JP6337590B2 - Tire sorting method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for sorting tire constituent members, green tires, or product tires, and more particularly, to a tire sorting method that makes it possible to read an identification symbol more reliably without deteriorating the appearance of a product tire. .

  In the manufacturing process of a pneumatic tire, for example, an identification symbol composed of lines and letters is printed on the surface of a tire component represented by a tread member, and the identification symbol printed on the tire component in subsequent steps The tire components, green tires or product tires are sorted by use.

  However, since the identification symbols as described above remain on the surface of the product tire, there are restrictions on the size and thickness of the lines and characters that make up the identification symbol in consideration of the appearance of the product tire. The amount of information that can be displayed based on symbols is also limited. Limiting the amount of information that can be displayed in this way is a major obstacle in carrying out automatic sorting without human intervention.

  On the other hand, an identification symbol is printed with a fluorescent paint on the surface of the tire component, and the printed portion is irradiated with ultraviolet rays so that the identification symbol emerges, and the tire component, green tire or product is used by using the identification symbol. It has been proposed to sort tires (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As described above, when an identification symbol made of a fluorescent paint is used, there is an advantage that the appearance of the product tire is improved. However, in this case, in addition to the risk of rubber deterioration due to ultraviolet irradiation, an optically prepared environment is required to accurately read the identification symbol made of a fluorescent paint that floats when irradiated with ultraviolet light. There is a problem that the frequency of occurrence of reading defects is high in a tire manufacturing facility that does not satisfy various environmental conditions.

Japanese Patent No. 3030649

  An object of the present invention is to provide a tire sorting method that can read an identification symbol more reliably without deteriorating the appearance of a product tire.

In order to achieve the above object, the tire sorting method of the present invention includes a rubber component that is transparent or black on the surface of a tire constituent member, a green tire, or a product tire, and has an infrared emissivity pigment. Is printed with an identification symbol made of a different heat-insulating paint, and the identification symbol is detected by an image detector having an infrared sensing function based on infrared rays radiated from the tire constituent member, the green tire or the product tire in subsequent processes. And the tire constituent member, the green tire, or the product tire is sorted based on the detection result of the image detector.

  In the present invention, an identification symbol made of a paint having an infrared emissivity different from that of the rubber composition is printed on the surface of the tire constituent member, the green tire or the product tire, and the image detector having an infrared sensing function in the subsequent steps is used. Since the identification symbol is detected and the tire component, green tire or product tire is sorted based on the detection result, the identification symbol can be read more reliably than when the identification symbol is lifted using ultraviolet rays. Can do. Therefore, according to such a method, it becomes possible to carry out automatic sorting without intervention of the tire constituent member, the green tire or the product tire.

  In addition, since a transparent or black paint is used as the paint, a black product tire reinforced with carbon black does not substantially leave a trace of the paint, and does not deteriorate the appearance of the product tire.

  In the present invention, the difference between the infrared emissivity of the paint and the infrared emissivity of the rubber composition is preferably 0.05 or more. Thereby, since the infrared rays radiated from the tire constituent member, the green tire or the product tire are effectively absorbed or shielded by the paint, the identification symbol can be read more reliably.

It is a perspective view which shows an example of the extrusion molding apparatus for enforcing the tire sorting method based on this invention. It is a top view which shows the detection process of the identification symbol from the tire structural member in the tire sorting method based on this invention. It is a top view which shows the detection process of the identification symbol from the green tire in the tire sorting method which concerns on this invention. It is a top view which shows the detection process of the identification symbol from the product tire in the tire sorting method based on this invention.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example of an extrusion molding apparatus for carrying out the tire sorting method according to the present invention. 2 to 4 show the steps for detecting the identification symbols from the tire constituent member, the green tire, and the product tire, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the extrusion molding apparatus of this embodiment includes an extruder 10 for molding an extrudate 1. This extruder 10 has a cylinder 11 disposed so as to extend in the horizontal direction, a screw 12 installed in the cylinder 11, and a base 13 installed on the front end side of the cylinder 11. The raw material is fed from a hopper 14 provided on the rear end side of the steel 11, and the extrudate 1 is continuously discharged from the base 13. Therefore, the shape of the extrudate 1 is defined by the die 13. When the tire constituent member 2 (see FIG. 2) such as a tread member or a side member is molded, an unvulcanized rubber composition is used as a raw material of the extrudate 1 and the shape of the base 13 is appropriately selected, so that the tire An extrudate 1 having a desired cross-sectional shape corresponding to the component 2 is formed.

  A plurality of conveying devices (for example, belt conveyors) 21, 22, and 23 for continuously conveying the belt-like extrudate 1 extruded from the base 13 are disposed in the conveying path of the extrudate 1. The extrudate 1 conveyed to a cutting device (not shown) by these conveying devices 21 to 23 is cut into a desired length and processed into a tire constituent member 2.

  In the above extrusion molding apparatus, in the vicinity of the die 13 of the extruder 10, an identification symbol 31 (FIG. 15) made of a paint that is transparent or black immediately after extrusion with respect to the extrudate 1 and has an infrared emissivity different from that of the rubber composition. 2) is provided. The identification symbol 31 printed by the printing machine 30 may be continuous along the longitudinal direction of the extrudate 1 or may be intermittently arranged along the longitudinal direction of the extrudate 1. Here, printing is a drawing act including simple application. The identification symbol 31 is a unique symbol assigned in association with the specification in which the dimensions and composition of the tire component 2 are defined, and the tire component 2, the green tire 3 (see FIG. 3) or the subsequent tire manufacturing process. This is used to determine the specifications of the product tire 4 (see FIG. 4).

