Method for controlling the deposition of semifinished elements for tyre production

An apparatus for controlling the deposition of a plurality of semifinished elements for tyre production, comprising:

• a first emitting structure for sending a first radiation onto at least one component of a tyre being processed, said component being at least partly formed with said plurality of semifinished elements defining a radially external layer of said tyre being processed, said semifinished elements being strip-like elements distinct from each other and suitably disposed in side-by-side or partially overlapped relationship, said strip-like elements being laid axially on a forming support;
• a first receiving structure for receiving a corresponding first reflected radiation from a radially external surface of said tyre being processed;
• and
• a processing unit provided with:
• an operating module configured for determining, as a function of at least said first reflected radiation, one or more parameters representative of a thickness of said radially external layer,
• wherein said one or more parameters comprise a first parameter representative of a mutual overlapping of said semifinished elements and a second parameter representative of a lack of mutual overlapping of said semifinished elements, and
• wherein determining said one or more parameters comprises:
• determining a plurality of values representative of the thickness of said radially external layer in a plurality of circumferential positions of said tyre being processed,
• comparing said values with a first threshold value and with a second threshold value, wherein the first threshold value represents an overlapping, in the radial direction, of two semifinished elements, and the second threshold value represents a case where no semifinished element has been laid,
• determining how many of said values are higher than said first threshold value and how many of said values are lower than said second threshold value,
• calculating the first parameter as the number of consecutive values higher than said first threshold value, and
• calculating the second parameter as the number of consecutive values smaller than the second threshold value;
• the processing unit being further provided with:
• a comparison module configured for comparing said one or more parameters with corresponding reference values;
• and
• a transmission module configured for generating an alarm signal as a function of said comparison,
• wherein the alarm signal is generated if the first parameter is greater than a first reference value or if the second parameter is greater than a second reference value,
• each of the first reference value and the second reference value being representative of a distance equal to at least ⅓ of a width of one of said semifinished elements measured along a circumferential extension of said forming support.