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Actuators cut downtime at tyre plant

A Parker-Origa product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Dec 21, 2005

Material waste and product changeover downtime have been cut at Pirelli Tyres' UK manufacturing plant in Carlisle following the installation of bi-parting electric linear actuators.

Material waste and product changeover downtime have been cut at Pirelli Tyres' main UK manufacturing plant in Carlisle following the installation of bi-parting electric linear actuators from Hoerbiger-Origa.

These adjust knives that cut a continuous rubber web to form an inner casing for the ply of car tyres.

Pirelli in Carlisle produces 13,000 tyres a day, mainly for export.

Order input is such that there are often several product changeovers an hour.

Not only is downtime on the cutting line expensive it is also very disruptive to what is essentially a continuous process.

The knives cut the rubber web, which is 0.5 to 1.2mm gauge, evenly about a centre line at up to 25m/minute.

The strip varies from 250mm wide for small city cars to 500mm for the high performance sports tyres.

The actuators are 32mm bore versions of Hoerbiger-Origa's OSP-E belt driven units.

They are fitted in pairs, with one driven by a small servomotor and the other slaved to it in a reversing drive configuration.

Positioning and timing signals are downloaded from a remote-central control station over a Fieldbus network, although there is a local operator override facility too.

With a maximum travel of 125mm, speeds do not need to be high, which helps ensure that the knives are placed to an accuracy of 0.5mm.

This reduces materials waste and ensures high quality components for assembly into the tyre before it is cured into its final form.

The range of linear actuators includes belt and screw electric drives, plus a rodless pneumatic version.

The range is modular, being based on a common extruded aluminium profile with double dovetail rails on three sides for mounting of valves and sensors.

The integral guides are complemented by optional external guides for high precision or heavy duty applications.

The units replaced a lead screw system, that was not particularly accurate, required a lot of maintenance and tended to inflict damage to the knife blades.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.

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