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AssigneeCompagnie Generale Des Etablissements Michelin
InventorsFrederic PIALOT, Jose MERINO LOPEZ, Alain FAUGERAS
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The invention relates to a method for curing a tire, during which there is deployed, against the interior surface of said tire, a curing membrane of which the contact surface is provided with a drainage structure which comprises air-discharge channels and which is subdivided into a first drainage region which will be pressed intimately against the crown region of the tire, a second drainage region which will be pressed intimately against the sidewall region, and a third drainage region which will be pressed intimately against the bead region, and which is such that the mean depth of the channels of the third drainage region is strictly greater than the mean depth of the channels of the second drainage region, which is itself strictly greater than the mean depth of the channels of the first drainage region.
A method for curing a tire, during which a curing membrane is deployed against a green tire in order to bring a contact surface of said curing membrane to bear against an interior surface of said green tire and thus press an exterior surface of said green tire against the walls of a curing mold so as to obtain a tire which has a crown region forming an annular tread around a central axis, and, on each side of an equatorial plane normal to said central axis, a bead region for securing said tire to a rim, and a sidewall region connecting the crown region to the bead region, in which method the contact surface of the curing membrane is provided with a drainage structure which comprises air-discharge paths cut into the contact surface to a depth equal to or greater than 0.05 mm and referred to as “channels”, said method being wherein said drainage structure is subdivided, at least on one side of the equatorial plane, into at least three drainage regions, these being a first drainage region which corresponds to a first annular portion of the contact surface, centered on the central axis, along which said contact surface will hug the crown region, a second drainage region which corresponds to a second annular portion of the contact surface, centered on the central axis, along which said contact surface will hug the sidewall region and the channels of which communicate with the channels of the first drainage region, and a third drainage region which corresponds to a third annular portion of the contact surface, centered on the central axis, along which said contact surface will hug the bead region and the channels of which communicate with the channels of the second drainage region, and in that the mean depth of the channels of the third drainage region, which is equal to the quotient of the volume occupied by the channels present in said drainage region by the surface area covered by these same channels in said drainage region is strictly greater than the mean depth of the channels of the second drainage region, said mean depth of the channels of the second drainage region being itself strictly greater than the mean depth of the channels of the first drainage region.
A curing membrane intended for the manufacture of a tire comprising a crown region, a bead region, and a sidewall region, said membrane having, at rest, a contact surface of bulging cylindrical shape which extends about and along a central axis from a first foot forming a north pole, as far as a second foot forming a south pole, and passing via an equatorial line centered on the central axis and comprised in an equatorial plane normal to said central axis, which divides the contact surface into a northern hemisphere and a southern hemisphere, said curing membrane being provided with a drainage structure which comprises air-discharge paths cut into the contact surface to a depth equal to or greater than 0.05 mm and referred to as “channels”, said curing membrane being wherein, at least in the northern hemisphere, and preferably symmetrically in the northern hemisphere and in the southern hemisphere, there may be defined a first parallel, distinct from the equatorial line and corresponding to the intersection of the contact surface with a first plane parallel to the equatorial plane, and a second parallel which is situated between the first parallel and the corresponding foot and which corresponds to the intersection of the contact surface with a second plane parallel to the equatorial plane so that the drainage structure comprises a first drainage region corresponding to that portion of the contact surface that is delimited by the equatorial line and the first parallel, and wherein the channels have a first mean depth, a second drainage region which corresponds to that portion of the contact surface that is delimited by the first parallel and the second parallel, and wherein the channels, which communicate with the channels of the first drainage region, have a second mean depth, strictly greater than the first mean depth of the channels of the first drainage region, and a third drainage region, which corresponds to that portion of the contact surface that is delimited by the second parallel and the foot that forms the corresponding pole, and wherein the channels, which communicate with the channels of the second drainage region, have a third mean depth, strictly greater than the second mean depth of the channels of the second drainage region.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.