FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970) & THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION (See section 10, rule 13)
1. Title of the invention: COLLECTING MATERIAL DUST DURING TIRE
MANUFACTURING
2. Applicant(s)
NAME NATIONALITY ADDRESS
CEAT LIMITED Indian CEAT Ltd
At: Get Muwala
Po: Chandrapura
Ta: Halol - 389 350
Dist: Panchmahal, Gujarat, India
3. Preamble to the description
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it
is to be performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD
[001] The present subject matter relates, in general, to vehicle tires and,
particularly but not exclusively, to process of manufacturing of tires.
BACKGROUND
[002] Generally, various materials or chemicals, such as polymer, curing
agents, additives, filler, rubber, anti-ozonants, stabilizers, and surfactants are used or mixed in a predefined ratio to produce a tire. The ratio of mixing of various materials may vary depending on the type of tire to be produced. For instance, tire to be manufactured for a heavy vehicle may have different material requirements than a tire to be manufactured for a two-wheeler. Accordingly, to ensure that various formulations of rubber and additives and other materials are accurately weighed before mixing during a tire manufacturing process, a weighing system is generally used. The weighing system may comprise a weighment chamber or area, onto which materials may be dispensed for weighing before mixing. A weight sensor may be coupled to the weighment chamber for weighing the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[003] The detailed description is described with reference to the
accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number
identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers
are used throughout the drawings to reference like features and components.
[004] Figure 1 illustrates a schematic of a material dust collection system for
a tire manufacturing process, in accordance with an implementation of the present subject matter.
[005] Figure 2 illustrates a method of collecting material dust during a tire
manufacturing process, in accordance with an implementation of the present subject matter.
[006] The figures are not necessarily to scale, and the size of some parts may
be exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the example shown. Moreover, the drawings provide examples and/or implementations consistent with the

description; however, the description is not limited to the examples and/or implementations provided in the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[007] As mentioned above, materials involved in a tire manufacturing process
are weighed in a weighment chamber or area prior to their mixing.
[008] The various materials used in the tire manufacturing process are stored
in respective storage chambers, in a tire manufacturing facility. In the process of weighing the materials, one or more of the materials may be filtered through a filter installed in the storage chambers at the initiation of the tire manufacturing process. Thereafter, the materials are dispensed separately from the respective storage chamber onto the weighment chamber, where individually the materials are weighed.
[009] While dispensing a material which may be a powdered material, onto
the weighment chamber, solid dust-like material may possibly rise up and fly away in the air, thus generating material scrap in the environment. Once weighed, the material may be moved to a mixing chamber from the weighment chamber. The residue of dust of the material may be left in the weighment chamber when the material is moved from the weighment chamber. The residual dust of the material needs to be removed from the weighment chamber, before the next material is dispensed onto the weighment chamber, to prevent inter-mixing or cross-contamination of the materials.
[0010] Conventional material dust collection system that provides suction of
generated dust to remove the residual dust of the material from the weighment chamber generally comprises a dust collector line or channel that collects the chemical from the weighment area through suction. The dust collector line is operated after weighing each material to suction the residual dust of the material weighed and transfer its residue to a bin. As materials are weighted one by one, each of the respective materials are sucked from the weighment chamber and brought into the bin where residual dust of the previously weighed material was collected to scrap off the residual dust of all the materials later from the weighment area. Since different types of materials are collected in the same common bin, there

is intermixing and cross-contamination of the materials in the common bin. Discarding such scrap may be potentially hazardous to the environment. The conventional material dust collection system merely focused on collecting and removing the suctioned materials from the weighment area into the common bin from where it can later be removed or discarded. However, there is no mechanism to re-use or recycle the collected scrap, which is a result of cross contamination of different materials, so as to avoid the generation of such scrap that may be potentially hazardous to the environment. Further, the dust collection line and common bin also need to be cleaned through manual intervention with safety precautions. This activity may also be harmful for an individual involved in the activity.
[0011] To this end, the present subject matter provides techniques for
collecting material dust during a tire manufacturing process, the techniques overcome the above-described problems associated with collecting residual dust of all materials to be used in the tire manufacturing process from a weighing chamber in a common bin.
[0012] In accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter, a
material dust collection system for a tire manufacturing process is disclosed. The system comprises plurality of material storage chambers, each configured to store a material to be used in the tire manufacturing process and dispense the material onto a weighment chamber. The weighment chamber is configured to measure weight of the material dispensed from the respective material storage chambers. The system also comprises a plurality of material dust collection channels. Each of the material dust collection channels corresponds to a material storage chamber from amongst the plurality of material storage chambers. A first end of each of the material dust collection channels is connected to a respective inlet and a second end of each of the material dust collection channels is connected to the corresponding material storage chamber. Further, each of the material dust collection channels is selectively operable to receive, via the respective inlets, a residual dust of the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber through suction induced in the weighment chamber. The system may comprise a suction

