JP2002172624A - Method and apparatus for vulcanizing large-size tire - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for vulcanizing a large-size tire which vulcanizes the entire tire properly and uniformly, improves the quality of the tire, and has a simple structure. SOLUTION: The apparatus fitted with a split mold horizontally has a pair of heating source platens for fixing upper and lower side molds, a sector for fitting each tread segment which can freely move inward and outward in the radial directions between the platens, a ring-shaped heating source jacket having a tapering inside surface which fits the tapering outside surface of each sector and engages slidingly with the outside surface, a plurality of vertically moving means for moving the jacket vertically, and a means for supplying pressurized fluid into an unvulcanized tire. The upper part platen can move vertically in relation to the fixed lower part platen, and the upper part platen and the jacket have mutually guiding/fixing means.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a large tire vulcanizing apparatus, and more particularly to a large tire vulcanizing apparatus such as a tire for a construction vehicle. In comparison with the case of using a polyhedral autoclave vulcanizing device for vertically stacking and filling high temperature gas around the mold, for example, filling high temperature steam, and vulcanizing and molding an unvulcanized tire inside the mold,
The present invention relates to a large-sized tire vulcanizing apparatus capable of further improving the quality of a vulcanized tire and simplifying the apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For vulcanization of tires for construction vehicles, especially tires for super-large construction vehicles, a multi-face autoclave vulcanization apparatus is used in which a plurality of vulcanizing dies are placed horizontally and stacked vertically. I have. In this type of vulcanizing apparatus, after a plurality of split molds and a container are vertically stacked in a large (pressure) container, a high-temperature gas, for example, 120 to 130 ° C. is stored in the container.
Is used to heat the split mold and its container, thereby vulcanizing the unvulcanized tire in the split mold.

[0003]

An autoclave vulcanizing apparatus accommodates a plurality of vulcanizing dies in one vulcanization and vulcanizes and molds a plurality of tires. However, it has utility, and the unvulcanized tires to be subjected to one vulcanization molding are not limited to the same tire type, but rather vulcanization molding is often performed on different types of unvulcanized tires.

At this time, it is natural that the vulcanization time is set according to the unvulcanized tire having the longest vulcanization time under a high-temperature gas (steam) atmosphere of one system. , Unvulcanized tires that require less vulcanization time,
In order to adjust to a long vulcanization time, complicated adjustment of vulcanization conditions such as temperature and vulcanization time is required.

[0005] In addition, even when viewed with a single tire, construction vehicle tires have a feature that, unlike other types of tires, the gauge in the process from the bead portion to the tread portion through the sidewall portion is significantly different. Therefore, the degree of vulcanization is high in a part where the gauge is thin, for example, a part from the bead part to the sidewall part, and is low in a part where the gauge is thick, for example, the tread part, and the degree of vulcanization is low between the parts. Variations occur, which also contributes to poor tire quality.

In order to avoid the above-mentioned deterioration in quality, a vulcanizing apparatus in which only one vulcanizing mold is mounted, for example, a MacNeil vulcanizing apparatus with an open / close lid, is used to uniformly cure the degree of vulcanization of each part. In order to align them, it is necessary to supply a heat source at an appropriate temperature to each part of the unvulcanized tire via a mold. When this is applied to a McNeill vulcanizing apparatus, it is inevitable to use a mold to divide the mold to meet the required quality, so the apparatus becomes too large and complicated, it is difficult to manufacture, and the manufacturing cost becomes extremely expensive. At present, there is a problem that the factory space is too large, so that it cannot be put to practical use.

Therefore, the inventions described in claims 1 to 12 of the present invention provide a vulcanizing apparatus capable of completely solving the above-mentioned problems, that is, vulcanization for one unvulcanized tire is performed. An object of the present invention is to provide a large tire vulcanizing apparatus and a large tire vulcanizing method having a simple and small mechanism capable of vulcanizing each part of an unvulcanized tire at an optimum temperature. And

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an invention according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a pair of side molds and a plurality of circumferentially divided tread segments which engage with the outer peripheral portions thereof. In a large tire vulcanizing apparatus in which a split mold for tire vulcanization molding is horizontally placed and mounted, a pair of heating source platens for fixing and heating each of a pair of side molds, and a radial direction between the platens with respect to a central axis thereof. An annular heating device having a tread segment mounting sector movable in and out, and a tapered inner peripheral surface which locks a tapered outer peripheral surface of each sector downward and which is slidably engaged with the outer peripheral surface. Source jacket, a plurality of lifting means for raising and lowering the jacket,
A means for supplying a pressurized fluid to the inside of the loaded unvulcanized tire is provided in a lower platen central space portion, and the upper platen has
A large tire vulcanizing apparatus having a configuration in which the lower platen fixed to the floor surface can be raised and lowered, and one of the upper platen and the jacket is provided with guide fixing means for the other.

