The current tire manufacturing industry is highly automated, 3D machine vision is widely used in it. And lasers are also widely used in it. Domestic at present with the industrial upgrading and localization requirements, many users know less about this type of laser, this paper mainly introduces the current application of laser in the field of tire manufacturing as well as tire forming machine.
Read code and character recognition
In the automated detection often need to read the type and number of tires, and the use of 3d laser profiler can be convenient, fast and accurate reading of the tire surface characters, letters and numbers. And in this field, the laser has several points especially important:
The consistency of the laser line, especially the relevant specifications, including the output power, line width, depth of field, etc.;
- High straightness requirements;
- The beam needs to be shaped as the curvature of the tire edges can lead to a significant loss of brightness at both ends;
- Long time working stability;
- Mechanical structure stability.
Tread measurement
The contour and surface integrity of the tire directly affects the driving speed and driving safety of cars and trucks. And the contour measurement of the tire tread is generally often used laser contour measurement system, the system consists of line laser, industrial camera and image processing unit. According to different application requirements, the apparatus configuration can be flexibly adjusted to suit different height differences, specifications and so on.
By identifying tread wear, unnecessary tire heeling and accidents can be avoided. And it can be used to provide diagnostic reference for chassis problems.
And in this field, there are several points of particular importance for lasers:
Tire press positioning
In the production process of tires, the last step is to test the tire pressure. In the tire press to accurately calibrate the position of the tire, generally commonly used point or cross laser vertical irradiation.
In this application, the requirements for the laser are as follows:
- Mechanical stability;
- Safety for the human eye and clear visibility of dots and lines.
Tire Retreader
Tire retreading machines need to accurately position the width of used tires before processing. Therefore two bright lasers can be used for marking and positioning.
In this application, the lasers are generally required to have the following characteristics:
- Strong mechanical strength of the laser and mounting bracket to prevent it from being vibrated loose or damaged by vibration;
- A laser line that is safe for the human eye.
Laser in Tire Forming Machine
During tire production, a laser line marks the correct position of the rubber strip on the drum. Three lasers are usually used: one for the center line and two others for the outer lines, which move in opposite directions depending on the width of the tire. Green line lasers provide better visibility, especially on black rubber.
Lasers in this field should have several characteristics:
- Accurate positioning of the laser line, which needs to be matched to the mounting bracket;
- Sensitivity of the laser line to the human eye, with options for 658nm and 532nm lasers;
- Human eye safety, with a class requirement of CLASS 1M.
