JP2012131508A - Method of printing on surface of tire - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method of printing on the surface of a tire and a tire printing device capable of printing letters, pictures, and so forth on the side surface of the tire without any wrinkle and without deteriorating the performance of the tire while achieving predetermined positional accuracy and productivity.SOLUTION: This tire printing device includes a printer head 2 which is disposed in proximity to a rotating tire 1 and ejects paint for painting, an irregularity detection sensor 3 for detecting a specific irregular letter on the surface of the rotating tire 1, and a PC 10 which sets the rotation origin of the tire 1 based on a signal detected by the irregular detection sensor 3 and synchronizes the rotation origin with the operation start timing of the printer head 2 so as to controllably maintain constant the relation between the position of the irregular letter and the paint position of the paint. The paint is ejected from the printer head 2 onto the surface of the rotating tire 1 which is assembled on a rim and filled with an internal pressure to be inflated into a normal shape for painting so as to perform desired printing.

Description

  The present invention relates to a tire surface printing method and a tire printing apparatus for printing information such as letters and patterns on an automobile tire.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when displaying information such as characters and patterns on an automobile tire, the tire is stamped. That is, a mold with display information is formed on a mold used for vulcanizing a tire, and a tire is loaded on the mold so that the display information is stamped on the tire surface by pressure. Yes.

  However, the mold with mold has poor versatility and is required for each display information. For this reason, it has been proposed to manufacture a display seal with information such as characters and pictures, and to attach the display seal to a predetermined position of the tire during vulcanization (see, for example, Patent Document 1). . Thereby, the versatility of a mold increases and it can aim at the improvement of tire productivity.

JP 2008-056055 A

  However, since the display sticker described above is difficult to be automatically applied to a specific position on the raw tire, it is usually attached manually, and there is a problem in the accuracy of the attaching position and productivity. Moreover, it is difficult to stick the display seal on the curved surface of the tire without wrinkles and without filling the internal pressure. Further, when sticking the display seal, foreign matter adheres to the tire surface, which may become the nucleus of the starting point of cracking, and tire performance may be deteriorated.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the object of the present invention is to improve the tire performance without wrinkles, by satisfying the positional accuracy and productivity, such as letters and pictures on the side of the tire. An object of the present invention is to provide a tire surface printing method and a tire printing apparatus capable of printing without causing the printing.

  In order to achieve the above object, the tire surface printing method of the present invention assembles a vulcanized tire with a rim, fills the rim-assembled tire with an internal pressure, and horizontally aligns the tire so that the tire rotation main shaft is vertical. It is characterized in that a desired printing is performed by discharging paint from the printer head onto the surface of the tire and applying it on the surface of the tire.

  It is preferable that the tire is rotated to discharge and apply a paint to the surface of the tire to perform desired printing, and the paint discharged from the printer head can be dried and cured using a drying / curing means. preferable. Moreover, it is preferable to perform desired printing by rotating the tire at a constant speed.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said tire is provided with an uneven | corrugated character, and the said tire rotates with rotation of the rotating main shaft which passes along the tire center, and it is preferable that the said rotating main shaft is driven by the rotation drive device.

  Further, it is preferable that the printer head performs desired printing by discharging and applying a paint using an ink jet method, an air spray method or an airless spray method.

  Further, the tire printing apparatus of the present invention is disposed in the vicinity of the rotating tire filled with the internal pressure so that the main axis of rotation of the tire is in a horizontal state, and discharges paint onto the surface of the tire, A printer head for applying and performing desired printing is provided.

  It is preferable that the tire is rotated to discharge and apply a paint to the surface of the tire to perform desired printing, and the paint discharged from the printer head can be dried and cured using a drying / curing means. preferable. Moreover, it is preferable to perform desired printing by rotating the tire at a constant speed.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the said tire is provided with an uneven | corrugated character, and the said tire rotates with rotation of the rotating main shaft which passes along the tire center, and it is preferable that the said rotating main shaft is driven by the rotation drive device.

  Further, it is preferable that the printer head performs desired printing by discharging and applying a paint using an ink jet method, an air spray method or an airless spray method.

  The tire of the present invention is a tire on which a predetermined pattern is printed by the above-described tire surface printing method, and the predetermined pattern is drawn so as to maintain a certain relationship from the position of the predetermined uneven character. It is.

  Since the present invention can automatically print characters, patterns and the like at specific positions on the tire side surface, the printing position accuracy and productivity can be satisfied by all automatic operations.

  Moreover, since this invention prints on the tire filled with the internal pressure, a character, a pattern, etc. can be printed on a curved surface of a tire side surface without wrinkles.

  Further, in the present invention, since foreign matter does not adhere to the tire surface, there is no possibility that the foreign matter will be a starting point to cause cracks, and tire performance will not be deteriorated.

