Method and apparatus for inspecting pneumatic tire during production

Abstract

An inspection method for inspecting beads provided on a tire building drum in process of production a pneumatic tire includes measuring a displacement amount in a radial direction on each of the beads lying axially on both sides of the drum with a distance sensor such as an eddy current sensor while rotating the drum, synthesizing displacement amounts so obtained on the beads on both the sides, calculating a harmonic of the displacement amounts in the radial direction of the beads by performing harmonic analysis on a resultant synthesized displacement amount, and determining whether the magnitude of the harmonic so calculated falls within a predetermined range.

1 .- 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . An apparatus for inspecting beads provided on a tire building drum in a process of production of a pneumatic tire, comprising:
 non-contact distance sensors which detect displacement amounts in a radial direction of beads provided axially on both sides of the tire building drum;   a data obtaining unit configured to obtain data related to the displacement amounts in the radial direction of the beads for a single rotation of the drum by the distance sensors;   a data processing unit configured to synthesize the displacement amounts of the beads lying on both the sides of the drum using the data obtained and calculate a harmonic of the displacement amounts in the radial direction of the beads by performing harmonic analysis on a resultant synthesized displacement amount;   a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the magnitude of the harmonic so calculated of the displacement amounts falls within a predetermined range, each distance sensor being an eddy current sensor, and wherein each bead comprises a bead wire and a displacement amount in the radial direction of a bead is measured by measuring a distance from a respective distance sensor to the bead wire of a respective bead; and   a non-contact distance sensor which detects a deviation amount of the bead wire in an axial direction of the drum, whereby a measured value measured by each non-contact distance sensor that is an eddy current sensor is corrected based on the deviation amount so measured to obtain the displacement amount in the radial direction of the bead wire.   
     
     
         17 . An inspection apparatus as set forth in  claim 16 , wherein the non-contact distance sensor which measures the deviation amount is an eddy current sensor. 
     
     
         18 . An inspection apparatus as set forth in  claim 16 , wherein the determination unit determines whether or not the magnitude of the harmonic of the displacement amounts falls within a tolerance which is predetermined based on a relationship between the magnitude of the harmonic and the uniformity of a completed tire as a final product.