Method for Producing a Belt- or Band-Shaped Component Having an Electronic Device

• US 20200132161A1
• Filed: 10/25/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Contitech Antriebssysteme GmbH (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Contitech Antriebssysteme GmbH (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Sattler, Heiko, Rosenbohm, Svenja, Mahnken, Claus-Lueder, Reck, Siegfried, Rosen, Simon
• Granted Patent: US 11,378,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 29/06 Conveyor belts
• CPC Class Codes: B29D 29/08 Toothed driving belts
• CPC Class Codes: F16G 1/10 with textile reinforcement
• CPC Class Codes: F16G 1/28 with a contact surface of special shape, e.g. toothed
• CPC Class Codes: F16G 5/08 with textile reinforcement
• CPC Class Codes: F16G 5/166 with non-metallic rings F16G5/18 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F16G 5/20 with a contact surface of special shape, e.g. toothed

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a belt- or band-shaped component made of elastomer material, which is driven to run around under tensile stress and which has an electronic circuit or electronic device installed in the component, the component having tension members or cords which are arranged in the longitudinal direction, wherein, during the fabrication and before the vulcanization of the component blank, planar intermediate plies or strips made of material which cannot be crosslinked by vulcanization are inserted into the blank structure in subregions of the blank, wherein, after the fabrication, the blank is completely vulcanized to form the component and, where appropriate, cut or trimmed, and wherein the intermediate plies or strips are then removed from the component through correspondingly incorporated or method-intrinsically formed openings, and an electronic circuit or electronic device is introduced into the thus resulting planar empty space or interspace in the component.

Claims

1. A method for producing a component made of an elastomer material, which is driven to run around under tensile stress and which has an electronic circuit or electronic device installed in the component, the component having tension members or cords which are arranged in the longitudinal direction and the component being a belt or band-shaped component, the method comprising:

inserting planar intermediate plies which cannot be crosslinked by vulcanization into a blank structure in subregions of a blank component;

completely vulcanizing the blank component to form a vulcanized component after inserting the planar intermediate plies;

removing the intermediate plies from the vulcanized component generating interspace in the vulcanized component;

introducing one or more electronic devices into the interspace of the vulcanized component.

2. The method for producing a component as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

embedding at least one fabric ply in or close to an outer surface of the blank component prior to vulcanizing the blank component;

arranging one or more planar intermediate lies or strips adjacent the at least one fabric ply, wherein the one or more planar intermediate plies or strips are comprised of a material which cannot be crosslinked by vulcanization; and

inserting the one or more planar intermediate plies or strips into the blank structure.

3. The method of claim 1, in which the intermediate plies are formed as strips made of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) or silicone paper.

4. The method as claimed of claim 1, in which the electronic circuit or electronic device is arranged on an electronics carrier and is formed as a film circuit or as a printed circuit applied to film.

5. The method of claim 1, in which the electronic circuit or electronic device is adhesively bonded, via a linear, patch-like or punctiform connection, in the planar empty space or interspace.

6. The method of claim 1, in which the introduced electronic circuit or electronic device has a temperature sensor and the interspace is filled with an elastic heat-conducting paste after the introduction of the circuit.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the vulcanized component is a drive belt having a drive side, a rear side and lateral surfaces, wherein the fabrication occurs on a building drum and in the form of a cylindrical blank whose length corresponds to a multiple of the drive belt width, wherein, during the fabrication and before the vulcanization of the cylindrical blank, intermediate plies or strips which extend at least over partial lengths of the cylindrical blank and are made of material which cannot be crosslinked by vulcanization are inserted into the blank structure in subregions of the blank, wherein, after the fabrication, the blank is completely vulcanized and cut into individual drive belts, wherein the intermediate plies or strips are then removed from the separated drive belts, and the electronic device is introduced into the thus resulting planar empty space or interspace.

8. The method of claim 7, in which the intermediate plies or strips are inserted into the cylindrical blank in such a way that, after the cutting or separation of the drive belts, they are accessible and removable on or from at least one lateral surface of the drive belt.

9. The method of claim 7, in which, during the fabrication of the cylindrical blank, intermediate plies or strips which extend at least over parts of the length of the cylindrical blank and are made of material which cannot be crosslinked by vulcanization are inserted in certain portions into the blank structure in subregions of the blank in such a way that the ends of the strips project out of the fabricated blank through incisions incorporated into the outer fabric plies during the fabrication.

10. The method of claim 7, in which, after introducing the electronic circuit or electronic device into the empty space or interspace, the accesses or openings to the empty space or interspace are closed again, preferably by melting on or melting in a thermoplastic compound.

11. The method of claim 10 for producing a drive belt provided with a plurality of fabric plies, in which the intermediate plies made of material which cannot be crosslinked by vulcanization are inserted between two fabric plies, in which at least one of the fabric plies is designed to be extensible and is sewn in or welded in in strip form between the other fabric plies, and in which the fabric plies are welded or adhesively bonded to the edges of the drive belts.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting one or more circuits, sensors and transmission devices as the electronic device based on customer information prior to inserting or introducing the electronic device into the interspace.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising filling remaining space of the interspace with a thermoplastic compound after introducing the electronic device to the interspace.

14. A drive belt comprising:

one or more plies comprised of an elastomer material;

an interspace formed within the one or more plies;

an electronic device located within the interspace and only partially filling the interspace;

a thermoplastic material filling a remaining portion of the interspace.

15. The drive belt of claim 14, wherein the drive belt is one of a toothed belt, V-belt, multi V-belt, wide V-belt and/or V-ribbed belt.

16. The drive belt of claim 14, wherein the electronic device is a temperature sensor.

17. A conveyor belt having a drive side and a support side for items to be conveyed, the conveyor belt comprising:

one or more plies comprised of an elastomer material;

an interspace formed within the one or more plies;

an electronic device located within the interspace and only partially filling the interspace;

a thermoplastic material filling a remaining portion of the interspace.

18. The conveyor belt of claim 17, further comprising an adhesive material that adheres the electronic device to an inner surface of the interspace.

19. The conveyor belt of claim 17, wherein the electronic device is a printed circuit applied to a film circuit.

20. The conveyor belt of claim 17, wherein the electronic device includes a plurality of circuits, sensors and transmission devices selected based on customer information.