pump coupled to each of the material dust collection channels and to the weighment chamber to induce said suction.
[0013] The presently disclosed material dust collection system is so designed
that residual dust of a material sucked from the weighment chamber is transferred to the respective material storage chamber via a respective dust collection channel. This prevents any contamination caused by the inter-mixing of different materials that may happen when different types of materials sucked from the weighment chamber are collected in the common bin and discarded later on. Thus, the residual dust of the material collected in the material storage chamber may also be recycled and reused during the tire manufacturing process. Further, since no scrap of materials is generated as a result of collection of residual dust of materials, there is no need to discard the scrap that may potentially be hazardous to environment. This also results in cost saving because of reuse of the materials and reduction in scrap generation. Also, cleaning of the common bin or dust collection channel that may involve human invention may be avoided.
[0014] The above and other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject
matter will be better explained with regard to the following description and accompanying figures. It should be noted that the description and figures merely illustrate the principles of the present subject matter along with examples described herein and, should not be construed as a limitation to the present subject matter. It is thus understood that various arrangements may be devised that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof. Further, for the sake of simplicity, and without limitation, the same numbers are used throughout the drawings to reference like features and components.
[0015] Figure 1 illustrates a schematic of a material dust collection system for
a tire manufacturing process, in accordance with an implementation of the present subject matter.
[0016] In an implementation of the present subject matter, the material dust
collection system 100 for the tire manufacturing process is disclosed. As described

earlier, during the tire manufacturing process different materials such as polymer, curing agents, additives, filler, rubber, anti-ozonants, stabilizers, and surfactants are used. These materials may be mixed in a predefined ratio as per the requirement of type of tire to be produced. In an example, the materials may be powdered material. Thus, these materials are weighed before mixing. The material dust collection system 100 may comprise a plurality of material storage chambers 102. Each of the material storage chambers is configured to store a material to be used in the tire manufacturing process and dispense the material onto a weighment chamber 104. In an example, the weighing chamber may be a substantially flat platform onto which a material may be dispensed from a material storage chamber. While only two material storage chambers are depicted in Figure 1, the material dust collection system may comprise more or less than two material storage chambers. Each of the material storage chamber 102 may comprise a material receiving portion 106 to receive the material and a storage portion 108 coupled to the material receiving portion 106. The material receiving portion 106 may comprise a filter 110 to filter the material received therein. The storage portion 108 may receive the filtered material from the material receiving portion 106 and store the filtered material.
[0017] In an example, a bag of material may be emptied in the material
receiving portion 106. The material may get filtered through the filter 110 installed in the material receiving portion 106. The filtered material may be transferred to the storage portion 108 and stored therein. The filtered material may be dispensed from the storage portion 108 onto the weighment chamber 104 for being weighed. In an example, a weight sensor may be coupled to the weighment chamber 104 to weigh the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber 104. In an example, once the material is weighed, the material may be moved to a mixing chamber, wherein one or more materials to be used in the tire manufacturing process may be mixed to produce the tire. After the material is removed from the weighment chamber 104, a residual dust of the material may be present in the weighment chamber 104. Before dispensing another material from the respective material storage chamber 102 onto the weighment chamber 104, the residual dust of the

previously weighed material needs to be removed from the weighment chamber
104 to avoid intermixing of the materials which may contaminate the later material.
[0018] In an example implementation, to remove the residual dust of the
material from the weighment chamber 104, the material dust collection system 100 may comprise a plurality of material dust collection channels 112. Each of the material dust collection channels 112 may correspond to a material storage chamber 102 from amongst the plurality of material storage chambers 102. In an example, each of the material dust collection channels 112 may comprise an inlet 114. In an example, the inlet 114 may comprise a suction cup. Each of the material dust collection channels 112 may be a solid or flexible hollow pipe. In an example, a first end of each of the material dust collection channels 112 is connected to the respective inlet 114 and a second end of each of the material dust collection channel 112 is connected to the corresponding material storage chamber 102.
[0019] To remove the residual dust of a material from the weighment chamber
104, the material dust collection system 100 may also comprise a suction pump 116 coupled to each of the plurality of material dust collection channels and to the weighment chamber 104 to induce suction in the weighment chamber 104. The suction pump 116 may be operated manually or automatically. In an example, once the material is weighed and moved from the weighment chamber 104, for example, to the mixing chamber, the weight sensor coupled to the weighment chamber may signal that weighment chamber is empty. Based on the signal, the suction pump 116 may be operated manually or automatically. To operate the suction pump 116 automatically, the material dust collection system 100 may comprise a controller (not shown in Figure 1). The controller may be implemented as microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, state machines, logic circuitries, and/or any devices that manipulate signals based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the controller is configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory, for example, in order to receive signal from the weight sensor. In another example, the controller is to operate the suction pump 116 with varying pressure. The controller may receive the signal that the weighment chamber 104 is empty

