Tire surface anomaly detection
First Claim
1. A tire inspection method, comprising:
- imparting motion to a tire with a tire rotation device to present a first portion of a tire inner surface to a thermal energy source;
providing thermal energy from the thermal energy source to the first portion of the tire surface;
imparting motion to the tire with the tire rotation device to present the first portion of the tire inner surface to an infrared detector, the infrared detector being separated from the thermal energy source by an angular distance based on a center of the tire in the range of 5°
to 30°
;
detecting infrared energy from the first portion of the tire inner surface with the infrared detector;
generating a first infrared image of the first portion of the tire inner surface based at least in part on the infrared energy detected from the first portion of the tire inner surface; and
analyzing the first infrared image with an image processing system using image subtraction to determine the presence of one or more anomalies in the tire inner surface;
wherein imparting motion to the tire comprises continuously rotating the tire inner surface over the thermal energy source and the infrared detector.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tire surface anomaly detection system and method are disclosed. The system and method are generally based on the principle that a tire surface anomaly will have a different heat transfer rate than that of the uniform mass surrounding the tire surface anomaly. Embodiments of the present disclosure apply thermal energy to the surface of a tire and monitor the infrared energy at the surface of the tire to generate one or more infrared images of the surface of the tire. The infrared images are analyzed by an image processing system to determine and locate thermal gradients on the surface of the tire. The presence of a thermal gradient in the infrared images generally indicates the presence of an anomaly in the surface of the tire. In this manner, the present disclosure provides an objective technique for identifying, locating, and classifying tire surface anomalies.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A tire inspection method, comprising:
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imparting motion to a tire with a tire rotation device to present a first portion of a tire inner surface to a thermal energy source; providing thermal energy from the thermal energy source to the first portion of the tire surface; imparting motion to the tire with the tire rotation device to present the first portion of the tire inner surface to an infrared detector, the infrared detector being separated from the thermal energy source by an angular distance based on a center of the tire in the range of 5°
to 30°
;detecting infrared energy from the first portion of the tire inner surface with the infrared detector; generating a first infrared image of the first portion of the tire inner surface based at least in part on the infrared energy detected from the first portion of the tire inner surface; and analyzing the first infrared image with an image processing system using image subtraction to determine the presence of one or more anomalies in the tire inner surface; wherein imparting motion to the tire comprises continuously rotating the tire inner surface over the thermal energy source and the infrared detector. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A tire inspection system, comprising:
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a thermal energy source positioned to provide thermal energy to a first portion of a tire inner surface; an infrared detector separated from the thermal energy source by an angular distance based on a center of the tire in the range of 5°
to 30°
, said infrared detector configured to detect infrared energy from the first portion of the tire inner surface and to generate a first infrared image based at least in part on the infrared energy detected from the first portion of the tire inner surface;a tire rotation device configured to continuously rotate the tire inner surface over the thermal energy source and the infrared detector; and an image processing system coupled to the infrared detector, the image processing system configured to analyze the first infrared image using image subtraction to determine the presence of one or more anomalies in the tire inner surface. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification