In accordance with presently disclosed embodiments, a tire monitoring system is provided. The tire monitoring system utilizes a heat sensor embedded in a solid rubber tire. The heat sensor detects a temperature of the solid tire, and a transmission system transmits signals indicative of the temperature from the heat sensor to a remote monitoring system. The remote monitoring system may monitor the temperature of the solid tire and output notifications to alert a user when preventive maintenance is needed. The heat sensor may be embedded in the solid rubber tire during the manufacture of the solid tire, or the heat sensor may be embedded into the solid tire after production of the tire is complete. The system may be used track cure time and temperature as the tire is being produced and/or to log tire performance information throughout the operation of the tire.

Methods and systems for improving the uniformity of a tire are provided. More specifically, one or more characteristics of a composite uniformity parameter can be determined from uniformity summary data (e.g. uniformity vectors) associated with a plurality of harmonics of the composite uniformity parameter. For instance, a peak to peak range of a composite uniformity parameter and/or a distribution of amplitudes of a composite uniformity parameter for a set of tires can be determined from uniformity vectors associated with selected harmonics of the composite uniformity parameter. According to example aspects of the present disclosure, the one or more characteristics of the composite uniformity parameter can be determined using multivariate normal distributions (e.g. bivariate normal distributions) of the uniformity summary data. Once identified, the one or more characteristics can be used to modify tire manufacture to improve tire uniformity.

Methods and systems for improving the uniformity of a tire are provided. More particularly, one or more parameters of a measurement process harmonic contributing to uniformity measurements performed for a tire can be identified. The measurement process harmonic can be a process harmonic effect associated with the acquisition of uniformity measurements of a tire, such as a process harmonic effect associated out-of-roundness of a road wheel used to load a tire during uniformity measurement in a uniformity measurement machine. The measurement process harmonic can result solely from the acquisition of uniformity measurements and may not contribute to actual tire non-uniformity. Once identified, the one or more parameters associated with the measurement process harmonic can be used to correct the uniformity measurements of the tire to account for the measurement process harmonic. Tire manufacture can then be modified to improve tire uniformity based on the corrected measurements.

Methods and systems for improving the uniformity of a tire are provided. More specifically, one or more characteristics of a composite uniformity parameter can be determined from harmonic magnitudes associated with a plurality of harmonics of the composite uniformity parameter. For instance, a range of a composite uniformity parameter and/or a distribution of amplitudes of a composite uniformity parameter for a set of tires can be determined from harmonic magnitudes associated with selected harmonics of the composite uniformity parameter. According to example aspects of the present disclosure, the one or more characteristics of the composite uniformity parameter can be determined using Weibull distributions of the harmonic magnitudes. Once identified, the one or more characteristics can be used to modify tire manufacture to improve tire uniformity.

Methods and systems for improving the uniformity of a tire 200 are provided. More particularly, a magnitude of a uniformity parameter can be obtained for each tire in a set of a plurality of tires. The magnitudes associated with the set of tires can be transformed according to a probability distribution function (e.g. a Weibull distribution function) to obtain a set of transformed magnitudes. Parameters associated with a probability distribution function can be estimated based at least in part on the transformed magnitudes. Parameters associated with the probability distribution function can be used to determine data indicative of a measurement error in the uniformity measurements attributable to a measurement process harmonic. The data indicative of the measurement error can be used to correct uniformity measurements obtained for tires and to modify tire manufacture based at least in part on the corrected measurements.

Provided is a pneumatic tire having an innerliner member attached to a tire inner circumferential surface, the innerliner member constituted from at least three layers including a film having, as a main component, a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic elastomer composition containing a blend of a thermoplastic resin and an elastomer, and rubber sheets layered on both sides of the film, the tire including a lap splice portion in which tire circumferential direction end portions of the film are overlapped with the rubber sheets interposed therebetween. The rubber sheet on the tire cavity side of the innerliner member disposed on the tire cavity side in the lap splice portion is formed shorter along the tire circumferential length than an adjacent film.

The current embodiments provide a system for determining a parameter of a tire component. The system may have a background surface, a first measurement device configured to measure a dimension with respect to the reference surface and a support surface located at least partially between the first measurement device and the reference surface, where the support surface is configured to support the tire component. The parameter may correspond to the dimension on the background surface.

Disclosed herein are automated systems and methods utilizing a plurality of specialized RFID tags incorporated within various tire manufacturing components (e.g., mold segments, mold container, bladder plates, tire presses, and extrusion dies) that are able to readily track tire manufacture and identify defect source(s) while concurrently being configured to the harsh processes and temperatures of tire manufacture.

From three-dimensional numerical data of surface irregularities of a tire inner surface in a tire of a construction where a sheet member is disposed on the tire circumference, a tire inner surface image is formed for which height direction data of the surface irregularities of the tire inner surface are expressed as pixel gradation values, and the tire circumferential direction and the tire width direction on the tire inner surface correspond to either of the longitudinal direction and the lateral direction of the image. A surface irregularity enhanced image is generated by subjecting this tire inner surface image to spatial frequency processing using a low-pass filter for the tire width direction and a band-pass filter for the tire circumferential direction. A determination is made of whether a recessed region exists which indicates a bonding defect of the end portions of the sheet member.

A tire testing machine is for testing a tire, comprising a free roller section configured to include a plurality of rollers having an endmost roller disposed downstream of a lubricator in a conveying direction and farthest from a predetermined reference position, the endmost roller being disposed such that a horizontal distance from the reference position is equal to or greater than a radius of a largest of a plurality of tires set in advance as objects of application of a lubricant.