from the weight sensor. Based on the signal, the suction pump 116 may be operated by the controller. The controller may also be configured to regulate the pressure of the suction pump 116. In an example, the pressure of the suction pump 116 may vary depending on the size and weight of granules of the material to be removed from the weighment chamber 104.
[0020] In an example implementation, each of the material dust collection
channels 112 may be selectively operated to receive, via the respective inlets 114, a residual dust of the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber 104 through the suction induced in the weighment chamber 104. Each of the material dust collection channels 112 may comprise a valve 118 to selectively operate the respective material dust collection channels 112. The valve 118 of each of the material dust collection channels 112 is located adjacent to the first end of the respective material dust collection channels 112. In an example, to suction residual dust of a material, the valve 118 of the corresponding material dust collection channel 112 is kept open, and the valves 118 of the other material dust collection channels 112 are kept closed. The valve 118 of the corresponding material dust collection channel 112 may be operated in conjunction with the suction pump 116. In an example, when the suction pump 116 is operated and a valve 118 of a material dust collection channel 112 is kept open, keeping the valves 118 of other material dust channels 112 closed, an internal vacuum is created inside that material dust collection channel 112. The suction pump 116 may induce suction in the weighment chamber 104 and residual dust of the material present on the weighment chamber 104 may thereby be drawn inside the corresponding material dust collection channel 112 via the respective inlet 114 that may comprise the suction cup. The suction may also be induced in proximity of the weighment chamber 104 allowing outside air at atmospheric pressure accompanied with residual dust of the material to be thereby drawn inside the material dust collection channel 112 via the respective inlet 114. The residual dust of the material received in the material dust collection channel 112 through suction induced in the weighment chamber 104 may be transferred to the material receiving portion 106 of the corresponding material storage chamber 102. The residual dust of the material may be filtered

through the filter 110 installed in the material receiving portion 106 and stored in
the storage portion of the corresponding material storage chamber for reuse later.
Accordingly, residual dust of each material is collected in the respective material
storage chamber 102 for reuse, avoiding the material scrap generation.
[0021] Figure 2 illustrates a method 200 of collecting material dust during a
tire manufacturing process, according to an example of the present subject matter. The order in which the method is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks may be combined in any order to implement the method 200, or an alternative method.
[0022] It may be understood that blocks of the method may be performed, for
example, by the above-described material dust collection system 100 as illustrated in Figure 1.
[0023] Referring to Figure 2, the method 200 starts at block 202. At block 202,
a material to be used in the tire manufacturing process is dispensed from a material storage chamber 102 from amongst a plurality of material storage chambers 102 onto a weighment chamber 104. The weighment chamber 104 measures weight of the material dispensed from the material storage chamber 102. In an example, a weight sensor coupled to the weighment chamber may measure the weight of the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber. Having been weighed, the material may be moved to the next stage of the tire manufacturing process such as mixing. However, in case of powdered material residual dust of the material may be left in the weighment chamber. Before dispensing another material from another material storage chamber 102 onto the weighment chamber 104, the residual dust of the previously weighed material must be removed from the weighment chamber 104.
[0024] To remove the residual of the material, the method 200 further proceeds
to block 204. At block 204, suction is induced in the weighment chamber 104 through a suction pump 116 coupled to the weighment chamber. The suction pump 116 may be operated manually or automatically with varying pressure values depending on specific weight of the granules of the material to be removed from the weighment chamber 104 through suction.

