US 5,396,438 AGranted

Tire manufacturing method

AssigneeGeneral Motors Corporation

InventorKenneth L. Oblizajek

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A method of manufacturing tires comprising the steps of: constructing a sample set of tires; measuring at least two parameters of each tire of the sample to obtain first and second measurement data; measuring force variations of each tire of the sample set during a rotation test at a select rotation rate to obtain force variation data; determining transfer functions between the first and second measurement data and the force variation data; constructing a set of production tires; measuring the two parameters of the production tires; predicting force variations of the production tires at the select rotation rate based on the transfer functions and the two measured parameters of the production tires; responsive to the predicted force variations, comparing the production tires to predetermined criteria; and controlling manufacture of the tires responsive to the comparison.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method of manufacturing tires, comprising the steps of:

(a) constructing a sample set of tires;
(b) selecting first and second measurable parameters from a set comprising:
variation in effective rolling radius;
radial force variation;
geometric runout variation;
and fore and aft force variation;
(c) measuring the selected first and second measurable parameters of at least one tire of the sample set to obtain first and second measurement data;
(d) rotating the one tire at a prediction speed on a measurement apparatus;
(e) measuring at least one parameter indicative of force variations of the one tire during the rotation at the prediction speed to obtain force variation measurement data;
(f) repeating steps (c)-(e) for remaining tires in the sample set;
(g) extracting, from the first and second measurement data and the force variation measurement data for each sample tire, data corresponding to a selected order of tire rotation;
(h) responsive to the extracted data, determining transfer functions relating the first and second measurement data to the force variation measurement data;
(i) constructing at least one production tire;
(j) repeating step (c) on the one production tire to obtain first and second production measurement data for the one production tire;
(k) predicting a force for rotation of the one production tire at the prediction speed responsive to the first and second production measurement data and the transfer functions;
(l) responsive to the predicted force, comparing the one tire to a predetermined criteria;
and
(m) controlling the tire manufacture responsive to the comparison.

15 more elements

A method of manufacturing tires, comprising the steps of:

(a) constructing a sample set of tires;
(b) selecting first and second measurable parameters from a set comprising:
variation in effective rolling radius;
radial force variation;
geometric runout variation;
and fore and aft force variation;
(c) rotating one tire of the sample set at a first speed rotational rate on a measurement apparatus;
(d) measuring the selected first and second measurable parameters for the one tire during the rotation at the first speed to obtain first and second measurement data;
(e) rotating the one tire at a second speed on the measurement apparatus;
(f) measuring at least one parameter indicative of force variations of the one tire during the rotation at the second speed to obtain force variation measurement data;
(g) determining Fourier series components of at least one order of tire rotation for the first and second measurement data;
(h) determining Fourier series components of at least one order of tire rotation for the force variation measurement data;
(i) repeating steps (c)-(h) for the remaining tires in the sample set;
(j) extracting, from the first and second measurement data and the force variation measurement data for each sample tire, data corresponding to a select order of tire rotation;
(k) using the extracted data, determining a set of complex quantities:
C.sub.xzn, C.sub.xrn, C.sub.zzn, C.sub.zrn, C.sub.rzn and C.sub.rrn according to an equation ##EQU15## where F represents the extracted data, (*) denotes the complex conjugate, N.sub.2 denotes a number of tires in the sample set and a and b take on the following paired combinations:
______________________________________ a b ______________________________________ x z x r z z z r r z r r ______________________________________
where n represents the selected order, m designates a particular tire, x denotes force variation measurement data, r denotes first speed first measurement data and z denotes first speed second measurement data;
(l) responsive to:
##EQU16## determining transfer functions H.sub.zn and H.sub.rn relating the first and second measurement data to the force variation measurement data;
(m) constructing at least one production tire;
(n) repeating steps (c) and (d) on the one production tire to obtain first and second production measurement data for the one production tire;
(o) predicting a force for rotation of the one production tire at the second speed responsive to the first and second production measurement data and the transfer function;
(p) comparing the predicted force to a predetermined limit;
and
(q) sorting construction tires with predicted forces that do not fall within the predetermined limit.

23 more elements

A method of manufacturing tires, comprising the steps of:

(a) constructing a sample set of tires;
(b) selecting first and second measurable parameters from a set comprising:
variation in effective rolling radius;
radial force variation;
geometric runout variation;
and fore and aft force variation
(c) rotating one tire of the sample set at a first rotational rate on a first measurement apparatus;
(d) measuring the selected first measurable parameter for the one tire during the rotation at the first rotational rate to obtain first measurement data;
(e) rotating the one tire of the sample set at a second rotation rate on one of:
(a) the first measurement apparatus and (b) a second measurement apparatus, wherein the second rotational rate is one of:
a rate greater than the first rotational rate;
a rate equal to the first rotational rate;
and a rate less than the first rotational rate;
(f) measuring the selected second measurable parameter for the one tire during the rotation at the second rotational rate to obtain second measurement data;
(g) rotating the one tire at a third speed on one of:
(i) the first measurement apparatus, (ii) the second measurement apparatus and (iii) a third measurement apparatus, wherein the third rotational rate is one of:
a rate equal to the first rotational rate;
a rate equal to the second rotational rate;
and a rate not equal to either the first or second rotational rates;
(h) measuring at least one parameter indicative of force variations of the one tire during the rotation at the third rotational rate to obtain force variation measurement data;
(i) repeating steps (c)-(h) for the remaining tires in the sample set;
(j) extracting, from the first and second measurement data and the force variation measurement data for each sample tire, data corresponding to a selected order of tire rotation;
(k) responsive to the extracted data, determining transfer functions relating the first and second measurement data to the force variation measurement data;
(l) constructing at least one production tire;
(m) repeating steps (c), (d), (e) and (f) on the one production tire to obtain first and second production measurement data for the one production tire;
(n) predicting a force for rotation of the one production tire at the third speed responsive to the first and second production measurement data and the transfer functions;
(o) responsive to the predicted force, comparing the one tire to a predetermined criteria;
and
(p) controlling the tire manufacture responsive to the comparison.

26 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.