JP3356475B2 - Elastomer vulcanizing equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vulcanizing apparatus for an elastomer article, particularly a rubber tire for a vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vulcanizing apparatus in the production of a rubber tire for a vehicle is provided with a center mechanism for mounting a raw tire produced in a molding process and expanding it in a donut shape, and is arranged on an outer periphery of the center mechanism. And a molding die for molding a raw tire expanded into a donut shape into a predetermined shape. The center mechanism includes a disk-shaped lower clamp ring fixed on a base, a rod shaft that penetrates the center thereof, and that moves up and down relative to the lower clamp ring, and is disposed at an upper end of the rod shaft. A disk-shaped upper clamp ring, and a cylindrical bladder whose upper and lower edges are clamped between the upper and lower clamp rings. At a predetermined position of the lower clamp ring, a vulcanization medium supply port for supplying a vulcanization medium (for example, a high-temperature and high-pressure vulcanization gas) is provided between the upper and lower clamp rings during vulcanization. .

[0003] In the above apparatus, after the raw tire is mounted on the central mechanism, the bladder is inflated by supplying a vulcanizing medium, whereby the raw tire is deformed into a donut shape, and the raw tire is deformed through the bladder. It is designed to be heated. In this case, it is preferable to heat the raw tire uniformly and quickly, from the viewpoint of the quality of the finished tire or the production efficiency. Therefore, recently, a vulcanizing medium is injected and collided near the equatorial plane of the bladder, thereby balancing heat distribution, that is, equalizing the amount of heat supplied to the upper position of the bladder equatorial plane and the amount of heat supplied to the lower position. An apparatus in which the vulcanizing medium supply port is formed at a predetermined injection angle has been proposed (JP-A-56-28843).

[0004]

However, in the apparatus as proposed above, after the vulcanizing medium is injected and collided near the equatorial plane of the bladder, the vulcanizing medium is convected up and down uniformly so that the heating amount is uniform. For example, when the temperature change of the vulcanization medium occurs during convection, or when the vulcanization medium is not evenly convected, uniform heating of the green tire is not necessarily performed, There is a possibility that the vulcanization amount of the green tire varies. In particular, when vulcanizing a raw tire having a relatively wide tire width, the convection time of the vulcanizing medium is prolonged, and the difference in the heating amount between the vicinity of the equatorial plane of the raw tire and its upper or lower position is further increased. As a result, it becomes difficult to uniformly cure the entire green tire.
Therefore, if the raw tire is to be uniformly vulcanized using the above-described apparatus, the vulcanization time must be lengthened, which is not preferable in terms of production efficiency.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and has as its object to provide a vulcanizing apparatus for an elastomer article that can more uniformly and rapidly vulcanize a green tire. .

[0006]

The invention according to claim 1 is
A lower clamp ring that clamps the lower bladder, a rod shaft that penetrates the center of the lower clamp ring and that can move up and down relative to the lower clamp ring, and is fixed to an upper end of the rod shaft, and the upper part of the bladder is fixed. In a vulcanizing apparatus having a central mechanism consisting of an upper clamp ring to be clamped, a hollow portion for supplying a vulcanizing medium is provided inside the rod shaft, and the outer peripheral surface thereof communicates with the hollow portion, A plurality of vulcanizing medium injection holes capable of uniformly injecting the vulcanizing medium supplied into the hollow portion over the inner peripheral surface of the bladder of the central mechanism are formed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the rod shaft is
It has four vulcanizing medium injection holes on one cross section orthogonal to the axial direction, and has a plurality of cross sections identical to the cross section in the axial direction, and each vulcanizing medium on the one cross section The injection hole is formed radially at a position that divides the outer peripheral surface of the rod shaft into four equal parts in the circumferential direction, and the vulcanizing medium injection holes adjacent to each other in the rod axis direction are arranged in the circumferential direction of the rod shaft. 4
It is formed so as to be shifted by 5 degrees.

[0008]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the green tire is mounted on the central mechanism and the vulcanization is started, the vulcanizing medium is supplied to the hollow portion formed inside the rod shaft. The vulcanizing medium supplied to the hollow portion is injected from the vulcanizing medium injection holes, whereby the bladder expands and the green tire is deformed into a donut shape. Then, the green tire is heated and vulcanized by a vulcanizing medium via a bladder, and is formed into a predetermined shape. At this time, by injecting the vulcanization medium from the plurality of vulcanization medium injection holes formed in the rod shaft, the vulcanization medium can directly collide over the inner peripheral surface of the bladder. Therefore, since the green tire is heated by the vulcanizing medium directly hitting the bladder, the green tire can be more uniformly and quickly heated, and as a result, the uniform and quick vulcanization of the green tire can be performed. Can be performed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the vulcanizing medium can be more uniformly injected and collided with the inner peripheral surface of the bladder.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A vulcanizing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a vulcanizing apparatus during vulcanization, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, a vulcanizing apparatus 10 includes a central mechanism 12 for vulcanizing a cylindrical green tire 11 produced in a molding step while inflating it into a hollow donut shape, and a vulcanizing apparatus 10 as described above. And a molding die 14 for molding the raw tire 11 into a predetermined shape, such as forming a tread pattern on the raw tire 11. FIG. 1 shows a state in which the raw tire 11 has already been deformed into a donut shape.

The center mechanism 12 includes a bladder 16 made of a stretchable flexible material formed in a cylindrical shape, and an upper clamp ring 18 for clamping upper and lower ends of the bladder 16.
And a lower clamp ring 20 and a rod shaft 3 for raising and lowering the upper clamp ring 18 when attaching and detaching the raw tire 11 or vulcanizing raw tires having different tire widths.
6 as a main member.

The lower clamp ring 20 is composed of a clamp ring 20a and a bead ring 20b fitted to the outside of the clamp ring 20a, and the lower end of the bladder 16 is clamped by the clamp ring 20a and the bead ring 20b. . A stepped through-hole 24 having a flat portion 22 is formed in the clamp ring 20a, and a cylindrical spacer 26 is fitted into the through-hole 24. The spacer 28 is fitted. The spacer 28 is fixed to the spacer 26 via a rib 30 formed on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and the spacer 26 is fixed to the flat portion of the clamp ring 20a via a rib 32 formed on the outer peripheral surface. 22. Further, a plurality of vulcanizing medium discharge holes 34 are formed in the flat portion 22.

A rod shaft 36, which is a feature of the present invention, is fitted into the spacer 28 fixed to the clamp ring 20a via the spacer 26. The rod shaft 36 is a columnar member which is raised and lowered relatively to the spacer 28 by a cylinder (not shown). For example, the rod shaft 36 is raised during vulcanization of a raw tire having a wide tire width, and the lower clamp ring 20 and the upper clamp ring are raised. 18 is adjusted to a predetermined interval corresponding to the tire width.

A hollow portion 38 is provided inside the rod shaft 36.
Is formed, and a vulcanizing medium (a high-temperature and high-pressure vulcanizing gas is used in the embodiment) is supplied to the hollow portion 38 during vulcanization. A plurality of vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 for injecting the vulcanizing gas supplied to the hollow portion 38 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rod shaft 36.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 are formed at four places on one section orthogonal to the axial direction of the rod shaft 36.
Five identical sections are provided at a predetermined pitch L (set within a range of 60 mm in the embodiment) in the axial direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 is formed radially at a position which divides the outer peripheral surface of the rod shaft 36 into four in the above-mentioned cross section. The vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 disposed adjacent to each other at a predetermined angle θ (45 in the embodiment)
゜).

The vulcanizing medium injection hole 40 formed in the rod shaft 36 is in a state where all the vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 are opened by raising and lowering the rod shaft 36, as shown in FIG. Then, a part of the vulcanizing medium injection hole 40 is closed by the spacer 28. That is, the number of the vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 for injecting the vulcanizing gas can be changed according to the tire width of the raw tire 11 to be vulcanized.

