JP2010012658A - Method and apparatus for post-cure inflation of tire - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for post-cure inflation of a tire, in each of which the vulcanized tire can be efficiently cooled by a small amount of a cooling liquid while facilitating control of the cooling liquid. <P>SOLUTION: The method for post-cure inflation of the tire includes: a tire holding step; a gas supplying step of supplying a gas to the inside of a bladder 10, which is arranged inside the tire T between a pair of rims 8, 9, sealed hermetically in a pouched state and made extendible and contractible, to expand the bladder; a cooling liquid supplying step of supplying the cooling liquid of the amount occupying a part of the internal volume of the bladder to the inside of the expanded bladder 10; a cooling step of rotary-driving a rotary shaft 7 to rotate the held tire T together with the bladder 10 to cool the tire T by the cooling liquid accumulated on the lower inside of the tire T through the bladder 10; and a gas and liquid discharging step. An apparatus for post-cure inflation of the tire is also provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a tire post-cure inflation method and apparatus for cooling a tire vulcanized by a tire vulcanizer while applying an internal pressure.

  For tires that use heat-shrinkable nylon or polyester as reinforcement cords for mainly passenger car radial tires and bias-ply tires, the reinforced cords will shrink if they are allowed to cool naturally after vulcanization in the mold. The predetermined shape as a tire cannot be maintained.

  Therefore, post-cure inflation is performed in which a tire vulcanized by a mold is attached to a post-cure inflator and the tire is cooled while applying internal pressure from the inside to suppress shrinkage of the reinforcing cord and preventing deformation of the tire. .

  In post-cure inflation, if the tire is cooled simply by contact with air, it takes too much cooling time and is inefficient, so various examples of forcibly cooling with cooling water have been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-9848 JP 50-39778 A

Patent Document 1 discloses a method of forcibly cooling a tire by holding the outer surface of the tire after mold vulcanization with a mold and discharging cooling water to the inner surface of the tire.
On the other hand, in Patent Document 2, a tire after mold vulcanization is rotated at high speed independently, cooling water is sprayed on the outer surface and the inner surface, and a post-cure inflation equivalent pressure is applied to the tire by centrifugal force of the cooling water put on the inner surface. A method of acting and cooling at the same time is disclosed.

Both of the water cooling systems disclosed in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 spray cooling water on tires, and it is necessary to deal with water quality control and water splashing. Equipment and time may be required.
Also, cooling water must be continuously sprayed on the tire during post-cure inflation, requiring a large amount of cooling water.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the object of the present invention is to provide a post-cure inflation method and apparatus which can cool the tire easily and efficiently with less coolant.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a tire holding system in which a pair of rims are engaged with a pair of bead portions of a tire vulcanized by a tire vulcanizer, and a rotating shaft holds the tire. A gas supplying step of inflating the bladder by supplying a gas to the inside of the bladder that is sealed between the pair of rims and expandable and contractible inside the tire, and inside the inflated bladder A cooling liquid supplying step for supplying an amount of cooling liquid that occupies a part of the volume of the bladder; and a tire held on the rotating shaft by rotating the rotating shaft and rotating with the bladder, and through the bladder inside the tire A tire post-cure inflation method comprising a cooling step of cooling the tire with the accumulated coolant and a gas-liquid discharge step of discharging the gas and the coolant in the bladder and contracting the bladder.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the tire post-cure inflation method according to the first aspect, the rotating shaft is oriented in a horizontal direction to hold the tire in a vertical posture, and in the cooling step, the tire is bladderd in a vertical posture. It is characterized by rotating together with cooling.

  The invention according to claim 3 is a tire in which a pair of rims are engaged with a pair of bead portions of a tire vulcanized by a tire vulcanizer, and a rotating shaft is oriented horizontally to hold the tire in a vertical posture. A holding step and applying a slight pressure to such an extent that a gas is supplied to the inside of the bladder, which is sealed between the pair of rims inside the tire and can be expanded and contracted, so that the bladder can be inflated to hold the shape. 1 gas supply step, and cooling that supplies the amount of cooling liquid to the inside of the expanded bladder while rotating the tire held on the rotary shaft by rotating the rotary shaft together with the bladder while occupying a part of the bladder internal volume. A liquid supply step, a second gas supply step for supplying gas to a predetermined pressure inside the bladder while rotating the tire together with the bladder, and a rotation of the tire together with the bladder while maintaining the gas inside the bladder at a predetermined pressure. A cooling step of cooling the tire by the bladder inside the cooling liquid, a post cure inflation process of a tire and a liquid discharge step of contracting the bladder to discharge the gas and the cooling fluid in the bladder.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the tire post-cure inflation method according to the second or third aspect, in the cooling liquid supplying step, the cooling liquid supplied to the inside of the bladder has a liquid level at the maximum of the bead toe portion. The amount exceeds the lower position.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the tire post-cure inflation method according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, in the gas-liquid discharge step, the gas in the bladder is discharged and simultaneously the cooling in the bladder is performed. It is characterized by discharging the liquid.

