Tire holding mechanism and tire test device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11226266-B2
Application number	US-201816970456-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2018
Priority date	Feb 21, 2018
Publication date	Jan 18, 2022
Grant date	Jan 18, 2022

Abstract

The present invention includes a shaft that protrudes further toward a lower spindle side than an upper rim and includes a plurality of engagement grooves arranged in an up-down direction at an outer periphery of a lower end accommodated in a hollow portion of the lower spindle; a shaft support part that rotatably supports an upper end of the shaft; an engagement part that is accommodated within the hollow portion and is engaged with any one engagement groove of the plurality of engagement grooves; a first elevating part that is configured to integrally move the upper spindle, the shaft, and the shaft support part in the up-down direction; and a second elevating part that adjusts the length of the shaft protruding below the upper rim by changing the distance between the shaft support part and the upper spindle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A tire holding mechanism comprising:
an upper spindle that rotatable supports an upper rim abutting against one opening side of a tire from above the upper rim;
a lower spindle that abuts against the other opening side of the tire, rotatable supports a lower rim holding the tire together with the upper rim, and has a hollow portion formed therein;
a shaft that passes through the upper spindle, extends in an up-down direction of the upper spindle, protrudes further toward the lower spindle side than the upper rim, and includes a plurality of engagement grooves formed in the up-down direction at an outer periphery of a lower end accommodated in the hollow portion;
a shaft support part that rotatable supports an upper end of the shaft and extends to an outside of the shaft;
an engagement part that is provided at the lower spindle in a state of being accommodated within the hollow portion and is engaged with any one engagement groove of the plurality of engagement grooves;
a first elevating part that is configured to integrally move the upper spindle, the shaft, and the shaft support part in the up-down direction; and
a second elevating part that is configured to adjust a length of the shaft protruding below the upper rim by changing a distance between the shaft support part and the upper spindle in the up-down direction.

2. The tire holding mechanism according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a spindle support part that is provided below the shaft support part, rotatable supports the upper spindle and the shaft, and has a wider shape than the upper spindle,
wherein the second elevating part is provided between an outer peripheral portion of the shaft support part and the spindle support part, and is configured to change positions of the spindle support part and the upper spindle with respect to the shaft support part in the up-down direction.

3. The tire holding mechanism according to claim 2 ,
wherein the second elevating part includes a piston, a piston rod provided with the piston, and a plurality of cylinders having a cylinder body that accommodates a portion of the piston rod provided with the piston, and
wherein a tip portion of the piston rod is fixed to a lower surface side of the outer peripheral portion of the shaft support part, and
wherein an end of the cylinder body is fixed to an upper surface side of an outer peripheral portion of the spindle support part.

4. The tire holding mechanism according to claim 3 ,
wherein at least a portion of the piston rod protrudes from the cylinder body,
wherein an outer peripheral surface of a portion of the shaft is exposed between the shaft support part and the spindle support part,
wherein a spacer is disposed on an outer peripheral surface of the shaft disposed between the shaft support part and the spindle support part.

5. The tire holding mechanism according to claim 4 ,
wherein the spacer includes a plurality of split bodies.

6. A tire test device comprising:
the tire holding mechanism according to claim 1 ; and

a measurement unit that is configured to measure characteristics of the tire held between the upper rim and the lower rim.

Assignees

• Mitsubishi Heavy Ind Mach Systems Ltd
• Bridgestone Corp

Inventors

• Ueda Tatsuya
• Agawa Jiro
• Tachibana Makoto

Classifications

• G01M17/021 Primary

  Tyre supporting devices, e.g. chucks (for balancing G01M1/04) · CPC title

• B29D2030/0066

  Tyre quality control during manufacturing · CPC title

• B29D30/0061

  Accessories, details or auxiliary operations not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• G01M1/045

  the body being a vehicle wheel · CPC title