Tire testing method and tire testing device for locating a position on a tire based on a reference point on the tire and a rotation origin of a spindle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11274993-B2
Application number	US-201816495798-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 23, 2018
Priority date	Mar 28, 2017
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

A tire testing method includes: applying a lubrication solution to a bead part of a tire; detecting a phase of a reference point of the tire; detecting a phase of a rotation origin of a spindle at common coordinates shared with coordinates at which the phase of the reference point is indicated; detecting a singular point present on the tire by conducting a tire test while rotating the tire on the spindle, and detecting a phase from the rotation origin to the singular point; calculating a phase from the reference point to the singular point based on the phase of the reference point, the phase of the rotation origin, and the phase from the rotation origin to the singular point; storing information about the reference point and information about the rotation origin at the common coordinates; and marking the tire at a position where the singular point is present.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A tire testing method comprising:
a step for applying a lubrication solution to a bead part of a tire provided with a reference point while rotating the tire;
a step for detecting a phase of the reference point after application of the lubrication solution;
a step for detecting a phase of a rotation origin of a spindle at common coordinates shared with coordinates at which the phase of the reference point is indicated, the rotation origin being an origin capable of assuming various directions relative to a rotation axis of the spindle;
a step for detecting a singular point present on the tire by conducting a tire test while rotating, on the spindle, the tire to which the lubrication solution has been applied, and detecting a phase from the rotation origin to the singular point;
a step for calculating a phase from the reference point to the singular point based on the phase of the reference point, the phase of the rotation origin, and the phase from the rotation origin to the singular point;
a step for storing information about the reference point at the common coordinates and information about the rotation origin at the common coordinates; and
a step for marking the tire at a position along a circumferential direction where the singular point is present.

2. The tire testing method according to claim 1 , wherein the reference point is formed of a two-dimensional code impressed on the tire.

3. The tire testing method according to claim 2 , wherein in the step for detecting the phase of the reference point, the two-dimensional code is detected using a two-dimensional code reader.

4. The tire testing method according to claim 3 , wherein
the two-dimensional code reader has a view range wider than the two-dimensional code, and
in the step of detecting the phase of the reference point, the two-dimensional code reader inputs, to a controller, position data of the two-dimensional code within the view range in the two-dimensional code reader, and the controller corrects a phase of the two-dimensional code at the common coordinates based on the position data of the two-dimensional code, so that the corrected phase of the two-dimensional code is considered as the phase of the reference point.

5. The tire testing method according to claim 3 , wherein
the two-dimensional code reader has a view range wider than the two-dimensional code, and
in the step of detecting the phase of the reference point, the two-dimensional code reader inputs, to a controller, position data of the two-dimensional code within the view range in the two-dimensional code reader, a pulse detector inputs, to the controller, a delay time from completion of reading of the two-dimensional code until completion of data processing, and the controller corrects a phase of the two-dimensional code at the common coordinates based on the position data of the two-dimensional code and the delay time, so that the corrected phase of the two-dimensional code is considered as the phase of the reference point.

6. A tire testing device comprising:
a lubrication unit which applies a lubrication solution to a bead part of a tire provided with a reference point while rotating the tire;
a main body unit which detects a singular point present on the tire by conducting a tire test while rotating, on a spindle, the tire to which the lubrication solution has been applied by the lubrication unit;
a marking unit which marks the tire at a position along a circumferential direction where the singular point is present;
a singular point phase calculating unit; and
a storage unit, wherein
the lubrication unit has a reference point phase detecting unit which detects a phase of the reference point after application of the lubrication solution, the phase of the reference point being a phase at common coordinates which are common to the lubrication unit, the main body unit, and the marking unit,
the main body unit has an origin phase detecting unit which detects a phase of a rotation origin of the spindle at the common coordinates, and a singular point phase detecting unit which detects a phase from the rotation origin to the singular point, the rotation origin being an origin capable of assuming various directions relative to a rotation axis of the spindle,
the singular point phase calculating unit is configured to calculate a phase from the reference point to the singular point based on the phase of the reference point detected by the reference point phase detecting unit, the phase of the rotation origin detected by the origin phase detecting unit, and the phase from the rotation origin to the singular point detected by the singular point phase detecting unit, and
the storage unit is configured to store information about the reference point at the common coordinates detected by the reference point phase detecting unit and information about the rotation origin at the common coordinates detected by the origin phase detecting unit.

7. The tire testing device according to claim 6 , wherein
the reference point is formed of a two-dimensional code impressed on the tire, and
the lubrication unit has a two-dimensional code reader which reads the two-dimensional code.

8. The tire testing device according to claim 6 , further comprising a reference point phase calculating unit, wherein
the reference point phase detecting unit has a position detecting unit which detects a position of the reference point and an angle detecting unit which detects a rotation angle of the tire having been rotated, and
the reference point phase calculating unit is configured to calculate the phase of the reference point of the tire after the application of the lubrication solution based on a position of the reference point of the tire at the common coordinates detected by the position detecting unit during the application of the lubrication solution and a rotation angle of the tire detected by the angle detecting unit during the application of the lubrication solution.

9. The tire testing device according to claim 7 , further comprising a reference point phase calculating unit, wherein
the reference point phase detecting unit has a position detecting unit which detects a position of the reference point and an angle detecting unit which detects a rotation angle of the tire having been rotated, and
the reference point phase calculating unit is configured to calculate the phase of the reference point of the tire after the application of the lubrication solution based on a position of the reference point of the tire at the common coordinates detected by the position detecting unit during the application of the lubrication solution and a rotation angle of the tire detected by the angle detecting unit during the application of the lubrication solution.

Assignees

• Kobe Steel Ltd

Inventors

• Ito Kohei
• Matsushita Yasuhiro
• Goto Koji

Classifications

• B60C13/001

  Decorating, marking or the like · CPC title

• B60C2019/004

  Tyre sensors other than for detecting tyre pressure · CPC title

• G01M1/26

  with special adaptations for marking, e.g. by drilling · CPC title

• G01M17/024 Primary

  combined with tyre surface correcting or marking means · CPC title

• G01M17/02 Primary

  Tyres · CPC title