  The invention according to claim 6 is provided between the pair of rims on the inner side of the tire and a rotating shaft that holds and holds the pair of bead portions of the tire vulcanized by the tire vulcanizer. A sealed bladder that can be expanded and contracted, a drive mechanism that rotationally drives the rotating shaft together with the bladder, a gas supply mechanism that supplies gas into the bladder inside the tire, and the inflated bladder 1 is a tire post-cure inflation device including a coolant supply mechanism for supplying a coolant to the interior of the tire.

  A seventh aspect of the invention is the tire post-cure inflation device according to the sixth aspect of the invention, wherein the rotating shaft is oriented in the horizontal direction to hold and rotate the tire in a vertical posture.

  According to the tire post-cure inflation method according to claim 1, the gas is supplied into the bladder inside the tire to inflate the bladder, and further the coolant is supplied into the bladder to embed the reinforcing cord embedded in the tire. The tire is prevented from being deformed by preventing the tire from being deformed, and the tire is rotated together with the bladder to cool the tire by the coolant accumulated through the bladder at the inner lower portion of the tire. The heat absorbing part that is in contact with the bottom surface is dragged by the bladder that rotates with the tire, and the coolant flows, and heat exchange is performed at the part that contacts the gas on the top surface, so that the tire can be cooled efficiently. The coolant to be used does not scatter in the bladder, and it is easy to manage the coolant, and it is necessary to continue supplying the coolant to be used. Ku is a small amount in the corner economically.

  According to the tire post-cure inflation method according to claim 2, the rotating shaft is oriented horizontally to hold the tire in a vertical posture, and in the cooling step, the tire is rotated together with the bladder in the vertical posture to be inside the tire. Since the tire is cooled by the coolant accumulated through the bladder, the tire rotates with the coolant accumulated at the bottom of the bladder inside the vertical tire, so the coolant cools the entire tire uniformly. be able to.

  According to the tire post-cure inflation method according to claim 3, after the tire holding step, the bladder is inflated together with the bladder when the pressure is applied in a short time so that the bladder can be inflated and held in the first gas supply step. The cooling fluid is supplied to the inside of the expanded bladder while rotating so as to occupy a part of the bladder internal volume (cooling fluid supply process), so that the tire is cooled early, and then the tire is bladdered in the second gas supply process. Since the gas is supplied to the inside of the bladder up to a predetermined pressure while rotating together with the tire cooling, the tire is continuously cooled without waiting for the pressure to reach the predetermined pressure, and then cooled in the cooling process in earnest. Therefore, the work time can be greatly shortened and the tires can be cooled more efficiently, and the cooling fluid used can be cooled without being fed and discharged from the bladder. Together with the management is easy and economical requires only a small amount is not necessary to continue supplying cooling liquid to be used.

  According to the tire post-cure inflation method according to claim 4, in the cooling liquid supply step, the amount of the cooling liquid supplied to the inside of the bladder is an amount exceeding the lowest position of the bead toe portion. Reinforcing material can be cooled sufficiently, the efficiency of cooling the tire is the best, and less coolant is used.

  According to the tire post-cure inflation method of the fifth aspect, the working time can be shortened by discharging the gas in the bladder and the cooling liquid in the bladder at the same time in the gas-liquid discharging step.

  According to the tire post-cure inflation device according to claim 6, the bladder is provided inside the tire held on the rotating shaft, and the gas and the coolant are supplied into the bladder by the gas supply mechanism and the coolant supply mechanism. The bladder inflates and pressurizes the entire inner surface of the tire due to an increase in internal pressure to suppress the shrinkage of the reinforcing cord embedded in the tire to prevent the tire from being deformed. The rotation drive mechanism rotates the tire together with the bladder to rotate the tire. The tire can be cooled by the coolant stored in the inner lower part via the bladder, and once supplied, the coolant is stored in the inner lower part of the rotating tire, and the heat absorbing portion that contacts the bottom surface by the bladder rotating with the tire As the coolant is dragged, the coolant flows and heat is exchanged at the part that contacts the gas on the upper surface, so that the tire can be cooled efficiently, Liquid together with a easy to manage without being scattered by supplying and discharging the bladder, which is economically requires a small amount it is not necessary to continue supplying cooling liquid to be used.

