JP2006214865A - Conveying/holding device for tire - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a conveying/holding device for a tire capable of conveying a tire smoothly into a testing machine, capable of filling air smoothly into the conveyed-in tire, and capable of carrying out the tire smoothly from the testing machine after finishing a test. <P>SOLUTION: This conveying/holding device for the tire for clamping the tire T by rims 4, 5 split vertically, and applied in the testing machine for testing the tire T while the tire T is filled with the air, has a holding arm 7 for holding the tire conveyed in on the testing machine 1, from an outer circumferential face side. The holding arm 7 holds the tire T until the air is finished to be filled in the tire T while the tire T is clamped from upper and under sides by the upper and under rims 4, 5, and releases the holding after the air is filled in the tire. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a tire transport / holding device, and more particularly, to a tire transport / holding device applied to a testing machine that performs a test in a state where a tire is sandwiched between upper and lower rims and the tire is filled with air. .

  When performing a tire uniformity test or dynamic balance test, a tire laid horizontally is sandwiched between rims from above and below and the tire is filled with air (inflated). And if the testing machine is incorporated into the processing process that performs the flow work, the tire from the previous process is loaded onto the testing machine, the loaded tire is sandwiched by the rim from above and below, the tire is inflated, and the test After that, the tire air is discharged, the rim is removed, and the tire is carried out to a subsequent process.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a conveying device that loads a tire into a testing machine incorporated during a flow operation process and unloads the tire after the test is completed is configured by a large number of conveying rollers (roller conveyors). A large number of conveying rollers are provided on the upstream side and the downstream side of the testing machine and in the testing machine as seen in the tire conveying direction. Then, the tire moved on the transport roller on the upstream side moves to the transport roller of the test machine, and the transport roller of the test machine is lowered, so that the tire is received by the lower rim, and the transport roller lowered. Evacuates downward, then the upper rim descends and the tire is sandwiched between the upper and lower rims. The tire is then inflated and tested.

After the test is completed, the upper rim moves upward and away from the tire, the transport roller of the testing machine moves upward to lift the tire from the lower rim, and the transport roller rolls to move the tire to the downstream transport roller And carry it out. (For example, refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-329658)
JP 2000-329658 A

  A tire transport device applied to a conventional tire testing machine is composed of a large number of transport rollers (roller conveyors), but the transport rollers provided in the test machine move up and down with respect to the test machine. In order not to collide with the rim (especially the lower rim) provided in the testing machine, the transport roller cannot be arranged in the center portion in plan view. In other words, a large number of transport rollers (roller conveyors) of the testing machine must be roller conveyors in which a space is formed in the center in plan view. For this reason, when a tire that is carried in from the upstream side is carried into the center on the testing machine, there is no conveyance roller in the center of the roller conveyor, so the tire is moved straight and stopped at the center on the testing machine. There was a drawback that it was difficult. Moreover, when carrying out a tire, since there was no conveyance roller in the center part of a roller conveyor, there existed a problem that a tire might not be carried out smoothly.

  Furthermore, when the roller conveyor of the test machine is lowered, the tire is received by the lower rim, and then the upper rim is lowered to pinch the tire. At that time, since the tire is not filled with air, the tire is received by the lower rim. The tire as a whole is slightly slackened downward, and a slight gap remains between the upper rim that has been lowered to a predetermined position and the upper side surface of the tire. When trying to inflate the tire in this state, there is a problem that the air leaks from the gap between the tire and the upper rim, and it takes a long time to inflate or cannot be inflated.

In order to solve such a problem relating to inflation, for example, it has been necessary to add a configuration in which air is supplied from above the tire to the gap between the tire and the upper rim to compensate for inflation.
The present invention has been made based on such a technical background. A tire is sandwiched between upper and lower rims, and a new tire transport and holding applied to a testing machine for testing in a state where the tire is inflated. The main purpose is to provide

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tire transport / holding device that can smoothly carry a tire into a testing machine and can smoothly fill the tire that has been carried in.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a tire transport / holding device that can smoothly carry out a tire after a test from a testing machine.
The configuration of the present invention for achieving these objects can be realized by the description of claims 1-7.

  The invention according to claim 1 of the present application is a tire transport / holding device applied to a test machine for performing a test in a state where a tire is sandwiched between upper and lower rims and the tire is filled with air. The holding means for holding the tire carried on the machine from the outer peripheral surface side, the holding means holds the tire until the tire is sandwiched from above and below by the rim, and the tire has been filled with air, A tire conveying / holding device, wherein the holding is released after air is filled in the tire.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the holding means can move up and down in order to mount the held tire on the rim and release it from the rim. It is a holding device.
The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the holding means has a centering function for aligning the center of the held tire with the center of the rim, and the tire conveying / holding device according to claim 1 or 2. It is.

