Method for controlling the feed of semifinished products in a tyre building process, said method comprising: feeding a semifinished product (10) into a building station (30) adapted to build, through said semifinished product (10), a structural component of a tyre; performing, in an acquisition zone (AZ), a verification to verify the presence of at least one defect of said semifinished product (10); generating a notification signal (NS) as a function of said verification; activating, as a function of said notification signal (NS), a discard device (60), configured for discarding at least one portion of said semifinished product (10) comprising said at least one defect.

A method for building tyres for vehicle wheels is described. Second stage forming drums are moved in a crown structure building line for building respective crown structures. Movement occurs along a first path for building a first part of components of the crown structure and a second path for building a second part of components of the crown structure. Additionally, first stage forming drums are moved in a carcass structure building line for building respective carcass structures. The flow of the second stage forming drums is managed through a first manipulator, while the flow of the first stage forming drums is managed through a second manipulator.

A space required for forming a cylindrical carcass band is reduced and productivity of carcass band forming is improved. A first forming drum (21) forms a cylindrical carcass ply (3). A second forming drum (22) forms a cylindrical member (7) by forming a cylindrical inner liner (4) and combining the inner liner (4) with the carcass ply (3). A third forming drum (23) forms a cylindrical side member (5) a carcass band (8) by forming a cylindrical side member (5) and combining the side member (5) with the cylindrical member (7). A conveying device (30) conveys the carcass ply (3) from the first forming drum (21) to the second forming drum (22) and conveys the cylindrical member (7) from the second forming drum (22) to the third forming drum (23). The third forming drum (23) is arranged below an arrangement space for the first forming drum (21) and the second forming drum (22).

A carcass ply is built on a forming drum by application of a plurality of strip-like elements by the steps of: setting a width of these strip-like elements, setting a width of the overlapped part between two adjacent strip-like elements, setting a fitting diameter of the forming drum by calculating a corresponding extension of a radially external laying surface, and calculating a whole number of strip-like elements to be applied. The whole number of drip-like elements is applied by rotating the forming drum around a geometric rotation axis thereof, and applying pairs of strip-like elements by means of a first laying unit and a second laying unit located close to opposite portions of the forming drum relative to the geometric rotation axis. When the calculated whole number of strip-like elements is an odd number, before at least one application step, the first laying unit is shifted along an adjustment path orthogonal to the geometric rotation axis and substantially tangent to the radially external laying surface of the forming drum.

Method, process and plant for building tires for vehicle wheels wherein: in a service position of a carcass structure building line, a forming drum is associated with a pair of support elements including a first support element and a second support element; the forming drum is moved, associated with the pair of support elements, in a deposition line in the carcass structure building line; and the forming drum is transferred from the deposition line to a subsequent work station of the carcass structure building line. The transfer from the deposition line to the subsequent work station includes dissociating the forming drum from the second support element, keeping the forming drum associated with the first support element; transferring the forming drum, associated with the first support element and dissociated from the second support element, to the subsequent work station; dissociating, in the subsequent work station, the first support element from the forming drum, leaving the forming drum in the subsequent work station; and transferring the first support element, dissociated from the forming drum, into the service position.

Production of carcass structures and/or production of crown structures includes: positioning a first continuous elongated element so that its end stretch is aligned with a cutting position; positioning a second continuous elongated element so that its end stretch is in side by side relationship with the end stretch of the first continuous elongated element; forming first strip-like elements from the first continuous elongated element; depositing the first strip-like elements on at least one forming drum; translating the end stretches of the first and second continuous elongated element in a transverse direction relative to their longitudinal extension to align the end stretch of the second continuous elongated element to said cutting position; forming second strip-like elements from the second continuous elongated element; and depositing the second strip-like elements on said at least one forming drum.

A plant for building tires for vehicle wheels, includes at least one forming drum having a supporting shaft axially projecting from opposite sides relative to a central body. A handling device is adapted to engage the forming drum and transfer it between at least one loading/unloading location and a work location provided for carrying out at least one process working on the forming drum. The handling device includes a grip assembly carrying at least two grip members each engaging the supporting shaft in the vicinity of each of the end portions thereof, and at least one motor associated with at least one of said grip members for driving the forming drum in rotation while the at least one process working is being carried out in the work location.

A method and apparatus for feeding a plurality of tread bands in a process for building tires for vehicle wheels. Each tread band initially includes, on a side thereof, a service fabric. The tread bands are initially arranged at different heights. The method includes positioning a first auxiliary conveyor belt of an auxiliary collection device including a plurality of juxtaposed auxiliary conveyor belts at a first height corresponding to the height of a first tread band, then, proceeding with the removal of the service fabric from the first tread band while the first tread band is transferred onto the first auxiliary conveyor belt. The method also includes positioning at least one second auxiliary conveyor belt of the auxiliary collection device at at least one second height corresponding to that of at least one second tread band.

The invention relates to a method for picking up and placing a tire components, wherein the method includes the steps of picking up a supplied first tire component with a transfer drum, rotating the transfer drum in a first direction for winding a predetermined length of the continuous length of the first tire component, rotating the transfer drum in the opposite second direction, while at the same time moving the transfer drum downstream into a cutting position, wherein a part of the predetermined length of the first tire component is unwound from the transfer drum, cutting the unwound part, thereby obtaining a cut-to-length first tire component, and rotating the transfer drum again in the first direction for winding up the unwound part of the cut-to-length first tire component up to the trailing end.

Systems and methods of machine learning for splice improvement. A system can receive, from one or more sensors, one or more values corresponding to manufacture of a tire by the one or more pieces of tire manufacturing equipment. The systems can determine one or more metrics based on the one or more values. The systems can generate a matrix based on the one or more values and the one or more metrics. The systems can predict, via input of the matrix into a machine learning model, a value for a splice tolerance metric. The systems can determine, based on the value for the splice tolerance metric, a parameter of at least one piece of equipment to adjust. The systems can provide a command to adjust the piece of equipment responsive to the value of the splice tolerance metric.