Search

JP-2026076118-A - Splice mechanism for joining band pieces, especially adhesive cord band pieces.

JP2026076118AJP 2026076118 AJP2026076118 AJP 2026076118AJP-2026076118-A

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a splice mechanism that can operate a splice device mounted so as to be movable laterally with respect to the conveying direction of a conveyor belt. [Solution] A splicing mechanism for joining band pieces, comprising a splicing unit that joins the front edge of a band piece being transported on a conveyor belt approaching from behind with the rear edge of a previously joined band piece to form a band, and a transport belt for transporting the splicing device, and a sensor mechanism capable of aligning the band piece being transported approaching from behind with the joined band by an alignment mechanism, is configured to detect the position of the longitudinal edge of the band piece, determines the lateral displacement between the detected longitudinal edge position and the position of the longitudinal edge of the joined band piece, and a driving means operates the splicing device, which is mounted so as to be movable laterally with respect to the transport direction of the conveyor belt, in order to align the two longitudinal edges in an aligned state. [Selection Diagram] Figure 1

Inventors

  • フランク・シュミット

Assignees

  • フィシャー タイヤテック ジャーマニー ゲーエムベーハー

Dates

Publication Date
20260511
Application Date
20251006
Priority Date
20241023

Claims (19)

  1. A splice mechanism for joining band pieces (9), particularly adhesive cord band pieces, A conveyor belt (2) transports the first band area (9), A splicing device (3) comprises a splicing unit (4) that connects the front edge (22) of a band piece (9) being transported on the conveyor belt (2) from the rear to the rear edge (18) of a previously joined band piece (9) to form a joined band (11), and a transport belt (5) for transporting the joined band (11), A splice mechanism comprising a sensor mechanism capable of detecting the position of at least the band piece (9) being transported approaching from the rear, and aligning the band piece (9) being transported approaching from the rear and the joined band (11) with each other based on that position, The splice mechanism is characterized in that the sensor mechanism comprises a first sensor device (13) positioned along the longitudinal side of the conveyor belt (2) and configured to detect the position of the longitudinal edge (20) of the band piece (9), and a control mechanism (15) configured to determine the lateral displacement between the detected position of the longitudinal edge (20) and the position of the longitudinal edge (21) of the joined band piece (11), and when the displacement is determined, the control mechanism (15) can cause a drive means (16) to operate the splice device (3), which is mounted so as to be movable laterally with respect to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt (2) in order to align the two longitudinal edges (20, 21) together.
  2. The sensor mechanism comprises a second sensor device (24) positioned at the end of the conveyor belt (2) adjacent to the longitudinal position of the first sensor device (13) downstream in the conveying direction of the conveyor belt (2), wherein the second sensor device (24) is also configured to detect the position of the longitudinal edge (20) of the band piece (9), and the control mechanism (15) is configured to determine the lateral displacement between the position of the longitudinal edge (20) detected by the second sensor device (24) and the position of the longitudinal edge of the joined band piece (11), and is configured to activate the drive means (16) when the displacement is determined, as described in claim 1.
  3. The splice mechanism according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that a further sensor mechanism is provided for detecting the position of the joined band piece (9), the further sensor mechanism comprises a further sensor device (26) positioned along the longitudinal side of the transport belt, the further sensor device (26) is configured to detect the position of the longitudinal edge (21) of the joined band piece (9), and the control mechanism (15) is configured to detect the lateral displacement taking into account the detected position of the longitudinal edge (21) of the joined band piece (9).
  4. The splice mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first sensor device (13) and/or the second sensor device (24) and/or the further sensor device (26) comprises at least one optical sensor in the form of a line sensor, or a camera, or a laser sensor, for detecting the position of each longitudinal edge.
  5. The splice mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first sensor device (13) comprises a sensor (39) for detecting the front edge (22) of a band piece (9) being transported from the rear.
  6. The splice mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the splice device (3) is movably mounted on the linear guide means (17).
  7. The splicing mechanism according to claim 6, characterized in that the linear guide means (17) comprises a roller (31) provided on the splicing device (3), and the roller (31) moves within or on a fixed-position roller guide (32).
  8. The splice mechanism according to claim 7, characterized in that the bearing plate (33) provided with the roller guide (32) is either fixed in position or the roller guide (32) is fixed to the bottom side.
  9. The splicing device (3) is further characterized in that it can rotate by an angle of ±3 degrees, specifically a maximum of ±2 degrees, preferably a maximum of ±1 degree, from a basic position aligned in the transport direction, as described in any one of the preceding claims.
  10. The splice mechanism according to claim 9 and any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that the linear guide means (17) is configured to enable the rotation.
  11. The splicing mechanism according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the driving means (16) comprises a single drive motor connected to the frame support (29) of the splicing device (3).
  12. The splicing mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the drive means (16) comprises two drive motors that can be operated independently and are connected to the frame support (29) of the splicing device (3), and the two drive motors are arranged offset from each other in the transport direction.
  13. A method for operating a splice mechanism (1) for joining band pieces (9), particularly adhesive cord band pieces, wherein the splice mechanism (1) is A conveyor belt (2) transports the first band area (9), A splicing device (3) comprises a splicing unit (4) that connects the front edge (22) of a band piece (9) being transported on the conveyor belt (2) from the rear to the rear edge (18) of a previously joined band piece (9) to form a joined band (11), and a transport belt (5) for transporting the joined band (11), The system includes a sensor mechanism that detects the position of at least the band piece (9) being transported approaching from the rear, and aligns the band piece (9) being transported approaching from the rear and the joined band (11) using an alignment mechanism based on that position, The sensor mechanism comprises a first sensor device (13) positioned along the longitudinal side of the conveyor belt (2), the first sensor device (13) detects the position of the longitudinal edge (20) of the band piece (9), and the control mechanism (15) determines the lateral displacement between the detected position of the longitudinal edge (20) and the position of the longitudinal edge (21) of the joined band piece (11). When a displacement is determined, the control mechanism (15) causes a drive means (16) to operate a splice device (3) mounted so as to be movable laterally with respect to the conveying direction of the conveyor belt (2) in order to align the two longitudinal edges (20, 21) together, and moves the splice device (3) to correct the displacement.
  14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the position of the longitudinal edge (20) of the band piece (9) is also detected by a second sensor device (24) located at the end of the conveyor belt (2), adjacent to the longitudinal position of the first sensor device (13) downstream in the conveying direction of the conveyor belt (2), and the lateral displacement is determined using the control mechanism (15) based on the position of the longitudinal edge (20) detected by the second sensor device (24).
  15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that a further sensor device (26) positioned along the longitudinal edge of the transport belt (5) detects the position of the joined band piece (11), and the control mechanism (15) determines the lateral displacement considering the detected position of the longitudinal edge (21) of the joined band piece (11).
  16. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that at least one optical sensor (14, 25, 27) in the form of a line sensor, camera, or laser sensor is used to detect the position of each of the longitudinal edges.
  17. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that the sensor (39) of the first sensor device (13) detects the front edge (22) of a band piece (9) being transported approaching from the rear.
  18. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that, in order to correct the misalignment, the splice device (3) is moved linearly and/or rotated by an angle of ±3 degrees, specifically a maximum of ±2 degrees, preferably a maximum of ±1 degree, from its base position aligned in the transport direction.
  19. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 18, characterized in that one or two drive motors, specifically servo motors, capable of operating independently, are used as the driving means (16).