The invention according to claim 4 is provided on the upstream side of the test machine as viewed in the tire conveyance direction, and the tire is placed on the upper surface, and the tire is moved in the conveyance direction in a state where the tire is loaded, and the tire is placed on the test machine. The tire conveying / holding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a carrying-in roller conveyor for carrying in the tire.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the carry-in roller conveyor prevents the tire on the tip side (downstream in the transport direction) from moving in the transport direction, and stops the tire at the center in the width direction of the roller conveyor. The tire transport / holding device according to claim 4, further comprising an openable / closable stopper.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, after the test by the testing machine is completed, the holding means is moved horizontally from the downstream side in the conveying direction to the lower side of the tire held again, and the holding means releases the holding to receive the tire. The tire transport / holding device according to claim 1, further comprising unloading means for unloading the tire from the test machine in the transfer direction.
A seventh aspect of the present invention is the tire conveying / holding device according to the sixth aspect, wherein the carry-out means includes a roller conveyor or a belt conveyor that can reciprocate back and forth in the conveying direction.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the tire carried onto the testing machine is held by the holding means, the rim is set from above and below while being held, and the tire is filled with air while being held. . Therefore, there is no phenomenon in which the tire is placed on the lower rim, the tire is slightly bent downward by its own weight, and a gap is not generated between the upper rim and the tire. The tire is held by holding means, lowered to a predetermined position and set on the lower rim, and the upper rim is lowered in this state. Thus, the lower and upper portions of the tire are engaged with the lower rim and the upper rim, respectively, and the tire is well inflated when air is supplied into the tire. Since the holding means is released after the inflation, the mounting of the tire to the testing machine and the inflation of the air are performed smoothly and satisfactorily.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the loaded tire can be mounted on the lower rim and released from the lower rim by the holding means.
In the invention of claim 3, when the tire is set on the rim, the tire held by the holding means can be centered so as to be aligned with the center of the rim, and the positional relationship between the rim and the tire is not shifted.

In the invention of claim 4, the tire is placed on the carry-in roller conveyor, and the carry-in roller conveyor itself moves in the transport direction, whereby the tire is carried onto the testing machine.
Therefore, the tire can be carried in smoothly and accurately.
In the invention of claim 5, since the tire placed on the carry-in roller conveyor is correctly stopped at the predetermined position of the carry-in roller conveyor by the stopper, the carry-in roller conveyor carrying the tire moves in the carry-in direction. Thus, the tire can be correctly carried into a predetermined position on the testing machine. As a result, the loaded tire can accurately hold the loaded tire.

In the invention of claim 6, the tire after completion of the test is held again by the holding means and given to the carrying-out means. The carry-out means enters the test machine from the downstream side in the transport direction, receives the tire held by the holding means, moves in the transport direction, and carries the tire from the test machine. Since the tire is carried out by the movement of the carrying-out means, the tire can be reliably carried out.
In the invention of claim 7, since the carrying-out means is constituted by a roller conveyor or a belt conveyor, after carrying out the tire from the testing machine, it is possible to easily carry the carried-out tire to a subsequent process.

As described above, according to the present invention, a tire is set with respect to a testing machine, air is blown into the tire to perform a test, and when the tire is unloaded from the testing machine, the tire can be carried in satisfactorily. It is possible to provide a tire transport / holding device that can be set in a test machine, inflated with air, and that can successfully carry out a tested tire.
As a testing machine to which the tire conveyance / holding device of the present invention can be applied, for example, a tire dynamic balance testing machine can be used. Moreover, it can be set as the testing machine which performs a uniformity test of a tire. Or it can also be set as the combined type testing machine which performs both a uniformity test and a dynamic balance test of a tire.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIGS. 1-9 is a figure for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system for tires by which the conveyance / holding apparatus of the tire which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention was employ | adopted. A) is a plan view, and (B) is a front view.
First, the configuration of the tire dynamic balance testing machine system will be described with reference to FIG.

In this dynamic balance testing machine system, a tire dynamic balance testing machine 1 is arranged at the center in the left-right direction in the figure, and a loading device 2 is arranged on the upstream side (left side in the figure) in the conveyance direction, and downstream in the conveyance direction. A marking device 3 is disposed on the right side in the figure.
The specific configuration of the dynamic balance testing machine 1 is omitted in the drawing, and only the upper rim 4 and the lower rim 5 for holding the tire from above and below are shown. A specific configuration of the dynamic balance testing machine 1 is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-161438 according to the prior application of the present applicant.

