Machine for the automatic manufacture of pneumatic tires with a “biased” crown

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12005661-B2
Application number	US-202017782499-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2020
Priority date	Dec 20, 2019
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

The machine includes a tire-building zone for producing, on a drum, a carcass entity that includes a carcass ply with carcass reinforcers. The machine also includes a finishing zone for producing a crown entity that includes a tread, a shaping system for causing the carcass entity to expand radially in order to give it a toroidal shape. In an assembling zone, the crown entity is assembled on the carcass entity. A biasing system interacts, during the shaping, with the carcass reinforcers so as to modify the angular orientation of the carcass reinforcers with respect to the circumferential direction of the drum. An automatic control unit allows a biased-crown tire to be manufactured in this way.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A machine for the automatic manufacture of a tire, said machine comprising:
a first zone referred to as “tire-building zone”, designed to produce a first annular entity that forms part of the tire, known as the “carcass entity”, which comprises at least one carcass ply provided with a first set of filamentary reinforcing elements referred to as “carcass reinforcers”, said tire-building zone for this purpose comprising a tire-building drum which has a drum central axis and which is mounted to rotate about said drum central axis, and a first conveying system which is designed to lay the carcass ply on the tire-building drum by winding it over said tire-building drum about the drum central axis so that the carcass reinforcers exhibit, with respect to a circumferential direction of the drum, a first angular orientation,
a second zone referred to as the “finishing zone”, designed to produce a second annular entity that forms part of the tire, known as the “crown entity”, which comprises at least a tread, said finishing zone for this purpose comprising a shell ring mounted to rotate about a shell-ring central axis, and a second conveying system for laying the tread by winding on the shell ring about the shell-ring central axis,
a shaping system designed to perform a shaping operation which causes the carcass entity present on the tire-building drum to expand radially in order to obtain a shaped carcass entity of toroidal shape,
a third zone referred to as the “assembling zone”, designed to assemble the crown entity concentrically on the shaped carcass entity so as to obtain a tire, said assembling zone for this purpose comprising a transfer device of the transfer-ring type, which is designed to receive the crown entity coming from the shell ring of the finishing zone and transfer said crown entity onto and around the shaped carcass entity,
a biasing system which is designed to bring into contact with the carcass entity, prior to the shaping operation, an annular structure referred to as a “biasing structure”, which is centered on the drum central axis and provided with a second set of filamentary reinforcing elements referred to as “biasing reinforcers” which exhibit, with respect to the circumferential direction of the drum, a second angular orientation, which is different from the first angular orientation of the carcass reinforcers, said biasing structure extending in such a way as to partially straddle the carcass ply along the drum central axis in a zone referred to as the “zone of overlap” so that during the shaping operation, the biasing reinforcers interact with the carcass reinforcers so as to modify, in the zone of overlap, the angular orientation of said carcass reinforcers with respect to the circumferential direction of the drum and so that in this way there is obtained a shaped and biased carcass entity,
an automatic control unit which comprises at least a program enabling automatic execution by the machine of a cycle known as a “biased-crown tire manufacturing cycle” which comprises a step (a) of producing a crown entity in the finishing zone, a step (b) of preparing a shaped and biased carcass entity which step comprises a sub-step (b1) of creating a carcass entity in the tire-building zone and then a shaping and biasing sub-step (b2) during which said carcass entity coming from the tire-building zone is shaped and biased in order to obtain a shaped and biased carcass entity, said cycle making provision for the step (a) of producing the crown entity to overlap in time with at least part of the step (b) of preparing the carcass entity so that at least part of the production of the crown entity is performed in parallel with the preparation of the carcass entity, and then finally an assembling step (c) during which, in the assembling zone, the transfer device places and fixes the crown entity on the shaped and biased carcass entity so as to obtain a tire.

2. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the tire-building drum, the transfer device and the shell ring are aligned in this order along the one same rectilinear main guide rail so that the shell ring can move back and forth along said main guide rail from the finishing zone as far as the assembling zone in order to set down the crown entity in the transfer device, whereas the tire-building drum can move back and forth from the tire-building zone as far as the assembling zone to present the shaped carcass entity, in the transfer device, to axially face the crown entity contained in said transfer device.

3. The machine according to claim 1 , it wherein the machine comprises a third conveying system designed to convey a ply referred to as “crown ply”, intended to integrate the between the carcass ply and the tread so as to reinforce said tire, said crown ply for this purpose comprising a layer of elastomeric material which extends in a longitudinal direction, from a head end as far as a tail end, and within which there are filamentary reinforcing elements referred to as “crown ply reinforcers” which are arranged parallel to one another at a predetermined angle referred to as the “crown ply angle” with respect to the longitudinal direction.

4. The machine according to claim 3 , wherein the biasing system uses the crown ply as a biasing structure so that the crown ply reinforcers form the biasing reinforcers, and wherein the third conveying system is for this purpose designed to convey the crown ply into the tire-building zone and to wind said crown ply onto the tire-building drum until the tail end of said crown ply closes onto the head end so as to integrate said crown ply into the carcass entity prior to the shaping operation.

5. The machine according to claim 3 , wherein the third conveying system comprises a feed conveyor which conveys the crown ply into the finishing zone, and a distribution device which is designed to pick up the crown ply conveyed by the feed conveyor in the finishing zone and then transport said crown ply as far as the tire-building drum in the tire-building zone, bypassing the assembling zone and the transfer device thereof.

6. The machine according to claim 5 , wherein the feed conveyor of the third conveying system is designed to be able to collaborate selectively either with the shell ring, in the finishing zone, so as to set down and wind the crown ply on the shell ring and thus integrate said crown ply into the crown entity before said crown entity is transferred and set down by the transfer device on the shaped carcass entity, or with an intermediate roller which belongs to the distribution device and which is mounted with the ability to move between a pickup position, which is situated in the finishing zone and in which said intermediate roller picks up the crown ply from the feed conveyor, and an off-loading position which is situated in the tire building zone and in which said intermediate roller applies the crown ply to the tire-building drum to integrate said crown ply into the carcass entity before the shaping operation.

7. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the biasing system uses, as biasing structure, a biasing sleeve which contains the biasing reinforcers and which forms an integral part of the tire-building drum on which the carcass ply is set down so that said biasing sleeve can act as a reusable biasing structure which interacts temporarily with the carcass entity when the tire-building drum is being radially expanded in order to perform the shaping operation, and is then separated from the tire when said tire is removed from the tire-building drum.

8. The machine according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is associated with a selector making it possible either to activate or to deactivate the biasing system so that the control unit can ma

Assignees

• Michelin & Cie

Inventors

• Robin Vincent

Classifications

• B29D2030/3064

  Details, accessories and auxiliary operations not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• B29D30/0061

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

• B29D30/22

  Breaker plies being applied in the unexpanded state · CPC title

• B29D30/30 Primary

  Applying the layers; Guiding or stretching the layers during application {(applying tread bands to carcasses B29D30/58; retreading B29D30/54)} · CPC title

• B29D30/2607 Primary

  Devices for transferring annular tyre components during the building-up stage, e.g. from the first stage to the second stage building drum · CPC title