JP3338110B2 - Tire identification method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tire identification method, and more particularly, to a tire identification method capable of identifying a tire with high accuracy.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the diversification of tire sizes, it has become essential to identify tire information such as tire size, manufacturer name, date of manufacture, etc. with high accuracy. This tire information is given to the green tire components before molding, and is used for sorting and sorting when the green tire components are sent to the molding process and when sorting and transporting the molded green tire to the vulcanizer. ing.

[0003] Conventionally, as a method of identifying a tire used for the above-mentioned sorting and sorting, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-148921, a fluorescent paint is applied to a green tire component such as a cap tread. Print the finish symbol of the tire in the tire downstream process,
It has been proposed that the finish symbol is read by irradiating the finish symbol with ultraviolet rays, and the tire is identified by image processing.

[0004]

However, in the above-described method for identifying a tire, there is a problem that an identification error or inability to read occurs when a finish symbol is skewed due to tire deformation or tread deformation. Further, when an image under ultraviolet irradiation is input using a general camera, a part of the reflection of the ultraviolet light is sensed and is converted into an image, so that there is a problem that an identification error or unreadable occurs.

[0005] In addition, there is a problem that it is expensive to use a camera that visualizes only a specific visible light region. The present invention has been devised in view of such conventional problems, and can be identified with high accuracy even when the identification symbol is inclined, or when the reflection of ultraviolet rays is strong, and It is an object of the present invention to provide an inexpensive tire identification method.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, an identification symbol having a mark for discriminating the front and rear sides with a transparent fluorescent paint is printed on a tire constituent member for molding a green tire. In a post-process, the identification mark and the mark for tilt determination illuminated by an ultraviolet lamp to which an ultraviolet range bandpass filter lens is added are read by a television camera only in the visible light range through an ultraviolet cut filter, and the identification mark is tilted by image processing. In this case, the gist of the invention is to correct the inclination of the identification symbol by using the inclination determination mark and determine the identification symbol.

[0007]

The present invention is constructed as described above, and prints an inclination discrimination mark before and after an identification symbol having information on green tires. When the identification symbol is inclined, the inclination identification mark is inclined by the inclination discrimination mark. In order to correct, even if the identification symbol is oblique due to deformation of the tire component,
Irradiating the identification symbol and the mark for tilt discrimination by an ultraviolet lamp with an ultraviolet bandpass filter lens without generating an identification error or unreadable,
By inputting an image using a television camera to which an ultraviolet cut filter is added, information with a high S / N ratio can be obtained, and identification can be performed with high accuracy. Further, since the transparent fluorescent paint is used, the appearance of the tire is not spoiled even after the tire is completed.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows a process of printing an identification symbol in the tire identification method of the present invention, wherein S is a tire component such as a cap tread, 1 is a conveyor belt, 2 is a printing device such as an ink-charged inkjet printer, and 2a is a printing device. 3 is an inkjet head of the device 2.

According to the tire identification method of the present invention, first, a fluorescent paint is applied from the ink jet head 2a of the printing apparatus 2 to the surface of the tire component S extruded from an extruder (not shown) and conveyed on the conveyor belt 1. By jetting, the identification code K and the inclination determination mark M are printed in a non-contact manner. The fluorescent paint is transparent under visible light, and is a liquid ink that emits visible light upon irradiation with ultraviolet light. However, an ink composed of a solvent such as MEK can be used. Preferably, a sulfenamide-based vulcanization accelerator is added to improve the adhesion to rubber.

[0010] The identification code K has information required for a tire component S such as a tire size, a manufacturing date, a manufacturer, and the like, and a green tire molded with the tire component S.
It is composed of numbers and alphabets. The mark M for inclination determination is printed at the start and end before and after the identification symbol K, and a mark having a shape such as a circle, a triangle, or a square is used. Preferably, the identification symbol K has a shape clearly different from that of the identification symbol K and is simple. However, a numeral or an alphabet may be used as the inclination determination mark, and there is no particular limitation.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the identification symbol K given to the tire constituent member S is read and determined in a subsequent step. FIG. 2 shows a process of reading the identification code K when sorting the green tires T formed by the tire constituent members S provided with the identification code K. The green tire T transported on the conveyor belt 3 Are guided into the dark room 4 and irradiated with ultraviolet rays by an ultraviolet lamp 5 having an ultraviolet band filter lens.

