hydrolaser tire automatic cleaning equipment allows enterprises to get rid of the curse of heavy pollution

The tire market in the first half of 2022: not optimistic

The China Rubber Association held an online exchange meeting of 10 key tire companies two months ago, and invited the relevant heads of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Commerce to attend the meeting, according to the company's reflection of the tire industry in the first quarter of 2022The overall production and operation situation is not optimistic, which can be called the most difficult year since the beginning of the industry: poor transportation, epidemic control, blocked imported materials, soaring raw material prices, large inventory increases, sales restrictions and other situations have broken out in many places; At the same time, affected by the shutdown of the automobile industry, Wang Xianbin of Gasgoo Automobile Research Institute expects that the output of automobiles will decline off a cliff in the second quarter, which will further affect the operation of tire companies. It is reported that in 2022, the main technical and economic indicators of most tire companies will decline by -5% to -15% in the same period.

The main economic indicators of the Tire Association

In the case of the general environment, how to further reduce costs and increase efficiency, and hold the fundamentals for the future? Waterdrop laser products may be able to help.

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The largest energy consumer: tire vulcanization

As we all know, in the tire production process, the tire vulcanization link is the largest energy consumer: the general tire vulcanization is to give a certain pressure of superheated water or steam to the mold and the capsule, so that the internal temperature and the external temperature of the tire rise to more than 180 °C and about 150 °C respectively, this process requires a lot of heat. According to the current GB29449-2012 national standard process, the energy consumption of the vulcanization process accounts for the first place. Therefore, if you take the "bull's nose", energy utilization can be taken to a higher level.

In this regard, in addition to the use of nitrogen vulcanization process to replace the superheated water process, to avoid the systematic waste of heat and the upgrade of the automatic vulcanization workshop, the cleaning of the mold is also a key step: because the traditional treatment method requires the vulcanizer to stop for a long time, the mold is cooled first, and then the temperature is heated after the cleaning treatment, the whole process is time-consuming and wastes heat energy, and the frequent switching of the stove also makes the automatic workshop lose the significance of saving heat.

The cleaning of the mold is generally divided into two situations: one is the mold replacement caused by the switching of the specification pattern, and the other is only the cleaning of the mold rather than the switching of the specification pattern. Either one needs to meet two cleaning methods, one is the refurbishment of the mold with a thorough cleaning cycle, and the other is the in-line cleaning during production with an extended thorough cleaning cycle.

Laser cleaning has unique advantages in the treatment process:1. Precise and consistent cleaning results; 2. Safe and clean, no wear of the substrate; 3. Extend the service life of the mold; 4. The mold can be hot or cold cleaned, and cleaned online; 5. Mold cleaning speed up to 22m²/hour; 6. Easy to automate. At the same time, laser cleaning can also be applied to the rubber mixing process of the second largest energy consumer: when maintaining and lubricating the internal mixer and open mixer, the laser can remove the residues such as paint, rust and oil stains on the original equipment, facilitate secondary maintenance, reduce unplanned downtime, and keep the equipment in the best condition.

Compared to dry ice cleaning, laser cleaning has negligible operating costs

Synchronize the laser cleaning to the mold production line to realize the monitoring and automatic cleaning of the residual raw materials on the mold, which can well solve the problem of long-term shutdown and delay in production. When it comes to tire mold cleaning, non-destructive and efficient are decisive factors. For example, cleaning a high-precision mold with traditional methods such as dry ice or chemical cleaning requires 8 hours of downtime, while laser cleaning can be done in just a few minutes and at negligible operating costs. For example, the tire manufacturer cleans 1500,6000 pairs of molds a year, which can save 3,<> hours of production time; The production of tires can be increased by about <>,<> sets. Not only is it environmentally friendly, but the economic benefits are also considerable.

Cleaning gum, rust and bedding with laser can be thoroughly cleaned without dead ends, the outer surface of the mold is bright, there is no damage such as wire drawing, burn spots and color difference, and the cleaning cycle can be extended. Best Solution: The tire mold industry typically requires a 500-2000 watt laser cleaning system with a payback time of 12 to 18 months.

Domestic environmental protection upgrades, large-scale elimination of backward production capacity; As we all know, tire manufacturing is a heavily polluting industry.

With the start of China's seven "defense battles" such as blue sky, clear water and pure land, under the "double carbon" strategy dominated by "carbon neutrality and carbon peaking". While fierce competition among enterprises, they have devoted themselves to the "dual carbon" strategy.

Recently, the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission also publicized the "Shandong Province "Two High" Project Management Catalogue (2022 Edition), which stated that it will implement "five reduction substitutions" for new "two high" projects, and if the project increases energy consumption, coal consumption, carbon emissions, and pollutant emissions, it needs to be replaced by the same amount or reduction.

As the government has made more and more efforts to eliminate backward low-end production capacity in recent years, it has become a foregone conclusion that heavy polluting enterprises will be eliminated.

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Water droplet laser cleaning system

Other applications in the tire industry

Inner wall cleaning: In the production process of high-grade silent tires and self-repairing tires, before pasting silent cotton or coating self-repairing glue, it is necessary to remove the glaze and isolation layer on the inner wall of the tire, and the main components are methylhydrosiloxane (5~15%) and water. In this process, it is required not to damage the surface of the inner wall of the tire, and at the same time to increase the surface adhesion: the friction coefficient of the inner surface is increased >35mN/m, and the surface tension reaches 38dyne/cm.

The water drop laser cleaning machine can reach 99.99% in the cleanliness of removal, the particle size reaches the micron level, and in the actual measurement of the customer's debugging equipment, the highest technical requirements can be met under a specific process window of more than 46mN/m, and the surface tension reaches 46dyne/cm. At the same time, the stability of the equipment has also reached the corresponding standards, which can meet the uninterrupted and trouble-free operation of the automated workshop.

1:00 water drop laser automatic tire inner wall washing line

Laser marking: Laser marking is a mature surface process, which can be used in finished tires to burn unique logos, which cannot be changed once burned, and has the advantages of safety, environmental protection and high anti-counterfeiting. Many of the industry are using paper QR code labels, but this label is easy to counterfeit. The QR code on the tire is easy to tear off, bringing uncertainty about the warranty.

The water drop laser cleaning machine can take into account the use of tire marking, implant the traceability code in the form of characters or QR codes, and integrate the server database, which can achieve one-click query by consumers and convenient control by manufacturers.

The downturn is short-term and the outlook is positive. From a macro point of view, the sales of radial tires in China are still rising steadily, and the production capacity of new energy vehicles is gradually expanding. The epidemic is gradually coming to an end, and it is believed that the indicators of the tire industry will improve in the second half of the year.

Shuidi Laser has passed the ISO9001 certification of quality management system, ISO14001 certification of environmental management system, and ISO45001 certification of occupational health and safety management system, and has won the "2021 Red Light Award - China Laser Equipment Innovation Contribution Award", "Member Unit of Guangdong Laser Industry Association", "Member Unit of Tire Branch of China Rubber Industry Association", "Member Unit of Dongguan Machinery Mold Industry Association", "Guangdong Province Contract-abiding and Trustworthy Enterprise" and other honors.

As a new type of green laser cleaning head enterprise, with its micron-level process fineness and electronic integration advantages that can realize unmanned automation, water drop laser has been widely used in the production of various parts and components such as power battery systems, drive shafts, bearings, axles, wheels and tires of automobiles, and will further help manufacturing enterprises reduce costs and increase efficiency in the future, and achieve transformation and upgrading.