According to the invention described in claim 1, claim 2 is provided.
As in the invention described in the above, each of the pair of platens and the jacket has an annular space for accommodating a heating medium inside each of the pair of platens, and each platen and the jacket have a heating medium having a different temperature with respect to the respective annular space. Provide a source.

According to the first and second aspects of the invention, as in the third aspect of the invention, each of the pair of platens has a plurality of annular spaces, and the first to third aspects of the invention relate to the first to third aspects of the invention. As in the invention described in claim 4, the jacket has a plurality of annular spaces, and
According to the invention described in claim 4, as in the invention described in claim 5, each of the plurality of sectors has one or more internal spaces.

According to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, as in the sixth aspect of the present invention, each of the pair of platens has a radial sliding surface of each sector on the radially outer facing surface.

According to the first to sixth aspects of the present invention, as in the seventh aspect of the invention, each sector has a pair of upper and lower claws projecting inward in the radial direction,
Each of the pair of platens is provided with a concave portion that fits into the pair of claw portions of each sector. According to the invention described in claim 7, as in the invention described in claim 8, the claw portion and the concave portion are different from each other. And a lock mechanism for a pair of platens of each sector, and each recess at the time of locking has a dimension for forming a gap with respect to each claw.

According to the first to eighth aspects of the present invention, as in the ninth aspect of the present invention, the upper platen includes a suspended member that can be suspended by a separate lifting means and released therefrom.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vulcanizing apparatus as set forth in any one of the first to ninth aspects, wherein the tread segment is provided at a lower position of the jacket. The unvulcanized tire is loaded into the mold under the open state, the upper platen is lowered, the upper platen is fixed to the jacket, the jacket is raised, the open tread segment is closed, and the tread segment and the upper and lower platens are closed. Are locked to each other, and vulcanization molding is performed on the unvulcanized tire under the locked state.

According to the invention described in claim 10, as in the invention described in claim 11, vulcanization molding is performed on an unvulcanized tire by setting the heating temperature of the upper and lower platens lower than the heating temperature of the jacket. Claims 10 and 11
According to the invention described in (12), as in the invention described in claim 12, a gap is formed between the claw portion inside the sector and the concave portion provided in the upper and lower platens in a state where the mold is assembled to the vulcanizing device, When a pressurized vulcanizing medium having a predetermined gauge pressure is filled in the unvulcanized tire loaded in the above, the inner shape of the mold is normalized, and the unvulcanized tire is subjected to vulcanization molding with the normalized mold.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the examples shown in FIGS. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a large tire vulcanizing apparatus according to the present invention with a split mold installed during operation. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in which an upper platen for fixing an upper side mold is raised and separated. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in which the jacket is lowered and the divided sectors are moved radially outward, and FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion A of the apparatus shown in FIG. .

1 to 3, a split mold 1 on one surface has a pair of side molds 2 and 3 and a plurality of tread segments 4 which engage with the outer peripheral portions of the side molds 2 and 3. Each tread segment 4 has a fan shape when viewed in a plane, and when the split mold 1 is operated, it is combined with each other to form an annular shape, and engages with the outer peripheral portions of the side molds 2 and 3, and is indicated by a two-dot chain line. The tread portion of the tire T shown is mainly vulcanized. In this sense, the tread segment 4 has a shape divided into a plurality of pieces, for example, 6 to 9 pieces in the circumferential direction. On the other hand, the side molds 2 and 3 vulcanize and mold the remaining portions of the tire T, that is, a pair of sidewall portions and a pair of bead portions connected to both sides of the tread portion. The side molds 2 and 3 include bead rings 5 and 6 for vulcanizing and forming a bead portion.

1 to 3, a large tire vulcanizing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a vulcanizing apparatus) 100 has a split mold 1 on one side mounted horizontally as shown in the figure. The vulcanizing device 100
It has a pair of upper and lower platens 101 and 102. Upper platen
101 fixes the upper side mold 2 and the lower platen 102 fixes the lower side mold 3, respectively.
Each of them becomes a heating source and heats the side molds 2 and 3.

The vulcanizing apparatus 100 has a plurality of sectors 103 to which each tread segment 4 is fixedly attached. Each of the sectors 103 is a vulcanizer 100 shown in FIG.
During operation, the pair of platens 101 and 102 is movable with respect to the central axis CL in and out of the radial direction with each tread segment 4 between the pair of platens 101 and 102. In order to perform this movement smoothly, each of the pair of platens 101 and 102 has radially inner and outer sliding surfaces 101S and 102S of each sector 103 on the radially outer facing surface, while each of the sectors 103 faces downward. The tapered outer peripheral surface 103S is provided.

