AUTOMATIC ENVELOPE LEAK DETECTION DURING TIRE CURING

摘要

The present invention includes methods and apparatus for curing retread tires, which includes detecting and controlling a leak in a tire-membrane assembly during such curing operations. The steps of the method include placing a plurality of tire-membrane assemblies within a tire curing chamber; connecting a membrane fluid passage to each curing membrane of each tire-membrane assembly where each passage extends in fluid communication between one of the curing membranes and a pressure source and/or a vacuum source, each membrane fluid passage including a transducer for measuring pressure within the passage and a flow restrictor, in particular embodiments; initiating a curing process; receiving a one or more signal responses from each transducer generated as a function of the fluid pressure within the membrane fluid passages; and determining through a controller whether the signal responses received in the prior step indicate an undesired change in pressure in each curing membrane.