Patent ID: 6330822
Filing Date: 2001-12-18
Classification: G01M

Abstract:
A tire testing method for detecting leaks in associated tires, the tire testing method comprising the steps of:providing a tire inflator assembly, said tire inflator assembly comprising at least two rigid vacuum chambers having two different fixed volumes for holding different sized tires, a leak detector, and a robotic arm;heating the associated tire;using said tire inflator assembly to inflate the associated tire with a mixture of helium air, the mixture being 90% air and 10% commercial grade helium by volume;placing the associated tire into a vacuum chamber with said robotic arm, said robotic arm having pincer-like extensions;sealing the vacuum chamber with a chamber top;evacuating the air from the vacuum chamber down to less than 50 torr with a roughing pump;evacuating the air from the vacuum chamber down to 5.0 to 600 millitorr with a hi-vac pump;detecting the amount of helium that leaked into the vacuum chamber from the associated tire using a spectrometer; and,sorting the tire into a first or second area depending on whether or not the tire leaks, wherein the steps of placing the associated tire into a vacuum chamber with said robotic arm to the step of detecting the amount of helium that leaked into the vacuum chamber from the associated tire using a spectrometer has a cycle time of approximately thirteen seconds.