Vacuum for Tire Moulding at Bridgestone

The moulding process of tyres is frequently supported by vacuum. With experience made at Michelin in Italy, Goodyear and MRF in India, Pneumofore installed in 2006 a vacuum system at Bridgestone in South Africa. The air cooled vacuum pumps of model UV16 H, capable to evacuate water vapor, are running almost continuously, replacing the previous liquid ring vacuum pumps. The water cooling circuit was causing considerable worries, due to the cooling water temperature and long-term operation of the water piping system. Because of the dependency of the liquid ring vacuum pumps from the cooling water temperature, the entire vacuum system showed a relevant potential of improvement before installing the 3 units UV16 H. The targets of reduced power consumption and better vacuum level of 100 mbar(a) were met and are kept since 4 years of operation.