In this system, a holding means 6 is incorporated in the dynamic balance testing machine 1. The holding means 6 includes two pairs of holding arms 7 and an elevating mechanism 8 for moving the holding arms 7 up and down.
The carry-in device 2 includes a roller conveyor 10 provided on the base frame 9. The roller conveyor 10 moves a plurality of rollers 11 arranged in the horizontal direction, a drive source (not shown) for rotationally driving these rollers, and the whole of the plurality of rollers 11 back and forth in the transport direction (left and right in the figure). And a moving mechanism 12 for the purpose. Further, the carry-in device 2 is provided in the base frame 9 for stopping a tire moving on the plurality of rollers 11 in the conveying direction (right direction in the drawing) and stopping at the center in the width direction of the roller conveyor 10. A pair of stopper arms 13 is provided. The stopper arm 13 can rotate between a closed position where the tire T shown in FIG. 1 can be stopped and an open position shown in FIG.

  The marking device 3 is a device for indicating the unbalanced angular position and the unbalanced amount for the tire after completion of the dynamic balance test. The marking device 3 incorporates a carry-out mechanism 14. The carry-out mechanism 14 includes a belt conveyor 15 extending in the horizontal direction and a moving base 16 that can reciprocate the entire belt conveyor 15 backward and forward in the conveying direction.

The above is the schematic configuration of this dynamic balance testing machine system. Next, the operation of the system will be described along the processing procedure of the tire T.
Referring to FIG. 1, tire T is supplied from a device in a previous process (not shown) to carry-in device 2 from the left side in the drawing. The roller conveyor 10 of the carry-in device 2 drives the plurality of rollers 11 to rotate, and moves the supplied tire T on the rollers 11 from the left to the right in the drawing. At this time, the stopper arm 13 is closed, and the tire T moved rightward on the roller 11 is stopped by the stopper arm 13. At that time, since the stopper arm 13 is closed obliquely in the traveling direction of the tire T, the tire T is stopped by the stopper arm 13 so as to be in the center in the width direction of the roller conveyor 10. After the tire T stops, the rotation of the roller 11 is stopped.

Referring to FIG. 2, the stopper arm 13 is then opened, and the entire roller conveyor 10 is moved by the moving mechanism 12 in the transport direction (right direction in the figure). Thus, the tire T placed on the roller conveyor 10 is carried onto the dynamic balance testing machine 1. After carrying in, the holding arm 7 is closed to hold the tire T from the outer peripheral surface side.
Referring to FIG. 3, thereafter, roller conveyor 10 moves rearward in the conveying direction (leftward in the figure) and returns to the initial position shown in FIG. Then, the stopper arm 13 is closed. In FIG. 3 and subsequent figures (B), the stopper arm 13 is not shown.

Even if the roller conveyor 10 returns to the rear in the conveying direction, the tire T is held by the holding arm 7 and does not fall.
Next, referring to FIG. 4, the holding arm 7 is lowered to a predetermined position while the tire T is held by the elevating mechanism 8. The predetermined position is a position where the lower side (lower side surface) of the tire T is engaged with the lower rim 5.

  In the dynamic balance testing machine 1 according to this embodiment, as will be described later, the lower rim 5 is moved up and down in advance according to the width, diameter, and flatness of the tire to be subjected to the dynamic balance test, and has a predetermined height position. Has been. The holding arm 7 is lowered with respect to the lower rim 5 at the predetermined height position, and the lower side surface of the tire T held by the holding arm 7 is engaged with the lower rim 5.

Referring to FIG. 5, the upper rim 4 is then lowered. The upper rim 4 is always lowered to a certain position regardless of the tire size or the like. However, since the lower rim 5 is adjusted to a predetermined height according to the tire size, the upper rim 4 lowered to a certain position is the upper side surface of the tire T held by the holding arm 7. Engage correctly.
Even when the lower rim 5 and the upper rim 4 are engaged with the tire T and the tire T is sandwiched between the upper and lower rims 4 and 5, the holding of the tire by the holding arm 7 is continued.

Then, the tire T is inflated while being held by the holding arm 7. At the time of inflation, the lower rim 5 and the upper rim 4 of the tire T are correctly engaged with the lower rim 5 and the upper rim 4, respectively. And good inflation.
Referring to FIG. 6, after the inflation of tire T is completed, holding arm 7 is opened, and the holding of tire T is released. In this state, the tire T is held by the upper rim 4 and the lower rim 5, and the dynamic balance test is performed in this state.

