Bladderless tire curing systems and methods
AssigneeThe Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
InventorsLiang Xuan, Michael Gordon Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are various bladderless tire curing equipment and processes for curing a green tire in such tire curing equipment. A process for curing a tire in bladderless curing equipment may comprise, for example: providing the tire curing equipment and a green tire carcass; loading the green tire into the curing equipment; providing at least one pump in fluid communication with a chamber formed by at least a portion of an inner liner of the green tire carcass; causing the at least one pump to circulate a heated, pressurized inert gas through the chamber; causing the at least one pump to modify a flow rate and/or pressure of the inert gas through the chamber; and/or removing the at least partially cured tire from the tire curing equipment.
Claims20
A tire curing method comprising:
- engaging at least a portion of a first bead engaging projection with a first tire bead of a green tire and engaging at least a portion of a second bead engaging projection with a second tire bead of the green tire;
- providing at least one pump in fluid communication with a chamber defined by an inner surface of the green tire and the first and second bead engaging projections, the at least one pump being configured to circulate a heated fluid through the chamber;
- causing the at least one pump to circulate the heated fluid through the chamber such that the heated fluid flows through the chamber at a flow rate for a period of time;
- and
- at least partially curing the green tire using the heated fluid flowing through the chamber.
A tire curing process comprising:
- providing a first bead engaging projection and a second bead engaging projection;
- providing a green tire comprising a first tire bead, a second tire bead, and an inner surface;
- engaging at least a portion of a first bead engaging projection with a first tire bead of a green tire and engaging at least a portion of a second bead engaging projection with a second tire bead of the green tire such that a seal is established about a circumference of the first and second tire beads, respectively, and a chamber is formed by the first and second bead engaging projections and an inner surface of the green tire;
- causing at least one pump in fluid communication with the chamber to circulate a heated fluid at a first temperature through the chamber such that the heated fluid flows through the chamber at a flow rate of between about six cubic meters per hour and about eleven cubic meters per hour for a first period of time;
- and
- at least partially curing the green tire using the heated fluid flowing through the chamber.
A tire curing process comprising:
- forming a chamber defined by at least a portion of an inner surface of a green tire such that the chamber is fluidly sealed;
- causing at least one pump in fluid communication with the chamber to circulate a heated inert gas through the chamber such that the heated inert gas applies pressure against the inner surface of the green tire;
- causing the at least one pump to modify a flow rate of the heated inert gas through the chamber;
- and
- at least partially curing the green tire using the heated inert gas flowing through the chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.