  According to the tire post-cure inflation device according to claim 7, the rotation axis is oriented in the horizontal direction so that the tire is held and rotated in a vertical posture, so that the coolant accumulates at the bottom of the bladder inside the tire in the vertical posture. Since the tire rotates in a heated state, the coolant can cool the entire tire uniformly.

Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a post-cure inflator 1 that is a post-cure inflation device according to the present embodiment.

A bottomed inner cylinder 4 protrudes in a horizontal direction from a housing 3 provided on the base 2, and a bottomed outer cylinder 7 that is a horizontal rotation shaft rotates through the bearing 5 on the inner cylinder 4. Freely fitted.
A seal member 6 is interposed between the inner cylinder 4 and the outer cylinder 7 outside the bearing 5 in the axial direction.
A lock member 8 can be fitted to the bottom of the outer cylinder 7.

A tire T vulcanized by a vulcanizer is mounted on the outer periphery of the outer cylinder 7 in a state in which the shape is maintained from the inside due to the expansion of the bladder B.
In the tire T, the inner and outer bead portions Tb are locked by the inner rim 10 and the outer rim 11, and the cylindrical connecting member 12 that connects the inner rim 10 and the outer rim 11 connects the inner and outer edges of the bladder B to the inner rim 10. The bladder B is fixed by being sandwiched between the outer rim 11, closed by the connecting member 12, and the bladder B is inflated while maintaining the internal pressure inside the bladder B to be in pressure contact with the inner surface of the tire T.

The connecting member 12 that supports the tire T via the inner rim 10 and the outer rim 11 has an inner diameter equal to that of the outer cylinder 7 and is fitted to the outer cylinder 7 with its relative rotation being restricted. Together with the bladder B, the outer cylinder 7 and the outer cylinder 7 are rotatably mounted.
The tire T is attached to the outer cylinder 7 at a position where the outer rim 11 is engaged with the lock member 8.

A driven gear 17 is fitted on the inner side of the inner rim 10 on which the outer cylinder 7 is mounted, and a drive gear 16 fitted on a drive shaft of a motor 15 arranged on the base 2 is engaged with the driven gear 17. ing.
Therefore, the outer cylinder 7 is rotated by the drive of the motor 15 through the meshing of the drive gear 16 and the driven gear 17.

  A communication space 20 is formed between the bottom end of the inner cylinder 4 inserted into the outer cylinder 7 and rotatably supporting the outer cylinder 7 and the outer rim 8, and the communication space 20 and the inside of the bladder B are connected to each other. A plurality of communicating holes 21 communicating with each other are formed in the circumferential direction by drilling the outer cylinder 7 and the connecting member 12.

A circular hole 4 a is formed at the bottom of the tip of the inner cylinder 4, and a pipe 23 having a tip connected to the circular hole 4 a is disposed in the inner cylinder 4.
A switching valve 24 is provided at the other end of the pipe 23.

  The switching valve 24 is connected to a pneumatic supply pipe 30p of the pneumatic supply mechanism 30, a cooling water supply pipe 31p of the cooling water supply mechanism 31, and a gas-liquid discharge pipe 35p of the gas-liquid discharge mechanism 35. Any one of the air pressure supply pipe 30p, the cooling water supply pipe 31p, and the gas-liquid discharge pipe 35p selectively communicates with the pipe 23.

Therefore, when the switching valve 24 is set so that the air pressure supply pipe 30p communicates with the pipe 23, the air pressure supply mechanism 30 can supply air pressure into the bladder B through the pipe 23, the communication space 20, and the communication hole 21.
If the switching valve 24 is set so that the cooling water supply pipe 31p communicates with the pipe 23, the cooling water supply mechanism 31 supplies the cooling water to the inside of the bladder B through the pipe 23, the communication space 20, and the communication hole 21. Can do.

  Further, when the switching valve 24 is set so that the gas-liquid discharge pipe 35p communicates with the pipe 23, the gas-liquid discharge mechanism 35 causes the air and cooling water inside the bladder B to pass through the pipe 23, the communication space 20, and the communication hole 21. Can be sucked and discharged simultaneously.

The post-cure inflator 1 has a structure as described above, and the operation procedure will be described below with reference to FIGS.
First, in the tire holding step, the tire T vulcanized by the vulcanizer is mounted on the outer cylinder 7 as described above in a state where the connecting member 12 is supported via the inner rim 10 and the outer rim 11. Then, the lock member 8 is fitted and fixed (see FIG. 2).
As shown in FIG. 2, the tire T is held on the outer cylinder 7 in a vertical posture.

