Tire Industry Capability

1. Tire structure

2. Tire birth process

Production process of tires:

Process 1: Mixing process

The internal mixing process is the process of mixing carbon black, natural/synthetic rubber, oil, additives, accelerators and other raw materials together and processing them in an internal mixer to produce "rubber". All raw materials must be tested before entering the mixer and can be used after being released. The weight of each pot of the mixer is about 250 kg. The compound used in each rubber component in a tire has specific properties. The composition of the compound depends on the performance requirements of the tire. At the same time, the changes in the composition of the rubber compound also depend on the needs of the supporting manufacturers and the market, which mainly come from the requirements of traction, driving performance, road conditions and the tire itself. All rubber materials must be tested before entering the next process - the preparation process of rubber parts, and can only enter the next process after being released.

Process 2: Glue parts preparation process   

The glue parts preparation process includes 6 main sections. In this process, all the semi-finished rubber parts that make up the tire are prepared, some of which are pre-assembled.

The six sections are:

Section 1: Extrusion

The compound is fed into the extruder head, which extrudes different semi-finished rubber components: tread, sidewall/pipe and apex.   

Section 2: Calendering

The raw material cord is passed through a calender and a thin layer of rubber is hung on both sides of the cord, and the final product is called a "cord". The raw material cords are mainly nylon and polyester. 

Section 3: Bead forming

The bead is made of many steel wires hanging with glue and then winding. The compound used for the bead has special properties. After vulcanization, the compound and the steel wire can be closely attached together.  

Section 4: Cord cutting   

In this process, the cord will be cut to the appropriate width and spliced. The change of the width and angle of the ply mainly depends on the specifications of the tire and the requirements of the tire structure design. 

Section 5: Paste the triangle tape

In this process, the apex extruded from the extruder will be manually applied to the bead. Apex strips play an important role in the handling properties of tires.

Section 6: Belt Layer Forming

This process is for the production of belt layers. In the spindle room, many steel wires come out through the threading plate, and then pass through the die plate at the same time with the rubber material to make the two sides of the steel wire hang glue. After hanging, the belt layer is cut to the specified angle and width. Width and angle size depends on tire size and structural design requirements. All rubber parts will be transported to the "Tire Building" process, ready for tire building.

Process three: tire building process

The tire building process is to assemble all semi-finished products on a building machine into a green tire. The green tire here refers to the unvulcanized tire. After the green tire is inspected, it is transported to the vulcanization process. 

Process 4: Vulcanization process 

The green tire is loaded into a vulcanizer, where it passes through the mold for the proper time and under the proper conditions, thereby vulcanizing it into a finished tire. The vulcanized tire has the appearance of the finished tire—the pattern/font and tread pattern. Now, the tires will be sent to the final inspection area.

Process five: final inspection process  

In this area, tires are first subjected to a visual inspection, followed by a uniformity test, which is done by a "uniformity tester". The uniformity testing machine mainly measures radial force, lateral force, cone force and fluctuation. After the uniformity test, a dynamic balance test should be done. The dynamic balance test is done on the "dynamic balance test machine". The final tire is X-rayed and then shipped to the finished product warehouse for shipment

Step 6: Tire Test

In the process of designing new tire specifications, extensive tire testing is necessary to ensure that tire performance meets government and supporting factory requirements. 

After the tires are officially put into production, we will continue to do tire tests to monitor the quality of the tires, which are the same tests that are done when releasing new tires. The machines used to test tires are "mileage experiments", which usually include high-speed experiments and endurance experiments.

2. Solutions of Rockwell system in each process section and industrial data center

① Internal mixer

• The rubber mixing system is centered on the internal mixer, and is connected with the upper auxiliary unit and the lower auxiliary unit to form a complete rubber mixing production line

• Internal mixer, rubber mixing equipment

• Control system: ControlLogix

• Drive: PowerFlex7000

• Human Machine Interface: PanelView Plus Series

•I/O Control: Distributed Point I/O

•Computer: Advantech Industrial Computer

• Switch: Hirschman RS Series

•Remote Module Sikemak

•…….

 ② extruder

PowerFlex753/755 drives                

Easy to achieve:

1. Screw drive:

High precision vector control; high power

2. Curl

Speed synchronization; torque/speed switching control

3. Cooling line/cutting line control

Core Purpose Non-Stretching; Precise Speed Control; Low Power; Multi-Algorithm Control Follow-Up; Mass, LOOP, Dancer Adjustment; PowerFlex753/755 Provides Easy Integration with Logix Platform; Advanced Diagnostics; Safety Function Options; Integrated Motion Control; Advantech The industrial computer chassis adopts steel structure, which has high anti-magnetic, dust-proof and shock-proof capabilities; the remote module of Xikenmai can upload and download programs remotely, providing a transmission channel for data collection; Hirschmann switching provides a solid foundation for the entire production network. Reliable guarantee; The control cabinet adopts Hoffman Prolin series cabinets and S series air conditioners, and the design meets global standards, UL, NEMA/EEMAC, CSA, VDA, CE industry standards and certifications.

