MESNAC: Upgrading Tire Balancing Machine and Building Machine

In 2018, MESNAC substantially upgraded the all-steel tire dynamic balancing machine and semi-steel tire building machine.

The third generation of all-steel tire dynamic balancing machine greatly improved the testing precision

In November, the third generation of all-steel tire dynamic balancing machine (Model YLHP-Z1625) which MESNAC had been working for one and a half year was successfully accepted on the site of American client. This model is the new generation of machine developed on the basis of nearly 10 years of experience of last two generations of models, including new mechanical structure, new electronic control system and new upper system managing software.

This model can fully automatically realize the online testing of various performance indexes of the tires such as dynamic balancing and eccentricity, with various indexes such as stability, test precision and test efficiency reaching international advanced level.

On the acceptance site of the client, this dynamic balancing equipment carried out multiple tests on the tires of various specifications, and the dynamic balancing and testing precision, correlation of measurement accuracy of eccentricity and test efficiency reached the client requirements and were successfully accepted.

It is well known that since the machine, electricity and software of the testing equipment are combined closely, the equipment precision will be affected if each link has a slight deviation, thus the supplier must possess strong technical strength, which is also an important reason for scarcity of domestic testing equipment factories. 

As introduced by Jiang Ruijun, general manager of Testing Division of MESNAC, MESNAC had a 17-year history of developing tire testing equipment and had been improving the precision and reliability of the equipment, the third generation of all-steel tire dynamic balancing machine was recognized by international high-end clients upon successful development, which was a milestone in testing equipment history of MESNAC. 

Firstly, mechanical structure and software architecture were improved and the equipment stability was sharply enhanced. The R&D team changed the mechanical structure of main engine and automatic rebanding rim, and followed the standard of overseas advanced technology in selection of material of main shaft and technology for heating processing to improve the hardness of the material of main shaft, with its abrasive resistance improved by 2-3 times, thus ensuring the stability of positioning precision of hole of main shaft. New management control software adopted brand-new programming language and modular architecture design, sorted out various functional modules such as bar code scanning, weighing, eccentricity, recognition of zero angle and configuration of control system, realized customization and matching according to the user demand, re-defined the interaction node of upper and lower machines and improved the stability of data collection.

Secondly, the control algorithm was optimized, with the repeated accuracy of dynamic balancing as 4g and the repeated accuracy of eccentricity as 0.05mm. Overseas advanced technologies and practice experiences were used for reference to greatly improve the machining accuracy: the rotation precision of main shaft was less than 0.01mm and the rim beating degree was less than 0.03mm. In control technology, the control algorithm was optimized to make the misalignment angle of the main shaft less than 1°. The tire conveying and positioning process was optimized, the conveying of test station was changed from roller into synchronous belt conveying mode, the original tire positioning of centering device was canceled to completely rely on servo drive to realize synchronous belt positioning. The project team also increased two groups of symmetrically distributed optoelectronic switches on the basis of control scheme, which could accurately judge whether the mounting position of the tire was correct in advance, thoroughly solved the problems such as large positioning deviation and askew tire mounting and ensured accuracy of testing results, and the repeated accuracy of the equipment could reach the international advanced level. 

Thirdly, the action process was improved to shorten the testing cycle as 50 seconds. Every action was decomposed and optimized and planed and considered as a whole, the sequence chart of the action process was made, the final testing cycle was controlled as 50 seconds, and the test efficiency was shortened by 10 seconds compared with that of last generation of model.

To facilitate the user operation, the equipment also possessed the function of fully automatically changing the rim. There was a set of storage rack for storing the rims on the back of the equipment, which could store 4 sets of rims at most, and the user could replace the rim of the required specification within 5 minutes only by operating the touch screen. Only the operation of eccentricity compensation, instead of calibration, of the rim was required after replacement. The calibration process was reduced into one step from the original five steps, with the efficiency improved by over 80% than that of the traditional artificial rim replacement.

In selection of laser sensor, MESNAC cooperated with its partners to develop the line scanning laser sensor measurement system. This system was specially customized for tire measurement industry; with wide measurement scope, it could fully cover the side wall and thread of the tire, thus preventing occurrence of missing inspection; with high data collection frequency, it could collect all eccentricity information within one second and intuitively display the results on the upper machine, thus the data collection frequency was improved by 67% compared with that of last generation of model; in action process, this equipment also applied the adaptive positioning technology of laser sensor for the first time, thus reducing personnel operation and improving the equipment application efficiency.

Stable daily output of PS2A building machine exceeded 1,600 units

After being launched for one year, the fourth generation of semi-steel tire single stage building machine (PS2A) of MESNAC achieved new breakthrough of various indexes, through verification of various clients, the highest single cycle time of standard model of PS2A broke through 36 seconds, the highest shift output broke through 580 units, stable single cycle was within 40 seconds and stable shift output was 550 units and stable daily output exceeded 1,600 units, reaching international advanced level on the whole.

PS2A building machine realized optimization and upgrading in four aspects.

Firstly, it realized intelligent interconnection. The upper machine management system realized seamless connection with the existing MES network to overally realize multiple functions such as order management, plan management, quality management, equipment management and data management.

Secondly, it quickly matched the process. Through applied modular platform, PS2A had formed product family system, realized customization of the clients for common process requirements; it covered two-stage process of run-flat tire process and single-stage building machine while satisfying the processes satisfying the mainstream demand of the market such as sidewall covering crown tire technology, crown covering sidewall tire technology and tense winding of variable crown strap, thus satisfying 95% special process requirements of the current market.

Thirdly, both the quality and efficiency were improved. Synchronization algorithm, proportional-integral-differential (PID) control algorithm, etc. were adopted to greatly improve the technological adaptability of the products of multiple specifications, give better play to the equipment performance and improve the comprehensive quality of the tires by about 5%. Unmanned operation greatly lowered the quality fluctuation of the products. The efficiency is largely improved by applying the technologies such as MCCS deviation rectification, intelligent length fixing and intelligent speed regulation. As for the tires of the same inch grade, one-key specification change could be realized, and intelligent adjustment of the specification was realized by application of full-range belt ply drum, belt ply transfer ring and preset of tire bead, thus reducing 70% of specification adjustment time.

Fourthly, the industrial design was further optimized. All-round industrial design concept was integrated and function, modularization, protection, appearance, maintenance, etc. were integrated into the industrial design of the products, thus improving the user experience in an all-round way.

At present, PS2A building machine has been smoothly delivered in multiple clients. Through practice, it is proved that this model can fully satisfy the process demand of domestic and overseas clients and help the clients manufacture high-quality tires.