On the other hand, an upper clamp ring 18 is provided at the upper end of the rod shaft 36. The upper clamp ring 18 includes the clamp ring 18 a and the bead ring 1.
8b, and the upper end of the bladder 16 is clamped by the clamp ring 18a and the bead ring 18b. The clamp ring 18a and the bead ring 18b are connected to the rod shaft 3 by bolts 42.
6 Fastened together at the top and fixed.

The molding die 14 is disposed on the outer periphery of the central mechanism 12 configured as described above. The molding die 14 includes an upper die 14a and a lower die 14b. These dies 14a and 14b are both moved in the direction of the rod shaft 36 by a driving means (not shown). When the raw tire 11 is mounted or when the tire after vulcanization is removed, the upper part of the die 14a and 14b is removed. The mold 14a is opened by moving the mold 14a upward. On the other hand, at the time of vulcanization, as shown in FIG.
a and the lower mold 14b approach and come into contact with each other, whereby the mold 14 is closed.

Next, the operation of the vulcanizing apparatus 10 having the above configuration will be described.

In the vulcanizing apparatus 10, the green tire 11 generated in the molding step is mounted on the center mechanism 12 with the upper mold 14 opened as described above. When the raw tire 11 is mounted on the central mechanism 12 and vulcanization is started, a vulcanized gas is supplied to a hollow portion 38 formed inside the rod shaft 36. The vulcanizing gas supplied to the hollow portion 38 is radially injected from a vulcanizing medium injection hole 40 (shown by an arrow in FIG. 1), whereby the bladder 16 expands and the raw tire 11 is deformed into a donut shape. You. Raw tire 11
Then, the mold 14 is closed at a predetermined timing. Then, the raw tire 11 is heated by the vulcanizing gas via the bladder 16 to be vulcanized and formed into a predetermined shape.

Here, in the vulcanizing apparatus 10, the rod shaft 36 is used as a supply passage for the vulcanizing gas, and a plurality of vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 formed in the axial direction and the circumferential direction of the rod shaft 36. Since the vulcanizing gas is injected from the inside, the vulcanizing gas can be directly and uniformly injected and collided over the inner peripheral surface of the bladder 16. Therefore, the raw tire 11 is not heated by the vulcanizing gas whose temperature has changed due to convection as in the conventional example, but is heated by the vulcanizing gas directly colliding with the bladder 16. Then, uniform heating becomes possible, and more uniform vulcanization of the raw tire 11 becomes possible.

Further, as described above, since the raw tire 11 is heated by the vulcanizing gas directly colliding with the bladder 16, the time required for the raw tire 11 to reach a predetermined vulcanization temperature is shortened. As a result, quick heating of the green tire 11 is promoted, and there is an advantage that vulcanization production efficiency can be improved.

Further, in the vulcanizing apparatus 10, a plurality of vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 are formed in the axial direction of the rod shaft 36, and the vulcanizing medium from which the vulcanizing gas is injected by moving the rod shaft 36 up and down. Since the number of the injection holes 40 can be increased or decreased, uniform vulcanization can be performed even when vulcanizing raw tires having different tire widths.

In the above embodiment, the vulcanizing medium injection hole 40 of the rod shaft 36 is formed radially, but this is an example of forming the vulcanizing medium injection hole 40 with respect to the rod shaft 36. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a rod shaft 50 having a vulcanizing medium injection hole 54 formed spirally in the circumferential direction.
May be provided to circulate the vulcanized gas, or, as shown in FIG. 4, a rod shaft 52 having a vulcanizing medium injection hole 56 extending from the hollow portion toward the outer peripheral direction may be provided. The vulcanization gas may be appropriately diffused and injected. That is, the shape of the vulcanizing medium injection hole 40 may be appropriately formed so that more uniform vulcanization can be performed.

