Device and method for the nondestructive testing of tires by tomography

A method for inspecting a tire by providing representation of tomographic images of sections of a cover of said tire, comprising:

• providing a tire to be inspected and a source-detector assembly comprising a source of ionizing radiation configured to emit a radiation to said tire in the form of a divergent beam, and a detector for detecting said radiation;
• said method comprising the steps of:
• configuring said source-detector assembly such that said detector is aligned with said source at a predetermined distance L2 from said source, and locating said source and said detector such that said source and said detector are respectively situated on respective axially opposite sides of said cover of said tire, with an axis (X-X) of said tire extending parallel to a sectional plane (P) passing through a focus (F) of said source and said detector;
• during a tire inspection cycle, generating a relative rotational movement between said tire and said source-detector assembly about an axis of rotation (Z-Z) at right angles to said sectional plane (P), wherein said axis of rotation intersects with said sectional plane passing through a center of rotation (O) situated in the source-detector assembly between said source and said detector at a predetermined distance L1 from said source, while also passing said detector , at least partly, inside a central internal zone of said tire during said rotational movement;
• during said inspection cycle, said detector is configured and operable to measure the absorption of said radiation passing through at least one section of said cover along said sectional plane (P);
• and
• said method further comprising:
• causing intersection of said divergent beam with said sectional plane to exhibit an angular aperture (Δ) of between 13° and 30°, whereas said center of rotation is positioned in said source-detector assembly in a fixed manner between said source and said detector such that a ratio L1/L2 is between 0.75 and 0.9, whereby it is possible to inspect tires of different dimensions while keeping constant the relative positions of said source, of said detector and of said center of rotation.