JP2017094613A - Postcure inflation device and tire cooling method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a tire cooling technique capable of shortening a cooling time of a tire in a PCI step.SOLUTION: A postcure inflation device for compressing and cooling a tire just after the curing comprises: a postcure inflation body part for holding the tire just after the curing in an inflation state; and a chamber which can be opened and closed freely for storing the tire which is held on the postcure inflation body part in the inflation state. The postcure inflation device further comprises on the postcure inflation body part, a first injection hole for injecting a cooling medium from the outside of the chamber into the inside of the tire held in the inflation state and a first discharge hole for discharging the cooling medium to the outside of the chamber from the inside of the tire, and on the chamber, a second injection hole for injecting the cooling medium from the outside of the chamber into the chamber which stores the tire, and a second discharge hole for discharging the cooling medium from the inside of the chamber to the outside of the chamber.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a post-cure inflation apparatus that pressurizes and cools a tire immediately after vulcanization, and a tire cooling method using the post-cure inflation apparatus.

  In pneumatic tires (hereinafter, also simply referred to as “tires”), organic fiber cords such as polyamide and polyester are widely used as cords for ply materials constituting the tire skeleton.

  However, in the tire manufacturing process, when the vulcanized high-temperature tire taken out from the vulcanizing mold is naturally cooled as it is, these organic fiber cords are greatly contracted to deform the tire and impair the tire uniformity. Problems arise.

  Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 5, a vulcanized tire taken out from a vulcanization mold is mounted on a post-cure inflation device (hereinafter also referred to as “PCI device”) to be cooled. In FIG. 5, 51 is a PCI device, 52 is an upper mold rim, 54 is a lower mold rim, and 56 is a support shaft. In FIG. 5, two pairs of the upper rim 52 and the lower rim 54 are provided on one support shaft 56, so that two tires T can be held.

  Specifically, while maintaining the inflation state in which the tire T that has been mounted is filled with compressed air and the tire shape is properly maintained, the temperature is reduced below the temperature at which the shrinkage of the organic fiber cord subsides (usually 100 ° C. or lower, preferably 80 ° C. or lower). It is allowed to cool naturally until

  However, the above-described conventional method is natural cooling and requires a long cooling time. For this reason, in recent years, a reduction in cooling time in the PCI process has been demanded from the viewpoint of improving tire production efficiency.

  Therefore, as a method for shortening the cooling time in the PCI process, a cooling medium is sprayed and cooled on the inner side of the tire T mounted on the PCI device (Patent Document 1), or a sealing contacting the sidewall portion of the tire T. There has been proposed a method (Patent Document 2) in which cooling water is allowed to flow through a space and cooled from the outside of the tire.

JP 2013-126726 A JP 2012-218243 A

  However, in these methods, the cooling time has not been sufficiently shortened, and a tire cooling technique that can further reduce the cooling time has been desired.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a tire cooling technique capable of shortening the tire cooling time in the PCI process as compared with the conventional technique.

  The inventor has intensively studied and found that the above-described problems can be solved by the invention described below, and has completed the present invention.

The invention described in claim 1
A post-cure inflation device that pressurizes and cools a tire immediately after vulcanization,
A post-cure inflated main body that holds the tire immediately after vulcanization in an inflated state;
An openable and closable chamber for storing the tire held in an inflated state in the post-cure inflated main body,
A first injection port for injecting a cooling medium from the outside of the chamber into the tire held in an inflated state, and a first exhaust port for discharging the cooling medium from the inside of the tire to the outside of the chamber are the post-cure in While being provided in the fret body,
A second inlet for injecting a cooling medium from outside the chamber into the chamber in which the tire is housed and a second outlet for discharging the cooling medium from the chamber to the outside of the chamber are provided in the chamber. It is a post-cure inflating device characterized by the above.

The invention described in claim 2
A first circulation mechanism that circulates the cooling medium discharged from the first discharge port and supplies the cooling medium to the first injection port; and circulates the cooling medium discharged from the second discharge port to the second injection port. The post-cure inflation device according to claim 1, further comprising a second circulation mechanism that supplies the second circulation mechanism.