Referring to FIG. 5 again, after completion of the dynamic balance test, the holding arm 7 is closed, and the tire T is held by the holding arm 7 again.
Referring to FIG. 4 again, after the tire T is held by the holding arm 7, the upper rim 4 is displaced upward and removed from the tire T.
Referring to FIG. 7, the holding arm 7 is then lifted by the lifting mechanism 8, and the tire T is removed from the lower rim 5.

In parallel with these processes, the next tire T to be inspected is supplied to the carry-in device 2. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the tire T that has been processed by the marking device 3 is carried out downstream by driving the belt conveyor 15, and as shown in FIG. 7, the belt conveyor of the carry-out mechanism 14 is carried out. On 15, the marked tire T is not present.
Referring to FIG. 8, the entire transport mechanism 14 is then moved rearward in the transport direction (leftward in the figure) by the moving base 16, and the belt conveyor 15 is inserted below the tire T held by the holding arm 7. The

Referring to FIG. 9, the holding arm 7 is then opened to release the holding of the tire T, and the tire T is received by the belt conveyor 15.
Referring again to FIG. 1, the carry-out mechanism 14 on which the tire T is loaded is moved in the conveyance direction (right direction in the drawing) by the moving base 16, and the tire T on the belt conveyor 15 is moved by the marking device 3. It is arranged at a position where it can be marked.

By repeating the above operation, a dynamic balance test is performed on the tires T that are sequentially supplied, and the unbalanced angular position and amount obtained as a result of the test are displayed on the tire T by the marking device 3. It is carried out to the process.
FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the tire T held by the holding arm 7 is sandwiched between the lower rim 5 and the upper rim 4. As shown in FIG. 10, the tire T is held by the holding arm 7, and is lowered so that the lower side surface of the tire T is correctly engaged with the lower rim 5. Therefore, the upper rim 4 also properly engages with the upper side surface of the tire T. In addition, according to the diameter (inner diameter) and width of the tire T, the upper rim 4 and the lower rim 5 have a plurality of rim portions having different diameters in a stepped manner so that different rim portions engage with the tire. Is provided.

However, as described in the problems of the prior art, there are the following problems when the tire T is not held by the holding arm 7.
FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a state in which the tire T is engaged with the lower rim 5 to release the holding by the holding arm, and then the upper rim 4 is lowered. As shown in FIG. 11, when the tire T is engaged with the lower rim 5 and supported by the lower rim 5 alone, the elastic tire is slightly distorted downward by its own weight, and the upper side surface is correctly aligned with the upper rim. 4 may not be engaged. For this reason, when trying to inflate air into the tire T, there is a problem that air leaks from the gap between the upper side surface of the tire and the upper rim 4 and it takes time to inflate or cannot be inflated. .

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, in this embodiment, since the tire T is inflated while being held by the holding arm 7, the lower side surface and the upper side surface of the tire T are respectively formed on the lower rim 5. And it is correctly engaged with the upper rim 4, and there is no fear of air leaking during inflation.
After completion of the inflation, as shown in FIG. 12, the inflated tire swells outward, and the tire and the upper rim 4 and the lower rim 5 are firmly fitted.

Next, the configuration of the dynamic balance tester 1 in the tire dynamic balance tester system described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9 will be described.
FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the tire dynamic balance testing machine 1.
The dynamic balance testing machine 1 includes a base frame 80, a rotating shaft 82 that is supported on the base frame 80 by a spring 81 so as to vibrate, a motor 83 fixed to the base frame 80, and a driving force of the motor 83 as a rotational force. A pulley 84 and a belt 85 necessary for transmitting to the rotation 82 and rotating the rotation shaft 82 are provided.

The rotating shaft 82 is arranged in the vertical direction, and the lower rim 5 of the tire holding device 86 is attached to the upper portion thereof. The tire holding device 86 includes the rotating shaft 82, the lower rim 5, the upper rim 4 disposed vertically above the lower rim 5, and an air supply unit 87 provided on the side of the lower rim 5. Yes.
The upper rim 4 is attached to the upper part of the base frame 80 and can be moved up and down in the vertical direction by a pneumatic cylinder 88. When attaching / detaching the tire for the dynamic balance test, the upper rim 4 is raised as described above. In this state, as already described, the tire (not shown) is laid down in the horizontal direction and held by the holding arm, and the lower side surface is engaged with the lower rim 5. Then, the upper rim 4 is lowered and the upper rim is engaged with the upper side surface of the tire. In this state, air is supplied through an air supply path (not shown) formed in the rotary shaft 82, and the tire is inflated. After the inflation, the holding arm releases the tire and the motor 83 rotates the rotating shaft 82. As the rotary shaft 82 rotates, the lower rim 5 and the upper rim 4 also rotate with the tire. If there is vibration in the rotating body including the rotating tire, the vibration is detected by the pickups 89 and 90. Based on the value, the dynamic imbalance of the tire is calculated.

