Tire building machine

A tire building machine, comprising:

• a tire building drum;
• an application conveyor that applies a breaker to the tire building drum when the tire building drum is positioned adjacent to the application conveyor;
• a tread conveyor that applies a green rubber tread to the tire building drum when the tire building drum is positioned adjacent to the tread conveyor;
• a first machine vision system directed to the tire building drum when adjacent to the application conveyor;
• a second machine vision system directed to the tire building drum when adjacent to the tread conveyor;
• and
• at least one processor circuit with a memory comprising instructions, that when executed by the processor circuit, causes the at least one processor circuit to at least:
• identify a center of the breaker in a first three dimensional image generated by the first machine vision system;
• identify a first difference in the first three dimensional image between the center of the breaker and a center of the tire building drum;
• use the first difference as a first feedback error to position a subsequent breaker on the application conveyor;
• identify a center of the green rubber tread in a second three dimensional image generated by the second machine vision system by performing at least one convolution with at least one profile trace of the green rubber tread and a predefined profile;
• identify a second difference between the center of the green rubber tread and the center of the tire building drum;
• and
• apply the second difference as a tread position feedback error to position an application of a subsequent green rubber tread onto the tire building drum from the tread conveyor.

A method, comprising:

• directing a machine vision system to a tire building drum in a tire building machine, the machine vision system producing a three dimensional image of a green rubber tread applied to the tire building drum;
• identifying a center of the green rubber tread in the three dimensional image by performing at least one convolution with at least one profile trace of the green rubber tread and a predefined tread profile;
• identifying a difference between the center of the green rubber tread and a center of the tire building drum;
• and
• using the difference as a tread position feedback error to position an application of a next green rubber tread onto the tire building drum from a tread conveyor.