Loadwheel drive assembly and method
AssigneeAkron Special Machinery, Inc.
InventorsRichard L. Delmoro, David P. Krause
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention generally provides an apparatus and method for accurately and rapidly imposing the required average force on a tire by using a drive mechanism, which initially drives the loadwheel carriage to a known average load position for tires of the type under test. This average can be computed based on a single previous test tire or based on an entire population of previously tested tires of the same or similar type.
Claims20
A loadwheel drive assembly in a tire uniformity machine having rotatable loadwheel for loading a tire, the loadwheel drive assembly comprising:
- a servo drive motor coupled to a ball screw assembly operatively connected to the loadwheel to move the loadwheel axially toward or away from the tire;
- said servo motor including a position sensor, whereby said sensor, determines a position of the loadwheel.
A method of positioning a loadwheel in a tire uniformity machine to load a tire for testing, the method comprising:
- moving the loadwheel to an initial load position;
- calculating the average radial load on the tire at the initial load position;
- and if the average radial load is not within a tolerance, making a corrective move to bring the average radial load within tolerance.
A method of loading a tire in a tire uniformity machine having a controller that monitors testing and controls components in the tire uniformity machine, the method comprising:
- providing a loadwheel drive assembly having a servo motor coupled to a ball screw assembly by a high efficiency synchronous drive belt, said ball screw being in operative relation with the loadwheel such that rotation of the ball screw moves the loadwheel toward or away from the tire;
- moving the loadwheel to an initial load position;
- calculating the average radial load on the tire at the initial load position;
- if the average radial load is not within a tolerance, making a corrective move to bring the average radial load within tolerance.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.