Directional Tire Tread Layout for Snow Shearing and Dry Grip
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Solution Overview
Problem
Tires face a challenge in achieving excellent on-snow performance while maintaining dry performance, as increasing groove volume in the tread for better snow traction often leads to a decrease in dry road running performance.
Innovation Solution
A tire design featuring a tread portion with first and second oblique grooves extending towards the tire equator, intersecting with first circumferential grooves that increase in width towards the heel side, allowing for effective snow shearing and traction without compromising dry road performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the groove width of first circumferential grooves increases toward the heel side, then on-snow performance is improved through increased snow shearing force, but groove volume increases which may affect dry performance
Solution Approach 1:
The groove width of the first circumferential grooves is varied locally along their length, being wider at the heel side and narrower at the toe side. This local quality variation allows the groove to provide effective snow shearing force where needed (at the heel side during rotation) while minimizing the overall groove volume to preserve dry road performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The groove width variation is designed to work dynamically with the tire rotation direction. The wider portion at the heel side engages with snow more effectively during the rotation cycle, providing enhanced shearing force, while the narrower toe side reduces material removal and maintains better contact characteristics for dry road conditions.
Data Source
AI summary
A tire has a tread portion bound with an intended tire rotational direction. The tread portion includes a first tread edge and a second tread edge. The tread portion is provided with first oblique grooves extending obliquely toward a heel side in the tire rotational direction from the first tread edge toward a tire equator side, second oblique grooves extending obliquely toward the heel side from the second tread edge toward the tire equator side, and first circumferential grooves each connecting a respective pair of the first oblique grooves adjacent to each other in a tire circumferential direction. The first oblique grooves have the tire equator side end portions intersecting with the second oblique grooves. The second oblique grooves have the tire equator side end portions intersecting with the first oblique grooves. The first circumferential grooves have groove widths each increasing toward the heel side in the tire rotational direction.