Automated Systems in Tire Production

AI-based system for accurately and efficiently detecting defects in vehicle disks using machine learning and imaging techniques. The system involves projecting light at an angle onto moving disks on a conveyor, capturing images, and analyzing them using AI algorithms to determine if the disk is defective. Defective disks are stored separately and non-defective ones are moved to storage. The AI image analysis allows more accurate defect detection compared to manual inspection and shortens production time by quickly separating defective disks.

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A device to uniformly and firmly press sound absorbing material inside tires to reduce tire noise. The device has a fixer to align the tire, a crimping unit with expanding frames, and a motor to lower the crimping unit onto the tire. The frames radially expand to press the inner liner's sound absorber. The expanding frames have connected segments that radially expand/contract. The frames are driven by a servomotor with bevel gears.

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Automated system for filling skived areas on tire carcasses during retreading. The system uses a scanner to analyze the tire surface and identify skived areas. It then determines whether to fill those areas and sends instructions to a filling device to do so. This allows efficient, automated skived area filling during tire retreading.

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Automated system for fixing fasteners with electronic components inside tires. The system has a preparation and fixation installation that allows optimized placement and secure fixation of fasteners inside tires without reducing productivity. The installation has a housing with a fixed and sliding section. The sliding section contains a gripper that engages the fastener center. A deformation actuator moves the gripper between gripping and deforming positions. The installation also has a vacuum control system to hold the fastener. The tire is fed between rollers and a positioning device aligns the fastener. A laser treats surfaces before fixation. The installation trains itself to recognize fastener locations and compare them to targets.

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Efficiently forming and inspecting green tires during tire manufacturing by sequentially moving the forming drum to multiple stations, bonding the tire components at each station, temporarily placing the drum with components at an inspection station to check quality during forming or after completion, and then vulcanizing the green tire. This allows continuous production without idle time between stations while still inspecting the green tire quality.

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Quickly and accurately determining variation in quality of an elongated tire member formed by bonding multiple constituent materials in the longitudinal direction. The method involves continuously scanning the tire section with X-rays as it moves along a conveyor. The X-ray transmittance images are acquired without gaps to create a continuous sequence. By analyzing contrast in each image, the method determines variation in quality across the tire length.

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Reliably detecting the edges of thin tire components like inner liners on a conveyor belt using a system with a recessed measuring slot. The belt has a recessed section between the support areas for the component. A sensor views the slot to measure component height. The recessed section prevents false edge detection from belt textures or irregularities.

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Method and system for manufacturing tires with reduced variation in quality along the longitudinal direction. It involves continuously scanning the tire using X-rays as it's being conveyed, acquiring image data without gaps, calculating quality variation from contrast, and correcting extruder screw speeds based on the variation to even out quality. This allows accurately determining and correcting quality variation without stopping the conveyor or thinning sections.

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Flexible and efficient method to manufacture tires with robotic automation and movable drum stations. The method involves sequentially moving a forming drum body between workstations using robots and a movable placement device. Tire components are bonded and vulcanized on the moving drum. This allows flexible sequential movement between workstations without rigid conveyors. The drum movement path and workstation selection are optimized for specific tire types.

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Automated tire assembly line for two-wheeled electric vehicles that reduces labor costs, improves quality, and increases efficiency compared to manual assembly. The line has separate stations for feeding tires, wheel hubs, brake discs, bolt installation, tire changing, and final assembly. Features like tire stacking, grabbing, rotation, and trademark detection automate tire handling. The line progresses tires through these stations using conveyors and manipulators rather than manual operators.

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Fully automated self-sealing tire production line to reduce labor costs and achieve uniform quality compared to semi-automatic lines. The line has sections for scanning tires, weighing, gluing, cooling, and inspection. A robot transfers the tires between sections. After inspection, passed tires go to output and failed ones to rework. This allows fully automated production of self-sealing tires with consistent quality without manual intervention.

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An automated tire inspection system uses thermal imaging to detect defects without manual inspection or liquid agents. The system captures infrared images of a tire section before and after inflation. Air leaks cause temperature decreases, which are identified by comparing the images to locate defects. The system operates fully automatically with cameras, tire positioners, and inflators.

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A high-efficiency tire assembly system that improves tire production speed and quality by implementing automated tire assembly, inspection, and balancing processes. The system consists of feeding, loading, inspection, cage, and delivery units. The feeding unit feeds tires and rims. The loading unit assembles the tires onto rims. The inspection unit performs initial and reinspection. The cage unit holds assembled tires. The delivery unit balances and sorts the tires. Automated balancing machines inspect static, couple, and dynamic balance. This integrated, automated assembly and balancing system improves efficiency and quality compared to manual assembly.

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Tire defect detection system using machine vision and machine learning to improve tire production efficiency by automating defect detection. The system uses a camera to capture tire images, preprocesses them, and applies a trained detection model like YOLOv5 to identify defects like cracks, scratches, perforations, and air bubbles. This avoids subjective human inspection errors and improves speed compared to manual inspection. The model is optimized using distributed learning to accelerate training.

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A tire mounting machine that uses a movable tool holder carriage with multiple arms and tools to efficiently and precisely mount and demount tires on wheels. The machine has a wheel holder unit and a vertical sliding tool carriage that moves down to operate on the top sidewall of the tire. The carriage has arms with tools that can extend, rotate, and move independently to engage the bead, sidewall, and break the bead.

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A self-sealing tire construction and manufacturing method that allows for easy and cost-effective production of puncture-sealing tires with noise reduction. The tire has a foam layer containing a pre-sealant material that breaks down and seals punctures when the tire is vulcanized. The foam layer also reduces road noise. The foam is made by taking advantage of off-gassing during vulcanization that foams the elastomer around the pre-sealant.

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A drive-over system for measuring tire tread thickness using magnetic sensing to provide automated tire tread depth measurements. The system includes a drive-over surface with embedded magnetic sensors and magnets, protected by a non-magnetic layer. When a vehicle drives over the surface, the magnets generate a magnetic field that is disrupted by the steel belts in the tire's tread. The sensors measure this disruption to determine the thickness of the rubber above the belts.

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Online tire detection method for avoiding bad batches in tire production. The method involves using a panoramic camera to take internal pictures of freshly vulcanized tires as they are unloaded. The images are analyzed using AI to detect defects. If defects are found, the vulcanizing machine is stopped to prevent bad tires from being produced. The camera is fixed below the unloading hand and rotates to capture the entire tire interior. Smoke and light are supplied inside to improve image quality.

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Tire manufacturing method and system that improves tire quality by flexibly optimizing the manufacturing process for each individual tire. The method involves attaching position marks on specific ranges of the long tire body during production. Quality measurements are taken in those marked areas. When molding the green tire, the marks are read to identify the specific tire member being used. The quality data from that area is compared to targets. Manufacturing conditions are then adjusted for the current tire being molded to bring the quality closer to target. This feed-forward optimization. Additionally, when making new long bodies, quality data is collected and conditions adjusted to bring future tire quality closer to target. This feedback optimization. By precisely identifying and adjusting the specific sections of the tire being molded, quality can be improved individually and flexibly for each tire.

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A method of building a tire without an inner liner. The method involves spraying an air barrier material onto the inner surface of the tire after curing. The spraying can be done using automated equipment like an extending nozzle from below the tire. This eliminates the need for a separate inner liner layer and saves cost and weight compared to traditional tires.

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