The vulcanizing apparatus 100 has an annular jacket for heating each tread segment 4 via each sector 103.
104. The jacket 104 has a tapered inner peripheral surface 104S slidingly engaged with the tapered outer peripheral surface 103S of each sector 103.
Is provided. The inner peripheral surface 104S has the same tapered surface shape as the tapered surface of the outer peripheral surface 103S. The jacket 104 consists of each sector 103
Locks the outer peripheral surface 103S. The locking means is provided on the inner peripheral surface 104S with, for example, a T-shaped projection 104T provided on the outer peripheral surface 103S side of each sector 103 and fitted in the dovetail groove 103A. Jacket 104
Is the heating source itself, and the pair of platens
The heating sources 101 and 102 and the heating source of the jacket 104 are independent from each other, and these heating sources may be any of a high-temperature fluid such as high-temperature gas or high-temperature water and a heating element such as electric heating.

The vulcanizing apparatus 100 includes a plurality of, in the illustrated example, two elevating means 105 for elevating and lowering the jacket 104.
Having. The lifting means 105 may be of any type, such as a pressurized fluid (pressurized gas or pressurized liquid) actuator, an electromagnetic actuator, or a mechanical (for example, ball screw) actuator, as long as it moves the jacket 104 up and down.
The elevating means 105 connects and fixes the distal end portion 105P of the operation shaft to the jacket 104 by the fixture 106.

Here, the lower platen 102 is fixed to the floor surface FL by a support member 107, and the upper platen 101 is configured to be movable up and down with respect to the lower platen 102 with the upper side mold 2 fixed. For this vertical movement and mutual centering, one of the upper platen 101 and the jacket 104 has guide fixing means for the other.

In the example of the guide means shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the upper platen 101 has a pin 108 fixed thereto, and the jacket 104 has a guide member 10 projecting radially outside thereof.
9 has a hole 109H for guiding the pin 108, and the pin 108 descends and rises along the wall surface of the guide groove 109H. 1 to 3
In the example of the fixing means shown in (1), a fastener 110, for example, a nut 110 is screwed into a screw provided at the tip of the pin 108, and the nut 11
0 is fastened to the guide member 109. By these guide fixing means, the upper platen 101 to which the upper side mold 2 is fixed can be separated from the vulcanizing apparatus 100 and can be easily mounted on the vulcanizing apparatus 100. Other than this, illustration is omitted,
Secure the pin 108 to the member 109, and
The guide hole of the pin 108 is provided, and the upper end of the pin 108 is
It may be fixed to 101.

The vulcanizing apparatus 100 supplies a pressurized fluid having a predetermined gauge pressure, for example, a pressurized gas (pressurized air, pressurized nitrogen gas, etc.) into the unvulcanized tire GT to be vulcanized.
With one. The pressurized fluid supply means 111 is a lower platen 102
To the center space of The pressurized fluid supply means 111 supplies the pressurized fluid to the inside of the bladder 112 shown in FIG.
A means for supplying a pressurized fluid directly into the unvulcanized tire may be used. .

The operation of the vulcanizing apparatus 100 described above will be briefly described below. First, in FIG. 2, the operating axis of each lifting / lowering means 105 and the tip 105P are lowered to lower the jacket 104, thereby moving each sector 103 and each tread segment 4 outward in the radial direction. With the tread segment 4 open, an unvulcanized tire GT that has been completely formed is loaded.

Next, the upper platen 101 fixed to the upper side mold 2 once removed from the vulcanizing apparatus 100 and stored in another place is positioned just above the lower platen 102. For raising and lowering and transporting the upper platen 101, if the vulcanizing apparatus 100 is very large, use separate lifting / lowering / moving means suitable for transporting heavy objects such as an overhead traveling crane; otherwise, use lifting / lowering means such as an electric hoist . Therefore, the upper platen 101
It is preferable to provide a plurality of hanging members 115 for hanging a wire rope, for example, eyebolts 115.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, while lowering the upper platen 101 and simultaneously operating the lifting / lowering means 105 to raise the tip 105P of the operating shaft and the fixture 106,
Each pin 108 of the upper platen 101 is connected to the guide groove of the guide member 109.
The lowering of the upper platen 101 is continued while being fitted to 109H, the upper platen 101 is fixed to the jacket 104, each sector 103 in the open state and each tread segment 4 are moved inward in the radial direction, and each tread segment 4 is moved. The ring is united and closed. At this time, the pressurized fluid supply means 111
Upper platen 101 to prevent the bladder 112
Before lowering, the bladder 112 is filled with a low internal pressure of a predetermined gauge pressure, and the bladder 112 is housed in the unvulcanized tire GT by a shaping operation. This state is shown in FIG.