It is a schematic block diagram of the printing apparatus which implements the tire surface printing method which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a flowchart explaining the tire surface printing method of this invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print output image of a printer head. It is a figure which shows the uneven | corrugated character and print output image of a tire side surface. 6 is a timing chart of an output signal of the unevenness detection sensor and a print control signal output to the printer head.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printing apparatus that performs the tire surface printing method according to the present embodiment.

  An ink jet printer that prints desired characters, pictures, symbols, patterns, etc. (predetermined patterns) on the tire surface in the vicinity of the side surface of the tire 1 that is assembled with a rim and filled with an internal pressure and inflated into a regular shape. A head 2, a concavo-convex detection sensor 3 for detecting a specific concavo-convex character on the rotating tire surface from the outside, and UV for drying and curing the paint applied to the tire surface by the printer head 2 adjacent to the printer head 2 An (ultraviolet) irradiation lamp 4 is arranged.

  The printer head 2 can employ an air spray method, an airless spray method, or the like in addition to the ink jet method. In addition, when performing multicolor printing by simultaneous rotation, a plurality of printer heads are arranged according to the number of paint colors. A laser displacement meter or the like is used for the unevenness detection sensor 3. Further, although the UV irradiation lamp 4 is used for drying and curing the paint, a hot air fan may be used.

  Further, the tire rotation main shaft 6 passing through the center hole of the tire wheel 5 is driven by the rotation shaft driving device 7, and the tire 1 rotates (counterclockwise) with the rotation of the tire rotation main shaft 6. The rotary shaft drive device 7 is provided with a rotary encoder 9 via a belt 8 in order to synchronize the rotation origin of the tire 1 and the operation start timing of the printer head 2. The rotary encoder 9 detects the amount of rotation of the tire 1 and transmits the detected amount of rotation as a signal (pulse signal) to a PC (personal computer) 10 that is a control device.

  The PC 10 includes a print control unit 11, an origin setting unit 12, a synchronization unit 13, and a rotation control unit 14. The print control unit 11 is connected to the printer head 2 and outputs a print control signal and a print data signal to the printer head 2. The origin setting means 12 is connected to the concavo-convex detection sensor 3. If the concavo-convex pattern data of the concavo-convex character output from the concavo-convex detection sensor 3 matches the concavo-convex pattern data previously stored in the PC 10, For example, a specific uneven character of the uneven pattern is set as the origin of tire rotation. The synchronization means 13 is connected to the rotary encoder 9 and detects a signal from the rotary encoder 9 to synchronize the start of operation of the printer head 2 with the tire rotation origin at a predetermined timing. By synchronizing the start of operation of the printer head 2 with the rotation origin of the tire at a predetermined timing, the relationship between the position of the concavo-convex characters formed by the tire mold and the printing position can be kept constant each time. The rotation control means 14 is connected to the rotating shaft driving device 7 and controls the rotating shaft driving device 7 so that the tire 1 rotates at a constant speed.

  The functions of the print control unit 11, the origin setting unit 12, the synchronization unit 13, and the rotation control unit 14 are realized by executing software (programs) held by the PC 10.

  Next, operation | movement of the tire surface printing method of this invention is demonstrated according to the flowchart of FIG. First, the vulcanized tire is automatically assembled with a rim (S101), and the rim-assembled tire is filled with internal pressure and inflated into a regular shape (S102). As shown in FIG. 1, the inflated tire 1 is installed in the printing device through the tire rotation main shaft 6 in the center hole of the tire wheel 5, and the tire rotation main shaft 6 is driven by the rotation shaft driving device 7 to rotate the tire 1. (S103). Next, the specific uneven character formed by the tire mold on the rotating tire surface is detected from the outside by the unevenness detection sensor 3, and the specific uneven character detected by the unevenness detection sensor 3 is used as the rotation origin of the tire 1. (S104). Next, the amount of rotation of the tire 1 is detected by a rotary encoder 9 installed on the tire rotation main shaft 6, and the amount of rotation from the rotation origin of the tire 1 is transmitted as a signal (pulse signal) to the synchronization means 13. (S105). While maintaining the relationship between the position of the specific concavo-convex character and the printing position constant, the paint is discharged from the printer head 2 onto the side surface of the rotating tire 1 and applied to form a desired character, pattern, symbol, pattern, etc. A (predetermined pattern) is drawn (printed) (S106). Next, the applied paint is dried and cured by the UV irradiation lamp 4 installed adjacently (S107).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print output image of the printer head, and FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating uneven characters formed on the tire side surface and a print output image printed on the tire side surface. Concave and convex characters 15 of “D4280” are formed on the side surface of the tire 1, and “ZERO” characters 16 are printed at regular intervals from the concave and convex characters 15.

