Paper Number 7.3

 

Correlated Dual Sheet-of-Light Measurement
of Preparation Material

 

 

Oliver Scholz[1]

Tobias Meyer

Günther Kostka

Andreas Jobst

Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits

Dept. Contactless Test and Measurement Systems

Am Wolfsmantel 33

91096 Erlangen, Germany

Email: oliver.scholz@iis.fraunhofer.de

Voice: +49 (0) 9131 772-7242

Fax:  +49 (0) 9131 776-7299

 

 

In tire production preparation materials of various widths are required. These materials are produced at the manufacturer's plant from a drum of material with a standard width by cutting sheets of the required width, and splicing them together after rotating the sheets by 90 degrees. The resulting material is an endless drum of preparation material with the proper width required for a specific tire type.

 

The properties of this splice are critical for the subsequent tire production process. Automatic measurement and evaluation of the splice across the entire material width is desirable along with automatic detection of a variety of standard defects, like e.g. dog ears. This information can be used to ensure consistent quality of the preparation material while at the same time lowering production cost, partly because operator intervention is only required for critical faults.

 

In this paper an approach is described consisting of a dual correlated sheet-of-light measurement setup, using a standard PC for automatic evaluation. Two calibrated sheet-of-light cameras are used to measure the material simultaneously from the top and bottom on the machine producing the spliced material before the material is wound on a drum. The result of the image processing operations is a continuous surface data stream of top and bottom surfaces, allowing the measurement of the material thickness as well as precise measurement of the splice. The data is also suitable for detection of other material flaws not related to the splice.

 

We will also present information about the use of this setup at a major tire manufacturer's plant over an extended period of time, including measurement data, accuracies and experiences with this new approach to measurement of preparation materials for tire production.

 



[1] Presenting author