Tire inspection apparatus for inspecting the sidewall of the tire

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10118448-B2
Application number	US-201415030670-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2014
Priority date	Nov 1, 2013
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

In order to provide a tire inspection apparatus which is capable of identifying, when performing an appearance inspection of a tire, a location of a rubber burr from a captured image of a tire side and avoiding detection of the rubber burr as a defect in a subsequent inspection step using image processing, the tire inspection apparatus is provided with a storage unit for storing a model pattern of a molded object to be molded on the tire side to be inspected and a master image of the tire side, the master image being prepared when the molded object(s) and an unnecessary molded object(s) are molded together as a conforming article, a model pattern locating unit for locating the model pattern on the captured image of the tire side to be inspected in a position of the captured image showing a highest degree of agreement, and an unnecessary molded object location identifying unit for identifying a location of the unnecessary molded object from the captured image by comparing the position of the model pattern located on the captured image against a position of the model pattern on the master image.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tire inspection apparatus configured to inspect a tire side of a tire to be inspected, the tire inspection apparatus comprising:
an image capture device configured to create a captured image of the tire side of the tire to be inspected;
a storage device configured to store:
(i) a model pattern of a molded object to be molded on the tire side of the tire to be inspected, and
(ii) a master image of the tire side, the master image being prepared when the molded object and an unnecessary molded object are molded together as a conforming article; and

a processor configured to perform the following:
locate the model pattern on the captured image of the tire side to be inspected in a position of the captured image showing a highest degree of agreement with the model pattern; and
identify a location of the unnecessary molded object from the captured image by comparing the position of the model pattern located on the captured image against a position of the model pattern on the master image.

2. The tire inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the model pattern comprises characters constituting a character string to be molded on the tire side.

3. The tire inspection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate a dislocation amount of the position of the model pattern located on the captured image from the position of the model pattern on the master image, and add the dislocation amount to the location of the unnecessary molded object relative to the molding object in the master image and identifies the location of the unnecessary molded object on the captured image.

4. The tire inspection apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the unnecessary molded object is an air hole provided in a mold for molding the tire.

5. The tire inspection apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the unnecessary molded object is an air hole provided in a mold for molding the tire.

6. The tire inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to calculate a dislocation amount of the position of the model pattern located on the captured image from the position of the model pattern on the master image, and add the dislocation amount to the location of the unnecessary molded object relative to the molding object in the master image and identifies the location of the unnecessary molded object on the captured image.

7. The tire inspection apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the unnecessary molded object is an air hole provided in a mold for molding the tire.

8. The tire inspection apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the unnecessary molded object is an air hole provided in a mold for molding the tire.

Assignees

• Bridgestone Corp

Inventors

• Mizutani Akinobu

Classifications

• G01M17/027 Primary

  using light, e.g. infrared, ultraviolet or holographic techniques · CPC title

• B60C25/007 Primary

  outside surface (measuring profile depth G01B11/22) · CPC title

• G06V10/7515

  Shifting the patterns to accommodate for positional errors · CPC title

• G01B11/2522

  the position of the object changing and being recorded · CPC title

• B29D2030/0066

  Tyre quality control during manufacturing · CPC title