Next, in FIG. 1, the nut 110 is fastened to the guide member 109. Thereafter, the inside of the unvulcanized tire GT is filled with a predetermined gauge pressure via the pressurized fluid supply means 111, and the unvulcanized tire GT is pressed against the inner surface of the split mold 1. At least at the same time as the start of pressing, and preferably before pressing, a pair of platens 101 and 102 and a jacket 104
The split mold 1 is heated by these heat sources, and the unvulcanized tire GT is vulcanized to obtain a product tire T. After the vulcanization molding is completed, the product tire T is removed from the vulcanization apparatus 100 by following the above process in reverse.

As described above, this vulcanizing apparatus 100
(1) Since the one-side split mold is installed, the unvulcanized tire GT can be vulcanized and formed under the optimum vulcanization temperature and vulcanization time. And (2) a pair of platens 10
1, 102 and the heating temperature of the jacket 104 can be individually adjusted, so that the thick gauge portion, i.e., the tread portion, is vulcanized at a high temperature, and the thin gauge portion,
That is, the portion from the sidewall portion to the bead portion is vulcanized at a low temperature, and the degree of vulcanization of each portion over the entire tire can be made uniform, and the effect of significantly improving the quality of the tire is achieved. (3) It is mainly a combination of the conventional split mold 1 and a pair of platens 101, 102. In other words, a pair of platens 101, 10
2 and a jacket 104 are added to the heating source, and the existing transport device is used. Therefore, the configuration of the device is simple, low cost, the floor space occupied by the device is small, and the space can be saved. 4) The operation is simple and the workability is excellent.

Here, with respect to another type of heating source which is the main component of the vulcanizing apparatus 100, each of the pair of platens 101 and 102 and the jacket 104 have an annular space for accommodating a heating medium therein, and Each of the platens 101 and 102 and the jacket 104 have a heating medium supply source (not shown) having a different temperature for each annular space. The heating medium may be any of a high-temperature fluid such as a high-temperature gas and a high-temperature liquid or an electric heating element.

A pair of platens 101, 10 shown in FIGS.
2 The heating medium of each and the jacket 104 is an example of a hot steam or other hot gas. That is, the upper platen 101 has a plurality of, in the illustrated example, two annular spaces 120, 121, and the lower platen 102 has a plurality of, in the illustrated example, two annular spaces 122, 123. The jacket 104 has a plurality of, in the illustrated example, two, annular spaces 124, 125 therein. Although not shown, each of the plurality of sectors 103 may have one or more internal spaces.

At least high-temperature soot or high-temperature gas having different temperatures is supplied to the annular spaces 120 to 123 and the annular spaces 124 and 125 from different kinds of sources. Also, an annular space
Hot steam or hot gas having different temperatures between 120, 121, between annular spaces 122, 123 and between annular spaces 124, 125 can also be supplied from different sources. A high-temperature steam or a high-temperature gas different from the others, or a high-temperature steam or the same steam or high-temperature gas supplied to the annular spaces 124 and 125 is supplied to the internal space of each of the plurality of sectors 103 (not shown). The temperature of the high-temperature steam or high-temperature gas to be supplied is changed according to the change in room temperature inside the factory.
The heating source temperature of the pair of platens 101 and 102 is set at about 30 ° C. lower than the heating source temperature of the jacket 104. Thus, the degree of vulcanization of the tire T is uniform throughout.

In FIG. 4, in order to improve the workability of assembling the vulcanizing apparatus 100, each of the sectors 103 has a pair of upper and lower claws 126, 127 protruding inward on the inside in the radial direction. Each of the platens 101 and 102 has 10 sectors
3 It has annular recesses 128, 129 that fit into the respective pair of claws 126, 127.

The pair of claws 126, 127 and the recess 128,
129 means a pair of platens 101 for each sector 103
, 102 to form a locking mechanism. However, the dimensions of the recesses 128, 129 at the time of locking are set so as to have a dimension for forming a gap with respect to each of the claws 126, 127. This facilitates locking when each sector 103 moves in the circumferential direction. As a result, each sector 103 can easily enter and exit in the radial direction, and when an internal pressure of a predetermined gauge pressure is applied to the unvulcanized tire GT, The inner shape of the regular mold 1 can be used, and the uncured tire GT is vulcanized and formed with the regular inner shape of the mold 1.