The invention according to claim 3
The post-cure inflator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a cushion body that can be elastically deformed is provided as a seal member at an opening / closing joint that contacts when the chamber is opened / closed. .

The invention according to claim 4
A tire cooling method for pressurizing and cooling a tire immediately after vulcanization using the post-cure inflation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Storing the tire held in an inflated state in the post-cure inflated main body in the chamber;
Injecting a cooling medium from the first inlet into the tire housed in the chamber to cool the tire from the inside,
Injecting a cooling medium from the second inlet into the chamber, cooling the tire from the outside,
After cooling the tire to a predetermined temperature or less, a cooling medium is discharged from the first exhaust port and the second exhaust port from the inside of the tire and the chamber. .

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the tire cooling technique which can shorten the cooling time of the tire in a PCI process than before can be provided.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the principal part of the PCI apparatus which concerns on one embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the state which opened the chamber of the PCI apparatus in one embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the state which closed the chamber of the PCI apparatus in one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the PCI process in one embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the conventional tire cooling method. It is a figure explaining the location which measured the temperature in the Example and comparative example of this invention.

  The PCI device according to the present embodiment will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1. PCI Device FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a main part of a PCI device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the PCI device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a PCI main body including a support shaft 6, an upper mold rim 2, and a lower mold rim 4. In this PCI main body, two pairs of the upper rim 2 and the lower rim 4 are provided on one support shaft 6, and two tires T can be held.

  Furthermore, the PCI device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a chamber 20 that can be freely opened and closed. By closing the chamber 20, the tire T held in an inflated state can be stored in the chamber 20. Can do.

(1) PCI main body The PCI main body includes an upper mold rim 2, a lower mold rim 4, and a support shaft 6 that supports these. The upper mold rim 2 and the lower mold rim 4 are a pair of upper and lower disk-shaped members. By sandwiching the bead portion of the tire T between the upper mold rim 2 and the lower mold rim 4, the tire T Can be held. The held tire T is then inflated by a normal method.

(2) Chamber FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a state where the chamber of the PCI device is opened in the present embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where the chamber is closed. As shown in FIG. 2, the chamber 20 of the present embodiment is configured to be openable and closable. With the tire T held on the support shaft 6 in an inflated state, the chamber 20 is shown in FIG. The tire T can be accommodated in the chamber 20 by closing.

  In addition, it is preferable that cushion members 28 and 30 that can be elastically deformed are provided as seal members at the opening and closing joint portions 22a and 24a that abut when the chamber 20 is opened and closed. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, when the chamber 20 is closed, the chamber 20 is sealed and the cooling medium can be prevented from leaking out of the chamber 20.

(3) Cooling medium The PCI device according to the present embodiment is configured such that both the inner side and the outer side of the tire stored in the chamber while being held in the PCI main body can be cooled by the cooling medium. In addition, as a cooling medium, normal temperature tap water, industrial water, etc. are used, for example.

  Specifically, in the present embodiment, the first injection port 8 is provided in the upper mold rim 2 of the PCI main body, and the first discharge port 10 is provided in the lower mold rim 4. The first inlet 8 cools the inside of the tire T by injecting a cooling medium supplied from outside the chamber 20 into the tire T held in an inflated state. The first discharge port 10 discharges the cooling medium injected into the tire T out of the chamber 20.

  On the other hand, a second inlet 12 is provided above the chamber 20, and a second outlet 14 is provided below the chamber 20. The second inlet 12 cools the outside of the tire T by injecting a cooling medium supplied from outside the chamber 20 into the chamber 20. The second inlet 12 discharges the cooling medium injected into the chamber 20 out of the chamber 20.