[0025] At block 206, a material dust collection channel 112 from amongst a
plurality of material dust collection channels 112, each corresponding to a material storage chamber 102 from amongst the plurality of material storage chambers 102, may be selectively operated to extract via a respective inlet 114 of the material dust collection channels 112, residual dust of the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber 104, through suction induced in the weighment chamber 104. A first end of the material dust collection channel 112 is connected to the respective inlet 114 and a second end of the material dust collection channel 112 is connected to the corresponding material storage chamber 102.
[0026] To selectively operate the material dust collection channel 112 in order
to extract the residual dust of the material, a valve 118 of the material dust collection channel 112 is opened and valves 118 of the other material dust collection channels 112 are closed. In an example, the suction pump is coupled to each of the material dust collection channels. When suction pump 116 is operated, an internal vacuum is created inside the material dust collection channel 112, valve 118 of which is kept open. This allows the residual dust of the material to be sucked from the weighment chamber 104 via the respective inlet 114. The residual dust of the material extracted by the material dust collection channel 112 is transferred to the corresponding material storage chamber 102. The residual dust received from the corresponding material dust collection channel 112 may be filtered through a filter 110 of the material storage chamber 102 and stored therein. The filtered residual dust may be reused later, thereby preventing the generation of scrap of the materials and consequently, the overhead, loss and risk associated with discarding such scrap.
[0027] Although implementations of a material dust collection system 100 for
a tire manufacturing process are described, it is to be understood that the present subject matter is not necessarily limited to the specific features of the apparatus described herein. Rather, the specific features are disclosed as implementations for the material dust collection system 100.

I/We Claim:
1. A material dust collection system 100 for a tire manufacturing process, the
system comprising:
plurality of material storage chambers 102, each configured to store a material to be used in the tire manufacturing process and dispense the material onto a weighment chamber 104, the weighment chamber 104 is to measure a weight of the material dispensed from the respective material storage chambers 102;
plurality of material dust collection channels 112, each corresponding to a material storage chamber 102 from amongst the plurality of material storage chambers 102, wherein a first end of each of the material dust collection channels 112 is connected to a respective inlet 114 and a second end of each of the material dust collection channel 112 is connected to the corresponding material storage chamber 102,
wherein each of the material dust collection channels 112 is selectively operable to receive, via the respective inlets 114, a residual dust of the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber 104 through suction induced in the weighment chamber 104; and
a suction pump 116 coupled to each of the material dust collection channel 112 and to the weighment chamber 104 to induce said suction.
2. The system 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the material storage
chambers 102 comprises a material receiving portion 106 to receive the material
and a storage portion 108 coupled to the material receiving portion 106, wherein
the material receiving portion 106 comprises a filter 110 to filter the material
received therein and the storage portion 108 is to receive the filtered material from
the material receiving portion 106 and store the filtered material.

3. The system 100 as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second end of each of the material dust collection channels 112 is connected to the material receiving portion 106 of the corresponding material storage chambers 102 to transfer the residual dust of the material received from the weighment chamber 104 to the material receiving portion 106 of the corresponding material storage chambers 102.
4. The system 100 as claimed in claim 3, wherein the filter 110 is configured to filter the residual dust received from the corresponding material dust collection channel 112.
5. The system 100 as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the material dust collection channels 112 comprises a valve 118 to selectively operate the respective material dust collection channels 112.
6. The system 100 as claimed in claim 5, wherein to suction residual dust of a material, the valve 118 of the corresponding material dust collection channel 112 is open and the valve 118 of the other material dust collection channels 112 is closed.
7. The system 100 as claimed in claim 5, wherein the valve 118 of each of the material dust collection channels 112 is located adjacent to the first end of the respective material dust collection channels 112.
8. A method 200 of collecting material dust during a tire manufacturing process, the method comprising:
dispensing 202 a material to be used in the tire manufacturing process from a material storage chamber 102 from amongst a plurality of material storage

chambers 102 onto a weighment chamber 104, wherein the weighment chamber 104 is to measure a weight of the material dispensed from the material storage chamber 102;
inducing 204 suction in the weighment chamber 104 through a suction pump 116 coupled to the weighment chamber 104; and
selectively operating 206 a material dust collection channel 112 from amongst a plurality of material dust collection channels 112, each corresponding to a material storage chamber 102 from amongst the plurality of material storage chambers 102, to extract via a respective inlet 114 of the material dust collection channel 104, residual dust of the material dispensed onto the weighment chamber 104, through suction induced in the weighment chamber 104, wherein a first end of the material dust collection channel 112 is connected to the respective inlet 114 and a second end of the material dust collection channel 112 is connected to the corresponding material storage chamber 102 and wherein the suction pump 116 is coupled to each of the material dust collection channels 112.
9. The method 200 as claimed in claim 8, wherein the method comprises filtering the residual dust received from the corresponding material dust collection channel 112 through a filter 110 of the material storage chamber 102.
10. The method 200 as claimed in claim 9, wherein selectively operating the material dust collection channel 112 to extract the residual dust of the material comprises opening a valve 118 of the material dust collection channel 112 and closing valves 118 of the other material dust collection channels 112.