The air supply unit 87 is fitted to the base frame 80 and can slide up and down with respect to the mounting portion 21. When the lower rim 5 moves in the vertical direction with respect to the rotation shaft 82, the air supply unit 87 can move in the vertical direction along with the movement.
In the tire holding device 86, the lower rim 5 can be displaced vertically with respect to the rotation shaft 82. That is, the position of the lower rim 5 with respect to the rotating shaft 82 can be changed up and down in half-inch units in accordance with the width and inner diameter of the tire to be subjected to the dynamic balance test. The upper rim 4 is engaged with the upper side surface of the tire by always descending to the same position regardless of the width and the inner diameter.

Thereby, even if the width of the tire to be subjected to the dynamic balance test is changed, the movement control for raising and lowering the upper rim 4 may always be the same control, and the configuration for raising and lowering the upper rim 4 can be extremely simplified. There is.
The vertical displacement of the lower rim 5 with respect to the rotating shaft 82 can be easily performed using a motor 83 for dynamic balance test.

A more specific configuration of the dynamic balance testing machine 1 is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-161438, which is a prior application of the applicant of the present application, as described above. And redundant description here will be omitted.
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims.

For example, the carry-out mechanism 14 incorporated in the marking device 3 is configured to include the belt conveyor 15, but may be a roller conveyor instead of the belt conveyor.
In the above-described embodiment, the testing machine has been described as a dynamic balance testing machine. However, the testing machine is not limited to a dynamic balancing testing machine, and other testing machines that perform a test by inflating a tire, for example, It can also be applied to a uniformity testing machine. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a combined testing machine capable of testing both tire uniformity and dynamic balance with a single machine.

It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is (A) top view and (B) front view for demonstrating the structure and operation | movement of the dynamic balance testing machine system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a state where a tire T held by a holding arm 7 is mounted on a lower rim 5 and an upper rim 4. FIG. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state in which the tire is received by the lower rim 5 and is not held by the holding arm, and the upper rim is mounted in that state. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing a state where air is inflated in a tire sandwiched between a lower rim 5 and an upper rim 4. 1 is an overall schematic diagram showing a more specific configuration of a dynamic balance testing machine 1. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dynamic balance testing machine 2 Carry-in apparatus 3 Marking apparatus 4 Upper rim 5 Lower rim 6 Holding means 7 Holding arm 8 Lifting mechanism 9 Base frame 10 Roller conveyor 11 Roller 12 Moving mechanism 13 Stopper arm 14 Unloading mechanism 15 Belt conveyor 16 Moving base T tire

Claims (7)

A tire transport / holding device applied to a testing machine that sandwiches a tire between upper and lower rims and performs a test in a state where the tire is filled with air,
Holding means for holding the tire carried on the test machine from the outer peripheral surface side;
The holding means holds the tire until the tire is sandwiched from above and below by the rim, and the tire is completely filled with air, and releases the holding after the air is filled into the tire. Transport / holding device.   2. The tire conveying / holding device according to claim 1, wherein the holding means can move up and down in order to mount the held tire on the rim and to release the tire from the rim.   3. The tire conveying / holding device according to claim 1, wherein the holding means has a centering function for aligning the center of the held tire with the center of the rim.   A roller conveyor for loading that is provided on the upstream side of the test machine as seen in the tire transport direction, moves the tire on the upper surface, moves in the transport direction with the tire on, and carries the tire onto the test machine. The tire conveying / holding device according to claim 1, wherein the tire conveying / holding device is provided.   The carrying-in roller conveyor has an openable / closable stopper for preventing the tire on the tip side (downstream in the transport direction) from moving in the transport direction and stopping the tire at the center in the width direction of the roller conveyor. The tire conveying / holding device according to claim 4, wherein   After the test by the testing machine is completed, the holding means is moved horizontally from the downstream side in the conveying direction to the lower side of the held tire, and the holding means releases the holding to receive the tire and conveys the tire from above the testing machine. The tire conveying / holding device according to claim 1, further comprising unloading means for unloading in the direction.   7. The tire conveying / holding device according to claim 6, wherein the unloading means includes a roller conveyor or a belt conveyor that can reciprocate back and forth in the conveying direction.

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