Methods for controlling curing apparatuses for tyre production, wherein the curing apparatuses are adapted to work on green tyres to obtain corresponding finished tyres, by acquiring, through a processing unit, initial parameters describing at least one of the shape and dimensions of the finished tyres; computing, through the processing unit, as a function of the initial parameters, first parameters describing the green tyres, the first parameters having at least one parameter representative of an axial height of the green tyres; acquiring, through the processing unit, second parameters describing the curing apparatuses, said second parameters having one or more parameters representative of dimensions of the curing apparatuses; computing, through the processing unit, third parameters as a function of the first parameters and the second parameters, the third parameters having one or more parameters representative of positions taken by movable members included in the curing apparatuses; generating, through the processing unit, as a function of the third parameters, control signals for controlling the movable members of said curing apparatuses and for obtaining said finished tyres starting from the green tyres; sending the control signals from the processing unit to the curing apparatuses. Also disclosed are a curing line operating in accordance with the methods, a processing unit programmed for implementing the methods, and an electronic unit included in the processing unit.

A plant (2) for building tyres comprises a system for managing initial components (3); a system for managing the manufacturing of semi-finished products (4) starting from one or more initial components; a system for managing the building of a green tyre (5) starting from one or more semi-finished products; a system for managing the curing of said green tyre (6). The logical set of a control unit (8) for the plant (2) and/or of one or more from among control units (8a-8e) for the management systems (3-6) and/or of a automatic visual control system (7) is programmed for controlling at least two parameters, assigning to each of these a quality index (I), discarding a tyre being processed when a quality index (I) corresponding to said discard level (5) is assigned to at least one of said parameters and feedbacking the control result of at least one parameter in order to verify the quality index (I) of the parameters.

Provided is a tire vulcanization mold including an upper side plate and a lower side plate configured to mold tire side portions, an upper bead ring and a lower bead ring respectively having a profile surface configured to mold a bead portion and a non-profile surface positioned on an inner diameter side of the profile surface, and a thermocouple pullout passage configured to make the non-profile surface and an inner space positioned on an inner diameter side of the lower bead ring communicate with each other and to pull out a vulcanization temperature measuring thermocouple, wherein a first passage extending from the non-profile surface to a lower side plate side is formed in the lower bead ring, and at least a portion of the thermocouple pullout passage is configured by the first passage.

A system, apparatus, and method for control of pressure in a tire curing press bladder. The present invention learns from a previous duty cycle by saving the data from those duty cycles. The data is analyzed, and program outputs are optimized for execution of the subsequent cycle. The pressure in the tire bladder is more accurately controlled to achieve desired set point values and significantly reduce overshoot and undershoot conditions. The system may be implemented with an appropriately programmed programmable logic controller (PLC).

A plant for building tires includes a system for managing initial components; a system for managing the manufacturing of semi-finished products starting from one or more initial components; a system for managing the building of a green tire starting from one or more semi-finished products; and a system for managing the curing of said green tire. The logical set of a control unit for the plant and/or of one or more from among control units for the management systems and/or of an automatic visual control system is programmed for controlling at least two parameters, assigning to each of these a quality index, discarding a tire being processed when a quality index corresponding to said discard level is assigned to at least one of said parameters and feedbacking the control result of at least one parameter in order to verify the quality index of the parameters.

A method of manufacturing a tire is provided that includes curing the tire (10) in a curing press (12) and applying microwave energy at a given frequency band into the tire. The interaction between the microwave energy and the tire is monitored to obtain a complex reflection coefficient. A root-mean-squared error is calculated using the measured complex reflection coefficient and a reference reflection coefficient. The reference reflection coefficient is from a fully cured tire made from the same material as the tire. Continuous monitoring of the interaction takes place to obtain the complex reflection coefficient along with continuous calculation of the root-mean-squared error at different times during the curing of the tire in the curing press. The calculated root-mean-squared errors are used to determine whether to stop the curing of the tire in the curing press.

Provided is a tire vulcanizing method enabling an optimum vulcanization operation for each tire by measuring the temperatures of the inner surface and the outer surface of a tire until the demolding timing without damaging the tire and by determining the vulcanized state of the tire accurately based on the measured temperature data to efficiently produce uniformly vulcanized tires especially under conditions where the temperature of a mold fluctuates. During vulcanization of a tire G, the temperatures of the inner surface and the outer surface at a plurality of principal portions representing the tire G are measured, and the demolding timing is determined according to the equivalent degree of vulcanization indicating the degree of progress in crosslinking reaction calculated based on the temperature data measured.

In an electric vulcanization process, open loop and closed loop control modes can be used for controlling a heater output.

In an electric vulcanization system, a temperature of a heating medium in a fluid-tight enclosure is detected and adjusted during a current curing cycle.

A vulcanization control method and a vulcanization control system are provided that are capable of preventing insufficient vulcanization while shortening a vulcanization time and obtaining an optimal vulcanization time instantly, even when a simple analysis model is used. Data (Xi) of predetermined types of vulcanization-affecting factors (X) are input into a computation device (2) by an input device (6) before vulcanizing a green tire (G). Using the input data (Xi), a change in temperature distribution of a tire cross section over time is calculated with a one-dimensional thermal conduction model for a tire cross-section that passes through a vulcanization rate-limiting section. On the basis of the calculation results, a vulcanization time Tc is instantly calculated. Upon calculating the vulcanization time Tc, a safety time Ts set on the basis of each vulcanization-effecting factor (X) is shortened on the basis of the input data (Xi) of the individual vulcanization-affecting factors (X).