In the embodiment, four vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 are formed on one section perpendicular to the axial direction of the rod shaft 36 at positions that divide the outer peripheral surface of the lot shaft 36 into four equal parts.
This is the minimum number of vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 suitable for uniformly injecting the vulcanizing medium over the inner peripheral surface of the bladder 16, for example, five or six. It may be. This makes it possible to more uniformly inject the vulcanizing medium to the inner peripheral surface of the bladder 16. Further, the rod shaft 36 of the embodiment has five identical sections in the axial direction at a predetermined pitch L (set within a range of 60 mm in the embodiment), and each of the rods 36 adjacently arranged in the axial direction. The sulfuric acid medium injection holes 40 are formed so as to be displaced from each other by a predetermined angle θ (45 ° in the embodiment) in the circumferential direction of the rod shaft 36, but this is also one embodiment, and
The pitch L, the angle θ, and the number of vulcanizing medium injection holes 40 arranged in the direction of the rod axis 36 may be appropriately set so that the green tire 11 can be more uniformly vulcanized during vulcanization.

In the above embodiment, the case where the raw tire 11 is heated by injecting a high-temperature and high-pressure vulcanizing gas as a vulcanizing medium in the vulcanizing step has been described.
It is also effective when an inert gas or the like is injected at the time of heating the raw tire 11 to prevent the temperature of the vulcanized gas from lowering, and when the raw tire 11 is cooled, it is used as a vulcanizing medium. It is also effective when spraying water.

[0029]

As described above, the present invention provides a lower clamp ring for clamping a lower part of a bladder, and a rod shaft which penetrates the center of the lower clamp ring and can be moved up and down relative to the lower clamp ring. And a vulcanizer having a center mechanism fixed to the upper end of the rod shaft and comprising an upper clamp ring for clamping the upper part of the bladder, wherein a hollow portion for supplying a vulcanizing medium to the inside of the rod shaft is provided. A plurality of vulcanizing medium injection holes that can be provided and communicate with the hollow portion on the outer peripheral surface thereof and that can uniformly inject the vulcanizing medium supplied into the hollow portion over the inner peripheral surface of the bladder of the central mechanism. Since the vulcanization medium is vulcanized, the vulcanization medium is uniformly jetted and impinged on the inner peripheral surface of the bladder, whereby more uniform and quick vulcanization of the green tire can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a vulcanized state in a vulcanizing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing another example of the rod shaft applied to the vulcanizing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing another example of the rod shaft applied to the vulcanizing apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Vulcanization apparatus 12 Center mechanism 14 Mold 16 Bladder 18 Upper clamp ring 20 Lower clamp ring 36 Rod shaft 38 Hollow part 40 Vulcanization medium injection hole

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-22614 (JP, A) JP-A-2-147207 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B29C 33/02-33/08 B29C 35/00-35/18

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A lower clamp ring for clamping a lower part of a bladder, a rod shaft penetrating through a center portion of the lower clamp ring and capable of moving up and down relative to the lower clamp ring, and fixed to an upper end of the rod shaft A vulcanizing apparatus having a center mechanism comprising an upper clamp ring for clamping an upper portion of a bladder, wherein a hollow portion for supplying a vulcanizing medium is provided inside the rod shaft, and the hollow portion is provided on an outer peripheral surface thereof. And a plurality of vulcanizing medium injection holes capable of uniformly injecting the vulcanizing medium supplied into the hollow portion over the inner peripheral surface of the bladder of the central mechanism. Vulcanizing equipment. 2. The rod shaft has four vulcanizing medium injection holes on one cross section perpendicular to the axial direction, and has a plurality of cross sections identical to the cross section in the axial direction. Each of the vulcanizing medium injection holes on the one cross section is radially formed at a position that divides the outer peripheral surface of the rod shaft into four equal parts in the circumferential direction, and the vulcanizing medium injection holes are provided adjacent to the rod axis direction. The vulcanizing apparatus for an elastomeric article according to claim 1, wherein the members are formed so as to be shifted by 45 degrees in a circumferential direction of the rod shaft.