  And although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, in this Embodiment, the 1st inlet 8 and the 1st outlet 10 which inject | pour and discharge | emit the cooling medium in the tire T are connected with piping, and this piping A first circulation mechanism is provided that circulates the cooling medium discharged from the first discharge port 10 via the first and supplies the coolant to the first injection port 8. The second inlet 12 and the second outlet 14 for injecting and discharging the cooling medium into the chamber 20 are also connected by piping, and similarly, a second circulation mechanism is provided. Such a circulation mechanism is not necessarily provided, but if provided, the cooling medium is circulated and the temperature of the cooling medium is kept constant, so that the tire T is more efficiently cooled. Can do.

2. PCI Process Next, a method for cooling a vulcanized tire using the PCI device 1 having the above configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 for explaining the PCI process in the present embodiment.

(1) Step S1
First, as shown in FIG. 2, the chamber 20 is opened, and a high-temperature tire immediately after vulcanization is carried into the PCI main body disposed in the chamber 20.

(2) Step S2
Next, as shown in FIG. 1, the tire T is held on the PCI main body portion by fitting the bead of the loaded tire T to the upper rim 2 and the lower rim 4 of the PCI main body portion and locking them ( PCI rim lock).

(3) Step S3
Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the chamber 20 is closed.

(4) Steps S4 to S6
Next, the first injection port 8 in FIG. 1 is opened to inject the cooling medium into the tire T from outside the chamber 20, and at the same time, the second injection port 12 is opened to inject the cooling medium from outside the chamber 20 into the chamber 20. Then, the cooling medium is filled in the tire T and the chamber 20. Then, the tire T is inflated as the cooling medium is injected into the tire T. As a result, both the inside and the outside of the tire T are immersed in the cooling medium, and the inside and the outside of the tire T can be efficiently cooled at the same time.

(5) Steps S7 and S8
Next, the first discharge port 10 and the second discharge port 14 are opened, and the circulation mechanism is started. Thereby, the cooling medium circulates between the first inlet 8 and the first outlet 10, and the cooling medium circulates between the second inlet 12 and the second outlet 14. Thus, by circulating the cooling medium inside and outside the tire T, the tire T can be cooled more efficiently.

(6) Steps S9 to S11
When the tire T is cooled to a predetermined temperature, the circulation mechanism is stopped and the first inlet 8 and the second inlet 12 are closed. Thereafter, the cooling medium in the tire T and the chamber 20 is discharged out of the chamber 20 from the first discharge port 10 and the second discharge port 14. After all the cooling medium is discharged, the first discharge port 10 and the second discharge port 14 are closed.

(7) Steps S12 to S14
Next, the chamber 20 is opened, and thereafter, the lock of the tire T by the upper mold rim 2 and the lower mold rim 4 is released (PCI rim unlock), and the cooled tire T is carried out from the PCI main body. .

3. Advantages of the present embodiment (1) According to the present embodiment, the tire T held in the PCI main body in an inflated state is contained in the chamber 20 while having a simple structure of the PCI main body and the chamber 20. The tire T can be immersed in the cooling medium and simultaneously cooled from both the inside and the outside by filling the inside of the tire T and the chamber 20 with the cooling medium. Compared with the technique of Patent Document 1 in which only spraying is performed and in Patent Document 2 in which cooling water is only flowed into a sealed space in contact with the sidewall portion outside the tire, the cooling efficiency is greatly improved, and the PCI process is required. The time can be greatly reduced, and the tire production efficiency can be improved.

(2) Further, when the tire T is cooled only from the inside, the temperature outside the tire T is easily influenced by the external environment, so that the tire temperature after the PCI process is difficult to be constant, and the management of the PCI process is difficult. Although not easy, in the present embodiment, since the tire is cooled from both the inside and outside while the tire T is cut off from the outside environment, the temperature outside the tire T is not affected by the outside environment, and the PCI is The process can be managed with high accuracy.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically based on examples.

1. Preparation of tire for evaluation First, vulcanization molding was performed by setting a vulcanization temperature at a jacket temperature of 188 ° C. and a platen temperature of 183 ° C. using a vulcanization mold constituted by a segment mold divided into eight in the tire circumferential direction. Thus, a tire having a tire size of 185 / 65R15 was produced as an evaluation tire.

