Steinbichler Introduces OTR Shearography Unit

Over a period of more than two decades, Germany’s Steinbichler Optotechnik has developed a reputation as worldwide leading supplier of high-performance shearography tyre inspection systems. More than 200 units (designed for the inspection of passenger car, light truck and aircraft tyres) have to-date been installed in tyre manufacturing and retreading facilities – from medium-sized, local enterprises up to international tyre businesses.

The company’s ‘Intact’ series includes various models suitable for the inspection of almost any type and size of tyre. Owing to the dramatic increase in demand for OTR tyres and their resulting cost explosion during the recent years, the OTR business more than ever demands tyre casings that deliver high quality and a long working lifetime. Therefore, reliable testing methods are prerequisite for retreading processes.

With the new Intact OTR series, Steinbichler’s established shearography inspection technology is now also available for these large off-road tyres. The Intact 2800 can accommodate size 45/65-45 and 2800 mm maximum outer diameter, and can be extended to tyre sizes with an outer diameter of up to 4300 mm. The system includes a heavy-duty vacuum chamber (pressure difference of up to 200 mbar for maximum fault sensitivity) with integrated tyre positioning device and measuring optics, a control unit and an operator terminal. Loading and unloading of the tyres can be easily performed with a standard forklift, Steinbichler notes. To reduce handling operations to a minimum, the specially designed measurement optics do not require any tyre flipping for a complete test cycle to be carried out.