[0035]

According to the inventions described in the first to twelfth aspects of the present invention, a split mold having one surface is used, and a pair of side molds of the split mold and a plurality of divided tread segments are moved in the radial direction. It is possible to optimize the degree of vulcanization of the vulcanized tire by using a separate heating source for the annular jacket to be vulcanized and to improve the tire quality by uniformizing the degree of vulcanization of the entire tire. A large-sized tire vulcanizing apparatus and a large-sized tire vulcanizing method having a structure can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a large tire vulcanizing apparatus of the present invention equipped with a split mold during operation.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in which an upper platen for fixing an upper side mold is raised and separated.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in which a jacket is lowered and a divided sector is moved outward in a radial direction.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion A of the device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Split Mold 2 Upper Side Mold 3 Lower Side Mold 4 Tread Segment 5, 6 Bead Ring 100 Vulcanizer 101 Upper Platen 101S Radial Inner / Outer Sliding Surface 102 Lower Platen 102S Radial Inner / Outer Sliding Surface 103 Sector 103S Tapered Outer Surface 104 Jacket 104S Tapered inner peripheral surface 104T T-shaped projection 105 Elevating means 105P Operating shaft tip 106 Fixture 107 Support member 108 Pin 109 Guide member 109H Guide hole 110 Nut 111 Pressurized fluid supply means 112 Bladder 115 Eye bolts 120, 121 Upper platen Annular spaces 122, 123 Lower platen annular space 124, 125 Jacket annular space 126, 127 Claws 128, 129 Recess CL Central axis

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Michihiko Nishimura 3-1-1, Ogawa-Higashi-cho, Kodaira-shi, Tokyo F-term in Bridgestone Technology Center (reference) 4F202 AA45 AH20 CA21 CB01 CU01 CU03 CU14 CY02 CY21 4F203 AA45 AH20 DA11 DB01 DC02 DL10 DM23

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A large tire vulcanizing apparatus in which a tire vulcanization molding split mold having a pair of side molds and a plurality of circumferentially divided tread segments engaged with the outer peripheral portions thereof is mounted horizontally. A pair of heating source platens for fixing and heating each side mold, a tread segment mounting sector movable between the platens in a radial direction with respect to a center axis thereof, and a tapered downward of each sector. An annular heating source jacket provided with a tapered inner peripheral surface which locks the tapered outer peripheral surface and slidably engages with the outer peripheral surface; a plurality of elevating means for elevating the jacket; and a lower platen provided in a central space portion Means for supplying a pressurized fluid into the loaded unvulcanized tire, wherein the upper platen is vertically movable with respect to a lower platen fixed to the floor surface. A large tire vulcanizing apparatus comprising: an upper platen and a jacket provided with a guide fixing means for the other. 2. A platen and a jacket each have an annular space for accommodating a heating medium therein, and each platen and a jacket provide a heating medium supply source having a different temperature for each annular space. The vulcanizing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The vulcanizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the pair of platens has a plurality of annular spaces. 4. The vulcanizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the jacket has a plurality of annular spaces. 5. The vulcanizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sectors has one or more internal spaces. 6. The vulcanizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the pair of platens has a radial sliding surface of each sector on the radially outer facing surface. 7. Each of the sectors has a pair of upper and lower claws projecting inward in the radial direction, and each of the pair of platens has a concave portion fitted to the pair of claw portions of each sector. A vulcanizing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6. 8. The claw and the recess constitute a locking mechanism for a pair of platens of each sector, and each recess at the time of locking has a dimension to form a gap for each claw. Item 7. A vulcanizing apparatus according to item 7. 9. The vulcanizing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper platen is provided with a suspended member that can be suspended by a separate lifting means and released therefrom. 10. An unvulcanized tire is loaded into a mold using the vulcanizing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9 with the tread segment open at the lower position of the jacket, and the upper platen is removed. Fix the upper platen to the jacket while lowering it, raise the jacket to close the open tread segment, lock the tread segment and the upper and lower platens with each other, and vulcanize the unvulcanized tire under the locked condition A large tire vulcanizing method characterized by performing molding. 11. The vulcanizing method according to claim 10, wherein the unvulcanized tire is subjected to vulcanization molding by setting the heating temperature of the upper and lower platens lower than the heating temperature of the jacket. 12. A gap is formed between the claw portion inside the sector and a concave portion provided on the upper and lower platens in a state where the mold is mounted on the vulcanizing apparatus, and a predetermined gauge pressure is applied inside the unvulcanized tire loaded in the mold. The vulcanization method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the inner surface shape of the mold is normalized when the pressurized vulcanization medium is filled, and the unvulcanized tire is vulcanized with the normalized mold.