Description

The present invention relates to a splice mechanism for joining band pieces, particularly adhesive cord band pieces, A conveyor belt for transporting the first band area, A splicing device comprising: a splicing unit that joins the front edge of a band piece being transported on a conveyor belt approaching from the rear with the rear edge of a previously joined band piece to form a joined band; and a transport belt for transporting the joined band; The present invention relates to a splice mechanism comprising a sensor mechanism capable of detecting the position of a band piece being transported approaching from the rear, and aligning the band piece being transported approaching from the rear and the joined band relative to each other based on that position using an alignment mechanism. Such splicing mechanisms are known, for example, from DE 10 2017 120 262 B4, and are used, for example, in the tire industry to manufacture endless bands from individual band pieces made of adhesive cord band material. For this purpose, the individual band pieces are joined to each other along the edges by a splicing device. Such a splicing device comprises, for example, a splicing tool with one or more splicing heads. In this case, one or more splicing heads are fed from above toward pre-aligned edges. After the splicing heads are positioned, they are pulled linearly along the band material in the direction of the lateral band edge, while being pressed down on the band material along the splice line. The splicing heads may be self-propelled or driven. The band material is joined by compression as it is pulled across the band material. In this way, by joining a number of individual band pieces to each other, it is possible to manufacture endless bands, such as those required for the manufacture of tire belt pieces. Each band piece is first cut in the cutting mechanism from the cord band that is sent from the rewinding station where the initial band wound on rollers is housed, and then transported by a conveyor belt to the splicing device. Here, the shape of each band section is usually a parallelogram, that is, it has a front end and a rear end, a front edge and a rear edge extending diagonally with respect to the transport direction, and two longitudinal edges extending parallel to the transport direction. After being cut in the cutting mechanism, the band piece is handed over to the conveyor belt and transported by the conveyor belt to the splicing device. There, the front edge of the band section being transported from the rear is joined to the rear edge of the band piece that has already been joined to the endless band. At this time, it is important that the band pieces to be joined are precisely aligned with each other, and in particular, the longitudinal edges must be aligned so that there is no lateral edge misalignment in the completed endless band. To avoid such misalignment, the splicing mechanism known from DE No. 10 2017 120 262 B4 is provided with a sensor mechanism that enables detection and identification of information regarding the position of band pieces being conveyed from the rear. This information concerns how one of the two longitudinal edges of the band piece being conveyed from the rear is aligned, and how much that longitudinal edge is misaligned with the longitudinal edge of the previously joined band piece. When such misalignment is detected, the known splicing mechanism uses an alignment mechanism with a clamping mechanism movable along the conveyor belt to grasp the longitudinal edge of the band piece being conveyed from the rear. During transport, the alignment mechanism, which moves in conjunction with the gripping mechanism, pulls the band piece laterally to a predetermined position, where the longitudinal edge is aligned as closely as possible with the longitudinal edge of the previously joined band piece. While such an alignment mechanism can effectively align band pieces being conveyed from the rear, such an alignment mechanism is relatively complex in structure and operation. Another method for aligning band pieces being transported from the rear is known from DE 601 01 962 T2. In this document, before the cut band pieces are sent to a transport mechanism that leads to a splicing device, a sensor mechanism detects the position of the band piece, and based on this, the centerline of the band piece is detected. This centerline needs to be aligned with the centerline of the previously joined band piece (i.e., endless band). This alignment is achieved by rotating the transport mechanism, that is, by rotating the end adjacent to the splicing device, and at the rotated position, the handover position of the band pieces being transported from the rear is adjusted so that the centerlines are aligned. Furthermore, the splicing table on which the end of the previously joined endless band is placed can also be moved laterally. Position detection is performed considerably in front of the actual splici