Tire for retreading: suction solution for large volumes

Client: Michelin
Geographic: France
Associated products: cyclofilter + piping
Stivent mission: industrial centralised suction project

THE COMPANY 

Michelin, a French tire manufacturer, offers products for all types of vehicles. Their particularity: they are designed to be regrooved once they have reached their maximum wear. Their carcasses can be retreaded several times. This solution makes it possible to extend the initial performance of their tires while extending their longevity and grip.

For their retreading activities, first of all, operators must brush the tires. This cleaning operation generates a lot of waste which must be extracted.

THE EXTRACTION PROBLEM

For the brushing of tires to be retreaded, Michelin already had an installation intended to suck the pieces of tires. Given the activity have evolved, the installation was undersized compared to the real needs.

The objective was therefore to improve the suction of the already existing cyclofilter in order to reinforce its efficiency, and to offer new medium-term prospects.

THE SOLUTION OFFERED BY STIVENT 

Based on the constraints encountered by operators, we proposed:

• The use of a cyclonic pre-separation before filtration in order to treat large quantities of rejected materials.
• The integration of a sprinkler network into the filtration network to treat the high risk of ATEX and fire.
• Installation of 70 m of piping in order to create a centralised suction network.

This achievement has strengthened operator safety, and has allowed Michelin to increase productivity.

Client support continued 6 months later with the installation of a new machine in the workshop connected to the existing network in order to increase production.