2. Examples and Comparative Examples Eight tires were cooled by the following Examples and Comparative Examples 1 and 2, respectively.

(1) Example Using the PCI device 1 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a cooling medium (cooling at 25 ° C.) was performed on both the inner and outer sides of the tire T held in an inflated state (internal pressure 2.0 kPa). Water) at the same time. The cooling was performed for 2 cycles of a cooling time of 15 minutes.

  The interval between the upper mold rim and the lower mold rim in the PCI main body was set to 160 mm.

(2) Comparative Example 1
The conventional PCI device 51 shown in FIG. 5 was used, and the same operation as in the example was performed except that the tire was cooled by natural cooling.

(3) Comparative Example 2
Except that the tire T was cooled by spraying a cooling medium from the inside of the tire T using the PCI device described in Patent Document 1, the same procedure as in the example was performed.

3. Evaluation The tire tread surface (portion a shown in FIG. 6), inner crown surface (portion b shown in FIG. 6), lower buttress case (FIG. 6) after 5 and 10 minutes from the start of the PCI process. C), an upper buttress case (d shown in FIG. 6), a lower sidewall (SW) case (e shown in FIG. 6), and an upper sidewall (SW) case (FIG. 6). The temperature of part f) is measured. Table 1 shows the temperature measurement results after 5 minutes, and Table 2 shows the temperature measurement results after 10 minutes.

  From Tables 1 and 2, in the example, in 5 minutes after the start of the PCI process, the temperature of all parts of the tire is 100 ° C. or less where the shrinkage of the organic fiber cord constituting the ply is subsided. It can be seen that the cooling efficiency is improved as compared with 1 and Comparative Example 2, and the time required for the PCI process can be shortened to improve the tire production efficiency.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to said embodiment. Various modifications can be made to the above-described embodiment within the same and equivalent scope as the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1,51 PCI apparatus 2,52 Upper mold | rim 4,54 Lower mold rim 6,56 Support shaft 8 1st injection port 10 1st discharge port 12 2nd injection port 14 2nd discharge port 20 Chamber 22a, 24a Opening-closing junction part 28, 30 Cushion body a Tread surface b Inner crown surface c Lower buttress case d Upper buttress case e Lower sidewall (SW) case f Upper sidewall (SW) case T Tire

Claims (4)

A post-cure inflation device that pressurizes and cools a tire immediately after vulcanization,
A post-cure inflated main body that holds the tire immediately after vulcanization in an inflated state;
An openable and closable chamber for storing the tire held in an inflated state in the post-cure inflated main body,
A first injection port for injecting a cooling medium from the outside of the chamber into the tire held in an inflated state, and a first exhaust port for discharging the cooling medium from the inside of the tire to the outside of the chamber are the post-cure in While being provided in the fret body,
A second inlet for injecting a cooling medium from outside the chamber into the chamber in which the tire is housed and a second outlet for discharging the cooling medium from the chamber to the outside of the chamber are provided in the chamber. A post-cure inflating device characterized by that.   A first circulation mechanism that circulates the cooling medium discharged from the first discharge port and supplies the cooling medium to the first injection port; and circulates the cooling medium discharged from the second discharge port to the second injection port. The post-cure inflating device according to claim 1, further comprising a second circulation mechanism that supplies the second circulation mechanism.   The post-cure inflator according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a cushion body that can be elastically deformed is provided as a seal member at an opening / closing joint that contacts the chamber when the chamber is opened / closed. A tire cooling method for pressurizing and cooling a tire immediately after vulcanization using the post-cure inflation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Storing the tire held in an inflated state in the post-cure inflated main body in the chamber;
Injecting a cooling medium from the first inlet into the tire housed in the chamber to cool the tire from the inside,
Injecting a cooling medium from the second inlet into the chamber, cooling the tire from the outside,
A cooling method for a tire, wherein after the tire is cooled to a predetermined temperature or less, a cooling medium is discharged from the first discharge port and the second discharge port from the tire and the chamber.

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