In building tyres, an intermediate portion of a carcass structure is built at a time on a respective forming drum within an intermediate forming line. The forming drum with the intermediate portion of the carcass structure is made available at a first transfer location. The intermediate portion of the carcass structure is completed through n completion locations with n1 and then transferred for the subsequent assembling with a crown structure to a second transfer location. At an operating moment in which the first transfer location is occupied by a forming drum coming from the intermediate forming line or intended for the intermediate forming line, from one to n locations selected from the n completion locations and the second transfer location are occupied by respective forming drums.

The invention relates to a method and centering assembly (1) for centering a tire component (9), wherein the method comprises the steps of placing the tire component on and conveying it from a first conveyor (2) towards a second conveyor (3), determining the position of a first longitudinal edge (91), transversely moving the first conveyor (2) and thereby aligning the first longitudinal edge (91) along a first reference on the second conveyor (3), conveying the tire component from the first conveyor (2) onto the second conveyor (3) while determining the position of a second longitudinal edge (92), wherein the tire component has a center between the first longitudinal edge (91) and the second longitudinal edge (92), conveying the tire component from the second conveyor (3) towards a drum (4), laterally moving the drum (4) to align the center of the tire component with a center of a desired application position of the tire component on the drum, and conveying the tire component from the second conveyor (3) onto the drum (4).

In building tyres, an intermediate portion of a carcass structure is built at a time on a respective forming drum within an intermediate forming line. The forming drum with the intermediate portion of the carcass structure is made available at a first transfer location. The intermediate portion of the carcass structure is completed through n completion locations with n1 and then transferred for the subsequent assembling with a crown structure to a second transfer location. At an operating moment in which the first transfer location is occupied by a forming drum coming from the intermediate forming line or intended for the intermediate forming line, from one to n locations selected from the n completion locations and the second transfer location are occupied by respective forming drums.

In an apparatus for building tires for vehicle wheels, a forming drum is loaded on a shuttle movable on a guide along a deposition line. The shuttle is moved on the guide in the two running directions to bring it to dispensing stations of semifinished products disposed in at least some deposition locations positioned in space succession along the deposition line. At each of the dispensing stations, at least one semifinished product is laid on a radially external surface to the forming drum carried by the shuttle for forming at least one component of a tire. The shuttle is moved on the guide in a different sequence from the space succession of the deposition locations along the deposition line.

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.

A first ply and then a second ply, which is superposed on the first ply, are produced on a hoop-type first support. The hoop-type first support has a first receiving surface, to form a laminate. The first and second plies forming the laminate are transferred onto an annular second receiving surface of a core so that the laminate is wrapped on the core until each ply is closed on itself and the laminate is thus closed on itself in a ring about the central axis of the core.

In order to make a tire factory more compact, this tire manufacturing system comprises a material storage zone, a green tire formation zone, a vulcanization zone, and an inspection and discharge zone. The green tire formation zone has a track and a plurality of work stations arranged along the track, where a green tire is formed by assembling a tire constituent member to an outer surface of a rigid core moving on the track at each of the work stations. A member assembly device that forms the tire constituent member by attaching a member material set for each of the tire constituent members to a surface of the rigid core, under an attachment condition determined according to size of the rigid core. The member assembly devices being arranged at an outer peripheral side of the square-cornered U-shaped bending track and along the lateral track parts. The material storage zone is arranged adjacent to one lateral side of the square-cornered U-shaped bending track. The vulcanization zone is arranged adjacent to the other lateral side of the square-cornered U-shaped bending track. The inspection and discharge zone is arranged adjacent to the other lateral side of the vulcanization zone.

A plant for building tyres for vehicle wheels is described. The plant includes a crown structure building for building crown structures on second stage forming drums, a carcass structure building line for building carcass structures on first stage forming drums, a shaping and assembly station, a first manipulator, and a second manipulator. The first manipulator is configured to manage the flow of the second stage forming drums and the second manipulator is configured to manage the flow of the first stage forming terms.

Disclosed are a two-stage feeding system, a two-stage forming machine, a unistage forming machine and a feeding method, wherein in the two-stage feeding system, the control device firstly controls the laminating drum to operate to a first pre-set position, when the laminating drum moves to a first pre-set position, the control device controls the first belt layer conveying template to move in a direction close to the laminating drum so as to laminate the first belt layer onto the laminating drum, then the control device further controls the movement of the second belt layer conveying template in the direction close to the laminating drum so as to laminate the second belt layer onto the laminating drum; finally, the control device controls the operation of the laminating drum to a second pre-set position, and when the laminating drum operates to the second pre-set position, the control device controls the movement of the tread conveying template in a direction close to the laminating drum so as to laminate the tread onto the laminating drum. In the system, the belt drum is not deformed in the vertical direction due to the large inertia force, thereby effectively improving the bonding quality of the green tire.

A method for building belt assemblies for tyres for vehicle wheels is described. The method includes building a crossed belt structure on a forming drum. Depending on the type of tyre to be produced, the method selects whether to build a belt assembly having a cylindrical shaping or a belt assembly having a toroidal shaping. In order to build a belt assembly having a cylindrical shaping, a zero degrees belt layer is deposited on the forming drum in a radially outer position with respect to the crossed belt structure. In order to build a belt assembly having a toroidal shaping, the crossed belt structure is picked up from the forming drum. The crossed belt structure is then toroidally shaped and transferred onto another forming drum. A zero degrees belt layer is then deposited on the other forming drum in a radially outer position with respect to the toroidally shaped crossed belt structure.