the inability to lay these reinforcers on the tire blank before shaping without preventing the shaping process.
Innovation Solution
A device is used to prepare and lay an undulating reinforcing strip with a significant overlength, achieved by guiding a flat strip through a closed circuit with fingers and rollers that impose waves, allowing the strip to be wound helically onto a tire blank, enabling the 0° reinforcers to be laid without interfering with the shaping process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If 0° reinforcers are laid on the tire blank before shaping, then the crown reinforcement is provided, but the shaping process is prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The reinforcer strip is transformed from a static straight configuration to a dynamic undulating configuration that can adapt during shaping. The undulating form allows the strip to be laid on the blank at rim seat diameter while accommodating the subsequent expansion during shaping without preventing the process.
Solution Approach 2:
The physical state of the reinforcer strip is changed by introducing undulations that create overlength. This parameter change allows the strip to provide reinforcement while accommodating the diameter change during shaping, as the undulations can tighten or loosen accordingly.
2Ease of manufacture
If additional threads are introduced to enable shaping with 0° reinforcers, then shaping is possible, but the complexity and time of preparation increase
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful element (additional threads) is completely removed from the system. Instead of adding fragile threads that need to be broken during shaping, the invention uses only the undulating reinforcer strip itself, which achieves the same effect without introducing unnecessary components.
Solution Approach 2:
The undulating reinforcer strip is self-sufficient and does not require additional threads or breaking mechanisms. The undulations themselves perform the function of enabling shaping without needing auxiliary elements that would add complexity to the preparation process.
3Ease of manufacture
If additional threads are used to enable shaping, then shaping is possible, but harmful threads are introduced into the final product
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful additional threads are completely extracted from the system. The invention achieves shaping capability using only the undulating reinforcer strip, eliminating the source of harmful elements in the final product.
4Productivity
If the entire blank is assembled at rim seat diameter, then direct introduction into vulcanizing mould is possible, but 0° reinforcers cannot be laid without preventing shaping
Solution Approach 1:
The undulating configuration provides dynamic adaptability that allows the reinforcers to be laid at rim seat diameter while accommodating subsequent shaping. The undulations enable the strip to function differently during assembly versus during shaping.
Solution Approach 2:
The undulating form changes the effective length parameter of the reinforcer strip, creating overlength that allows laying at reduced diameter while accommodating expansion during shaping. This parameter change enables the high-productivity approach of assembling at rim seat diameter.
Data Source
AI summary
A device, which converts a reinforcing strip from being flat to being undulating, includes a transporter that guides fingers along a closed circuit, with the fingers being able to bear against a first face of the strip; a support plate that rotates about a plate axis and that supports rollers having axes parallel to the plate axis, with the rollers being able to bear against a second face of the strip; and a synchronizer that synchronizes a rotation of the support plate and a forward motion of the transporter. The closed circuit has an intersecting portion at which the synchronizer allows the fingers and the rollers to move rotationally in a common plane perpendicular to the plate axis, with the fingers and the rollers being interposed at the intersecting portion so as to cause the strip to have undulating waves that extend in the common plane.