  As the paint that is transparent or black and has an infrared emissivity different from that of the rubber composition, a paint that is generally recognized as a heat insulating paint can be used. As such a paint, for example, an appropriate amount (for example, 5 parts by weight) of an infrared reflective pigment (for example, IRR Black # 6303 manufactured by Asahi Kasei Kogyo Co., Ltd.) is used for a paint generally used for printing an identification symbol of a tire tread part. ) And a black paint. The difference between the infrared emissivity of the paint and the infrared emissivity of the rubber composition constituting the tire component 2, the green tire 3 or the product tire 4 is 0.05 or more, more preferably 0.1 or more. And good. By ensuring a sufficient difference in the infrared emissivity between the two, the infrared rays emitted from the tire component 2, the green tire 3 or the product tire 4 are effectively absorbed or shielded by the paint. The identification symbol printed on 2 can be more reliably determined.

  As the identification symbol 31 to be printed, a line, a character, a barcode, a geometric pattern, or the like can be adopted. In particular, since the above-described or black paint is not conspicuous in the product tire, it is possible to form the identification symbol 31 including a lot of information over a wider area than before without considering deterioration of the appearance of the product tire. .

  Next, the tire sorting method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, the tire constituent member 2 provided with an identification symbol 31 made of a barcode is subjected to a tire forming process after processing. At that time, an identification symbol 31 is detected by an image detector (for example, an infrared sensing camera) 41 having an infrared sensing function, and the tire constituent members 2 are sorted based on the detection result of the image detector 41.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3, when the green tire 3 is shape | molded using the tire structural member 2 provided with the identification symbol 31, the green tire 3 is used for a vulcanization process after shaping | molding. At that time, an identification symbol 31 is detected by an image detector (for example, an infrared sensing camera) 42 having an infrared sensing function, and the green tires 3 are sorted based on the detection result of the image detector 42.

  Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 4, when the product tire 4 is obtained by vulcanizing the green tire 3 having the identification symbol 31, the product tire 4 is subjected to a management process such as inspection after vulcanization. At that time, an identification symbol 31 is detected by an image detector (for example, an infrared sensing camera) 43 having an infrared sensing function, and the product tires 4 are sorted based on the detection result of the image detector 43.

  According to the tire sorting method described above, the identification symbol 31 made of a paint having an infrared emissivity different from that of the rubber composition is printed on the surface of the tire constituent member 2, and the image detector 41 having an infrared sensing function in the subsequent steps. Since the identification symbol 31 is detected by ˜43 and the tire component 2, the green tire 3 or the product tire 4 is sorted based on the detection result, the identification symbol 31 can be reliably read based on the infrared sensing function. .

  In particular, in the conventional sorting method in which the identification symbol is lifted using ultraviolet rays, an optically arranged environment is required to accurately read the identification symbol made of a fluorescent paint that floats when irradiated with ultraviolet rays. In the sorting method of the present invention using infrared rays, it is possible to prevent occurrence of reading failure even in a tire manufacturing facility that does not satisfy such environmental conditions. Therefore, according to the sorting method of the present invention using infrared rays, it is possible to carry out automatic sorting of the tire component 2, the green tire 3 or the product tire 4 without human intervention. Note that the sorting method of the present invention using infrared rays has an advantage that rubber deterioration due to ultraviolet rays is not caused.

  In addition, since a transparent or black paint is used as a paint for printing the identification symbol 31, the black product tire 4 reinforced with carbon black has substantially no trace of paint, and the appearance of the product tire 4 is improved. There is no deterioration.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the identification symbol 31 is printed on the surface of the strip-shaped extrudate 1 to be the tire constituent member 2 has been described. However, in the present invention, the identification symbol 31 is printed on the surface of the tire constituent member 2 after cutting. May be. The processing method of the tire constituent member 2 is not limited to the extrusion molding as in the above-described embodiment, and various processing methods can be employed.

  Further, instead of printing the identification symbol 31 on the tire component 2, the identification symbol 31 is printed on the surface of the green tire 3, and the green tire 3 and the product tire 4 are used by using the identification symbol 31 in the subsequent processes. It is possible to perform sorting, or to print the identification symbol 31 on the surface of the product tire 4 and sort the product tire 4 using the identification symbol 31 in the subsequent processes. However, it is most efficient to sort the tire constituent member 2, the green tire 3, and the product tire 4 using the identification symbol 31 printed in the state of the tire constituent member 2.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Extrudate 2 Tire component 3 Green tire 4 Product tire 10 Extruder 11 Cylinder 12 Screw 13 Base 14 Hopper 21, 22, 23 Conveying device 30 Printing machine 31 Identification symbol 41, 42, 43 Image detector having infrared sensing function

Claims (2)

On the surface of the tire component, green tire or product tire, an identification symbol made of a heat insulating paint which is transparent or black and is blended with an infrared reflecting pigment and whose infrared emissivity is different from that of the rubber composition is printed. In the process, the identification symbol is detected by an image detector having an infrared sensing function based on infrared rays radiated from the tire constituent member, the green tire or the product tire, and the tire is based on a detection result of the image detector. A tire sorting method, wherein the component member, the green tire or the product tire is sorted.   The tire sorting method according to claim 1, wherein a difference between the infrared emissivity of the paint and the infrared emissivity of the rubber composition is 0.05 or more.

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