Tire sidewall deformation detection techniques
First Claim
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1. In a tire manufacturing system including means for assembling and curing components of the tire and for testing the cured tire by detecting lateral runout values for at least one sidewall of the tire, improved apparatus for determining the degree of side wall deformation resulting from the assembling and curing, said apparatus comprising:
- storage means for storing a plurality of the lateral runout values;
processing means for segregating the lateral runout values into a plurality of groups, each group representing a portion of the sidewall, for calculating a reference value for each group based on at least a portion of the runout values within the group, for comparing the reference values to at least one of the laterial runout values in the group in order to generate a group deformation value indicative of the degree of deformation in the portion of the sidewall represented by the group, and for generating a deformation flag signal if any of the group deformation values generated for the various groups have a predetermined relationship with respect to a predetermined limit; and
means for indicating the condition of the tire in response to the deformation flag signal.
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Abstract
An improvement in a tire manufacturing system including means for testing the extent of sidewall deformation of a tire. The tire is rotated and measured for lateral runout of both sidewalls. The resulting data is converted to digital form and analyzed by groups in order to increase the accuracy by which unacceptable sidewall bulges and valleys are detected.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. In a tire manufacturing system including means for assembling and curing components of the tire and for testing the cured tire by detecting lateral runout values for at least one sidewall of the tire, improved apparatus for determining the degree of side wall deformation resulting from the assembling and curing, said apparatus comprising:
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storage means for storing a plurality of the lateral runout values; processing means for segregating the lateral runout values into a plurality of groups, each group representing a portion of the sidewall, for calculating a reference value for each group based on at least a portion of the runout values within the group, for comparing the reference values to at least one of the laterial runout values in the group in order to generate a group deformation value indicative of the degree of deformation in the portion of the sidewall represented by the group, and for generating a deformation flag signal if any of the group deformation values generated for the various groups have a predetermined relationship with respect to a predetermined limit; and means for indicating the condition of the tire in response to the deformation flag signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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4. In tire testing apparatus capable of generating an analog signal corresponding to the lateral runout values for at least one sidewall of a tire, improved means for determining the degree of deformation present in the sidewall of the tire comprising:
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means for converting the analog signal to digital signals representing a plurality of the lateral runout values; storage means for storing a plurality of the digital signals corresponding to digital lateral runout values; processing means for segregating the lateral runout values into a plurality of groups, each group representing a portion of the sidewall, for calculating a reference value for each group based on at least a portion of the runout values within the group, for comparing the reference value to at least one of the lateral runout values in the group in order to generate a group deformation value indicative of the degree of deformation in the portion of the sidewall represented by the group, and for generating a deformation flag signal if any of the group deformation values generated for the various groups have a predetermined relationship with respect to a predetermined limit; and means for indicating the condition of the tire in response to the deformation flag signal.
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15. In a tire manufacturing method including assembling and curing the tire and testing the cured tire by detecting lateral runout values for at least one sidewall of the tire, an improved process for determining the degree of sidewall deformation resulting from the assembling and curing comprising the steps of:
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storing a plurality of the lateral runout values; segregating the lateral runout values into a plurality of groups, each group representing a portion of the sidewall; calculating a reference value for each group based on at least a portion of the runout values within the group; comparing the reference value to at least one of the lateral runout values in the group in order to generate a group deformation value indicative of the degree of deformation in the portion of the sidewall represented by the group; generating a deformation flag signal if any of the group deformation values generated for the various groups have a predetermined relationship with respect to a predetermined limit; and indicating the condition of the tire in response to the deformation flag signal. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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18. In the testing method capable of generating an analog signal corresponding to the lateral runout values for at least one sidewall of a tire, an improved process for determining the degree of deformation present in the sidewall of the tire comprising the steps of:
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converting the analog signal to digital signals representing a plurality of the lateral runout values; segregating the lateral runout values into a plurality of groups, each group representing a portion of the sidewall; calculating a reference value for each group based on at least a portion of the runout values within the group; comparing the reference value to at least one of the lateral runout values in the group to order to generate a group deformation value indicative of the degree of deformation in the portion of the sidewall represented by the group; generating a deformation flag signal if any of the group deformation values generated for the various groups have a predetermined relationship with respect to a predetermined limit; and indicating the condition of the tire in response to the deformation flag signal.
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Specification