The identification symbol K and the tilt determination mark M irradiated with ultraviolet light emit visible light, and the other portions reflect only ultraviolet light. The identification code K irradiated with this ultraviolet ray
In addition, only the visible light is read by the television camera 6 equipped with the lens with the ultraviolet cut filter.
In this manner, the ultraviolet lamp is passed through the ultraviolet bandpass filter lens to identify the ultraviolet lamp with the identification symbol K and the inclination determination mark M.
, And input the image through an ultraviolet cut filter, so that information with a high S / N ratio can be obtained.

The identification code K read by the television camera 6
When the identification mark K is inclined in the image processing apparatus 7, the inclination determination mark M is corrected by using the inclination determination mark M to collectively correct the rotation of the identification symbol K. The symbol K is determined, and the green tire T is identified. When the identification symbol K is inclined, the inclination of the identification symbol K is corrected by the inclination determination mark M printed before and after the identification symbol K.
Even if is inclined, the tire identification information given to the green tire T can be identified with high accuracy without errors or inability to read the tire identification information.
In addition, since the inclination of the identification symbol K is collectively corrected using the inclination determination mark M, it is possible to more quickly identify the tire for which the angle rotation correction is to be performed. Further, since the transparent fluorescent paint is used, the appearance of the tire is not spoiled even after the tire is completed.

In a state where the identification code K of the green tire T is directed toward the television camera 6 provided in advance, the dark room 4
When it is guided inside, the identification code K may be read while being conveyed on the conveyor belt 3. If the identification code K of the green tire T is guided to the dark room 4 in a state where the identification code K does not face the television camera 6 provided in advance,
It is preferable to stop the transportation of the green tire T and read the identification code K while making one rotation in the tire circumferential direction.

FIG. 3 shows a process of reading the identification code K at the time of sorting and sorting the tire constituent members S to which the identification code K has been assigned before molding the green tire. The identification symbol K and the inclination determination mark M of the tire constituent member S conveyed on the conveyor belt 8 are processed in the same manner as described above to perform identification with high accuracy.

[0016]

As described above, according to the present invention, the identification mark having information on the green tire is printed before and after the identification mark, and when the identification mark is inclined, the identification mark is identified by the inclination determination mark. In order to correct the inclination of the symbol, even if the identification symbol is inclined due to the deformation of the tire constituent member, no identification error or reading failure occurs, and the ultraviolet light with an ultraviolet bandpass filter lens is added. By illuminating the identification symbol and the mark for judging the inclination with a lamp and inputting an image with a television camera equipped with an ultraviolet cut filter, it is possible to obtain information with a high S / N ratio and to identify with high accuracy. Can be performed. In addition, since the transparent fluorescent paint is used, it is possible to prevent the tire after vulcanization from impairing the appearance of the tire. Further, since there is no need to use a special camera for imaging only the specific visible light region, the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory perspective view showing a printing process of an identification symbol of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective explanatory view showing a reading step of an identification symbol in the green tire of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective explanatory view showing a reading process of an identification symbol in the tire constituent member of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 Printing device 4 Dark room 5 Ultraviolet lamp 6 TV camera 7 Image processing device K Identification symbol M Incline discrimination mark S Tire component T Green tire

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B29D 30/00-30/46 B60C 13 / 00,19 / 00 G06F 17/60 G01N 21/64

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A tire component for molding a green tire is printed with a transparent fluorescent paint, an identification symbol having a front and rear mark for discriminating the inclination, and an ultraviolet ray band-pass filter lens is added in a post-process. The identification mark and the inclination determination mark illuminated by the lamp are read by a television camera only in the visible light range through an ultraviolet cut filter, and when the identification mark is inclined by image processing, the inclination determination mark is used. A tire identification method in which the inclination of the identification symbol is corrected and the identification symbol is determined.