HPTC
A High Pressure Tire Cutter with waterjet cutting technology
Tire R&D asks for tire cross sections in thin slices and with a perfect surface to allow analyses of tire design,
material distribution, building tolerances or tire defects. Long-lasting and costly grinding processes are necessary after cutting with a band-saw to prepare the slices to visualize the various layers of rubber and materials. The technics gets to its limits when new materials such as sealing gels are combined with the rubber material as these will shmear on the cutting surface and make the cross section useless.
The HPTC (High Pressure Tire Cutting) is a water jet cutter which is specially designed to cut
rubber materials and tires. It is customized
and ensures cuts in all materials and tire classes using a special cutting process. An additional grinding or polishing, which leads in
most cases to partial damages or even destruction of the material compounds, is not
required in this method. There is no increase
in temperature by the cutting procedure and
the high cutting speed of the water jet does
not create any torsional forces on the steel
cord. The HPTC still delivers precise and repeatable results when conventional cutting
procedures have already exceeded their limits
of feasibility. Even cutting of green tires is feasible. Clamping and tensioning devices various tires, PCR, LTR,
TBR and OTR, are available and may be customized for special requirements.
Water pressure, direction, distance and other parameters are adjustable by the operator, who is guided by
the control PC through the preparation phase. The teach-in process and the cut itself is then processed fully
automated. The result is a perfect parallel slice or alternatively an -cut section with best surface made in a
breath.
Fresh water is used for cutting, it will be
complimented by an abrasive material
made of granite powder. A waste-water
filtering system ensures that waste particles
from cutting and the abrasive additive are
eliminated from the contaminated water to
condition it for re-use in the water tank of
the system. This saves water and cares for
to keep the environment clean.
The HPTC takes a pre-cut section instead of
a complete tire to cut the slice, precutting is
usually done with a simple guillotine cutter with a double blade, which is suitable also for big T&B tires. It is
also available from Altracon. The use of pre-cut sections keeps the machine compact and its operation economical and allows to control the clamping of the pre-cut section well controlled, which is essential for a high
quality of the cut in terms of parallelism or angular precision for -cuts.
Page 1 of 4
Altracon S.A.  56, rue de la Gare  L - 6440 Echternach
www.altracon.com
10/16
Both HPTC and the pre-cutting system may be integrated in an optional data management system including a
barcode reader to register the sample and assign it to a running code. A customized interface is available
with input and output to follow the history of the specific tire of which the section is taken.
The system may be completed with a cross section analysis system to finally scan the tire section after it was
cut with the HPTC (not included in this offer). The digitized image allows the analysis by the operator for the
different layers and components in the tire, to measure them and store the scaled images and data in a data
base for archiving and/ or further data processing.
It is recommended for safety reasons to install the HPTC in a closed room, a door guarding system is part of
the equipment. However, safety housing is optionally available. The guillotine cutter is prepared for twohand operation to protect the operator, but a safety fence extension with door guard and external operation
tablet is available also for this system to offer even higher safety standard.
HPTC System-components:
Abrasive water jet cutting system
Available for: PC / LT (HPTC “L”)
PC / LT / TBR (HPTC “XL”)
PC / LT / TBR/ OTR (HPTC “XXL”)
HPTC 3-axes high pressure cutting system (base system)
High pressure pump
Silo with sand filling station
Water management system incl. waste water filter unit
PLC / GUI / control system
Data capturing/ handling and recipe management system
Monitoring system for HPTC and cutting process
Insulation power transformer for incoming power supply
Optional system extension:
Guillotine Pre-Cutter
Barcode scanning and handling system
Tire section scanning and analysis system
Recipe Management System;
The system has an own database incl. a recipe management. It is network compatible to be backed up.
Reading and reproduction is possible. The interface I/O is customizable.
Safety requirements
The HPTC has to be installed and operated in a closed room or in a closed container, which is optionally available. The doors are equipped with a safeguard system. The optional pre-cutting station will be equipped with
a suitable safety fence. Both according to CE regulations.
Page 2 of 4
Technical Specification:
Tire diameter Range
Bead diameter
Section width
Section height
Tire Section precision cut thickness
Max no. of steel breakers
Steel chafer thickness
Dead wire diameter
No. of bead per bead bundle
Bead area thickness
Cross area thickness (rubber and steel)
Pre-cut section weight
Cycle time
Power supply
Control Voltage
Water supply
Water consumption
Air Pressure supply
Operating/ cutting pressure
Cutting width
N/A (pre-cutting (rough cut) of tires required)
≤ 32” (pre-cutting (rough cut) of tires required)
120 … 450mm
100 … 500mm
≥ 1 mm (parallel cut)
4
1 … 3mm (l.H. and r.H.)
≤ 1.9mm
10 x 10
≤ 50mm
≤ 50mm
≤ 25kg
depending on size and quality
440V/ 50Hz / 3 phase/ 80A
24V
Standard fresh water quality ≥ 4bar
≤ 12 l/min
not required for machine operation
≤ 6.200 bar
0,1 … 0,35mm
Pre-cut tire section ready to prepare section cut
Page 3 of 4
Machine outline
Contact us to learn more about
the solution provider
www.altracon.com
Page 4 of 4