Compagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin

Michelin Recherche Et Technique S.a.

Jonathan Sauls

William David Mawby

James Michael Traylor

Anton Felipe Thomas

Jimmy Jeter

Steve Simons

William Mawby

Systems and methods for improving the uniformity of a tire by identifying the effects of tooling elements used during tire manufacture on tire uniformity, such as effects resulting from building drum elements, form elements, mold elements, and other tooling elements, are provided. More particularly, a tooling signature of a tooling element can be identified by analyzing a plurality of uniformity waveforms measured for a set of tires manufactured using the tooling element. The tooling signature can be analyzed and used to modify tire manufacture to improve the uniformity of a tire.

Uniformity of a tire using tooling signature analysis

Systems and methods for improving tire uniformity using estimates of process harmonic magnitude(s) from static balance measurements for a set of tires are provided. In particular, a sequence of observed magnitudes of static balance can be obtained for a set of tires. The sequence of observed magnitudes can be analyzed in conjunction with a baseline magnitude pattern associated with the process harmonic to derive a magnitude of the process harmonic. The magnitude of the process harmonic can be used to improve the uniformity of tires.

Tire uniformity improvement through identification of process harmonics from static balance measurements

Systems and methods for improving tire uniformity include identifying at least one candidate process harmonic and corresponding period. A set of uniformity waveforms is then collected for each test tire in a set of one or more test tires. To provide better data for analysis, the collection of waveforms may include multiple waveforms including measurements obtained before and/or after cure, in clockwise and/or counterclockwise rotational directions, and while the tire is loaded and/or unloaded. The uniformity waveforms may be re-indexed to the physical order of the at least one candidate process harmonic, and selected data points within the waveforms may optionally be deleted around a joint effect or other non-sinusoidal effect. The re-indexed, optionally partial, waveforms may then be analyzed to determine magnitude and azimuth estimates for the candidate process harmonics. Aspects of tire manufacture may then be modified in a variety of different ways to account for the estimated process harmonics.

Tire uniformity through identification of process harmonics using re-indexed partial uniformity waveforms

A system and related method for improving tire uniformity includes identifying at least one candidate process effect and a corresponding process harmonic number for each process effect. A given uniformity parameter, such as radial or lateral run-out, balance, mass variation, radial lateral or tangential force variation, is measured for each tire in a test set, such that the measurements contain tire harmonics as well as a process harmonics corresponding to each candidate process effect. Rectangular coordinate coefficients are electronically constructed for each said process harmonic, after which point the rectangular coordinates corresponding to each process harmonic are solved for (e.g., by using regression-based analysis). The magnitude of each said process harmonic is estimated, and a final magnitude estimate for each process harmonic can be determined by summarizing (e.g., by taking the average or median value) the respectively estimated magnitudes for each process harmonic across all test tires.

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Simpsonville, SC, United States of America

Jonathan Sauls