  FIG. 5 is a timing chart of the output signal of the unevenness detection sensor and the print control signal output to the printer head.

The origin setting means 12 collates the concavo-convex pattern signal of the concavo-convex character “D4280” output from the concavo-convex detection sensor 3 with the concavo-convex pattern data of the concavo-convex character “D4280” stored in the PC (personal computer) 10 in advance. If they match, the last character “0” of “D4280” is set as a specific uneven character serving as the origin of tire rotation. The synchronizing means 13 counts the number of pulses generated by the rotary encoder 9 and synchronizes the start of operation of the printer head 2 with the timing of time t ₀ with the passage of the tire rotation origin. The print control unit 11 outputs a print control signal to the printer head 2 and further outputs a print data signal of the character “ZERO”, and the printer head 2 prints the character 16 of “ZERO” on the tire side surface.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically print a character, a pattern, or the like at a specific position on the side surface of the tire, so that the printing position accuracy and productivity can be improved. Further, according to the present invention, printing is performed on a tire that is assembled with a rim and filled with internal pressure, so that characters, pictures, and the like can be printed on the curved surface of the tire without wrinkles. Furthermore, according to the present invention, foreign matter does not adhere to the tire surface, so that the foreign matter does not cause cracks and the tire performance is not deteriorated.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tire 2 Printer head 3 Concavity and convexity detection sensor 4 UV irradiation lamp 5 Tire wheel 6 Tire rotation main shaft 7 Rotating shaft drive device 8 Belt 9 Rotary encoder 10 PC
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Print control means 12 Origin setting means 13 Synchronization means 14 Rotation control means 15 Concave and convex characters 16 Print characters

  The present invention relates to a tire surface printing method for printing information such as letters and patterns on an automobile tire.

  The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and the object of the present invention is to improve the tire performance without wrinkles, by satisfying the positional accuracy and productivity, such as letters and pictures on the side of the tire. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for printing a tire surface that can be printed without causing the printing.

To achieve the above object, a tire surface printing method of the present invention assembled rim of the vulcanized tire, filled with inner pressure rim to said tire, so that the rotary spindle is perpendicular passing through the center of the tire The tire surface in which the tire is placed in a horizontal state and a desired print is applied to the side surface of the tire having uneven characters of the tire by discharging paint from an inkjet, air spray, or airless spray printer head In the printing method , the rotation main shaft is driven by a rotation driving device, and the tire is rotated at a constant speed along with the rotation of the rotation main shaft, and the paint is discharged from the printer head onto the side surface of the rotating tire. And applying and performing desired printing, and drying the paint discharged from the printer head using drying / curing means Characterized in that it comprises the step of curing.

Claims (15)

  After vulcanized tires are assembled into rims, the tires assembled with rims are filled with internal pressure, the tires are placed horizontally so that the tire rotation spindle is vertical, and paint is discharged from the printer head onto the surface of the tires. And then applying and performing desired printing.   The tire surface printing method according to claim 1, wherein the tire is rotated to discharge and apply a paint onto the tire surface to perform desired printing.   The tire surface printing method according to claim 1, wherein the paint discharged from the printer head is dried and cured using a drying / curing unit.   The tire surface printing method according to claim 1, wherein desired printing is performed by rotating the tire at a constant speed.   The tire surface printing method according to claim 1, wherein the tire includes uneven characters.   The tire surface printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the tire rotates along with rotation of a rotation main shaft passing through a tire center, and the rotation main shaft is driven by a rotation driving device. .   The said printer head discharges and applies a coating material using an inkjet system, an air spray system, or an airless spray system, and performs desired printing, It is any one of Claim 1 thru | or 6 characterized by the above-mentioned. Tire surface printing method.   A printer head that is filled with an internal pressure and is placed in the vicinity of a rotating tire in a horizontal position so that the tire rotation main shaft is vertical, and discharges and applies paint to the surface of the tire to perform desired printing. A printing apparatus for tires, comprising:   The tire printing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the tire is rotated to discharge and apply a paint on a tire surface to perform desired printing.   The tire printing apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the paint discharged from the printer head is dried and cured using a drying / curing unit.   The tire printing apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the tire is rotated at a constant speed to perform desired printing.   The tire printing apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the tire includes uneven characters.   The tire printing apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein the tire rotates with rotation of a rotation main shaft passing through a tire center, and the rotation main shaft is driven by a rotation driving device. .   14. The printer head according to claim 8, wherein the printer head performs desired printing by discharging and applying a paint using an inkjet method, an air spray method, or an airless spray method. Tire printing device. A tire having a predetermined pattern printed by the tire surface printing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
A tire in which the predetermined pattern is drawn so as to maintain a certain relationship from the position of the predetermined uneven character.

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