① Calender

Glue parts preparation process

The cord of material is passed through a calender and a thin layer of glue is hung on both sides of the cord, the final product being called a "cord". The raw material cords are mainly nylon and polyester.

1/Steel cord calendering; 2/Nylon cord calendering 3/Inner lining calendering

Rewinding and unwinding application AOI provided by Rockwell:

DiamCalc_AOI Roll diameter calculation

InertiaCalc_AOI JInertia calculation

InertiaComp_AOI Inertia compensation

 Ti= dw/dt * J

LossComp_AOI Loss torque compensation

SpdRef_AOI Speed setting

TenRef_AOI Tension setting

TrqRef_AOI Torque setting

TenTaperRef_AOI Tension taper

 

AOI corresponding to the rewinding and unwinding control mode:

TenCtrlSpdTrimReg_AOI

    Tension sensor/speed compensation

DanCtrlSpdTrimReg_AOI

   Tension Roller / Speed Compensation

TenCtrlTrqTrimReg_AOI

   Tension sensor/torque compensation

 

AOI is also provided to match different types of inverters:

PF750VC_AOI , PF750S_AOI ……  

 Write SpdRef and TrqRef into the parameters of the corresponding inverter

③ Cutting machine

• Type of cutting machine

‒ 90°Fiber cord cutting line

‒ 90°Steel cord cutting line

‒ 15~70°Fiber cord cutting line fiber bias cutting

‒ 15~70°Steel cord cutting line

 

 

Solution of CLX+K6K+PF70+MPM+MPL+PVP+Enet

⑤Wire ring winding machine

⑥Laminating machine

  This machine is used to apply apex on radial tire bead ring

² The traditional method is:

  After the apex is extruded by the extruder, it is cooled for a period of time, and then cut to a fixed length on the workbench. The cut rubber strip is put into a hundred-leaf box, and transported to the gluer. Another person is responsible for attaching the glue strip to the steel wire. Or, the extruded rubber strip lags directly around the city, and after cooling, it is transported to the gluer.

² Compared with the traditional apex laminating machine:

  From feeding, cooling, length-fixing, cutting to joint engagement, all are automated, which can reduce the number of operators from 2-3 to 1, and reduce the workplace, and the economic benefits are obvious.

⑦Molding machine

The characteristics and requirements of the control system of the molding machine

一 )High degree of automation, some logic is more complicated

      (1)The controller has complete functions and can flexibly realize various controls

        (2)Diverse network types, adapt to factory conditions

        (3)The programming method is simple, fast, easy to debug and easy to modify

二) Multi-axis control requires accuracy, speed and synchronization

         (1)Perfect combination of motion control and sequence control

         (2)The programming language is easy to master and understand, and try to conform to the traditional engineering habits of designers. The configuration is easy to complete, and the parameters are easy to set and tune.

         (3) A variety of sports forms to complete the process requirements

三)  I/O more points

        (1)Cost-effective modules             

        (2)A variety of bus interfaces are optional

⑧ Vulcanizer

Types of vulcanizers

1. Dual mode and single mode

Diameter size of vulcanization chamber: 28”, 48”, 52”, 65”, and above 65”, single-mode is generally used

2、Mechanical and hydraulic

  Different transmission modes; different movement trajectories of the upper beam; different ways of generating the clamping force; different deformation conditions of the beam and the base

Rockwell's economical solution on curing presses

Additional information processing system

Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)

• Tire location and grade

• Recognition of barcode information

• Cleaning and mold replacement counts

• product status

• Temperature and pressure historical data and analysis

• Mold status

 

In addition, it is possible to configure

• Recipe and process configuration

• Replacement records for molds, etc.

• Maintenance plans and records

 

 

Rockwell Industrial Private Cloud Architecture

 

Industrial Private Cloud

Using the current mainstream industrial data center virtualization technology, each system server (including MES server, SCADA management server, historical database server, real-time database server, WEB publishing server, video server, security server, etc.) in the production area, operator station , The system of the engineer station is concentrated on the private cloud server of the group or factory, and the thin client is placed on the traditional system operator's position. Subverting the traditional structure, it not only maintains the original server architecture to the greatest extent, but also uses private cloud technology to enhance server performance and reliability, prolong the system life cycle, and protect the user's investment.