Next, in the first gas supply step, as shown in FIG. 3, the switching valve 24 is set so that the air pressure supply pipe 30p communicates with the pipe 23, and the air pressure is supplied into the bladder B by the air pressure supply mechanism 30. A slight pressure is applied so that the shape can be maintained by expanding.
In the first gas supply step, the working time is short because only a slight pressure is applied for a time that is extremely short enough to maintain the shape of the bladder.

  Then, in the next coolant supply step, the motor 15 is driven to rotate the outer cylinder 7, and while switching the bladder B and the tire T in the vertical posture together with the outer cylinder 7, the switching valve 24 is switched to cool water The supply pipe 31p is set to communicate with the pipe 23, and the cooling water is supplied into the bladder B by the cooling water supply mechanism 31 as shown in FIGS.

  The cooling water is supplied to the inside of the bladder B that is rotated while maintaining its shape until the liquid level exceeds the lowest position of the bead toe part at the tip of the bead part Tb, and the cooling water is supplied to this position. The reinforcing material of the tire T can be sufficiently cooled.

While the cooling water is supplied, the tire T in the vertical posture rotates together with the bladder B, and the supplied cooling water uniformly cools the entire tire T.
In this way, uniform cooling of the entire tire T is already started in the coolant supply process.

  When the cooling water is supplied until the liquid level exceeds the lowest position of the bead toe at the tip of the bead Tb in the cooling liquid supply process, the switching valve 24 is switched and the air pressure supply pipe 30p communicates with the pipe 23. The second gas supply process is entered after setting.

In the second gas supply step, the air pressure is supplied to the inside of the bladder B up to a predetermined pressure by the air pressure supply mechanism 30 as shown in FIGS.
By further increasing the internal pressure of the bladder B to a predetermined pressure, the bladder B can be pressed against the entire inner surface of the tire T to suppress the shrinkage of the reinforcing cord and reliably prevent the tire from being deformed.

  Also in the second gas supply step, the motor 15 is driven to continue the rotation of the bladder B and the tire T in the vertical posture together with the outer cylinder 7, and the entire tire T is maintained while the internal pressure of the bladder B rises to a predetermined pressure. Uniform cooling is performed.

When the internal pressure of the bladder B reaches a predetermined pressure, the cooling process is continued.
That is, in the cooling process, the internal pressure of the bladder B is maintained at a predetermined pressure, and the tire T is fully cooled by the cooling water supplied into the bladder B while the tire T is rotated together with the bladder B. Inflation is done.

As shown in FIG. 7, since cooling water is accumulated in the lower portion of the tire T in the vertical posture via the bladder B, when the tire T rotates together with the bladder B, the cooling accumulated in the inner lower portion of the tire T. The water absorbs the heat-absorbing portion that contacts the bottom surface by the bladder B that rotates together with the tire T, the cooling water flows, heat is exchanged at the portion that contacts the gas on the top surface, and the tire can be cooled efficiently.
The entire tire T can be uniformly cooled by the rotation of the tire T in the vertical posture.

  Therefore, the tire T can be efficiently cooled with a limited amount of cooling water, the working time can be shortened, and it is not necessary to continuously supply the cooling water, which is economical.

  In the gas supply, it takes time until the internal pressure of the bladder B reaches a sufficient predetermined pressure. In particular, in the post-cure inflation method according to the present embodiment, the first gas supply step and the second gas supply step are performed. The cooling that is supplied while rotating the tire T in the vertical posture immediately after entering the coolant supply step immediately after the first gas supply step in which the bladder is inflated and the fine pressure is applied so as to maintain the shape. The tire T starts to be cooled uniformly with water, and during the second gas supply process in which the internal pressure of the next bladder B is further increased to a predetermined pressure, the tire T continues to be uniformly cooled while rotating the tire T. By entering the cooling process, the working time is greatly reduced.

After post-cure inflation, the switching valve 24 is switched to a setting in which the gas-liquid discharge pipe 35p communicates with the pipe 23, and the air and cooling water inside the bladder B are supplied by the gas-liquid discharge mechanism 35 as shown in FIG. At the same time, suction and discharge (gas-liquid discharge process).
As the bladder B contracts, most of the cooling water in the bladder B is sucked and discharged, and the cooling water remaining in the bladder B is small.

Here, the bladder B may be rotated together with the tire T, and the cooling water remaining in the lower portion of the contracted bladder B is easily transferred to the communication space 20 and discharged, so that the cooling water remaining in the bladder B is further reduced. Can do.
Thereafter, the lock member 8 is removed and the tire T is removed together with the bladder B and the connecting member 12 to prepare for the post cure inflation of the next tire T.

As described above, the present post-cure inflation method can efficiently cool the tire T with a small amount of cooling water, can greatly reduce the working time, and is economical.
Further, since the cooling water is supplied into the bladder B, the scattering of the cooling water is prevented and the water management is easy, and the post-cure inflator 1 does not require water management equipment.

It is a schematic block diagram of the post-cure inflator which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is principal part sectional drawing of the post-cure inflator which shows the tire holding process in this post-cure inflation method. It is the principal part sectional drawing which shows a 1st gas supply process. It is the principal part sectional drawing which shows a cooling fluid supply process. It is another principal part sectional drawing which shows the same coolant supply process. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows a 2nd gas supply process. It is another principal part sectional drawing which shows the said 2nd gas supply process. It is principal part sectional drawing which shows a gas-liquid discharge process.

Explanation of symbols

T ... tyre, B ... Blada,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Post-cure inflator, 2 ... Base, 3 ... Housing, 4 ... Inner cylinder, 5 ... Bearing, 6 ... Seal member, 7 ... Outer cylinder, 8 ... Lock member,
10 ... Inner rim, 11 ... Outer rim, 12 ... Connecting member,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Motor, 16 ... Drive gear, 17 ... Drive gear, 20 ... Communication space, 21 ... Communication hole, 23 ... Pipe, 30 ... Air pressure supply mechanism, 31 ... Cooling water supply mechanism, 35 ... Gas-liquid discharge mechanism

Claims (7)

A tire holding step in which a pair of rims engage a pair of bead portions of a tire vulcanized by a tire vulcanizer and the rotating shaft holds the tire; and
A gas supply step of expanding the bladder by supplying gas to the inside of the bladder, which is sealed in a bag-like shape that is provided between the pair of rims on the inner side of the tire;
A coolant supply step for supplying coolant into the expanded bladder in an amount occupying a part of the bladder internal volume;
A cooling step of rotating the rotating shaft and rotating the tire held on the rotating shaft together with a bladder and cooling the tire with a coolant accumulated inside the tire via the bladder;
A tire post-cure inflation method comprising: a gas-liquid discharge step of discharging gas and cooling liquid in the bladder and contracting the bladder. The rotating shaft is oriented in the horizontal direction to hold the tire in a vertical posture,
The tire post-cure inflation method according to claim 1, wherein in the cooling step, the tire is rotated together with the bladder in a vertical posture to be cooled. A tire holding step in which a pair of rims are engaged with a pair of bead portions of a tire vulcanized by a tire vulcanizer, and a rotating shaft is oriented horizontally to hold the tire in a vertical posture;
A first gas supply step of applying a slight pressure to such an extent that a gas is supplied to the inside of the bladder, which is sealed between the pair of rims inside the tire and can be expanded and contracted, so that the bladder can be inflated to maintain its shape. When,
A cooling liquid supplying step of supplying a quantity of cooling liquid to the inside of the expanded bladder while rotating a tire held on the rotating shaft by rotating the rotating shaft together with a bladder;
A second gas supply step of supplying gas to a predetermined pressure inside the bladder while rotating the tire together with the bladder;
A cooling step in which the tire is rotated together with the bladder while the gas inside the bladder is maintained at a predetermined pressure, and the tire is cooled by a coolant inside the bladder;
A tire post-cure inflation method comprising: a gas-liquid discharge step of discharging gas and cooling liquid in the bladder and contracting the bladder.   4. The tire post according to claim 2, wherein the coolant supplied to the inside of the bladder in the coolant supply step has an amount of liquid that exceeds the lowest position of the bead toe portion. Cure inflation method.   The tire post-cure inflation method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in the gas-liquid discharging step, the gas in the bladder is discharged and simultaneously the cooling liquid in the bladder is discharged. A rotating shaft that holds and holds a pair of bead portions of a tire vulcanized by a tire vulcanizer by a pair of rims;
A bladder that is sealed in a bag shape and stretchable between the pair of rims inside the tire; and
A rotational drive mechanism for rotationally driving the rotational shaft together with the bladder;
A gas supply mechanism for supplying gas into the bladder inside the tire;
A tire post-cure inflation device, comprising: a coolant supply mechanism that supplies coolant to the inside of the expanded bladder.   The tire post-cure inflation device according to claim 6, wherein the rotating shaft is oriented in a horizontal direction to hold and rotate the tire in a vertical posture.

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